Chapter 25 — Out of the Worm

Editors: PROCRASTINATOR & GREETER

 

[Ei’s POV]

 

We continued moving through the digestive system of the worm. It really wasn’t pleasant. We had to cross over several more rivers of acid and fight off some more white blood cells. 

 

“How long is this damn worm…?” (Luna)

 

“We’ll probably reach the end soon enough. We’ve been walking for a good ten minutes already.” (Ei)

 

“We had better…” (Luna)

 

I’m amazed that Luna is running out of energy. I think that breaks the laws of physics more than I do. 

 

We turn the corner and reach a new chamber. Yes, a chamber, not a tunnel. In the center of it is a large, green, pulsating, sphere-like object. Although, pulsating is a bit of an exaggeration. It pulses once every ten or so seconds. And do you want to know what else is around this heart thing? Two giant, floating white blood cells.

 

“Is it just me or do these cells look a bit different from normal?” (Ei)

 

*fwooom*

 

A bunch of Y-shaped projectiles get vomited at us from one of the cellsI guess they are different! 

 

We manage to jump above them, but the ground beneath us isn’t so lucky. The Y-shape projectiles grow mouths and begin to devour the floor. Good thing we didn’t get hit.

 

“Nadia, pin the left one to the wall and have Luna finish it off. Kurui, I’ll freeze the other one over, take out the nuclei if you can. I might be able to just freeze it over.” (Ei)

 

Okay that’s a lie. I can definitely freeze it over, but I’d rather not flaunt my power since it could cause trouble. Especially since it’s avoidable.

 

Well, let’s take it out. I run up to the floating blob and cast [Freeze] on it. 

 

Kurui’s hands burst out of the floor and pulled it to the ground. They’re pulling out several nuclei but it seems like these ones have a lot more. 

 

I’ll put more pressure on it by speeding up the rate of my freezing. Besides, the more it freezes the less it can resist, although these blobs are closer to the size of a room!

 

On the other side of the room, Nadia loads her crossbow and shoots three bolts at the cell.

 

**cra-CRACK**

 

The bolts turn into lightning and stab it into the wall. Luna starts to glow and the entire cell and some of the wall turns to ice and shatters.

 

Back to my cell, it’s dead also. Kurui’s hands finished ripping out the nuclei and it deflated like a balloon.

 

“Should we kill that heart thing?” (Luna)

 

“Not a good idea. It’d explode in Primordial Energy from what I can tell. If ya wanna keep livin’, don’t touch it.” (Kurui)

 

“EEP! THAT’S SCARY!!” (Luna)

 

“Hahaha…” (Ei)

 

We kept moving after that. The worm has to end soon, right? RIGHT?!?!

 

After what felt like hours (it was 10 minutes) we finally reached the end of the worm. Let’s not talk about how we got out of the worm. Personally, I’d like to forget about it. Well, we’re in a cave now. It’s better than the guts of some worm though.

 

Shouldn’t this tunnel be dark though? I guess everyone has dark vision? But Nadia is a human… I don’t think humans have dark vision. Huh. She looks human to me though? Well, this is why appraisal exists!

 

Person: Nadia [̵͈̬̼͌̂Ȓ̶̭̥E̷̛̠̾Ḍ̴̃A̸̱͌C̵͕̻͇̎̋T̸͈̞̞͒̈́̇E̵͇̋͜D̶̫̻͊̅͜]̴̖͎̳͊͝  (Half Human, 16y)

Condition: Good

Status Ailments: None

Noteworthy Abilities: Crossbow Master, Extreme Strength

Info: I can’t be telling you everything about people you know? Also, who’s to say that the half races aren’t half human? I mean, it’s all a matter of perspective. What counts as alien? Well anyways, if you want to find out more about your friend, why don’t you ask her yourself? - King Neltharion

 

Eh? Who is King Neltharion?? I mean… I could ask. But that feels like a weird thing to do. Ah well, everyone has their secrets. It’s not my place to pry into them.

 

We kept walking through the tunnel. It’s nice not having to fight against things constantly. Ah… but we’re going to have to fight those on the way back. Maybe Kurui can teleport us back? I hope they can. I’d rather not have to step on that icky flesh again.

 

Then, we came to something I really did not expect to see. Giant blast doors. Probably an air lock too.

 

“What the hell is this?” (Ei)

 

“The source of the worm by the looks of it. I’d guess it’s a lab.” (Kurui)

 

“This was under the capital the whole time… and nobody ever found it? How odd.” (Nadia)

 

The blast doors were giant. Well, they had to fit that massive worm through them, but still. The doors were bigger than the tunnel and had a massive X-shape running through them. 

 

“Well, let’s take a look at them. Maybe we can find something out?” (Ei)

 

Moving towards the doors, there was a small terminal on the side of it. It reads, “Enter Passcode:” followed by a number pad of the numbers 1 to 9 and 0, or rather their equivalents. (A/N: Sci-fi’s your fantasy. HAHAHAHA)

 

“A six digit passcode? How troublesome.” (Ei)

 

“A what? What is this weird thing??” (Luna)

 

“It is a pad to input a number six digits long. These devices are incredibly expensive, including installation, as they are cutting edge technology from the Sky Dwarves. Rarely, they can be made by the Espers as well.” (Nadia)

 

“Huh… And six digits means we can’t brute force this easily.” (Ei) (A/N: 1,000,000 combinations I believe.)

