11. Colossus

The four of us stood outward in a circular formation, defending each other's backs. Zeke finally lit up our area with the orb on his staff, shocking my eyes that had been in the dark. Kai had been ready for bloodshed this whole time. I had loaded my wrist crossbow with [Explosive Bolts]—three mana bullets with explosive properties—and loosened the cork off my mana elixirs. The katana wielder hadn't unsheathed, but he had undoubtedly prepared himself for the unforeseen. Too bad he hasn't told us about his combat style or abilities yet, so it would be soundest to depend on ourselves.

The tunnel had gone completely quiet aside from the light rumbling and cracking in the distance. As the seconds of suspense passed, a drop of sweat rolled down my face and dripped down my chin.

"Above us!" Zeke shouted as we immediately pounced away from the center.

"Wha—!"

A gigantic jaw with the width of a hundred-year oak tree plunged from the ceiling, chomping where we earlier stood. It then dug underground, sliding the rest of its body through the openings. The worm had gummi-like flesh with a rugged texture, slimy yet solid.

On the opposite side, the glint of an ignited clever sword came into sight. It was Kai who managed to keep his footing stable, despite Zeke's hasty alert. Then, with a wide stance and a ferocious roar, he thrust his weapon through the worm and drove it horizontally, splitting it in half.

Promptly, the worm splattered blood and chunks of flesh all over, but Zeke was quick to shield us from an unwanted shower with some giant leaves.

"Hey, shithead," snapped Kai. Half of his face was hidden behind amaranth red blood, while the other revealed an indignant expression. "Why the hell didn't you cover me up? I was even the one who killed it!"

Zeke simply shrugged. "You were on the other side, and I didn't expect you to kill it in one attack. Just be appreciative that I managed to keep your clothes clean—or, ahem, at least, somewhat clean."

"Ugh, whatever. You got a hankie or just anything to wipe this off?"

"Yeah, I'll see if I can find it," he said with his hands searching through a leather bag. "By the way, I thought you couldn't conjure any magic, so where did that come from?"

"It ain't magic. It's just a feature of this sword. I got it from some weird merchant who said I needed it for the Rift, so he sold it cheap."

"How much did that cost?" I asked curiously with hints of excitement in my eyes. "Do you think he could offer me a deal too?"

"About 3 or 4 of my sheep, I think. I own an entire farm, so my—."

"Ay, guys, th-this thing is still alive!" I stuttered.

The three immediately turned their heads toward the abomination that had grown a malformed mouth from its decollated body. The other part had also revived to our terror, but tiny gaps emerged with a leaking fluid instead of obtaining jaws.

Kai's weapon lit up in flames as he raised it to cleave. "I'll just dice it over and over until it dies."

"No, don't," warned Zeke as he held his staff in front of Kai. His head pounded with tension; this was the first time I saw him nervous. "I sense a near-infinite amount of energy from that creature. It'll continue regenerating and multiplying until it's thinner than hair strands."

"Then what the hell do you suggest we do? Do nothing and die?" Kai retorted, preparing to strike again.

"Just stay on the defensive side for now. We'll figure out a way eventually," replied Zeke in a chiding tone. "At least, it's far better than the worm multiplying like bacteria. You don't—"

"Ugh, shut up already! The worm is about to attack," shouted Kai with a sign of vexation. Despite that, he still appeared to acknowledge Zeke's advice, noticing his change in stance.

However, instead of directly attacking, the two worms began thrashing around with unbelievable vigor and celerity when considering their size. We could only stare mindlessly, paralyzed by fear, as the walls started cracking and the ground beneath quaked. Fortunately, the relentless temblor and pebbles bashing against my skull rekindled my protective instincts.

"Ah goddamnit, I'm running for it," I blurted, louder than I wanted. "We're going to end up like ground meat if we don't."

The others instantly followed, sprinting back to where we started. Now and then, I would glance over my shoulder back at the worms flailing shockwaves throughout our bodies. Then, a spasm of worry crossed my face when the darkness buried them out of our vision.

