Armored Leechworm

BOOOM!!!

Time seemed to have stopped moving as the booming shook the heaven and earth.

Risen from underneath the earth — blowing away the glaciers — A harrowing, hideous, and foul existence, had awakened.

"GARGGHHH!!!!"

In front of Achilles and Sia, was a giant worm-like abomination.

It had rusted metal scales covering its body along with multiple metallic tentacles protruding out of its body.

The creature shot out its tentacles as it aimed at the two tiny figures below it.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The couple dodged swiftly as they began retreating away from the monster.

'What the hell is this?!' Achilles asked in an urgent tone.

'We don't know! This thing is not supposed to be able to do this!' Sia replied through eye contact as they avoided the barrage of tentacles.

The tentacles that missed the duo, began growing multiple sacks of spores around it.

The latter slowly expanded as the worm directed the tentacles flying toward them again.

[Darling!] Sia screamed, gesturing for Achilles to come closer to her.

The latter nodded his head and arrived beside the former.

The silvery-white-haired beauty created numerous ice walls to block the attack. But the attempt was quickly proven futile as the worm tore through every single one of them with no effort whatsoever.

Still, it bought the duo some time as Sia summoned her "Blood Barrier" and a dark-red energy field manifested itself around Achilles and her.

Boom!

The sacks exploded, releasing a flood of spores that spread throughout the air.

Achilles and Sia, who were inside the dark-red ball were blown away by the force behind the explosion.

The latter held on to the divine beauty beside him as he felt his stomach churn due to being spun around.

'Goddamnit! There are stars everywhere!'

Sia poured her essences into the Frostbite once more and an ice wall stopped them from rolling around.

The duo crashed onto the barrier as Sia landed on top of Achilles.

While still feeling disoriented, the elf willed even more essences into the ring to create multiple ice walls that grew around them, trapping the spores within the ice.

Once the dust was settled, Achilles and Sia slowly stood up as they glanced at their surroundings.

The latter didn't dare to deactivate the Frostbite's enchantment just yet. She was afraid that there might still be spores lingering in the air without them knowing.

The eerily silence remained for a while. With each moment passed, the duo could feel their heartbeat becoming louder and louder.

Everything looked calm and peaceful. But this was only the calm...before the deadly storm's arrival.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

'It's here!'

The sound of ice walls breaking into pieces rang out from the distance. And it was approaching closer to where the couple was.

BOOM!

"GARGGHHH!!!"

The final wall of ice broke completely as the worm appeared in front of their eyes. It shot out a barrage of rusted tentacles as they broke the "Blood Barrier" like candy.

Achilles gripped his axe tightly and dodged most of the blows while deflecting some that he couldn't block.

Sia was faring much better than he was as she used her katana to swiftly push them back.

They managed to hold their ground for a long time. It was a miracle that they were still alive.

...But alas, there was a limit to how much two people could fight against a Fallen.

'There's no end to these things!' Achilles jumped back to avoid five tentacles headed toward him.

This, however, was a fatal mistake on his part, since this was nothing but a feint by the worm to make him fall into its trap.

At the moment he landed safely back a distance away, a tentacle headed to his right as it intended to pierce his chest.

'Fuck!' Achilles realized how much he had screwed up making such a dumb move.

This time, he was out of tricks to save himself. His abilities were practically useless against the Fallen, the "Mantis' Armament" was absolutely unable to provide any protection at all.

Just when he thought that his luck had run out, a shadow approached him and pushed him out of the way.

[Ahhhh!] The figure screamed in pain as the tentacle tore through a part of her lower abdomen.

Achilles witnessed all of that as he stumbled onto the ground. His heart began to tremble as his pupils shook frantically.

[S-Sia?] He held the beauty gently in his arms. He did not know why she protected him from the strike.

[...W-why?]

[...I already told you...I won't allow you to get injured. And besides...this wound is nothing. It'll heal back in no time...Don't worry.] Sia spoke ad her face winced up due to the pain from time to time.

Achilles knew what the little elf said was true, and that there was no reason to be worried over such a trivial matter.

But as he looked at the hole on the side of her abdomen along with her painful expression, he felt his blood boiling as an unimaginable wrath started clouding his mind.

He stared at the worm that was coming closer to the two of them while thinking:

'Nothing will lay a finger on my little women and lives.' His gaze turned blood-red as something was stirred deep inside him.

...-unidentified- — a part of himself that was half-awakened — had taken shape inside his subconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the city, where the battle between Luna, Mina, Yuna, and Jackson, against the horde of vegetation was still ongoing.

"There is no to these damn things!" Luna yelled in irritation as she fried a treant into charred wood.

Mina and Yuna decimated a group of monsters with their massive area of effect crystal and fire abilities respectively.

"We need to hold on until big sis kills the leader!" Mina shouted from a few meters away as she breathed tiredly. She was beginning to feel exhausted.

Yuna was handling no better since the constant use of essences was beginning to take a toll on her as well.

Jackson was probably in the worst one of the bunch since he had already expended most of his essences and couldn't use his ability anymore.

He could only use the soul artifact now without activating its enchantment to support from far away.

Another enormous wave of vegetation appeared over the horizon as they came to replace the fallen ones.

Luna felt her mind turn crazy at the sight in front of her. With one hoarse shout, she circulated the essences around her and shot to the next wave.

"Mina! Cover me!"

The fox girl heard what the olive-skin beauty said and snapped her fingers. A round of crystal bullets manifested into existence.

The bullets shot forward clearing all the monsters that stood in Luna's path.

"DIE!!"

The latter channeled lightning on her palms and sent it to the seemingly endless abomination.

Some of them were killed instantly but the other managed to survive. Once they recovered from the attack jumped at the ponytail girl in rage.

"Crap." Luna laughed weakly since she just used her most powerful attack yet and they still didn't die.

Before the Corrupted were able to get to her, a figure appeared in front of Luna as she deflected the strike with her greatsword.

Then her blade was covered by an immolating fire as she slashed horizontally.

BOOM!

A group of abominations was cut in two instantly by the flaming wave.

Yuna turned back and asked with a tired look:

"You okay?"