Marx had wanted to attract some sandworms but not this many. From all directions spanning meters from him were hundreds of moving mounds. He smiled sheepishly at his irrationality.
But he had an advantage. All these sandworms would probaby have to fight one another in order to get to him. He landed on the ground once again and jumped once again.
He could tell that if he landed once more, they would all come at him. He did so and hundreds of quicksands appeared on the ground.
Many collided with each other but around fifty of them managed to jump into the air all charging at him. Marx could only thank their blindness for he would not have been standing as he was twenty meters above the ground.
The Halo Steps glowed on his feet as he stared at the sandworms like a god. One could have thought of them as missiles shooting from the ground.
Their rattling sound filled the air. Marx did not move for he knew their imit. The best they could jump was probably 15 meters but he was wrong.
The reason the first sandworm had jumped just ten meters was because it had slowed down after the quality of the vibrations lowered.
These sandworms had been coming at full speed though. They could jump even fifty meters. Marx was going to learn not to make conclusions after just one observation.
The sandworms all surpassed the anticipated range and all reached Marx. Marx was quick to react using the Halo Steps.
The sandworms' momentum could have been great but they could not match the reaction speed combined with Halo Steps. The great part being that he could use them endlessly!
He went from left to right evading the few sandworms that appeared in his way. He then continued to rise high as the sandworms were all left behind.
He finally stopped when he saw that they had all stopped rising and were now falling back. He looked at them with disdain as he watched them fall diving back into the sand.
He released the Halo Steps and he started falling behind them. His hands on his back and his legs slightly apart. One could have thought that he was the one who had beaten them all.
They all dived back into the sand and Marx activated Halo Steps just milimeters above the sand. His playful look disappeared. He was now in a calculative state.
From the encounter, he had come to realize the flaws of his approach. The first being that he had to kill a sandworm with a one fell move.
The fact that a sandworm could not stay above the ground was the main problem. It would be difficult to fight only one because their battle could attract others disrupting it.
He had realized that these creatures had no qualms with eating each other. Marx knew that only the Laser Kicks could kill them. It appeared easy but it was not.
The mission was not about how many sandworms he killed but how many Crystals he collected. It could be easy to kill a sandworm using Laser Kicks but the sandworm would fall on the sand and its vibration would attract others to feast on it.
This meant that he needed to get the crystals before the sandworms fell on the sand. The problem was that he did not know exactly where the Crystals were located.
He could try to kick the beast at the part where the Crystal was but he couldn't risk because he did not know if the kicks could destroy the crystals too.
He sighed. He had rejoiced the fact that he had his boosts but he did not know how he was going to fulfill the mission. But what was impossible unless he tried?
Marx released the Halo Steps and stepped on the sand. He the quickly activated them as soon as he landed and shot into the air. Luckily only one sandworm shot after him.
Marx activated the Halo Steps halfway and helped boost himself above the sandworm's reached. When he saw the sandworm curve and start diving back into the ground, he activated Laser Kicks.
He spinned himself falling as he prepared the kick for the sandworm. The kick hit the sandworm's center and made a 5 centimeter hole on it. He saw a red laser light shoot from the other side and struck into the sand creating another hole.
The part the laser hit appeared smokey and burnt. Even the sand was burnt. Marx was shocked by the power of the Laser kicks but he knew that the battle was far from over.
The sandworm could be dead but it could only register as completed after he collected the Crystal. He realized the mistake he had done once again.
Since the Laser Kicks were only available twice a battle, it could only mean that if he failed to get the crystal, he would have a single Laser Kick left for the next battle and if in the next battle he failed, he would lose the Laser Kicks.
[Laser kicks> 1 remaining]
Marx wanted to blurt out that he knew he only had one remaining but he had to get the Crystal. What frustrated him most was that he did not know how he was going to split it open.
He had no sharp weapon he could use. Not willing to lose the Crystal, he dived after it and activated the Halo Steps behind him to increase his speed.
The sandworm had jumped to a distance of 45 meters and he caught up with it when it was 35 meters from the ground. Without second thoughts, he activated the most appropriate skill.
Fist Torpedoes. His eyes fixated on the falling sandworm. He felt a something on his fists covering them to the wrists. He checked and saw a magnificent sight.
What appeared like black gloves as thin as a sheet of paper that went halfway to his fingers formed. The gloves felt elastic but Marx knew that they were probably metallic. This was one of the qualities the system had told him created by beast crystals. Bending.
But that was not all. What appeared like thin pipes appeared. But these were nozzles. Laser nozzles. Used to fire laser bullets. The astonishing factor was the flexibility of these gloves.
One could mistake them for being made of clothe. Marx did not have the luxury to observe more though. He quickly started punching at the sandworm.
He appeared like a god. The first punch was amazing. Blue laser bullets shot from the nozzles. He had failed to observe but there were three of them.
The bullets did their job perfectly. A single bullet made sure to open up a some skin. The entire punch made sure to open up around 30 centimeters of the samdworm's skin.
Seeing the effectiveness of the Fist Torpedoes, he was caught in a frenzy as he punched almost five times in a second. He appeared like a mad man.
His whole body was covered with a buish black slimy liquid. Probably the blood. But Marx appeared relentless. He did not stop for a second to check on his condition as he kept punching.
The bullets produced a low sound whenever it was fired. Marx heard it as music to his ears. He did not want to stop tearing it into shreds.
He wanted to destroy it even more. He increased the speed of his punches such that he even managed to punch ten times a second.
By the time they finally reached the ground, there was no longer anything to punch. All around were pieces of meat and at the middle part was a colourless crystal. This was about ten meters away from where he had landed.
That was the most important object for this mission. He moved at top speed and he finally reached the crystal. If the rest of the world knew of the feat he had accomplished alone, they would all come for him.
First thing being that the sandworms were almost 30 meters long. Marx had managed kill one with one kick and to prove his strength, he had torn it into shreds with punches.
It had taken almost ten seconds for them to finally reach the ground. Only the top elites could not easily accomplish the feat if given the best equipments. But to Marx, he felt like these were casual weapons from the system.
Sandworms were known for their defenses due to their hard skin. A sandworm's skin could be said to be made with cement but Marx made it appear like they were of wet paper.
Marx bent and picked the crystal which disappeared. Immediately he did so, he activated Halo Steps and shot into the air or else he would be turned into a sandworm's snack.
He had calculated that it took approximately two seconds for a sandworm to shoot from the ground. This was more than enough time.
With his speed combined with Halo steps, it was an easy job taking less than two seconds to reach the crystal. Immediately he shot into the air, quicksands appeared.
Then like geysers, ten sandworms shot from the ground each a second later than the other. Marx looked back a smile appearing on his face.
"Beautiful."