Backwoods Dungeon

Chapter Fifty-One

The Rock Worm

Theo

Dane got his wizard class.

It was almost anticlimactic after the difficulty we’d had with the spiders. We came upon a group of imps. They were surprised, and we weren’t. We fired. We got a tad more rich, while they became very dead.

Dane immediately picked “Charge,” which was a pretty simple ability. A stunning burst of lightning happened almost instantly wherever he wanted it to. He’d immediately taken to using it on the remaining Imps, and he decimated them with little fanfare beyond the ringing in our ears.

I’d told him, for the most part, what skills the Wizard had, and after being discouraged from the fire path, he’d chosen lightning.

There was an Ice tree, a Fire tree, a Lightning tree, a Passives tree, and an Arcane tree for the Wizard. Arcane had all the nifty utility tricks and a few direct damage spells that were immediately recognizable. Still, the Wizard appeared to be rewarded for hyperfocusing on one element, with a smattering of arcane abilities and passives to round them out.

He’d chosen lightning over ice because Rio was already using ice. Charge was the obvious first pick. It was a starter attack, but it had a chance to stun enemies, and I was all about locking down enemies. Gripping Vines had saved my life countless times at this point, and I felt that every last person who got one of these classes should immediately go for any ability that hindered, impaired, or otherwise stopped the demons. Guns were so overpowered against them that it was almost unfair. As long as they weren't moving, they were vulnerable. That had been true for every enemy I'd faced so far with the possible exception of the zombie.

Ranged attacks and getting swarmed were the only realistic threats to us, so the somewhat cheap mana-cost hindering abilities that all of the classes seemed to have were ideal.

Teleport, an ability in the arcane tree, had a close second spot. Unfortunately, it was one of the broken ones that was missing its description, but perhaps that wasn’t necessary. Teleport was probably broken in every sense of the word. Its medium mana cost seemed like a good exchange, especially if it was fast. Unfortunately, we didn’t know. It might be a long-range slow ability, but even that would be useful.

All of our ears had been ringing pretty much since we’d entered the cave due to the gunfire, and Dane’s Charges certainly didn’t help as they went off with the sound of a thunderclap. We’d all brought earmuffs and had to regularly shout to be heard.

Those did not help at all when the murderously loud boom echoed through the caves, shaking Dane and me entirely off our feet while Rio stumbled. Her higher dexterity allowed her to keep her footing.

When the echoing ceased, and we returned to our feet, nothing more happened.

“What… the hell was that?” Dane asked skittishly.

Despite finally getting a class and abilities, as well as confirming that he could figure out how to use the waypoint, Dane had been growing increasingly antsy. He’d loved wrecking the imps with his new lightning power. He'd looked profoundly ill when the lightning faded, and the monsters didn’t disappear like in a video game. They remained, their guts and viscera displayed across the walls as sparks danced around their charred corpses.

Rio noticed as soon as I had. Dane was a good guy, but I didn’t think we could rely on him like we did on each other. Still, he hadn’t turned his tail and started running. Not yet. I highly doubted we'd convince him to go with us into the prison, though.

“No idea,” Rio said. “But I bet that’s where we need to go. Any idea which direction it might’ve been?”

We were currently in a straight tunnel between caverns. I was crouching slightly, but Dane could stand with no trouble. I pointed down the tunnel to the left while Dane pointed to the right.

Rio chuckled bitterly. “Aaand I thought it sounded like it came from straight ahead. Directions down here are so crisscrossed. Maybe we should start leaving some sort of breadcrumbs. We could kill the demon, save everyone, steal the seal, and then die because we can’t find our way out at this rate.”

“Little late for that,” I commented. “We have a portal stone and a waypoint. Who knows if imps have swarmed that place now, but even if they have, we should be alright.”

I cocked my head as what she’d just said came back to me. “About that… are we really going to try it? Stealing that seal, I mean? We’re tough, but we're still struggling with these little guys occasionally. You said that knight had a skill that just wrecked your entire group, and I don’t see any items with nausea resistance.”

Rio hesitated. “Luca – the dead Valam, who could still talk somehow – acted like the destruction of that seal might mean the End of Humanity. Capital E, capital H. Still, I… think he’s severely underestimating us. Well. Not us, but humanity itself. Hell the only reason these demons haven't been completely wiped out is the difficulty of the caves they're set up in. If this is the worst the demons have, I fully expect a new interstate highway to run through this little wonderland within the year, connecting all the places where it's come out.”

“So… you’re saying we shouldn’t steal it?” I asked.

