Worm Chapter 8: Fearsome Smile

Worm Chapter 8

Fearsome Smile

“Who knew that such pleasures were available to human…”

“Haa…haa… why are you so energetic? It felt good, but I feel really drained out.”

Even though I’m not really tired, I have this very satisfied feeling and I feel like I can’t handle any more…

“We should do this in moderation… also, I forbid you for doing it with males other than me, got it?”

“This is the first time you gave a formal order to me. If you have the intention to give a formal order, I won’t be able to resist it.”

“Formal order…? why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“If you will it, I won’t be able to refuse. If I try to go against your order, you’ll be notified immediately.”

“Stop ignoring my question! *Sigh*… whatever…”

“Though, I never would’ve imagined that you would be so possessive.”

“I don’t know… I think it’s the male human’s instincts? Just imagining you doing it with other males makes me want to go berserk.”

“How violent… don’t worry. I’ll always be yours.”

“…”

For some reason, hearing that phrase from her makes me feel embarrassed…

“How cute. We’re stuck together till the end. You’re going to get used to it.”

“Stop reading my mind!”

I said as I glance towards Pane.

We decided to wear clothing. Since we had the ability to morph and reform, it was easy to make them.

Pane is wearing a short black hip-length zip-up lady’s vest that shows her belly, showing the tattoos on her waists. Even though it’s zip-up, it looks like it’s about to burst because her breasts are too big for it. Only the zipper itself prevents it from exploding. For her lower body she’s wearing black tight pants with a belt. For her footwear, she’s wearing black lady’s boots.

“Hey, why don’t you just make a looser vest so you can close it up? Also, why not cover up your belly?”

“I feel more comfortable in this. And I have a feeling that this is more of my sense of fashion. I don’t know how those were decided, but it seems that each of us have their own tastes.”

“…At least cover up more of your body with something.”

“Fine…”

She morphed one more piece of clothing. It’s a black knee-length sleeveless collared coat.

“There, it’s a little similar to what you’re wearing as well. Are you happy, overly protective boyfriend?”

“I’m not your boyfriend though. Also, even though I do know what a boyfriend is, I don’t know what’s the reason for being couples...”

“Yes… it seems that knowledge without experience is just knowledge.”

Like Pane said, I’m wearing something similar to her. I’m wearing a coat.

I’ve decided to wear a black knee-length hooded coat that is opened from the waist down. The coat has extended sleeves to cover up my hands. I wear black pants on my lower body and black men’s boots for footwear.

“Now that you’ve gotten to Evolution Level: 5, manticores won’t do it anymore. What’s your plan?”

“I’m just going to kill all the manticores here then leave the dungeon. But first, I want to test out <Morph>!”

I’m going to start with the king ant’s scythe.

I extended out my hand and changed it to the king ant’s scythe.

“Woah, it worked! I don’t even know how I did it, it just came naturally.”

“It’s similar to how humans don’t know how can they dream. They don’t know how they do it until they do some research.”

“I see… okay, next is manticore wings!”

I morphed manticore wings on my back. I flapped my wings and took flight.

I wasn’t able to fly straight and I wiggled on air.

“T-This is harder than expected…”

“Why not change into a manticore first?”

I morphed into a manticore. It’s still hard.

“No, I mean change your base form to manticore.”

“Is that different from just morphing from human to manticore?”

“If there is no difference, the what’s the use of <Morph: 0>?”

“…”

I changed back into human.

“<Morph: Baseshift>.”

A panel appeared in front of me. The panel is a list that shows all the monsters I’ve killed or dissolve.

“Is there a use for saying the skill even though you have {Mind Activation}?”

“I just wanted to test out vocal commands.”

I pushed [Abyth Manticore]. After pushing it, my body automatically morphed into a manticore.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Auxiliary Skill Update: «Night Vision», «Beast Breath», «Poison Tail», «Flight» has been acquired due to morphing into [Manticore].
__________________________________________________________________________________________________


__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Panel Update: Auxiliary Skill has been added to the main panel due to acquiring an Auxiliary Skill.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

“*Roar*, *roar*!”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Seems like I can’t talk in this form…

What are auxiliary skills?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Auxiliary Skills: Skills that supports the being and is automatically activated when certain conditions are met. Level of Auxiliary skills depends on the root skill that it was derived from.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

“It means that they only activate when you morph your body into their respective body parts. Also, the level of skills depends on <Morph>. That is why morph has that “Quality depends on level” part on the skill description.”

