Great Journey: Whims of Fate

Chapter 142. Dungeon of Howling Winds 4

Ariel swooped in and dived at the Earth Wyrm while Lilia prepared her most powerful freezing spell. It was a Rune Casting with the runes Freeze, Mist, and Whirlwind, creating a swirling mist that froze everything it passed.

Once they were right on top of it, Lilia unleashed the spell, forming a vortex of white mist that instantly froze the slime around the Earth Wyrm, trapping it in place. The dungeon, free from the slime’s corrosion, repaired the damage around the hole the creature had dug, further pinning it and preventing any movement.

Enraged, the Wyrm roared, thrashing violently and sending tremors through the ground in its wake. The dry ground cracked around it, loose dirt collapsing into hardened stone before erupting skyward in a scattered barrage that threatened to knock Ariel and Lilia out of the air.

Fortunately, they were both agile. Ariel was more than capable of tracking every single projectile heading their way and dodging them. On top of that, the Earth Wyrm was blind to the sky, unable to pinpoint their exact location and only able to rely on the vague vibrations of the air beneath Ariel’s wings.

“I managed to freeze it,” Lilia shouted. “What now?”

“I can try shooting it but I can’t do that while holding you up,” Ariel answered.

“You can just drop me then, I know a floating spell.”

A full flying spell was possible with Lilia’s Rune Imbuement, but it consumed too much mana to sustain. Instead, she opted for a cheaper alternative, imbuing herself with the runes Float and Drift. The magic held her suspended in place, allowing limited movement without a sound, keeping her hidden from the Earth Wyrm as she continued casting her freezing spell.

“Alright,” Ariel said as she dropped Lilia and took out her cannon, aimed, and opened fire.

Bunker Buster!

A 90mm bullet fired from the cannon, and almost instantly, a layer of magic coated it, hardening into a sharp, pointed tip. The added weight increased its momentum, giving it devastating force. In the blink of an eye, it struck the side of the Earth Wyrm’s head.

The bullet pierced the frozen slime covering the creature and slammed into its thick hide. The momentum from the magical reinforcement allowed it to penetrate, but it consumed the mana used for the spell. Once the magic dissipated, the sudden reduction in weight increased its speed, letting the smaller, lighter bullet drive even deeper.

It tore through the creature’s flesh and slammed powerfully against its skull, cracking the bone plate and rattling its brain.

“ROAR!!!” the Earth Wyrm bellowed, a mix of fury and panic, having been dealt damage despite a lifetime of feeling completely safe from the harpies and the adventurers it had devoured.

“It’s effective!” Ariel shouted with glee and opened fire freely.

The barrage dealt significant damage, as a dozen shots landed in a tight grouping and cracked the skull plate further with each impact. Still, it was far from enough to bring the creature down; a much more powerful strike would be needed to deliver the finishing blow.

The Earth Wyrm, unwilling to simply wait for death, flooded its mana into the surroundings, cracking the ground further. This both loosened its trapped state and sent thousands upon thousands of projectiles flying upward blindly at the speed of Rank 2 bullets shot from Bastion’s autocannon.

“Brace!” Bastion shouted in warning, having detected the mana flow indicative of an incoming area-of-effect attack.

Lilia immediately deployed her Water Barrier, encapsulating herself in a shell of rotating water just in time to meet the assault. The barrage, however, was simply too powerful; a shower of reinforced rocks erupted upward, hammering the barrier until it finally ruptured.

“Aaah!” Lilia screamed as the barrage tore into her, projectiles punching through her legs and stomach, nearly killing her.

The sudden pain shattered her focus, breaking the Rune Imbuement and sending her plummeting from the air. Before she could hit the ground, Elyra leapt from the shadows, caught her, and sprinted toward Ariel, who was in far worse shape.

Ariel, having no defensive measures, resolved to use Dodge, but the barrage was too dense and tightly packed, leaving her no space to evade at all. Instead, she tucked her wings, legs, and arms, making herself as small as possible while keeping her head and heart protected.

“Arghh!” Ariel screamed as her wings, arms, and legs were shredded into a bloody mess, causing her to lose consciousness from the searing pain and damage.

She plummeted from the sky into Elyra’s waiting arms, and without pause, Elyra sprinted past Bastion, putting distance between them to give everyone the space they needed to recover. Immediately, she began administering health potions to keep them alive, while Lilia pushed through the pain to cast Mystic Mend and Mystic Veil, accelerating their healing.

