Parker's face became more grim as he began to realize how stupid he had been.

  Asha doesn't want to say what she thinks because she's not sure. And here I am, waiting for her.

  Yohan lowered his loud voice a little, becoming fidgety and looking uncomfortable. "Speaking of Asha, have you guys, like...?"

  He didn't continue, and Parker was very confused. "Have we what?"

  "Come on, man, don't be like that. Like, how many of you have, you know… had her already?"

  Parker's blood turned cold as he understood.

  He froze, his eyes wide open as he watched Yohan, who seemed impervious to Parker's obvious shock.

  Yohan kept talking, asking how she felt and if they all went at once or if you had to talk to her a lot to convince her.

  Parker's stomach felt like a rolling ball of sludge, and his legs felt weak.

  Yohan, again undeterred by his reaction, continued, "She seems like the looser-around-boys type, so I'm not as scared of her as other girls, but you know… I don't want to step on your toes. Are we all allowed to have a turn, or should I just back off?"

  Parker stumbled over his words. "Are—are you serious?"

  Yohan seemed impartial to his response and shrugged. "I mean, I don't usually like her kind, but she seems like she would be a good time. Nice hips, and her waist is small. Not much going on up top, but—"

  Parker's hand wrapped around Yohan's neck, his eyes devoid of anything resembling rationality as he began to squeeze the life out of Yohan's scrawny throat.

  "If I see you close to Asha, I'll throw you into the sand."

  He held on for a couple of seconds, watching the boy struggle, his eyes red and his raspy pleas for mercy barely audible before releasing him and walking away.

  He charged up to their camp with undisguised anger.

  He began by informing them, "We won't get anything without putting ourselves in danger."

  "We have to lure one into jumping out by going to the edge using someone as bait. Someone else has to get in close and wait for the Swimmer to jump out."

  "Of course, we're hoping that it won't sense that person and jump for them, but we have to do something. Get the spirit essence, and we're definitely not giving those bastards anything."

  Paul looked conflicted. He was happy to move forward but not ready to test Vasilis' hand. He confessed hesitantly, "I don't think we should gamble with that madman."

  "He won't shoot them. No matter what he feels, we need each other. Driving a line between us all will only bite him in the back." he snarled as Yohan returned "Also, tie that bastard up."

  They immediately grabbed him and smiled as he resisted, pushing his head into the ground roughly as he protested and begged.

  "You're making a mistake… Vasilis can be rational, but he doesn't care about killing a few people to get what he wants."

  They ignored him and began to talk.

  Parker volunteered to be bait, but everyone disagreed.

  Asha quickly informed him, "Right now, you're probably the one with the most attack power among us. With Blue Trick's attack buff, you're the clearest choice for the attacker."

  Paul agreed, nodding vigorously. "But it doesn't have to be that dangerous for the bait or attackers anyway. They swim in the sand under us right now, so if we create a lot of vibrations using the metal sword, we can lure them away for us to set up, then lure them back for the trap."

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  They refined the method a little and got to work, luring the beast from the place they chose for the hunt.

  They tied a rope just above the crossguard of Blue Trick where the pressure of pulling wouldn't yank the sword out of the Swimmer's body. They also picked a second attacker, seizing a sharp metal pipe from Yohan.

  The irritating boy complained as they took his weapon, but they gagged him with a dirty sock.

  Two attackers would stab the Swimmer on both sides, and then the whole group would pull them out of the sand using the ropes attached to the weapons.

  The final wait was painfully quiet and still for him. Parker and another Loadbearer stood at opposite sides, waiting for the bait.

  Paul had volunteered to be bait since no one else wanted to and stepped up to the edge. They smiled at each other, and Parker let out a silent whoop to hype himself up.

  He was strangely unafraid.

  He knew at any moment something could rise out of the sand—four massive brown spikes in its mouth. It would clamp around his head, crush his skull, and drag his corpse below the sand.

  But he wasn't really afraid. Rather, he was jittery with stalled energy, waiting to move—to attack.

  Paul nodded at him steadily, and he returned a curt, impatient nod.

  Let's do this.

  Paul approached the edge slowly. He was a steady guy, not easily spooked but very cautious and hesitant.

  He was kind of scrawny and tall with tanned skin and black hair. But Parker had become very trusting of the boy's strength.

  As he got closer, he began to march the ground hard.

  Parker and the other attacker tensed, ready to spring up and stab whatever attacked.

  I won't even let it get close to him.

  Nothing came out.

  Paul stamped the ground determinedly. He repeated this until the sand in front of him moved slightly.

  He paused, scared, before clenching his teeth and stepping harder against the ground, growling, "Do it, then."

  The Sand Swimmer obliged, jumping out.

  Its body was brown and fleshy. It had long pectoral fins that resembled a sharp blade, and its bottom half was fish-like, but its caudal fins were like a shark's—strangely jagged and rigid for swimming through the sands.

