Karl guesses as the stomach moves showing an outline of a snake. As Karl is standing just few meters away from the corpse moves violently.
SPLASH!
A white pipe comes out of the stomach, shredding the skin. It is quite thin than Karl anticipated. It moves unnaturally towards Karl, seeing this he tries to cut this worm-like creature.
CRACK!
'What the-'
The sword breaks in half like a toothpick. The white worm wraps itself around Karl's arm, lifting him up in the air. Then, it stops moving for a second. It is looking straight at Karl.
"Sere-"
Suddenly, it jolts towards Karl's open mouth. By instinct Karl spreads mana into his arm and falls on the ground. He quickly stands up and looks at the worm. It mimics a snake and wriggles on the ground. The only difference is that it is too fast. Karl is ready to use levitating steps. But it slides pass Karl and pierces into the stomach, making another hole.
The entire corpse shook in a creepy way. Sounds of bones cracking violently is heard. Karl is ready for the strike of that white worm. Suddenly the upper part of the stomach is cut open. Revealing, tens if not thousands of those white worms.
Serena who is all the way back is stunned in horror. Her body literally forgets to breath. The worms are moving in a unison, on top of eachother. Karl grits his teeth and he turns back. Seeing Karl turn back, Serena summons her circle and prepares herself to pull Karl away from that monster. Karl grabs the thread and looks at Serena.
'Should I pull now? But-'
Suddenly Karl lifts his broken sword and cuts the thread.
"WHAT?" Serena yells as the broken thread drops on the ground.
Karl turns back and sees the worms are wrapped into eachother creating a larger worm. It has heads almost everywhere. Just then, it strikes towards Karl. Serena closes her eyes in terror.
BOOM!
She slowly opens her eyes and sees the creature wiggling on the ground. Her eyes wonder all over the place searching for Karl.
'Where is he?' She gasps in surprise as she spots Karl near the leg of the corpse. He is trying to cut a claw of the bone. But it doesn't seem to be working. Karl is slashing the bone with all of his power.
'Fuck! If only I had my sword's edge.' Despite of this Karl keeps on slashing with his broken sword. Then, he notices a large shadow over his head. The bigger worm which consists thousands of smaller worms is facing towards his direction.
Few hundred small worm pop from the side creating a separate trail. Karl calmly watches the worms knowing that he is way faster than them. The separate trail moves towards Karl.
'The hell? Are they mimicking my sword slashes.'
The bigger worm slashes at Karl using the trail as a weapon. The trail is destroying everything in its path, the trees, grass and even rocks. Everything is eaten by them. Karl smiles as he thinks of an idea. He uses levitating steps and moves away from the trail. The trail hits the bones of the corpse.
'Now break it.'
Unfortunately, the bones absorbed into the worms and it moves towards the remaining corpse. Karl who is standing few meters away from the worm monster is watching it eat the remaining corpse.
Suddenly something pulls Karl back with intense force. He just let whatever it is pull him. Few more meters back, Serena successfully pulls Karl back. She grabs his shoulder. "We can't fight that monster yet. Let's fall back and come again when we are ready." Serena notices the dullness in Karl's eyes, they practically lost their light.
"ANSWER ME!" Serena grabs Karl's face and shakes it.
"I can't do this anymore." Karl whispers.
"What?"
Karl pushes Serena away.
"I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE! FUCK THAT WHITE TURD!" Karl screams.
Before Serena could say anything, he takes the first step and disappears from her vision. Karl is running frantically towards the big worm. The worm is still looking at Karl, multiple trails pops from the big worm. But this time each of them are aiming at Karl. Despite this Karl moving towards the worm.
"LEONARD!" Serena screams from behind.
The first trail strikes towards Karl, he slides beneath that one.
Second comes and Karl uses levitating steps to dodge the trail.
Third one appears quite faster than others as Karl is now close to the main body. The third one isn't properly yet and it is quite thinner than others. It is aiming at Karl's head, mouth to be precise. From earlier encounter and Karl's quick thinking, he spreads mana into his entire head till neck and third trail passes through Karl's mouth like butter.
Fourth trail appears but Karl pumps mana into his legs and performs levitating steps. But this time Karl jumps straight up, instead of jumping forward. He flies high in the air, almost 10 meters into air.
The big worm's inside opens up as smaller worms moves aside. It looks like a big straw with thousands worms instead of plastic.
'There!' Karl spots the bone inside the sea of worms. The big worm's head turns upwards and it jumps.
"NO!" Serena watches Karl getting eaten alive. The worm quickly closes it's mouth. Serena crouches as the big worm's head turns towards her. She summons her magic circle, ready to attack if the worm draws closer.
Surprisingly, it doesn't move for few seconds. Then it spots something in a distant tree. It slowly turns and moves towards it. Serena's opens her watch's camera and zooms in.
'That's the black lynx from yesterday.'
As the big worm is moving it is leaving a black trail, destroying everything in it's path. Serena takes a breath of relief seeing the big worm slowly disappearing in the distance.
"Is it gone?"
"Yes." Startled, she turns back and pulls herself little bit away. Only to see Karl, naked.
"HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?" She screams very loudly.
"Keep quiet. What if that thing came back?"
"Tell me! Right this moment." She looks furious.
"Sure. Sure. Calm down. I just went in and sat still. Luckily, the worms didn't drill a hole inside me. Just like that in few seconds I was outside."
Serena looks at Karl for second. "You are such a bad liar."
Karl makes an annoyed expression. "I have my ways. Also, who cares about that? As long as I got this." He smiles as a purple light flashes in his hand. Revealing a 20 cm long claw in his hands.
Serena is overjoyed as Karl reveals the claw but reality strikes in as she notices another small claw. "WEAR SOMETHING, YOU CAVEMAN!" She coves her eyes and slaps Karl on the face.
Sun is slowly going down in a distance. Serena is walking ahead, her eyes focused on her watch. Karl has covered himself in a blanket which he got from Serena. He has Serena's bag in one hand and his broken sword in another.
"Are we there yet?"
"2 kilometres and we are out."
'At last.' Karl stretches his back revealing his bare chest.
Unintentionally, Serena looks back and catches a glimpse of it. She quickly turns her face away; Karl sees her annoyed expression.
He stares at her back for a second and asks "Listen, back in the library. When we first met you didn't show any expression on your face at all. But-"
Before Karl could finish Serena cuts in. "Because that wasn't me. I handle the entire library all by myself. So, sometimes I use an artifact to watch over. While I take rest."
"That thing was an artifact?"
"Cremated doll to be exact."
"Oh."
Serena glances back. "Don't tell this to any instructors."
"Sure. But still, handling the entire library that big is a tough job. Why don't you ask some of your friends to help you?"
Serena sighs. "I don't have any and the academy doesn't allow servents on the campus."
This creates an awkward silence between them. Thankfully, Serena continues. "I am the only blessed one from my knighthood. Every member thinks I am something superior and that created jealousy. From the beginning, no one from my age group talks with me. This made me feels very isolated and this continued in the academy. When I first came here nobody looked in my eyes straight, included the instructors."
"I guess hailing from a knighthood isn't always so fun."
"Hardly."
"Speaking of knighthood, Ian told me about you. Maybe you guys can become friends?"
"Phirsecot? Never. I don't want to associate myself with a fallen knighthood."
Karl remains silent. Serena knew that what she said was rude but doesn't bother to apologize for it.
The sky is now filled with stars and the moon is looking down on Karl's journey.
Karl is still walking behind Serena and notices that she stopped walking. He walks ahead of her only to see sand.
They are outside.