Note: JC2525 said that the Jewel Eater was one of the more innocent looking monsters, and I have to admit, I also felt bad killing it. So things might turn out a little different here, but rest assured, it won't be the end for it here. I'm planning something similar with Harcypete.
Seeing as Watts is sort of the Cid for the Mana series, I reference some of them in a small segment, yet whether there's any direct connection to them, I'm not sure. Most likely not, as the Mana series in itself is officially an anthology unless said otherwise. That said, I do want to sort of have some connection, albeit a loose one to them all in a way. Yet they're also mostly just references.
Also, forgive me if some things, such as Angela's spell casting, seem a little 'anime-ish' at points. I'll admit, there WILL be some of that later in the story (especially what I'm doing working the classes in, yes they WILL be in this), yet I'll admit that I can't help but picture some Sailor Moon esque attacks whenever she does her attacks.
The Jewel Eater
While it wasn't as large as the large, crab-like Hugger that resided in the Cascade Cavern, this Jewel Eater was still impressive in size. And from how the strikes from his sword seemed to do absolutely nothing to the creature, Duran realized that perhaps, as before, sword strikes wouldn't exactly be the best solution. Still, now that he had gotten the creature's attention, there was little choice now BUT to defend against it. The Jewel Eater lunged forward, Duran bringing up his shield to defend himself from the incoming obstacle. During this, however, the two spirits noticed each other.
"Gnome!" Lumina called out, the little man in turn seeing the glowing wisp.
"Ah, Lumina! How have ya been, buddy?" Gnome answered, giving a wave, Lumina forming a little 'arm' and waving back. "Fine time to come on and pay a visit though!"
"Yeah, sorry." the Light Elemental said sheepishly. "Things kinda got a little hectic back home." he was momentarily interrupted by Duran being tossed, passing right through him. One of the perks of being nothing but pure light and vapor. "Looks like you're not exactly having the best time here either."
"Tell me about it!" Here I am, minding my own business, when this big guy here up and kidnaps me! Do I look like something edible to you?"
"Talk about it later!" Angela, Duran, and Faerie shouted, the soldier once again sent up against a wall by the superior force of the scaled underground dweller.
The Jewel Eater thankfully took its paw from Duran, only to then reveal its intentions in bringing it down again, yet at an even greater force. Rolling out of the way, the soldier saw the creature rear itself up on its hind legs, his eyes searching for any potential weakness that was at least similar to that found on the Full Metal Hugger. Unfortunately, there appeared to be none, the entire underside appeared to be as armored as the rest of it. And despite his skill, it appeared that his sword would do little good against this thing.
"Look out!" Faerie warned from inside, Duran seeing the Jewel Eater, he leaping out of the way before the creature smashed down into the ground, the earth cracking beneath its feet.
The creature then turned and faced Angela, once again drawn by the scent of minerals that coated her form. True, the other human had such covering his form as well, yet this one was practically coated in them. Whipping out its long tongue again, it sent the appendage right in the sorceress' direction. Both Angela and Gnome leapt out of the way, yet the former was still worn down for both her fall and period of unconsciousness that she had gone through, thus, she was somewhat struggling to get to her feet. The Jewel Eater noticed this, and drawn to her mineral coated, began to dash towards her, its steps shaking the ground and causing vibrations everywhere, making it even more difficult for the young woman to gain her footing. Seeing the creature beelining right for her, Angela found herself unable to do anything else but release a loud, and presumably, her last scream as the source of her doom inched closer and closer.
Only, said doom never came.
A strong pair of arms seized her and, while they threw her out of the way, it at least got her out of the way of danger, the Jewel Eater charging and making contact with a solid, rock wall. Angela looked up to see Duran holding her, he hurriedly hoisting her up as the underground creature maneuvered itself back to face the two topsoilers. Duran held up his sword and shield, knowing well that it would have little effect. Still, what else could he do? "Hey, you!" he then shouted, noticing Gnome. "You're a spirit, aren't you? Do something!"
"Like what?" the Elemental questioned. "I was kidnapped like she was! I tried fighting this guy off, but I'm so weak, nothing I did worked!" as if to demonstrate, several gems seemingly materialized from nowhere and struck the creature, bouncing off its scaled hide as if they were little more than pebbles. "See?" Yet then, something occurred that no one could've ever predicted.
