The Author's POV

Using my sword to turn over the body of the monster that I just killed, I speculated that it was some sort of sandworm variant.

Everything from the top and bottom resembled a worm, however, its mouth once opened resembled a four-petal flower. But unlike flowers, it was anything but pretty.

If one looked closely, once the worm-like monster opened its mouth, chainsaw-like teeth sharply protruding from the edges of its mouth would meet your sight.

Its exterior which was as hard as titanium had some sort of mucus-like substance excreted from its body.

-Tshh!

Using my finger to pick up some of the mucus, I felt a stinging sensation on my finger prompting my brows to involuntarily frown.

'Could this mucus be the reason why they can travel in the sand like a fish swims in the ocean?'

Examining the mucus up close, I took a look at the area where the worm was, and from there I could instantly understand how the worm was able to move freely in the sand.

The mucus that the sandworm-like creature excreted had some sort of acidic property which slowly eroded the sand around it, enabling it to move freely in the sand.

'Fascinating...'

Wiping the mucus on my finger with the sand, I placed the corpse into my bracelet.

Taking my phone out, I opened the monster encyclopedia and quickly scrolled down the list.

After scrolling for a bit, I finally found a monster that matched the description of the monster I killed.

Name : Sand sprout

Rank: F-D rank

Description : Monster that is typically found in desert regions, and is around the size of an adult arm. If caught off guard, with its razor-sharp teeth the sand sprout can easily tear off the limbs of its prey, rendering them immobile. Has extremely durable skin that is as tough as titanium, and excretes a strong acid measuring at around a ph of 1.

Weakness : Mouth, the only area that is not protected by its tough outer exterior.

Location : [Everlasting sunset], [Dunes of sorrow],[Lord's wrath],...

"ph 1?"

Raising my brow, I looked at my finger, which previously touched the mucus-like substance.

Fortunately, apart from my finger being slightly red, there seemed to be no abnormalities.

'It looks like consuming the [Seed of limit] helped my body become stronger...considering that an acid of ph1 is nothing to me anymore...'

Putting my phone back in my pocket, I continued venturing deeper into the dungeon in hopes of finding the boss of this area.

During the journey, for every monster that I killed and knew nothing about, I would look through the monster encyclopedia app on my phone in hopes of finding more about them.

-Screeech!

-Phfttttt

Without even looking at what attacked me, I stabbed my sword to the right and once I felt my sword become heavier, I tapped my bracelet.

"38..."

So far, the most dominant monster present in this desert-like place was the sand sprout, and since I have fought about a dozen of them, I could more or less predict their movement now.

could feel a slight vibration beneath

what I observed, they never attacked the front, which meant that they would

feel a slight vibration coming from beneath the sand,

for some odd reason whenever they attacked they would always let out a loud

of this, judging the precise position of where they are going to

even though they were extremely fast, even if they did screech before they attacked, due

knew their pattern, they were essentially the easiest monster

"huh, what's that?"

couple of kilometers from my location I could see a couple of silhouettes that looked

seemed to be in some sort of mess, as

"Party wipe?"

of a dungeon, as a lot of things can go wrong in

"Should I help..."

obligation to help as everyone was on their own inside of a dungeon...but from

think

arouse a passerby's pity, and then suddenly attack them when they let their

Hmm...Probably not.

nearby was extremely

it was like that, I didn't

Slap!

the cheek, I continued staring at the people in the

back to

were in an F rank dungeon,

I shouldn't be confident to the point

observed the more I was sure that they weren't trying to rob people, as they genuinely

real question was

I would have to

haven't they called for help

a distance it looked like they were all dead, if

some of them were even

had no problems sending a distress signal and wait for

But why weren't they?

situation was very

me that if I were to leave right now, I may come to regret it

"Ah...screw it!"

I jumped down the sand dune I was on and slid my

it's a trap

was better to be safe

than me wanting to help them, it

F ranks could be reduced to this state in an

the boss monster would have a tough time against

the sand in the desert was shaped in little waves, however, here the sand was all over the

big fight had taken place. However,

everywhere or some sort of sign that a fight against a monster had

I observed closely, apart from some red blood, presumingly coming from the party members, there wasn't anything that

more I thought about it, the odder the situation

now that I thought about it, why

fought against a monster,

die

Nothing else.

although the party was injured, they

that they weren't fighting monsters but another