The sound of something tearing through the ground echoed. With a deafening boom, an explosion of dirt, rocks, and shattered trees blasted in every direction. At the center of the scorched clearing, a colossal creature burst from beneath the earth, tearing its way up as if the ground were made of paper.
A massive, white worm rose, writhing in the air, its circular maw lined with dozens of rows of jagged teeth. Its flesh looked like a mix of pale muscle and bony plates shielding its body. It twisted violently, opening and closing that grotesque mouth that seemed capable of crushing anything with no effort at all.
"No way something like this won't level me up!" Ethan grinned, his golden eyes sparkling like he'd just found a new toy.
Inspect immediately revealed:
[Status]
[Name: Giant Worm]
[Race: Monster]
[Level: 100]
[HP: 21,000]
[MP: 9,000]
[Strength: 370]
[Dexterity: 230]
[Constitution: 650]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Charisma: 10]
[Active Skills: Underground Rush, Acid Blast, Crushing Spin]
[Passive Skills: Accelerated Regeneration, Vibrational Perception]
Ethan spread his arms, grinning. "Must've been drawn here by the absurd amount of mana that firestorm generated. Probably thought it was gonna get an easy meal."
Beside him, Aeris gripped her staff tightly, already casting defensive light barriers. "My lord… what shall we do?" Her voice wasn't trembling from fear, but was sharp with focus and readiness.
Ethan glanced at the creature, then smiled even wider, brimming with excitement. "Simple. I'm heading straight for that giant mouth."
Aeris blinked in disbelief. "T-The… mouth?!" Her ears twitched, and for a second, she looked genuinely confused. "With all due respect, my lord… why?!"
He cracked his neck and pulled two scrolls from his dimensional ring. "You'll see." His smile turned razor-sharp. "Just keep anything else off my back for now."
The worm let out a sickening, wet screech before diving back into the ground, only to erupt moments later, smashing what little remained of the forest.
Aeris didn't question it any further. She pressed her staff against her chest and ran alongside Ethan. "Understood!!"
"Didn't expect anything less from you." Ethan chuckled, sprinting toward the beast. His body moved with absurd confidence, dodging debris and the worm's strikes as if it were nothing but child's play.
The monster noticed him approaching and twisted its massive body, kicking up a curtain of dirt and acid in an attempt to force Ethan back.
But his grin only grew sharper. "Let's see if that mouth can handle swallowing me."
The worm coiled upward, raising part of its massive body as it opened its gaping maw, preparing to lunge down with all those jagged teeth.
Ethan shifted Nexus into a bow and pulled an explosive arrow from his dimensional ring. "I've always had good aim. Would be a shame to miss now."
Threading both scrolls onto the arrow, he readied the shot, waiting for the perfect moment. His golden eyes shone even brighter, fully focused.
Aeris, conjuring shields of light on both sides, glanced over for a second, and nearly lost focus on her magic. "What the..." She swallowed hard. "My lord... just what exactly are you planning to do?!"
"You'll see." Ethan had transformed Nexus into a long welsh bow, briefly worrying whether the string would have enough tension due to the nature of the weapon. But the worry was pointless, the string was even tougher to pull than the original.
The worm, sensing danger, reared up, lifting half its body above the ground and opening its maw as wide as it could. With terrifying speed, it lunged straight at them.
Ethan grinned. "There's the mouth."
He released the string.
The shot didn't sound like a regular arrow. It was an explosion, a thunderous crack, followed by a trail of fire and black sludge screaming through the air. The arrow crossed the distance in an instant, plunging straight into the creature's open mouth.
For a brief moment... silence.
"...Jackpot," Ethan whispered, smiling like a maniac.
Then, the aftermath.
A flash. A muffled, concussive explosion echoed from inside the beast. The worm convulsed violently, its body arching and writhing as flames erupted from within, gushing through the seams in its flesh and through the cracks between its bony plates.
It shrieked, thrashing wildly, twisting through the air like an uncontrollable serpent. Chunks of flesh, shards of bone, and streams of dark fluids blasted in every direction, mixing with a thick cloud of black smoke that spread rapidly.
Aeris raised an extra barrier just in time, shielding both of them from the raining gore, her eyes wide in disbelief. "This is... insane..." Her voice trembled, not with fear, but with pure shock... and maybe a bit of awe.
Ethan simply watched, smiling.
The creature's body began to collapse, part of it burning, part melting, part still violently exploding from the inside, until it finally crashed to the ground with one last tremor, shaking the earth with a heavy thud.
The notifications Ethan had been waiting for finally popped up in his vision, accompanied by a divine chime.
[You defeated: Giant Worm — EXP + 5,000,000]
[Congratulations! You have reached Level 63!]