Coming into existence in a similar manner akin to Gnome's previously demonstrated magic, a large, shimmering, diamond cut stone manifested from thin air, its surface glimmering and shining despite there being only the dimmest of light, as no lanterns hung above them. Despite the current situation, both Duran and Angela were bewildered by both their size and beauty. "How…" Gnome then gasped. "How is that possible?!"
"What?" Duran questioned. "What is it?"
"It...it shouldn't be able to do that!" he cried out. "Jewel Eaters aren't endowed to harness the power of the elemental forces! How did it manage to…" then, he grew quiet.
"Huh?" Angela then asked. "You can't just leave it at that!"
"The Stone…" the little man muttered. "Of course...how could I not have seen it before?!"
Before anyone could ask as to what he meant, the diamond began to fragment and split apart, those shards then splitting apart, and so on. Soon, what was estimated to be hundreds of sharpened crystals rested in the air, all pointing downward and right in their direction.
"Look out!" Gnome shouted, though he knew well that nothing could be done.
The shards shot downward, striking the ground and breaking through the hardened earth and surrounding walls, rock splintering and breaking into mere pebbles when they struck. Duran, with little else he could do, held up his shield, yet it proved to be little good as, to their collective horror, the shield was outright split in half when a sizable (though not the biggest of the cuts) shard made contact with the piece of equipment. The soldier was sent flying back against a wall, a trail of fresh blood traveling down his face.
"Duran!" Angela shouted, holding tightly to her staff. What to do, what to do?! Frankly, to her dismay and shame, she had up and proven that, despite the sporadic bursts that had occurred, her and making any use of the supposed magic that Lumina had given her were practically useless! And no, simply focusing wasn't going to do it! But still...she had to do something! He was going to surely die if she didn't!
He would die...he would die...he would…
This repeated in her mind as the creature now began to approach the fallen soldier, he in turn struggling to get to his feet. If she didn't do something, she would...yet her previous attempts were useless. It would do no good. And yet...and yet she felt a force ignite from within, said force traveling throughout her entire being. Her breathing grew steady and her eyes focused solely on the Jewel Eater. 'Yes…' she heard Lumina say. 'Yes, that's it!' it was coming! She could feel it, her staff giving off small vibrations, a hot, white light traveling up through the wood, the markings and carved portions glowing.
Then, how she knew the words, she knew not, they seemed to just come to her. Nevertheless, Angela's lips parted as she held the staff aloft, green eyes centered on the Jewel Eater. What appeared to be a spectrum of orbs bearing all the visible colors began to surround the sorceress before they all joined the glowing tip of the staff.
"Holy Bolt!"
A beam of pure, white light emanated from the tip of the curved staff and shot forward akin to a high powered laser, making direct contact with the Jewel Eater. While it seemed to not break through the dense scales on its form, it was enough to send it stumbling over and hitting one of the surrounding walls of rock, a crash and resounding rumble coming from it.
"Holy Bolt!" Angela cried out again, another laser coming out, striking the Jewel Eater yet again, only this time, while it didn't strike it, the beam came dangerously close to its eyes, the creature shaking its head violently and pawing at its face when the light died down. And afterward, it seemed to be somewhat disoriented, as if it had little grasp on the world around it. Had her blow perhaps blinded it, Angela thought. Nevertheless, it seemed that her act, while it managed to get the creature off of Duran, it seemed to do little good for either of them, seeing as the creature then began to bash its head into the walls, its sense of direction completely gone. "Watch out!" Angela shouted, her legs far from in the best shape, but she leapt and essentially crashed into Duran, knocking him off his feet, yet out of the way of the now wild Jewel Eater.
It took a few moments, yet Duran realized what had just happened, he unintentionally giving Angela a bewildered, yet impressed look. "All right!" Lumina cried out. "You did it!"
"Huh...yeah." the princess said. "Yeah. I guess I did." though any further words were cut off by the Jewel Eater's erratic movements causing tremors throughout the area.
"Don't go getting your hopes up!" Gnome then said. "The guy's still up and kicking!" he then extended his hand to Duran. "Here!" both humans appeared somewhat confused. "Look, I know I might not be able to do much, but...just take it!" But before any hands could be joined, Gnome was jerked from their hands, a long, winding tongue wrapping around the little man's middle and dragging him away, Duran and Angela looking to see that the spirit was in the clutches of the Jewel Eater, of which had dug right into the side of the wall and already created a sizable hole. "Help!" Gnome cried out, yet soon, both he and the Jewel Eater disappeared from sight, leaving the two alone.
"Oh no, oh no!" Faerie cried out, having emerged despite the danger. "This is bad! This is REALLY bad!"
