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It was Dimas’ handiwork, Hector knew, though it looked like a few others were helping him support the train’s weight, too. Hector decided to add a few quick pillars of his own while he was here.

Abruptly, the sound of a maniac laughing in his ear drew Hector’s attention, and when he looked over, he saw one of the treasure hunters from earlier standing there, draped in a multitude of firearms and apparently having the time of his life.

This was one of those non-servants from the surface. Apart from the helmet, his climate-controlled suit was mostly hidden beneath all the ardor-fueled weaponry and ammunition the man was carrying.

All in all, Hector supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised by this scene.

The man stopped firing to reload, then seemed to change his mind and holstered his weapon in order to exchange it for another, much bulkier one. He pulled what looked like a giant egg out of the ammo bag at his feet and slipped it into the loading chamber. Then he smiled and yelled, “Try this on for size, you overgrown shitpile!”

He pulled the trigger, and there came a deep shunk as the now-flaming egg launched out of the barrel.

When it hit the worm, the entire cave shook as an explosion ripped into the monster’s side. The resulting fireball was so bright that Hector had to shield his eyes again, but he was still able to see several defensive walls go up simultaneously as everyone tried to brace themselves against the impact.

But it wasn’t just one impact, Hector discovered. It was a chain of explosions, and each one only made the resultant earthquake even worse, until rocks began falling from the distant ceiling.

The beast was down for the count, though. The explosions had torn it in two, and both gigantic pieces were struggling to find each other again.

The crazy guy just laughed even louder than before.

The Rainlords closed in on the worm, no doubt hoping to finish it off, but they also had to worry about the falling rocks, which didn’t seem to be letting up. Hector rushed forward to help them out with that, adding a thick layer of iron to the dome that they were building.

As he worked, he spotted Selena Cortes a few yards away, only then realizing that he’d kinda just left her behind.

She didn’t look like she was doing so well, either. Her reaper floated over her, seemingly trying to talk to her while she sat there on her knees, eyes shut, hands over her ears. After another moment, Hector also noticed tears streaming down her face.

He wanted to go help her somehow, but he was still trying to be mindful of everything else going on.

Then Garovel, perhaps sensing Hector’s hesitation, said, ‘The worm’s not dead.’

Another roar arrived, as if to prove the reaper’s point, and the beast lunged back up, fully reformed. It rammed headlong into the dome that the Rainlords had been making and clobbered it, sending car-sized chunks of metal or mineral toppling overhead. Hector and every other builder scrambled to dematerialize their work before someone ended up flattened.