Campaign 16

While Malachi and his team went out in search for the Hell Worm, back at base camp, Arlianne led the rest of Class 13 to set up the ambush. Class 13 was gathered around a desk with an unfurled map. With them were their engineers who were waiting next to the tank destroyer parked nearby.

“Luckily for us, this canyon only has a few branching paths,” commented Arlianne, “Anybody here familiar with setting up an ambush?”

She looked around and saw no one responded to her inquiry.

“Then, the first thing to look for is a possible choke-point,” she continued, “This will be any location that will make it difficult for the target to navigate around. It could be a bend along a path, an uphill road, or a wide open space that funnels into a tight corridor.”

Arlianne slid her finger across the map of the canyon, searching for possible choke-points.

“From where we are, here are three possible locations.” She said. Arlianne took out a pen and encircled three locations on the map. “Each one is within a kilometer from our present location, and will be easy to reinforce in the case things go awry.”

There, a cadette raised her hand.

“Yes, Ms Cuevas?” responded Arlianne.

“Then, considering the Hell Worm’s capabilities,” said Samantha, “Wouldn’t it be better to set the ambush here?”

Samantha pointed at a completely different location than what Arlianne found. In fact, it was no longer a path, but a wide open space. However, the strange thing was, the location was an urban area.

“Care to explain, Ms. Cuevas?” urged Arlianne.

“The Hell Worm is well-known for being able to dig through the earth, right?” explained Samantha, “All of the areas you’ve suggested actually have soft soil. This will make it easy for the Hell Worm to escape. This area was once a mining town, and its area was heavily reinforced against monsters.”

“How do you know this?” asked a cadet, “You couldn’t possibly have been here before.”

“On the contrary, I have,” she argued, “I used to live around here, back when the mining town was fully-operational. You should know the Cuevas Mining Firm, right? We used to own the place.”

Voices of admiration came from each of her classmates.

“But now, we’ve abandoned the area since the deposits have already gone empty,” she continued, “Though, I’m pretty sure some of our equipment have been left behind. It has only been a year since then, after all.”

Arlianne nodded.

“Then let us set up there,” she announced, “Everyone, move out!”

When Class 13 had arrived at the mining town, Arlianne immediately have a few people follow Samantha to check the warehouses.

“Since this was a mining town, look for some explosives we could use,” she said, “We can use it to trap its legs.”

Samantha led a small team of cadets plus an engineer, Felix, to check around the warehouses. Meanwhile, Tyler was relocated from the base camp to a nearby tower as a lookout. The only ones left behind in the base camp were the trucks and the engineers who would not be piloting the tank destroyer: Asher, Garret, Olivia, Margaret, Felicia, and Simone. Felix had to drive a supply truck to resupply the rest of the cadets.

Arlianne went up the tower where Tyler was to survey the area. The mining town was designed like a grid; each block was equal to another, with the path to the mines itself as its main thoroughfare. Each block had four buildings that were made from solid rock and thick plates of metal—making them more robust than ordinary residential buildings.

“I can see why Ms. Cuevas suggested this place,” commented Arlianne, “Mr. Simmons, please find me a place to hide the tank. We will build our ambush from there.”

With a single panoramic scan of the town, Tyler found a fairly wide intersection where the tank could lay in wait, while being well-protected by massive buildings around it. By the time Samantha returned with a truck-load of explosives, the others had already taken positions around the intersection.

“We need to know where Malachi and the others will be coming from,” said Arlianne, “Depending on that we will set up the explosives from their direction.”

She held her radio and called for Malachi.

“Malachi, the ambush has been set up,” she said, “We are located at the southwest town—two kilometers north of the base camp.”

After saying that, she waited for a response, but none came. She held the radio again, when Rae suddenly came through.

“Uh, we’ve got a problem here!” shouted Rae, “Malachi is being chased around by the Hell Worm! He needs to know where the ambush is located so he could lead it there!”

Arlianne was still calm on the outside, but was beginning to panic on the inside.

“We’re at the town to the southwest!” she responded, “It’s about two kilometers north of the base camp! How’s Malachi doing?”

“Malachi is still running around the area with the worm on his tail,” replied Rae, “Ah, he’s about to come close—er? What in the world is he doing?”

“Ms. Ramirez, what happened?” asked Arlianne.

