After gathering the core, we headed deeper.

We were led through a narrow, igneous, and dark corridor, just wide enough for two people to pass at a time. The temperature heightened once more, and parts of the ground beneath us started to liquefy, clinging to our boots, leaving behind footprints. More often than not, small trembles came from the ground and a light beamed at the end of the suffocating tunnel. As we reached the end, the walls abruptly opened up, revealing a cavern filled with suspicious holes in the ground.

"Something is not right..." Sebastian said eerily. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but something's different."

He shook his head. "Stay away from the holes. They are geysers that shoot deadly gas and even lava. After this area, we'll have time to rest before heading for the UniQue's lair."

"Sounds simple enough," Daniel said and took the lead, rushing ahead of the rest of us.

Suddenly the cavern trembled, and unlike the small vibration we felt a few moments ago, it felt like an earthquake.

"Sebastian, what's going on!?" Yena demanded.

"I-I don't know, this—"

Cutting him off, a few meters in front of us, the floor burst open, a gigantic worm-like creature rising at least ten meters high, crying out loudly.

"What the hell is that thing, Sebastian!?" Yena voiced her frustration.

"I-I don't know! There wasn't such a thing last time I was here!" Sebastian failed to put up a front and his fear and confusion were clear even without seeing his face. Said face I should have definitely punched back then.

"You're telling me a new beast decided to appear out of nowhere!? Are you listening to yourself!?"

"Daniel, Shield!" Seth quickly interrupted before the conversation could get more heated.

Daniel raised and augmented his shield. A rocky armor was summoned around it, more than doubling its size with long spikes being visible even from behind it, ready to protect us and damage the upcoming attacker.

Contrary to our actions, however, with another cry, the beast dug back down from where it came from.

That was anticlimactic... and weird. Really weird.

Beasts don't just appear out of nowhere, and it doesn't make sense for it to reveal itself only to hide again.

Something was not right...

"Sebastian explain yourself! What the hell is going on!?" Yena was boiling with rage. Daniel tried to calm her down by shaking her lightly to no avail.

Seth put himself in between Yena and Sebastian. "Enough. There will be time for explanations after we're in a safe zone, let's go."

Yena glared at Sebastian but listened to Seth's levelheaded words. If we started fighting amongst ourselves, the worm would be the least of our concerns.

While moving, the worm could be heard rumbling throughout the entire room, moving in its walls.

Suddenly, the rumble intensified way more than what the worm was capable of, and a high-pitched sound came from the geysers.

My eyes shot up in realization.

With only a few seconds to spare, I grabbed and pulled Daniel back, just in time to cast Hydrothermal Barrier and engulf the entire group.

A mixture of yellow, red, and black gas erupted from the geysers, steam sizzling as it fell in contact with the barrier. The barrier withstood the pressure, but it couldn't protect us from the heat. The temperature reached a new, overwhelming height, feeling like we were burning alive.

Sweat dripped like a fountain. For every second that passed, the draining of my core became more and more apparent. An augmenter wasn't supposed to withhold such a barrier for prolonged periods of time.

It was only after a very long minute passed that the temperature and the gas subsided and we were safe.

Exhausted and dehydrated, my tongue instinctively passed my dry lips and revitalized them.

"Come on! Move! Move!" Seth ordered, picking up the pace.

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Huffing, and puffing, we made a run for it.

At the halfway point, the worm reappeared in front of us, blocking the path. Without warning, it launched forward, revealing its gaping maw covered with rows of teeth.

Sebastian, panicking, was the first to attack, unleashing a fireball that even I could perform better. To no one's surprise, it didn't do anything to the worm, other than annoy it perhaps.

Yena created water whips and tied the beast down, while Daniel infused his shield with quint once more, and drove in, meeting it head-on.

Their clash reverberated and a wave surged. Daniel was sent flying while the worm's head was knocked upward, letting out a pained cry.

With the worm momentarily stunned, I found myself below its underbelly.

Drawing two fingers over my blade, I extinguished the roaring flames and condensed them within the sword, its color changing from silver to a red hue.

Just as the beast snapped out of its confusion, I leaped and slashed upwards.

A somewhat metallic sound echoed as my blade met its molten scales, and pierced through them, lava-like blood gushing from the wound.

It howled in agony and turned to bite me down, but before I could defend myself, Daniel was back in action, slamming the spikes of his shield to its left.

Wiggling, it thrashed around, struggling to free itself from Yena's whips.

One of the whips was loosened, and with a forceful movement, the worm broke free of its containment. Having her spell directly overpowered, Yena was blown back by the force.

