Rabbit Hole (2)

The path kept going for a while. Sometimes other pathways would appear, but they mostly ended up in the same way, connecting at some point ahead. Link had been noticing signs of feeding here and there. Bones and carcasses were randomly placed. There was even a decaying corpse of a Beast on the path.

"Did whatever lives here drop it on the way?" Link thought. His worries now had ground, and as he traveled, he would sometimes attack the walls, testing them.

Whatever materials this place was made out of, it only worsened Link's worry. He knew there was no kind of dirt or ore out there that could be this hard. And if there was, what would it be here? And what managed to dig through it?

Link had two theories about this, and neither of them bode well.

His first was that this place is an area where a special type of material naturally formed. But that meant the creature that lived here was powerful enough to dig through it with ease, making Link sweat a little.

The second theory is that this was set up by the creature, securing its base. Link presumed that this material was somehow created by the creature itself, which meant it was strong enough to create something like this.

"I'm gonna need to lure it out if i encounter it down here" Link thought.

2 more hours passed, and Link still traveled underground. He could feel that he was slowly going downwards, which made him worry even more.

Slowly, more and more bones and corpses started to appear, as if Link was nearing the creature's nest. Which made him slow down even further and use everything he's got to prepare.

The area started to smell, as the stench penetrated Link's nose and made him cringe. It was not rot or anything like that, Link was used to those smells by now and he couldn't care less, but this one was odd. It felt like it was supposed to have a good smell, but somehow got ruined. Like a perfume mixed with rotten eggs.

The area started to widen a while ago, as Link moved he no longer was in a 4 meter wide path but a 10 meter one. And it kept going.

A slight buzzing noise started to enter Link's ears as he could finally see a snake looking creature.

<That is no snake!>

Link heard Zero and squinted his eyes, trying to discern what was in front of him.

A head with two black circles for eyes, and a giant whirlpool like mouth with rows upon rows of teeth leading to darkness. The creature had a white transparent skin as it glowed slightly in the dark.

<Level 8!!>

This made Link's heart jump from fright, as he prepared to use Recollection to leave. He looked at the creature for the last time before he did, but he froze.

"It's asleep?" Link mumbled to himself.

The creature sat in a spiral with its head resting on the ground. It's mouth and eyes were open, but it breathed in and out slowly as its body moved up and down rhythmically. Link was confused, he didn't understand why its eyes would be open while it slept, which made him doubt that it was. But after a bit, he realized something.

"Well, that's disgusting" He thought. "It has no eyelids!"

This realization made Link cringe a little. This creature's whole existence disturbed him. He started moving slowly, with all his stealth skills still active. His body moved in the shadows with ease, looking for the Fragment.

"I need to take what I need and leave quickly!" He thought.

[Master, don't look for a Boulder, the runes could be placed on anything!]

The small nest had quite a number of things in it. From corpses and bones, to a pile of unidentified junk covered in slime. Link approached it and started carefully looking through it. He couldn't risk making any noise, so his solution was to tap whatever item and send it in his Inventory. This went on for a while, and the process helped him identify some of the items.

Swords, spears, shields, iron bars, helmets, and some completely melted junk. All of them were damaged and unusable, so Link did not pay any attention to them as he kept storing one after the other.

The pile slowly lessened, and Link was slowly reaching the end. This kept going for another excruciating hour, but they were finally finished.

"What the hell is this?" Link whispered, looking at a couple of oval shaped eggs. They had some kind of roots planted into the ground, with the shell being a bit transparent, like a shower glass, only showing the figure inside.

A mini version of the creature sleeping behind him sat in there. Even by only its figure, Link was disgusted by it. He could see the slime that it was sleeping in.

<Those are the babies of a Level 8 Creature, they should be Level 8 as well>

"What? How are they Level 8? They're still babies!"

<Creatures grow stronger with time, but the higher the mother's Level is, the more chance its babies will bear the same Level. Especially a Level 8 Beast, it is no longer a chance, but a fact>

Zero's explanation made Link nervous. He looked at the sleeping mother and then back at the two eggs.

"3 Level 8 creatures in the same area. That can't be good!" Link thought, still staring at the eggs. He frowned for a couple of minutes before he spoke. "I'm taking them!"

Link reached for the first egg, but Ora quickly spoke before he laid his hands on it.

[Master, find the Fragment first before that, since it might wake that thing up and you won't get another chance]

Link nodded as he started looking around. Behind the two eggs was a small stone tablet with runes covering its surface. He quickly tapped it and hid the thing inside his Inventory before turning towards the Eggs.

"Alright, you two ready?" Link asked.

[Ready!]

<Hell yeah!>

"Fuck it!" Link spoke, putting both his hands on the eggs as he picked them up, breaking the roots in the process. He couldn't store living things in his Inventory, so he was forced to carry them.

ZZZZZTT!

A strange noise bellowed inside the nest. Link closed his eyes as he crouched from the pain. Blood poured out of his eardrums, making him lose his hearing. A light buzzing noise is all he could hear now, as his eardrums burst from the creature's scream.

"RECOLLECTION!" Link screamed unknowingly. The Worm turned and looked at him with its eyes. They both looked at each other for less than a second, but Link's heart started beating from fear. The image of the creature's void like eyes was implanted in his mind at that moment.

The distance between him and the surface was too far. He couldn't risk wasting all of his Mana to leave and then take time drinking potions. He quickly appeared in the path he traveled in as his teleportation did not stop. Link could clearly hear the creature behind him as it destroyed walls, making its way towards him.

"How fast is this thing!" Link thought. Even though he didn't leave straight away, he did put some great distance between them, but in a second or less, at the moment he appears, he could clearly hear it right behind him.

"I shouldn't have been greedy!" Link thought. He did not stop teleporting and never once did he dare to look behind. He didn't need to. He could clearly feel the vibration from the creature's destruction.

"It's breaking the damn walls like they were made of paper" Link was now at where the pathways were. He started running at that point and jumped out of the hole, flying straight away into the sky. Blood now covered both his cheeks, coming from his ears. He held onto the two eggs with his dear life, flying straight upwards.

BOOM!

Like a cannon. The creature flew out of the hole as it went straight towards Link. Its speed was far faster with its mouth open. Zooming towards him.

"Damn it!" Link yelled, using all the attack spells he had. Swords, fire, explosions and many more hit the creature straight on. But it always shrugged them off like it got hit by nothing. Its eyes never left Link.

"RECOLLECTION!" Link yelled, disappearing at the last moment. The creature closed its mouth with enough force to send shockwaves in the air. It chewed a little, but when it couldn't taste the lesser being that kidnapped its children, it shrieked once more before it started looking around frantically.

A small dot to the right was flying away, disappearing and reappearing again further ahead. The worm stared at Link for a while before it started descending again. It did not have the ability to fly, so all it could do was await its fall.

BOOM!

It did not slam into the ground. Its mouth opened like a drill and dug straight into it. The creature vanished underneath, as everything went quiet.

Link would use his Psight to check behind him, and seeing what happened only made him speed up even further, increasing his distance from the ground.

"Please give up, please give up!" Link prayed, looking underneath him every second.

BOOM!

When he looked down again, a black hole appeared, as now he could see the endless rows of teeth clearly heading towards him. Making him teleport before it closed down on his spot again. When in safety, Link ascended even further. This was the only solution he could think of.

"There should be a limit to it's jump!"

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