 

“Eh? That’s not a problem. I can open this door easy. I’ve already figured out the password. It’s 196283.” (Kurui)

 

They just changed the password through bending reality, didn’t they? They look really smug too, that has to be the answer.

 

“How did you manage that?” (Nadia)

 

“It’s a secret.” (Kurui)

 

““*sigh*”” (Luna + Ei)

 

“Well, before going any further I think we should report this to the guild.” (Ei)

 

“Good idea!” (Luna)

 

“Sure.” (Kurui)

 

“That would be proper procedure.” (Nadia)

 

“Ah… we’d have to go back through the worm though… Kurui can you teleport us out? I don’t know how your teleportation works though.” (Ei)

 

“EH? They can teleport?” (Nadia)

 

“You’ll get used to the ridiculousness eventually.” (Ei)

 

“Sure. Alright everyone, hold on.” (Kurui)

 

This time I’m going to try to keep my eyes open through the teleport!

 

It failed.

 

Well, at least we’re at the guild now. Time to get in the fancy B rank line. Nadia gets to stay with us since we’re in a temporary party right now.

 

“Hello. Welcome to the Adventurers’ Guild. I’m your receptionist, Kara. How may we help you?” (Kara)

 

“We would like to report information on the worm attack.” (Ei)

 

“I see. Well then, tell me what you’ve found.” (Kara)

 

I summarize what we figured out: Worm has runes, lots of primordial energy, the Cult of NULL is probably involved, and the giant blast door. The receptionist seems a bit confused, oh well.

 

“That’s… certainly a lot. I think you should see the guildmaster, follow me.” (Kara)

 

Guildmaster? I wonder if the guildmaster here is the grand guildmaster or just the guildmaster. We enter the office. It’s rather small. Sitting in a chair behind a desk is another elf. I think this one would be a Forest Elf? She has green hair and deep purple eyes. She’s wearing a nice green dress and a light green eagle. The eagle is slightly transparent, so I’m guessing it’s a spirit.

 

“Oh? It’s the adventurers that Mista Crow was talking about. Well, take a seat. I’m the Grand Guildmaster, Sanya.” (Sanya) 

 

“Nice to meet you.” (Ei)

 

“A half high elf? How interesting. I’m sorry for anything you had to go through to get here. High Elves are really unpleasant.” (Sanya)

 

Jokes on you, I materialized out of thin air! Well, I’m not telling her that.

 

“So, I hear that the Cult of NULL is involved in this somehow? I’d advise against talking about the Cult in public though. It’s not common knowledge. Surprisingly you managed to find out without finding that out. Well, how you found out is not of importance. Please tell me what you told the receptionist.” (Sanya)

 

Huh. Kara already left. Well anyways, I repeated what I said to the receptionist. Sanya seems to understand everything.

 

“Well, this certainly is concerning. However, the chances of a Cardinal being there is extraordinarily slim. Based on these assumptions, I have a special request of you. If anything Mista Crow said about you is true, I believe you should be able to handle taking down that facility. Can you do that?” (Sanya)

 

“I think so.” (Ei)

 

“Yep!” (Luna)

 

“They’re goin’ down!” (Kurui)

 

“I would like to believe I am capable of doing so.” (Nadia)

 

“Oho. Quite the interesting friend you’ve made. Well then, prepare to crush that facility. If you can manage that, I’ll make you all A rank adventurers. Honestly, A rank requirements are such a joke. Maybe I should increase them…” (Sanya)

 

“... Please, no?” (Ei)

 

“Ah, just ignore my rambling. You have things to prepare, no?” (Sanya)

 

We left the guild after that. Well, I’m too lazy to think of a proper strategy. Let’s just go in guns blazing. Besides, that way we’ll have the most fun!

 

“Uh… I am not sure that qualifies as a plan, Ei.” (Nadia)

 

Too bad Nadia.

 

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

 

That night…

 

[???’s POV]

 

“Father, I have found the location of the people responsible.” (???)

 

There is a gentle breeze tonight. It is rather calming, considering the events of the past days.

 

“Well done, my child. Prepare to strike them down then.” (Father)

 

“Father, I have one concern.” (???)

 

“Speak.” (Father)

 

“The location of the target is below the castle. Will that be a problem?” (???)

 

“The castle is not made of glass. If it cannot survive, it has no right to stand in the first place. Go now, my child. Rest, for those who are responsible for the worm shall pay their dues tomorrow.” (Father)

 

“Yes, Father.” (???)

 

Following our conversation, I returned to my room. I sat down on my luxurious bed and stared up at the canopy above. The canopy is filled with dragons, dancing all across the sky.

 

Those adventurers… What an interesting group of people they are. Their presence is quite soothing.

 

Hmm… I wonder how things will play out tomorrow?