As the worm's body fell to the ground once more, the giant creature wasted no time and quickly dug back underground.
Ever since the battle began, the two opposing forces exchanged only two blows. While the worm didn't manage to land either of its attempts to attack, the duo of Aurora and Rejoke managed to wound it both times.
Despite that, they were basically equal since the damage they have managed to inflict on the worm was basically equal to nothing. The proof of such a result was the fact that the worm had no trobles moving underground at all.
'Think, Aurora, think!' Thousands of different thoughts and strategies raced across Aurora's mind, yet none of them seemed to have the potential to be effective.
'Slowing it down won't help. I doubt that bleed will have any effect considering this thing's massive body.' One after the other, she dismissed every single idea she got.
'The only thing that seemed to be at least a bit effective was magic, but my MP would definitely run dry before I could even do any significant damage to this dammed monster.' Suddenly, her thought process got cut short as her instincts screamed at her.
Without even thinking, Aurora jumped back, quickly followed by Rejoke, who observed her at all times. Soon after, the huge creature rose from the ground once again.
"Grrr." Rejoke dashed forward to hit the worm once again, but just before he could get close to it, he heard Aurora's voice.
"Kyu!" As if his brain had reset, the black wolf stopped dead in his tracks and jumped to Aurora's side, looking at her with a confused expression.
The fox, however, had neither time nor the mood to deal with the wolf's confusion. Just now, she only stopped him because she wanted him to preserve his stamina until she thought of a plan that would actually work.
So, ignoring both Rejoke and the worm that dug back underground, she fell deep in thought once again.
This continued on for quite some time. The worm would dig underground, jump back up, and try to swallow both Aurora and Rejoke, only to fail miserably since the two would just dodge the attack with minimal effort.
By now, even Rejoke was able to tell when to jump back without any kind of help from Aurora. At the same time, the small fox's mind was so preoccupied with thinking up a plan that she was even dodging subconsciously.
There was no need for her to register the attack and send the command to her brain to dodge; her brain already did it automatically. It adapted on its own after doing the same thing more than twenty times in a row.
This was an incredible feat; however, Aurora's mind was too busy to even notice this small fact. So, unknowingly, she figured out yet another effect of her ultimate-grade skill, Perfect Mind.
Still, even after all this time, she just couldn't find a way for them to slay this beast of a monster.
The worm's health and defense were just too high for them to bring the cresture down. During the many exchanges of blows they had with this thing, Rejoke would occasionally strike it using his Scratch.
And one such strike even managed to put a Minor Bleed on the damned worm, but the effect it has had was... well, nonexistent. Literally, the bleed had no effect on it.
This was something Aurora more or less expected, so she wasn't really surprised by the result. Still, it only added to the dismay she had felt.
She was already beyond annoyed at this thing, as it seemed that no matter what they would do, it would have minimal or no effect. She had just about enough by now!
However, she wasn't the only one who was feeling this way. Rejoke wasn't dealing any better. His anger meter was already through the roof; he was probably even more furios than he was when he fought against Aurora.
Yet, the most surprising was the worm. The giant monster was angry—really angry. Due to its 'limited' intelligence, so to speak, his simple mind didn't understand how the two small, annoying creatures managed to dodge every single one of its destructive attacks.
"Roooooar!!"
So, no longer able to contain its anger, the worm roared furiously and dug back underground; this time, however, it would be different.
Just as Aurora was already in position, ready to dodge an attack coming from below her, she was quickly brought out of her own as she sensed that something was wrong.
The tremors and earthquakes were different. Unlile before, when they were considerably mild as the worm moved in random directions, these tremors were much more concentrated and powerful.
They were coming from all around them at set intervals, always in the same directional order.
'It's moving in circles. But why?' Aurora thought in confusion. It didn't take her long at all to figure out how the worm was moving; what she didn't know, however, was why it was moving in such a way.
Just as she started to think about what the worm was trying to accomplish, the ground underneath them shook violently as cracks appeared all around the place.
