Fatality [Hunter Exam Pt.4]

Sorry, I was gone. I announced it on my Patreon, but I had midterms and needed to lock in. But I'm back now. The regular upload schedule will resume

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The grub struggled against Kenji's grasp in his soul realm, but the creature's struggles died almost instantly as it realized what Kenji was force-feeding it. Suckling on the sphere of alpha particles like sap from a tree, the grub didn't stop with a voracious appetite that didn't match its current size. In seconds, the grub consumed every particle offered to it, and Kenji watched as the creature started to pulse, its hardened skin contracting and expanding at a visible rate. 

With a sharp crack, a long split suddenly appeared down the length of the grub's carapace, and Kenji realized that it was only a shell of its former self. But before Kenji could witness his new tame, he was suddenly snapped back into his body as the Wurm crashed through the treeline and into view. 

With only a moment to react, Kenji threw himself to the side as the Wurm barreled through the tree he had been embedded in, sending an explosion of splinters flying into the air. 

But much to his dismay, Kenji watched as the rampaging monster turned on a dime, its body effortlessly snaking through the densely packed forest as it attempted to run him down again. 

Spinning on his heel, Kenji sprinted in the opposite direction, but the Wurm had built up far too much momentum and was practically on top of Kenji in the blink of an eye. Pivoting at the last moment, Kenji managed to avoid a head-on collision, but the speeding wurm still clipped him, and another painful vibration rippled through his body as he was sent flying through the air. 

Moving of its own volition, Kenji's cloak flared out, slowing his sudden ejection, giving him just enough to flip around so his feet hit the tree first instead of his head. The thick trick truck shattered as Kenji launched himself back at the Wurm. Twin daggers appeared in his hands, and he tried to plunge them into the monster. 

But the knives were almost ripped out of Kenji's hands as the Wurm rushed by, and sparks flew as the metal unsuccessfully pierced through the thick plating. Landing on the ground, Kenji tossed aside the ruined daggers and summoned a new pair, all while the worm circled him, almost taunting as it looked for an angle of attack. 

Kenji's eyes dutifully followed the worm's head, preparing to leap out of the way once more when he felt a tug in his soul. As if sensing his sudden lapse of attention, the Wurm struck, accelerating in an instant, tearing up the ground in its haste and sending chucks of dirt flying through the air. 

Reaching into his soul, Kenji sent a silent prayer that his gamble had paid off. A heavy weight settled across his body as countless spiny legs emerged from between the braids of his leather armor, and a terrifying visage sprouted over Kenji's right shoulder. 

After its metamorphosis, the grub transformed into a massive centipede the size of a python. Its flat, low, lying body was covered in large obsidian plates, and it had countless spiny legs. Its head was equipped with two crushing pincers, behind which various other mouth parts clicked and twitched unnervingly while two spindly antennae waved through the air. 

Despite its drastic transformation, the former grub seemed to have no trouble operating its new form as its pincers opened wide as if to embrace the stampeding Wurm. Instead, Kenji watched as the centipede's mouth spat out twin ropes of a dark tar-like substance that arced through the air in a wild spray. 

The ropes of tar overlapped as they landed on the Wurm, and while they didn't seem to do anything at first, the grub's supply was unlimited as it continued to hose down a monster infinitely larger than it. 

Just as Kenji was beginning to think he had wasted his investment in alpha particles, he watched as the Wurm started to lose speed. The thick ropes of tar stuck to its armored body, and the ground solidified, turning into elastic webbing that stopped the rampaging monster in its tracks. 

The back half of the wurm thrashed in frustration, but its head and upper portion were stuck fast as the tar webbing stretched to an insane degree instead of snapping. Sensing its prey's vulnerability, the former grub crawled off Kenji's before skittering across the ground, its many legs moving in a sinister wave. 

The centipede had no problem crawling up its web to reach the Wurm. Now atop its prey, the insect spewed even more tar, quickly webbing up the Wurm's entire body and reducing its ability to move to almost nothing. 

With wrapt attention, Kenji watched as the centipede moved back to the armored segment just behind the Wurm's head and snapped its mandibles threateningly before it dug in. With the first chomp, copious amounts of purple acid flowed from the centipede's mandibles, quickly boring a hole in the Wurm's armor. 

The Dread Beast began to wail in agony, and while Kenji didn't envy its position, he wondered how his deadly hundred-legged assassin planned to finish off its prey, 'It would take more than a hundred bites to...' 

Kenji's thoughts suddenly cut off as he watched the centipede continue to chew away at the Wurm, liquefying more and more of its flesh and boring a larger and larger hole. In a gruesome, nightmarish process, the centipede's entire five-foot body vanished as it burrowed inside the still-living Wurm, whose agonizing cries had reached a crescendo as it struggled uselessly against the dark webbing holding it hostage. 

 Descending from the sky, Styx landed on Kenji's shoulder and also seemed to watch the scene with horrific fascination as the Wurm suddenly locked up before going completely limp. A few minutes later, the centipede burst forth from the Wurm's head, covered in a mixture of acid and liquified Wurm flesh. Wriggling free of the corpse, the insect looked at Keji and clacked its mandibles together, "I'm sorry I ever doubted you." 

The centipede shook as if happy to receive praise before skittering back across the ground and crawling up Kenji's back, much to Styx's displeasure, who screeched and flapped his wings. 

"Enough out of you," Kenji replied as chains shot up from his armor and dragged the crotchety bird back to Tartarus, "Now that he's dealt with, I can think of a name for you." 

Thane glanced at the terrifying pair of mandibles hovering on the periphery of his vision, "How about Nyx?"