"What is going on here?!" Duran and Angela turned to see Watts, having presumably come to investigate what all the noise was.
"Who are you?" the sorceress questioned.
"Well, I WAS on my way back to the village, but I guess all this shaking got me disoriented and I fell off one of the ledges in here! I had no other way to go but here!"
"Well, you picked a fine time to come around!" Duran shouted. "A little late though!" he then gestured to the hole. "Gnome's gone!"
"What?!" Watts shouted, bringing his hands to the sides of his head. "What are you waiting for?! Go in and save him!"
"What do you think?! We can't-" Angela then said.
"Of course we are!" Duran then said, the princess' eyes widening.
"Wait, what?!" Before she could get anything else out, Duran got up and scampered into the hole dug into the hardened rock, leaving Angela and Watts alone in the now empty space.
And within minutes, despite herself, she was standing right in front of it.
What in the world was she doing?! She had just up and escaped certain death a good few times, more than she wished to count or ever have again, yet here she was, actually thinking of going in after that idiot!
'What do I owe him for anyway?' a part of her thought as she continued to look down the recently formed tunnel.
'Much, if I remember.' another part answered.
'Yeah? I wouldn't even BE in this situation had HE not gone and run his mouth!'
'He didn't cause the bridge to come down.'
'Well...well he still had to go and say those things! Telling me I'm scum and that I'm in cahoots with Koren...how DARE he!'
'It was wrong, yes, but again, had he not come, you would've been little more than mush in that thing's teeth.' That, Angela couldn't deny. Indeed, had he not been there at that exact moment...still, he...she was still mad at him. 'And that's fine.' one of the inner voices told her. 'Yet what's a few moments in comparison to a life?'
Angela froze at that, eyes widening as she looked into near complete blackness, gripping the edge of the hole she was up against, it too large for her to touch both sides at once. Her other hand gripped her staff, she looked at it, then back to the hole, the staff, then the hole, and so on. The decision had to be made soon, that she knew. And said decision would hold her, and perhaps 'his' life in the balance.
"OW!" Gnome yelped, his chin dragging on the ground as its once again kidnapper took him in further and further, going over and dealing with rocks from the size of mere pebbles to near boulders. At least, that's what it felt like, and no one could tell him otherwise. "OW! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Hey! Take it easy, would you?!" the little man shouted when he was able to get something else out other than cries of pain.
Duran only had this to go by as the tunnel was growing darker and darker, Faerie having emerged, along with Lumina, to provide some light. Geez, where was this big lug taking him? All around him were a multitude of other holes, some as big as what the Jewel Eater was creating. He heard the scampering of several smaller dwellers of the mountain, somewhat pitying the poor things that were essentially minding their own business. "Oof!" a spiked object from above fell onto his back, Duran wincing in pain as said object struggled to release itself. When it did, the human turned to see that a lone molebear had fallen from above, the yellow creature shaking its clawed fist in his direction before scampering off. "Yeah, screw you too." he muttered, realizing, to his horror, that the Jewel Eater, and in turn, Gnome. "Dammit!" he cursed, his voice echoing through the tunnel. He continued on, going further and further, yet soon came to a stop. All around him were multitudes of tunnels, many of considerable age in comparison to the large one that continued to go forward.
"Where'd they go?" Faerie questioned aloud, looking all around.
"If I knew, I would know where to go!" Duran shouted in frustration, violet eyes surveying and being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of tunnels all around. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" he stomped on the ground and punched a nearby wall.
"Hey, hey, hey! No need for that!" the winged woman told him, pulling his arm back by the wrist. "That's going to do us no good!"
"Tell me then, what would you suggest?" Duran questioned.
"Well…" Faerie began, trying to think of something. "Maybe Gnome left behind some clues."
"Like what? It's not like he could just leave a trail of…" it was then that Lumina's light caught something in his hue, it shimmering even more brilliantly than it already had been. A gemshard. A gemshard at the entrance of a tunnel that appeared to be going downward. And after that, several other shards were laid out, creating a trail for them to follow. "...bread crumbs." Duran finished, looking down the tunnel before hoping right in, Faerie somewhat surprised at the suddenness of his actions, she then looked at Lumina. "Why do I get the feeling I should come to expect this from him from here on in?"
Lumina nodded. "Human nature is many things. Most of which don't make a lick of sense."
It technically wasn't his problem. Hell, he wasn't even supposed to be out in the tunnels in the first place, the Jewel Eater having been reported to have come to their land a short while ago, so he had up and escaped danger already.
