Chapter 47: Spineless Worms

Only two worms remained!

Speaking of which…

Where did that last juvenile tunnel off to?

Aha! There you are!

I ticked my Mana down once more, reactivated Soul Stroll, then appeared at the end of the hall, right inside the cellar. My Minions were still running down the hall towards the exit.

Noted. Skills improve more in combat.

“Spinemess, duck!” I shouted.

A laser shot through my bedroom and into the hallway.

Spinemess ducked low, just in the nick of time.

The laser shaved a few branches off their hair, but otherwise Spinemess was unharmed.

Undeterred, the creature burrowed into the bedroom wall and tunneled after my Minions, like a shark in water.

“Keep running! This way!” I called. I took a few steps back.

Jellybee entered the cellar and skidded next to me.

The Bone Spur Gramophone began playing all on its own. It was a relaxing, classical song on piano.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Jellybee commented.

The worm creature burst through the wall at the end of the hallway, emerging behind Spinemess with a fully loaded laser.

It couldn’t miss.

The sound of wood groaning and creaking resounded from above.

The creature looked towards the source of the noise. It redirected its laser shot upwards and keenly severed through my connection.

It felt like getting a broom sniped out of my hand.

But the creature was too late.

I had finished Sweeping.

The wood that held back the rock fall trap snapped. And the orphworm received an avalanche to the face.

Woohoo!

I did it! I activated one of my traps!

Screw those hoity-toity System clerks. For whatever reason, up until this point my status sheet had listed ‘Trap Integrity’ as ‘N/A.’ Bah! I didn’t need my traps to be officially recognized to have them work! I had made myself a perfectly acceptable rockfall trap. I mean, sure, I had jerry-rigged it with the magical equivalent of plywood planks and spit-shine, but it worked well enough in a jiffy. All I had to do was pull a few strings on my end.

To make sure we avoided the rocky splash zone we ran all the way into the middle of the cellar. I stood before the door that led up to the living room.

Spinemess stood guard before the rubble.

“It won’t be digging its way out. It’s dead, Spinemess,” I assured them. “Now then. Where is that last–”

“Granny! Behind you!” Jellybee shouted.

I was interrupted by a laser that came from the bottom of one of the cellar walls. It hit my ghost form, passed through, and impacted against the cellar door. The wooden door groaned as ripped off its hinges.

The last big bugger pulled itself from the smoking hole.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

My form fizzled.

AGAIN?

How many times was I going to die today?

At least the monster hadn’t aimed at my Minions. Spinemess and Jimbo-no had placed themselves plenty of distance away, out of range from charge attacks.

As if to prove me wrong, the creepy crawly rushed forward...

And completely ignored my Minions.

Instead, it was headed towards the door.

That was when I realized that this monster hadn’t been aiming at my avatar.

It had been aiming at my Core.

With no obstacles in the way, it rapidly crawled and slithered through the room, taking a direct route to the heart of the Dungeon.

I began to panic.

It's maw was bigger than my entire Core body. It could devour Tiptap and I in a single gulp. And it would still be hungry for more. We weren’t even a full meal!

I had another trick up my sleeve. One I hadn’t used in a while.

I didn’t want to do it, but I had to: I toggled on the Brittle Bones Aura.

All throughout the house, my skeletal Minions cried out in pain.

Jellybee collapsed in the cellar. Tiptap suddenly took off running and yowling. Jimbo-no tumbled down the stairs, yelling out in pain and he fell down each step.

Spinemess showed the most resistance, unlike before. Their wooden frame proved resistant to bone hurting powers. They chased after the creature, but eventually they, too, had to take a knee.

And the worm?

Nothing happened to the worm.

It continued on without a pain in the world.

NO! You’ve got to be kidding! Orphworms were invertebrates?

IT HAD NO BONES?

I truly panicked. I Mana Swept away at the material underneath my Core like a rat trying to avoid drowning. My only chance now was taking the emergency laundry chute exit to the cellar, where my Minions could play keep away.

I had no idea what to do after that.

I realized with horror that I wouldn't be fast enough.

This was it. I was going to die. Again.

"I'm fucking awake already! Fuck!" Bonny yelled as she stomped down the stairs.

Lightning cracked across the sky as she came into view.

She was wearing nothing but a bathrobe. Her hair was a tornado of loose strands. She didn't even have slippers on. Yet those eyes blazed with power. In one hand she gripped the banister. In the other she held aloft a green Witchpyre orb.

"What the-? An Orphworm?"

Without further hesitation, she launched the emerald fireball at the creature as it crawled out of the stairwell.

She hit it dead on. The creature snarled and turned. So she hit it with another.

The attacks didn't seem very effective, but she had gotten it's attention.

Teeth churned.

Light gathered.

I couldn't even warn her. I hadn’t activated Soul Stroll because I had been too preoccupied with Mana Sweeping my Core to safety.

Thunder shook the cottage.

Bonny's eyes blazed. The Mana within her body swelled to the surface, intertwining with her Pyreball. She closed her hand into a fist. The flames hovered there, positioned above her knuckles.

Her green flames rose in a column, forming into a new shape. It floated in place and followed her movements.

Extending into the air was a long, needle shaped sword. A rapier made of green flame.

The big orphworm fired its laser.

"Control Cut," she whispered.

Bonny swung downwards. She intercepted the attack.

And sliced through the laser.

The light beam refracted before her blade, splitting into distinct waves of colors as if it had passed through a prism. The multicolored laser beams continued. Red, orange, and yellow passed by one side of her. Blue, indigo, and violet went by the other side. Both beams collided with the stairwell at the same time. Wooden shrapnel went flying outwards.

Aside from a few wood chips in her back, she was unharmed. Whatever Bonny had done had drastically reduced the laser’s firepower.

She held her Pyreblade aloft.

"Control Paste," she whispered.

The Mana around her dropped. Like the pressure before a storm.

She slashed out with her flame sword.

A small green laser–the center strip she snipped out a refracted spectrum–launched from the tip of the blade as it swung through the air.

The light lanced straight through the creature.

Muddy ichor dripped from its wounds. The worm snarled and scrambled towards the girl. It's teeth oscillated with fervor.

"Paste." She slashed in the air again.

Another green laser shot from the sword.

"Paste. Paste. Paste."

A barrage of laser fire tore through the monster. Over and over she spoke the same word as she repeated the attack. She continued the onslaught until the vile thing was reduced to what she was saying.

By the end, Bonny stood panting and out of breath. Sweat trickled down her skin. She unclenched her fist and the fire sword dissipated. The fire left her eyes.

Was it over?

I listened and watched for any further worm shenanigans. The only motion from them was the last juvenile in the basement that was still pinned to the wall and slowly bleeding out.

Other than that, it was all quiet on this front. Except for the Gramaphone which was still playing downstairs. And the rain.

And that faint, underlying beat from below. One that seemed to be slightly louder now...

Bonny audibly winced. She leaned against the banister and pointed to my Core. "Ethel… Turn... that..." She groaned and took a sharp breath. "Ethel! Turn that fucking thing off!"

Oh. Right.

I toggled off my weaponized arthritis Aura.