Chapter 91: Mind Worm
'W-What the heck is this? Mind Worm?' It was twice the size of the one that he bought at the auction house.
He instinctively took a step back. But before he could retreat, an invisible force pulled at his body.
In a few seconds, he was already near the mind worm.
The worm's mouth opened wide, revealing countless sharp, needle-like teeth, and the pull grew stronger.
'Sh*t! It's going to devour me!'
[-Raven… Use your ability-!]
Zera's voice returned briefly, broken and distorted.
'My ability? She must mean the bloodline devouring ability.'
He touched its mouth and activated it.
But nothing happened.
'F*ck! It's not working!'
Acting fast, he opened his third eye and unleashed Eye of Destruction straight at the worm's open maw. A reddish beam of lightning tore through its teeth and flesh, but the pull grew stronger.
The worm lunged. His legs slipped into its mouth, and a wave of pain shot through him—countless needle-like teeth stabbing deep into flesh and bone.
'No good! I'll die at this rate.' He got panicked.
He tried the devouring ability again. Still nothing.
"My ability won't activate on a living being. Need a hand?"
A calm, familiar voice came from behind.
Raven twisted his head. His eyes widened.
A red-haired boy with pure white eyes stood there, golden chains wrapped tightly around his body.
"Casper? What do you want?" Raven gritted his teeth, enduring the pain.
"What else?" The boy smirked. "Unbind these chains, and I'll help you."
Even as they spoke, the worm swallowed more of him.
"Why now?" Raven demanded.
"Because your consciousness, soul, and body are linked," Casper said. "The system core is keeping them together, but the link breaks once your consciousness is gone. You die, I die."
Raven's thoughts spun.
'If I release him, he'll try to erase me. But if I don't, we both die. Wait… why do I need him? I've been acting too rashly.'
"Thanks for the offer," Raven said coldly, "but I don't need your help."
He cast Blood Control, forcing the Mind Worm's blood to slow and its circulation to weaken. As if the Mind worm also started feeling weakened, it thrashed violently, but the pulling sensation faded.
Using the opening, Raven pulled his lower body free. Blood poured from the wounds, but he didn't stop.
"Blood Mist!" He spoke coldly.
The blood that had entered the worm's mouth turned into a corrosive mist, spreading inside it like poison. The worm screeched, writhing in agony.
Raven cast the 'Shadow Teleport' spell and moved a short distance away, stumbling as he landed. His legs were torn to the bone, blood vessels shredded.
He immediately cast the 'Rapid Regeneration' spell. Greenish energy wrapped around his lower body, and the wounds began to close at a visible rate. Within seconds, he was whole again.
'Thankfully, I can still use my spells here. This must be like the dream world.' He thought.
[Raven? Are you there?] Zera's voice came again.
'I'm alive,' he replied. 'But my devouring ability didn't work on it.'
[Then listen—its greatest weakness is the antenna. Watch out for psychic attacks.]
Raven's gaze hardened. "Got it."
He charged forward, exhaling a freezing breath. Ice Breath engulfed the worm, locking its massive form in ice.
In the same motion, he opened his third eye again.
A reddish lightning came out of his eyes and hit the golden antenna from his third eye.
It shattered instantly.
The worm's violent resistance slowed and then stopped altogether.
The world around him cracked like breaking glass.
Pieces of darkness disappeared, and Raven found himself floating back to the surface of his mind.
He opened his eyes and saw the old ceiling with cracks above him.
'It's still dark.'
Before he could get up, shouts and screams echoed from every direction.
'What happened?' He glanced around and noticed that the servants and Jovie were not there.
He slowly stood up and soon noticed a sharp pain in his nape.
He touched it and felt a squishy thing attached to his skin.
'What is that?' He hurriedly ripped it off from the nape and noticed it was the same worm he saw on the goblins, orcs, and other monsters.
At that moment, the door opened abruptly, and Jovie walked in.
But as soon as she saw him, she waved her hand and summoned a Skeleton Knight.
"Wait! I'm not infected!" Raven hurriedly spoke.
"You woke up? I thought the mind worm had already devoured you." Jovie said while unsummoning the skeleton knight.
"What happened?" Raven asked, trying to grasp the situation.
"Half of the knights got infected by the worm parasites. Even Expert Knights Elison, Doran, and Wizard Ryder got infected, too. Others are trying their best to subdue them," Jovie said solemnly.
"Let's go and check the situation."
Raven pushed himself to his feet and followed Jovie out of the room.
The air was thick with killing intent when he stepped into the main hall. What had once been a place of rest was now chaos.
Expert Knight Nash, Kael, and Veyra were locked in brutal combat against Doran and Elion. Their eyes were empty now, movements jerky yet unnaturally fast, driven by the parasite's control.
