Master of Myths

Two hours after the fight with the lizards a hill of bodies could be seen next to the scene of the battle, dead bodies belonging to lizardmen, beasts, and a few mice men that happened to come across the two who were stacking these bodies

A little distance away another body was being dragged across the floor, both Ellis and YuJu were pulling at it using the rope the lizard men hung on it, they brought it all the way to the pile where they dumped it on them, causing a few bodies to be crushed under its weight

"That's all the intact bodies Master, shall I go bring the harvested materials?"

"No need, they won't be useful"

Walking toward the pile he took one gem out of his pocket, then jumped on the biggest body, shoving the gem in that body before jumping back down

"Now we wait"

Carrying Anput the two headed toward the rocky area on one of the sides of the road, hiding behind a few large rocks

Minutes passed by in silence but not too many before the earth started to vibrate ever so slightly, if not for the two paying attention to the surroundings they might have even missed it

"The swarm coming back!"

Ellis said in surprise, looking toward the west where the vibration was coming from

"Of course not, if it was the swarm the ground would be quacking, not this little vibration, it's one of the worms that were left behind"

Relief could be seen on her face, she didn't really want to slice through insects once again for a few hours, she'd much rather fight those human-like beasts, at least it was educating to battle them rather than the mindless hacking she had to do when fighting the insects

"I thought the first would come from the east though, it seems we need to adjust our plans"

Taking a look around he sought a hiding place around one of the rocks on the other side of the pile, but before he could run to them the ground started to shake slightly, this time the feeling came from the east with much more intensity

"Hmm, never mind, they seem to have sensed it slower that's all"

Since the lone worm to the west wouldn't get here before the group in the east he remained in his place, following the plan

Not long after the pebbles on the ground started to shake as well, a rumbling sound came from under it sounding much like the roars of engines, the next second the ground burst apart with rocks flying everywhere

The first thing to come out of the newly made hole was a round open maw filled with white stone-like teeth, each of which looked like a shovel, then came the rest of the body revealing the upper half of a giant worm, if it could even be called that at this point for its appearance was nothing like that of a worm with a barbed body and scale-like skin

"KRRRRAAAAAA"

A scream came out of the giant insect's mouth sounding much like the grinding of nails on the wall, except with a much louder volume, then that huge head looked upon the pile of bodies, seemingly drooling at the sight of the bloody massacre

"Shall I attack Maser"

Ellis readied her new spear, knowing that she couldn't let the insect get that gem into its belly for she feared she might have to go in and extract it

"No need, this isn't our battle, let giants fight giants, we will be fighting them"

Pointing his finger toward one of the hills he marked the seventeen figures that had just arrived, their appearance wasn't that clear but they clearly looked humanoid

With a nod Ellis dashed toward the unware group with light steps

While she was heading toward the group another blast came from the ground as a new worm rose out, tackling the first one without a seconds delay

"KRAAAA" "KRRRRRAAAA"

The two insects shrieked at each other before entering a battle of strength, each intending to squash or bite the other to death

The scene was a gruesome one as two large insects fought over a dead pile of bodies, this would give anyone with a faint heart a shock, then again, who remained faint hearted in this cruel world

Without paying the two battlers any heed Ellis continued on her way, reaching the distracted group less than a minute after the fight started, her eyes were now purple and so was her new spear as she plunged into the group of brown mice men, her intentions clear to the surprised bunch

.....

Far away from the mess of a battlefield, way beyond normal vision, was a group of eagles flying in a formation, their sharp eye peering into the distance with a surprised look

"Is that a vampire?"

"It looks like it, but she seems so weak, look shes even about to d-"

Before the speaking eagle finished he saw the arrows that the mice men shot intercepted by a flash of brown before the reached the woman, every pair of eyes, be it among the flying eagles or the fighting mice turned to a corner, there they saw young man, seemingly blind, sitting down with a leisurely atmosphere, playing wit a few pebbles in his hands as he gave the archers a kind smile

"I see, a training session for the young lady"

"That older vampire must have attracted the insects to gather the groups, he must be too lazy to go to them himself"

"You're implying he's an expert but he could be a fool"

"There are no fools among this world of survivors, only the strong and the weak"

"Still we should take the chance, maybe we could get lucky"

"I take my words back, fools like you really still exist"

"Stop talking and look to the west"

Ending the two eagle's argument one young eagle pointed toward the west with his beak where a cloud of dust could be seen rising in the horizon

"A sand storm?"

