The light from the crystals scattered sporadically across the Middle Stratum's roof illuminated the cliff's wall and the bulbous body of the hideous worm.

Our movements must have alerted it and its harsh shriek reverberated across the cliff wall as it sped towards us with a maw filled with spiked teeth.

While I knew it was weak, I was more concerned with the monsters below that could have heard its cry.

Fortunately, when I looked down at the giant centipedes, there was no sign of movement. It seemed we were too high up on the cliff for any sound to reach them below. But that did not stop someone from panicking.

[Climb! Hurry! It's coming!]

The dark fae buzzed around my horns in panic, urging me to climb faster when she saw the worm approaching, even though she could easily fly away from harm herself. It was adorable how she often forgot she had wings.

[We'll be fine, it's weak.] I assured her.

And then I looked over at Typhon to see how he would react to the creature.

I was surprised because he'd kept pace with me since the beginning but now, he stopped climbing entirely and stared up at the worm creature, his eyes intently studying its movements as if thinking of what to do.

Heh.

I guess he wasn't so great after all if this caught him off guard.

However, he did not panic, which impressed me.

Since this was his first encounter with the creature, I could only imagine he was thinking of how to fight it without losing his grip on the wall.

I was sure attacking it with poison spheres didn't occur to him, since he had just evolved and had no experience with [Poison Synthesis], but I was curious of what he would do.

The dark fae's flustered figure flitted across my eyes, distracting me from Typhon as she grumbled. [Why aren't you attacking? It's going to reach us!]

I hushed her to calm down, but she only grew more concerned.

[I'm scared. There's a big crawly monster down there!] she added, referring to the giant centipede.

Its presence, however, did not seem to deter the worm creature, because it screeched again, before burrowing under the ground to escape from sight. And although I couldn't see it, I could feel rumbling vibrations from under the ground as it sped towards us.

It occurred to me to attack the creature as soon as it reached us to show him what to do, but where was the fun in that?

I continued to climb, choosing to wait to see what decision he would make. However, what happened next took me completely by surprise.

The wall began to rumble, and a portion of the cliffside came away with rocks, exposing the buried figure of the worm in a great upheaval of debris that sent tremors through my scales and I had to hold on tight to stay on the wall.

The worm creature experienced the ground shattering all around it and unable to keep hold, it was quickly washed away in an avalanche as the rocks gave way.

It screeched all the way down as it fell, its body covered in bruises from the falling rocks as it landed into the water.

However, its screech did not prevail for long.

The giant centipede heard the disturbance and rushed out of the hole in the cliff with immense speed, its sturdy legs clattering over the fallen rocks to retrieve the injured worm.

I activated [Shadow Shroud], spreading a mass of shadow to envelop myself, the dark fae, who screamed in protest and Typhon. And then I gazed down at the multiple legs of the giant creature that had begun to eat.

While I wanted to terrify Typhon, I did not want to linger on the wall for too long. If it decided to climb up to face us itself, I hoped it would only see the partially destroyed cliffside.

I instructed Typhon not to move as we waited within my shadows for the monster to leave, and soon the giant centipede retrieved the worm's body before disappearing into its lair.

It was only then that we decided to resume our climb up.

I retrieved my shadows only when we reached the top of the cliff and all three of us sprawled over on the rocks of the plateau, breathing in sighs of relief to finally touch solid ground.

Typhon was overjoyed and kept looking down at the cliffside wall to see what he had destroyed with his magic and I joined him to examine the scene.

It was only a small portion of the cliff, but the damage he had done was visible from the height we were. It was like something had taken out a chunk of the wall, leaving only a shallow hole behind.

The dark fae rushed over to my head, wrapping my horns in a fierce hug. [Why didn't you attack? I was so scared! I thought we were going to die!]

I sighed at her silliness. [You realise you could easily kill it with your magic, right?]

The dark fae buzzed around my head in protest. [No way! It's too scary. It would eat me.]

She looked down at the cliffside to see what we were staring at, and soon she joined us with her mouth agape when she saw the damaged cliffside. [Waah!]

I nodded enthusiastically with her.

I thought he would use his [Poison Magic] but it seemed he had used [Earth Magic] instead. To have done so much damage without any practice was impressive indeed!

What the heck! Typhon was actually strong!

I was impressed with his skill and especially happy to be one of the first to witness it first-hand.

How much magic had he used?

Without [Appraisal] I couldn't tell, but Typhon didn't seem exhausted.

He left the cliffside and stared around at the empty plateau. The dark fae flitted around him, seemingly fascinated with her surroundings as she wondered why we had come here.

While I was overjoyed that he was strong. The experience didn't scare him at all, and apart from those few seconds of confusion where he panicked, he had recovered pretty quickly.

The worm wasn't a suitable enough opponent for him.

If I was going to terrify him, I needed something better!

«You could just spar with him, like he wants.» Sensei chuckled unhelpfully. «Unless you're afraid?»

"I'm not afraid" I frowned.

Maybe the worms wouldn't work…but then again, it had only been a single one that appeared. The last time there had been multiple ones.

Ah…but then I remembered attacking them repeatedly.

How many did I kill at the time?

Could it be that their numbers had not yet recovered?

I returned to the edge of the plateau to look at the cliffside. The noise from the rocks had to have attracted more!

And sure enough, when I looked down there were multiple dark worms emerging out of the rocks.

I glanced back at Typhon who had settled down in his coil, staring intently at a fragment of rock, right before it crumbled before his eyes. It seemed he was practicing.

And then I looked back at the dark worms that had started following our scents to climb up the cliffside. I wondered how he would do against multiple worms. If he really wanted to practice, there was no better way than to face a large number of opponents.

I instructed him to come over and together we looked down at the cliffside, where I detected the presence of more than ten worms crawling over the surface of the rocks as well as twenty others burrowing under the ground in a sneak attack.

Typhon had noticed them too and he was about to collapse the cliffside again when I stopped him.

While it was great that he could use [Earth Magic] I didn't want the destruction it caused to attract any other creature.

He would have to fight them while making as little noise as possible which meant he could only use it to a slight degree. And so, he had no choice but to watch the worm creatures make their way up the cliff.

The dark fae buzzed over to us with a confused look, but when she saw the worms coming she rushed over to hide behind me.

[They're coming! We should run!] she screamed.

I shook my head at her. There was no way I was letting her sit this one out.

She had just as much magic as Typhon, and perhaps even more.

Typhon and I waited tensely for them to appear, when I informed her of the bad news.

[You're staying here to help him.] I smirked at her terrified expression.

[What? No!] The dark fae cried loudly. [I refuse!]

I ignored her cries of protest and gave Typhon an order – he was to fight the worm creatures with the aid of the dark fae and not allow them to cross the plateau. And I would observe their battle while I practiced my own skills and give them tips depending on how they fought.

I thought it was a good training opportunity for the two of them, especially the dark fae who had plenty of magic but was unfortunately useless when it came to combat.

I expected some resistance, but to my surprise Typhon agreed in an instant, preparing to face the hordes of creatures by himself without any hesitation.

And I found myself impressed by his tenacity for a second time.