Still, nevertheless, Watts found himself looking down the large tunnel, his bag of nitromyte in one hand and a lantern he had managed to get down from a nearby hanging place above. He was pondering whether or not he was wasting his time even contemplating this. Who was to say that those two topsoilers weren't dead already? They were the ones that up and went into those tunnels, why should he go and get himself killed?
Yeah...just go and let the future holder of the Sword get killed. But...maybe he just had Lumina with him by chance? Sure, it made no sense, but still, it was a possibility. After all, how many topsoilers had their ancestors worked for? And this place, while it was one of the most prominent, wasn't the only place for dwarves in the world. There was even a legend that detailed how a dwarf who (oddly like himself) dedicated himself to finding rare minerals in the mines up and ended up forging armor for the chosen warrior that would hold the Mana Sword, and was even rumored to have tempered that very sword! It was a well documented and repeated legend among his people. After all, where would his parents get the name 'Watts' from?
But that was then, and what guarantee was there that the wild haired human WAS indeed to hold the sword? Aside from having a Mana Spirit with him. And outright hearing it. And...well, he was running out of reasons. Still, he wasn't about to go and risk his life when the kid had up and gotten himself in this situation. It wasn't Watts' fault he got up and dove right into the tunnel after that giant mole!
Still...despite himself, the legend of that particular dwarf, the legendary one that bore his name, kept coming back to him. And as he turned away from the hole, it had seemingly increased to where nothing could banish it. But...even if he wanted to do something, what could he do? All he had was a bag of black rocks and a lit lantern...wait.
The dwarf looked to his bag, then to the lantern. And as he did so, an idea crept into his head. A crazy, improbable idea that would probably never work. But maybe, just maybe, there was a slim chance it could.
"Where the hell is this thing going?!" Duran said aloud, continuing to follow the trail of small gems. Having gone through a series of winding passageways that went this way and that, up and down, right to left, it seemed that this entire thing was little more than a wild goose chase. And it was clear that not all of these tunnels were from the Jewel Eater themselves, several molebears having dashed out of his way. Or thrown a couple of stones at him, damned little cretins.
"Wait." Faerie then said, having retreated inside her host to avoid the stones the molebears threw when they got the chance. "Some of these…" she looked to the jewel path before them, then in the direction they were going. "Doesn't the trail seem to be heading in one particular direction?" Duran paused for a moment, then looked. Indeed. Despite the many missteps that had been taken due to the sheer amount of winding pathways, the stones had all but been on a (mostly) linear path. "I just had a thought." Faerie said again. "What if the Jewel Eater isn't just going off with Gnome, but actually taking him somewhere?"
"Taking him where?" Duran questioned. "There's really nowhere around here that looks any different from any other pile of rock."
"But wasn't there something said about a valley?" Faerie added, and indeed, Duran remembered as such. Yet aside from their presence, what would cause the Jewel Eater to up and change location to where it was supposed to be? If anything, that made it sound like it came here for something. Or better yet, for someone.
"Hurry." Lumina then said, a horrid theory coming into his mind. "We've gotta move!"
Without anything else, Duran kept following the trail of gems, only to stop when it seemed that a pile of them were left at the bottom of a pathway that went near straight upward. Looked like the blasted creature had perhaps caught on that they would follow and tried to outsmart them.
RUMBLE….
The earth beneath Duran shook, he felt that something from below was rising. "Get out of the way!" he wasted no time in obeying Faerie, he jumped back as the Jewel Eater emerged from the very spot he once stood, Gnome wound up in its long tongue.
"Get me outta here!" the little man cried out. "This guy's not all there!"
"What are you talking about?" Duran questioned, oblivious as to what the elemental was getting at.
"Something's driving this guy to do what he's doing! He's not even supposed to be here, let alone be going through all this trouble just for a snack! Especially when he's got so much better stuff back at home! I can see it in his eyes! Something must be controlling him!"
Controlling him?! Duran got no chance to confirm or deny Gnome's claims as a massive, clawed paw swung down, the human soldier getting out of the way, the entire passageway of tunnels shaking and several stones falling from above. Then, the tongue lifted up and swung around wildly, Gnome essentially being turned into a ball at the end of a chain. WHACK! A ball that had knocked Duran off of his feet. Both the spirit and human were disoriented, the former not even registering that he had been momentarily dropped. Then, Duran felt a long, winding appendage coated in a slimy substance wrap itself around his head, its owner jerking him forward, nearer and nearer towards its mouth. Faerie emerged and pulled at the tongue, trying in vain to dislodge the tongue from her host's head, he in turn swinging his sword to try and strike the appendage, of which she had to dodge. Gnome too got into the action, pulling at the tongue while Lumina began to conjure up a magical attack.
