Infinite Realm

*Boom*

*Boom*

*Boom*

Multiple loud explosions shook the entire cavern as landslides occurred by the walls and rock particles of different sizes were blasted into the air from different locations like shrapnel in an explosion.

"What was that?" Xue Yan asked with an anxious tone as she bent low to avoid the whistling stones. Even as she spoke, the vibrations from the explosions were still ongoing. The ground 'jumped' up and down as if an earthquake was going on.

They say once you dread a thought or an event, sometimes, your fears become a reality. Sure enough, Sato's fear counted among the group that abide this law.

Before Sato could even think of what to reply her with, he saw something that shook him.

Massive moving elongated blobs, which looked to be a pack of a strange white organism with a length of 8 metres and a height of 3 metres, began exiting the tunnels formed from the explosions. Rather than saying that the holes were formed from the explosions, it was more appropriate to say that these creatures were the cause of it all. The white creatures had wriggly bodies akin to that of a grub. Their 'skins' excreted a moist slimy liquid that facilitated their body's movement while also having a similar trait with concentrated acid, being capable of softening the ground due to their high toxicity level. With no eyes or facial features, apart from two strange pairs of thin fine lines that looked like 2 pairs of antennae, these monsters were truly a disgusting figure to look at. But while their looks weren't something admirable or pleasing to the eyes, the auras they exuded was pretty much attracting. This was because they were -without a doubt- very alarming, and not in a good way.

"Run!" 

Sato didn't bother to study these monsters anymore as his senses alerted him of danger. These ugly looking creatures were strong; strong enough to kill him and Xue Yan much less with a bunch of them gathered.

Xue Yan didn't bother questioning Sato's decision as she also took to her heels and retreated back the path they came from.

The duo ran forward without turning back. At this point in time, all that was in their head was escaping this dilemma. As for finding a way out of the cavern, that would be left for later, if they could survive this.

*Boom* *Bang* *Boom*

The constant contraction and extension of the worm's body, or peristalsis, created constant vibrations on the cavern's floor and produced loud noises kin to the sound of the earth during earthquakes. Despite having such massive frames, the 'worms' were able to move at an impressive speed that they were actually catching up to Sato and Xue Yan. At the rate they were moving, it wouldn't take up to a minute for them to catch up to Sato and Xue Yan whereas it would take Sato and Xue Yan at least 2 minutes to get o the entrance.

'I need to be faster.' Sato thought to himself.

*Boom* *Boom*

The earth, a couple of metres by Sato's right, was dredged up as a few other worms jumped out from the new hole and joined in on the pursuit. However, this was the least of their problems as even more holes were made all over the cavern and more worms made their appearances. A simple scan round the entire cavern showed the presence of at least 50 of such worms! 

This might not sound like an impressive number but from the feeling Sato's senses expressed to him about them, these worms were at lest level 10 monsters! A single level 10 Common rank monster might not seem like much to Sato but 50 was a whole different story. Heck, even 3 was a task for the gods alone[1].

"Sato, over there!" Xue Yan yelled from behind as she pointed her finger to the side.

Sato glanced over in that direction and discovered that there was a wall there. In the middle of the wall was a tunnel which lead to a dark unknown territory. The reason Xue Yan had brought his notice to the tunnel was because it was much closer to them than their original point of entry. Also, the direction the tunnel was located at was pretty much clear of any white 'worms'.

"Go!" Sato hollered as he switched direction over to the tunnel.

The white 'worms' had been closing up on them and with the abrupt change in direction, the gap had lessened. But at the same time, due to the structure of the 'worms' frames and their size, their flexibility was much worse than the 2 bipedal creatures in front hence, Sato and Xue Yan easily widened the gap just before the monsters could change direction.

'Almost there.' 

Just a 30 seconds run was needed for Sato and Xue Yan to get to the tunnel. Sato was in front whereas Xue Yan was behind. This wasn't that Sato had left her behind purposely but that there was nothing he could do since his [Agility] was much greater than hers to start with.

Just as Sato approached the 10 metres range from the tunnel, an opening formed a few metres away and a white 'worm' jumped out of it, heading straight for him; an almost 3 metres wide mouth with dull white teeth opened in front of him.

Luckily for him, Sato was able to notice it in time but due to the large build of the monster, he only had very little space left for dodging. But that was more than enough for Sato.

Applying a precise and sufficient amount of force on his right foot, Sato propelled his body towards the side. With his armour on, he didn't need to fear the acid drops that slid off the body of the creature and only needed to shield his face with his arms. However, in doing so, Sato failed to notice a glaring red light that approached him.

*Boom*

-64 (86/150 Sato's HP)

Due to the armour he wore, the red light didn't go through him and cause heavy damages but exploded on his body. Nonetheless, this wasn't a good thing as Sato got displaced in midair and landed horribly on the floor, just a few feet away from the monster.

"Why?" Sato turned his head towards the direction the attack came from.

"Hehe~" A light laughter rang in his ears.

It was Xue Yan who had attacked him and since he was never expecting such, Sato got hit badly.

"Could you please hold them back for me, okay? Take it as you making some new friends, alright? See you later or maybe not~" Xue Yan chuckled softly as she overtook Sato and headed into the tunnel.

Sato picked himself back from the ground but it was pretty much too late as the previous 'worm' had caught up to him. Sato couldn't outrun it at this distance and so could only face it, but doing so would lead to the others catching up to him before he could escape in time.

"Damn!" Sato cursed as a wave of desperation flooded over him.