Instead of speaking through a panel, Pane speaks through her voice.

…What a beautiful voice.

“Thank you.”

“…”

S-Stop reading my mind!

…I see, I have «Flight» now… time to try it out!

I tried flying in manticore form, it felt very natural.

What if I do it in human form with wings?

[Morph: Baseshift]

I turned back to human form.

I erected manticore wings on my back and tried to fly.

I was able to fly properly.

“So as long as I have the body part, the Auxiliary Skills will work. And the Auxiliary Skills only gets unlocked when I shift my base form into that form.”

“You got that right.”

“Guess I’ll change into useful monsters to get more Auxiliary Skills.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Auxiliary Skill Update: «Consume», «Bio Scythe», «Stinger» has been acquired due to morphing into [Abyth Stinger King Ant].
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Auxiliary Skill Update: «Dig» has been acquired due to morphing into [Abyth Mole].
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Auxiliary Skill Update: «Steel Horns», and «Light Antlers» has been acquired due to morphing into [Abyth Gistag].
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

I didn’t know [Abyth Gistag] was able to produce light… It was because I wasn’t able to see when I was a worm…

…Well, I’m practically still a worm. Only with different forms.

By using «Light Antlers» in a dark place like this, I’ll be able to catch the attention of the manticores.

♦

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[Abyth Manticore] has been dissolved.
-Health has been recovered.
-Mana has been recovered.
-EXP has been gained.

Level Update: Level has risen. Current Level: 53.

Racial Ability Update: <Morph Lv. 4> has upgraded to <Morph Lv. 5>
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

I’ve been killing and dissolving manticores for a few days. I’ve leveled up a few times.

Hey, is it me or are the manticores running away from the light now?”

[“Of course, it would. Seeing the light meant that death itself is approaching.”]

I have 10 bodies in human form flying around with manticore wings and have glowing antlers to attract manticores.

I also noticed that the things I had as a worm are still here. I can still feel the vibrations of the surroundings. All of my forms still have the traits I have as a worm.

As for Pane, she’s also hunting down monsters. It seems that she can also kill and I’ll get the EXP. We can also still communicate via telepathy.

[“I think it’s better if you turn of the antler lights off now. It’s only making the manticores run from you.”]

I guess so…

I turned off the light antlers.

[“…Hey, if all the manticores are running away… shouldn’t you guard the exit because that’s where they’re flocking to?”]

…Right.

I made one of my bodies fly to the entrance.

You think some of them had already escaped?

[“Maybe one or two? it’s not that easy to navigate through this dungeon. A manticore is still a monster, it’s still stupid and won’t be able to memorize the passages around this place.”]

If one or two had escaped, it can’t be help.

♦

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
[Abyth Manticore] has been dissolved.
-Health has been recovered.
-Mana has been recovered.
-EXP has been gained.

Level Update: Level has risen. Current Level: 55.

Racial Ability Update: <Morph Lv. 9> had upgraded to ⌠Morph⌡.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

I think that’s the last one.

[“It is.”]

I’ve been killing and dissolving manticores for a few days. I’ve just killed the last one. I’ve also never stopped using ⌠Morph⌡ and it easily leveled up to the max with the EXP I gain.

[“Hey, aren’t you forgetting something?”]

What am I forgetting?

[“Seriously? You forgot about that armor thing?”]

…!

I forgot!!!

That armor thing is the strongest monster in this dungeon. I have not encountered it since I evolved.

Where could it be? I think I haven’t missed a place ever since I started hunting manticores. I should’ve encountered it, at least once…

Hmmm… what are the areas I haven’t seen yet… oh, that slope to that leads to the other second level where those humans ran away from. Maybe it’s there.

[“Let’s take a look. Let me reunite with one of your bodies.”]

