47 44 - Greedy For Spider
Yes, I did not drop this, did you doubt it?
I will not say sorry for not updating, because it was for the sake of character development, my development.
No longer am I a moody pre-teen, now I am a brooding teenager...!
Jokes aside, I went on a self-improvement spree and dropped the idea of writing fanfics to focus on something else, but I have returned for some reasons.
I am happy and content, a Villain arc is not needed anymore. Let's stop being overly edgy.
- The Author's Note
Chapter 44 - Greedy Little Spider
Written By Dr Armstrong
->The Wyrm's POV<-< p>
"I'm a Barbie Wyrm."
"In a Barbie Du~n~geon."
"Life in magic...it's fantastic!"
"You can wash my hide, butcher me~on the side~!"
"Annihilation, death is your salvation~!"
The Phantom of the Depths sang aloud as telepathic waves of pressurized symphony were forced deep inside the minds of the surrounding creatures.
As expected of time, it never waited for anyone, even the author. The Wyrm hadn't just stopped existing for these past few days, shit happens!
Basically, grinding.
He tried communicating with his new Slime minion, but the guy didn't seem to be there at all—which was to be expected as Slimes didn't have brains...or any other organs for that matter.
Muc just travelled up and down his body all day, trying to find some kind of weak spot that it could puncture and penetrate to get its jibblies inside the Wyrm's body.
Of course, if the Slime actually managed to do something like that, which was highly unlikely, it might just collapse in of itself once it starts consuming the Chaos Factors...
Or maybe not since Muc was born from the Chaos...food for thought.
The Wyrm was not too intimidated by the Slime's obvious attempts at predating him, rather he felt that this abominable child of his was quite cute, like a Dog who bites their owner as a sign of affection.
—Click~Step~Crick~!
The Wyrm's footsteps resounded throughout the middle stratum as an army of his first stratum disposables ran behind him in a stampede, crushing all those unlucky and unaware enough to be in their path, their fallen comrades who couldn't keep up included.
Blistering heat radiated out of the Wyrm's form, which was now constantly glowing a subtle shade of numerous changing colours, streams of rainbow-coloured steam bubbling out from his pores.
The ground he stepped on literally parted ways as if they were butter being sliced apart by a butcher's cleaver, his claws going through the earth without even feeling any sort of pressure.
The Wyrm wondered why he wasn't just falling to the centre of the earth, but quickly deduced that it was only his claws that could do this, the rest of his body could not go through solid materials so easily.
Or maybe the earth itself was just showing submission, that would make more sense...
After getting all the info he needed from that blue-haired child soldier, the Wyrm no longer had any reason to stay in the upper stratum. The Monsters up there were also too weak, Dragons and the rare few elite beasties aside.
That douchebag punk leader of a Dragon God had basically doxxed him to the entire Draconic population, who all happened to want his ass, which was also because of the Dragon God...
Even though there was a large chance that the Dragons of the Middle Stratum were more powerful, which they obviously were considering Rend's overpowering...power.
The Wyrm would rather fight in a territory where he had homeland advantage and a steady supply of worthy EXP. He could also get some help from Rend if that was necessary...
The Wyrm wondered if that guy would attack him or not, back then he was already targeted by the Dragon God, but Rend still chose to spare him anyway and even helped him out a little.
Rend said it was because the Wyrm was his servant and Dragons could do whatever they wanted with their servants...
But he was pretty sure this wasn't really the case since Rend never really ordered him around like he would with the other Fire Wyrms.
Rather, it seemed that guy was just using the servant thing as an excuse if the Dragon God ever confronted him on why he was helping an enemy...heh, what a bastard.
Although Rend was merciful back then, what about now that the Wyrm was a far larger target? And more importantly, how did Rend even defy the Dragon God's orders?
The Wyrm made a theory about this, he himself wasn't exactly a robot that would follow the Dragon God's every bidding.
Perhaps he was a special exception due to originally being an Earthling Reincarnator, but that kind of thinking was way too arrogant and could potentially spell doom for the Wyrm.
Rather, it seemed far more likely that the Dragon God had given his children far more free will than expected. The Wyrm felt reverent when that guy appeared and instinctively kneeled down, like how one would do to a King, but not a God...
He was a servant, not a slave.
He was obligated to follow the God's orders, but he wasn't forced to...curious, it seemed his brothers and sisters had the same relationship with the Dragon God, but the Wyrms were far more obedient due to a lack of wisdom, while the Dragons were more...self-centred.
The scorching heat of the middle stratum assaulted his senses, for him and Larry it was just the norm, but for his upper stratum Minions, it could really be fatal...
"I guess I can't really bring you guys here, eh?" He looked back at his disposable Minions who all shook in their little hooves and paws as the Wyrm's tyrannical gaze fell over them.
Although he had already designated them as mere background NPCs to cope with the fact that he was slowly becoming a sociopath, he was still a resourceful Wyrm who wouldn't let his things go to waste.
The Wyrm looked down upon his left hand, which Muc covered like an elastic glove. It would be fine to bring this named one as the Wyrm ironically considered the non-feeling, non-thinking Slime to be much more of a real being than the disposables...
