Everybody was in position when the goblins emerged from the tunnel. There looked to be over twenty of them. They instantly went to attack.

  They had clearly taken various swords and weapons from the village. Most of them went for Asmodeus and Chloe. Asmodeus blocked their attacks with ease using his shield and simply sliced through them. It was rare that I saw Chloe fighting with her short sword instead of her great sword. Every time she does it, I am surprised at how nimble and precise she is. Not that she wasn’t skilled with the great sword, she simply moved differently with it. She never used a shield but was so much more manoeuvrable, so she didn’t need one. She moved between their slashes and sliced the goblins open with a wonderous precision.

  Agaroth was holding his own pretty well. We don’t like to get him to cast unnecessary spells and save his mana for emergencies. So, he just smashed his way through any goblins that came his way. One did slip round his side and almost got a dagger in his shoulder but Feiffer jumped at the goblins throat and ripped it out.

  Tilda was zipping from one goblin to another with a flurry of punches and kicks. We heard Kiyui whisper “fists of flame” and suddenly Tilda’s fists were aflame, but she was not being burned. She looked bewildered for a second before continuing to attack the goblins that came her way. Every time she punched flames shot forwards and out of her fists giving them increased power and burning the goblins quite severely.

  Suddenly, another group of goblins emerged from the tunnel on the right. They did not go to assist the other goblins, but instead headed towards Kiyui and the exit. Phoenix used an explosive fireball spell which blew most of them up straight away. I picked off two of the survivors with my arrows.

  One goblin made it to Kiyui. He looked nervous… but to be fair to him, he defended himself well. He slammed the goblin in the crotch with his quarter staff before swiping its legs out from under it and smashing it’s face in with his staff. He may be a bit of a wet blanket, but he can actually defend himself.

  All of the goblins that had entered the cavern were now dead. I looked down at the goblins that had been hit by Phoenix’s fireball. That was when I realised that something was seriously wrong.

  Chloe said “Is that it? I thought there’d be more.” Tilda suggested that maybe the nest was new. I said “I’m afraid this nest isn’t new. The goblins that Phoenix hit were carrying children. The Rakk may be insanely violent but even they hide their children during a nest invasion. They were running from something… we’ve interrupted an evacuation.”

  Agaroth was bewildered by the idea that goblins would evacuate and said “The fuck would make these pricks evacuate?” The entire cavern began to shake. Phoenix said “Something much worse than them.” Asmodeus cast his reinforcement spell on his shield and said “Hold your positions and be on your guard. Whatever this vile creature is, it shall not overcome us this day.”

  Out of the large tunnel in the floor emerged what appeared to be a giant tube of rocks. It slumped onto the floor and proceeded to open its mouth. It was just rows upon rows of razor-sharp teeth. It smashed into Asmodeus’ shield knocking him back.

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  I had never seen anything actually knock Asmodeus back once he had activated his reinforcement spell before. This thing was strong. After bashing him out of the way it proceeded to grab two of the goblin corpses with its teeth, before shredding and swallowing them.

  After Asmodeus recovered, he took several steps back and shouted in an uneasy tone. “Tis a rock wyrm! No matter what happens stay away from its maw!” We were not used to this Kiyui’s communication spell and shouting was normally the only way we would be able to communicate in this situation. His warning was quite deafening. Agaroth chimed in with “No fuckin’ shit!”

  Due to where the wyrm had positioned itself, Agaroth was cut off from the rest of us. He smashed his flail off the mid-section of the wyrm, but the wyrm’s body remained undamaged. The wyrm began to turn towards him and he backed away towards one of the tunnels behind him.

  Chloe sheathed her short sword and drew her great sword. This cavern had enough space for her to wield it, fortunately. She charged and hit it as hard as she could to draw its attention away from Agaroth. She succeeded in drawing attention, but did no damage to its rocklike skin.

  This wyrm was going to be a problem. It opened its mouth once again and headed for Chloe. I noticed that the inside of its mouth did not appear as rocklike as its outside.

  Asmodeus said “Sword of the heavens!” before slicing across the middle of the wyrm. Even with his heavenly enhancement spell, the wyrm’s skin was only slightly cracked. Cracking its skin seemed to aggravate it significantly.

  I remembered the explosive flasks in my bag. The ledge I was on was above Tilda, so I said “Tilda… I have a plan. I need you to lure it this way and get it to open its mouth.” Tilda looked at me and nodded. I went on “Agaroth… when I say, I need you to cast protection around Tilda.” He agreed “Whatever, just do it would ya!”

  Tilda began punching the wyrm, but the wyrm paid her no mind… it seemed intent on Asmodeus who was relying heavily on his shield and being bashed further and further back. Kiyui uttered the words “Explosive fist.” Tilda’s next hit packed a devastating punch that blew a chunk of rock off the wyrm’s skin… if you can class that as skin.

  That certainly got the wyrm’s attention. It turned towards Tilda and she backed away until she was underneath my ledge again. The wyrm lurched towards her and opened its mouth ready to grab her with its teeth, as it had done with the goblin corpses earlier. This would definitely explain why the goblins were evacuating.

  I threw both of my explosive flasks into the mouth of the wyrm. I yelled “Agaroth, now!” He uttered “Protection” and the wyrm crashed into the invisible barrier in front of Tilda. Agaroth exclaimed “The fuck happens now?” “Shit” I replied “My flasks didn’t explode. Its insides are much softer than I thought.” Chloe said “So what now?”

  At that moment a fireball flew across the cavern and smashed into the side of the wyrm’s head. Well… as much as a wyrm has a head. The end where the mouth was is what I’m getting at. Phoenix stood firm as the wyrm turned towards her. It let out a blood curdling screech as it roared in her direction. She threw a second fireball that went straight into its mouth. The fireball connected with my flasks and a large explosion occurred.

  Blood and organs flew out of the wyrm’s mouth. The patch of rock that Tilda had punched off ruptured and a river of blood began to flow out of it. The wyrm began to writhe and flail around the room. Tilda, Chloe, Asmodeus, and Agaroth were absolutely covered in blood. Chloe almost got pushed back into the floor tunnel due to the force of the blood, but she stabbed her sword into the ground to hold herself in place. Fortunately for me the blood did not reach the ledge that I was perched on.

  Eventually the wyrm collapsed to the ground and ceased all movement. Agaroth said triumphantly “Fuckin’ finally. Good shot Red.” Kiyui spoke softly and asked “Umm… is it definitely dead?” Asmodeus poked the wyrm between the gap in its skin and said “Fear not, this beast is no more.”