One of my bodies and Pane had reunited. We are now walking towards the isolated part of the second level.

We’re just casually walking because there’s no danger anymore. I have my antler lights turned on.

“Why don’t you send some of your bodies out of the dungeon? I think there’s no reason for staying here other than that floating armor.”

“I don’t want to underestimate it. I remember encountering the manticore the first time, I almost died. There might be monsters and humans outside that can track all of my body down and kill them. I’m going to be careful and be more prepared.”

While we were walking, I felt a presence from a distance. It’s a presence I’ve never felt before.

“Pane, something’s here. Don’t make a sound.”

[“Don’t forget, I have a connection with you. You don’t need to vocally tell me.”]

We waited for the presence. I changed my eyes into manticore eyes to use its «Night Vision».

I don’t need to do this because I can just use the vibrations it uses to identify its shape, but based on my experience, using the sense of sight along with the vibration sense enables me to perfectly identify the being.

Based on the vibration I feel… the being is in human form. It has no wings, but it’s flying. Such thing should not be possible.

It got closer and closer until I got vision of it.

It definitely is human!

The human is a female who has waist length brown hair and purple eyes. She is wearing a light brown robe and is holding a magic staff. She has a playful and carefree smile plastered on her face.

She does have wings!?

Also, I can’t feel her wings even though I can see it? Magic wings!?

Her wings are white translucent bird wings which produces white particles.

Can you show me her status?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name: Fleisha
Being Category: [Person]
Race: [Human]
Racial Classification: [Beast]
Title: [Veronia’s Strongest Mage]
Class: [Myriad Arcane Master]
Class Level: 7

Statistics
Level: 31
EXP: 66%
Health: 657
Spirit: 4214
Strength: 323
Agility: 410
Magic: 4585

Class Abilities
⌠Arcane Veins⌡|⌠Amplify Magic⌡|⌠Maximize Elemental Magic⌡|⌠Expand Magic⌡|⌠Compress Magic⌡| <Quick Cast Lv. 6> | <Multi Cast Lv. 3>

Skills
⌠Magic Mastery⌡|⌠Spirit Mastery⌡|⌠Mana Regulation⌡|⌠Magic Optimization⌡|⌠Elemental Magic⌡|⌠Fire Magic Mastery⌡|⌠Water Magic Mastery⌡|⌠Wind Magic Mastery⌡|⌠Earth Magic Mastery⌡|⌠Ice Magic Mastery⌡
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

She’s is dangerous!

Her stats are focused only on two! Is this why humans are dangerous? Because they can manage their own stats to grow ideally?

She’s only a class level above me, but she already has stats at the 4,000s!

My stats are distributed so I don’t have any specialties like her.

She’s the most dangerous being I’ve seen!

[“This is bad, we shouldn’t try to catch her attention.”]

We should learn more about her. Even though she has strong skills, she doesn’t seem to have any detection skills… we’ll be able to tail her without her noticing.

We followed her while hiding our presence as much as possible.

♦

This place is where I first gained consciousness.

There are lots of fruit on the ground and vines on the walls.

We followed the human named Fleisha deeper into this isolated second level.

While moving, I felt the presence of another human.

Another one? Since when did these humans get here?

As we got nearer, we got a view of her.

It was a human female in her teens. The human has short straight green neck length bobbed hair. The irises on her eyes are green. She’s wearing a green knee length long coat opened from the hip downwards. She is wearing a dark green skirt on her lower body. For footwear, she’s wearing dark green boots. She has a stiff aloof expression.

I didn’t feel her presence before… Who is this?

Hey Pane, can you show me her stats?

[“…? Negative. …Why can’t I see it?”]

Just who is this girl?

While we were talking inside my head, the mage, Fleisha, called out to the girl with green hair.

“My, my… I didn’t know I’ll meet someone like you here~”

“…?”

The girl turned and faced Fleisha.

Fleisha took a fruit on the ground and took a bite.

“Ewww! This doesn’t taste like anything… you should’ve had added flavor to it~ The one who is chosen and survives is the only one to benefit from this. Why don’t you add flavor at least as compensations for the second placer to the last placer, Tegariara?”

