The worm monsters wiggled around, obviously upset by my mist, but they didn’t go back into their holes. They had no eyes or noses, just wide mouths on the top of their heads that opened and closed in agitation. Two rows of needle-sharp teeth, like a shark, filled their mouths. I could smell their decaying stink from here.

Kesstel hummed under his breath. “Well, I’ve seen worse.” Still his nose wrinkled in disgust.

My eyes narrowed as I stared at the thousands of monsters. “This is the second time I’ve seen them.”

But the ones I saw almost a week ago while chasing the Red Orc through the city were only level 45. These worm monsters, called Mega Annelids, wiggling all over the ground with barely five feet between each one, ranged between levels 78 and 86. Nearly twice the strength. Was it because I agitated the Portal? It only made sense. My mist bothered Kesstel, so it must work on other things the parasitic planet controlled.

“What is that?” Jonovan asked, trying to peer through my mist to make out the things wiggling just under their feet.

I pulled my mist and thinned it out enough that the other Hunters could finally see what I could.

More than a few people jumped and gasped when they saw they were standing on an invisible sheet over top of open, toothy mouths. As soon as my mist was gone, the Mega Annelids wiggled and chomped their mouths open and closed fast.

“My god,” Blood Sword muttered, looking around for the first time. I didn’t know if he was talking about the thousands of monsters or the fact that seventy percent of the city’s buildings — including all the huge casinos that it was so proud of in the past — were reduced to a pile of rubble.

One of the worm monsters couldn’t resist the temptation of food over its head anymore and rose higher into the air, reaching over fifteen feet tall.

I maneuvered my mist around it and locked a ring around its head. The monster instantly writhed and squirmed, knotting and twisting its body, but it couldn’t pull free of my hold on it. Curiously, I lifted the block around its head, pulling the monster from its hole until I could see its whole body. My brows were pinched together by the time I extracted all twenty-two feet of the worm monster, but it was worth the effort. As soon as its tail was free of the ground, it swung out, smacking into other Mega Annelids and hitting the bottom of the platform we all stood on.

I turned to the shocked Hunters behind me and motioned to the monsters. “They respond to movement and vibration on the ground, and they’re fast. Concrete and other hard surfaces are like water to them,” I explained.

Slowly, the shock of the situation went away, and I could see the Hunters settle into battle mode one by one.

“Their weak spot is just below here.” I turned and threw my kindjal at the monster, three feet below its head. My blade sank into the worm’s slimy, soft flesh just above where the energy crystal was. The monster instantly scrunched up its body, curling around the short sword. “Cut off the head, or take out the energy crystal — it’s up to you.”

“The Portal is that way,” Kesstel added and pointed in the distance, over top of the heads of thousands of worm monsters. “The Las Vegas Airport.” He glanced at me. “From what I can tell, it’s large.”

I nodded. I couldn’t get a good read, but I knew for sure it was wider than a house. As for how it worked with being underground, well, we would just have to see.

“Jyn and I will be going that way,” Kesstel said. “You’re welcome to join us if you can.”

Tyson scowled. “What about all the monsters in the way?” He motioned to them.

Kesstel snorted. “What about them?” His sword appeared in his hand, the blue and silver steel glinting in the harsh light.

A small smile pulled at my lips as Kesstel’s arrogant confidence bled over to me. The knowledge that I was finally there, finally able to stand side by side with him in a battle was like a shot of adrenaline.

I held out my hand, and the kindjal still stuck in the monster’s neck returned to me. As soon as it touched my skin, it multiplied into four swords. I took one in each hand, and the others slowly drifted around me, ready for a command. A pale light gleamed from inside the crystal blades.

Kesstel tilted his head and smiled, looking into my face. “Pretty.”

From the crowd, Miranda gasped. “I thought she was a Melee Hunter? How can she do magic?”

At her side, Mila rolled her eyes. “Does anything we used to think about her apply anymore?”

I chose to ignore their words, instead pointing at the group's feet. “You have thirty seconds before what you stand on disappears. I’d find solid ground before then, or try not to look like an idiot in front of your teammates when you land.” That was all the free information they’d get from me.

Deeming that my part on the team was done, I looked towards the airport where magic was still spilling into the atmosphere, like clear smoke rising up. I could feel it when my mist was there, but this was the first time I’d seen the parasitic planet’s magic with my eyes, not just its effects. Like smog, it began to pool over the city, both clear and colorful at the same time. Random rainbows that flashed as the magic rippled, then disappeared as the magic smoothed out.

This must have been what Kesstel had been seeing all this time, I thought, remembering how he’d sometimes stop and look around when he gauged how much longer Earth had. Maybe it was a good thing I couldn’t see it all the time. It would be too nerve wracking. At least I could do something about the magic pollution in front of me.

“Let’s go,” I said. The mist pooling lightly around me flooded out in a straight line in the direction of the airport, ten feet above the broken ground.

