Shadow Slave: Possibilities Without Meaning

Aldric was waiting for the chance to strike. To deal the decisive blow and end this nightmare once and for all.

Thorne kept the offensive and targeted the large wound on the worm. 

"STAB"

"STAB"

"STAB"

Like a monster, he did not relent. Repeatedly stabbing the worm, he was covered in green blood but he did not stop. No matter where the worm moved, he followed. If it tried to crush him with its size, he would dodge. He was supported by the androgynous archer and the goliath on his squad. The pygmy and Silo were nowhere to be found. He paid no mind to it and carried on with his hunt. 

The damage was slowly accruing on the beast. However, even more losses were sustained. A large group of the warriors were infected by parasitic worms and fought each other. Only 10 warriors remained in battle. 

"DON'T FALTER!" Nacht shouted with his arm missing from being cut by an infected fighter.

The remaining warriors fought till the bitter end. Slowly succumbing to prior injuries or being crushed by the thrashing mass of the worm. 

Aldric found his chance.

His gut was burning in tension but he remained strong. 

'Time to end this.' He thought.

He made his way to where Thorne and his squad were.

"There you are Silo. Where the hell were you?" the goliath named Akel shouted.

"Whatever, Help us!" the usually taciturn archer named Leri shouted.

Thorne gave Aldric a nod and continued hacking away at the worm.

It all came to a stop when Akel was caught beneath the worm when it feinted an attack. Crushed to death, the sight distracted Leri and led to her being attacked by a small worm.

The worm burrowed through her skin with unimaginable speed and headed straight for her brain.

"THORNE!" She shouted.

"You better end this" She said in a resolved voice. 

Knowing what would become of her, she grabbed a small dagger from her hip and ran the blade straight through her neck.

"AKEL! LERI!" 

In complete anger, Thorne went beserk and cleaved the worm. Dealing massive amounts of damage. He would get his revenge in blood. In retaliation, the worm unexpectedly released a jet of acid from one of the pores on its skin. Like a high-pressured hose, It was hard to react to let alone dodge.

Sensing the attack, Aldric tried to avoid it but was too slow to get completely out of the range. His whole left arm was covered in acid burns with some parts of his bone visible.

"AARRGHHHH"

He was lucky.

Thorne did not have time to even scream in pain as the acid melted straight through his body. From his clothes to the skin to his bone; the acid had no mercy. His body crumbled like a block of sand under a wave.

Aldric was horrified at the morbid death of his leader. Left as a unrecognisable mess of flesh and blood. Over the 60 days, the man grew on Aldric. He looked up to his stoic and rational beliefs in life. He was a man of principles. 

Aldric held a look of cold fury. Summoning the [Unwavering Spark], He took a large pouch that was resting on his back. He lit the bag with the torch and threw it in the open wound with his uninjured hand.

"BOOM" 

The sound of the explosion was muted because of how deep inside the worm it was let off. A disgusting array of green biomass expulsed from the wound, stunning the worm in blinding agony. The worm thrashed around in response.

Looking around on the battlefield, Aldric did not see a living soul. Just him and his enemy.

"It's time" Aldric whispered.

Meeting his death in the face, he charged into the gaping wound now widely open leading inside the worm. He dashed through the room-sized hole.

Aldric knew that worms don't have a heart. With an open circulatory system, Its major blood vessels were near its head. He thought that maybe that was the reason behind its pitiful state. With the fang-like wound being so near to the equivalent of its heart. It made sense as to why it took so long to heal from such a deadly injury. Aldric knew its weakness. 

With it already damaged by the explosives, He dealt more injury by slashing through a massive vein along the roof of the beast. Now covered in scalding green blood, Aldric was in a world of pain. 

[Clear Mind] kicked in full throttle. Numbing his mind to the debilitating pain, Aldric danced along the wall of the beast and let out a fury of slashes. 

The beast folded itself upwards and crashed against the cavern walls trying to get the intruder out. Causing a cave-in with large boulders falling all around and on the worm. A large boulder with a jetted edge pinned the end of the worm to the ground. 

Being thrown around inside the body of the worm disoriented Aldric. However, he was fine as long as his blade could still reach. 

After this horrific back-to-back, Aldric was slowing down because of his now mangled arm and having one of his eyes burned shut from the boiling blood. He was on his last legs. He went further through the opening and finally found it.

One of its soul shards. 

"SLASH" 

The shard shattered into a thousand fragments.

The beast froze completely still and collapsed on the ground. 

Silence.

He made his way outside the worm through blood and flesh.

"CRASH"

Like rain, rocks the size of cars were falling from the ceiling. The path back outside already caved in. 

Looking at his wounds through his lone eye, Aldric sat down.

"Fuck it hurts. It hurts so damn much." He cried.

"I guess this is it." 

Memories of the time he had spent in the first nightmare flashed through his head. Hunting with the stoic Thorne. Akel's overconfidence. Leri's mature advice. Even that damned pygmy's teases. 

Knowing that the worm was on its last breath, he waited. 

He was calm. With boulders dropping all around him, his mind was surprisingly clear.

The spell whispered:

[You have slain an awakened terror, Mindleech Of The Deep.]

[Wake up, Aldric! Your nightmare is over.]