"Yena!" Daniel yelled in panic, rushing to her aid.

Now free, the beast roared and thrashed, thrashed and roared, the cavern quaking. At that moment, the high-pitched sound reached my ears, which meant only one thing.

With only a few seconds to spare, I scanned everyone's position. We were all split. Samantha was with Sebastian, and Daniel was still reaching for Yena. As for Seth, I couldn't see him anywhere.

"Quick! Use your barriers now!"

A flash of silver reached behind me.

Through the chaos, Seth had managed to get up close to the beast, his sword fully augmented, drawing in the surrounding wind. He leaped and embedded his sword right in the middle of the scar I created.

The silver radiance vanished from his sword, and the worm expanded, popping sounds reaching from within it as smoke came out of its pores.

This fucker...

He unleashed a Wind bullet at full force inside the worm's organs.

Jumping, I grabbed him by the collar and immediately cast Hydrothermal Barrier.

Gasses filled the cavern and lava purred in from the holes the worm had created. As for the worm itself, it was already dead. Seth's last attack killed it. That reminded me.

"Oi, that still only counts as one! I'm still ahead!

He laughed lightly, "whatever you say."

Barely a few meters away from us, the corpse of the worm was being eaten by gas and lava, its skin melting away. By the time the one minute passed and the gas was cleared, other than its long skeleton, nothing was left of it, not even its core.

"Ah!" A feminine scream filled the silence.

My head first turned towards the weaker part of our group, but Sebastian and Samantha, other than looking exhausted, were fine.

Which meant…

Yena was holding her mouth trembling as she broke in tears. Daniel held her in a hug with a single hand, caressing her hair softly, his other side hidden, by Yena herself.

"Hey, hey, Yena, this is so unladylike of you." He said, his voice calm and soft, but Yena's wouldn't budge.

"Why are you crying? Sigh, where did the fierce woman I fell in love with go?"

"B-but, D-Daniel, your... your arm..." She faltered.

Daniel's gentle smile didn't waiver. "It's just an arm Yena. It's no big deal. I'm just glad you're alright."

Daniel, in his rash to save Yena, didn't have time to form a fully-fledged barrier and opted to augment his shield. While he succeeded in protecting Yena, from the elbow down, his left arm was exposed to the gasses.

At that moment, vibrations came from every wall of the cavern. The same vibrations, the worm made earlier while moving, only this time, many times larger and multiple of them. Everyone felt them, yet no one said a thing.

‘Why do I have to be the asshole here?’

"Sorry to ruin the mood, but if I don't, there won't be a mood to ruin."

Everyone turned to look at me, just for an earthquake to hit and jolt us up.

With that, there was no room for chitchat, and we made a run for it. Seth and I were ahead, ready to obliterate any beast that would try to stop us, Samantha and Sebastian behind us for support, and lastly Yena with Daniel.

The closer we reached the exit, the more the cavern trembled. At the very end, similarly to our entrance, there were multiple pathways.

"Which one!? I screamed by question thought the trembles.

"There! The one in the middle!" Sebastian pointed with a small blast of fire.

Seth was the first to step outside, and the moment he did the rumbling intensified. A second later I also stepped out, the drop in temperature evident immediately. A small distance had been built between the three groups, especially so for Yena and Daniel.

Looking at it from the outside, the entire room was about to collapse, parts of the ceiling already falling over.

Suddenly, close to where the skeleton of the dead worm lay, the ground cracked and another worm of even greater size rose, lava heightening around it.

Abruptly, its head whipped around and fixed on our direction. It let out a deafening roar before burrowing back into the ground, the earth crumbling in its wake, glowing fissures outlined by seeping lava trailing behind.

In a race between the destruction of the cavern and the frenzied worm, Sebastian and Samantha managed to step out of the exit, both gasping for air.

Yena and Daniel ran for their lives, the crumbled ground reaching closer behind them by the second. For every meter they covered, five were destroyed behind them. But, just as it was about to reach Yena's feet, it stopped.

Daniel, being three steps ahead of Yena and only a few from the exit, extended his lone hand to her.

Crack! Crack!

The ground below Yena suddenly crackled violently.

Three steps.

Two steps.

One step.

Their hands intertwined.

The ground shattered, revealing a gaping maw beneath Yena's feet.

"Yena!" Daniel screamed to the top of his lungs. Exhausted and full of desperation, he pulled her with every fiber of his being.

For a brief moment, everything fell silent.

Then the jaws of the worm snapped shut, reverberating in our ears.

My face drained of color.

Daniel had lost an arm.

Yena...

An arm was the only thing left of her.