I jumped down and sprinted across it, my kindjals following behind. The first monster that exploded was the one that I still had strung up in the air. It was completely powerless as I slashed it in half, my blade cutting through like a warm knife through butter. I knew their skin wasn’t actually that easy to cut, it was just that my weapons were that much superior. Unfortunately, it gave the impression it wasn’t that hard, for the people watching me. I didn’t dwell on it for too long, because I had already moved on to the monsters in front of me.

The two Mega Annelids flinched when my mist touched them and snapped their mouths open and closed as they flailed around. The monsters didn’t have eyes, and I wasn’t touching the ground, so their movements were random, as if they were trying to figure out where I was. I didn’t give them the time. My floating kindjals took care of one giant worm, while the other fell by the swords in my hands.

The monsters exploded into little lights, accompanied by the notification I’d gained more EXP. Two Drop Orbs fell onto the mist I was Feather Step sprinting on. While I twisted and sliced the next monster in half, I waved a hand and brought the Drop Orbs to me. As soon as they touched my skin, they instantly went into my Items Bag.

The Mega Annelid lunged at me, moving like a pale fleshy blur. Before I had the chance to move, a blue and steel bastard sword flashed and lopped the monster’s head off. Kesstel appeared above me and kicked the head away before it could fall on me. And with it, the monster’s energy crystal.

My mouth twisted as I watched the head shoot a hundred feet away until it smashed into the side of the building. Definitely not worth going to get right now. The sad part was, because I didn’t destroy the energy crystal, the monster’s carcass didn’t disappear. It slumped to the ground in a disgusting fleshy pile, spewing black blood like a hose. I grimaced as some of the blood splashed onto my legs, but I didn’t do anything about it — I was already attacking the new monsters that came. The blood on me gave away my location, making the monster’s attacks more accurate. A little more tricky, but I was still able to handle it.

It was a dog-eat-dog environment. As soon as a monster carcass slumped over, the monsters around it would lunge at the still-twitching body and start ripping chunks off, creating a massive feeding frenzy.

In Kesstel’s case, every move he made attracted monsters. Not only did he have their blood on him, but he also left a lot of bodies. He didn’t seem to care. Every monster that came into swinging distance of him died in the same casual flick of his wrist as the monster before it. A faint smile spread across his face and his blue eyes were faintly glowing as he fought like the god of death, cutting down monsters in the blink of an eye. He never strayed too far from me, just enough that our fighting styles didn’t conflict with each other, but close enough that he would sometimes jump over and assist me in a kill. At the same time, I’d pay enough attention to him to destroy as many energy crystals as I could from the monsters he cut down. If there was an obvious Drop Orb that I could get, I’d snatch it up, but for the most part, I stopped bothering with collecting them at all. There were just too many to care about and I was busy.

The group of Hunters and the sounds of their fighting faded behind us as Kesstel and I plowed through the Mega Annelids towards the airport. Kesstel quickly figured out the convenience of running on my mist and often used it. He was so fast and so deadly, I didn’t want to be left behind in speed or monster count. Not that I was actually counting, I just wanted to make sure that every time he killed one, I did too.

It didn’t take long for me to fall into the rhythm, moving around monsters and slicing the kindjals around like beams of death. Tiny whites lights exploded everywhere I went. Slowly, Kesstel and I began to develop a technical understanding of how the other person moved and adapted our own fighting styles to adjust around each other. I’d shoot a kindjal over and pierce the energy crystal of a monster that was going for his back; he’d appear at my side and take care of the excess monsters before I could get injured. Most of our fights were still separate, but there was enough crossover to say that we were actually tag teaming. We were both covered in blood, but outside of a few scratches, none of it was our own.

Because of the Mega Annelids’ habit of eating their dead — or anything else that moved — it would have been easy to get stuck in one place for a long time. But Kesstel and I didn’t linger long in a place. We did, however, leave a long trail of dead monsters in our wake, which led to other monsters wiggling in to get a meal. The whole thing was just gross.

We were both breathing heavily by the time we reached the airport.

Behind us was a mass of wiggling giant worms, but the stretch ahead that spanned nearly the whole airport area was still. Rusty airplanes and shuttle buses were tipped on their sides, scattered across the runways of broken concrete like a child’s messy playroom. The airport building was in a pile of rubble, with only a couple steel-frame structures protruding out. It was easy to tell where the Portal was because the Mega Annelids created a near perfect circle around it. For whatever reason, they wouldn’t go over top of it.

The only movement at all on it was the thick magic that seeped from the dry ground. My mist collided with it like oil and water. Just the thought of stepping into that stuff left an unpleasant twist in my stomach. I pushed out with my mist, trying to force the magic away from our location. The magic resisted and countered, but slowly it moved away until Kesstel and I had a comfortable five-foot circle to stand in.

A low, muffled rumble echoed out from under the circle of dirt. Another earthquake rippled out, rocking the ground below the barrier we stood on.

Sorry, I thought briefly to the Hunters several miles behind us, still fighting on the ground.

Kesstel pointed his sword at the smooth ground. “I think here’s good spot to start digging.” Before I could agree or disagree, he jumped off my barrier.

*****