The Maw, once a mysterious cavern of unknown origin, was now a slightly less mysterious cavern of unknown origin. In truth, Rory had yet to explore much of the place, having only made it to the second floor with God knows how many more to go.

  The first floor was more like a welcome mat, with only two rooms on the entire floor. The second floor expanded massively. Deeper in the earth, it sprawled for miles with dozens, if not hundreds, of winding tunnels and caverns. Each cavern was always, at minimum, the size of a football stadium back on Earth. It had made for quite the exploration; it took nearly two years for Rory to have mapped out most of the second floor. While there were a few areas Rory still hadn’t gotten to, they were of lesser importance when one considered that Rory had found, in the very epicenter of the sprawling maze of caves and tunnels, a massive cave -even by the standards of the second floor- three or four times the size of the next largest rooms. It had several entrances, but most importantly, as one neared it, there was an unmistakable aura, a pressure that felt like it forced you to lower your head in submission.

  Inside, Rory was confident, no, certain that the floor boss resided there. He’d only ever peaked inside briefly. The cave was like a strange mix of rust-colored sand and grey ash, leading up to what looked like the Parthenon of Earth. Past that, Rory hadn’t been able to make out much, but he was sure the boss was likely hanging out around there.

  That was all Rory had ever investigated about the boss’s lair.

  Until now.

  “Are you sure you want to do this alone?” Apostolos asked for the trillionth time as they rounded the corner of the last tunnel leading to the boss room.

  “I’d prefer not to, but then I’ve got to do this solo,” Rory said truthfully. “Plus, if it weren’t for the fact that I have to battle a tier-six, I wouldn’t even be testing my luck against one to begin with.”

  “And the second skill selection is worth that much?”

  “As I’ve said before,” Rory sighed. “It’s likely going to be decades until my next ascension. Ascension skill selections are some of the best ways to get those really special skills.”

  “Except for when you make them yourself,” Apostolos pointed out.

  “Yeah, and the ability to make a new skill isn’t easy.” Rory countered. “Considering it involves coming up with an idea that’s never existed before. Forging, woodwork, and fletching all existed back in our old universe. Runic Inscription and Gem Crafting didn’t, hence how they were possible. Developing more ideas requires thinking far outside the box the more things are settled. No, if I want to position myself as best as possible for the future, I’ve got to do this.”

  Apostolos sighed, with nothing left to say. It didn’t help that every step felt as if they were pushing against the wind ever since they’d rounded the last tunnel, now a straight shot to where Rory had mentally mapped the location of the boss room.

  Ignoring the fact that the pressure resisting their every step was also a dead giveaway that they were nearing the floor boss.

  For a moment, Rory felt like he could taste sand and ash on his tongue, his skin dry and prickling even before he entered the boss’s den.

  Yeah, that’s a whole lot of power. Not even the Gator of the Feathered Depths came close.

  The only time he’d ever felt anything like this was the one time he’d seen the Territory Alpha that ruled over the general vicinity of his settlement, a tier-six level sixty-one monster. It had torn apart a tier-five Alpha Variant monster rabbit as easily as Rory would tear apart a low tier-four or even tier-three monster.

  And Rory was about to pick a fight with a monster of similar standing.

  Maybe. The difference between a Territory Alpha, an Alpha Variant, and a regular monster all of the same tier is pretty damn significant.

  It was the only comfort Rory could afford; hopefully, the second-floor boss wasn’t on the level of an Alpha Variant of its level bracket.

  Well, there was one other comfort Rory had. It had nothing to do with the monster he was about to face and everything to do with his preparations. Regarding gear, the stuff Rory had prepared was leagues beyond anything else he’d ever made. Nearly all of them were sub-grade Rare. Items that were quasi-rare grade had similar power or ‘potential’ to genuine rare grade items, just with specific caveats. For the Ossified Gem Rory had used to save Apostolos, that caveat was it was unstable and only usable for a single person, Apostolos himself. As for the gear Rory was bringing to this fight, they were limited to usage against a single foe and unstable to the point that they would only last for a maximum of one hour once the fighting started.

  Such a tradeoff was the price of power, power that Rory could only hope would be enough to make up the difference between himself and a legitimate tier-six monster.

  On the bright side, this is the best chance I’ve got. Trying to find a random tier-six monster out in the wild would be problematic in that if things went south, running away isn’t much of an option when they can pursue you. I doubt whatever is waiting here will chase after me should I flee.

  The other benefit was that, based on the trends of the rest of the monsters found on the second floor, Rory had doubts that the boss would be anything higher than level sixty. A wild tier-six could just as easily be mid-tier-six, a battle that Rory was sure no amount of preparation would be enough to survive without simply blasting away with a railgun.

  “You ready, master?” Rory was suddenly dragged out of his thoughts, standing only a few feet from a conspicuously door-sized entrance into the cave beyond.

  “Hah. Ready as I can be.” Rory said, hiding the slight tremble in his hands.

  It’s going to be okay.

