I woke up inside the familiarly unfortunate embrace of the Goliath worm's guts. I almost vomited, but I gripped my mouth, stopping it from going outside. I swallowed the bile reluctantly, the second time this nightmare.
I really hope this doesn't become a pattern…
Though I was still under the weight of nausea, I felt the carcass of the goliath worm shaking slightly. The place I had felt the sensation from was near my feet. Was the worm still alive?! It shouldn't be possible, the spell had said that I had slain that damn thing!
I scrambled towards the worm's armored red jaws. I tried to grip the fanged jaws of the Goliath worm but it was too slippery to give way. I cursed repeatedly under my breath as I summoned the [Moribund Sword]. I wanted to conserve the swings as much as possible but it would be impossible to get out of the Goliath Worm, anyway this would damage it.
I swung the Moribund Sword through the flesh of the worm in an arc, cutting a crescent slice. I sprang out from the wound, and fell forward, rolling into a wall of dirt.
Swings: [12/15]
I turned with the Moribund Sword to face whatever bloodlusted enemy was in front of me. I didn't find it, instead I saw the corpse of the Goliath Worm. Seeing it from the outside, I truly realized how much harm I had caused it. It was practically run through with gashes that gave a view of the slimy inside, the fluid from the Golaith's worm's guts flowed freely from the wounds I had caused it.
Seeing the desecrated body of the worm, I intuitively understood that no creature could survive or recover from that. The spell may be sadistic, but never unfair. The difference was thin, but I could understand that its cruelty had order.
The worm hadn't revived, instead what had made it move was an external factor. I locked eyes with a pale yellow larva inside the corpse, at least I tried to. It had a multitude of small black beady eyes that covered its triangular head that made its gaze all the more petrifying.
Like the Goliath worm, this larva was exponentially larger than its waking world counterpart. Though it wasn't as large as the Goliath worm, it was almost the same size as me. I imagined the nightmare creature was probably named Goliath larva or something along that line.
It jerked its head suddenly and it let out a screech in my direction. It separated itself from the corpse of the Goliath worm and slithered towards me. Though it was slow, the screeches that would come from its circular mouth would stun me everytime. The way it moved on the ground, it reminded me of a human body bag that had somehow come to life.
It was odd, though I was faced with a nightmare creature that could easily kill me once it caught me in its lethal bind, I didn't feel any fear. Compared to the Goliath worm, the larva wasn't as great a foe. Maybe that horrid experience of fighting the worm had given me some insight on how to fight these abominations.
Though something is still confusing in this situation, how did I get here? One second, I was falling unconscious inside the Goliath worm in a tunnel. The next second, I woke up in a wide circular shaped dirt room with a dome above it. I was fighting a larva-like creature who had been feasting on the carcass of the worm, before it suddenly noticed me.
What had brought me to this room? I had a vague memory of a dark inhuman figure picking me and the worm up and then I fell asleep.
My questions were quickly answered with the arrival of a new being into the dirt room with me and the larva. A colossal-sized ant entered the room. It was an intimidating nightmare creature, its exoskeleton was red, large, and bulky. It was as though it was wearing crimson metallic armor that had no flaws in its make. Tendrils of black thorns wrapped around its armor like vines, providing a lethal defense towards any aggressors. Two coal black scythe-like pincers were wrapped in thorns, the pincers looked as though they could rip and shred through any prey the colossal ant caught in its grip. Like the larva, multiple black beady eyes decorated the top of its triangular head that pierced me with its unfeeling gaze.
When I suddenly felt the ant feel my presence, it started to make its way toward me. Each one of its six limbs were red swords that stabbed the ground and propelled the giant insect forward, unfortunately towards me.
I ran, the Moirbund sword in hand—right in the opposite direction from the larva and ant. "Damn it!" I shrieked when I looked back, seeing that the colossal ant had covered a sizable distance between me and it. It also didn't help that the circular room wasn't large, it was only about 20 meters in radius. But why would it? This place was probably created to hold only the ant larvae.
While I stumbled around the dirt floor of the dark room, dodging the deadly pincers of the ant and the saw-like mouth of any larva near my feet, I remember the first thing I read from the spell runes. My aspect.
