Out from the ashen soil and igneous rock a relatively big worm springs forth. Being an ash-eater worm, however, this worm looks shockingly different from your run of the mill little pink one. Covered from tip to tip in yellow eyes and a shell formed from various rocks and gems, the ash-eaters live in clews in large underground caverns excavated by the worms themselves. The most notable facts about these worms as compared to ordinary, fun-sized worms are their immense intellect, their three rows of teeth, their eyes, and their patented use of magically created flames. Of course, regular worms do possess the capability to convert energy into mana according to recent studies, but their lacking intellect prevents them from utilizing this ability to any extent. The ash-eaters, on the other hand, have figured out over countless centuries that imagining flames while utilizing a certain unknown force within them would cause flames to manifest.
The only real weaknesses of the worms are using their intelligence against them, countering their fires with water, and aiming for the exposed eyes with precise, piercing blows with a thin sword or dagger of some sort.
That's all the necessary information to understand the combat, so I'll get into the description of my battle with the ash-eater below.
After the beast decided to show itself due to my threatening magic, I immediately threw a dagger at the first eye I saw knowing all too well that it wouldn't find its mark no matter how well it was thrown. If Hazel was with me, she could've handled such a monster with ease as she can do that one homing thing with her arrows. I don't know what she calls it, but it's undeniably one of the most useful uses of magic I've ever seen in regards to archery.
So, as you can imagine, the worm doesn't just sit there and let the dagger pierce one of its countless eyes. Responding in kind, the beast arches into the ground and leaves a trail of displaced ash and igneus rock in its wake as it heads right for my position. Unable to attack, I take to the skies—err, I would've taken to the skies if I was even half decent at flight magic. I'm sure I'd be able to use it, but I just never really wanted to learn it. I mean, what sane person actually likes heights? Well, I guess Hazel, but she definitely doesn't represent the majority of humanity.
As the worm came up from the ground, I felt the rock beneath me rising and dividing at an incredible speed and quickly jumped to the side while turning to face where I once stood as I soared through the air. Once the worm was visible once more, I had leapt too far to grab onto its coarse, rocky armor, so I used the shadow cast by the worm as I would've otherwise hit the ground to warp directly to a ruby I saw in its shadow that looked like it would be the perfect handhold for an experienced climber.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The creature definitely saw me. I've got to find a suitable crevice in its shell before it dives back under or I'm a goner. Well, at least I'd be a goner if I continued to hold on as it dove... and I will, but still, I was technically wrong, so I'm sorry about that. I'd be a goner if I held on as it dove without finding a place to hide in its shell. I thought to myself in that moment and had one of the best worst ideas I've ever had.
I proceeded to gouge out one of its eyes and force my way inside the worm's body after clearing a space using the exact opposite of point compression magic—point explosion magic. By applying magic power outwards in all directions from a single point, I can simply create the image of a swiftly expanding magic bubble in my mind to successfully cast the spell. Of course, the worm's internal organs weren't fans of my latest and greatest home creation innovation, but what are organs going to do? Oh right, the damned thing can use fire magic. That may be a bit of an issue. Luckily for me, the monster doesn't have internal eyes, so it couldn't use magic on me easily. It could, however, cook itself for me who know how far underground, leaving me with the most annoying situation that could've possibly come from this encounter without my death being involved.
The worm lit itself on fire for the sake of its brethren in an attempt to take me down with it. Unfortunately for the worm, I can use a form of teleportation magic by picturing the blank canvases of deep darkness merging into one, thus allowing me to go from one point to another. That means that I can just go out in the tunnel I'm in and harvest what I can from the ash-eater's corpse—right, fire makes light. Bummer. I guess I'll go back to the surface then.
...And that's how my encounter with the ash-eater worm went. I went back down into the tunnel once the fires went out and got a bite to eat and some choice gems from the worm's shell before sleeping in the tunnel because I didn't have enough stamina to convert to magic power to get back out of the hole. Sometimes I'm an amazing planner, but other times I'm absolutely hopeless. Go me!
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I kind of upset the entire clew of ash-eater worms because they didn't take too long to realize that one of their kind was missing. It isn't too difficult to figure out that the guy who just woke up next to the corpse of your brother with a dagger that a certain someone forgot to clean which still has pieces of one of your brother's eye on it is probably the guy who gouged out your brother's eye.