A burst of rainbow colors illuminated a small patch of the swamp. Compared to the background of olive green, mossy gray, and dark shadows, it was a dazzling display that was sure to attract even dead souls. But as soon as it appeared, the light was gone in a flash.

A few moments later, Dream emerged once more, deeper into the swamp. It leaped out of the water, forming a small rainbow arc before plunging back in. It continued to do this, moving according to its summoner’s instructions, in order to lure out the poisonous worm.

Zachary watched from afar, ready to call out a command or cast an emergency recall. He wasn’t too worried, just being careful. Out of his current summons, he felt that Dream had the highest potential aside from Wander. He didn’t want to lose this priceless creature.

In no time at all, the murky waters in one area started to bubble and froth. A pair of eyes appeared, staring intently at the little rainbow fish. It blinked a few times but didn’t move. It was waiting for something.

What it was waiting for soon became apparent as a black shape appeared in the distance. Soon, it came into view through the fog, a mountain of mud that seemed to have a gaping mouth. It was huge, at least the same size as a fully-grown forest elephant. With each movement, it created small tides around it. Even the water around Zachary’s lets started sloshing around.

These two creatures were both at the adept rank but they weren’t what he was looking for. He decided to silently count to ten before recalling Dream. But when he got to eight, the muddy monster suddenly stopped. It then retreated with surprising speed as if it was frightened for its life. The mysterious creature beneath the water also disappeared and the swamp returned to its original eerie calmness.

“Be careful, it’s coming out.” Nellie hissed.

“Everyone, get ready,” Zachary said, more to his summons than the other three.

Soon, it appeared, the poison worm. It wasn’t too big. From a distance, it looked like a snake as it wiggled over on the surface of the swamp. Its segmented body had a deep purple hue. Its head was covered by a spade-like shell. Two hooked mandibles extended out the bottom of its mouth.

If he had to describe it, it was incredibly ugly. Although he didn’t have many preferences for summons, such an ill-looking creature was definitely at the bottom of his imagination.

The worm headed straight for Dream. Its ferocious head moved side to side, tracking Dream’s swimming pattern. Then, without warning, it opened its mouth slightly and shot out a barrage of bright purple poison spitballs.

Du! Du! Du!

Small columns of muddy water erupted where the poison landed.

But Dream was already long gone from that area. It reappeared far away and flapped its rainbow-colored fins, taunting the worm to continue.

“Hsss!”

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The beast let out a furious cry and gave chase, firing poison rapidly.

Du! Du! Du!

Dream swam from side to side, dodging the incoming attacks. As it went, it drew closer and closer to where Zachary lay in wait. The worm was completely focused on its prey, losing awareness of its surroundings. It had also been the ruler of this swamp for so long that it wasn’t afraid of anything. Thus, it quickly entered the ambush area.

“Onkie!” He shouted.

“Onk! I got it!” She snorted and burst out from the shallows.

Appearing like a ball of brown mud, she charged directly at the worm.

“Hsss!” The creature turned toward Onkie, a vicious glint in its shiny red eyes.

It shot out a continuous stream of poison. Like high-pressure water out of a pump, it sprayed the general area that Onkie was charging into.

“Wander!” Zachary called out within his soul.

“Already on it!”

A brilliant green shield shimmered into existence, covering Onkie like an umbrella. It was suspended in midair using Wander’s control and it almost moved along with Onkie, proving an impenetrable shield.

The worm stopped its attack, stunned at the turnaround. No creature had ever been able to defend against its poison like this before. It looked around in confusion, trying to understand the situation.

“Whiskers, Doro!”

The blobs rose out of the murky waters and exploded into action. Whiskers was on the worm in an instant, biting down on its butt. Doro, looking like a soggy mess, body-slammed the worm, holding it down so that it couldn’t escape.

While all of this was happening, Onkie closed the distance and headbutted the worm, knocking its head backward fiercely.

“Hsss!”

The wild beast thrashed around angrily, knocking Whiskers away and almost pushing Doro’s heavy body off. For such a small creature, it had unordinary strength. But it was too bad, it had already fallen into a trap.

Whiskers swam back for seconds and bit its butt again. Doro wrapped its arms around the body, trying to squeeze it to death. Meanwhile, Onkie was constantly smashing into its head like a battering ram. After reaching the adept rank, she was a force to be reckoned with.

“Hssss!”

The worm fought back with desperation. Its whole body began to glow as it emitted motes of deadly purple light.

“Watch out!” Heather shouted, “It's going to use its poison cloud move!”

“Wander!”

Wander popped out of the mud and bit the worm below its head. At the same time, Whiskers and Doro let go and quickly retreated. Then, as a thick black cloud poured out of each segment of the worm’s body, Wander summoned a green dome to cover the two of them only.

The poison cloud was completely contained within Wander's shield. It had nowhere to spread, rendering it ineffective. He was still exposed to it but he didn’t care. He simply cast his healing ability on himself which was even easier as he didn’t have to waste air breathing on somebody else.

The worm thrashed but was unable to escape. Wander’s beak dug into its flesh, drawing viscous green blood. He also found a nearby rock and smashed the worm’s face into it over and over. Without its poison, the worm could do nothing. It was a completely one-sided beatdown.

Eventually, the worm went limp, having lost all strength to resist. It appeared quite sad, trapped within Wander’s mouth like a tasty snack. It was lucky that Wander was a vegetarian.

“Good! Wander, drag it over.” Zachary said and turned back to Heather, “See, easy.”

She shook her head and laughed, “Your turtle was its perfect counter. Who could have thought? You did pretty well with the circumstances.”

Behind her, Nellie gave Zachary a look of admiration, her eyes shining as she smiled prettily.

Carlos offered a thumbs up, “That was wild.”

“Thanks,” Zachary said and went over to Wander and the poison worm.

When he got about two meters from them, he suddenly sensed a surge of killing intent. He quickly waved his hand in front of his body, creating a shield that blocked a big glob of poison. It impacted with a wet thud before sliding off into the water.

“Wander.”

“Got it, big bro!”

Zachary let Wander smash the worm’s large head on the rock over and over until its face was turned into mush. Only then did he take out a summoning orb to capture the vicious creature.