A Background Character's Fate

10. Worms From Hell

I decapitate the bounty and put the head inside a small satchel. I throw the small satchel in my bigger bag and extract the blood of death worm corpses into small vials.

Next is the mountains.

Closer to the mountains, one can feel the air of melancholy. A mysterious entity refuses to harmonize with nature as nature loses the battle, and sights of living green diminish nearby.

The mountain boasts an eerie blue-dark decaying appearance.

I dig a hole and hide my bag near the mountains.

Only when one reaches the peak do they see a concave mountain bowl, hiding mysterious glowing celestial remnants. The queen deathworm, a long and terrifying abomination, curls itself around the cavity.

"There it is..." I mumble as I gaze down.

This crater existed since the dawn of the empire, none has deciphered what those glowing blue remnants are or moved them. Something about it attracted the deathworms.

Well, it's not my problem.

I slide down and the magnitude hits me. The colossal and bone-chilling elongated worm is twice my height.

I take a deep breath and press on. Luckily it's asleep.

Every deathworm has a weakness: the navel since deathworms use an umbilical cord to feed its young. That's the soft gap between its exoskeleton.

From a safe distance, I roam around and scrutinise for the navel.

"Hm..."

Nothing at the external layer. I jump on a celestial pillar to get a better look at the body curled inside. Suddenly, a panel pops up.

-------
"???" detected.

Releasing seal.
-------

??!

The ground rumbles as the mysterious remnants' glow intensifies. The queen deathworm awakens from its slumber, its head ascends to the sky and gazes at me.

"KYYYAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" The maw erupts open, screaming a piercing screech.

"ARGH?!" My hands at my ears attempt to mitigate the waves.

The queen immediately dives its head, planning to eat me whole.

I jump off to narrowly avoid the strike and test the water as a crescent light-dark slash cuts a light dent into the exoskeleton.

Tch...

I pull one vial of risptaps and pour them on my blade.

One blink; The worm's tail sweeps at the corner of my eye, forcing me up into the sky to dodge it.

*BOOOOOMMMM!!!*

The immense momentum crushes the slopes of rocks, sending dust landslides.

I land back on the ground to meet another attack from its head. Despite its size, it's surprisingly agile.

My legs hop aside when the head dives into the rock and jumps back in, driving my sword into the skin.

"KYAHHH!!"

My aura successfully pierced through but is shallow.

The queen flies into a rage and bangs its head into the ground repeatedly, throwing me off. Its attack turns haphazard, much more bizarre. At any direction, the long abomination sweeps and swings its body destroying everything around.

However, my nimble dexterity zaps from footing to footing, be it objects mid-air or the ground, avoiding the fit it's throwing.

This is where my confidence arises. I've wholeheartedly trained both my aura and footwork to defeat the Queen deathworm.

My footwork isn't anything special, it's a personal style I developed from all my experiences. Sure, there may be better footwork techniques, but I'm familiar with this the most. Inspired by how annoying rabbits are to catch, "hopping" is a crucial substance of my nameless technique.

Among the chaotic wreckage, I spot an incongruous black spot from the white scales. That's the navel!

Darkness looms above me. The queen deathworm slams its head down, its maw split wide open revealing the rows of sharp teeth.

*BOOOOOOM!!!*

That large attack allows me to rush to the navel and throw my blade into it.

!!

"KYAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" It screams in pain. Spots of purple spread from the navel as yellow blood flows. The risptaps are working.

The worm convulses and jerks. I leap to my sword and grip the blade, the inertia rips the wound further.

"KAHHHH!!!!!!"

The queen attempts to roll its body. A foolish last resort. The suicide act forced me to drive the blade and myself into a world of bloody yellow pulp. Buckets of pungent mellow fluid drown my senses.

With gritted teeth, I take out all vials of risptaps on my belt and punch the vials into the organs.

"KYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

I hold on to my sword stuck in the meat from the queen's futile attempt to shake me off as it painfully strikes its body against everything around it.

*BANG!!!*

One last quake and the worm settles down.

"Huff huff..."

No movement. It's dead.

"Huff huff...hah...haha...I did it." I mumble.

I pull out the sword and leave the hole to step into the rubble of battle. The concave mountains were bashed into many pieces as the terrain was flipped upside down.

Anyways, what was that panel about?

Hm?

I can see bright light emerging from the centre of the ruins. Pulling apart the remnants reveals a shining box.

!!

Inside are two large ingots. One is of ordinary-looking steel and the other is a black chilling abnormality. One touch of the black ingot leaves mysterious black particles on my fingertips.

Wait...is this Mhythalin?! A metal that can only be found in a dangerous realm infected by strong monsters.

W-What is this doing here?!!!

...Is this the seal the panel mentioned? Mhythalin attracts monsters as consumption can greatly boost a beast's prowess.

"W-Wow..."

This...will be dangerous. If anyone finds me with Mhythalin, I will be killed in a theft but I can't leave this here.

Hm...should I just sell this?

I check out the steel as I rack my brain. It's steel yet it feels different.

!

This steel is hard!? I don't think this is an alloy but pure steel yet its resistance is strong.

Mysterious...

"Ugh..."

For now, I will keep it. I need to quickly leave before anyone finds me here.

Let's collect what I primarily hunt the queen deathworm for. I dig through the corpse and collect its heart near the maw.

What a frightening resemblance to a human's heart...

Despite being separated from the vassal, it pulsates and pumps blood.

I quickly leave and search for my bag afterwards. Fortunately, it remains unharmed. After keeping everything safe, I changed my clothes and wiped the pungent blood off.

Albeit still smelly, I bear with it and head back into the woods, blending into the facade of an ordinary hunter participating in the deathworm hunt.

"Hurry!! To the ancient ruin!" Elves dressed in green coat rushes past me. They belong to the royal court of the kingdom.

"That's..." I mumble.

Large strong figures run past with the army of elves. Mina appears among the group.