Blake Stone - Volume 1 Chapter 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 fl.u.s.tered as well which showed when he used so much words to only explain two points. This was absolutely unlike the usually meticulous Awiergan.