“Uh, Malachi… he, uh, he’s… singing?” answered Rae in doubt, “He’s singing as he is running, but I don’t understand the words. I just know that he’s singing because of the tune.”

When Rae contacted the ambush team about their predicament, Malachi was running around the same place—trying to keep the Hell Worm in one location. Fortunately or unfortunately, the slime from the eggs was still on his body, so the Hell Worm was still berserk.

Then he started singing—with good reason, of course.

Far beyond the horizon, far beyond the setting sun; I am carving a way through barren land. Holding on to my memories, they are keeping me alive; making me strong, they’re making me stand. Hot, dusty canyons I have been through; my heart is burning for ya, oh, it’s bleeding for you!

There, Malachi visibly increased his speed. With the length of time he had been running, one would presume that he would already be tired. It was the contrary when he began to sing. He suddenly turned around and went another way—this time, towards to Rae.

Wings of deliverance bring me home! Wings of deliverance carry me home!

Once Rae’s face was visible, she was staring blankly at Malachi while holding on to the radio.

And whenever I’m closing my eyes, it is you that I have on my mind. Echoes of what I had to leave behind!

When Malachi passed by Rae, she eventually snapped out of it to report the ambush location.

“Malachi, the others are at a mining town two kilometers north of the base camp!” she shouted.

Malachi turned his head, and paused his singing.

“That place, eh? Wait for Levi and Mr. Bryant,” he ordered, “Once you’ve regrouped, follow the tracks to reinforce the ambush! Tell Arlianne that I’ll be coming from the northeast!”

With that, Malachi made a sharp turn and sprinted to the south, and resumed his singing.

Ten thousand miles of torture! Ten thousand miles of pain! But nothing, nothing is keeping me from ya; I’m coming back to you again!

With these lines, he ran faster than before. Rae was in awe, half wondering if his singing was having such an effect and half wondering if Malachi was a monster in disguise instead. She radioed Arlianne again to tell her Malachi’s direction. After a few more minutes, Levi and Patrick arrived outside covered in soot, dust, and smelling singed.

“What happened to you two?” wondered Rae, “Malachi just went on ahead, leading the target to the ambush.”

“We were dealing with the eggs,” answered Patrick, “Who knew that entire cave was filled with it, top to bottom.”

“Some parts of the cave fell on us when we burned them,” added Levi, “It looked like that some parts were used for the construction of the nest, but it didn’t seem like a Hell Worm nest.”

Rae stared at Levi.

“What?” he responded.

“Nothing,” she replied, “I never expected ya to speak in a complete sentence around us.”

Levi frowned and said no more.

Patrick gave Levi a glance then returned his attention to Rae.

“So, what are we supposed to do now?” he asked, “Skaria should have said something.”

Rae stared at Patrick as well, but Patrick only stared back with a raised brow.

“Well, it was surprising that your hostility has lessened,” she explained, “I still remember my first day when you and Malachi fought for the seat of Class Leader. Your bloodshot eyes were scary when you learned his clan name.”

“Just answer my question.” He snapped.

Rae shrugged.

“Can you boys still run?” she said, “We will be reinforcing the ambush. Just follow the tracks.”

When she pointed at where Malachi went, and trail of torn earth could be seen. Levi’s and Patrick’s jaws dropped at the sight.

“He… did seriously lead it all the way?” inquired Patrick.

“Actually, he ran around in circles for a while,” she explained further, “We needed to know where the ambush was before he could get out of here.”

Rae pointed at where Malachi was running before. Again, a scene of destroyed dirt and rock could be seen.

“I can never recall hearing the Skaria being like this,” commented Levi.

Tyler was atop a tower when he could finally see a dust cloud billowing over the horizon in one of the ravines. When he took a peek through the sniper scope, he found two things: a sprinting Malachi and an angry Hell Worm destroying everything in its path. He also took the time to measure Malachi’s speed and distance away. Tyler lunged forward, over the railings, and called out to the guns in waiting.

“Incoming! Northeast gate!” he bellowed, “Estimated time, 5 minutes!”

“All troops to your stations!” ordered Arlianne, “Engineers, prepare the explosives!”

Class 13 scrambled to their chosen positions. None of them, however, were using handguns or shotguns, and each one of them was carrying machine guns or sniper rifles. Using the windows of the buildings, machine gun nests were aimed towards the east road, and the sniper nests were waiting along the south road. All other roads leading away from them were blockaded with heavy machinery, turning the intersection into a bend. As for the tank destroyer, it sat inside a garage on the end of the south road.

