[CH598+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

The two massive Demonic Sand Worms dive down toward me, and my fists glow with bright white light.

Behind their heads, zigzag patterns of flashing green mana and divine energy fill the sky as Ava slams the worm that followed her down to the ground while coming back to throw off the course of the worms heading my way.

The stats she's pulling from my many worlds are steadily rising as her avatar acclimates to the new power.

This is clear to see because instead of just changing the worm's general direction by a few meters like her first hits, they get pushed around helplessly, slamming into the sloped side of the mountain while screeching as they don't understand where or how they've been hit.

Their ether defenses block the physical damage, but Ava is moving too fast for them to see.

This disorientation gives me enough time to land two punches filled with condensed mental ether into one of the worms and use the force of the blowback of the automatic defenses to send me flying into the side of the other worm to land my first mental ether-infused kick.

While I'm sent flying again, I feel Ava pull even more power, creating a dense gravitational field around her, and channeling it all into her Soul Weapon to strike it across the side of the head as it tries to get up and strike us down the middle.

While I land on the ground with sharp ether pains all over my body, my eyes widen at the sight of Ava's hammer's impact.

Her ether imbued into the strike is quite basic, not greater than the amount she used in sparring with me.

However, the surrounding glow of dense green power is so great, it blows all of the dark black and purple demonic energy shielding away from the worm's tough hide, and the brutal impact force of this blow tears the entire worm out from the ground.

Hundreds of meters of black stone fly into the air along with the worm's entire body, and deep green cracks in its avatar vibrate outward from where it was hit. The raw force of this attack is too overwhelming for mere automatic ether defenses to fully contain.

On top of this development, the two Sand Worms I've struck with more high-powered mental attacks try to screech, but their minds give out before either of them can let out their entire cries.

Their heads go limp, twitching and shaking the ground, unable to even support their battle instincts.

In seconds, they've been overpowered.

Even though victory seems imminent, I don't hesitate to go back in with just as much vigor as my first strike.

The knocked-out head of the sand worm slowly slides down the mountain's side while I ether step on top of it and continue pummeling away at its thick hide.

The first two dozen punches are filled with mental attacks to make sure it's not waking up any time soon, and the next two dozen are to break through its automatic defenses.

There is some blowback at first, sending more sharp pains through my arms, but after a portion of its avatar is shattered, I'm tearing through its inner flesh and aiming straight for its divine core.

Violent waves of demonic energy and divine energy surge out from its body, but my purple barrier makes it feel like a warm breeze while I shatter its core.

I only have to keep my barrier open for a fraction of a second for all of its energy to flow in; I don't even stop what I'm doing, repeating the same ruthless process with the second downed sandworm, shattering its core and absorbing its power.

While I jump out from the second worm and look up toward the top of the peak, I watch Ava zipping through the sky, slowly shattering the avatar of the final worm.