Nalira sat in her chair, repeatedly tapping her foot as she waited for a signal from Shaan. But strangely, she didn't see anything at all. She then asked Chelsie, who just stood near the window. "
"Any sign from Shaan?"
Chelsie shook her head. "No, no. I don't see anything around here at all," she cast her eyes around. "Is it possible that there's something-"
Suddenly, their train started to move, and oddly enough, it was no longer facing the large boulder that had blocked their path. Good — it seemed that Shaan had successfully pulled the lever, allowing their train to connect to the side track.
"Looks like Shaan did his job well," Nalira nodded.
"Uhm… yeah, but I can't see Shaan at all." Chelsie's expression began to shift with worry. "Could something bad happen to him?"
"...."
"Lira, what do you think?"
"Elsie, don't let your mind wander to strange things," Nalira said as she walked toward the locomotive room. "Right now, we need to start this train."
"Uhm… alright."
But just as they were heading toward the locomotive area, a strange tremor began to grow stronger, drawing nearer. Chelsie quickly turned to look out the window, and her face immediately paled.
"Elsie, what is it?"
"Oh, no... this... this can't be." Chelsie pointed her finger forward. "There's something big moving towards us, Lira."
Hearing Chelsie's words, Nalira immediately ran towards it and saw that what Chelsie said was true. The pebbles that were a few meters in front of them suddenly moved, and they could see a strange, pitch-black mound moving quickly towards them.
"Oh my, W-what is that?" Chelsie's body began to tremble. "Is it some kind of snake or something?"
"I don't know, but right now we need to stop this thing's movement before it destroys this carriage." Nalira took out her sword, preparing to launch an attack at the creature. "Elsie, stay inside the carriage. Okay?"
"I-I. I understand."
"I'll kill this thing before it reaches the train."
***
[Hey, Shaan. Calm down, buddy.] Robin Hood patted Shaan's shoulder. [You managed to kill that thing, so why does your face still look so tense?]
"No. I didn't kill it at all," Shaan said, walking with hurried steps. "Hurry up, we have to catch up with that thing before it makes it to the train."
[Huh? Wait, but didn't your slash kill that thing?] Robin Hood furrowed his brow. [I saw your attack successfully strike the creature.]
"That's true. But unfortunately, my slash only managed to wound it — and right after that, I saw it dart toward the train."
[Good grief, I didn't know about that at all.]
"Enough talking, now it's time for us to catch up to that thing before..."
Shaan froze as he saw that Nalira seemed to be fighting the creature. But thanks to the oil smeared across its body, the creature's true form had finally become visible: it looked like a worm, easily twice Shaan's size. The most horrifying part? The two massive pincers that had nearly torn Shaan in half were part of the monster's gaping maw.
[Shaan, we have to help Nalira — she's going to need us.]
"Yes, I agree."
Shaan rushed forward and launched an attack from behind the monstrous creature. But the creature's body was covered with a thick surface of skin, so Shaan's attack was completely unable to immobilize the giant worm.
"Argh, damn it!" Shaan growled in frustration. "My strike didn't even scratch it."
"This thing is quite strong, Shaan. We have to be careful against it." Nalira wiped the blood from her lips. "Be careful, it's hiding and it's still around."
[Actually, there is one way to defeat this kind of creature.]
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Shann furrowed his brow.
[Most worm-like creatures of darkness are weak to fire.] Robin Hood gave a brief explanation. [If we can use fire, it should be easy to defeat them.]
"Perfect," Nalira said as she cast fire into her hand. "In that case… I should be able to kill it easily. But… I need a bit of time to cast it."
"Wait, wait a minute." Shaan directed his sharp gaze at Robin Hood. "Damn, why didn't you tell me about this creature's weaknesses before."
[Whoa, easy there, buddy. Let me explain,] Robin Hood replied. [Earlier, I couldn't even tell what kind of creature it was — so I had no idea what we were dealing with.]
'Yeah, I can't blame Robin Hood entirely either. His words do make sense.'
"Alright, rather than discussing that. It's time to defeat that thing right now."
The giant worm once again revealed its body, and this time prepared to attack them. Shaan quickly darted towards the giant worm, throwing his best attack to make the creature start to hurt.
"Robin Hood, now use your arrows to momentarily stop the creature's movement before Nalira will finally use her fire spell."
[I understand]
Robin Hood immediately shot a few arrows, and this time managed to hit the giant worm's body. Within seconds, the creature's body lay on the ground, paralyzed.
"Nalira, now!"
Nalira instantly blasted out her fire and managed to burn the worm's body. The flames quickly crept over the entire surface of the large worm's body that had been covered in liquid oil, and it only took a few seconds for the flames to devour the creature's body. Seeing that the creature was dying, Shaan immediately launched his attack and managed to slash through the creature's body with ease.
[You got the kill, Big Wyrmmaw]
[You get Dark crystal shard x6]
[Robin Hood trusts you more, your bond increases by +5]
"Wow, it's a good thing we managed to kill it." Shaan sighed. "Very good work, Nali-"
Nalira wordlessly walked back to the train. Realizing this, Shaan could only remain silent. Damn. She seemed to be a very mysterious person, and it seemed that she was not too happy with what Shaan was doing.
'Women... I don't understand her way of thinking at all,' Shaan said as he shook his head. 'Never mind, instead of discussing that. I'd better get back on the train as soon as possible.'
Just a few minutes later, Shaan finally made it back. He climbed the steps slowly, and as soon as he stepped inside, Chelsie rushed over with a panicked look on her face and hugged him tightly.
"Oh my, thankfully, you're okay." Chelsie expressed in a frantic voice. "We were both worried because you didn't give any signals like you said you would."
'Nalira is worried? Sounds quite strange to me.'
"Oh, yes, about that. There was a horrible creature that suddenly appeared and almost killed me," Shaan explained. "However, with the help of Robin Hood and Nalira, at least that thing is dead now."
"That's good. That's good to hear." Chelsie smiled
"So, where's Nalira?"
Chelsie pointed her index finger forward. "She just went into the locomotive room and got ready to run this train," she said, and sat down on one of the chairs there. "Sit down, Shaan. The train will be running soon."