  Nodding to Apostolos, the young man opened a pack and retrieved Rory’s helmet. Taking it, Rory took one final deep breath before pulling it down upon his head. The dark-colored glass was almost perfectly see-through from within, akin to wearing a face-sized pair of sunglasses. Opening his interface for a moment, Rory half-smiled as he saw the display appear on the visor like something out of a sci-fi movie.

  I know it’s only appearing that way because subconsciously, I feel like it should appear that way, but damn if that isn’t cool.

  Focusing his ‘vision’ like he did when inspecting the convergence points on a gem, Rory got a sense of the ‘aura’ in the air, an instinctual sort of understanding of what he was facing.

  Ash and sand. Well, I could have guessed that easily enough.

  “Pouch,” Rory said, sticking an open palm toward Apostolos. Responding, he rummaged through his bag, pulling out a small pouch filled with three reddish marbles. Retrieving the two smaller ones, he placed them in Rory’s hand.

  Check and check.

  Reaching inside his helmet, Rory quickly stuck both marbles into his mouth and swallowed like they were horse pills.

  Euck. Well, it’s not much worse than fish oil supplements.

  Feeling a small stream of warmth radiating from his stomach, the ossified blood gems were being absorbed, and Rory gave Apostolos a nod. Unslinging his bow from his back, Rory had nothing more to do.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Time to get this show on the road.

  Tapping the side of his helmet once, he sealed it shut. Faking a bravado that in no way reflected his true feelings, Rory stepped through the gateway, entering the oversized cave hundreds of meters in either direction. The dark stone began to slant downward, giving way to ash and sand before sloping back upward toward a single dune where the strange temple-like structure stood.

  Here we go.

  Taking his time to half-shamble, half-slide down toward the bottom of the small gulley, Rory began to trudge upward once he made sure nothing had appeared, never looking back at where Apostolos was watching.

  I can’t give him the impression I need help at any point, or he might run in here early and ruin my opportunity.

  It felt unnatural once several minutes had passed and nothing had appeared, much less attacked Rory.

  Don’t overthink it.

  Another few minutes passed in tense silence, the only sound his footsteps crunching on the dune beneath him.

  Reaching the cave’s center, Rory trudged the last few yards between himself and the odd-looking Parthenon-styled temple, pillars of sandstone surrounding the inner chamber. There was nothing inside save for a single fuck-off sized mural. On it, there were three clear depictions. The first was what looked like a giant snake or perhaps a worm. The next was what appeared to be a cocoon or chrysalis. The final of the three murals depicted a creature that looked awfully similar to a butterfly.

  Is this a puzzle, or-

  Right on cue, the entire ground seemed to tremble.

  -Oh, fuck me, how cliché can we get?

  The boss waiting to appear until after you’d investigate the ancient temple with murals depicting an unknown creature?

  Yeah, that was about as basic of a plotline as you could imagine, something out of a B-grade horror movie.

  If it works, it works, I guess.

  Gripping his bow tightly, Rory pushed a thread of Pneuma through his gear, activating the countdown as he tapped into their energies.

  Not a moment too late either, the wall in front of him exploded as something massive swept through the entire temple, destroying everything like a wrecking ball through a brittle old home. Tapped into the enhanced blood weave armor, Rory tossed himself flat to the ground as whatever was crashing through the temple swept just overhead. Once he was sure it had passed, Rory jumped to his feet, his head rapidly swiveling until he locked onto the cause of the sudden destruction.

  I can’t say I’m surprised.

  There, dominating the view, was a giant, oversized worm. Based on the portion emerging from the dune, it had to be at least twenty feet in diameter and thirty meters long. Its skin was an ugly mess of flesh, as if it had repeatedly been treated to third-degree burns. Rory got a strange sense from the monster, the same general aura as his surroundings.

  “Ash and sand,” He huffed. There was no mistaking it.

  Curious, Rory examined the creature with his interface.

  Adolescent Ashworm

  Level: 60

  A monster spoken of in whispered legends, the Ashworm is a close cousin of a Sandworm. It can live for tens of thousands of years as a simple pupa, hundreds of thousands as an adolescent, and upwards to millions of years beyond. Due to their natural strength, ashworms carry an aura of their natural affinities of ash and sand.

  The good news was the Ashworm wasn’t an Alpha Variant.

  The bad news was that even an adolescent was already at tier six.

  It is a durability-focused monster if the size is anything to go by.

  Having gathered all the information he could, Rory sprung into action, not wanting to allow the Ashworm to strike again without retaliating for the first sweeping attack. Arms and legs pumping and his blood weave metaphorically humming away, Rory sighted the monster for an instant before firing his first return shot. The arrow raced through the air nearly as fast as a max-charged Blood Legacy shot before exploding against the monster.

  Oh yeah, Rory hadn’t even bothered bringing more than a few regular arrows. Something like ninety percent of his arrows were either explosive arrows or some other trick arrow.

  Letting the small cloud of debris part, Rory took stock of the damage done as the Ashworm undulated in irritation.

  On a regular tier-five monster, I’d say that’s a pretty damn good start. On a tier-six monster that big… Lot of work to do.

  The flesh of the Ashworm wasn’t terribly durable, given the extent of the damage. Still, there was just so much to begin with that even a cannonball-sized wound was barely a scratch.