Aspect: [Bloodfeed]
Aspect Description: [You are food. They might play with you, but either you will be eaten or a rotting corpse. Pick your choice.]
So that's what the spell meant in its description, looking at it now, it was blatantly obvious. Though I don't think it could have prepared me for the situation right now.
At one point during this lethal game of cat and mouse, I fell to the ground, landing hard on my chin. My tongue was suddenly clamped in between my teeth, drawing blood and sharp pain. I barely had any time to breathe, I rolled forward, dodging the sharp legs of the ant by a hair's width.
I needed something, some way to get out of this, though the ant was stronger, its attacks didn't have much precision. It was as though it couldn't see well.
A lightbulb lit up in my head.
I got up scrambling to my feet, looking around to see where the larva was, making sure that it was nowhere close enough to suck my blood dry like a leech.
While looking for a route of escape, I brought up the spell's runes to my side. I glanced at the runes looking for a specific set of runes.
I was barely conscious when I heard the voice of the spell, but I definitely heard it—and I found it.
[Memories] : [Moribund Sword], [Essence of Dirt].
I sent a mental command to the spell and a new set of runes appeared displaying:
Memory: [Essence of Dirt.]
Memory rank: Dormant
Memory type: Utility
Memory Description: [This vial contains the purest essence of the Ground Dragon's spawn. When applied, it gives the subject the essence of dirt.]
Though the first sentence piqued my interest, right now the second was more important. I internally voiced a command to the spell and suddenly white sparks appeared in the air in front of my face.
The abrupt change in lighting from pitch black to blindingly bright stunned both the ant and me. Though it was only for a moment, the ant continued its ramage toward me. Instead of running away this time, I held my ground and put up the Moribund sword in front of me.
The ant collided with the sword and despite the ant felt like a speeding truck, I gritted my teeth and stayed in place. I turned the sword and swung it up along with the Ant's head.
Swings: [11/15]
The next set of movements were something I saw Mongrel do when he fought head-on against a nightmare gate. The ant's head was going to move downward back to its correct position, but I got under its head and held the head up with my shoulders. While the ant struggled trying to move away from me, I stabbed the Moribund sword under and straight through the ant's neck. The only place where there was no armor was its joints.
The colossal ant went limp immediately.
[You have slain a dormant beast! You have slain Ironclad Ant!]
Like my previous achievements, I didn't have time to celebrate my victory. I looked down on the ground and ran my hands through the dirt till I felt my fingers wrap around an object. I brought it up to my face unveiling a clear glass vial with a cap. Inside the vial was sparkling brown dust that seemed to be a mix of soft soil and gold.
I heard an ear splitting screech behind me. Looking back, I see the ant larva with its head up high as it screamed almost as if it was grieving. Behind it, I saw two more red figures. Exact replicas of the Ironclad Ant I just killed were standing behind the ant larva. Though they didn't scream or tremble like the ant larva, I could feel the murderous aura that emanated from their armored exoskeleton.
One charged forward in my direction, its pincers stretched wide to cut me in half the second I was within reach. Milliseconds before the ant reached me, I screwed open the cap of the vial and poured all of its contents over my head.
The gold and brown dust covered me head to toe like a blanket of dust. Despite the vial being small, it kept on producing the contents inside without stopping.
The ant was now a meter in front of me, it's pincers an inch away. The ant was suddenly about to close its pincers, slicing me in half.
But it suddenly stopped.
I was almost convinced for a second that time was frozen when the ant suddenly jerked its head back. Its pincers closed and the feeling of bloodlust I saw before was now gone, instead what seemed to be confusion was now in its eyes.
Its antenna flicked forward towards me. They floated in the air surrounding me and then they directly touched me. The antenna brushed my cheek and my chest as if it was dusting me. I held my breath. After what felt like an eternity, the antenna withdrew from my skin, giving me a much needed space to breathe.
The ant pulled back to the larva which was still screaming. The ant that had stayed back with the larva was brushing its antenna over the head of the larva. Almost as though it was comforting it.
It almost made me sympathetic to the nightmare creatures. Though I realize that sympathy was only a liability.
I'm not their friend. I am their prey.
I am their food.