Nash blocked Doran's powerful gauntlet fist attacks using his spear and shouted towards Veyra.
"I can't subdue him alone. He moves as if his eyes were in the back." A powerful punch came from Dorian as he leaped towards him using a movement skill.
"Please hold on for a minute," Veyra said as she wore the emerald armor and finally put the helm on her head.
"I need help, too!" Kael also said as he blocked Elion's sword attacks.
"I'm ready!" Veyra finally equipped the Aether Armor set and dashed towards Nash to help.
On the far side, Wizard Ariel and Delilah fought fiercely against Wizard Ryder.
A powerful ray of fire arrow flew from Delilah, aiming at Ryder's head.
But Ryder raised his hand and cast a spell.
A dark shield appeared out of nowhere and blocked the spell.
But Ariel had already cast the 'Wind Blade' spell and released it.
Letting out a piercing sound, the blade hit the invisible shield and cracked it.
On the other hand, Ryder took two steps back and suddenly disappeared.
The next moment, he reappeared behind Ariel and drove a dagger towards his neck.
As if Wizard Ariel had already expected such an ambush, he dodged the dagger attack and pointed his forefinger at his forehead.
The next moment, condensed wind energy came out of Ariel's finger like a bullet and flew towards Ryder at an incredible speed.
The distance was too close to dodge such an attack.
But as the bullet entered his forehead, it disappeared.
Ryder also teleported from there and reappeared a few meters away from them.
Alas, a bloody hole appeared on his shoulder instead of his forehead.
The strange silence he maintained even after such a wound made Ariel and Delilah more solemn.
"Fireball!" Delilah cast the fire spell and attacked him, not giving him enough time to rest.
The Radiant Knights were no better off. Many had been forced to cross swords with their comrades, knights who had already lost their minds to the mind worms. Their expressions were void, their strikes merciless.
"Hold them! Try to snap them out of it!" someone shouted.
Names were called again and again, desperate voices echoing through the dome. But there was no answer—no sign of recognition in the blank eyes.
Cold sweat dripped down Raven's forehead.
'If I had failed to defeat that Mind Worm, I would also be fighting among them.'
The battle dragged on—minutes felt like hours, every clash leaving another knight bleeding on the cold floor. The hall was a storm of steel, magic, and grief for over thirty minutes.
In the end, there was no other choice.
One by one, they were forced to kill the very people they had fought beside.
"I'm sorry, Thomas!" A knight drove his spear into his comrade's chest and killed him while trembling.
"Snap out of it, Xavier! He can at least rest in peace now." Another knight barked while fighting off another infected knight.
The sound of steel piercing flesh, the muffled gasps, and the final thuds of lifeless bodies hitting the floor filled the hall.
Some Radiant Knights dropped to their knees, shaking, tears streaming down their faces.
Nash, Kael, and Veyra finally brought down Doran and Elion. Their blades dripped red, but their faces remained unreadable.
Conversely, Wizard Ariel and Delilah ended their fight with Ryder. His body crumpled, robes soaked in blood.
The floor was littered with bodies—friends, comrades, and brothers-in-arms when it was over.
No one spoke a word.
Only Count Alden stood in the center of the carnage, his expression cold.
But everyone could hear his rough breathing and teeth-gritting sound.
"If I had been even more cautious, this wouldn't have happened." He muttered while clenching his fist.
He glanced over the fallen, then at the survivors, and his voice cut through the silence.
"Check the wounded. Store the corpses of the dead. We'll be moving once the sun rises." His eyes showed a radiant killing intent.
"Sir Ariel, please find this parasite worm that made this bloody scene. I want to rip that thing into shreds." His voice echoed all over the dome.
"It's impossible to find the one parent parasite that caused this mess, My Lord," Wizard Ariel said, his voice still tight from the battle. "We've seen smaller ones before—on goblins, orcs, even other beasts—but thought they were just… some kind of normal worms."
"Those worms appeared on all the monsters we slayed, too," Nash added while looking at Count Alder.
"We should've been more careful." In truth, Alden didn't sleep at all, even though his most loyal knight stayed beside him to guard.
'I felt restless the whole night. Haa, I thought it was due to sleeping in the wild.'
As he was in a muse, Delilah knelt beside Ryder's corpse. Her fingers were steady, but her jaw was tense as she plucked a pale worm from the base of his neck. The thing writhed weakly in her grip.
"It won't stop," she said flatly. "From what we've seen, this thing isn't just clever—it's cautious. By now, this parasite must know one-third of our force is gone. I highly suspect… it'll come for us directly next time."