The earth broke apart into segments and pieces, each shaking on its own. And then, all of them broke loose as the huge creature sprouted from underneath.
Large chunks of the ground were thrown into the air as rocks flew everywhere. Even the ground that didn't crack got smashed to pieces as it was already previously damaged by the holes and tunnels that the worm dug out during the battle.
'This-?' Right now, Aurora was in utter shock. Out of all the things she expected, somehow she didn't see this obvious possibility.
Of course the worm who's intelligence was, well, not there wouldn't be able to think of anything complicated to do. After all, it was just a monster with very, very limited brain capacity.
This was something she obviously knew and realized; however, she still overestimated the worm. Before, Aurora was overthinking everything way too much. So much so that she even failed to notice such an obvious move.
'Shit, I can't move.' As she struggled in the air after losing her footing, Aurora's eyes contracted to the size of needles as she stared at the gaping mouth of the worm underneath her.
'Not good!' She realized that if she somehow doesn't get out of the way, she would end up as a very not-fulfilling lunch for the creature.
But just as she saw her live flash before her eyes, with a sudden pull, her body got yanked across the air, out of the worm's way.
'What the-?' Aurora quickly looked up and back as she felt something on her back, only to see Rejoke holding her in his mouth.
Apparently, unlike her, the black wolf kind of expected this to happen, so before they got thrown into the air, he made sure to hold on tightly to the ground.
And, once he saw the situation his alpha was in, he quickly used all the strength he had to propel himself off the rock he was on. There was no hesitation in the wolf's mind as he lunged over the worm's mouth and grabbed Aurora's small body into his mouth.
The fox in question was still dazed by what happened. Just now, she thought that she had no way to dodge; however, Rejoke grabbed just in time to save her. To say that she wasn't stunned by what was happening would be a lie. Even her superhuman brain couldn't catch up.
Meanwhile, the worm, whose attack once again failed, began to fall back to the ground. But before its body could land, it roared, and right after, the rocks and chunks of earth stopped falling and began to float in the air.
By now, Aurora had finally recovered from the previous shock and signaled Rejoke to let go of her.
The wolf complied and released her back from his mouth, gently and carefully putting her down on the floating rock.
Finally standing on her own feet, or rather paws, Aurora stared down at the ground, looking at the destruction left all around them. Just now, the worm destroyed a larger piece of earth.
The surrounding trees were either completely destroyed or were floating in the air together with the ground they were on. The ground itself was a complete mess.
The worm also already fell to the ground, digging back into the hard soil and rocks.
'This is crazy.' Aurora observed everything happening with sharp eyes, her mind racing with thoughts.
'And to think the worm was hiding such a skill.' She couldn't help but think as she stared at the ground and rocks suspended in the air.
However, she didn't get lost in the sight. Rather, she was trying to figure out the nature of the skill that the worm just used.
"Woof?" But just as she lost herself in thought once again, a strange barking sound came out from behind her.
Taken aback by the sudden voice, Aurora flinched and quickly looked back. Obviously, the source of the voice was none other than Rejoke, who was looking at her with a worried gaze.
Seeing that pityful look equal to a puppy, Aurora couldn't help but sigh and nod her head a bit. It was her way of saying that she is fine as well as thanking the wolf for saving her.
But even such a small gesture was enough for Rejoke's mood to improve a lot, no longer worried about his alpha. That relief was however replaced by an intense feeling of anger that he directed towards that damned worm.
Be that as it may, Aurora had no more mind to Rejoke and instead looked back towards the ground. As she stared at the various objects floating in the air, her brain worked overtime trying to figure out the nature of the worm's skill.
'Hm, that could be it!' As a sudden idea popped into her mind, her expression brightened up.
It seemed like she managed to figure something out—something that could help her focus more on the battle as she wouldn't have to worry about the worm using that skill to suddenly suspend her in the air.
"Roaar!" As a loud roar brought her out of her thoughts, the worm once again lunged up all the way from the ground. Considering how fast it was moving, it would actually reach their position soon.
