Solo Cultivating in Superhero Academy
Chapter 72: Titant Dreadworms

Chapter 72: Titant Dreadworms

The group ran through the forest of the dimensional rift, their pace swift, their hearts pounding.

The bioluminescent canopy above flickered as if reacting to their presence.

The air was humid, rich with dense spiritual particles and a thick tension that made every breath feel like drawing in warm oil.

As they ran, Elius was the vanguard, slicing through any obstacle with his flying swords.

Vines that reached out like claws were severed.

Roots that twisted to grab ankles were cut mid-motion.

The ground was littered with pulsing eggs and glowing fungi, but none of them mattered.

Not until the first swarm appeared.

A group of yellow-green insectoids emerged from the thick bushes.

Their legs clicked rapidly, their compound eyes shimmered with acid light, and they hissed in unison.

The bugs weren’t large, only the size of a dog—but their sheer numbers were terrifying.

CHCHCHCHCHCH!

The sound of their legs scraping together created a metallic buzz that felt like it drilled into their skulls.

Elius wasted no time.

WHSH!

His sword shot forward like a lightning bolt, cleaving three of them in a single motion. Acidic green blood sprayed the air, sizzling when it hit the nearby tree.

Monkaar raised his arms and flung patches of earth into the air, sending clusters of the bugs flying.

Clint stood back, his six gun-barrels rotating as he took aim and—

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!

Precise shots blew apart the chittering creatures, splattering ichor across the dimensional rift floor.

Balkan directed his worms, and they surged forward like living tanks.

They crushed the bugs under their armored bodies, chewing and swallowing without pause.

The first wave was easy.

But the second wasn’t.

More bugs came. Larger. Hardened. Some of them had plated backs like beetles, deflecting sword strikes.

Others had wings, and flew in zigzag patterns, hissing as they released bursts of acidic mist.

"Clint! Support fire, now!" Elius shouted, dodging a stream of acid that nearly melted through his sleeve.

"I’m on it!" Clint twisted his wrists, reloading the guns on his fingers with practiced ease. The barrels snapped open, glowing energy cartridges slotted in, and he fired with renewed force.

"Balkan!" Elius called. "We need heavier artillery!"

"I’m trying!" Balkan shouted, as one of his worms was dragged back by three winged insects clawing at its armored sides.

Monkaar floated high, raising both hands and pulling a massive slab of land straight up from the ground. "Move, all of you!"

The others dove aside.

BOOOOOOM!

He dropped the land-slab onto a swarm of bugs, instantly crushing them in a thunderous quake. The dimensional rift floor cracked beneath the impact, and a wave of crushed chitin and slime splashed out like a tidal wave.

Clint reloaded again, breathing hard.

Elius swept his swords in a wide arc, deflecting another bug from biting into Balkan’s neck.

But suddenly—

RRRMMMM!

Balkan’s worms began to glow.

Each of them trembled violently as if something inside was shifting.

Their bodies lengthened, their scales darkened, and horns began sprouting from their heads.

"What the—!?" Balkan shouted.

A golden screen appeared to Elius.

[Ding! Balkan’s Spiritual Link has deepened!]

[Balkan’s Earth Predator Worms have evolved into Titan Dreadworms!]

[They have gained the skill: Burrow Maelstrom!]

Elius would be shocked,

The worms howled, and with terrifying speed, burrowed into the ground, only to erupt moments later like geysers of muscle and scale, obliterating every remaining insect in the area.

Elius stood silently, watching the battlefield settle in a haze of smoldering insect acid and twitching chitin limbs.

The wind carried a strange warmth, and glowing blue mist from the shattered insects filtered through the jungle like a restless fog. But even as the tension eased, Elius’s eyes weren’t on the falling bug limbs or the half-burned foliage.

His eyes were on Balkan.

Or more specifically, the two Titan Dreadworms standing like armored sentinels behind him.

They were unlike anything he had seen before. Massive—each one easily the size of a heavy motorcycle, their coiled forms stretching like living siege weapons.

Their segmented carapaces shimmered with obsidian luster, and from their horned heads glowed faint runes of spiritual evolution.

Sand slithered around their bodies like loyal pets, and the ground itself bent to accommodate their weight.

Their mandibles clicked in unison, and their movement was like watching a mountain ripple through the soil.

And these... were under Balkan’s command.

Even as a sidekick, Elius had suspected Balkan’s bug control ability could become terrifying. But this?

This was beyond what he had imagined.

Is this how far his cultivation spirit influenced Balkan spirit?

He was hoping that Balkan would not lose control of it.

Elius clenched his fists.

What kind of martial skill would I get? I’m going to follow the same as Balkan’s path? he wondered. Would I gain beasts like his worms under my command? Could I have an army of my own?

A spark of greed flickered in his heart before he shook it off.

But still... the temptation lingered.

BOOM!

A second swarm burst through the jungle canopy, shaking him from his thoughts.

These bugs were different—electric blue, with lightning coursing over their carapaces.

Their wings buzzed violently, emitting dissonant high-pitched shrieks that made Clint flinch and Monkaar clutch his ears in pain.

"New wave incoming!" Clint shouted. "They’re—damn, are those sparks on their legs?!"

