The cage of tentacles closed around them and Faust was forced to jump out. The Kobold Chief tried to escape, but it was too late. Faust used three skills at once.

Flowing Viper.

Rage Strike.

Dark Maw.

They all activated with an explosion of warm magical energy, flooding the entire tunnel with black and white light. He reared his cutlass back and the air hummed in his ears.

Both the wyrm and chief raised their heads with fear in their bodies. The kobold barked more orders. The monster pulled its master towards it. Its mouth opened to use that mind-bending roar once more.

Shadow of the Mind!

Falling mid-air, he turned to slash at the Origin Wyrm, hoping only its master would die.

BOOM!

The air was separated by the slash. Waves of wind scattered as the surging black and white energy came down on the wyrm. Out of the shades of white and black, a Jackal and viper appeared intertwined.

BOOOOOMMM!

The blow landed, flooding the tunnel with dust. The world was shaking. The moment he hit the ground he shot at the Gate Generator and took out the Gap Generator.

I have to ask the maker why the names are so similar. Keane was his name, I think.

He twisted the black sphere and dropped it on the ground. It let out a popping sound and Faust almost jumped out of his shoes. But it was just priming; he still had two minutes.

The Sphere popped open, releasing steam. Within it a black, liquid mass writhed, floating between the two halves of the sphere.

Faust hissed, averting his eyes. "Why is everything attacking my brain recently?!"

But it wasn’t a magical attack per say. It was more like looking at the liquid mass forced his mind to try and comprehend it. And his mind didn’t like that. He hissed again. Even remembering it hurt!

He forced his attention towards the two monsters.

The air was filled with smoke, dust and the smell of blood. The Origin Wyrm had been torn in half by the strike. It regenerated from its wounds despite that. Its blood pooled beneath it, a grey mass with the occasional colors of blue, green and orange.

What the actual hell is this thing?

Beside it, crawling against the floor futilely, was the heavily injured Kobold Chief. Its fur was sheared away and blackened. Smoke rose from the massive injury on its back. Dark red blood poured from it, mixing with its pet’s blood.

Faust approached it casually. The beast looked up, summoning a snarl. But Faust could taste the fear in its eyes.

"Like I said," Faust recited. "You’re the weak link here."

THUD!

He drove his dagger into its skull unceremoniously and ripped it out. He turned to the harder to kill Origin Wyrm and walked towards it. Thankfully the beast was hard to kill.

Curiously, he grabbed some pieces of the Origin Wyrm and stuffed them into his Spatial Bag. He summoned his panel and checked if one of his Schemas were still active.

[Schema: Pet owner]

[Rank: Bronze]

[Details: Bind a monster or creature of lower intelligence to yourself to gain an Attribute boost while it lives.]

[Schema Abilities: Symbiosis]

He hadn’t tried the ability before because the wyrm was controlled by the Kobold Chief, but now...

The Origin Wyrm wasn’t halfway done healing, but it lazily raised its head and looked around. It moved like it was confused. As though it had just woken up from a long sleep.

[Origin Wyrm (Free)]

[Level: ???]

[Combat Power: ???]

[Details: Error! Error! Error!]

[.... Run....] 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Faust turned from the system screen to face the monster. It turned to him slowly. Energy poured from its body like a tidal wave. It washed away Faust’s mana, like waves eroding a shore. Then at his soul.

The monster’s fleshy appearance hardened, turning crystalline. Horror unlike anything Faust had ever felt filled his body when he looked at this thing. Its luminescent blood turned misty and effervescent, swirling around the unholy creature.

Something about the shape of its body was impossible. The dimensions intersected, twisted and made no sense. It hurt. His eyes felt like they would pop. His skull felt like rods of white-hot steel were being driven into it.

He felt madness lick at the edges of his sanity. The Origin wyrm didn’t need to roar. It was free from the shackles placed on it when the system ripped it from the dark and forced it to bond with that lowly kobold.

How did Faust know all this?

He didn’t want to find out.

He instantly triggered the anchor mark that the Spatial Schema user, Klein, set on his shoulder. His body jerked sideways. The world blurred but he saw himself fly towards the wall. He closed his eyes, but felt when he phased through stone.

Klein’s ability wasn’t straight forward teleportation, but it was damn good. Faust could say how happy he was to escape the Origin Wyrm.

He swam through the stone until he landed at the extraction point. The gate glowed behind him. He could no longer smell the blood, instead the frigid air filled his lungs as he gasped.

Other people phased from the roof and slammed into him. Everyone came as soon as they felt Faust’s mark trigger.

"I felt something—" Nirvana said immediately with a horrified expression.

Faust grabbed her and shouted. "JUST RUN!"

They all jumped through the colourful crack in reality.

In the tunnel left behind, something slithered across the wall. It was crystal, bending in incomprehensible shapes, shining with colors humans had no words to describe.

Before it could reach the shield, the Gap generator went off. The gate shattered like rainbow-coloured glass.

Everything in half a kilometer was consumed by blinding white light.

***

A/N: Sorry about the lack of uploads. Been a bit busy. But I’ll be more free by the 12th, so expect more chs and mass release for the Reviews goals.

How did you enjoy this ch? What do you think Origin Wyrms truly are?