"Holy Bolt!" the Elemental shouted, though only a small beam of light poured from him, and all that did was just give the tongue a small sting.
"Diamond Shard!" Gnome then shouted, though the shards of crystal he produced did little more than bounce off of the Jewel Eater.
"It's no good!" Faerie strained, her efforts useless against the creature's superior strength. Closer and closer the creature brought Duran to its puckered lips, images of the tooth that he had seen in the village coming back to him. Despite continuing to struggle, and vowing to do so until he was rendered unable, the sense of impending doom hung over him like a suffocating shroud. "Duran!" Faerie shouted, he being unable to respond due to the tongue clasping over his mouth.
Nearer and nearer he drew, but a few feet away from the mouth now. Had it really come to this? All that preparation and journey, all of the subsequent madness...and it was to end like this? No, no, he refused! And yet, what could he do? He couldn't reach the Jewel Eater's tongue, and he was essentially wildly swinging his sword in hopes of getting a strike on it. That wizard was surely on his way to Valsena by now...King Richard. He would be unprotected...not entirely, yet still, he wouldn't be there to defend his king. Aunt Stella...Wendy...the former, he had promised to come back to. And the latter...surely she must've known that her brother was long gone by now. And father...his father, whose sword he had royally messed up, and who had taken on titanic foes that neared that of gods, and here this youth was, his son, about to be eaten and subsequently crushed to death by little more than an oversized mole! It was enough to make him tear through this very mountain itself! Yet that, as everything else was seemingly a fleeing dream. A dream soon to be ended, as now, there was little that could be done.
'Majesty...Auntie...Wendy...Father...I'm sorry.'
Then, while it was brief, he saw something in the corner of his eye. An incoming light. Then he heard her cry. "HOLY BOLT!" A laser struck the small area in between the creature's eyes, the giant mole stumbling back and retracting its tongue, pawing at the struck area that had seemingly singed the smaller scales that had resided in between its optics. Duran fell to the ground, he then felt Angela seize him by the wrist and drag him up. "Come on!" she shouted, turning and making a run for it.
"My sword!" Duran protested, only to be jerked back.
"No time! Run!" the young woman said, he in turn realized as such too.
"Whoa, hey, hey! Don't leave me!" Angela grunted when Gnome hopped onto her back, Faerie retreating into her host, and Lumina and the sorceress' wand (of whom she finally seemed to be getting a hang of) lighting the way. The Jewel Eater seemed to have recovered from the blow dealt to it, and suffice to say, it wasn't happy. The group were nearly sent off their feet as it charged forward, massive shards of diamond coming their way, their landing places ranging from mere yards to mere feet, some even mere inches away from them. "Follow the shards!" Gnome cried out, practically hanging onto Angela's half ponytail, the young woman wincing in pain as he tightened his grip.
"How else do you think I got here?!" she retorted. "It's gaining on us-" she then, to her horror, lost her footing and tripped, her leg beginning to act up again.
"Ack!" Gnome cried out, hopping off of her and ready to leap onto Duran for transportation, yet once the young man realized, despite having gone a few feet away from the fallen young woman, stopped and turned back, rushing and grabbing Angela.
"Hey!" a voice called out, everyone realizing it to be Watts. "Come on!" running up, Duran and Angela saw that Lumina and Gnome were urging them to come forward, Watts holding a bag containing his collected nitromyte and a lantern.
"What the?!" Duran began, though Angela finished for him.
"The hell are you going to do with that?!"
"I've got an idea!" the dwarf shouted. "But I'll need you guys to get out of-"
BOOM!
"...there." The Jewel Eater popped up from ahead of them, bursting out of the ground and cutting the two humans off from their only exit. With little else they could do, they turned tail and ran in the other direction, Duran hoping that he could still retrieve the sword he had been forced to leave behind. Gnome only looked on, then seeing Lumina wisp away in the two's direction, leaving him and Watts. Though not for long. "H-Hey! Wait!" Watts then cried out. "Where are you going?!"
"You light that stuff and throw it in!" the spirit said. "I'll take care of things for now!"