"Zeke, do you know where they are?" I stressed, keeping my crossbow keen for another ambush. "If they come out, you think I could blast it with a shot?"

"They've already surpassed us, so there is no point in running," he replied, immediately stopping before we could react. "And don't be so hasty about butchering it because we don't know what will happen. Also, what in the world is he doing?"

I turned my attention to Kai, who was earlier willing to take on armies. Now, he kept sprinting with nothing telling him to stop as if his ears were cut off. Probably a hundred meters later, he realized something was off before turning to catch me, nearly bursting out in laughter despite our dire plight.

Inflamed, he jogged back with his shouting voice echoing through the tunnel. I couldn't enjoy this short respite from a humiliated Kai as the guy with katanas grabbed and pulled me away from the toxins dripping from the ceiling. As the droplet met the floor, a sizzling occurred that dissolved a tiny spot.

"Oof! Thank you, katana guy," I said with a note of relief. "I would have gotten a horrific bald spot if you didn't save me there."

"I'm Ashen, if you didn't know."

"So you had a name, huh?" I giggled with a mischievous smirk. Some fun wouldn't hurt; my mental energy recovered after a laugh, after all.

He simply nodded and turned his focus back to the potential ambush. I would have teased him a little more if death didn't stand around the corner.

"One is above, while the other is below," Zeke shouted with hands cupping his cheek. His orb's illumination grew brighter as he prepared another spell. "This time, they'll come from both sides. Listen for a rumbling sound and dodge the moment you hear it."

"Shush, Kai. Don't scrape your sword against the ground—"

"I get it! Alright?" he uttered with his curled lips, and along his nauseous expression, I was sure he got a dab of worm blood into his mouth. But you couldn't expect much else when one runs so absent-minded that he loses all sense of his surroundings.

"This thing sure is silent by how much stone it's drilling through," Kai murmured, squeezing a mixture of snot and blood out his nose. "Shit, I hear it; it'll jumpscare us any second now."

The sound of a colossus drilling through terrain grew exponentially before the two worms came bashing from both sides, colliding with a deafening blast. Again, we leaped away from the collision, rolling away from danger. Ashen, who stood at the impact, instead ducked and slit his two katanas through the worm, taking advantage of its fierce momentum. Before the intestines could ruin his elegant fashion, he was flung away by one of Zeke's spells.

“Nice job Zeke! Ze-Zeke?”

Color drained from his face with each passing second, and his hands trembled even when he held tight onto his coat.

"What's going on? Aren't you—"

Kai's wrapped his hands around my armpits and lifted me to his height without hesitation. Then, glancing past the colossal worm, I saw Ashen lying on the ground with a severed arm and half of his shoulder missing. Although he was still conscious, his injury had ignited a ticking time bomb.

Once I grasped the situation, he gently put me down and clenched his sword so firmly that veins appeared.

"Saria, cover me," spoke Kai with a soft tone that I would never have expected. Yet, in contradiction, his eyes blazed with the fiery hatred of a thousand stars. "Zeke, you better heal me up after this."

"What are you going to do?" I asked, even though I already knew it; he was going to fight them with raw strength alone, defying Zeke's words. There was no stopping him now.

As Kai approached his two prey, he took out two spherical pills from his pockets and swallowed them dry. I read somewhere that a combination of these two was common among veteran warriors and worked like a last resort. One of the pills kept mana levels balanced, whereas the other weakened pain receptors and had a minor strength boost. The downside was a vulnerable immune system, thunderclap headaches, or even death if overdosed.

Kai initiated his attack with a spinning slash, carving open the worm and revealing its pulsating intestines. Pulling back the strings on my arm toward my eye and aiming, I followed up with my own spell, firing three [Explosive Bolts] into the worm's wound. The smaller pieces I shot off were burst from within with blossoming flowers.

