Tunneling to Freedom 3: Shadow Wyrm

Rezar swallowed hard as he took a step backwards, but a firm hand on his shoulder made him freeze as the same movement was transmitted to his undead and they too stayed still like the dead they were. The reptilian eyes that stared at them was a blazing yellow, however it was dull, like a film was placed over it and completely unfocused. Rezar didn't need anyone spelling it out for him, this monster was completely blind and couldn't see them, as for its other senses. He wasn't sure just how good they were, but given how everyone was staying silent; it stands to reason that it had an above average sense of hearing.

The seconds bled into minutes as the only thing to accompany them was the sound of the monster breathing, its massive scaled head filled with grooves and awkward ridges that; on the face of a normal person could go for wrinkles; had massive spikes jutting out of it. Rezar couldn't even see the whole of its head, just the area around its eye, but that alone was terrifying as the eye had a shocking 100-meter radius, calling it huge would be a gross understatement.

Rezar wanted to curse at Priest, he was sure they were past the canyons, he could see the night sky above, but the question was why in the hell was there a monster this massive waiting there, nobody had an answer to that question, so all they could do was wait with their hearts in their throats and their bodies silent. At least until Rezar's nose itched him and he absentmindedly scratched it. The eye moved and he froze, everyone else that was alive wanted to curse at him.

but the thing is, unlike everybody here, Rezar was not afraid. He was sticking to his current spot simply because he was fearless not stupid, he wouldn't be able to go up against that thing, not for a very long time. And then just as suddenly as they had encountered it, it decided to leave, a massive serpentine body, over a hundred meters long, slid over the hole, giving them front row seats to a scaled underbelly that looked like it could tank the full force of a nuke.

It moved really fast, but it took a whole 3 minutes for its entire body to have moved over the hole. Rezar turned to look at Neema and gave her a signal with his head. The undead mole queen scrambled up the slope of collapsed earth and poked her head out the hole, scouting the entire area as she sought to see if there was any more danger. She looked around for a few seconds then looked down with a thumbs up.

"We're clear!"

"What the fuck was that?" Rezar turned to Priest as he asked, a monster would only be identified after you slain it or tamed it or you actually had the inspect or appraise skill.

"That's a shadow wyrm. Massive behemoths and the kings of the frontier of Bahrenburg, there's only five of them in existence and they're all here in Bahrenburg, with their nests deep in the canyons and underground. This is the first time I've seen one, and the first time one has been above ground and out of the canyons, maybe it has happened before, but I've not heard of anyone seeing them outside of 5 kilometers from their nest. So honestly this is a surprise, but at least we're safe."

Rezar didn't feel safe, on the contrary he wanted to get the hell out of here and away from that thing before the urge to touch it gets too overwhelming, because that was a surefire way to die. Of course Rezar wasn't so sure he could die, but courting death by going to feel the texture of the shadow wyrm's scales and wondering what sort of armor it can be used for was not a good idea.

"so which direction are we heading towards?" Rezar turned to ask Priest as he took a cursory glance at the night sky above their heads.

"I may have forgotten to bring a compass along with me, so unled its daytime where I can use the sun to navigate, movement is pretty much useless. And unfortunately the stars in Elysium changed their positions every night, I would need the astrologer class to be able to find a route to our direction, and I don't have it."

Rezar twitched, this was annoying, he didn't want to stay here. Granted the night might be even more dangerous than the day, but he wanted to seriously get a move on, before something else less blind than that shadow wyrm stumbles upon them and decided they were the best sort of snack to have in this current situation.

"You don't have to worry; we can lead you to your destination. Before my exile, my people have roamed this lands for centuries, while our home is beyond the great maze, we've come here many times on pilgrimage to the holy mountain of Cruschet. My people can lead you to the coast." Gynaika said as she came close to Rezar.

Priest furrowed his eyebrows feeling completely overshadowed, but he was not a child. This much he could deal with, not to mention Gynaika was right. Her tribe was well known within and beyond the canyons, having been one of the first wild tribes people have come in contact with when Bahrenburg was first being pioneered. If there was ever a group of people who knew the lay of the land beyond the canyon, it would be them.

"We will have to ride all night and very fast, we would also have to keep to the edge of the forest; it's almost a dangerous as the open, but staying close means we can move into the canopy for cover should we come across any sort of danger. If we leave now and maintain top speed, we should be there in at least two hours to three hours, the ants are very fast."

Well she wasn't wrong, the ants were very fast and if he should push them all to the limit, their speed would just fall a bit short of a horse. But they're undead, which means their stamina is endless, they could run for the next one year if they had to, and they probably could. His undead could last that long now anyway.

Rezar began to give out orders as he took his place on a giant soldier ant, this was bigger than much of the others and it had been personally raised by Rezar. The workers were quite slower than the soldiers and smaller, but there were more of them too. The tunneling had been mostly their efforts, while the moles helped a bit. Never the less top speed for everybody would be a bit difficult as the moles were not as fast, so estimated time of arrival should be about five hours. But it didn't matter, they were close, close to the place that would become their new home, Rezar was giddy with excitement.