"What are you-"
"Just do it, ok?!" With that, Gnome left the dwarf alone, centering his eyes on the sack and lantern with him. It took a good few moments, but he eventually opened the lantern and threw the oil and fire inside into the sack. Then, he dropped said sack and made a beeline away from the entrance, ducking down and putting his fingers in his ears.
It came up, they went the other way, only to cut them off in that direction. It seemed that no matter where they went, the creature was one step ahead of them. Currently, the Jewel Eater had Duran and Angela backed up against one of the encompassing walls, a sudden, unfamiliar, yet just as unnerving rage in its eyes. Rage that, while it was easy to reason as to why the hulking beast would be quite irritated at them, seemed somewhat directed at the two in a different way. As if it were going for them, and not just because they had up and made it just a bit too mad. Dare say, it seemed as if it had an agenda. Its eyes, while small, the light provided by Lumina's light via Angela's staff, appeared glazed and glassy, as if it wasn't entirely there.
Well, whatever it was, it didn't matter. They were still in peril with seemingly no way out. "Heyo!" what the?! "Sorry about the delay!" Gnome shouted, the miniature spirit hopping up and over the Jewel Eater towards its two targets, leaving the mole and they rather confused. "Now we can get this done right!"
"What done right?" Duran questioned, not entirely comprehending what Gnome was saying.
"No time, but the missy here will definitely need it!" Gnome said, gesturing to Angela, he then reached for her.
"Oh no! You are NOT grabbing my ass again-"
"No! Here!" Suddenly, Gnome grabbed both Duran and Angela's hands, the two immediately feeling a new, strange energy through them. It wasn't exactly powerful, same as when Lumina had given them his energy, yet still, when it seemingly tied in with their very being, there was a spike of power that came with it, as if the two elements were the catalyst for something that would eventually be amazing. Yet there was no such time to reflect on this.
BOOM!
As they would soon see.
Duran, Angela, and the Jewel Eater looked back, the entire, tightly knit tunnels vibrating, the sound of a far off explosion sounding off meeting their ears. "What was-" Duran asked, but was cut off by Angela.
"No time! Run!" and run they did. Or rather, given that their former pursuer was running away as well, all of them looking back to see a literal wall of fire coming their way.
"Quick!" Lumina then said, flying over to a nearby tunnel that seemed to go downward. "In here!" wasting no time, Duran and Angela obeyed, ducking into the tunnel while the Jewel Eater ran right past.
'That won't do much good!' Faerie then said. 'The fire might come on in!'
"That's why I'm here!" Gnome then said, turning to Angela. "Now it's your turn, missy!"
"My turn?!" the young woman looked to her wand. "I just managed to get this thing to work properly, and I don't think they were anything more than just lucky shots!"
"Nonsense!" Gnome shook his head. "You've got this!" everyone could not only hear, but feel the heat coming. "Hurry now! You have to channel my power!"
Angela looked to her staff, focusing on the image of Gnome and the beautiful shards in her mind. The heat drew closer. She focused on their glimmering beauty, the way they shined, and how it was only now that she realized that they were indeed, perhaps real diamonds. The heat drew closer. She thought all these things, but it seemed nothing was doing her any good. She was just as stuck as before. She began to panic, her eyes momentarily shifting to Duran.
She then thought of Gnome, the stones, how hard and tough they must've been. And 'him'. She found herself thinking of 'him'.
The tip of her staff appeared to crystalize as a multitude of hard, crystal shards shot out from seemingly thin air and made their way to the entrance of the tunnel they currently resided in, everyone shuddering and wincing as the wall of fire came their way, yet to their surprise and relief, the shards appeared to act as a shield against the blaze caused by whatever madness Watts had unleashed up ahead. Far ahead from where they were, the Jewel Eater went further and further, digging and digging a pathway for itself to get away from the flames. On and on it dug desperately, until finally, light! Tearing through without a moment's hesitation, it went forward!
Only to find nothing lay beneath it.
The flames caused by the blast poured out from the mountainside while the Jewel Eater plummeted downward, a resounding splash echoing throughout the entire chasm. Then, as soon as it began, all noises save for the chittering of insects in the still night, stopped.
Note: I went with giving the Jewel Eater it's own chapter, as I sort of want the bosses to have their own as something of an 'event', as there has to be more than just swinging a sword at them in this.
Next up, we go back to Kevin, Charlotte, Hawkeye and Riesz! Then we get a little bit with Duran and Angela as well! Thank you all for your kind words, and I hope to hear from you soon!