We were on the way to a quest I just accepted in a nearby forest for another hauling job. It was only for transporting freshly harvested fruits to the market for ten coppers. We met our client, paid our respects and were about to start working when I saw a face I instantly recognized.

            “You’re the guy a few days ago!”

Lavinia pointed at me. Her two familiars were behind her, carrying baskets full of fruits.

            “Oh hello, is your wound okay?” I asked the Dogkin.

            “You don’t worry about an injury that shallow!” the Dogkin happily replied with his deep raspy voice.

            “Are you also here for the fruit transporting quest?” I asked.

            “It’s none of your business, let’s go.” Lavinia flipped her hair as she began waking.

            The three of them passed through us without uttering another word. I did not even know why she was so unfriendly. It was like it was a sin for her to get along with me. I just hoped that not all nobles were like her.

            “Shall we start as well?” I turned to Ovis.

            She just nodded in response. We proceeded to carry the baskets towards the market in the city. Compared to the log hauling job we had a few days earlier, carrying the baskets was so much easier. The only challenge was that the distance between the market and our current location was about an hour by foot.

            We were already half way down the road when I suddenly got dizzy, as if the surroundings were moving. Due to the unknown sensation, I lost my balance and fell to the floor on my butt. I dropped the baskets which resulted for the fruits to be scattered on the floor.

            I staggeringly looked at my surroundings and I saw Ovis was on her knees as well. That was when I realized that the sensation was not limited on my mind. The ground was actually shaking at a tremendous force. After a while, the earthquake calmed down then a crashing sound was heard from nearby.

            “Aaaaaah!” A girl’s scream echoed.

            “Let’s go check it out!” I uttered.

            I got up on my feet and started running towards the location from where I believed the noise came from. The sight after I arrived was both magnificent and horrifying. My feet were glued to the ground and I felt as if all the hair in my body stood up.

            “M-master… W-what is that?” Ovis’ eyes widened upon the sight.

            I did not know what to respond to her. It was a humungous segmented worm. It had a brown color and a circular mouth with sharp teeth like structures at its perimeter. Only a portion of its body was up above the ground so I did not know how long it actually was. Just by looking at it, a whole house would be easy for that thing to devour.

 Its body was wriggling from side to side while its mouth was directed downwards. I looked to where it was pointed and I saw Lavinia with her familiars. Their baskets were also on the ground and they had their weapons drawn.

It was clear on how they stood that they were about to attempt fighting the monstrosity.

“Hey! What are you doing? Run!” I shouted.

Lavinia’s familiars rushed in towards the worm while their master stayed behind. The worm attacked at the Lizardkin’s location. The lizard hurriedly rolled forward to evade the monster. As the worm’s head touched the surface, it continued to submerge down the ground.

The Dogkin took the opportunity to attack the visible body of the worm as it travelled from hole to hole. He chopped with his broadsword but the thick skin of the monster just deflected his attack.

The shaking of the earth began again. I tried to maintain my balance by holding on a nearby tree. With the monster completely submerged, it could easily attack out of nowhere. The tremors were strong but the shaking was unusually more intense in the area near Lavinia.

“Get away!”

I ran as fast as I could to her location. Considering my distance from her, it was obvious that I would not make it in time.

“Mister Dog! Get your master away from there!” I shouted.

Despite the noise due to the monster’s movements underground, the Dogkin was able to hear me. He dropped his sword and rushed towards Lavinia. He then lifter her and leaped away. They were able to get out of the area just in the nick of time before the monster rose from below.

“Are you alright?” I asked as soon as we met up with them.

“Do I look like I’m fine?” the noble who was covered in dirt replied.

“If you can talk, then let’s get out of here now!”

“That’s preposterous! If I am able to defeat that then I’m sure I’ll be promoted to at least C rank in an instant!”

“No promotion will happen if you get killed!”

“I agree, my lady. I see no light at the end of this path,” said the Lizardkin who just arrived.

“If I say we fight, then we’ll fight! This is a command!”

The stubborn lass shouted then the seal of her two familiars glowed, forcing them to do her bidding. The familiars rushed again towards the worm. The beast ignored the two and decided to attack us instead.

I carried Lavinia against her will then ran to avoid the attack. The impact of the monster to the ground got to me, making me lose my balance as I ran. I fell to the ground and so did the girl I was carrying. I looked back to see if Ovis was still with me and I was glad that she was.

“I’ll make you pay!” Lavinia tried to remove the dirt off her robes as she stood.

She closed her eyes then a bright red glow surrounded her. It was followed by the appearance of glitter like cinders that floated in the air. By how I saw it, she was preparing to cast a powerful fire spell, an even greater attack than the one she used against me.

           “What are you doing? We are in a forest! You’ll burn the whole place down!” I voiced out my disagreement.

            “I don’t care! If I can slay that monster then any damage done will be well compensated.” She replied without losing the red glow around her.

            “Dammit, you leave me no choice.”

            I signalled Ovis who was behind her. Even though she was unsure, Ovis used her shield to knock Lavinia out. As soon as she was unconscious, the effect of the command via the Tamer’s Seal of the Dogkin and the Lizardkin disappeared.

            “Let’s get out of here, now!”

            I carried Lavinia in my arms as I struggled to run despite the shaking ground. Thick dust covered the surroundings so I did not really know where I was heading. The only thing I knew was that retreat was the only way to stay alive.