  The Ashworm swung the length of its upper half like an arm sweeping crumbs from a table. Rory was forced to jump up with every ounce of his strength as the giant worm swept through the ash and sand he’d just been standing upon. Mid-air, Rory fired another arrow at the big worm, resulting in another angry writhing but little else.

  “Damn,” Rory cursed under his breath as he slammed back onto the dune, rapidly firing several more arrows at the titanic beast. Each arrow crashing against the beast’s flesh was as similar in strength to a Blood Legacy shot charged to around seventy or seventy-five percent. Had the Gator of the Feathered Depths faced such bombardment, even the powerful level fifty-six Alpha Variant would have been torn to shreds.

  And yet the Ashworm merely trembled with annoyance.

  As Rory darted around the dune, ducking, weaving, and leaping to avoid the Ashworm, he couldn’t help but feel something was off. Sure, the monster was ungodly durable due entirely to the beast’s sheer size, but it wasn’t that dangerous otherwise.

  Yeah, something’s wrong.

  Rory wasn’t about to be lulled into a false sense of security. Thus, he was more than ready as the Ashworm suddenly rose high, looking down at Rory from above.

  Here -something- comes!

  If the Ashworm had been giving off a steady but bearable pressure before, the same pressure exploded in intensity as the worm appeared to tremble as if regurgitating something. Rory wasn’t about to let it do whatever it was doing freely, firing repeatedly at its face, shoving its head around, and tearing massive chunks from its body, but the worm remained undeterred. The upward movement of its trembling body soon reached its apex just beneath its head as it opened its giant mouth, revealing an endless vortex, revealing nothing within but an empty gullet.

  Reacting on instinct, his entire body screamed danger, as from that empty vortex within, a blast of ash and sand shot out more like a laser than anything else. There was no time, no way to dodge such a blast traveling so fast; his cognition attribute was further ahead than even his boosted physical attributes, meaning that while he could mentally react, his body was a step behind.

  While it was true he couldn’t physically react in time, his mind was fast enough to activate every single barrier gem he had within any piece of his equipment. Instantly, six layers of hardened Pneuma appeared in front of him, an overlaying shield of magic protection. The beam of ash and sand collided with the air shields, two of the six layers instantly shattering as Rory thrust out his hand, activating the burning gems in tandem with the barrier gems. Drinking deeply from his armor’s essence and Pneuma reserves, the barrier gems reinforced themselves, and the pressure bearing down on Rory felt like he was physically holding back a charging rhino.

  Gritting his teeth, Rory sat on his feet as much as he could within the dune beneath. Now, both arms outstretched, he did his best to hold onto the concentration, keeping the barriers from shattering as he channeled power from his armor.

  One by one, the barriers began to crack and shatter until, with only a single barrier remaining, the beam attack exhausted itself.

  Holy shit.

  Rory panted; the sheer effort of being the intermediary of such forces was almost too much for his tier-five body.

  Looking upward, clearly, he wasn’t the only one who had suffered. The Ashworm looked as if it had been the victim of an oil fire. Its already mangled and burnt flesh was burnt even more raw, and its entire face was cracking and crumbling around itself.

  “So, you’re not immune to your own attack. Good to know.” Rory huffed. As exhausting as withstanding the attack had been, the gradual restorative effects of the two ossified blood gems he’d taken proved their worth, quickly gaining a second wind.

  Redoubling the effect of his burning gems slotted into his armor, Rory began to sprint around the worn-down worm, firing arrows off as quickly as he could. Each step he took felt like something was gradually tearing apart in his body; he was operating at a level an entire tier past where he was currently, and his body was paying for it.

  But it doesn’t matter as long as I can win.

  The explosive arrows began to tear massive chunks from the oversized worm, concentrated explicitly around the segment just beneath its head, where it had suffered the most significant amount of backlash from the effect of its beam attack.

  In a way, the worm had been the architect of its own demise. While excessively powerful, its beam was too much even for its own insane durability to take lightly. While it tried to swipe its body at Rory, it had slowed considerably, its damaged body struggling to move.

  I can do this!

  Firing one last arrow from directly behind the giant worm, which had lost track of Rory as he blurred around like he was skating on ice, the mangled neck of the monster gave in as the gigantic head of the beast crashed into the sand below.

  How’s that, you oversized garden worm?

  Dropping on his ass, Rory stared at the headless monster before frowning.

  Why don’t I feel… more?

  Typically, killing a monster would result in energy filling your body, no matter how slight. Felling a tier-six should have been more energy than he’d ever felt before.

  Fuck!

  Rory leaped to his feet, expecting a sudden attack, but none came his way. Feeling increasingly wary, Rory waited several minutes; the only thing of note to happen was the body of the giant worm slowly crumbling and breaking down like a shattered rock.

  “What the hell is going on?” Rory finally muttered after several more minutes of bated breath. Approaching the ‘corpse’ of the worm, Rory poked at it as an entire sheet of flesh fell away in a shower of dusty corpse-stone.

  Free of the obstruction, Rory sucked in a sharp breath.

  There, inside the worm, was a cocoon.

  Well, shit.

  Things were about to get, unfortunately, more interesting.