Both of us froze at this odd scene.
"Dad, what should we do?"
My dad didn't say anything back, he was still stunned by this horrifying sight.
It was very likely that this was the work of a Beast. And it was probably hiding somewhere in this forest. The most crucial question right now was whether my dad could defeat a Beast or not?
"You will win, right? No matter what?" I asked hesitantly.
He didn't say anything, but I could see that he was tightly pursed. The answer was obvious.
'No way...' I was speechless.
Without pausing, both of us rush in the opposite direction we were heading, out of the forest.
We didn't stop to rest even for a single moment. Both of us took advantage of every second to run.
My dad suddenly pulled my shirt, causing me to be jerked backwards.
"What!" I was amazed by his action. But then the ground shook, small cracks began to appear and gradually turned into larger cracks.
Finally, the place where I had just stood exploded in front of my father and I. Something had just emerged from the ground just exploded. It looked like a giant worm.
***
The worm emerged from the ground and roared. If there was a suitable word to describe this giant worm, it would be "nightmare." The Beast was as big as a three-car train. It had no eyes, and its mouth was wide open, revealing thousands of sharp, bloody teeth inside, as if it had just eaten something. From its torso to its lower extremities were large, human-like arms with sharp fingernails. Its entire body was covered in some kind of slimy substance.
I tried to cover my mouth, holding back the urge to vomit that could come at any moment. That Beast was probably the most sickening thing I had ever seen in my entire life. And I would probably see even more disgusting things like this in the future.
Meanwhile, my father picked me up right after and ran around the worm far away. Going around the worm might be dangerous, but turning back would lead deeper into the jungle.
My father enhanced his legs and leaped hard hard. We were faster than a bullet. I tried to say something but couldn't. My father must have used a lot of mana in that long jump.
I thought I had escaped. I thought so. But then suddenly the worm appeared above us. Tt must have done a hop too. Then, it reached out with a slimy arm towards me.
"Damn it!" I cursed. Then, I created an ice shield that covered both of us, causing my father who was hovering forward to stop immediately.
We were slammed straight into the ground. The sturdy shield was shattered into pieces. While the giant worm flew further until it hit a tree.
Smoke billowed after the impact. However, it was still able to stand up and crawl towards me using the dozens of arms that grew from its body. It was a strange spectacle.
Seeing this, my father kept rushing forward while endlessly shooting sparks from 5 fingers while still holding me using the other hand at the speed of a machine gun, except that these things could lead to a detonation. They would blow up as soon as they came into contact with something.
However, the worm continued to run without delay, but the explosions continued, forcing it to slow down a bit.
I immediately supported my father. Now, I was able to create 10 pieces of ice at a time. 10 sharp ice pieces continuously appeared from out of nowhere and charged to the Beast. Dozens of cuts were generated on its body.
Then, the Beast did something we didn't expect. It wasn't that we expected it, but rather that we had forgotten about its abilities.
The Beast burrowed underground.
We were completely incapable now. Ice and Fire attacks couldn't penetrate the ground, and even if they could, the worm would be much deeper than that.
On the other hand, the worm would gain a huge benefit. It could move freely without worrying about being hit by anything, and could instantaneously appear at any moment and kill both of us.
Our only choice left was to keep running and hope that the worm's attack would miss.
My father rushed towards the edge of the forest. He must have used too much mana on the previous attack. As he ran, he created a fireball on his palm. Perhaps his idea was to attack whenever it appeared.
"Boom!"
The ground beneath my father's feet was destroyed, replaced by the bloody mouth of the worm.
As expected, he immediately threw the fireball into the worm's mouth.
Caught off guard, the worm burrowed into the ground again. And we continued running.
***
A moment later.
Just like before, the ground was destroyed again. And just like before, my father threw the fireball down his feet again. And that was a blunder.
What should have been there was the Beast's wide open mouth, but instead was one of its arms, which was now burned after being hit with the fireball.
The ground in front of us immediately broke apart and the worm appeared from that direction. It immediately dashed towards us.
I tried to create an ice wall but it was easily destroyed.
The worm's mouth became more and more closer. I looked around, realizing that the terrain here was very familiar.
That was when I saw the familiar cave. Without holding back, I informed my father, who was stunned as the worm's mouth moved closer.
"Over there!"
My father quickly moved his eyes towards the place I was talking about, seeing the cave. He immediately poured a large amount of mana into his feet and pounced towards the cave.
***
It had been more than a day since we were trapped in the cave.
It seemed that the Beast could only pass through soil, not rocks. Coincidentally, this cave was in a mountain made of rocks. Even so, it did not give up.
It spent all its time circling around the cave, making it impossible for us to run. Sometimes it even reached in to try to grab someone but failed.
The cave was both our lifesaver and our imprisonment. It was sturdy and long enough that the Beast couldn't enter, but there was only one way out, which was being guarded by the Beast.
This was a battle of endurance. Even so, my father and I understood that the possibility of both of us dying was almost 100%. The reason was because the storage artifact had fallen while we were trying to escape from the giant worm. Meaning that we wouldn't have any food to eat.
'If we use mana, we can survive for at least 7 days.'
7 days was a long time, but it probably wasn't anything to the Beast.
I began to feel a little hopeless.
At that moment, my father, who had stayed silent since yesterday, spoke up: "I'm sorry."