The worm, barreling towards me, makes contact with my shield, shattering it with a sickening crunch. Shards of wood fly all around, some inflicting scratches upon my body. Though the worm seems to hate it more than me. Its tender inside is punctured by many small bits of what was formerly a shield.

Roaring in pain, it backed away, likely confused on why it’s the one in pain when it was the one attacking. I managed to nic it with my dagger as it slithered back, but the tough hide resisted my dagger. Tough bugger.

Regaining its senses, it circles around and tries its attack once again. The rest of the worms attacked it as it accelerated but they too did nothing. Though rather than be dissuaded, than seem moreso excited about a tough opponent. To each their own I guess.

The remaining smaller worms swarm their giant sibling. More an annoyance to the large danger noodle, it tries to shove them away though they keep it tied down. Using this chance, I desperately pull myself across a series of rocks to get higher ground. The more distance I have from the ground, the better.

Although it could kill its siblings, desert worms have one track minds. It is thinking nothing but putting me into its mouth, that could be described as like a blender. Set upon set of teeth line it. Once it either carves off chuck of flesh or just swallows its prey while it’s still alive, the saw-like teeth slice it into smaller, edible chucks. Safe to say, it is a nightmare to be the prey of these worms when they progress to maturity. Though this one is an exception for some odd reason. This worm that is so intent on ripping and tearing me apart seems stronger for what a young worm should be. Yes, they grow from consuming other beings, but their siblings are only supposed to give them a foundation to work off of. They aren’t suppose to be particularly strong even after making a diner of their brother and sisters. Was the Information I got wrong? Is this some sort of special monster? I’ll have to figure it out when I get back.

Ridding itself from the interfering worms, it beared its maw and charged at where I once was. Expecting a meal but only meet with air, it started wildly swinging around like it was throwing a tantrum from getting its ice cream stolen. It screeched that sounded similar to a fork scratching a plate. I covered my ears to stop the mind numbing assault. It turns to its siblings, which froze their fighting due to the killing intent from the apex worm. For once, they looked like they were frightened. The ones born with a superior intelligence (compared to the walnut sized brains of many of their brethren) dipped and dug into the earth while the other did not move an inch. I can only guess that they were trying to minimize their presence, not wanting to attention of their big brother or sister (I cannot really distinguish its sex).

Although they try their best to hold still, it is not in their nature. One by one, the ones without the survival instinct to retreat away from the surface are swallowed up by their huge sibling. While this did buy me time, the worm healed more and more with each kill. It was truly horrifying and fascinating to watch this scene.

It stopped for a few moments after the slaughter. I could almost hear the gears spinning in its head trying to figure out what it was doing before. Like a monkey on a typewriter, it eventually recalled my existence but not without struggle. Slithering around my previous location, it started to explore each and every rock. It searches the shorter rocks around me as I hold my breath. Only curses like “fuck” or “shit” inhabited my mind at that point. So much so that I did not realize my terrible bandage was leaking blood. Flowing from the top of the rock, a few tiny streams of blood flow a stain the earth. Immediately, the worm responded to this smell and circled my rock smelling it. Ever so slowly it crawls up the rock following the scent.

Although I was shitting myself, I readied my dagger. This was going to be a gamble, but I have to take it. With it right in front of me, I jabbed my dagger in its mouth and it went ape shit. Due to its natural response to swallow anything in its mouth, the dagger is taken into its digestive system. Although there are no pain receptors with the lining of its digestive system, it could tell something was very wrong but could not do anything about it. I did not need to see it’s status screen to know it was hemorrhaging health points. It lunged at me in an attempt to return the favor but I easily countered it as its once powerful strength and agility faded, coming ever closer to hell where this disgusting thing belongs.

It began to sprinkle rain as it grew limp. The closing storm banished the survivors of this worm war deep into earth. I limped to a long piece of broken wood from the shield that sacrificed itself for me. With it in hand, I approached the worm. Weirdly, I got a feeling of fulfillment emitting from the helpless worm although it’s appearance was the contrary with its cold eyes. It seemed the worm thought of all this like a game. However, these thoughts took a backseat to my malice. My fear turned into fury and I jabbed the stick of retribution into the roof on its mouth for god knows how long until I got the pop-up.

‘Juvenile worm defeated. You have leveled up four times. You may allot up to forty points.’