As soon as the group got past the worm's throat, they ran straight into a bunch of rhinoceros beetles and cockroaches almost a meter long. Muta ignored the beetles, but when he saw the giant cockroaches, he froze. One of them started flying.
Right then, Muta totally freaked out — he jumped behind Zoe, who was just as scared as he was, and screamed like a little girl, using her as a human shield. Zoe, just as panicked, started screaming too.
Venus, losing patience, sliced a cockroach in half with her sword. The left side froze, the right side burst into flames until it turned to ash. The cut released a wind so strong it left a mark on the worm's flesh. Then, the sword dissolved into energy and went back to Venus's eye.
She tried summoning it again several times, but nothing happened. Jack suggested maybe it had a cooldown. Edwin laughed and said if that was true, it was insanely unlucky to waste the sword on a stupid cockroach.
"STUPID MY ASS! KILL THE OTHERS ALREADY, FOR GOD'S SAKE!!" Muta shouted, still hiding behind Zoe.
Edwin and Jack laughed and started taking down the cockroaches one by one. When they finished, Muta asked:"And… what about the beetles??"
Jack answered:"Those little creatures only hav—"
Before he could finish, a beetle flew onto his back and knocked him down onto the filthy ground. Muta and Venus — who was already kinda annoyed she couldn't use the sword — burst out laughing. Jack got up without saying a word, ripped the heads off each beetle, and kept walking.
The whole group went quiet. And so, they kept moving forward.
Further ahead, the ground was covered in sand mixed with corpses of various humanoid races. The group felt a slight sadness at the sight. They walked slowly, in silence, like a moment of respect for the people who hadn't escaped the worm.
Then, in the middle of the path… all the corpses stood up.The group froze.
Suddenly, they started running toward them. Surrounded and outnumbered, Zoe stayed in the middle while the others formed a circle around her, each guarding one side.
On Edwin's side: he pulled out a huge war axe and started cutting corpses like they were paper. There were about twenty against him, but every swing took down three. He split some in half, ripped the heads off others… but no matter how many times he did it, they regenerated and kept attacking. Edwin's rage only grew.
On Venus's side: she fought five enemies twice her size with her two knives. Her reflexes, sharper than ever, made her dodge every hit, but her attacks were too weak. The knives barely opened tiny cuts that closed instantly. At a critical moment, a corpse tried a surprise attack from behind another, but she dodged thanks to her eye that let her see a few seconds ahead.
On Jack's side: things looked bad. Few enemies, but his arm wasn't 100%, and his punches didn't deal real damage. The glove didn't work on these undead like it did on the Dark Hour creatures. At best, he could shove them away.
On Muta's side: he was doing better than most, even scared and nervous. His punches were sloppy, more impulse than strategy, but with the glove Jack gave him and his power, he managed. Each hit turned corpses into something different: some into stone, others into slime, some stretched grotesquely. Plus, they all caught fire because of the glove. He'd already taken down four of the fifteen he faced, without even understanding how.
In the center, Zoe gripped her plushie, terrified. She looked around and panic rose as she realized no one was really killing the enemies, and everyone was sweating. Nearly exploding with nerves, she felt a drop hit her head. Her blood ran cold. Trembling, she looked up and screamed:"T-t-tTHERE'S A GUY UP THERE!!!"
The others tried to look but were too busy. Venus was the only one to catch a quick glimpse. She saw a skeleton with bits of flesh still hanging on, flying and casting magic while pointing down.
Venus told the group what she saw while trying not to lose focus.
"NECROMANCER!" Muta yelled, remembering the games he'd played.
The skeleton laughed, its voice like many people talking at once:"In thousands of years living here, no one ever came close to finding out what I am. Tell me, boy… what universe did you come from?"
"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! AND WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! WE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Muta snapped, nervous."YEAH! THIS IS WRONG!" Zoe added.
The skeleton laughed again."Do you need reasons to do what satisfies you? And after all… what's 'right' or 'wrong'? Is going against the majority wrong? Or is it only wrong because someone important said so?" — it tilted its head, teasing. — "If that majority, or that important someone, said you were wrong and deserved to be executed… what would you do? Accept it, even without doing anything? Or fight an impossible battle… against the whole world?"
It kept going, not waiting for an answer, confident it already won:"You're the first to stand against my army. You'll make a great addition for me."
Edwin, pissed off at everything, shouted at the skeleton:"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
He swung his axe, splitting all twenty corpses in half. As they regenerated, Edwin threw the axe at the skeleton, knocking it to the ground.
Zoe yelled:"W-WE'RE NOT DEAD YET!!"
The corpses stopped moving — the skeleton needed to concentrate to control them.
Of all of them, Muta ran straight for the skeleton. The skeleton was standing up as Muta reached it, landing a jab to its face.
The skeleton's skull flew off, but it laughed:"Think that's gonna work? I've been dead for many years."
The skull started floating, and its body shot to the skull at an insane speed. Whole again, the skeleton began casting a spell.
Muta and Jack ran to stop it but were thrown away as they got close. Thanks to his power, Muta wasn't hurt. Jack fell on his injured arm, which started bleeding again.
Now only Muta, Venus, and Edwin could fight.
The fallen corpses flew toward the skeleton and merged. More corpses crawled out from beneath the sand. They all joined the skeleton, forming a giant made of flesh.
Their eyes all glowed, and when the skeleton spoke, the corpses spoke too.
The skeleton finished its transformation, shouted, then laughed:"I hope you still have energy to keep going, because I'm just getting started."