Bastion’s heart ached with worry for the girls. Every instinct screamed at him to run to their side, but he knew that he would only do more harm than good. The safest way to protect them was to give them space to recover while he drew the Earth Wyrm’s attention. Resolving to do his duty as the tank, he summoned his diamond steed and mounted, unwilling to face the creature on foot. Then, he used Taunt to force its attention onto himself.

“You really think a tiny worm like you can call itself a dragon?” Bastion shouted as he rode out, putting distance between himself and the girls.

Enraged, the Earth Wyrm thrashed violently, shattering the ice that held it in place before diving underground. Its slime remained frozen solid, but it still tore through the dungeon’s ground with sheer force. As it raced toward Bastion, the frozen slime slowly started to come off, scraped away by the compacted dirt around it. Eventually, it sped up, now able to produce the slime it needed to tunnel faster.

Cracks raced toward Bastion as the creature zeroed in on his position. Unlike with the girls, it knew exactly where Bastion was, so it didn’t hesitate to chase him down, intent on swallowing him whole. Like a shark breaching the surface of the sea, the Earth Wyrm leapt from beneath Bastion’s last gallop, accompanied by the forward momentum of its charge.

Bastion turned and slashed out with a Diamond Edge-coated Slash three times in rapid succession, sending three arcs of crescent-shaped diamonds into the creature’s maw. The projectiles slowed the creature enough to buy Bastion space to escape, but they did little to no damage, as the creature simply ate through them like a snack.

Bastion raced off to continue drawing the Earth Wyrm away while it dove back into the dungeon ground, showing its full 30-meter length. It was quite a bit shorter than a basilisk, but it more than made up for it in toughness and in its deadly corrosive slime that even a dungeon of equivalent rank couldn’t survive.

Eventually, it caught up to Bastion again and leapt at his steed’s heels, threatening to swallow him whole.

This time, Bastion deployed his armored room using his Facility Slot, intending to have it bash its head against it. Unfortunately, the metal was only rated for Rank 1, so the creature easily chomped through half the room, despite its walls’ upgraded 3-meter thickness. This placed Bastion directly in front of its gaping, grinding maw.

Rather than escape through the exit at the rear, Bastion faced the creature without fear and produced a large red potion bottle from his Quick Slot. It was an upgraded Rank 2 explosive potion, the same one used against the Goblin Chief.

Quickly, he activated the potion and tossed it as deep as he could through the creature’s throat, careful to avoid its spine-like teeth. Then, and only then, did he escape from the room, just as the creature thrust forward to finish swallowing the gigantic lump of metal whole.

BOOOM!!!

With its mouth clogged with metal and its body buried beneath the dungeon soil, the only place for the explosion to vent was through the wounds Ariel had left on its skull. The expanding force cracked open the Earth Wyrm’s head, blowing its brains out and killing it instantly.

As for Bastion, he barely had time to activate Diamond Armor before the explosion sent him flying, pierced by Rank 1 metal that acted as projectiles. He ragdolled across the ground, sustaining heavy injuries before coming to a stop, sprawled on the dirt as corrosive slime, chunks of flesh, bone, and brain matter rained down on him.

It was disgusting, to say the least, and somewhat dangerous as the corrosive slime ate through his Diamond Armor, but he was alive and well, so he couldn’t exactly complain.

'How are the girls?' Bastion asked Elyra through their telepathy.

'Alive and well. Lilia has completely spent her mana, and Ariel has managed to regain consciousness. They are currently resting to recover their energy.'

'Take them back to the stairs between the 54th and 55th floors. We're taking a rest to assess our status.'

'Understood.'

Bastion slowly got up and removed his Diamond Armor before quickly swapping to another Rank 1 armor, preventing the one he wore from being corroded by the slime. Then he headed for the corpse of the Earth Wyrm, which was quickly dissipating. It was still a dungeon creature, so storing it in his inventory would be pointless.

More importantly, he focused on what was left behind. There was some hide, pieces of bone, and even mounds of flesh, all very interesting Rank 3 materials for Seraphina, Lilia, and even Elyra.

Then, as if being presented to him, the section of missing ground where half of the creature’s body had been hidden slowly lifted, carrying a literal pile of what would seem like junk to anyone unable to detect mana. There were pieces of armor, weapons, a random assortment of gems, transparent coins, branches, stones, and even dirt.

To those with an acute sense of mana like Bastion, however, these were materials saturated with mana between Apprentice and Rank 3. Literal treasures to any wizard like Lilia, blacksmith like himself, alchemist like Seraphina, and even cook like Elyra. There was a bit of everything for everyone in this pile of treasures, likely worth many times more than their entire dungeon dive so far.

Bastion smiled, finding their near-death experience worth it, as he exclaimed,

“Jackpot!”

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