“Looks like we’re on our own from here.” Jared looked toward the left passage. “Too much blood. Something alive is down there. Let’s try the right.”
The right corridor was dry, littered with loose rubble. After thirty minutes, they emerged into a vast limestone chamber. At its center lay a pool of murky green water, veiled in white mist that gave off a faint, pleasant fragrance.
“What is this…” Flaxseed leaned over the rim, hand outstretched, but Jared yanked back.
“Don’t touch it. There’s something off about that water and its scent…” Jared pointed at the drifting vapor.
“One breath and the poison will let the demonic aura burrow through your meridians.” He crushed a pill from his satchel and sprinkled the powder across the surface. It hissed, bubbles foamed, and the fog collapsed like snow in a bonfire.
“Thought so,” said.
“The pool‘s here to keep something trapped. We go around.” Jared skirted the bank, Flaxseed close behind.
Crystals embedded in the walls grew brighter with every step, until they could make out a stone dais on the far shore, something resting atop it.
The water erupted. A tentacle as thick as a barrel cracked from the pool and lashed toward Flaxseed’s back.
“Move!” Jared shoved aside and flashed the Dragonslayer Sword.
A sweep of golden light sheared the limb in two. Black blood sprayed, reeking so strongly it burned pits into the rock.
A screech ripped from the depths. Dozens of tentacles burst free, writhing like enraged pythons and crashing toward them.
“It’s a demon wyrm!” Flaxseed shouted. “Guardian of the Abyss of Fallen Demons, lives on toxic water! l never thought it would hide here!”
Jared narrowed his eyes, the Dragonslayer Sword flickering through the air, slicing tentacles faster than they regrew. Yet the onslaught seemed endless.
Each severed limb sprouted anew, driving the pair backward step by step.
“This is pointless,” Jared said.
“We need its main body… Find it, or we die here!” Jared roared, letting every ounce of his spiritual energy detonate at once.
A golden shield ballooned from his body and slapped the advancing tendrils aside.
“Use the emerald badge, Mr. Flaxseed!”
Flaxseed lifted the emerald badge over his head. Pure white light erupted, bright enough to turn the cave into a private sunrise.
Something thrashed in the pond below. The monster howled in pain, and its ebony tentacles faltered, losing the savage rhythm they had a moment earlier.
Flaxseed’s eyes sparked.
“It’s working!” cried, striding toward the pool’s heart with the pendant held high.
Where the light swept, black tendrils recoiled beneath the surface. The murky green water churned as though a hulking shape prepared to burst free.
Jared seized the opening and flashed to the water’s edge. He directed his divine consciousness downward until it locked on a colossal shadow coiled on the lakebed.
A black wyrm the length of a warship lay there, horned and scale-plated, its red eyes fixed on the shore.
“Filthy beast, die!” Jared swung the Dragonslayer Sword, carving a golden crescent through the air that fell on the lake with world-shaking force.
The blade struck, raising a wall of foam. Water split like torn cloth, revealing the monster’s armored torso. The wyrm roared and vomited a torrent of oily venom straight at him.
