Dove POV

“You crazy? You want to roam about in this Dungeon at night?!” said Trigo as we proposed our plan to them.

“You guys almost tried everything else, right? Even so, you have yet to find the reason the Earth Wyrm does not leave.” Explained Hawk.

“Even if you say, that, it’s way too dangerous!” replied Duo.

“Dove and I will delay the Earth Wyrm. You guys just get in see whatever’s inside.”

“What do you think is inside?”

“I don’t know.”

One of Hawk’s weakness showed its face. Hawk had the near inhuman ability to analyze everything; however, his ability to convince people of his analyses was nowhere near. The weakness rarely came into practice during our university days because we went to the best university in the country where people could keep up with Hawk’s analyses; however, on the occasions where we had to interact with people outside, this happened.

“It’s the best thing we’ve got.” I added to support Hawk.

“But we might die.” Said Duo.

“Feel free to abandon us at any time.” Added Hawk.

“Give us some time to think about it.”

We complied and left the building.

“You should work on your ability to communicate your analyses to the less intellectually capable. You don’t even bother explaining anything on how you got there when talking to them.” I said.

“Why bother explaining to people who won’t understand it properly everything. It’s a waste of time.”

“I know how you feel, but people are prideful. They won’t just listen to another person no matter how much they acknowledge that person’s superiority on the subject at hand.”

I thought for a while whether I should say what I was about to say.

“Is that why you like me? Because I am able to keep up with your analyses most of the time. In the few times I can’t, I believe what you say.”

“I didn’t know you trusted me that much until we arrived in Reality. When I explained things, you either kept quiet or disagreed.”

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“Every time I kept quiet, it meant I agreed with what you said. Back to the question, did you like me because of that?”

“Yes. It’s not the only reason, but it’s part of it.”

On our way towards the pit, we passed by the body of the wyrm. A Health bar appeared on top of it that did not move along with the body.

“It has a Health gauge.” I stated,

“If it has Health then it can be killed.” Stated Hawk clearly holding back his disgust for the wyrm.

On the corner of my eye, I noticed Hawk’s Mana Gauge go down. I immediately asked, “You used Skadi’s Caress on it?”

“Yes. It worked.”

“You attacked it?! You drew its attention!” exclaimed Duo.

“It’s fine. Skadi’s Caress does not draw aggro when the enemy doesn’t take damage.”

It took a few minutes for the entire wyrm to pass through. We went on with our way when we felt the rumble on the ground disappear.

“How do these reproduce?” asked Hawk.

“When they grow too large, they split near the middle and grow into two separate wyrms.” Replied Trigo.

“What happens if someone cuts it?”

“They still become two separate wyrms. Just the maximum size of the smaller segments won’t be reached.”

“And what if I cut it into thousands of smaller parts?”

“Excluding the two ends, they all become smaller wyrms.”

“What if someone crushes it.”

“The crushed part does not regenerate.”

We reached the Pit of Cloning and finally saw the reason the Earth Wyrm stayed in the city. As expected, Hawk started puking and felt weak on his knees. I lent a shoulder to him and we rushed back to the nearest structure.

I waited for Hawk to feel better before I brought up what we saw.

“Millions of small Earth Wyrms.”

“Small relative to the size of those wyrms. They’re still the lengths of giraffes at least. Anyways, how they got there is not important. Since I assume the Pit of Cloning is not made of soil beneath, it means that the big Earth Wyrm has to bring back soil every night for those to eat. However, since it is worm-shaped after all, it cannot bring back that much, which explains why they can’t grow too large.” Theorized Hawk.

“Yeah. That sounds about right.” Added the Dwarves.

“How strong are small Earth Wyrms?” asked Hawk.

“Their offenses are weaker; however, they have the same resilience as a large one.”

Hawk sighed before replying, “So we can’t kill those. Just give up on rebuilding a city here.”

The Dwarves were surprised with Hawk’s reply. I asked as well, “What about the Quest?”

“The Quest says to drive out the Wyrm, not make the city great again.”

The Dwarves calmed down after Hawk’s explanation. Duo finally said, “That is fine. Any ideas how to do it?”

“Seal the Pit of Cloning. Eventually those small wyrms will have die without anything to eat. On which floor is the exit you made and how long will it take to seal the entrance.?”

“On the floor below.” Replied Trigo.

“Then let’s go.” I said.

“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.”

“What do you mean?” asked Hawk.

“The entrance to the Pit of Cloning on each is a Dwarven door.”

“But there was no door on this floor?” asked Hawk.

“Those doors are imbued with Dwarven Magic. If you access it from the correct floor, then the Door won’t be there. If you try to go to another floor, the door will be locked.”

“How does the Earth Wyrm move around then?”

“The Earth Wyrm’s Magic Resistance is far too strong for that level of Dwarven Magic.”

Suddenly, a message popped up. It was from Hawk. “These Dwarves are annoying. I sense no malicious intent, but they are withholding a lot of information from us. Most likely, their superiors ordered them to disclose as few information as possible.”

“How do you open the doors then?”

“We don’t know. Only the higher Dwarves do.