Earth wyrms were considered grade 4 crexes and were said to be a lesser resemblance to the mythical Dagans. The crex slowly opened its eyes as the twilight slid onto its skin. Its serpentine body was covered in topaz scales, while its underbelly and some parts of its face were covered in pitch-black ones, emanating black smoke.

Six menacing eyes were now locked onto Adrian as the wyrm slithered around hovering its head above him. Baring its fangs as it opened its jaws, the inside of which revealed multiple rows of teeth lining both the jaws.

The wyrm let out a shriek and immediately dove head-first into Adrian, who managed to block it with the blade pressed against the beast's head. Still, the force was too great for Adrian to handle and he was thrown into the chasm walls by the attack, hitting the rocky surface with a solid thud.

  As he stumbled to get up the wyrm rushed straight toward him again with a speed that seemed impossible for a beast with no legs, Adrian tried to block it again but the beast caught the blade in its mouth and dragged Adrian along with it through the ground, the rough ground scraped against his back, tearing through the clothing as it bruised his skin red before the beast finally lifted him and jerked its head throwing Adrian off, causing him to slam against the walls once more, with Adrian now left trembling and bleeding.

“KID JUST RUN, I WILL HANDLE IT, YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING JUST RUN, GO NOW!” Aero screamed as he held one of the panther crexes by the neck while kicking the second one away.

‘Run………..., I need to run, run’ Adrian thought to himself. As he tried to stumble his way towards the ladder, the wyrm, noticing movement from its prey, slithered rapidly toward him again.

‘I can't do anything against something like this, I need to run’ he thought as the wyrm once again dived at him. This time Adrian managed to barely avoid it. But instead of running in the other direction to put distance between them as he knew it was now useless against a grade 4, he grabbed hold of one of the wyrm’s scales near its neck, hanging on to it with his dear life while being dragged around the beast.

‘I can't do anything, I just…..need to survive, till Aero gets here.’ he said to himself while gasping and struggling to hold on to the wyrm. The wyrm tried desperately to get rid of the pest at its neck, thrashing around to shake Adrian off who held on firmly. Adrian, who was starting to lose this grip, took the blade and dug it into the black underbelly of the beast, forcing a shriek out of the wyrm. 

Feeling the weakness spread across his body, Adrian remembered what Aero had told him, trying again to draw mana from the sword to fuel himself. ‘I need……..more power’ Adrian thought to himself, pulling desperately on the mana. Suddenly, he felt a response as the mana finally started flowing rapidly from the sword into him, he felt a wave of relief wash over him as he started to draw in as much of that feeling as he could.

  Adrian kept siphoning mana off of the sword as the beast kept rampaging around the chasm slamming into walls and desperately trying to throw Adrian off, the mana helped him to stay strongly clung to the beast’s side but it wasn’t enough, he needed more of it, and fast.

Using the tugging sensation he had felt while trying to draw mana from the sword as a guide, Adrian tried pulling on the ambient mana around him to directly fuel his body. The surrounding mana felt more rigid than the mana in the sword as he tried to pull it into his body, the mana failed to react as the beast slammed both of them into a wall again. Adrian readjusted his grip on the sword and the scales and he tried pulling on the mana once more, this time using the mana already circulating within him as an anchor point.

The mana responded, rushing into his body and breaking through the rigid barrier. But this time, it was not the feeling of relief that washed over him…….but something else. Adrian felt the same suffocating animosity he had felt while facing the mob surrounding the guild earlier, but this time he wasn’t frustrated.

No, this feeling was much more liberating, it was as if the weakness that had made him feel pathetic was now gone. It was as if he had suddenly found the power he needed, and with it came the confidence he so desperately desired.

Just then Adrian was pulled out of his thoughts as the wyrm let out an ear-piercing shriek, as Adrian looked at it he noticed that the wound where his sword had dug in had torn open even more. But what was more alarming was how erratic the beast had gotten, the beast was now just rampaging around as it slammed itself into the walls multiple times. Adrian focused on reaffirming his grip on the beast again as he noticed wispy black smoke clinging to his hands.

Putting away everything else going on in his mind, he focused back on the feeling of drawing in mana, as he didn’t know how much longer he could hold on. Pulling as hard as he could on the mana around him, he felt the familiar sensation of mana rushing back in as he noticed something peculiar happened.

The wispy back smoke on his hands came alive as it grew denser. The smoke started spreading as it slowly crawled up covering his arms in deep black. The feeling of liberation and power grew with each second within him.

Just then with a strong swing of its neck, the beast managed to jerk him off, sending Adrian flying onto one of the iron gates lining the walls. Adrian came crashing down as he felt his whole body convulse from the pain of the impact. Coughing up blood, he looked down to see he had ripped out his sword and a piece of the wyrm’s scale along with him.

Adrian, shocked from the impact, coughed up more blood now lying there unable to move. ‘I need to run, I need to survive……….it's….all ..useless…. I… I… it's…all worthless.’

‘I…..need more…..power’

With that, an enormous ripple of mana was set off.

Aero who had held one of the panthers down was left stunned, and the panthers, who were relentlessly attacking, had now stopped in their tracks.

Down in the chasm, the wyrm slithered away to put some space between itself and Adrian, as it hissed in a low baritone while baring its teeth at him.

“It is…..all worthless" were the only words heard in the chaotic training grounds that now stood completely still.

“That mana…..no,” Aero said out loud as he crushed one of the panther’s necks, and turned around to grab hold of the second one’s leg, ripping it off in one smooth movement, inciting a pained cry from the beast. Throwing the severed leg aside, Aero rushed towards Adrian while repeating only one thing. “No no no no no, not this”.

Adrian was now standing there silently, the wyrm hissing and staring right at him, as slowly lifted his face.

“I……will survive,” he said, spitting out blood, with his eyes now fully red, glowing with the same colour of blood that was covering him and his wounds.

The wyrm immediately turned aggressive once more and headed straight towards Adrian with its jaws wide open.

Adrian, unaffected by the charge, took his stance holding his sword tightly, the blade now beginning to get covered in pitch black aura, creating a shrill sound as if the steel was screaming itself from all the mana being poured into it.

The wyrm lunged at Adrian, ready to swallow him in a straight swift movement. Adrian however, dodged and swung his sword straight into the beast’s mouth, locking it in its jaw.

Letting out a howl, Adrian dragged the shrieking blade straight across the beast’s jaw, ripping it open from its mouth to stomach in a single stroke.

The wyrm was dead.

Adrian now stood there, gasping, shivering, unable to move, his wounds still bleeding as he fell to his knees.

“KID!!” Aero shouted as he jumped straight down the chasm, rushing towards Adrian, past the mutilated wyrm corpse. The training grounds were now completely silent except for the flickering of the mana-powered fire torches around them, giving light to the place in the silent night.

“I….will survive……..” with these words, Adrian fainted.