RUMBLE!
The sound came from every direction.
It was easy to pick up even through the layers of rock it had to travel through to reach Damien in the first place. There were at least several thousand birds charging through the narrow tunnels, and from the chaos in the sound, it was clear they weren't opposed to making new paths of their own!
The question surfaced once again.
Were they to fight, or to run?
Having to continuously ponder escape was extremely annoying. The fact that it was impossible to be at least near the top of the food chain in this environment was not something Damien could accept!
It had been a very long time since he felt this way. Even when he was weak, he was always above his peers, and his interactions with those who could step all over him were not prominent.
Now, he was experiencing what it was like to be "normal."
He wasn't at the bottom of the pack, but there were too many restrictions he was forced to endure because of his lacking strength, and there were too many external factors that could lead him to inevitable death.
Damien's long-standing wish was to be unrestrained. At his core, this was his main reason for getting stronger.
This was the reason why.
This was the life he'd always worked to avoid, a life of mediocrity.
Even if it was temporary, the feeling of weakness that Damien abhorred to the very depths of his soul was something he would never forget.
It was the same feeling from back then.
Back when–
He gritted his teeth and threw away the thought.
None of this mattered, because without killing the Jade Heart Worm, they no longer had an escape route!
Damien jumped back and slammed his hand forward, using Vector Control to halt the creature's movements.
Ruyue went on offense while he focused on control, a battle strategy that would produce the best results in the current situation.
The only problem was getting the Fallen Heart Jade out of the poison lake that had formed in the worm's mouth.
Damien gritted his teeth. The rumbling underground was only getting louder. At this rate, the Messenger Birds would be upon them within the minute.
'There's no choice.' he realized, clicking his tongue.
"Ruyue, fall back and keep its mouth open. We're going to have to sacrifice a bit."
He rushed past her and raised his foot in the air, slamming it down on the bottom of the worm's mouth and pinning it to the ground.
Voom!
Mana spread in every direction and formed a sphere of spatial influence around the front of the worm's head. Damien used this bubble to take away its ability to control its mouth and reached his arms out to grab onto the massive chunk of jade, only half visible within the poison lake.
KIIIIIIiK!
It screeched, sending air through its throat. The poison lake burst open, splashing on Damien's body.
"Khhh!" He hissed in pain as his skin began to melt, but he didn't lose his grip on the jade.
From a few meters away, Ruyue slashed her arm, using the pure mana of yin to attack.
'Contain.'
Her mana pushed through Damien's space bubble without resistance and attached to all parts of the worm's mouth.
Freezing air filled the space, withering the worm's muscles.
In the next moment, several tens of icicles spawned, impaling the worm's mouth to the walls and roof of the cave.
Damien's eyes hardened.
Now was the time!
He pushed Vector Control and essentially fused himself with the jade, making his grip impervious. His muscles bulged and veins surfaced on his skin as he drew out every ounce of his physical strength.
Poison splashed around, unfrozen by Ruyue's attempts, and wrapped around Damien's hands and arms, melting his skin and muscles and causing him to experience extreme pain.
But compared to some of the torture he'd experienced, this was nothing!
Haaaaah!
He let out a fierce war cry and tore the stone free, closing his mouth rapidly as the worm's green blood spurted onto his body.
Hel appeared in reality.
Bang!
A clean shot straight into the worm's throat. It was fired as Damien jumped back and made distance.
The hard part was over now.
Because the defensive power of these worms, no matter how big or strong they were, was always weak!
Such was the consequence of evolving while relying on the regeneration of Fallen Heart Jade.
Damien and Ruyue didn't need to exchange a single word to understand each other's intentions.
They worked in perfect tandem, restricting the worm's movements and swiftly killing it while it was defenseless.
Damien split its corpse without hesitation, and without paying any mind to the treasures that could be within, they ran!
They were only a few tens of meters away from their hole, and once they reached it, they jumped, flying up to the surface at their fastest speed!
SKREEEEEE!
BOOOOOOM!
The Messenger Birds broke through the tunnel, following the scent of their prey and slamming their way up the path in chase!
"This is good for us. They have no movement room while we can run whenever we need to. Prepare to kill as many as possible without attracting attention, but as soon as we hear anything from outside, we go."
Ruyue nodded in agreement. Rather than being attacked from both sides when they left, it was better to take care of the smaller threat!
With the enclosed space of the sinkhole, the situation became less like the endless pursuit they faced on the first night and more like their journey through Ghost King's Valley.
Damien used Freya and Hel in conjunction, wincing every time he pulled the trigger, but using as much mana as he could.
In this case, using Devour to recharge was too flashy. He also had to resort to elixirs, which meant he had to be conscious of how much those elixirs could fill him!
There were indeed thousands of Messenger Birds charging at them, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the swarm they faced before!
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
XIU! XIU! XIU! XIU!
Damien and Ruyue supercharged their mana, attacking relentlessly. Groups of tens and hundreds of bids fell to the bottom of the hole, their blood painting rivers in the underground tunnel.
It was taxing, but it wasn't nearly the worst it could've been.
A minute passed under siege.
But a minute was all it took.
The extremely loud nature of their race combined with their ungodly ability to know when their kin were dying made it impossible to commit this massacre quietly.
SKREEEEEEE!
SKREEEEEEE!
SKREEEEEEE!
Their screeches echoed from over ten kilometers away, yet they were already ear-piercing.
Ruyue glanced at Damien, who swiftly nodded.
They didn't kill them all, but they'd lowered the number to just a few hundred. It was more than enough.
Ruyue took Damien's hand and his mana covered their bodies. In the next second, they vanished, reappearing in the rainforest a kilometer or so away.
Now came the hardest part.
A continuation of last night's chase, except this time, there were only two of them, and…
SKREEEEEEEEEEE!
…the Messenger Birds were far, far more furious!
