"How stupid can you be… did you really think that was all I could do?" the necromancer said.
Muta made the same "I told you" face and pose that Venus had done earlier.
Controlling the worm, the necromancer made it dive into the sand. With its body at an angle, the group started falling section by section until they reached the creature's mouth. Along the way, they crashed into the buildings inside its stomach, picking up lots of small injuries… too many, and they weren't going to last much longer in a fight.
When they reached the mouth, the rhino beetles and cockroaches they'd killed earlier were there again—now under the necromancer's control. And there were a lot of them, all attacking at once.
Disgusted by the cockroaches, Muta hid behind Jack. Venus and Edwin weren't going to be able to hold them off alone.
"Zoe, if you help them I'll find you rats to eat!" Jack shouted.
It was amazing. Zoe didn't even think twice—she was already flying at the cockroaches, leaping onto one and tearing it in half effortlessly. For the beetles charging her, she just kicked them toward Venus, who was in panther form and killing brutally. She shredded the beetles and crushed the cockroaches like they were nothing.
Edwin handled things his own way: he drove his hands into the worm's flesh, grew his arms, and held back every beetle coming for him, crushing them one by one.
Even though there were many, it was an easy fight.
The effect of Muta's glowing fruit wore off—and with it, he noticed a light coming from the hole the sword had made in the worm. Jack and Muta approached; Muta widened the hole and Jack pulled out a skeleton with a flame in place of its head and inside its ribcage. It was the necromancer.
"Looks like you found me," the necromancer said.
"Man, your power's strong… but you're stupid as hell," Muta replied.
"SHUT UP! You guys are just too good… n-no-nobody's ever beaten my corpses! NEVER!" the necromancer screamed.
"That's because they had no idea how to beat a necromancer," Muta shot back. "You killed a lot of weak people, and because of that you thought you were good."
"You're a disgrace," Venus said.
"Yeah, you're a disgrace," they all echoed.
"FUCK YOU!!" the necromancer yelled, shoving Jack and starting to levitate.
He made the worm shoot upward at insane speed. The group started falling section by section; by the time they reached the last, they were already badly hurt from slamming into the buildings along the way.
The worm burst from the sand so fast it looked like it was heading for space. The moment it broke the surface, the group was flung out like waste.
When they looked up, the colossal worm was falling right on top of them.
Muta heard the man from his dream shouting in rage: _"THE SWORD!!"_ Without thinking, he yelled for Venus to use the sword.
She reached behind her as if she were already holding it—and it appeared. With all her strength, Venus slashed the air. The giant worm split in two: the left half turned to ice, the right to ashes. The ice crashed down in massive chunks beside the group; the ashes scattered on the wind.
The sword returned to Venus's eye, and she collapsed. Her eye was bleeding.
Muta was sweating, shocked. He felt like he'd just seen his life flash before his eyes. When he came back to himself, everyone was gathered around Venus. He ran over, legs shaking.
Jack was already bandaging her.
"What happened?" Muta asked.
"She passed out after using the sword. When the eye came back, it started bleeding," Jack said.
"Is she gonna be okay?"
"Yeah."
"Thank God…" Muta breathed, trembling.
He looked at the ice spread out for almost two kilometers. _"I hope this is just a dream,"_ he thought.
When he looked back, they were already putting Venus in Edwin's suitcase with Zoe.
"Can I get in too?" Muta asked.
"No," Edwin replied.
They were exhausted and wounded.
"We'll rest as soon as we get to the forest," Jack said, pointing ahead.
The forest, which had looked miles away before, was now close.
"How?" Muta asked.
"When we were going down and up, the worm must've been moving diagonally," Edwin explained.
"Lucky us…" Muta said.
While watching the path, Muta spotted the necromancer crawling away. He pointed.
"What are we gonna do with him?"
"He'd probably just kill more weak people. Better to end it," Jack said.
The group walked toward him. Neither side was in any condition to fight. The necromancer's flame—weak, like a trembling heart—flickered. He begged.
Without a second thought, Edwin snuffed the flame out. Now he was truly dead.
Muta felt a bit bad about the lack of mercy… but consoled himself: "He'd have done the same to us."
After that, they headed for the forest. They arrived five minutes later. The moment they stepped in, the temperature dropped and the air grew cozy. The group fainted.