The worm slammed its massive body back into the ground, shaking everything around it. The impact left a wide, smoking crater as dust and debris flew into the air.
Felt stood on a rooftop nearby, hands on his hips, watching the crater below.
"Oh, that's right. Run, you little-"
He didn't get to finish.
Without warning, the worm launched itself upward from beneath him, jaws wide open and aimed directly at his body.
"Ugh!" Felt grunted as he threw out his arms, grabbing onto the creature's sharp teeth. He strained to keep its mouth from closing on him.
The worm snapped and thrashed, trying to swallow him whole.
"Hunter guy! Hurry up and kill this thing….it's breath stinks!" Felt yelled, struggling to hold its mouth open.
Banid, watching from a distance, groaned.
"Ugh, that idiot."
He kicked off the ground, flying toward them with jets blazing from his mech suit. As he reached the worm, his shoulders opened up, and two small missile launchers locked onto the creature.
With a hiss, the missiles fired.
They struck the worm's head, exploding in a flash of light and fire. The beast shrieked, flinching from the impact.
Felt saw the chance and quickly slid down its face, landing safely on the ground below.
"Hehe, good job!" he shouted up at Banid, flashing a big, goofy thumbs-up.
Banid hovered in the air for a moment, breathing hard. He looked down at Felt, exhausted, his eyes filled with pure disbelief.
(It feels like I'm babysitting…) he thought.
Felt noticed the look and slowly turned his head away, nervous.
"Eek… why are you looking at me like that?" he muttered.
"Uh, monster boy!" Banid called out.
"It's Felt-" he replied.
"Yeah, whatever. Help me distract it!"
"Uh… say please."
"For the love of…!" Banid started, but his words were cut short.
The worm roared, its mouth glowing. A moment later, it fired a huge beam of energy straight at Banid.
"Shit!" Banid shouted, twisting his body mid-air. He barely dodged the blast, which tore through a building behind him.
Felt's eyes widened. "Yikes. It can shoot lasers. Well… you're in for it now."
Banid gritted his teeth.
(Kill me now…) he thought, eyes twitching in frustration.
Meanwhile, deep inside the dark sphere, Zed and Kochi kept walking.
The deeper they went, the darker everything became. The shadows thickened around them like fog, and it was hard to tell where the ground ended and the air began.
"I wonder where Floris could be," Zed said, his voice low as he kept moving forward.
Kochi took another step, then stopped. Something sticky clung to her foot. She looked down and saw a strange goo-like substance beneath her boot.
"What the…?"
She followed the trail, eyes narrowing. The goo led forward into the dark.
Curious, she walked a little deeper. Then her steps slowed.
Her eyes widened.
"Well… I think I have an idea," she said, raising her arm and pointing ahead.
Zed stepped beside her and looked.
Stretching out before them was a long, twisted trail of blood. It ran through the black floor like a river. Alongside the blood were bodies at least, they used to be. Now, they were just dark shapes, shadows of people, drained and still.
Zed's chest tightened.
(Floris… what's going on?) he thought, frozen for a moment as he stared at the grim scene.
whatever waited at the end of that trail it wasn't far.