10 - ONE AFTER ANOTHER

The worms that had been touring from one wall to another got alerted when a human entered their zone, but his speed only confused the worms on both sides. Before they could accurately locate him, he entered the cave, and to his surprise, the entire path was filled with them ugly worms of all sizes and colors.

“Flying Flash Arts…” The red aura burst out of his whole body, especially at the soles of his feet like a spinning flower that lifted his feet off the ground without much noise. “Red Rush!” He forced his way through the sheer number of worms with pure strength, throwing the worms on either side or destroying them with his momentum alone.

After going for about two hundred meters and slicing dozens of worms in the process, he stopped. Though there were no worms behind him at the moment, there were still plenty of those hideous beings before him.

“Tch,” Edgar was panting, and the red energy around him dimmed a bit. Clearly, the lack of vital air was affecting him the most, but he kept on fighting the worms with bare hands and pushed his way through them. “I’ve never used this before to run in a straight line, but now it feels like I haven’t run that much. Is it because I had pushed my way through those worms?”

Slowly but surely, worms caught up to him from behind as well, but he wasn’t in a stopping mood either. He was a berserker at work. The more the worms pushed him, the more he fought back. Having been constantly outnumbered by the hairy soldiers during his training, the current situation didn’t intimidate him all that much.

One after another, the worms kept coming, and he kept kicking and tearing them apart. He punched some to death, squashed some heads to smithereens. He did many things, but one thing he didn’t do was hold back.

The worms were at perfect strength for him to fully exercise and extend his limits, especially given that he had to face so many of them. As minutes passed, he had lost count of the number of lives he lay waste in his wake.

Blood of all colors painted the tunnel, and soon, he reached the spot he was looking for. A huge chamber with so many big tunnels leading to different places. But what caught his eyes was the massive creature that was in the center of it, a fire-spitting black-scaled viper that was being eaten alive by the hundreds of worms that came from different tunnels. And what’s more, a big cloud-colored four-winged bird was caught in the viper’s mouth, and it was spitting lightning of different colors.

“I-Is it the thunderbird of the legends?” Edgar was slack jawed. Even though it had a gorgeous crystal and scary glowing eyes, judging by its colored feathers and size, it was probably not a fully grown one. “How did it get caught up in this place? Is there an exit nearby?” he got excited for many reasons.

He had been searching for stuff, but never came across anything valuable till now in this dark valley. Only death kept seeking him until now through various beasts. However, he suddenly came across two beasts with cores at a time, and moreover, they weren’t in a position to attack him. If this wasn’t a chance, what else would it be?

Still and all, having fought the worms, he knew his limits. Having used a lot of Red Drive already to get here, he had better take some rest. Especially given that he was tired, if he were to dare join the fight, the worms would simply overwhelm him with the number. Then again, the glowing yellow horn on the viper and the glowing blue horn on the thunderbird caught his eyes. So he didn’t run away yet. With enough rest, he could regain his speed.

He just watched and waited. This viper was much bigger than the first baby-horned viper he met on the first day inside the valley, but then again, bigger size didn’t necessarily mean that it was stronger.

Normally, the worms wouldn’t try going against vipers because their scales were too strong; however, this viper already seemed to be severely injured, so much so that it seemed as if someone slit open its back like a surgeon would cut open a person’s body with his knife. It was probably the work of the thunderbird’s talons. The worms just made use of that and drilled their way in through the gaps. Even though the viper was still fighting, it was easy to tell that it was only a matter of time that it lost. The worms still avoided the bird because it still released lightning and shocked them. However, the snake’s biting grip was no joke. Having suffered many wounds, the already-wounded thunderbird couldn’t do much.

Right next to the entrance, Edgar waited and waited, not even allowing himself to take a wink. Though he was in a dilemma as to which core he should go after, he eventually came to a conclusion. Going after both of them might prove too dangerous, so whichever beast would go down first, he would be going after that.

He had never seen such a mighty beast die, and it seemed like a spectacle. A big monster snake that could shake an entire state was now nearing its end because of a bunch of worms ganging up at an opportune time. The valley of vipers, or the valley of worms? Which one was an appropriate title for this place? Edgar couldn’t decide. One side had numbers. The other side had overwhelming strength. Both were threatening in their own right.

Soon, the giant snake hit the floor, and the impact made its fangs dig deep into the bird, causing its life to leave its body, too. In seconds, the commotion died down. So many worms were at work, but they made less to no sound.

The silence was so chilling, but the scenery, even more so.

Not wanting to throw up, Edgar didn’t look at the worms but rather looked at the snake’s head, fixedly at the horns, especially at the snake’s crystal.

“It’s at least the size of an arm. Am I supposed to take that whole thing? Fighting while carrying it won’t be convenient.” He looked at the bird, whose crystal was smaller. “This one’s better.”

As he was about to move, both crystalline horns leaked out vapors, and they shattered into pieces. “What?” Edgar’s jaw dropped faster than the speed with which the snake had hit the floor.