"Look closer"

Peering further into the distance all the eagles tried to make out the scene within the sand only to be alerted greatly by what they saw, then without another word all of them flapped their wings and flew away, their interest in reaping profit gone with the wind...

"Skra Ka inu-"

Once again another fighter fell under her blade while uttering his final words in a language she didn't understand, his body dropping to the ground to join his fallen comrades

Turning her head to the side she glanced at the running figure of the remaining archer before throwing her worn out spear at him, it wasn't to kill him since without her aura the tip might as well be dull, it was only to distract him enough so that she catches up and slice his head off with the newly brought out spear

"Try not to throw your weapons like that, keep using them until you can replace them when we go into hiding, you don't know whos watching and your actions expose your possession of a spatial item, the last thing we need is someone targeting us out of greed"

YuJu advised from the side, though Ellis didn't quite agree since she knew he had great senses, still he always looked like a veteran in survival so she nodded in agreement

"Onto the next group then Master?"

Se asked wiping the blood off her forehead, it was the only exposed part she could wipe since everything else was clothed causing her black attire to turn red

"No, there aren't any more groups in this area, they must have retreated either because of other group's presence or the man-made hill of bodies that is clearly a bait"

"Is that so? Then do we kill the worms now?"

"You think you can kill them?"

He asked back showing her an entertained smile, she gave the rampaging beasts a swift glance before looking back hastily and shaking her head, suspecting that her IQ was lowering with all the killing, else why would she ask such a suicidal question

"Anyway we robbed enough supplies, I only need to take back the gem and we can get out of here"

Handing Anput to Ellis he took off toward the huge battle taking place near the now scattered hill of bodies, over ten worms were fighting each other over the hidden gem but they had no way to tell where exactly it was located, their only solution was to kill the rest before taking it for themselves

'That one is slightly different from the rest, I would have liked to stay and see what's so special about it'

He thought as he approached the off white worm whose body was smaller than the rest of the yellow scaled worms, it was half their size but just as deadly if not stronger

There was no time to stay and observe though since they had already fought about fourteen groups, staying any longer would be inviting trouble

With swift motion his figure darted through the flying rocks, avoiding every worm with great ease and landing on the side of the overturned great body before shoving a borrowed sword inside and retrieving the gem then leaving the scene of crime in haste

Once he returned with the gem in his hands he gave it a swirl before storing it back, quite happy about the easy job

Quake! Quake~

As soon as he jinxed it the earth started to rock visibly, making their footing unstable as rocks started to crumble down while fissures formed on the already broken earth

Even the worms stopped and looked west, their bodies trembling from fear, or was it guilt? Still, it only made them go crazier the next second as they dove into the pile of bodies only to realize the scent the attracted them was no longer there making them go even madder, ripping each other in blame

"They should have been so far away, how come they sensed it and came back?'

YuJu's thoughts matched his face, grim and annoyed

'Thankfully I have taken this into consideration when making my plans, since they never saw us and cant trace the gems when we place them in a spatial storage then there are no problems whatsoever'

With a smart smirk he turned around and dashed with Ellis away from the bloody battle of crazy worms that would soon be eaten by the late arrivals

"KIYAAAAAAA"

A shrill scream stopped them dead in their tracks before they got too far, making them turn around to look at the wiggling figure of the white worm who was angrily calling out into the sky

"?"

Both he and Ellis shared a look of confusion, that is until a hoarse scream came from afar

Hearing the jarring sound YuJu's eyes dilated as he gazed back at the white worm, figuring out its identity, still, he didn't let himself panic and returned to normal after the initial shock, after all he had taken everything into consideration just as he said, this surprising event wasn't outside his capability

"Master?"

"Hmm?"

He turned to the dull sounding Ellis and saw her staring off into the distant west where the sound came from

"Isn't that swarm... going int the wrong direction?"

He furrowed his brows and looked to the west as well only to see the path they were taking didn't seem to be toward the battlefield, instead it was slightly tilted, as if it was going toward...

'Oh no!'

His eyes dilated again, this time in real panic