Jenny ducked and waved, avoiding the grasping feelers protruding from the creature’s bulbous head in front of her. This new burrower didn’t spit or throw spikes. Instead, tentacle-like feelers grasped at everything.
Around Jenny, there were the corpses of several other worms.
Jenny’s arms ached, her breathing coming more ragged with every passing moment. The pain in her sides, she didn’t know if it was from when the creature slapped her with its tail, the spike that almost pierced her chest, or lack of air. The relentless monsters left no room for resting. Her only saving grace was that the number of the creatures she’d had to face off against so far was nowhere near what she’d seen spilling into the forge room.
The feelers moved again, coming from all sides.
Jenny stepped back, away from the grasper, her feet heavy and arms aching. She thrust at the bulbous head but missed. The muscle in her arms protesting the action.
Slithering movements brought the creature forward, and Jenny had to step back again.
Behind the worm lay others she had killed—spiters and throwers. Thankfully, this one was the last. There was no more glowing light from the tunnel they’d run though. With a grunt of effort, Jenny lunged.
The worm retracted its feelers and tried to retreat, but it couldn’t.
Leathery flesh gave way, her spear perforating the thing’s head, while at the same time, Jenny’s legs gave out and she tumbled forward. The blonde pulled her spear back just in time to catch her fall. She used it like a walking stick, holding on to the worm-blood-soaked weapon. She bent forward, gasping for air. Jenny’s heart pounded, she leaned against the wall, the cold stone soothing.
Glowing blue light shone from the tunnel. It seemed Jenny’s luck didn’t hold. More enemies were coming, and Jenny didn’t think she could fight for much longer. Their spit burned her face, and the spike in her leg made it hard to move. Jenny took deep, quick breaths and straightened herself.
A fourth type of worm appeared in the tunnel. Larger than any of the others, it also explained why so few of the monsters had attacked her here. The burrower took up all the space in the passage. It crawled with slow, wet slapping sounds. Its many black and red eyes fixed on her. It didn’t have feelers, and its mouth was circular, just as full of sharp, slimy teeth and just as unnerving.
Jenny hoped Biscuit had fled.
The creature’s circular maw opened even wider—it retched, spitting melon-sized globs of goo. Jenny didn’t need to question for long what that was because the goo vibrated, shook, and broke apart. From inside crawled small worms, almost transparent, looking more like headless snakes than burrowers.
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A horrible shriek from behind sent Jenny’s heart thumping even faster. The monsters had been silent until now, but had another one appeared? She glanced back.
A white-haired girl, about seven or eight, fiddled with the levers and dials. The noise came from the chain by the controls, its movement created a cacophony. Was that Biscuit?
From the corner of her eye, Jenny saw movement and threw herself to the side. A glob of something, spat by the black-eyed worm passed where she just was. Not only that, scurrying around the walls, the tiny worms slithered toward the white-haired girl.
Jenny threw her dagger toward the girl. “Biscuit!” She cried out. “Monsters!” Jenny couldn’t help more than that. The black eyed worm slithered closer, the skin around its maw puckering again.
The good thing was that the monster was too big for the tunnel, so it couldn’t move easily. The bad thing was that it was massive.
“Noo, get away!” Jenny heard a high-pitched, young voice from behind. “I refuse to be in a tentacle hentai isekai!” The language trickled through her memory, something she had heard before.
Jenny approached the worm, her eyes focused on the folds of the skin around the mouth and the ululating movement of the burrower’s segments. Even before the attack came, she saw the segments contracting in sequence, as if pushing something forward. The maw opened, and Jenny moved in and down.
The spit passed above her head. The glob splashed against the wall, and droplets fell on her arms and armor. Where the droplets hit, smoke soon arose. When it touched her skin, it stung worse than fire. The acrid smell of acid burning through leather and flesh. This one could actually spit acid?
Jenny lunged closer and poked out one of the monster’s many fist-sized eyes with her spear.
The burrower recoiled, and for the first time, Jenny heard a sound from it—a high, strident, and painful screech.
From behind, the girl kept shouting in her strange language.
“Die, yuck, die, gross, die, disgusting, die!”
Worm and woman stared at each other. Jenny breathed hard, fighting the pain in her chest and legs while she considered what to do. She didn’t think she could kill the creature—injure it, yes, kill, not likely. It also didn’t seem keen on getting close to her again, not if the puckered maw was any indication.
The shriek of old, rusted metal moving continued, and a quick glance at the spikes confirmed they were retreating into the ceiling and floor. They needed more time.
Instead of spitting acid again, the creature regurgitated even more melon-sized globs of slime.
Jenny moved closer, but the wall pulsed beside her before she could do anything, oozing some slimy substance. It rippled, then burst—a fresh spitter emerging toward Jenny. The large burrower spat again in the confusion, but its mouth pointed toward Biscuit. She swore, piercing a dead worm carcass with her spear and shoving it in the acid’s path.
The glob of spit splashed against the dead burrower, showering everything around in acid. Jenny raised her arms to cover her face, to avoid the worst of it, drops of the liquid burning through her clothes to reach the skin. She staggered back, the acid seared through worm flesh and her armor, the stench worse than any rot.
A steady stream of the vomited tiny worms sneaked past Jenny, crawling toward Biscuit.