Below us, the bandits scrambled toward the exit. But the floor cracked again, the ground slanting upward and swallowing their escape.The door lifted, tilting out of reach.
Hopeless.
Roots lashed through the air like whips, devouring anything they touched.
Five platforms collapsed in succession — crushing four of them instantly.All that remained was a widening pit of darkness and the stench of death.
Then, from the center of the chaos, it emerged.
A mass of flesh and jaws, erupting from the abyss — endless, infinite.A hurricane of mouths, spinning like a colossal drill of teeth.
Death incarnate.
Raziuzs didn't hesitate. He grabbed one of his men, sliced the man's head clean off, and hurled it like a projectile toward the wall.
The skull exploded on impact — shattering the stone and opening a narrow escape path.
Followed closely by Hirouong, the two climbed up to a higher level, leaving the last man behind.
No one looked back.
And when the final lackey turned to run, the creature's jaws swallowed him whole.
"POURQUOOOOOOWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
His scream was swallowed by the roar.
ㅤ
Raziuzs hadn't killed the old man out of vengeance. He'd realized — in an instant — that this monster craved fresh blood.
And he was right.For a few seconds, the roots descended upon the corpses — feeding — before rising again, hunting anew.
ㅤ
Move.
Move.
Move.
My body refused to listen.
I was useless — a spectator with no power, no purpose. Half-aware of the chaos, half-consumed by fear.
Why now?Why, when I'd just begun to live, did everything already feel lost?
Why did surrender seem like the only path left?
ㅤ
"Huh?"
Bellian grabbed my hand.That same eerie expression still on his face — and he pulled me with him into the void.
"Wha—"
ㅤ
We were falling — straight toward the jagged spires below.
"BELLIAAAAAAAN!!!"
ㅤ
It lasted only a second, but I caught Raziuzs's look of disbelief as Bellian raised his free hand — and a burst of power launched us away from death.
One moment we were inches from the abyss. The next — soaring toward the ceiling.
But the Worm was not blind.
Feeling Bellian's energy, it unleashed a furious shriek, tearing through the chamber with its writhing roots.
ㅤ
It would catch us. No matter what.
ㅤ
Then — a sound to our left.
The two survivors. They'd followed, using a similar propulsion technique.
Similar — but weaker.
ㅤ
Before I could even process it, Raziuzs kicked Hirouong midair — using him as a living springboard.
"Kssht— Raziuzs?!"
No mercy.
"Sorry. It's you or me."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOIIIIIIING?!"
"I've got unfinished business with that kid."
ㅤ
He'd sacrificed yet another ally — just to reach us.
Face blank, arm drawn back for a killing blow.
The confrontation was inevitable.
And through it all, my thoughts stayed fixed on one thing —
Not the monster.Not the fall.
But the unbearable feeling…
that something here still didn't add up.
So this was the magnificent world?
A greedy society that dragged itself into the filth of its own desires...Abominable monsters buried in the depths...Violence without end, without restraint, without meaning.
ㅤ
And then—Time slowed.
ㅤ
The Worm's maw loomed closer, swallowing half the chamber already.Bellian's force still carried us upward, but our momentum was fading fast.Soon, the fall would come.
ㅤ
"Mär."
ㅤ
"W-What is it?"
ㅤ
"…"
ㅤ
"Bell—"
ㅤ
"You know it's nothing personal," he said, voice calm — far too calm."It's just that my freedom is worth any sacrifice."
ㅤ
"What…?"
ㅤ
I didn't understand.Not right away.
Seconds stretched, heavy and slow.My naivety blurred everything — and then, through the chaos, I saw Raziuzs cut through the air, roaring Bellian's name like a curse.
That's when it hit me.
ㅤ
No plea would change anything.His resolve was absolute.
ㅤ
It was already too late.
ㅤ
Because—
I was in the way.
ㅤ
The one who had helped me open my eyes, the one who had guided me in this strange world I barely understood…He cast me aside — like dead weight.
A pawn too heavy to carry.
Raziuzs's expression froze when he saw me coming — pale, almost pitying — before swatting me away with a single blow.
Straight toward death.
ㅤ
And—
As I watched the two of them clash, rising toward the shattered ceiling, my body stilled.Then, without willing it, I turned — back toward the darkness I had come from.
ㅤ
"From the place where I once burned, to that place I shall return."
ㅤ
I didn't know where the words came from.Or why, now, of all times.But it didn't matter anymore.
ㅤ
A final impact.Two voices screaming in perfect, violent harmony.And then—
ㅤ
Something broke.
ㅤ
In my last breath of defiance,accepting — unwillingly — to return so soon,tears streamed down my face.
ㅤ
And then I felt it.
A surge of power — vast, unrestrained — erupting behind me.The clash of two forces, equal and merciless, reveling in destruction.
ㅤ
Then—
The maw closed.
ㅤ
And the echoes of a fading story cradled me...
ㅤ
Until sleep took me once more.