Chương 26: Worm poop!

All they could think of under this situation was to run. Awiergan hastily led the group inside the deep forest in the direction towards where Blake was- the edge of the forest which was the closest to the Academy. The exact route was a bit round-about so they decided to directly cross the thin stretch of land between the two points covered with trees.

The forest was filled with thousands of wild animals and dangerous beasts but in their eyes, nothing could be more dangerous than those white worms!

There was no path so they had to walk through bushes, watch out for trenches, climb over ridges and still trip over the roots and vines sticking out of the ground. They did not look back nor would the densely packed trees allow them to but they could all still tell from the vibrations of the earth that those worms had spread out in all directions and about a dozen were just headed towards their group!

Thankfully, perhaps because of those violent vibrations, they did not encounter any strange beasts or wild animals on their way.

"How long till we reach the end?" Sproule was getting impatient as he ran.

"Thinking about it... I don't want to say this... But..." It was the first time they saw Awiergan stutter. He was continuously staring at his wrist which was still shining a bright green light.

"Don't tell me that we are lost!" Ivory screamed. She had a talent for guessing unsaid words.

"The impending fate of great pain is close!" Orbona had previously told them about the pain written in their fates which would arrive within two weeks but before even the first day had yet to pass, that prediction was going to become true.

They wanted to believe that Orbona was joking, that she wanted to lighten up the mood or she spouted some random nonsense after hearing the bad news but no, the holy-looking ring of light hovering over her head told them otherwise.

The situation was getting grimmer by the second!

The overly enormous white worms were not missed by the 'Woodcutters' as they could easily see those pillars sprouting out from the ground one after another, filling one side of the horizon. Blake immediately called everyone to pack up and evacuate through a preset signal- a red smoke signal shot straight at the sky.

The 'workers' did not delay and promptly packed things up and headed for the Academy. Blake looked towards the worms before turning his head towards the deep forest.

He could feel the vibrations from where he was standing. The very earth was trembling from the worms' movement.

Sajjad was very safe from the worms. His current location made it so that the large worms would not be able to reach him even if they wanted to. The cliff side was made of hard and sturdy rocks, making it impossible for even those creatures to dig through and even if they were able to, they would surely not dare to come too close too the edge, much less the cliff itself.

That's right, Sajjad was currently on the cliff side, hanging on a vine which happened to be climbing down the cliff.

And he was stuck.

Below was the hot, rocky stretch of the desert while above were the giant white worms. He could only bear the pain in his arms and keep hanging while taking in the beautiful surroundings.

With no other apparent choice, the Ants kept running in what they supposed a straight line but with each step, the earth trembled ever more violently than before. The worms were catching up.

"Why are they following us?!" Lucy shouted. Her previously charming and positive self which was full of energy had now become a messed up negative girl who had thoroughly exhausted both her body and soul. They had been continuously running for so long at their max speeds while being chased by some giant ugly insects. In her eyes, this was the worst case scenario which could happen in a horror film.

"They are not following us, they are eating anything that comes their way!" Awiergan replied.

"So why are we not getting out of their way?" Sproule asked.

"We would have done that long ago if we could!" Awiergan exclaimed as he cursed at his wrist which was still shining.

He had already started doubting his chances of survival this time. After all, this was his first time that his cursed remained active for so long. Usually, it would only shine for a second or two but right now, he had already lost count.

"Then why can't we?!"

"First, look at your surroundings. All we can tell right now is of the left, right, front and back along with the up and down directions among which, only the front and back are helping us in any way. Changing our current direction would lead to further confusion. In the current situation, we can at least tell the general direction of the excavation site through the trembles of the earth.

"Second, even if we knew the directions and changed our current course, it would only lead us closer to other worms. Those things spread out in a circular shape, meaning that they are expanding their area of effect in all 360 directions. The only choice left is to run straight ahead", Awiergan pointed out. He was naturally very flustered as well which showed when he used so much words to only explain two points. This was absolutely unlike the usually meticulous Awiergan.

<Blake's PoV>

I need to make haste.

These five words continued to ring in my head as I followed the traces left by those five new friends of mine. Those guys got into this mess just because of me so saving them first is the priority. The Ants could not have any member missing even before their first mission.

Though I did not know how to use my energy effectively, my physical body was enough for something such as those little worms. Mentioning my newfound powers, I could not help but think about when the future me will be coming back.

The forest was dense but the broken branches and the torn bushes made it sure I was in the right direction. Moving through the trees was no problem at all.

Crack!

I could feel my joints cracking and my muscles stretching forcefully. I finally realized that this would be my first time using my physical prowess.

Boom!

A new burst of adrenaline would course through my veins every time I would take a step forward.

Tremble!

The worms were just behind me. My start point was right at the edge of the forests which gave me time to get ahead of those Worms.

It did not take long before I could see their silhouettes in front of me. I wanted to call out for them but stopped when I remembered that I currently could not. I should not have used all my words on explaining the work to those bird-brains!

Well, nothing can be done about that anymore.

Knocking aside the tree in front of me, I picked up my pace.

The five poor teammates of mine were in the better shape than I expected. Awiergan's formal suit now had torn shoulders, elbows, armpits and knees. His perfectly combed hair was now full of dirt and twigs but other than appearance, he was perfectly fine.

Sproule had not yet changed out of his night suit which was made in loose fitting so it was not overly damaged. Aside from his hazardous panting, he was apparently alright.

Lucy... she just ran into a tree right now but she already seemed used to occasionally bumping into random obstacles.

Orbona must have fallen into a mud-pit since she was covered in mud from neck to shoe. If I do not count those mud-insects sticking out of the layer of mud pasted on her, she appeared to be well.

Ivory, just looking at her arose my respects. I could see a formation engraved on her shoes which could help her with flight but she restrained herself until now since activating it meant leaving behind her teammates.

As I caught up with them, I slowed down my pace and signaled for them to stop.

"Blake!" Shock was apparent on their faces when they saw me.

"Why... have we stopped?" Sproule was the first to ask me with his 'why' turning into a huge sigh of relief but since I could not answer with words, I turned around to face the closing worms with the most basic fighting stance.

Getting my answer, they had no time to respond when the closest worm arrived.

The worm was blind but it's a known fact that worms can sense light. But even with that, they would completely disregard something as small as a human. The only reason everyone was running because the worms were eating EVERYTHING that came their way while spreading and leaving behind toxic mucus on the REMAINS.

That said, these ugly creatures could also be described as pipes since they had openings on both ends which could not be closed. Whatever they ate would instantly be cut and crushed to extract whatever could be extracted while the remains would be disposed from the back. This forced them to eat all the time while allowed them to eat just by moving.

Leaving the details, I certainly could not allow my territory to be turned into worm-poop!