She shrugged. “It’s a big problem, no doubt, but it's not our problem. That should be what the feds are already down here doing. Trying to kill the big bad and protect us all. If the government isn’t doing that, then we need a change,” she said. "Our priority is still the prisoners. We get to them. We throw a portal stone. We get out. We'll worry about the seal later if it comes to that."

"I like that plan," I said.

"On that note... I have been thinking. I dragged you down into this, but you could go back up," Rio said as I frowned. "You and Dane both. You don't have to risk your life down here just because of my survivor's guilt. I'm pretty sure that I could use Phase to get in. I did it last time. All I'd have to do is make my way to where they're kept alone and–!"

Perhaps poetically, another massive tremor shook the ground, interrupting the nonsense my wife was speaking. This time, it was even louder and felt closer than ever as the ground quaked.

“Let g–!” I didn’t get the time to finish.

We were all already in motion, so I had a brief second to watch Dane scramble back before the ground between us seemed to burst open. A grey monstrosity blasted up from below, wider than the entire tunnel. It ate straight through the tough rock before reaching the ceiling and crashing right through it. Its body was so enormous that it looked like an entire wall just sliding upwards.

The earth shook as it passed, and the cave suddenly felt incredibly unstable as the ceiling began to crumble and crack.

“Run!” I screamed as Rio and I scrambled back down the collapsing tunnel.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to go far to make it into an open cavern. Dirt and rocks and dust were spewing out of the open tunnel mouth, and when I shined a flashlight into the tunnel I could still see the giant worm’s body sliding up and away.

Soon enough, it was gone, but the tunnel was no longer steady. Crumbling dirt and rock fell haphazardly from the ceiling, and I could see no sign of Dane on the other side.

“Dane!” I called out, wincing at the echo.

I didn’t hear anything back, but a terrifying screech told me the rock worm wasn’t done with us yet. This time, it was noticeably above us.

“Move, Teddy!” Rio screamed as she leaped up on top of a fucking stalagmite, seemingly without disturbing it, before bounding to another one, all in the time it took me to start running.

The ceiling burst open as a massive maw plunged down into the cavern with all the force of a dump truck dropped from three stories high. The maw was attached to a grey worm the size of a school bus. I barely managed to get outside its range before the explosive sound of impact rang throughout the tunnels. The worm slunk into the earth as if the surface were water, while the impact managed to knock me from my feet again as the earth erupted.

I took the opportunity to fire a bullet at the creature as its massive body drilled down into the Earth. If it affected the creature, I couldn’t tell, but I did see a brief spray of blood before the tiny wound slid beneath the earth.

“One wrong move, and we’re dead!” I called out. “How do we fight this thing!?”

“Not sure we should!” Rio called back. I could feel the rock beneath me trembling and rolling as the giant worm circled us, clearly preparing for another offensive. “Can we get out!?”

“It already proved it can attack us in the tunnels!” I called. “Gotta kill it!”

“Kay!” Rio agreed. “Big enough for the big guns?”

How the fuck should I know!? I carefully didn’t say that, but I slung my bag to the ground and fished out the bulky weapon. It got caught in the bag when the screech came again, and rather than continue fiddling, I picked the whole thing up and sprinted in a random direction. I immediately tripped on a sharp rock and tumbled, but it was enough to escape the mouth erupting from the ground for a third time now. It didn’t seem to have any eyes, or face, or anything. Just a massive earthworm with a round mouth that looked like the inside of a dishwasher disposal mashed together with a horror movie.

It bent, half its colossal body buried in the ground as it bashed itself around, trying to crush us. It had no eyes, so it flailed in the entirely wrong direction, but it seemed to be singling me out. Perhaps it thought I’d make a tastier snack due to my size?

It screeched in sudden pain as bullets began hailing into it from somewhere behind. I didn’t have time to see what Rio was doing as I was still within bashing range of the creature’s huge upper body, but it sounded like she was spraying bullets into it as fast as she could pull the trigger.

Back on my feet, I considered tossing Wind Blade Totems but immediately discarded the idea. I didn't think they'd even make a dent. The gun was hurting it as it was writhing in pain, but the thing was so huge that I wasn’t sure we’d have enough bullets to kill it. I needed something stronger.

Gripping Vines probably didn’t stand a chance of holding it, and Rio was already emptying bullets into it. I would've killed for a grenade to throw in its gullet. Barring that...

“God, I hope this ability is worth it,” I thought before I began the transformation. If anything, at least I’d be too big to fit in its maw.