Universe Infinite Canteen

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The square-jawed Hunter reacted just in time, lunging forward the moment he sensed danger and narrowly dodging the attack from the golden forelimb.

But as he landed, before he could get up, he felt his body sink down again, and sand began to cascade around him, forming a pit with a huge maw waiting at the bottom!

The square-jawed Hunter's eyes widened in horror, and just when he thought he was about to be bitten in half by the maw, a metal cable as thick as a finger entwined around his ankle.

The cable's owner yanked fiercely, pulling him out of the maw's grasp in the nick of time.

The remaining Hunters hadn't been idle either, after coming to their senses a barrage of attacks descended upon the sandpit, the onslaught lasting a full thirty seconds.

When the attacks gradually stopped after half a minute, the Iron-Eating Scarab at the bottom of the pit had vanished without trace.

"Where did it go?" The crowd turned to Aes again.

"Uh... give me a moment."

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Only 10 of the 14 Jumping Mice that Aes had sent out returned, and the other 4 were nowhere to be found, whether they had died or been scared off.

Moreover, the remaining Jumping Mice were on strike, Aes had already given each of them three strips of jerky, but they still refused to burrow underground to search for the terrifying creature.

Seeing more and more people looking his way, their gazes seemingly asking why he wasn't starting yet, Aes couldn't help wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Determined, he took out all the jerky he had and said to the Jumping Mice, "This is all I have left. If you still think it's not enough then we can go our separate ways. If you can't help me, I won't keep you anymore."

It was unclear if it was the additional jerky that moved the Jumping Mice or if the threat that there were plenty of other mice who would do the job made them sense a threat.

In any case, they finally overcame their fear and started moving, burrowing into the ground one by one.

Aes let out a sigh of relief, but the next moment he felt the ground beneath his feet give way, and one of his legs sank into the sand.

He then saw two Jumping Mice desperately trying to burrow out from under the sand, only to pop their heads out before disappearing again.

Having just witnessed the square-faced Hunter's predicament, Aes knew exactly what was happening!

Frantically, he tried to run towards the edge of the pit, but the pit formed faster than he had anticipated.

Fortunately, there were still many people waiting for him to locate the Iron-Eating Scarab, paying close attention to the activity here. The female Hunter who had saved the square-faced Hunter before acted again, controlling her metal chain to reach Aes's front.

The chain wrapped around one of Aes's arms, intending to pull him out of the pit.

Just as Aes thought he was saved, two forelimbs emerged again from beneath the sandpit, clamping onto one of his legs.

Aes couldn't help but let out a cry of pain as the Iron-Eating Scarab's strength was astonishing—its grip shattered his leg bone on the spot.

The female Hunter controlling the metal chain tensed it slightly, and Aes screamed in agony as he was yanked back and forth.

She had to release the metal chain, but rather than retracting after leaving Aes's arm, it wrapped around one of the Iron-Eating Scarab's forelimbs.

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The female Hunter attempted to stop the Iron-Eating Scarab from stuffing Aes into its mouth using such a method. However, she clearly underestimated the strength of the giant golden bug, and instead, she was made to stagger by the latter, both sliding towards the sandpit below.

A male Hunter with only nine fingers also lunged at that moment, grabbing the metal chain with her, while the Nine-Fingered Hunter also conjured a suit of Sand Soil Armor around himself.

The suit of Sand Soil Armor was astonishingly heavy, weighing a full two hundred catties. After the Nine-Fingered Hunter donned the armor, his feet sank into the sand, yet it was still not enough to halt the metal chain from being pulled towards the pit.

The others also took action, someone unleashed a fireball that exploded above the head of the Iron-Eating Scarab, another gathered the sand near the sandpit into spikes to pierce the underbelly of the giant golden bug, and yet another directly summoned a Tornado...

However, these attacks seemed to merely tickle the Iron-Eating Scarab, not even leaving a scratch on it.

Seemingly realizing that the humans above were at a loss on how to deal with it, the Iron-Eating Scarab then decided to climb out of the sandpit.

It was nearly nine meters long, its entire body a pale gold color, with a pair of forelegs, midlegs, and hindlegs, almost every part covered in a carapace, leaving no vulnerable spots for the enemies to exploit.

Seeing that their attacks couldn't break through its defenses, a sense of despair began to spread among the Hunters.

Such a fearsome opponent was simply beyond their ability to conquer, and perhaps it had been a mistake to take part in this assessment from the start. Some were already thinking this way.

Yet, some still hadn't given up resistance. A Hunter named Dian Lu, responsible for commanding, quickly approached the one who had summoned the Tornado after realizing the disarray of attacks was ineffective.

He asked the latter to continue creating Tornadoes around the Iron-Eating Scarab and also gathered eight Hunters with excellent close-combat abilities. They opened the equipment box provided by the Twin Sunflower Hunting Group and took out Heat Cutting Saws.

This was the only weapon that could inflict damage on the Iron-Eating Scarab.

At the same time, Dian Lu was also loudly encouraging everyone else.

"The Iron-Eating Scarab is less than ten meters long, and its color is just pale gold, it hasn't fully matured yet. As long as we cooperate properly, we still have a chance to defeat it. Even if we have to retreat, we must first rescue our companion."

The selected Hunters were no rookies, having spent time in other Hunting Groups, with abundant combat experience and strong stress resilience. Even faced with the current situation, they remained composed.

Upon hearing this, they all nodded, "No problem, we will all follow the command."

Afterward, Dian Lu divided the eight people into four teams of two and assigned Heat Cutting Saws to three of them, leaving one team as reserve to remain mobile as they approached the Iron-Eating Scarab.

The sand dust whipped up by the Tornado offered them cover, allowing them to quickly close in on the giant bug. Then they launched their attack from three different directions.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Two of the teams were only feigning attacks, drawing the attention of the Iron-Eating Scarab. The remaining team took the opportunity to jump onto its back, using the Heat Cutting Saw to slice at the forelimbs of the Iron-Eating Scarab.

Just as Aes was about to be fed into the maw at the last moment, they finally sawed through the thick carapace of the forelimb, severing its joint.

Aes's body fell from the air.

The prey that had already been brought to the edge of its mouth slipped away, infuriating the Iron-Eating Scarab, which swung its other forelimb towards Aes, who lay unconscious on the ground.

But it was preempted by a metal chain, seemingly out of nowhere, that dragged the man away first.