Ch.40Battle! Tyrant Worm

“Keeeee-!!”

“Fall back, Mina!”

‘Tatatang!’

I rolled sideways to avoid the attack of the massive black pillar lunging with its mouth open, and fired my revolver. Jessica and Seti also began their assault on the Tyrant Worm with their maximum firepower.

“Hiyah!”

‘Clang-!!’

“Ugh!?”

Seti’s powerful thrust, which had swiftly pierced forward, bounced off with a metallic sound.

Seeing that there were no glowing magic bullet marks where my revolver had hit, it seemed this massive worm had skin tough enough to easily deflect both my and Seti’s attacks.

“Flame Lance!”

A large flame gathered at Jessica’s fingertips, transforming into a sharp wedge that spun like a drill as it flew toward the worm’s body.

This was Jessica’s new fire-attribute attack spell, an improved version of the Fire Bullet she had created to take down the Mountain Troll, with increased destructive power and penetration.

‘Boom!’

A large explosion erupted where the Flame Lance hit, causing the Tyrant Worm’s body to stagger.

Although it exploded without piercing the tough body, it must have dealt some damage.

“Looks like it’s working.”

“Is it because fire attacks are effective, or simply because of the high power…”

“I’ll try imbuing our weapons with the fire attribute. Flame Lance!”

Flame Lance while saying she’d imbue with fire attribute? If it were me from yesterday, I would have had a question mark floating above my head.

That is, if I hadn’t heard about the major overhaul of imbuing magic, which could be considered the greatest achievement of this grimoire editing.

The Fire Enchant created at Ambers Ranch was merely an incomplete imbuing spell temporarily made for the troll battle.

It could only apply the fire attribute, and even then, it required directly touching the hand of the person holding the weapon, making it difficult to use in urgent situations like combat.

When Jessica began adjusting spells in Zemest’s grimoire editing room, she considered resolving these weaknesses to create a versatile imbuing spell as her most important task.

However, creating attack and imbuing spells of the same attribute, as well as four types of imbuing spells with identical structures except for their attributes, caused excessive mana consumption for the caster—a side effect that couldn’t be easily resolved.

“Break Enchant!”

This “Break Enchant” was Jessica’s solution to that problem.

It’s a two-stage spell that breaks an attribute spell just before its activation (Spell Break) and utilizes the resulting attribute mana residue as a control element for the imbuing spell (Enchant).

She also added the fan-shaped range element used in Diamond Dust, allowing her to cast it on multiple allies within effective range in front of her simultaneously without needing to touch them—a dramatic improvement in convenience.

Both Seti’s spearhead, preparing for a second attack on the Tyrant Worm, and the magic bullet engravings on my revolver that I was reloading had turned red, making this effect tangible. However, the worm initiated action slightly faster than we could feel the effects of the attribute imbuing spell.

“Keee-!!”

The upper part of the Tyrant Worm’s body, swaying above our heads, retreated slightly backward, and in the next moment, it leaped over Seti, who was aiming her flaming spear right in front of it, and charged toward the three of us in a large arch.

It came with the force of a derailed train, but since we were at some distance, avoiding it wasn’t too difficult. The worm, with its momentum intact, burrowed into the ground where it had struck and disappeared underground.

“It’s not running away, is it?”

“Probably not. I’ve heard that the defining characteristic of Tyrant-class monsters is their near-maddening aggression.”

“That means, like before—”

“Jessica! Below you!”

Hearing Seti’s warning, Jessica hastily moved forward, and the Tyrant Worm burst up from the spot where she had just been standing.

In a normal combat situation, an ambush from underground with unpredictable direction and timing would be virtually impossible to counter. Even if you were lucky enough to avoid it, if you were slow to spot the pitch-black worm emerging from the dark cave, responding to its follow-up attacks would be difficult.

While feeling with my whole body how dangerous it is to fight on the enemy’s home ground, I also breathed a sigh of relief at our party’s stable balance.

“Yaaah!”

‘Clang!’

Seti leaped into the space Jessica had vacated and swung her spear with enough force to bisect the worm’s body, but once again, Seti’s spear failed to even draw the Tyrant Worm’s attention, let alone wound it.

To deal proper damage, we’d need to find a way to break through that rock-hard skin first.

“Flame Lance!”

‘Boom!’

“Kraaak-!!”

As Jessica’s Flame Lance exploded against the Tyrant Worm’s body once more, its massive form bent sideways sharply before sweeping across the floor like a flailing club.

It moved like someone swinging a limp bludgeon.

‘Thud!’

“Kyaah!?”

