The giant pile of bones rattled and half collapsed as dozens of worms emerged from it. Some went for the corpses. Some turned and came down the tunnel.

Mason instantly started shooting arrows, throwing traps on cooldown in a line in their way.

“Kill anything that gets close,” he ordered Carl. “And feel free to distract them. Or do whatever it is you do.”

“Roger that.” Carl picked up a few rocks to throw, shouting and growling like one might do to frighten off an animal. The worms didn’t seem terribly intimidated.

Still, as Carl advanced some turned his way. They were slow, but not that slow, and he was soon backing up against the wall. Fortunately, they had plenty of room to withdraw.

Mason’s traps started going off, the rocky tunnel exploding in shrapnel and spraying bits and pieces of worm. Mason’s accuracy with his bow was vastly improved, and whenever he saw ripped open hide he started sinking arrows into the exposed flesh.

A few worms curled up and stopped moving. Plenty more kept on.

“Don’t shoot me!” Carl yelled, then charged like an insane person straight into the pack of worms. Mason was so startled he stopped loosing altogether, then blinked as Carl stopped, turned around, and warped straight back to where he’d been standing, leaving a copy of himself behind.

The worms all grabbed for the ‘clone’, which promptly exploded.

Worm goo and bits and pieces sprayed a few dozen feet. And Mason had to admit, it was pretty damn cool.

But there was plenty more, and he just kept on shooting. When a worm got close, Carl and Streak moved to either side, attacking it from behind whenever it turned. Turning one’s back to Carl turned out not to be a great idea.

The older man’s dagger seemed to glow when it struck a target who wasn’t watching, causing some kind of debilitating shock.

Damn rogues, Mason thought, not enjoying the thought of being ambushed similarly.

A worm ripped out of the side of the tunnel and lurched at Carl’s side. Mason was about to shout a warning when the man simply vanished without even looking, appearing across the tunnel as if not terribly concerned or surprised. Mason had to admit, he was impressed.

They kept falling back, and kept taking the worms that followed apart. One or two more tried burrowing, but emerged too slowly to catch any of the trio, getting torn apart as soon as they attacked.

Then the tunnel was quiet and full of dead worms, and Mason looked at Carl and grinned.

“Not bad, old man. I think you could have taken those wolves.”

“I’ll admit,” Carl smiled. “That was fun. Having bait helps me a hell of a lot.”

“Bait? Now wait just a…”

Mason’s retort died on his lips as the ground shook again. This time it was more like an earthquake.

“Uhh.” Carl blinked and reached for his flashlight, clicking it on down the tunnel. Mason saw it before the light lit its flank.

A giant worm, nearly the circumference of the tunnel, like a massive version of the Devourers they’d already seen. It was maybe three times the size of a blue whale, giant maw surrounded by spikes or teeth like saw blades.

Walking out in front of it was an insectoid maybe five times the size of the ones they’d fought so far. It looked at the many dead worms on the floor, then clicked and screeched as it came running.

Mason finally remembered to use Ranger’s Mark, and targeted the insectoid. Turn your enemy into prey, the power read, and Mason almost grinned. As he used it, the creature’s body lit up with color and text which Mason understood instantly as its anatomy.

“Oh Good. He has three hearts,” he muttered, lifting his bow and activating Crippling Strike.

The big worm still seemed mostly disinterested, crawling along with little speed. So there was only one target.

The Crippling arrow splintered and ravaged one of the charging creature’s legs. He only had two of those. His speed slowed, and Mason loosed a Power Shot, then bullet after bullet arrow seeking organs and hoping to pierce that carapace.

The Power Shot took out a heart, and Mason didn’t bother falling back. The insectoid screeched and kept coming, six arms weaving now trying to catch or deflect arrows. He wasn’t fast enough.

Mason couldn’t be sure, but he guessed his compound bow was loosing at nearly 300 miles per hour. His bow arm was like a damn mechanical press, the strength and endurance impossible for any normal human. And he’d grown very accustom to aiming and shooting without having to reach for an arrow, timing it perfectly as he pulled back the string.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

A few feet from his position, the giant. limping insectoid crumpled, and fell. He looked like a slimy pincushion.

[Dungeon Event: ‘Worm food’ defeated. Group experience gained.]

[Insectoid Brood Commander slain. Group experience gained.]

“Jeesus,” Carl whistled beside him. “Remind me not to piss you off, kid. That was insane.”

Mason let out a breath and flexed his bow hand, about to make some retort about constantly pissing him off.

Then the giant, ship-sized worm made a violently loud shrieking sound and turned towards the dead insectoid. Its huge, beady eyes turned directly on Mason. Then its maw opened, and the blades started to spin as it charged.

* * *

“Oh Jesus. Do we run? I think we should run.” Carl was sort of hopping back and forth beside him.

Mason threw out more traps as he Ranger Marked the thing, and started shooting.

“We’re here to kill it, Carl.”

His Mark data was…not encouraging. The giant worm had hide so thick he couldn’t possibly penetrate it with arrows. But at least he could shoot it in the mouth.