The girl’s emotionless eyebrows squinted a little.

“…Pride?” the girl which Fleisha called “Tegariara” spoke in an emotionless voice.

Fleisha clapped her hands.

“Wow~ I thought I manipulated it properly. Amazing, is this because of a high intelligence level?”

“What did you come here for?”

“My, my… don’t look at me that way. I just want to protect the kingdom~”

Fleisha put her hands on her cheeks.

“Maybe level up as well~”

“…Seeing that you think that way and is still planning to kill me, means that you haven’t leveled it up to Empress.”

“That’s right! I would want to do so, so I went down here. But looking at you it seems impossible. Your body is on the other side of the world after all~”

“…It…”

Tegariara paused for a few seconds then continued.

“…It’s useless if you don’t understand…”

Tegariara made an aloof sigh.

“…I think I’m done here, do what you want.”

“Well, this is my duty as a Royal Knight~ I also don’t want you roaming around me, no hard feelings. Okay dear~?”

Fleisha pointed her staff towards Tegariara. A red magic circle appeared below her and on the staff.

“You won’t fight back?”

“There is no point in wasting energy for something like his. Like I’ve said, I’ve done what I came here for. I still have roots in this country.”

“Your very generous for giving me that clue~”

“You can’t do anything about that information anyway.”

“Is that so~?”

The magic circle glowed bright.

“<Firebird Downfall>~”

A giant flaming bird was formed and passed through the cave. Everything it passed through disintegrated, not leaving even ashes. The vines and even Tegariara’s body disintegrated. Even though the fire is strong, the cave walls didn’t even char. It only burned what she meant to burn…

“This has been a meaningful trip.” Fleisha said while wearing her soft playful and easygoing smile.

…Hey, we should leave.

[“Okay…”]

“Now then~, won’t you introduce yourself, sir monster and her unusual companion~?”

!?!?

She noticed us? How!? She had no detection abilities!

[“What should we do?]

I have other bodies in different parts of this dungeon, so I don’t mind if this body dies. I’ll be safe. The problem is your body. Will you disappear if your physical body gets killed? …She hasn’t approached us yet, is she on guard?

[“I don’t know… I think my physical body will die but I’ll still remain as a panel and we’ll still be able to talk inside your head.”]

We can’t have that. You just received a body… it would be a waste. We should at least let you escape. I’ll open the inventory and have this body distract her.

[“No. She already knows that I’m here. She’ll definitely try to search for me in this dungeon. That is definitely bad because she’ll encounter your other bodies. The risk is lesser for you if we try to escape without {Inventory} so we can keep your other bodies a secret. Also, a confirmation, again I will say it. Even if my physical body dies, I have this unusual feeling that I won’t disappear completely.”]

I don’t want you to lose your physical body now that you’ve gotten it. But if all of my bodies die, you will also disappear, which would be worse…

Fine, this is the best chance of survival… but that doesn’t mean that I’ll let your body get killed!

I’ll distract her with this body while you fly out of here as fast as you can!

[“I may be able to reform myself, but I can’t fly like you.”]

Then you run as fast as you can. I’ll change into a Manticore and fly as fast as I can while you run the other direction.

[“Got it.”]

“My, my~ are you finished discussing? I’m waiting for an introduction here~”

Was she really just waiting for an introduction, or was she just on guard because of an unknown enemy?

Regardless, it’s time to escape!

I used my top speed and flew away as fast as possible.

…A second after I flew.

She appeared in front of me. Flying backwards, flapping her magic wings while facing me.

“My, my… please don’t run away~ <Gravity>~”

My body slammed on the floor.

It felt like the gravity has multiplied multiple times and pushed me down on the floor.

What!? she didn’t have this skill in the panel Pane showed me!

Dammit! Pane, are you alright!?

[“Her magic also reached me!”]

The area’s too big!

“My, my… I got myself a cute flying cat and a beautiful lady~”

She landed on her feet and her wings disappeared.

She approached me and crouched down.

“You should’ve used {Inventory} and escaped with all of your bodies into it. Even though you and the cute lady will be stuck and die of hunger there, isn’t that better than being killed~?”