When Felix and Ritva finished planting the explosives, Felix was given the detonator while Ritva went back to the tank destroyer. Felix hid in a nearby makeshift bunker and waited for the command to flip the switch. Once Ritva got inside the tank destroyer, she maneuvered the vehicle into a position that could shoot in one direction, and run away to another.

Tyler updated Malachi’s proximity.

“Thirty seconds!” he announced. Tyler fired off a round with his sniper rifle to get Malachi’s attention. Once he saw Malachi looking at him, he pointed towards the ambush location. Malachi was running south, so he made a sharp turn to the east.

By then, the dust cloud could already be seen and the thunderous march of insectile limbs was echoing across the town. The song of destruction was also accompanied by the voice of a young man.

I can’t see, because it’s burning deep inside! Like gasoline, a fire running wild! No more fear, because I’m getting closer now! So unreal, but I like it anyhow!

With a stomp of his foot, Malachi leapt forward and ran further with greater strides.

I go faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and faster! I can’t live in a fairy tale of lies! And I can’t hide from the feeling because it’s right!

Tyler could already hear him singing from his position. Even he was stunned at the developments. As Malachi sang, his speed became even faster, despite Tyler being unable to understand the words being sung.

“What the hell…?” he said in disbelief, “This… this is incomparable to the kill house and laps…”

And I go faster and faster and faster and faster for love! And I can’t live in a fairy tale of lies!

Arlianne went inside a building and hefted an assault rifle on to the windowsill. Soon, she could see Malachi’s silhouette sprinting over and the rampaging monster behind him.

“Wait for my signal!” she bellowed, “Wait for it!”

I can feel that you’ve mesmerized my heart! I feel so free! I’m alive, I’m breaking out! I won’t give in, because I’m proud of all my scars!

Malachi could then see the ambush waiting before him. He directed his gaze at one of the windows, the window which Arlianne was waiting in. The girl did not flinch, but nodded instead, understanding what he meant by his gaze. Arlianne followed up with a gesture, motioning that the road was booby-trapped. Malachi just smiled and continued singing.

And I can see I’ve been wasting too much time!

His singing voice could already be heard by the rest of Class 13, breaking their tension with his confusing antics. Nevertheless, the sharper ones noticed the change in Malachi’s performance and could only stare stupidly at Malachi’s insane abilities.

I go faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and faster!

Soon he passed over the booby-trapped section of the road, and the Hell Worm smashed forward right after him.

“Now, blow it up!” ordered Arlianne.

Malachi leapt forward when he heard her order, and Felix activated the detonator. In a split-second, the road exploded, enveloping the Hell Worm in a storm of debris. Malachi spun around to give his own order while grabbing the rifle from his back.

“Fire at will, aim for its legs!” he roared.

Machine guns roared from the windows, buffeting what was veiled behind the storm of debris. Fortunately, due to the Hell Worm’s size, its legs could be easily seen sticking out. Sniper rifles sang in unison as they attempted to pierce the armor-like carapace.

There, a roar erupted from within the storm, dispersing the dust. The Hell Worm lost four of its legs and two of its forward limbs from the prior explosion. But even so, it still had enough strength to smash the buildings around it.

“Those inside the buildings—get out of there and relocate to a safer position!” ordered Malachi, “Machine gunners, cover them! Mr. Simmons, try to shoot its eyes to knock it down to the ground!”

Malachi let loose a few shots, aiming for the soft parts on the head. Tyler fixed his aim and subsequently shot the Hell Worm’s eyes. Unfortunately, he missed. The Hell Worm’s erratic movements dulled his accuracy. Still, Tyler was unperturbed. In his eyes was an intense gaze, as though he was in a trance, and his aim was fixed immediately before taking another shot.

This time, the left eye was hit. The Hell Worm recoiled back in pain and raised its body in anger. Furnishing one of its forward limbs like a blade, it struck down at Malachi who was still shooting at it out in the open.

Malachi noticed this and dodged forward with a roll. After his roll, he aimed and fired at the underside of the Hell Worm, attempting to take out its joints. Most of the bullets ricocheted off its carapace, but a few lucky shots got in and shattered the shell to reveal soft insectile flesh. This gave Malachi an idea.