He was about to ask Carl if he could distract it…but the damn thing pretty much covered the whole tunnel. All they could do was shoot and run.

“Fall back to the pool. Now!”

Streak bolted first, with Carl close behind. He sprinted at top speed and probably warped while Mason loosed an almost certainly useless Crippling Strike just to see if maybe…

Nope.

Power Shot was more like Gentle Poke Shot for all the damage it did. Though Mason thought he maybe knocked out a tooth. Too bad the thing had about ten thousand.

The worm was upsettingly fast considering its size, and Mason had to turn and run. His traps, the dead worms, and the insectoid all vanished like speed bumps made of marshmellow as the Devourer just kept sliding ahead.

The tunnel opened slightly near the pool and the door. And Carl moved in from the worm’s side, crazy enough to leap at the creature and…well, mildly scrape it with his blue-charged dagger. The damn thing actually turned, twisting its terrifying maw to completely swallow Carl whole.

Mason almost cried out before he heard the explosion. Then Carl appeared several feet away, running with a sly smile he probably didn’t deserve.

“One day you’re going to get killed and I’m not going to have any idea!” Mason shouted, still loosing arrows, trying to hit the worm’s eyes.

Almost by accident as the creature turned, he actually connected. White juice sprayed from the wound, and a roar like a foghorn filled the tunnel and shook the ground. It was music to Mason’s ears.

Whatever urge to kill this thing he’d had coming down was only magnified as he saw it. The incredible amount of eggs, the almost sacrificial corpses, the horrifying smell of rot that permeated its lair.

The unnatural, corrupting nature of the thing felt as clear as day. This place, this feeling, it wasn’t meant for his druid side. It was for his ranger. He’d come here to cull.

He loosed arrow after arrow for mouth or eye as the beast thrashed and looked for its targets. His traps were useless against the hide. But he could use something else? Carl was throwing the occasional rock, and with a shrug Mason lifted one and tried to trap it.

It worked. And started to glow.

“Shit.” He ran forward and threw the thing like a baseball, which promptly struck the creature’s hide and exploded.

Well. Currently useless. But bloody good to know.

The worm finally got itself righted and moving back down the tunnel, and Mason and Carl had no choice but to flee the other way. That they had no idea what was down it seemed not entirely good…

Mason kept on shooting, now occasionally trapping a rock and lobbing it into the worm’s mouth. Carl and Streak just kept running, mostly useless against the massive beast. After literally hundreds of arrows lodged in its mouth, the worm finally growled and closed, covered now entirely in the impossibly thick hide.

But it just kept on going. And its body would be more than enough to crush Mason and the others.

“Now what?” Carl shouted over the constant grating noise of the beast’s movement.

Mason had no idea. He kept shooting, but it was a bit like stabbing a mountain. They fell back and fell back, and when Mason looked down the tunnel he soon realized it simply just…stopped. They were going to be trapped against a solid wall of rock, and crushed.

“I have to get him to open his mouth,” Mason muttered. “Carl, tempt him with another clone. Just be careful.”

The older man nodded and wiped sweat from his brow, then ran forward to pull it off.

They could have maybe escaped up that corpse-hole, but there was no way to reach it now. Carl did his thing, and the worm happily crushed the clone with its body, more vulnerable maw not moving an inch. It just kept on coming.

Mason saw only one way out, and ran to the wall to use Speak with Nature with the same weird vibrations. Before he actually activated the power, the wall broke open.

‘Violet’ ripped out of the wall, then turned around and went back the other way. Mason could have kissed it. Well…maybe not…

“Carl!” He was about to tell Streak to get inside but the wolf dashed inside on his own. Carl came running back, and Mason felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Then he ran back into the tunnel, and kept shooting.

“What are you doing? Let’s go!” Carl called when he reached the smaller tunnel.

“Go,” he shouted back. “I’ve got a plan.”

“Ah hell kid what are you going to do?”

Mason just grinned and kept shooting, then fell back so he didn’t have the option to run. The giant worm soon overtook the little tunnel, and that was that. Nothing for it now, he thought, succeed, or die.

This thing wasn’t just an animal. That was clear. The insect servants, the sacrificial pit, the reaction to its damaged eye. This worm had a brain.

Mason activated Speak with Nature, channeling it straight at the Devourer.

[I enjoyed killing your little friend. Now I’ve made you afraid even to open your mouth. Afraid of my weapon. Pathetic. Here.]

Mason threw his bow back as far as he could, standing with his arms out as he summoned his Claw.

[I’m not afraid to die.] He channeled. [Will the Great Devourer take his prize? Eat me if you can, you overgrown, pathetic worm. Show me how you kill your enemies.]

It came on, even faster, growling and scraping the stone with thunderous violence as it moved. But it didn’t open its mouth. For a moment Mason thought he’d made a terrible mistake. He was out of room, about to be crushed, with no way out that he could see.

Then less than a hundred paces away, the Devourer growled and opened its maw, the huge, circular darkness opening and loosing a disgusting, acidic wave of air just as the beast reached him.

Mason activated Aspect of the Cheetah, sprinted straight ahead, and dove with his Claw out like a spear.