Slimes don't feel pain, so there was no problem with the Wyrm just constantly healing the Slime until it got the necessary resistance to survive in the middle stratum.
But he was not such a God-gifted Saint that he could constantly do this for the rest of his swarm...better leave them here instead since they would just attract more Draconic attention, anyway.
"All of you, dismissed. You will serve me yet more in the future..." The Wyrm said ominously, literally just trying to look cool since he was still partially a Japanese Teenager...mentally, at least.
However, only dust could be seen as the menagerie of beasts instantly vanished into the horizon the moment he said they were dismissed...damn, punks.
There weren't any problems with them not following him. If the Wyrm really did need them for something, he could just bring them to his immediate location via the use of [Summon], although he couldn't bring them all at once.
An illusory image of a [Third Eye] appeared on the Wyrm's forehead, akin to a certain skinny black Dragon of calamity, he glanced around before taking his second first step into the volcanic caverns.
The molten floor gave him an immediate surge of familiarity, like the nostalgia felt by a successful rags-to-riches protagonist returning to their old, decrepit village.
With [Detection], he felt a weird tingling in the air, on the ground, and even in the surrounding lava. It was like the environment itself reacted to his appearance with extreme caution.
He wouldn't blame the Strarum if his theory proved correct as it wasn't anything personal, a Chaos-aligned creature like the Wyrm was basically cancer to the environment, so it was perfectly justified.
The Wyrm took another step as his form completely entered the Middle Startum's biosphere. The Chaos inside him leaked out from the pores, painting the surrounding magma with various hues of chromatic entropy...whatever that meant.
He looked down upon the lava he had stepped on, a lava stream like the one he had been born in.
Using [Telepathy] in conjunction with [Detection], he sent out a psychic field of total observation, rendering him completely aware of any and all information in his immediate surroundings.
Many critters of varying shapes littered beneath the molten surface, the lava Starfish he used to regularly prey upon, the Sardines he never managed to catch, and even...
Newborn Fire Wyrms, those Shrimps...the Elroe Gunelifts. He used to be one of them, those were the good times...
"Hey, Larry...does your lightning travel through lava?" Water was a great conductor of electricity, he wondered if lava would be the same...
It shouldn't be, lava was just molten rock, after all...but in this world, there are fish and plants living beneath magma...
"YES, LIQUID GOOD FOR THUNDER," Larry answered with quite an unusual piece of information, perhaps an instinctual thought from his lighting-based species.
So in this world, all liquid is a conductor of electricity? Hn...
Spatial disruptions appeared before the Wyrm as he activated [Dimensional Maneuvering], cracking open into a rift that continuously swirled with Chaos.
Taking a step into the portal before half-emerging out of the rocky ceiling above the river, a purple-coloured circle manifested beside his body that had all sorts of mystic symbols etched upon it.
The Wyrm was planning to [Summon] Larry, then drop him into the river whilst he blasted lightning all around.
That would kill most of the Monster living there, instant EXP for the under-leveled Larry.
But just as he was about to...
"!"
The Wyrm ignited his jaws before sending out a cone of flame to the nearby mist. The explosive particles created by his vaporized hydrogen peroxide-based sweat bloated and glowed a soft hue of scarlet...
The loud crackling of thunder could be heard as bright flashes erupted in the surrounding mist with several hundred million voltages of electric energy discharged into the surroundings.
~ka~BOOOM~!*
Instantly, all of the surrounding creatures that hadn't been enveloped by the splash zone vanished faster than the wind, including the free EXP originally meant for Larry.
The Wyrm mentally sent a warning to Larry, telling the Minion to keep his guard as the Wyrm looked around frantically, activating his [Third Eye] yet again.
'There!' His crimson-coloured eyes locked into the far distance, where a conspicuous white glint could be seen.
The Wyrm could only get a single, blurred glance at the unknown creature's form...it had the general shape of a Spider, like the occasional Spiders of the First Stratum he had never bothered to chase after, but it glowed a bright hue of silver.
It appeared to have some kind of scythe-like mandibles—wait, no! Those are its front legs! And those...eyes.
They felt...malevolent? Like some really evil eyes...
Faster than even the likes of him or Gairasa, the mysterious Spider ran in the other direction, perhaps searching for easier prey that didn't have a floating invisible minefield surrounding them.
But...the Wyrm couldn't just let this go. That Spider...Monster had briefly brushed up against his total observation field, [Detection] practically flared as he felt a sort of danger he had never felt in his entire draconic life.
It was like national TV had just announced the fact that a nuclear warhead would be heading toward his location...
His spidey senses were tingling!
He willed the explosions around him to defuse as the Monster seemed to be running away. The Wyrm briefly glanced back to his Minion before making a decision...
"Larry, hunt indiscriminately! Gather more strength yourself, okay?" That thing had been fast, faster than logic allowed. A bulky tank like Larry would be a good match-up, but he was still too weak for this type of enemy.
It would just end up like a hit-and-run...
Larry nodded before the Wyrm instantly launched himself into the air with an electrical bolt, sending him flying to the air as he continuously used [Expel] to launch himself further and further...
That Spider, he was going to catch it...such speeds would be in better hands soon, his!
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Thoughts?
Will start uploading on a bi-daily basis, see ya.
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