Ethan's wide grin slowly faded, replaced by an expression of pure disappointment. He crossed his arms and huffed. "That's it?" he grumbled. "All that... for just three levels...?"
The hero in the novel used to level up way faster than this. Shouldn't he be leveling even faster, considering his soul?
Aeris, still holding her magic just in case, stared at him like she'd just heard a blasphemy. "T-Three... three levels?!" Her voice trembled, not from fear, but from sheer disbelief. She turned to face him, eyes wide with shock. "What do you mean three levels?!"
She took a deep breath, trying to collect her thoughts. "My lord... just to confirm... you were level 60, correct?"
Ethan nodded, a bit confused by her reaction. "Yeah. Now I'm level 63." Scratching his head, he glanced back at the dead worm's corpse. "Honestly? With how big that thing was, I thought I'd get at least five or six more levels, minimum."
Aeris needed a few seconds to process that. Clutching her hands against her chest, she muttered, half to him, half to herself, "That... that makes no sense." Her eyes glazed over, lost in calculation. "From level 60 to 61, you need at least three and a half million experience points..."
For the first time since they'd met, she looked at Ethan like he was some kind of abomination. "With five million, you should barely gain one level... That's why I already thought something was wrong when you hit level 60 with so little effort! This... this isn't normal!"
Ethan raised a brow. His eyes drifted back to his status window, locking onto that one line in gray text.
[Passive Skill: ????]
"Yeah... I probably should've realized comparing myself to the hero wasn't a great idea," he muttered, more to himself than to her. "But I'm sure we'll figure out what's causing this eventually."
Aeris pressed her lips into a tight line, folding her arms. "My lord..." She took a deep breath, trying to stay composed. "This... this is not something people normally see. You really should be careful opening your status window... or saying things like this out loud..."
Ethan's grin came back, wider than ever. "Thank you." His expression made it painfully clear how much he was enjoying this. "I'll be careful."
It was blatantly obvious Ethan wasn't taking this seriously. If anything, he was thrilled by the feeling of superiority.
Before Aeris could reply, the ground trembled beneath them. Ethan's grin didn't fade, in fact, it grew even bigger.
"Oh? More fun coming?" he asked, turning slowly toward the sound.
The noise became clearer. It wasn't another monster. It was heavy footsteps, paired with a constant grinding sound, like stone scraping against stone.
From between the shattered trees emerged... a turtle. A massive one, at least two meters tall, with moss growing on its shell and even tiny trees sprouting from its back. Sitting cross-legged atop its shell was a hooded elf, holding the reins as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
Her bright green eyes sparkled the moment she spotted them. "Hmph... so this is where all the ruckus was happening." Her voice was sweet, yet dripped with that passive-aggressive tone that makes anyone want to punch someone.
She slid off the turtle's shell with graceful ease, landing softly on the scorched ground. Her gaze passed right through Ethan like he didn't even exist, locking onto one person, and one person only. "Well, well... Aeris. Still alive, I see."
Aeris's body stiffened instantly. Her timid smile vanished, replaced by an expression... venomous. The blue eyes that had trembled with nervousness moments ago now gleamed sharp, almost cruel. "Sylfie," she spat the name like poison. "Haven't managed to die in one of your own traps yet?"
Sylfie made an exaggerated face of mock surprise. "Oh my... such a filthy mouth. And here I thought priestesses were supposed to be paragons of virtue." Her gaze shifted around the area, nose wrinkling. "Seems like you're still leaving destruction wherever you go."
Ethan simply stood there in silence, watching them bicker. Sadly, Aurelia hadn't given him any artifact capable of making popcorn.
His curiosity was fully focused on Aeris, who now seemed like a completely different person. All her previous shyness had vanished, replaced by a cold, venomous, and not-at-all subtle arrogance.
"Destruction? Oh, please." Aeris crossed her arms, looking down at Sylfie. "At least I'm not out here pretending to be some saint while poisoning rivers and setting traps for clueless hunters."
Sylfie pretended to inspect her nails. "Oh really? And you? What's this, ditching the temple to play adventurer? I always thought you were only good for locking yourself away praying, not for burning down forests."
Aeris let out a dry, sarcastic laugh. "Ah, you've always been good at running your mouth. Shame that when it comes to actually doing anything..." She spun her staff in her hands, and a magic circle slowly began to form beneath her feet. "You're still just a pathetic failure."
Sylfie's smile didn't waver. She raised her hands, and three green magic circles materialized around her. "Let's see if you're still this chatty after I bury you alive."
Ethan, now sitting on a nearby rock, started feeling genuinely sad about not having any popcorn.