“Snipers, shoot the body until the shell cracks open!” he ordered, “Machine gunners, keep working on the legs! Smash its limbs to bits! Trias brothers, fire a shot, already!”

Stephen’s voice roared over the others’ radios.

“Are you kidding?! You’ll get hit!” he argued.

“Then I trust you to not hit me at all!” roared Malachi back, “Take out one of its legs, already!”

“I won’t be responsible for your injuries!”

“That’s fine by me!”

The tank destroyer’s gun elevated a bit, aimed at one of the Hell Worm’s legs. Since the legs were slender—in contrast to the Hell Worm—Stephen had a bit of difficulty getting a shot, especially since Malachi was right in his line of fire.

“Taking a shot!” roared Stephen.

The tank destroyer’s gun roared like a monstrous beast, greater than the roar of the Hell Worm. Due to Stephen’s warning, Malachi immediately ducked down. In a split-second, the shadow of the shell swept past above him, and landed squarely on one of the Hell Worm’s legs—tearing it apart.

The Hell Worm collapsed down on the ground, and gave the gunners a chance to smash the last remnants of its defenses. Finally, after a few hundred more bullets, a large chunk of its back carapace broke open.

“Mr. Simmons, shoot the bolts, now!” bellowed Malachi, “Aim for the soft back!”

The Hell Worm was about to rise again, its body shaking violently trying to get up. But, with less than half of its limbs, its efforts were all futile. From the tower, Tyler hefted the pneumatic crossbow and aimed for the Hell Worm’s exposed flesh. A bolt was launched, and the needle embedded deeply into the Hell Worm.

“Again!” shouted Malachi, “Shoot it again, Mr. Simmons!”

Tyler emptied half the drugged bolts into the Hell Worm. Eventually, the monster stopped moving, causing the others to wonder if it was killed instead.

“It’s still alive, right?!” panicked a cadet.

Malachi approached the fallen monster. He went up its body and inspected its exposed flesh.

“What? Despite being an insect, its circulatory system is enclosed,” he observed, “Interesting. To see blood vessels from an insect intact despite the beating we gave it, this is an excellent discovery.”

He further inspected the other exposed parts, including the wounded eye.

“But still, looks like they don’t have lungs,” he noted, “Huh? What’s this bulge?”

Malachi arrived at the backside and found a lump on one end. Without a care, he lodged both of his hands inside; creating squishing noise and making the others vomit from the sight.

“Young Master, er, do you really have to, uh, do that?” asked Isaac, “The sight of you, uh, jamming it in there is, uh, not really pleasant.”

Malachi scanned his surroundings and found that people were averting their gazes. Even Arlianne doubted what she was seeing.

“Then, all of you go back to base camp and have the trucks come here,” he suggested, “Oh, and Mr. Simmons, give me the rest of the drugged bolts. I will be regularly injecting this with it.”

After giving his orders, Malachi resumed digging into the lump he found. Once he tore open the lump, he realized what it was.

“AHHHH!” he screamed, “Seriously?!”

Everybody halted their advance and turned back towards Malachi with a synchronized about-face. Before their eyes, a smaller version of the Hell Worm erupted from where Malachi was digging.

“Malachi!” cried Arlianne as she raised her gun.

However, the smaller Hell Worm wrapped itself around Malachi, causing Arlianne to freeze.

“Well, crap…” commented Malachi, “I’m totally dead.”

“How the hell are you so calm?!” berated Reuben, “Damn! You’re too careless, Young Master!”

“What do you want me to do?!” snapped Malachi, “This thing was supposed to come from eggs, right?! Wait, eggs…? Is there an insect that isn’t born from eggs?”

Malachi looked back at where the smaller Hell Worm came out from. It was from the giant Hell Worm’s own body, like it was birthed from it.

“Dammit, how do we get him out of there?!” panicked Isaac, “Young Master, don’t move in the slightest! Make it think you’re dead!”

The smaller Hell Worm slithered around Malachi’s body. Its limbs caused a slight tickling sensation as it moved, considering that it was a newborn. Suddenly, the smaller Hell Worm’s head raised and its eyes focused on Malachi’s own eyes.

“Crap, don’t eat me, I don’t want to die eight years after regaining my memories,” he pleaded, “It would be such a waste.”

Its golden eyes stared intensely at Malachi for a few moments. From the tower, Tyler was ready to take a shot with his sniper rifle. If only the smaller Hell Worm would raise its head a bit more, Tyler could immediately take a shot. The Hell Worm slithered to his back, and did the unexpected.

