Monster Paradise Chapter 30: Hellminth
Translated and Edited by Catato Patch
The sand ripple stopped just below Tyrant's feet. A few seconds later, it burst out in a violent explosion of sand and pounced on Tyrant.
Tyrant gathered strength in his feet, leaped into air and somersaulted 10 metres away to avoid that attack.
Lin Huang finally saw the identity of their attacker. It was a giant worm that was covered in snake-like scales that were dyed a blood red. It had a monstrous length of 20 metres and had no eyes.
Its head only consisted of a gigantic mouth with layers of razor sharp teeth wriggling inside it.
Seeing the monster, fear crossed both their faces.
"What do we do?! It's a Hellminth." Fatty momentarily latched onto Lin Huang and shouted.
Hellminths were demonic beasts who preyed on every living thing in the desert. They stood at the pinnacle of the desert's food chain and possessed no natural enemies. Thankfully, they are pretty rare due to their small numbers.
But all demonic beasts, including the hellminth, were known for their viciousness.
Once it caught a prey with its mouth, the razors in these mouth would vibrate furiously, turning its mouth into a giant meat grinder as the prey gets shredded. It was also said that inside that giant mouth was a smaller mouth that shot out at the same time as the meat grinding, penetrating the prey's skull and sucking the prey's brains out.
While this hellminth was a three-star BlackIron like Tyrant, it was the natural predator of Sand Ogres. Given similar combat ranks, the chance of Tyrant winning was close to zero.
Lin Huang definitely did not want to encounter this monster during the exam but he realized he had no choice but to face it.
"There's no escape, we've got to kill it!" He shouted back at the fatty, his eyes never leaving the hellminth.
The Hellminth raised itself up and observed its prey, its giant mouth wipe open. It did not immediately attack them but instead took the high ground and observed them.
It was as if time stood still as the two parties stood stock still staring at each other. Tyrant under Lin Huang's orders, did not move either.
The inaction of the Hellminth gave Lin Huang an idea, "Fatty, does it only respond to movement?"
"You asked the wrong person, I've never passed the Basic Monster Illustrations course. I only recognized it because of a news video I saw." Fatty gulped and continued, "That news piece said a team of Reserve Hunter candidates encountered a Hellminth in the desert. Within 10 minutes, all of them were defeated. By the time the rescue team got there, the Hellminth had gone the top half of the last member's body."
"You know you didn't have to describe the contents of that news piece…" Fatty Yin's decision to purposely narrate such a demoralizing story left Lin Huang speechless.
Despite the pair being distracted by that conversation, the Hellminth did not attack.
"Why is he not moving, don't tell me its fake?" Fatty Yin's foul mouth was a truly a work of art.
"Do you have anything useless in your storage space?" Lin Huang wanted to test out his theory.
"Let me check." Fatty Yin quickly understood his intentions and reached out to his Imperial Heart ring.
Translated and Edited by Catato Patch
However at this moment, the Hellminth finally moved and pounced at the Fatty.
"Shit, it's after me!" Fatty screamed in terror.
Tyrant immediately ducked to avoid being part of the collateral damage. Fatty Yin was caught off guard by this move and got thrown into the air. He landed a couple metres beside the Hellminth.
Sensing the movement beside its body, the Hellminth made an abrupt turn and pounced at the fatty's new location.
Seeing that giant meat grinder of a mouth head towards him, his heart leapt into his throat. His survival instinct kept screaming at him to run but he knew that if he ran, it would spell the end for him.
"Don't move fatty, I'll distract him!" Lin Huang knew that if he did not act now, the fatty is going to be eaten.
"Tyrant, run!" Lin Huang immediately gave the ogre a new order.
Receiving this order, Tyrant turned away from the worm and took off like an arrow.
Sensing Tyrant's movement, the Hellminth immediately turned around and chased Tyrant with a speed that significantly surpassed Tyrant's.
Seeing the Hellminth change targets, the fatty heaved a sigh of relief. He truly thought that was it for him.
Both his legs finally gave in as the tension which supported his body was gone. He discovered that he was drenched in sweat.
After hesitating for a while, Fatty Yin got up and chased after the Hellminth and Lin Huang. He shouted at no one in particular as he ran, "Lin Huang you better not die! If you die because of me, I'll never live it down…"
Meanwhile in a certain location in the desert, a giant Sand Ogre was frantically running for its life. Before him, a mini sand dune was closing in on him. Just as it finally caught up, the Hellminth burst into air and dived towards Tyrant. It's mouth widened in anticipation of its giant meal. However, it was destined to be disappointed as Tyrant disappeared into thin air just as it was about to catch him.
At another location, Lin Huang smiled as a green card appeared in his hand.
A few minutes ago, before the Hellminth caught up with Tyrant, he had Tyrant toss him away and continue running. He observed the two from this safe location.
He waited till the last second when the Hellminth was about to attack before recalling Tyrant. The Hellminth thinking that its target was still nearby, waited at that location.
Lin Huang summoned Tyrant once more and said, "Let's go pick up Fatty!"
Credits:
Special thanks to 7STARDARK BLADE! The first ever patron of Catato Patch Translations.