  Its head was covered in sharp, serrated barbels that were tucked close to its skin.

  It was easily twice as big as Parker and had four sharp, crowbar-like teeth for grasping and locking onto its prey.

  It swam through the air for a millisecond before Parker rose to stab it, the other attacker close behind. They slammed the sharp objects into the Sand Swimmer's smooth body, and for a second, they held it in the air, pitching forward slightly.

  Parker gasped. "It's lighter than… Keep carrying it away from the edge!"

  He began moving hoping the other Loadbearer had heard him, and the others began pulling with their ropes.

  The sand boiled behind Parker, and they barely escaped as three more Sand Swimmers jumped out, snapping at their ankles as they retreated.

  Parker had no time to recognize this. His muscles burned as they struggled forward. The Swimmer struggled violently, throwing them about.

  Three people from the group abandoned pulling the rope and ran to get the nets, throwing them on the ugly head of the creature, pulling it forward, trying to stabilize it.

  Parker groaned and struggled against the weight of the beast. His shoulder screamed in pain, and his face turned a ruddy red as he took brief, sharp breaths to stabilize himself.

  A sudden jerk from the monster nearly threw him over, but he marched harder against the ground, ignoring the stream of red-hot pain that sliced up his leg.

  The Sand Swimmer let out desperate cries as it struggled, pulling against the net before its barbels suddenly expanded like a porcupine, tearing the net apart with its deadly spikes.

  Its increased struggle was too much to handle.

  They dropped it, some of its barbels snapped against the ground before they were quickly retracted.

  Parker was sputtering and gasping as fell back on his ass. He shouted, "Kill it!"

  They all let go of their ropes and circled the creature, beating and stabbing with their weapons. Blood and noise filled the air as the monster whipped around, trying to move and snap at its attackers.

  They carried shields, but the force of its tail cracking against them sent them sprawling, each snap was a life-threatening endeavor.

  Yet they stood after being thrown down and slammed their tools into the Swimmer's body after dodging a snap.

  There was a hungry viciousness in their eyes as they came for the beast's life.

  Parker was no different.

  Stumbling to his feet, he took deep, sharp breaths, biding his time.

  Once the Swimmer rolled over, revealing Blue Trick's hilt embedded in its side, Parker took a play from Matthew's book.

  He rushed the creature empty-handed, staggered, retreating from what seemed like a tail attack, then jumped and grabbed the sword.

  He ran the sword along its side, filleting the monstrous fish.

  Asha, seeing what he was doing, ordered, "Grab the rope on the other side"

  She grabbed the rope as it reached her. "Now wrap it around the head and hold it down!"

  They held it down as he sliced the side of the beast, black blood painting his body, entering his eyes.

  He would hit a bone, ignore the jolting pain, then turn the hilt and follow a less resistant part.

  The monster roared horribly, opening its spines. It couldn't break free from the rope but threw its captors down onto the ground before slamming its body against Parker. He felt like he had run into a wall, and the warm sensation of blood filled his mouth. Clenching his jaw, he screamed, planting his feet and tearing the sword out from its tailbone.

  He staggered back in a reluctant retreat as the beating started again. They beat, screamed, and fought the beast for almost three minutes before it finally stopped moving.

  They all sat on the ground, some lying spread-eagle in utter exhaustion.

  Paul was helping a guy set and wrap a broken hand as he panted, deeply tired. "Jesse will fix you up when we get back."

  One of the guys let out a victorious roar, and Parker was close behind him shouting happily. They all struggled to their feet, high-fiving and hugging each other. Asha jumped on his back, her arms wrapped around his neck.

  "That was fucking insane."

  He had forgotten his previous anger and hugged her. He was relieved to be alive.

  He was thankful and muttered a muffled prayer, sighing deeply before letting her go and announcing, "No time to rest. Let's open this thing up, take what we need, and get out."

  They began a furious butchering of the monster. Its meat was softer and cleaner-looking than the Wall Crawler's.

  Some of their guys went out to bait away curious Salamanders while they extracted the spirit essence.

  Parker swam through blood and giant organs, cutting them open before he found them—four shining blue gems. He spat some blood onto the ground and smiled.

  They retreated back to the base, drying the blood from their clothes before resting.

  They all looked at each other, smiling, before someone asked, "Oh god, who's going to start the fire and set this meat up? I'm so tired and hungry."

  "Wall Crawler meat is absolute trash, disgusting and unfulfilling. Zero out of ten would not recommend that shit"

  Asha brought something to him with Paul, who was also covered in blood from the stomach exploration. It was a wish coin.

  "Greedy bastard must have swallowed it," Asha said. "I saw it among the things... excreted from its body as it died."

  Parker looked at her seriously. "Keep it. I have an idea."