Zero was swamped with both Vampire Worms and Dirt Worms. His blade slashed quickly all around him, cutting every Worm into mincemeat. He was glad that he had watched Zeraph's sword practice and had decided to use a similar cutting style. It did not compare to Zeraph's, but it did the trick he needed it to. All the Worms were cut so small that they couldn't recuperate.
"You're kidding me, right?" Valiant stares at Zero, dumbstruck.
"See, what did I tell you? You will be fine." M2 continually ran around the Goliath worm like it was nothing, creating more monsters, one after another.
Zero could tell that the health of the Goliath was rapidly decreasing and that what M2 was doing was working. They had to chop it up and let it bleed to death continually. Jumping head first, Zero followed in pursuit. He danced around Goliath's body and slashed.
More and more worms appeared from the ooze. Finally, it shot up to six hundred from one hundred to two. All the baby dragons and their partners were dancing around frantically as if their butts were on fire. They could not even rest a minute, or the worms would devour them. The thought of being worm food did not sit well with any of them.
Even the Lunar Rabbits were jumping around, trying not to get eaten up by the worms, but compared to the baby dragons and their partners, they were doing much better.
"You're doing great!" M2 happily sang. With a final rapid attack, both M2 and Zero annihilated the Goliath Worm, but in its place, a large swarm of roughly a thousand worms swarmed all around them. It was like they were swimming in it.
"Damn it! Keep firing! Don't stop!" Valiant choked on his spit and had to jump out of harm's way. He blew fire in midair, causing the worms to burst into flames.
"We should go fishing with these worms," M2 replied. "They are quite healthy looking, you know."
"That might not be bad, though we need a large fishing pole." Zero replied. He jumped to the side and hacked the Dirt Worm into five pieces.
M2 and Zero leisurely conversed with one another as they continued taking out the Earth Worms and the Vampire Worms. The baby dragons were appalled at the strange sight that they saw. They
didn't know if they were taking this threat seriously or not.
"We could try fishing over the ocean or a lake one day, though the problem is finding one."
"There should be one coming up shortly." But then, M2 hacked at another worm. "I think it's a couple of days' ride until we pass one."
"Really? I'll see if Garret could help me design a fishing pole."
"Great idea, make me one as well."
"I will. Hopefully, we will catch some fish the size of these worms. It could feed the population for a day."
"Ooooooh, fish. I like that."
"You guys!" Valiant yelled, catching both Zero's and M2's attention.
"Yes?" They both replied at the same time; they destroyed a worm.
"We're dying!"
A swarm of worms was already in the small group, overwhelming them with their strength.
"I swear, these kids can't even take care of a few monsters."
"A few? A few?" Valiant felt his veins ready to pop. He struggled with ten Dirt Worms by himself, hopping around like his feet were on fire.
"Yes, a few." M2 dashed in and sliced them up in a rapid attack.
Zero dashed forward and did the same with the others. In a matter of moments, the monsters dwindled to a few. Finally, the baby dragons and their partners finished the rest of the worms. With the fight over, they fell flat on their stomach, exhausted.
"I can't do this anymore."
"I need water!"
"Someone save me. My feet are aching, and my throat is dry."
"Wah! I want to go home."
"Quit your complaining; that was just a warm-up." M2 shook his head. He put away his rapier and stared down at them in disappointment. "You're powering leveling as if it's nothing."
"Yea, but you're killing us slowly!"
M2 rolled his eyes. "You're being helped for free. Unfortunately, there aren't many people out
there who are willing to help. By now, all of you should be passed one hundred."
The complaining baby dragons went silent.
"We did."
"Yea, me too."
"I'm level 98."
"99."
"105."
"95"
"102"
"Sweet, we're all probably in the same level range," spoke Reed. Who was lying on the ground panting?
Everyone nodded. Even their partners were around the same level.
"I can't believe we leveled so quickly. In just one week," said Tanmint. "At this rate, we probably passed the other baby dragons by far."
"Yea."
"That ugly oaf will be surprised when he sees how far we leveled." Valiant eyes glistened with pleasure. He smirked evilly. "Now, if he tries picking on Reed, I will give him one or two punches."
"Valiant." Reed gave him a disapproving look.
"What? He deserved it."
"Don't go looking for trouble."
"I won't. I'll just sneak it in a couple of times in our fight."
"Come on, Reed. This is why you always get bullied. You need to stand up to your foes. If not, they will continue to pick on you."
"I-I-I will."
"She's not going to do it, is she?" Turnip sighed.
"Probably not." Terry shook her head.
"It's Reed, for sure. We just need to give that bully a couple of wallops, and he'll leave her
alone." Baku nodded his head.
"Yea. I like the sound of that."
Zero wiped his blade and put it away. His level reached 180. He couldn't help but be pleased that his companion was steadily leveling up. They had made giant leaps and bounds in their stay at the Red Zone, and his goal of helping them reach a hundred was over. Instead, now he focused on what was wrong with the tunnel itself.
They were finally at the Red Dungeon's last level, and the Goliath Worm was the final Boss. Even though the monster did not give him much experience, the Boss did not give them any treasures. He felt a bit cheated, but they were nothing that he could do.
Instead, he walked around the large room looking for any final clues that could be of use. Finally, a shiny metal hidden in the corner of the room caught his attention. He quickly went over to see what it was.
A small silver beetle was engraved into the wall. Reaching upwards, Zero tried to pull it out. The moment he touched the beetle, the beetle came alive, and thousands of beetles surfaced out of the wall.
"What the hell?" Zero backed up in surprise.
The beetle swarmed and ate away the dirt wall creating an entirely new passage.