Page 1388 -- CXLVIII.

Both worms erupted with bellowing roars, and all attacks against them ceased when the force of the shock wave knocked almost everyone off their feet.

Hector hit the ground and skid for a while before catching himself with an iron dagger in the rocky dirt. He’d nearly lost his grip on his shield and so was not surprised to see that many others around him had lost their grips on theirs.

As a result, he was one of the first to get back up, but what he saw next was not something he felt very privileged to witness.

Instead of two giant worms, now there was one, twice as large. Still in the midst of amassing, its skin crawled and writhed over itself, like a million glistening snakes all squirming in a pool of black tar.

His eyes widened as he began to comprehend the new creature’s size. ‘Garovel, you said they could only get as big as a blue whale.’

‘Well, to be fair, that’s two worms in one,’ the reaper said privately.

‘Garovel.’

‘Look, I didn’t know they had goddamn fusion powers. I’ve never actually hunted worms before.’ After a beat of silence, he added, ‘I’m sure we’ll do great, though.’

That did not fill Hector with confidence.


Chapter One Hundred Forty-Eight: ‘The Battle with a Behemoth of Old...’
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Hector learned very quickly about how important distance was when fighting a building-sized opponent--and not just from the worm, but from one another, as well. As soon as he saw that first group of Rainlords get alternately flattened into the ground or swallowed by the ensuing avalanche of sludge, Hector started moving, not needing to hear the shouts from the others, ordering everyone to spread out before reengaging.

As his legs carried him and his full suit of endlessly misting armor around to the monster’s flank, he tried to think. Certainly, this was an enemy unlike any he had ever faced previously. He couldn’t just let his instincts take over. If he wanted to be of any use here, he needed to take a measured approach.

And given how much mass and apparent speed the beast had at its disposal, the sheer amount of momentum that it could generate was unreal. Trying to stop or even just deflect its smothering body seemed completely out of the question, as Melchor Blackburn was currently demonstrating. Even a controlled explosion from Darktide himself couldn’t throw the worm’s enormous bulk off course.

Not in a direct collision, at least, but maybe--

The thought went unfinished as Hector was fortunate enough to be the next one to acquire the worm’s attention. With scarcely more than a twitch of its head as a warning, it lurched suddenly in his direction and became briefly airborne in a flying leap.

Hector reacted with the only thing that he could think of and used an iron platform to launch himself sidelong and out of the way. The monster came crashing down with the force of a hundred thousand bricks.