"Kyu!" Aurora quickly jumped off the rock the two of them were standing on and moved to a different one that was out of the worm's way.
Obviously, Rejoke did the same, quickly following her and landing on a rock not too far away from her.
'I still need to figure out how to damage it, though.' Aurora thought that even if she maybe knew what the worm's skill did, she still had no way to damage it, unless...
'I guess I have no choice.' Taking a deep breath, she looked towards Rejoke.
Instinctively feeling her gaze, the wolf also turned to face her, and once his eyes fell on the face of his alpha, he saw the serious expression she wore.
As if that one look was all it took for him to understand, he nodded his head and looked back at the falling worm.
"Auuuuu!" With a loud howl, Rejoke's body got covered by an intense red aura, and right after, his body began to grow in size.
Meanwhile, Aurora looked at the spectacle with curious eyes, interested in whatever skill he had used.
'Is this a new skill? Otherwise, why wouldn't he use it when he was fighting me?' Such a thought appeared in her mind.
Seeing just how his actual aura increased in strength with each moment, she was sure that the skill Rejoke had used wasn't simple. Not only that, it was probably a skill he obtained at some point ever since they fought. The question was, when?
The two of them fought not even a day ago, so when could he gain such a powerful skill?
'Whatever, focus.' Aurora said to herself, putting her previous thoughts aside. She could not afford to divert her attention right now.
So, while Rejoke's strength continued to rise, Aurora jumped off the rock she had been standing on and moved to a different one.
This process repeated itself multiple times. She would jump to a rock, land, leave a bit of mana on the rock, and then she would jump onto another one.
Meanwhile, Rejoke finally finished activating his skill. Right now, he looked even more ferocious than ever. Not only had he grown in size by at least half of his original size, his eyes turned even deeper red.
His sharp gaze swept over the rocks and chunks of earth below him, soon catching the sight of a little white ball moving and jumping around.
Seeing that his alpha has yet to finish her preparations, he glanced down towards the ground, getting ready to do his part of the job.
Just at that moment, the worm jumped out of the ground once more, aiming right at Rejoke's current position.
However, unlike normally when the black wolf would jump out of the way, this time he jumped off the rock down to the ground, heading straight for the worm.
Though confused, the worm didn't dwell much on the beast's action as it was ready to finally swallow that annyoing black beast whole.
As the two got closer and closer, and as the worm was ready to eat, Rejoke suddenly shifted his body slightly. Though he couldn't move much mid-air, he could still at least sway his body to the side a bit.
The wolf struck forward with his large claw, putting all of his strength into the strike. Heck, he even used up his mana and moved it towards his claw, shrouding it in a shadow.
And then the two forces collided.
For a moment, nothing happened. Rejoke struck the worm right under it's mouth; however, nothing happened. The two suddenly stopped mid-air, floating without being able to move either up or down.
The collision created a weird equilibrium between the two forces, which halted each side's momentum. However, this lasted only for a moment.
Soon enough, as gravity took its course and as Rejoke's claw dug deeper into the worm flesh, the two began to fall back to the ground quickly.
Just now, Rejoke was the clear winner of this contest of strength. When his claw landed on the worm's body, it easily pierced through the tough skin, cut through the thick meat, and directly hit the bones, shattering them.
However, Rejoke wasn't off any better. When the two collided and came to a stop, all the bones in his front paw had rammed into each other and broke instantly.
The pain was unbearable, yet he couldn't care about it any less.
As the two quickly approached the ground, Rejoke pulled his paw back and used the worm to jump away, landing on a nearby floating rock.
At this moment, Aurora finally finished what she needed to, and seeing the worm's huge form approaching the ground so quickly, she wasted no time and quickly used all her mana in an instant.
Suddenly, a large spike made out of pure ice appeared on the ground right beneath the worm, and soon enough, the worm's body landed on the sharp spike.
"ROOOOOOAR!!!" With an ear-piercing shriek, the spike easily went through the entirety of the worm's body, almost tearing it into two.
[You have defeated the Giant Earth Eater level 6.]