Thanks to crouching and throwing herself in the opposite direction of the incoming attack, the damage Jessica took from the collision seemed greatly reduced, but if we allowed the same attack several more times, we would be the ones to fall first.

At the very least, we needed to be careful not to fight within the range of that sweeping attack that covered such a wide area.

“Are you okay, Jessica?”

“Y-yes… My arm and side are a bit sore, but this much—”

She could heal it instantly with healing magic.

As Jessica was saying that and about to use Heal Touch, she concentrated mana in her right hand, but the Tyrant Worm, which had been slumped down, suddenly turned its head and stared directly at her, causing her to hastily cancel the spell.

There was no time to use Heal Touch, which required keeping her hand on the wound and maintaining concentration, when another attack could come at any moment.

“It reacts very sensitively when Jessica tries to use magic. Is it because magic can’t be deflected unlike other attacks?”

“I think it’s more likely using mana detection to identify enemies. Magic use causes a momentary surge in mana.”

“Mana detection… That certainly makes more sense.”

Like bats with ultrasound or moles with their Eimer’s organs, creatures that live underground or in dark places often rely on senses other than sight to gather information about their surroundings.

If that’s the case, it wouldn’t be strange for Grantis, where magic exists, to have creatures that can detect the mana within their prey.

Looking back with this in mind, the behavior patterns of the worms we’ve encountered so far make sense.

The worms that weren’t visible in Tunnel 13 swarmed when we detonated the Seismic Cracker, a powerful mana bomb.

The Tyrant Worm that remained docile even when we invaded its lair emerged when we activated the magical tool to seal the Negatite.

And now it’s making fierce charges toward Jessica right after she uses Flame Lance or Break Enchant—all these behaviors align with mana detection-based actions.

“So Jessica becomes the worm’s priority target whenever she uses magic. We need to be careful.”

“Grrrrrr….”

“Hm?”

As we focused on the Tyrant Worm’s next move after it had sprung from the ground, we couldn’t decide how to respond to its bizarre movement.

Standing vertically while making strange noises and twitching its entire body as if having internal spasms, it was unlike any movement we had seen before.

Could Seti’s previous attack have caused internal damage? Such hopeful speculation lasted only a moment. The giant worm stretched its head forward, opened its mouth, and shot hundreds of stone fragments toward me like a claymore mine.

‘Papapapak!’

“Guaaaargh!?”

“Will!!”

It felt like my entire body was being strafed by a machine gun.

Well, I’ve never actually been shot by a machine gun, so I’m not sure if the comparison is accurate, but the heavy impacts thoroughly pummeling my body without missing a spot were more intense than any pain I’d experienced before.

Caught by the unexpected attack, I was thrown backward and tumbled onto the hard stone floor.

Thanks to instinctively raising my arms to protect my face, I seemed to have avoided a fatal head injury, but the intense pain throughout my body and the impact of being thrown onto the stone floor made even breathing difficult.

“Will! Stay with me! I’ll heal you right away!”

Jessica rushed over and placed her hands on my fallen body to use healing magic.

Along with the warmth spreading from my chest, the pain tearing through my body began to subside gradually, but that sense of relief lasted only a moment. Suddenly, a powerful killing intent from behind filled my mind.

‘This is…!’

The heavy killing intent I sensed from outside my field of vision was undoubtedly the effect of my “Danger Detection” skill.

But that ability was telling me that the giant worm’s attack would only graze one of my shoulders as I lay there.

If that’s the case, this attack isn’t aimed at me. My shoulder is just slightly in the path of a charge directed at Jessica.

The giant worm with mana detection ability reacts sensitively to sudden mana increases when magic is used and charges in.

We had just discussed this moments ago, yet Jessica was crouched in front of the giant worm, using Heal Touch, which requires prolonged maintenance.

The normal Jessica would never make such a judgment error.

She probably rushed over without thinking because she believed I had suffered critical injuries from the worm’s stone attack.

It doesn’t help that Mina’s lantern is illuminating me rather than the giant worm.

If this continues, Jessica won’t even notice the worm’s attack, let alone avoid it, and will head straight into the giant worm’s stomach. I must prevent that at all costs.

“Stop… the worm…”

When my voice, squeezed out with all my might, reached Jessica’s ears, she seemed to realize her situation and what I was trying to convey.

But I sensed that my efforts would not bear fruit.

In the slowly flowing time, as Jessica’s eyes turned toward the empty space behind me, the massive presence of death at my back began charging at full speed.

My frustratingly accurate danger detection ability was revealing a cruel future.

Jessica absolutely cannot avoid this attack.