Countless worms squirmed, emerging from the ground in small groups that looked around briefly before converging on Rock, who carried their scent. They dispersed and moved closer to Rock.
The closest worms noticed something different as they got closer. The smell of their comrades overlaid another scent signifying that he was dead and their enemies were standing in front.
The worms, discovering the horrible truth, pounced on Rock to avenge their brother.
Rock was suddenly surrounded by this tide of furious, vengeance-driven worms.
The worms covered Rock and chipped him with their weight. The worms undulated in harmony, performing a dance of victory in the conviction that their adversary would never rise again.
Trapped in the worms' encirclement and under their weight. A few worms emerge from the mass, mouths wide open and ready to bite him, but he manages to shake them off.
Trying to defend himself against his numerous opponents, he shakes his body and throws his stone fists into the swarming mass of worms, hoping to slow them down.
The power of his blows is muted by the group, but his muted blows still manage to kill a few worms. But these few deaths are nothing to this large group. They continue their attack on Rock.
----
It's only after hours and hours of fighting, biting, punching, increasing the death toll as time passes.
As the worms' deaths continue and Rock seems full of energy, fear settles in the heartworms, for despite this seemingly one-sided battle, their numbers are dwindling, as is this tireless creature. He doesn't seem to be losing stamina or blood.
Exhaustion takes its toll on the group of worms as this relentless battle exhausts their stamina and fighting spirit.
They've never met a tougher opponent than this one. They usually kill their prey quickly with a discreet attack, but every now and then a stronger prey resists their attacks, but when this happens, they regroup and crush it under their weight, before devouring it whole.
----
After a short time under a big pile of corpses, Rock wakes up again. After his grueling battle, he spends much of his time repairing himself, sealing the various cracks and fissures in his body.
As he healed, he discovered that the crystals in his body had suffered virtually no damage requiring his intervention.
This fight, not a massacre, enabled him to learn a few fighting tricks. On several occasions, when he hit the worm, it kept getting up, and to kill it, he had to give it about 3-5 blows to finish it off. But when he used the Earth Needle and it pierced the worm, it didn't survive for long. This discovery opened his eyes to the importance of using sharp objects to inflict maximum damage in a short space of time.
Rising to his feet, he looked around at the chaos he had caused.
Worms shredded by his many stone points, corpses half-smashed into the ground. Leaving only remnants to witness the power and violence of these battles.
Snapping out of his trance, he felt the ground tremble beneath his feet. He'd already felt the vibrations earlier, but he hadn't thought that through all the different networks of tunnels, this vibration would reach him. The network of tunnels beneath his feet stretches for dozens and dozens of kilometers through different subterranean layers, intertwining and forming an underground labyrinth where orientation becomes impossible without a good knowledge of geography and tracking.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
His mana detection is taken to the extreme, as he detects a large number of creatures running through the tunnels.
Using echolocation, Rock sees the path ahead. Next to the crystal cavern where Rock is, there's the web cave with its many life forms and animal remains on their webs. Further on, there's an open passage in the rock through which the horde will probably pass.
-
[Laglow Town]
In an out-of-the-way corner of town, in a dilapidated forge, the sound of hammering echoes intermittently.
Bam
Bam
Inside lies Keldrin, a blacksmith's apprentice, wiping the sweat from his brow as he adds coal to keep the flames burning, gripping his steel hammer to strike the still-hot iron.
Keldrin is a Miner [25] who, thanks to an opportunity, was able to find a subclass as an Apprentice Blacksmith [15]. Thanks to the synergy between these classes, he can gain experience and benefit from good skills.
As a miner, he sometimes ventures into the caves and discovers the deposits around the village, which he recovers with a few miner friends when they start to run out of metals, before processing them at the forge to replace the old tools in the village.
For now, with his low level, Keldrin refines raw metals into ingots. From these ingots, he creates simple tools such as pickaxe heads, axe heads and short blades. The rest of the ingots are sold to a traveling merchant who passes through the village once a year.
-
Each blow echoes through the workshop, before he puts down his hammer, picks up the forging tongs and plunges the still-live metal into the water, completing the tempering process.
(Tempering is a forging process in which the metal worked by the blacksmith is dipped into the desired shape while still hot in water to complete the creation of the weapon).
"At last," said Keldrin, seeing the familiar message in front of him.
[Experience has been gained. Forging Technique skill increases by 1 level]
With his leveling up a stream of information was triggered in his head flooding him with knowledge for a short while. Showing him his previous mistakes and teaching him how to improve.
Then a familiar voice brought him back to reality.
"Keldrin are you still in there?"
"Just a minute, I'll finish up and be right in."
Shaking his head, chasing away his last thoughts. He grabs the blade with the pliers and places it carefully on the work surface, ready for observation.
It's a habit he's picked up since he started forging, each time he takes the time to observe the result and see what he can try to improve for the next time.
On closer inspection, the blade has a few cracks, but nothing to worry about; it seems a little unbalanced, but for its level it's decent.
With care and a good handle, we'll have a decent short sword for the year.
Keldrin puts down the blade, removes his apron and gloves and heads for the exit, ready to meet his friend.
On the doorstep, George observes him coming towards him, looking at him with a smirk.
"So, what's it going to be this time?"
"The boys and I have spotted what looks like a vein and we'd like your opinion. Would you like to come along?
"I'll just grab my gear and head out."
"Great, we'll be waiting for you at the village entrance."
With that, Keldrin returned to the forge to retrieve his leather armor and reinforced iron short sword. A metal used for both its strength and durability, but a reinforced iron blade is not renowned for its sharpness.
In front of the wooden defenses surrounding the village, he finds George, Kris and Prek waiting for him, and when he sees them arrive, they're all smiles and ready to set off again together.
"Here we are at last, Keldrin, we've been waiting for you. Ready to go."
"I can see that George" says Keldrin with a smile.
George is a middle-aged man in his forties, with salt-and-pepper hair and a face worn by underground work.
"I was looking forward to our next outing," says Kris.
"Me too," says Prek.
Prek and Kris are brothers from a neighboring village who share a common passion for gems and their extraction.
Prek is Kris' eldest. They are both in their thirties and have blond hair.
As they gather again, pickaxes slung over their shoulders and swords on their hips, they emerge from the village.