NOVEL NEXT The Wyrm
Soon, Kass caught his first glimpse of the roaring monster, and almost wished he hadn’t.
The creature was like a gigantic snake. It was perhaps ten feet in width, and more than ten times that in length. It was covered in black, metallic scales, with a mouth large enough to swallow men whole.
There were still a few men opposing the serpent, but from what Kass could see, most were either running or carrying away the wounded.
Two of the knights were among those still fighting the serpent, but they seemed to be focused more on dodging than anything else- a task made tougher by their armor.
Landing nearby, Kass called out to the knight he was talking to earlier.
“What’s the situation?”
“It’s a beast called a wyrm,” responded the other knight, in a voice that implied an advanced age. “I saw a few in the last crusade in the Blacksands. The Arrzat tame them, use them as troop transports.”
“The Blacksands? Then how did it get here?”
“Some sort of magic. A few minutes ago, the goblins seemed to collapse- a dark fog rose from their corpses, and the wyrm emerged from it.”
“How did you beat it? In the crusades?”
“We stood back and let the nobles blow them up with magic. It doesn’t matter how good of a fighter you are- a wyrm’s scales are stronger than any weapon we’ve managed to forge. Magic’s the only thing that’s ever been recorded as downing a wyrm.”
“Oh. So, what’s our plan?”
“Stall it for long enough that everyone else can escape. If we give them enough time, it may not be able to follow them back to your village.”
“So- this is a suicide mission?”
“Wyrms move faster than humans can. It’s either we die here and let everyone else survive, or we die a few hundred yards away and everyone else does too.”
“Alright. You said magic works, right?”
“What are you-” the knight trailed off, seeing Kass leap into the air, the wyrm turning its head upwards.
As Kass’s foot connected with the wyrm’s head, he cast [Static Blast], pouring 5 MP into it, enough power to send the wyrm’s head crashing back down to the ground as Kass leapt from the head to the back.
“How did you-”
“Like you said. Magic.” Unfortunately, Kass’s moment was ruined when he realized the wyrm was still moving- and Kass’s attack had made it angry.
Leaping back towards the head of the wyrm, intending to blast it again, Kass was caught off guard when the wyrm turned towards him- and moved through the air, just as easily as it did the ground. Kass, however, was not afforded this same privilege, having little way to get away from the open maw of the wyrm.
Thinking quickly, Kass threw his sword towards the back of the wyrm’s throat, stalling it just long enough for Kass to get footing on the lower jaw and jump back down to the ground.
“Can wyrms normally do that?”
“No, no they can’t.”
“Alright. Get everyone out of here. I’ll see if a more powerful blast does anything against it.”
The older knight didn’t respond immediately, but the younger did. He called out to the other combatants, waving them towards a path away from the wyrm’s arena of destruction.
However, during this quick talk, the wyrm was already on a collision course for Kass, who only just barely managed to dodge to the side as the wyrm crashed into the ground.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t much of a setback, and the wyrm was soon chasing after Kass again.
I can’t keep this up much longer. Either I’ll get tired, or I’ll run out of MP. And I can’t use [Blood Lust] without hitting an SP limit almost immediately. Still, Kass steeled himself, preparing to dodge again, hoping to stall the wyrm long enough that everyone could escape.
- - -
As Lilith rushed through the camp, she soon saw the creature-along with Kass- rise into the air, before disappearing beneath the trees and tents again. The horrific appearance of the thing shocked Lilith for a moment, before she began running again, even faster.
Soon enough, she reached the two, fighting in a wrecked area of the camp, with stains of blood and deep trenches running across the whole thing.
“What’s the situation?”
“It’s called a wyrm. According to the knights, the scales are tough enough that nothing aside from magic can get through.”
“Well then, I think I’ve got the perfect thing.” It’ll probably chew through my MP a good bit, but here we go. Casting [Gimlet], she fired at the wyrm, but it jerked to the side, the shot going past it and hitting a tent near the edge of the clearing.
Firing again, the wyrm flew above the shot before rushing down Lilith, mouth open to swallow her whole. Realizing she wouldn’t be able to dodge, Lilith acted on instinct; she created a powerful [Holy Shield], not sure how much MP she was using. Still, it was enough to hold the wyrm at bay, if only for a moment.
And in that moment, Lilith fired her third shot, directly into where she assumed the wyrm’s skull was. The blast broke through the wyrm’s scaly armor, giving Lilith enough time to run away as the creature writhed in pain. Alright, how much MP do I have left?
Quickly opening up her menu, Lilith realized that she only had 15 MP left; if she were to use more [Gimlet] shots, she’d need to be incredibly precise, and she doubted she had that in her. However, she knew it’d be enough for something else.
“How much MP do you still have?”
“A little under 20, I think. I used a bunch for a [Static Blast] a while ago.”
Shit. That would only be enough for three [Gimlet] casts, and Kass’s magic stat was a fair bit worse than her own.
“Alright. That rules out my idea. I managed to hit it with [Gimlet], so there should be an opening to stab it.”
“Ah. I threw my sword into its mouth a little earlier to avoid getting eaten.”
“Shit. What do we do now?”
“I’ll try and keep it occupied. You go and make sure everyone’s healed.”
“You don’t have a plan past that?”
“One of the knights probably has a bow or something. You go heal people, tell one of the knights we’ve made an opening, and I’ll buy you time.”
“Alright.” And with that, Lilith rushed off as the wyrm came rushing at Kass once more.