Fenrir

“Remember to watch out for any weak points!” the party leader shouts as soon as a flash of black light shines through the room and they find themselves back in the tunnel. They all then spread out to make themselves harder targets while also giving them the best possibility of finding the mini boss’s weakness.

I watch the worm as it travels in circles in the ground around the tunnel before eventually arcing outward slightly and then turning straight into the tunnel again, making the intruders all turn towards it. Meanwhile the one it had targeted – their Dark Elf scout this time – immediately jumps out of its way, getting clear of the monster with little difficulty unlike their Orc tank.

Makes sense that the scout wouldn’t be caught by surprise.

The other intruders quickly swarm towards it, watching the creature as it passes through the tunnel. But none of them see anything and begin to show doubt about the battle.

That doubt doesn’t last too long though as after the tip of its tail leaves the wall, the scout seems to notice the unprotected part of it and shouts, “There! At the end of its tail!”

I hear Dawn giggle at the dark faces each of the intruders makes at seeing the rather annoying spot it’s placed.

Which makes sense. They don’t know the worm can travel through the tunnel yet, instead of just cutting across it. So of course they’d find it an almost impossible task to break through that in the mere seconds that it shows up.

Before any of the intruders can comment on that, the worm suddenly arcs around and goes directly back towards the tunnel again, letting it dig straight back into it after just a few seconds. And this time it begins going through the tunnel towards them instead of directly across from them, starting several meters away.

“Shit, run!” the Dark Elf shouts while hurriedly turning around and running in the opposite direction, to which the others all immediately follow.

“Uh, Fenrir?” Dawn asks trepidatiously.

“Don’t worry,” I tell her without even letting her finish.

The worm continues chasing them through the long tunnel for a bit until they reach one of the portal room doors and the small outlet it’s in. And at the sight of it, the Dark Elf’s eyes widen, and he points at it while shouting, “Get to the portal outlet!”

I watch as the party all rush over to the small – and now cramped – outlet, letting the worm just barely pass by them all without harming them, only missing the two Orcs by a hair. The worm then goes back up and out of the tunnel.

“I didn’t want to make it too difficult for them, so those portal doors are in a small outlet for that very reason.” I explain to Dawn as she somehow sends me a questioning stare without having a face to look at me with. “It makes it so that they don’t all just end up as worm food and are able to make it to safety without having to leave the tunnel every time Wormy enters it. Since that would go nowhere.”

Dawn continues staring at me for several seconds as the intruders catch their breaths before eventually muttering, “I still can’t believe you named it Wormy…” and turning back to the intruders again.

I flash light from my core twice from two different sides in my version of an intruders’ shrug.

The name may not be inspired, or unique like the others. But I still think Wormy is a great name.

Anyways, Wormy quickly ends up going back around and entering the tunnel again soon after the intruders leave the safety of the outlet and spread out into the tunnel again.

I watch along with Dawn as Wormy chases them through once again, but unlike last time, one of the Orcs is too slow to reach the outlet.

Probably not the best place to bring a great shield to. Not with how heavy it is to lug around.

“Gorek!!! Noooo!!!!” the other Orc shouts with a lot more despair than I’ve ever seen an Orc show after he turns around to see his twin getting gobbled up by Wormy’s open mouth.

“Damnit!” the party leader grunts while clenching his fist on his sword’s handle. He then raises his hand and shouts with no small amount of anger in his voice, “Get ready to attack its weak point when it finishes passing!”

I watch with interest as the party pushes aside their grief and readies themselves in the cramped space they have available. Then, the instant Wormy finishes passing by them, the mage sends a bolt of magma to hit the exposed weak point at the end of Wormy’s long body.

A loud screech echoes through the tunnel as the walls themselves shake and the magma bolt digs deep into his body. But Wormy doesn’t stop moving and manages to flee without any other intruder getting an attack in.

The blade users amongst the group all missed rather miserably, partially due to Wormy’s speed, and partially due to not wanting to get burned by the magma. Meanwhile the healer didn’t even bother attacking, and the other Orc… well, he’s still in the outlet staring at the ground.

Which I guess means not all of them pushed their grief aside after all.

I can kind of understand how he feels though. After all, if Dawn were hurt… I don’t think I would be able to control my anger.

Safe to say that I’d pity any intruder currently in my dungeon at the time.

Or rather I pity any now, since I doubt I’ll be pitying them then.

Anyways, the – clearly pissed off now – regroup with the party leader physically dragging the other Orc along with him before literally slapping him in the face to snap him out of it.

“Huh.” Dawn mutters, having turned a light yellow hue out of curiosity. “I’ve never seen an Orc so… depressed before. Didn’t think it was possible with them.”

I glance at her for a moment before silently agreeing and refocusing on the intruders again as they head back through the portal again.

Looks like they’re regrouping again for another meeting.