Fighting hideous-looking creatures was now a norm for themābut even they had to admit this was one of the uglier ones.
Many tentacles and headsā¦ and a slimy body coated in some strange mucusā¦
Damon sighed.
"I really don't want to break my houseā¦ so burnā¦"
Black flames erupted from his hand and covered the ceiling of the mansion. The worm groaned, space twisting subtlyā¦ as the flames disappeared into some unknown void.
Damon blinked, completely surprised. Ashborn was one of his stronger skillsāhell, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it his strongest. Yet some worm, in the same rank, had sent the flamesāboth hot and coldāinto some other space.
His surprise didn't last long before a volley of arrows flew at it.
Sylvia's white arrowsāpowered from her Ascendant weaponārained down on the worm.
Her armor was called Crescent Seer. It came with a bow and dual bladesāhowever, not as individual weapons. The bow was collapsible into two blades if needed.
Damon heard the worm shriek as it fired a ball of pulsing silk.
He couldn't help but feel jealous about not having an Ascendant weapon with his armorābut that was fine.
He had a Alazard's-cursed sword.
The mansion broke into a canopy of violence. The worm was spread all over the grand entrance, so the party split up, attacking different parts of it.
Damon held the sword in his hand.
His swordsmanship had grown drastically thanks to Mastery. He could absorb the skills of the enemies he killedāor fought.
He had also imitated the skills of the Mist Knights. Alazard.
He'd gotten the skills of the Valtheron knight who was damned by the Keeper.
Which meantāwithin his mind and body holding different sword skillsāall he needed was the experience to perfect and grow them.
Right now, his swordsmanship was Lv2.
He stood unmoving, tentacles rapidly shooting toward him.
His eyes openedāhe swung the sword with deadly finesse. Without moving a single step, he imitated the skills of the Mist Knight.
He created a small area within his sword's reach. Any tentacle that crossed into the invisible circle in his mind was sliced to pieces.
He felt his body heating upāhe sent mana into his sword, making it sharper.
The worm shrieked in pain. It was bombarded from every angle.
Evangeline unleashed a purging glow of golden light, illuminating the entire mansion.
Her eyes were focused on Damon.
She clicked her tongue, swinging her rapier at a tentacle.
"I swear, the next time he tells me he has no talent for the sword just to avoid sparring with meā¦ I'll kill himā¦"
Matia and Sylvia were doing their own part. They had one objectiveāand that was to find the cocoon hiding the worm's heart and destroy it.
Sylvia was using her skill, while Matia was in charge of protecting her with her arsenal of ever-changing weapons.
Xander was a little farther off, with Leona acting as the vanguard of their offensive.
His spear smashed the heads of the metaverse worm with relative ease.
Gravity around him distorted, causing the ground to tremble.
"This thing kinda reminds me of somethingā¦"
Leona teleported with the enchantment of Stormwake, her body unleashing bolts of lightning.
"Whatā¦"
He pulverized a head with his armored fist.
"Damonā¦"
Leona really didn't have a response for that. Was he insinuating Damon was like a worm, or was he trying to say he was resilient and always got back up?
She opened her mouth to askābut his helm-covered face turned to respond before she even said a word.
"Both. I mean both."
She teleported to the old chandeliers, cutting them down along with a few cocoons.
"I didn't even say anythingā¦ yet."
Xander grabbed the chandelier mid-air and smashed it into the face of the wormāor one of its faces.
"You didn't need to."
Damon turned into a shadow, diving between the tentacles about to overwhelm him with sheer numbersā¦ he was improving, but not yet at the level of the mist knightāhe only got a part of his skillā¦
He turned back into human form, the alien feeling of being a formless shadow disappearedā¦
"Well, that's fineā¦ I still want to try a few more thingsā¦"
He raised his fingers. Now that he was in the first class advancement, he could increase the output of his magic bulletsā¦ he had already learned how to make them more muted in noiseā¦
Now he wanted more range and damageā¦
He unleashed a blast from his fingersā¦
"Noā¦ that won't work. More is moreā¦ I have five fingersā¦"
He opened his palm, spread around his finger phalangesā¦ small balls of shadow mana formed and shot at the tentacles, creating a slash of green blood and fleshā¦
He narrowed his eyes. "Nowā¦ faster."
Slowly, rapid bang sounds began to fill the mansion until they fused into one loud humā¦ he felt his bones groanā¦ his hand was redā¦
He stopped with a sigh.
"Almost thereā¦"
"Shjjooosoodoā¦"
The worm didn't like the pain being inflicted on its body. It pulled back its many heads and formed a single mass of folded heads and tentaclesā¦ the space which had been filled by its massive body was now clear, only dulled with silk and ruinā¦
Damon looked at the othersā¦ his eyes stopping on Sylviaā¦
"Did you find the cocoon it hides its heart in?"
She nodded, pointing at the center of the metaverse worm.
"Yes, it's hidden right in all that mass of tentaclesā¦"
Damon noddedā¦ looking at Evangeline.
"Do you mindā¦ giving us some lightā¦"
She muttered bitterly. "I'm not a human light bulbā¦"
She closed her eyes, gathering her mana for one attackā¦
He glanced at Leona and Matia.
"Make it rain, Leonaā¦"
She smiled coldly.
"Say less."
Storm clouds filled the roomā¦ water began to pour as Leona's mana was absorbed at an alarming rateā¦
The water was mostly harmlessāthe worm merely shrugged it off as Xander and Damon trapped it and prevented it from spreadingā¦
Matia raised her hand, creating a spear-shaped weaponā¦ she poured her mana into itā¦ the air went frigidā¦
"Freezeā¦ overā¦"
She launched her ice spear at the metaverse wormāright at the center of the writhing mass of heads and tentaclesā¦ the water made her magic spread easily, creating a moment of frost. The magic of the worm weakened for a moment as it slowed down.
Which was what Damon wantedā¦ he didn't need to freeze the whole thingājust where the heart was hiddenā¦
He glanced at Evangelineā¦ she opened her eyesāthe room was illuminated by a false, fierce, destructive light that sought to purify everythingā¦
"Shhhkskjsjsknnskskā¦"
The worm hissed as the golden light washed over itā¦ Damon slowly opened his eyes, free from the harsh lightā¦ it took him a moment to regain his sight fullyā¦
When he looked at where the worm was, he only saw a mass of scorched tentaclesā¦
Its center was goneāand so was part of the mansion wall, which had a gaping holeā¦
He glanced at Evangeline, who was on her knees taking deep breathsā¦
"Woman, you broke my houseā¦ we just moved in, dammitā¦"
Xander sighed, removing his helm.
"Does someone need to remind this lunatic this isn't his houseā¦ if anything, I think the worm owns itā¦"