The trow leader turned away from Chen and pointed to a pair of trow warriors with axes. They moved to each side of the creature, behind its huge head. After receiving a nod from their leader, the pair of trows raised their weapons and threw themselves at the spot where the skull met the neck. Swings after swings, the trows chopped away at scale, flesh, and bone of the burrower.

With the head of the burrower severed, the leader looked at Chen and pointed to the body of the dead wyrm. He uttered some words in Trowish which Chen didn't understand. Not to appear rude, Chen bowed to every spoken words of the trow leader. Realizing the boy didn't understand him, the trow shook his head and walked towards the body of the burrower. Mimicking the wyrm, the trow leader began to make gestures in simulation of his words. Slowly, Chen started to join the pieces together.

The burrower had been the bane of his people. It would come, kill some trows and then, disappeared. His own people! For many days, they had tracked the beast down to this place and set up the ambush. That was when he, Chen, showed up.

Chen couldn't believe it. The cavern was silent when he entered. He didn't notice anything out of place. If they were of hostile nature, he would have been dead. In shock, he looked at the trow leader who nodded in confirmation.

The trow leader and the other trow warriors, were hiding behind the large boulders, waiting for the wyrm, when the human boy walked into the cavern. The boy had entered the cavern at the wrong time. At first, the leader was angry, but when he saw the ignorance of the boy, he could only smile in anticipation. The boy's innocence would serve as an extra flavour to the bait. While the boy stared at the floating light, they watched him in silence. They observed the human boy devised different ways to get the orb. Yet, to their surprise, the boy had paid no attention to the tremors that was growing louder. The leader who had planned on leaving the boy to his own fate, suddenly changed his mind. He had decided to save the boy at the expense of their ambush plans. Now, the boy had helped them to defeat the beast.

The trow leader removed one of the fore-crowns of the wyrm and handed it to Chen. A symbol of the acknowledgement of Chen's contribution to the feat. The fore-crown wasn't as valuable as the core of the wyrm, but it was still an alchemist's treasure. After speaking some Trowish words, the leader glanced at the golden soul orb, hovering in the air and nodded. He signalled one of the waiting trows and pointed to the hovering orb. In a swift motion, the trow warrior brought out a throwing net and sent it in the direction of the orb.

Chen couldn't hide his joy when the orb was handed to him. His time inside the pit had come to an end. He couldn't wait to be out of the infernal abyss of a pit.

Then, the walls of the cavern began to vibrate, giving off a wailing sound. The trows took their cues from the warning sound. After receiving a guttural order from the leader, a number of the warriors carried the head of the wyrm and hurried out of the cavern.

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Watching the departing trows, Chen quickly brought out the magical teleportation treasure and activated it. The item gave a faint glow, but then fizzled out. No! He looked around in panic as the the wailing sound of the walls grew louder. Still in a desperate attempt to activate the teleportation item, Chen saw one of the blisters burst open with a sickening sound. A twisted form climbed out, trailing sticky strings of ichor—a carrion crawler. It was a thing of grotesque distortion. Scales, spiked limbs, and glistening organs fused together to form a breed between a serpent and a spider. Many bulging eyes sprouting from a half-exposed brain.

The misshapen creature began searching the place malevolently as Chen continued his desperate attempt to activate the device.

Another straining blister exploded, then another, and another. All around the chamber, carrion crawlers pulled their bodies out of the walls. Each lurched, jumped, or slithered forward as best suited its own contorted shape. Left with no other options, Chen ran after the trows. Behind him, the carrion crawlers were gaining speed. As much as he ran, the crawlers were shortening the distance. Knowing he was in trouble, he threw caution to the wind and ran like death was after him. Well, he was being chased by crawling death. He could only hope not to step on any traps.

Straining his eyes, he couldn't see the trows but he could hear the faint sounds of their throdding feet. Chen followed the echoes of their footsteps down the corridor. The tunnel plunged straight through the darkness, without openings or side passages. There was a sickening odor which grew more intense as he ran, but there was nothing to do but willed his mind and press on. Although he couldn’t be sure, Chen could have sworn that the passageway was leading downward. He needed to go up, he thought. The farther he was from the surface could make it more difficult for the teleportation device to work. But it seemed the pit itself was dragging him deeper into it.

He continued down the murky passageway. The mouths of more tunnels opened to his left and right. Some were blocked by fallen rubble, and others were dry and dusty. But he could still hear the fading footsteps of the throws coming from the central tunnel. Without delay, he picked up his pace.

After a time, the tunnel opened up to a large area, lit by large fire bugs. The fetid stench was stronger here. A rank odor like the putrid reek of decay hung in the air, so thick that it almost seemed to leave its mark on Chen's body and soul. Yet it wasn’t just the smell that spilled from the tunnel, there was a great hostility that cause Chen's spirit to despair. It was a stench of pure evil and powerful energy. The same level of energy he felt when he entered the Heavenly Forest. His head was beginning to weigh heavier as he looked around.

To his relief, he saw the trows at a distance from him. They were jumping into a teleportation portal, one by one. The trow leader pointed to something on his right side and beckoned him to run faster. When he saw the trow leader jumped into the fading portal, Chen ran with all his might. At the same moment, the aura of death swelled behind him. With his lungs burning, Chen kept running as he gasped desperately. Few feet away from the closing portal, he hurled himself forward just as deadly claws pierced his back, puncturing his heart.