With another diagonal hack, Kai had now severed the worm into three cuts. Before they could revive themselves, I leaped to the side, aiming past Kai, and released a variation of [Explosive Bolts]—a singular, more hazardous bullet—at the shorter body. Upon impact, it detonated with a loud bang, but it was overshadowed shortly after by the worm's horrific howl. The echoing roar made Zeke lose focus for a slim instant as the clumps of the worm I demolished grew consciousness of their own, piling up on Kai's legs.

Neither Zeke nor I could save him. I couldn't risk friendly fire, and Zeke simply couldn't deal with hundreds at once. Worst of all, Kai didn't even realize the stack of worms. His gushing adrenaline along the pills left him berserk. He had only one goal in mind: to swing his sword mindlessly.

The worms quickly realized they couldn't bite through his armor and adapted by hurdling up and targeting his neck. Since getting to know Kai, I've always wished for his demise, but now it was different. I prayed with the hope that something or someone would save him. Maybe it was because his death would result in ours. Or perhaps it was his sudden change in nature that got me.

Slash, shing!

Two crescent afterimages of a pitch black katana executed the smaller worms about to rip from Kai's head. Then, with another swift slash imbued with an eclipse black aura, electric jolts ran through the accumulated pile, paralyzing them to death.

"Ashen! You're alive?!" I screamed, almost choking on the mana elixir I downed.

"Hahaha, thank you, samurai," exclaimed Kai while slicing the larger body in two. His flaming sword scorched the wound, weakening its regenerative capabilities just enough for Zeke and me to release another rotation of magic. Noticing Zeke's drained expression, I quickly tossed him a potion and gave him a nod, implying I'll take over for now.

With two frenzied fighters on the frontline, hitting the correct target was challenging, especially when my ranged spells had a large area of effect. I had no choice but to leap into melee range if I wanted to impact the battle.

Sliding beneath the worm, I covered my body in a thin yet resistant water veil to lessen a fatal blow and block the splattering of blood. Then I equipped [Aqua Blades], an ability unique to my elf tribe. The constant stream of water circulating at immense speeds made it a cakewalk to cut through flesh. Forming a cross with my blades and slashing down tore open a wound where I could plant my [Explosive Bolts] and detonate at will. With a snap of my fingers, the bolts burst the worm into hundreds of pieces that Ashen's dark electricity and Zeke's plants annihilated. Without needing to look back at the wreckage, I let out a frisky and almost arrogant grin.

"RUN AWAY! It's trying to self-destruct." Zeke yelled while slamming his staff into the ground, conducting his magic through the cracks caused by the temblor and creating a barrier of leaves. Seeing the two cylinders of flesh grow larger and vibrate made a prickling sensation shoot up my spine, reducing my defensive techniques to mere primal instincts.

The worm's eruption was a micro-hell, obliterating everything within an eight-meter radius. The sound of the explosion emitted a grim echo as if it were the anguished cries of the devil, loud enough to rupture my eardrums if I didn't cover them.

Miraculously, the leaves blocked out the chunks of flesh that the explosion released, and I had only gotten a concussion despite being blasted into the wall. So it seems like we still have protective instincts for a reason.

"Did... Did w-we win?" I stammered anxiously, lowering my arms below eye level.

"I'm not entirely sure," replied Zeke, still dazed over our triumph. "It's almost endless energy is disappearing, but something is off. I don't kn—"

Amidst his words, the ground beneath and lower walls shook. But, this time, it wasn't just an earthquake. Instead, the floor cracked open and began to fall apart. The tunnel's collapse silenced everybody's panicking voices, and my blurry vision couldn't comprehend our surroundings. A dim amethyst light emitted far deeper below between the cracks, and as they grew wider, we fell in between them.

During the fall, I clenched my eyes and curled up my body like a caterpillar. But as the descent continued for multiple seconds, I opened my eyes in curiosity and was greeted with a vast cosmic and ethereal landscape. Mountains and valleys ranged into the unending horizon, and glimmering lights sparkled from unidentifiable sources.

Were we even on the same planet?