"So where is the treasure?" Aldred asked.
"It's in my heart."
"I have no time for riddles, Avre. Just tell me where it is."
Avre stabbed her own chest, and with a disgusting sound pulled a shining smoke pipe. "This is the treasure you need."
"… So it's literally in your heart."
"I always keep my prized treasure whenever I go."
"Okay… here is the golden emblem."
Avre received the emblem. "Be sure to return me my treasure."
"Okay, I will."
Avre vanished into thin air.
"So are we going to look for the worm now?" Sophia asked.
"Yep."
Then they traveled to the tree trunk once again. It took them a few weeks, and when they arrived, they flew up again with the dragons, trying lure the the World Tree Worm.
"Hmmmm, we have been looking for a few days now, but there are no signs of worms. Do you think Herakas has killed them all?" Sophia asked.
"That can be the case," Aldred replied.
His wives looked around in boredom. They had everything here: food, warmth, and water. But since their life were full of danger, the lack of action let boredom grew.
Eventually they tried to play some games like chess to chase the boredom away.
They also chatted and joked around.
"Remember the first time Aldred become a soldier?" Mary asked. "He could barely use his power. And when someone charged at him, he froze."
Mareona laughed. "Yep! Yep! I remember the stupid look on his face when I saved him. He was kinda cute though. Now he never return to his children form."
"I am already comfortable in this form," Aldred said.
"Try to turn to your children form."
"No." Aldred shook his head.
"Come on, just once," Mareona said.
"I don't want to."
"Just do it."
"Uhhh, fine." Aldred transformed into his children form which looked so young and cute. He was technically 12 years old in this body.
"Owhh!!!" His wives began to surround him.
"Look at you. You are so cute." Ivette pinched his cheeks.
The others also began to do the same thing. And then they kissed him and hugged him like they couldn't help themselves.
Meanwhile Aldred was being pulled around, squeezed, pinched, and kisses all over his face. It was so suffocating he felt like he could die.
20 minutes later, they finally let him go. Aldred breathed heavily, chest up and down as he tried to calm his heart.
"You guys almost kill me."
His wives laughed due to how cute he was.
They looked around for a few days more, and eventually a worm came out.
"There it is. Let's do this." Aldred sucked the pipe and blew the smoke towards the others, making them invisible. But they could still see each other.
They then approached the worm which was confused as to why the humans nearby disappeared so suddenly.
It looked around for a second before it returned to its hole.
They were completely entering a whole new world when they entered inside the tree trunk. It was a weird thing. There was no cities, mountains, plains, hills, and other things that you might normally see, but there were other creatures that looked bacteria, viruses, worms, and whatnot.
It felt like he was being downsized to microscopic scale, so everything became bigger.
Luckily, the worm kept going up which was where they wanted to go.
Aldred looked at his wives which were smiling as they marveled at the scene. He smiled as well. Part of adventure was seeing new things they had never seen before, and experienced things they had never experienced before.
He was glad that he could give his wives a wonderful journey.
Suddenly, he saw other people riding other worms too. But instead of being invisible like him, they were actually inside the stomach of the worm.
Aldred knew this because he had activated his godly eyes. As he looked around, he realized that a lot of people used this method.
Some people managed to stick themselves to the worm's skin. They were terribly wounded though. A few even died from bleeding out, but their bodies still hanged onto the worm's skin.
Aldred looked to the left and saw some robots grabbing onto the worm using suction-cup-like technology.
'Nothing is going to stop these adventurers,' Aldred thought to himself.
He had seen the challenges from the very beginning. It was hard, tough, and seemed so impossible that it felt like only gods could pass the challenge. And yet, all these treasure hunters kept going. They kept coming.
Aldred had passed every single test with hardship. He knew his power was better than most people, yet even he needed to struggle.
These other people were mortals. They did not have the blessing of gods like him. They did not have supremely powerful parents either.
And yet they managed to come here. Clawing their way. Watching their friends died left and right.
What made the treasure so valuable? Was it just power? Just to have the chance to reach Adamantite Rank?
And.
Will it be worth it?
The only way to know for sure, is to go up there.
Aldred looked up. "Just a little bit more."
Suddenly, the whole world seemed to shake. Aldred looked to the side and saw Thinker, riding atop a worm with his army of robots.
To the other side, he saw another worm with lots of Ceraisian soldiers.
"Not this again."
Both sides from left and right attacked Aldred.
"Shield!" Bartrem shouted.
The soldiers blocked the attack, and even counter-attacked.
They fought intensely for hours but the worms did not seem to be bothered. After all, they were creatures at the Adamantite Rank.
Aldred only hoped that the worm kept going up and not get distracted by their fight.
Suddenly, the worm shook and Aldred felt like it was about to change direction because of their fight.
"Fuck. I don't want any delay anymore!" Aldred leaped off the worm. His Phantom Blade came ablaze as he slashed left and right.
Thinker charged at him.
"You damn piece of can! I am stronger than before!"
A vortex of flame shot out from the Phantom Doomblade and engulfed everything in its path.
When the flame dissipated, Thinker appeared in a badly damaged state. Electricity crackled all over his body.
"This time, You won't be able to recover." Aldred slashed, cutting the robot in half.
Thinker's eyes flickered before it died completely. Aldred watched it fell from the worm.
He sighed at finally getting rid of that thing.
Stella frowned and stared at the enemies before her. Pointing with her staff, she channeled her energy, and chanted: "Star Beam!"
A thick star particles came out from her staff like a beam that vaporized the enemy.
"Why didn't you use that sooner?" Mareona asked.
"I have to make them tired first."
Aldred jumped back to his worm. "Is everybody safe?"
They all nodded.
"Alright, let us keep going." Aldred looked. Thankfully, the worm did not change its course and kept going up.
The other adventurers that watched their battle earlier prayed that they did not have to fight. Nobody wanted to fight since their destination was so near.
"What is the treasure? What does it look like? I want to see it." Aldred's eyes lit up.