The smaller Hell Worm released Malachi and rested its head on top of Malachi’s own head.

“Uh, I live?” wondered Malachi, “What?”

He was about to reach for the Hell Worm resting on his head, but the Hell Worm wrapped itself around Malachi’s neck. Malachi froze, but noticed something strange.

“Uh, you’re…” he muttered, “Oh… my… god…”

He feel a strange sensation pass through his mind. The feeling was similar when he was communicating with Shyama—he could roughly understand what the Hell Worm meant to do.

When Malachi held the Hell Worm’s head, the monster released a soft growl.

“Parent…” it was the first word that came to his mind when the Hell Worm growled.

The look of disbelief was plastered on Malachi’s face. He was frozen in place, prompting the others to wonder what was wrong. Seeing that his life was no longer in danger, Arlianne approached him. However, because of their earlier negligence, Tyler was still aiming at the Hell Worm with his sniper rifle.

“Malachi?” called Arlianne out.

Malachi glanced at the young girl.

“Uh, how do I explain this?” he responded, “Uh, can some Eskurs come closer?”

Arlianne cocked her head, but still turned around and gestured for some Eskurs to come closer. Reuben and Genevieve approached him.

“Yes, Young Master?” asked Genevieve.

“Er, can either of you see if you could communicate with this guy on my head?” inquired Malachi, “Hey, you, are you really saying what I think you’re saying?”

Malachi stroked the head of the Hell Worm and it softly growled again. However, the two Eskurs picked up the growl, and the same sensation could be felt by them. With shock, Genevieve fell backwards and Reuben could only stare stupidly at the Hell Worm.

Soon, Levi, Patrick, and Rae arrived at the scene, and saw the absurd image of Malachi being wrapped around by a smaller monster. However, they noticed the shocked gazes of Reuben and Genevieve, and understood immediately that something was not normal.

“I… I don’t remember taming Hell Worms, before,” commented Reuben, “Since they always destroy anything that is not like them, they are always avoided by us, unlike with Manticores, Garms, and Garudas.”

Malachi glanced up at the monster resting on his head.

“I guess that means I got a new pet?”

As the engineers and cadets equipped with steam knights loaded the gigantic Hell Worm on to the trucks, others were regularly applying the drug into the monster to keep it from rousing. Malachi was with the others as they waited for the trucks.

Dinah was curiously poking the smaller Hell Worm on Malachi’s head.

“Um, Young Master, is it really treating you as its parent?” she asked, “I mean, it seems to be in torpor while clinging on to you.”

Malachi crossed his arms.

“Well, you know how we Eskurs are when we communicate with these monsters,” he said, “Like how I was able to communicate with Shyama, I was somehow able to understand what this guy was trying to say.”

He glanced up at the sleeping Hell Worm. Though, specifically, it was in torpor as it was an insect. Its golden eyes were for all to see, but it was not reacting to Dinah’s incessant poking.

“I should give this guy a name,” he said, “It’s too annoying to keep calling it ‘this guy’ when referring to it. Hmm, a name… I’ll go with Jin. Hey, Jin, you like your name?”

The Hell Worm suddenly roused from its torpor. Its body slithered down Malachi, and directed its head beside Malachi’s and looked momentarily in his eyes. After a while, it wrapped itself around Malachi’s neck like a collar, letting its rear hang down like a scarf.

“I suppose I can take that positively,” commented Malachi, “Welcome to the family, Jin.”

The others stared at Malachi.

“I don’t know what to feel,” commented a cadet, “I mean I understand the Manticore, but a Hell Worm? Speaking of, there weren’t any Hell Worms in the war back then.”

Levi, Patrick, and Rae walked up to Malachi.

“We took care of the eggs,” reported Levi, “They burned quite easily. So, where did you get this thing?”

Levi pointed at Jin.

“Jin came out from the big one we took down,” answered Malachi, “By the way, those eggs, were you able to take a good look at them?”

“Those weren’t Hell Worm eggs,” answered Patrick, “They were Fire Ant eggs, food for it, and burned up quite well. Not sure why that Hell Worm went nuts when you smashed an egg, though. Maybe it thought you ruined its lunch.”

Malachi blinked repeatedly, and then looked at the Hell Worm around his neck.

“Well, aren’t you guys extremely simple?”