The bugs arced lightning across their bodies as they moved. Stray bolts shot into the trees, cracking wood and igniting fires.

"Electric attribute types!" Monkaar yelled. "Don’t let them touch the water!"

But Elius didn’t move. He didn’t have to.

Because the worms howled.

Like titans awakened, the Titan Dreadworms surged forward, unaffected by the lightning crackling through the air.

Their bodies shimmered with internal earth energy that grounded every arc of electricity.

The bugs struck—claws flaring, mandibles snapping—but the worms crashed through them like a living avalanche.

CRAAASH!

One worm coiled and spun, slamming into a dozen electric insects, crushing them against a tree so hard the trunk exploded. Sparks danced over its hide, but the worm didn’t even slow.

The other one burrowed into the earth, leaving only a ripple behind—then erupted from below, flinging the entire swarm into the air like rag dolls.

As they fell, its tail whipped sideways with a THWACK, shattering the bugs midair into glittering acid mist.

And still more came.

Another wave. Bigger. Twice the size.

These ones crawled out of the shadows with bulbous thoraxes and pulsating bio-electric sacs on their backs.

Their eyes glowed red, and lightning flickered in their mouths like charged reactors.

Balkan didn’t flinch.

"Now!" he shouted. "Titan Dreadworms—Maelstrom Burrow!" he said naturally as if he knew that at the same time they evolved.

The worms divided again.

A moment passed—then the ground exploded.

BOOM!

Geysers of dirt and spiritual energy erupted like volcanic tremors.

The entire forest seemed to shake.

The shockwave blew Clint off his feet, and Monkaar spun midair in panic.

When the dust cleared, the electric bugs were gone.

All of them.

Their bodies were mashed into glowing blue sludge beneath the earth. The worms coiled upward, triumphant.

Balkan smirked, proud. "I don’t have to train them, huh?"

Elius stared, speechless.

For the first time in this dimensional rift... he felt like the side character.

Clint gave a low whistle. "Damn, old man. You’ve got kaiju in your pockets."

Monkaar floated down, still dazed. "I don’t even know how to process what I just saw..."

Elius took a breath and turned away. "Alright," he said, trying to shake the feeling. "I’ll pick up the magic crystals."

He walked over to the base of the broken tree where they had first seen the shimmering lights.

The crystals pulsed softly in the soil, as if breathing. He bent down and collected four of them—each warm to the touch, vibrating with nascent energy.

"Wait," Clint called. "There’s more than four! Why not take all of them?"

Balkan chimed in, brushing dirt from his cloak. "Yeah, if they’re useful, we should grab everything now."

Elius examined the remaining crystals, shaking his head. "They’re not ready yet."

"Huh?" Monkaar floated over. "What do you mean, not ready?"

Elius stood up, holding the four crystals. "Their glow is faint. They haven’t ripened. Not enough energy. If we take them now, they might not even be usable. But maybe... if we complete this dimensional rift, and they grow in the ambient energy, then we can collect them later—when they’re truly worth it."

Balkan crossed his arms. "That’s... weirdly logical."

"Don’t think about it too hard," Clint muttered. "The captain sees stuff we don’t."

Elius pocketed the crystals. "Alright. Enough detours. We still have to deal with that creature."

Balkan flexed his fingers, and his worms clicked eagerly. "Maybe my Dreadworms can handle it. You saw how they tore through those electric freaks."

Elius turned to him, half-nodding. "Maybe. But..."

His eyes narrowed. "I have a bad feeling about that thing."

They all fell silent.

Then, without another word, they departed. The jungle swallowed their path once again.

But they did not notice what was left behind.

From the shadows where no eyes looked, from the carcasses of the fallen insect beasts and the broken trees, a shape emerged.

A shadow.

Slow. Trembling. Gaunt like a starving ghost.

Its body was the same creature from before—the one that had fled from them.

A humanoid wrapped in sand-bandages, faceless, skin cracked and bone-thin. Its eyes were hollow holes of glowing darkness, and every inch of its body pulsed with hunger.

It crawled toward the bodies.

Then, it opened its mouth.

Craaaaaakkk—

Its jaw unhinged with the dry sound of cracking bones. Its throat expanded like a snake’s, revealing not teeth—but a swirling vortex of golden sand and spiritual mist.

It began to swallow.

The corpses vanished into its gullet like water into desert. Chitin, acid, electricity—consumed without resistance. Its stomach glowed with every soul it devoured. Its aura rose, inch by inch.

Hummmmmmmmmmmmmm—

The jungle went silent.

Then, BOOOOM.

The creature’s aura exploded outward.

It was no longer pitiful.

It stood straight now—taller, its shoulders broader, its body armored in layers of hardening sand-magic shells. Its head twitched with life.

The ground beneath it cracked with a pulse of Earth-element magic.

If Elius were here, he would’ve sensed it instantly:

—Comparable to an F-rank Superhero in the first starve and it was rising.

Not that fast.

But not slow either.

The creature turned slowly.

And then... it noticed the leftover crystals.

The unripe ones.

It crept forward, sand slithering behind it like shadowy tails.

It knelt, staring at the glow.

And it grabbed one.