"Don’t stop!" Sterling called from the front. "Lead them ahead!"
Ahead? What does she an by that?
But Aren quickly realized what the professor ant. Just right ahead was an area that dipped down into what seed like an open valley. Most of the terrain was flat which ant it would be easier to see where the attacks were coming from.
"Good call," Daniel said through a strained breath as he adjusted his pace. "Better than getting blindsided every two seconds."
It’s not exactly safer, just less unpredictable. Which, given the situation, was the best they were going to get.
The mont they got to the descent, their sprint turned into a slide as the incline dragged downward faster than they could control.
Aren shifted his weight, trying his best not to fall over while keeping Luna secured on his back, a job harder than he’d like to admit.
"Keep moving!" Sterling called from ahead, already adjusting to the slope as she almost reached the base of the valley.
Even as they were sliding, Aren could feel the slight tremors in the rock and how it threatened to collapse at any mont. From his peripheral vision, he could see the lines chasing after the other club mbers.
But then...sothing yanked.
"—Gghh!" Aren grunted as the montum he had suddenly stopped, causing him to tip and fall over.
He turned and saw it. One of the Worms were coiled around Luna’s leg, nearly ripping her off his back as he instinctively twisted.
Aren dropped to one knee, one hand slamming against the stop to stop himself from being pulled further.
Then, a sudden blur raced across his vision. In the very next blink, Professor Sterling appeared right next to them.
With a knife in hand along with a thin layer of ether wrapped around its edge, she the blade drove down onto the creature.
It convulsed almost instantly, grip loosening just enough for Aren to yank the rest off of Luna’s feet. The severed portion writhed violently before disappearing back into the stone as quickly as it had co.
"...Thanks," he muttered eting back up with the rest of the group on the valley bellow.
But his eyes flicked to the professor’s blade. "...I thought we wenre’t using ether."
"If we don’t," she said flatly, already scanning the ground again, "we’re dead anyway."
"Keep it low. No Arts," she continued, surveying the area. "Just enough to reinforce yourself or your weapons. If we’re lucky, it’ll blend right in with those thing’s signatures."
Nobody really argued. For the first ti since arriving, they could actually fight back.
Aren drew a small knife from his pack before imbuing it with his ether. Lightning charges snapped on the steel’s edge as he turned his attention to the Worms.
With the field finally clear, Aren could finally see the things in full. What he had taken for brief flashes before now revealed themselves as long, thick bodies tearing through the stone in effortless motion.
Each one was plated in jagged layers of ice and stone, the segnts grinding against each other as they moved. Topped off with razor-like teeth for a mouth, and there was a creature Aren definitely wouldn’t want to see twice.
Yet, all around them, there must’ve been an entire army of Worms—the creatures circling the group with almost unsettling coordination.
Aren’s grip tightened around the knife. Each one...at least Semi-General Class. Maybe higher depending on the size.
Shit...we could easily take them out at full strength. This looks really bad...
The mont the lines beneath the ground stopped spreading and started collapsing on them, the decision made itself.
"Spread out!" Sterling called. "Don’t bunch up!"
Their formation broke instantly. Aren shifted to the side, putting distance between himself and the others as he planted his footing, and tracked one of the lines moving toward him.
It surfaced fast, the ground bulging just slightly before splitting open entirely. The worm tore upward in a violent lunge, its maw aid straight at him, ready to devour him whole.
Aren just barely managed to dodge to the side, the bite missing him by cecntiters. His free hand slamd against its plated exterior, using it as a lever and twisting his body over to deliver a blow straight into one of the gaps in the segnts.
Yet the blade barely managed to leave a scratch as sparks flickered just as he pulled out.
"Tch..."
The Worm twisted violently, trying to shake him off before diving back down.
Aren jumped away just before it disappeared, barely managing to land on his feet. He turned to check on Luna, only to find another line darting straight at him.
The second Worm burst from underneath, surging upward as it went for the killing blow. Aren barely had ti to turn and jam his blade in between the raws of razor-sharp teeth.
His arms burned as the worm was driving its entire stone body downwards into him. Not the ntion Luna’s weight on his back, Aren was surprised he was even holding out for this long.
But within such close proximity, Aren realized sothing. Its innards were completely made of flesh, and its head was just small enough for Aren to think of sothing.
Risking a surge of ether, Aren pushed the Worm back, creating just enough space for him to drive the knife in again.
This ti, he pushed deeper, pushing past the jagged teeth and into the soft inner flesh. Lightning snapped faintly along the blade as he forced it upward, until he hit sothing...its brain.
Thunk!
The reaction was imdiate. The Worm convulsed violently, its entire body seizing as the segnts along its length started to drop piece by piece. It tried to dive, to retreat back into the stone—
But Aren twisted the blade once more before ripping it free, kicking off the creature as it collapsed, half subrged in the ground.
He pulled back, breathing heavily as his arms continued to burn from the repeated strain.
Please let that be all.
But his prayers were unanswered, as all around him, the ground continued to shift. More of the Worms waited.
If anything...the group was already like a prey—
Trapped in its predator’s den.
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