            The Dogkin, Lizardkin and Ovis caught up to me and we were running away together. The Dogkin noticed my struggle with carrying the girl so he took her from me. The worm submerged to the ground again. With it being out of sight, the fear and anxiety I was feeling grew even further.

            The tremors were still present so the monster should still be nearby. My heart was pounding. I looked at the ground and my path alternately, trying to predict where it would rise while I ran as fast as I could to get out of the place.

            “Stop!” The Dogkin warned.

            We did as he said and halted on our tracks abruptly. The worm suddenly arose from right in front of us. If the Dogkin hadn’t told us to stop, it would have swallowed us whole.

            “Wh-what should we d-do, master?” Ovis asked.

            “Just ignore it and ran pass it!” I commanded.

            The worm attacked again with the Dogkin who was carrying Lavinia as the target. It used its head to slam against them but the Dogkin was able to avoid it by jumping high. All of us were able to pass through it yet it came at us again with its whole body.

            We dispersed to avoid it then regrouped as we fled. The worm transferred towards another hole again until not a single part of its body could be seen on the surface.

            I was running out of breath and so did the familiars. We used all our energy in running and did not even spare a moment to talk to one another or rather, we were not able to. I did not know how many trees we passed while we escaped but it felt like we were running for an eternity.

            As soon as the tremors were gone, I quickly stopped and sat to the ground. I was not able to breathe. I opened my mouth widely while looking up at the sky as I tried to recover. I wanted to ask everyone if they were alright but I was out of air to use for talking.

            All of us remained speechless for a few minutes before the fatigue that we felt turned into relief.

            “T-that… w-was scary…” Ovis said while looking back to where we came from.

            “A big thanks to you lad! Without you we’ll be worm feed by now!” said the Dogkin.

            “Yes indeed, I give you my thanks,” the Lizardkin added.

            “I am now, but I’m sure I’ll be dead meat after your master wakes up.”

            “Don’t worry about it, lad! We’ll just say that a huge rock hit her head!” The Dogkin laughed.

            “How about you guys? Won’t you get punished for running away?” I asked.

            “No punishment is greater than being robbed off to the right to live,” the Lizardkin replied.

            “I guess we should go ahead then. It would be bad if I’m still here when your master gets up.”

            “See you then later, lad! Thanks again for the help!” The Dogkin waved us goodbye.

            Ovis and I left the three then went straight to the city. We were supposed to deliver some fruits but we left them on the location of the attack. Coming back for it seemed dangerous, but the truth was that I was just afraid to do so. The monster might still be in the area. I knew that another encounter with it might warrant me my death.

            I decided to go back to the guild instead to report the incident. I entered the establishment and everybody who was inside stared at me. I could not blame them though because of how sorry I looked. My pants were full of dirt and my shirt was soaking wet from the sweat.

            “Mest? Are you alright?” Miss Mathi worriedly approached.

            I told her about what happened. About the worm that attacked, how big it was, Lavinia being involved, and the failure of the quest. The others on the hall also listened to my story with doubtful looks. They had the nerve to be skeptical despite merely eavesdropping.

            “Failure of a quest has a respective penalty,” said Miss Mathi after listening to my story.

            “I see.”

            “But there won’t be any if your side of the story is true.”

            “Really?”

            “If a monster of that level did appear, the failure of the quest was not your fault. The guild will investigate this case and I’ll inform you once we come with a conclusion.”

            Another tamer went closer to me and put his arm on my shoulder. It was a light haired guy with a stylish get up. He had variety of accessories equipped.

            “Hey Mest guy! Are you sure you are not making things up?”

            “Why would I do that?”

            “I bet you are just taking advantage of the earthquake that occurred just now! Maybe you are just so afraid of failing a quest since you are but still an F rank!”

            Everybody except me, Miss Mathi, and Ovis laughed at the guy’s remarks.

            “That’s exactly why I wouldn’t make things up since I still do not have much to lose as a tamer.”

            The guy was surprised by my reply.

            “I think it is you who is taking advantage of the situation to have someone to make fun of.” I added.

            Everybody went silent after hearing my words. I did not have anything to gain yet so much to lose if the story I just said was all made up. I just could not believe how shallow minded other people could become.

            “Tch!”

            The haughty guy removed his arm from me and walked away. Since I spoiled all their fun, the other spectators did the same.

            “I’m sorry about that. It is just that an incident like this rarely happens. That is why others find it hard to believe,” Miss Mathi remained beside me.

            “That’s alright. I’ll find it hard to believe as well if I heard it from someone else.” I smiled.

            But the truth was that I really wanted to cut that irritating guy into shreds. Acting all chummy while hurling insults close to my face really made my blood boil. I wished that a time would come that I could really beat the blood out of him and make him bow down to me in shame.

            “Mest?” Miss Mathi tilted her head. 

“Oh sorry, maybe I’m just tired.” I gave out an awkward laugh.

“Then please do rest and just come back tomorrow so we can further discuss the matter.”

“Got it, thanks a lot.”

I got out of the guild and made my way home with Ovis.

I really wanted to sleep but at the same time, I thought that it would be difficult to sleep comfortably after the incident. The duel with Lavinia proved that Ovis and I were still weak. Yet the encounter with the worm showed me that we were utterly hopeless.

Fleeing at the face of the enemy did not feel very great. Dying there would not be any better though.