Isaac took to the air, and Heart of Tree and Bark covered the ground.

  Isaac's fire was over the lower part of the giant worm in seconds, and the scream that came next, from above, was thunderous, hurting Isaac's ears.

  But the reaction was not entirely unfamiliar to Isaac.

  Blood and sand below him pooled and shaped itself into spikes, shooting up at him. Luckily, Isaac had Heart of Tree and Bark with him, and he was ready to help.

  Vines of the divine and wind interspersed the attack, and Isaac easily dodged the few that came through.

  His fire attacks continued against the worm queen.

  Red and white flames clung to its scales.

  The air was still thick with dust and sand. And the worm queen they saw was very hazy at best. But despite this, the worm was giant and an obvious target.

  Flying upward to escape the dust and sand, Isaac's eyes widened.

  ‘That is a big worm.’ It was just that the worm was giant. But she was very different from the other worms, as if she were a different species entirely.

  The face was still covered with hundreds of bone spikes and teeth, ready to chop down on anything alive.

  This worm queen was blood red and radiated a deathly aura. The origin of the aura he had felt from all other worms...

  Looking closer with all his senses, Isaac felt that the worm was doing something to them all.

  He felt a sense of loss, as if something was being drained from him.

  And then it hit him.

  The worm queen was slowly, very slowly taking everyone's... even the other worms' life force, in some arcane way.

  ‘We need to end her fast, ’ it wasn’t really a choice for him or the others.

  Looking down at the edges of the dust cloud, Isaac could see that some wounded elves and monsters were already being harmed by her aura.

  The aura of the worm itself had a taste, as all aura did. This one was tainted with hunger and blood at its core. ‘Damn, she really is trying to eat the world.’

  Isaac's attacks resumed.

  The worm queen wasn't idle in the chaos. Power pulsed through the worm's aura like Isaac had never felt before, and the sandes moved.

  Hundreds of small worms made out of sand, infused with the worm queen's mana, emerged around the battlefield—from the air and from deserted ground.

  The living Worms, elves, and monsters were being attacked by the flesh-eating sand worms.

  The worm queen's body remained still, her head moving slower than before but keeping track of Isaac's flight... waiting...

  The eyes that met Isaac were too intelligent for a wild monster... and his guess was correct.

  Just as Isaac was ready to deliver more fire to her scales, his senses and skill Evasion screamed at him...

  Doing everything in his power, Isaac tried to move out of the way—the worm queen's teeth closing in on him with a speed designed to kill.

  fire and wings to the max, Isaac. It would be too late. ‘Shit shit, —what is that wind?’

  The wind around Isaac took hold of him and moved him away. His skill literally breathed a sigh of relief as the jaws of the worm queen snapped past him.

  Several arrows shot down from above, hitting the slightly confused queen, as Isaac saw an elf falling from the sky.

  Dashing over in the air, Isaac prepared to catch the falling elf.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  And the elf in question was intriguing in her own way.

  The wind answered her calls as if she were using sigils, but she wasn't.

  She had a deep connection to it, a more intrinsic one; it was a fascinating sight for Isaac's mana sight and senses, that was for sure.

  As she approached, Isaac motioned for her to land on his back.

  “Aaaaa, thank you, Fire and scaled one.” She sighed heavily, looking very winded. “You have no idea how long I have been slowly falling.” The wind gently moved through her hair as a response.

  “You must be one of...” Isaac realised he didn't know the elf man's name. “The elf man's friends?” And, for that matter, why did they all call him 'fire' or 'scaled one'?

  “Good, you can speak this will mak...” she reined in what Isaac could only see as excitement... at least this one is more expressive’

  “Yes... I saw that you met—Heart of Tree and Bark.” She gave out a smaller sigh this time. The colour was returning fast to her skin, not looking as winded as he did mere seconds ago...

  Was she also channelling whatever the elf—Heart of Tree and Bark had?

  “Yes..., it seems like him to forget to introduce himself. ” She chuckled at that.

  “I am,” She lowered her head,“Spirit of Leaves and Wind”

  And from what Isaac could sense, she wasn't wrong. Her being was as free as the wind and leaves.

  “Hmm, I am Isaac.” he was a bit unsure how to proceed, as he was currently flying away from the giant worm...

  That was still eyeing them up.

  Sensing his unease, the elf quickly replied, “It's good to meet you, Isaac of Fire. Let's win this war and finish introductions after.”

  That Isaac could agree with.

  The few minutes they had spent meeting had passed, and the battle had changed dramatically.

  The dust cloud that the worm had created was now in the form of worms.

  And the sand worms were literally killing worms and monsters by the dozens.

  The elves had luckily been called by one elf who was radiating the same mana as Heart of Tree and Bark.

  If not more powerful.

  The worm queen was still eyeing Isaac and the Wind elf, but she was also very distracted by Heart of Tree and Bark, as he was still out there challenging the sand worms and her aura of hunger.

  We need to stop the sand worms.

  That was what Isaac saw. And if his control of Earth was more than this worm’s...

  It was worth a shot.

  “Going down.” as a heads-up for the elf.

  He got the reply from the wind as it helped him in his descent.

  Close to the ground and the worm queen's magic, Isaac focused on his sigil.

  Using everything he had learned in his new life, Isaac formed the sigil of earth and fire. The feat of mana control was easier than he had expected.

  His plan was not to take control of the mana.

  He wanted to destroy the sand constructs of worms and just a bit of his mana in everything, so she needed to fight for every sand worm.

  This is interesting.

  And from what he had just found out, this fight might go faster than he had initially thought.

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