Count Alden's brows furrowed. "What do you suggest? Also, why didn't the defensive array warn us?"
"The reason we ended up like this is because we were careless," Delilah said, her tone edged with bitterness. "Our defensive rune array can block any monster with the strength of a normal man or higher—but insects, worms, rats… anything small enough can slip right through. That's how this thing got in. And this dome—" she glanced at the cracked ceiling "—made us relax. Made us think we were safe."
She took a slow breath. "From now on, we move with extreme caution."
Ariel nodded. "Expert Knights should keep their Aether gear on at all times. If an attack happens, we can't waste time suiting up."
"I agree," Nash said. "It takes thirty seconds to a minute to put the armor on… enough time for a rank-3 Magical Beast to take your head off."
Count Alden's gaze swept over the room, lingering briefly on the empty spaces where his men had fallen.
"Do it. Expert Knights and Radiants—gear stays on until further notice."
While the discussion continued, Raven leaned closer to Jovie. "If we kill the parent worm… help me get the corpse."
She gave him a sharp look. "You want the body? Don't tell me you're planning to mess with necromancy."
"I'm a warlock," Raven said, lowering his voice. I'm walking on a unique pathway. The corpse can be useful for me."
Her eyebrows lifted slightly, but she didn't pry. "Fine. But if we take it, we leave the convoy. No looking back. You ready for that?"
"It's worth the risk," Raven replied.
The smell of blood and scorched stone still hung heavy in the air. Dawn was breaking—thin light spilling over the jagged ruins.
The group packed their things and quietly left the dome-shaped building, continuing deeper into the ruins of the Agith Era.
Even though they didn't encounter any monsters or magical beasts along the way, everyone felt uneasy. The air was heavy and silent, almost like something was watching them from the shadows.
As they walked, they found more buildings similar to the one they had rested in. Some were half-destroyed, with collapsed walls and broken ceilings. Vines and dust had taken over most of them. But one building caught their attention—it was still in good shape.
"Let's search. Expert Knights, take the lead."
Count Alden's voice echoed across the cracked stone steps. The group moved into the strange building, boots scuffing against dust that hadn't been disturbed in who knows how many years.
Inside, the air was cool, stale, carrying a faint metallic smell. The first hallway they entered was empty… at least, empty of life. Instead, every wall, every bit of floor, even parts of the ceiling were covered with carved magic circles. Some had faded almost to nothing, others glowed faintly, like embers refusing to die.
No one touched them. No one wanted to find out if they still worked.
Room after room turned up nothing but worn-out furniture and shelves stuffed with rotting parchment. A few crumbled at the lightest touch, leaving only brown dust on their fingers.
Then, they stepped into a hall wider than any they'd seen yet. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined the walls, sagging under the weight of ancient tomes.
The sight sent a ripple of excitement through the group until the first knight pulled a book free, and it dissolved in his hands.
"Damn it…" Someone muttered.
Most of the books were the same—too old, too fragile. But not all. A handful, wrapped in faint magical light, had resisted time.
Wizard Ariel's hands trembled as he picked one up. His voice caught in his throat. "T-This is… an Elemental Circlet Technique, My Lord!"
"This too!" Delilah's eyes were wide as she turned the stiff pages of another.
Nash reached for a third book, feeling its magic pulse faintly through the leather cover. "It's a Spirit technique. All seems like Epic rank ones." He said, blinking his eyes twice, and glanced at Ariel.
Everyone knew that Epic rank techniques could push a mystic to Rank-4. To most here, that was a dream worth killing for.
"List them out," Alden ordered.
Ariel nodded and began sorting the books, handling each like it was made of glass. Even before he'd finished, Alden's hand closed around them, one after another, slipping them quietly into his spatial ring.
Ariel's jaw tightened. But he said nothing while holding the last book.
"There are eleven in total, My Lord. Four are Elemental Circlets. 'Elemental of Twin Stars'—Fire and Water. 'Serpent's Wings'—Wind, Poison, and Darkness. 'Darkness Curse'—Darkness and Poison. 'Titan's Guardian'—Earth."
He went on, counting on his fingers. "Two knight techniques, one for the Fire element, one for the Darkness. Two are swordmasters' journals—half in rune language, half in Agith tongue. And the last three are Spirit Techniques."
Ariel paused, glancing around. Then he stepped close to Alden, holding out a single, black-bound tome. His voice dropped to a whisper.
"This one is a Pseudo-Legendary Spirit Technique."
The Count's eyes sharpened. "W-What? Is it true?" He snatched the book, flipping it open—only to snap it shut again with a grimace, one hand clutching his temple. "This… this could change—"
The words died in his throat as steel burst through his chest.