VI
Growling, Sachiko was getting frustrated with the endless tunnels leading to nowhere, but luck was on her side when she spotted a flash of light brown hair at the end of the tunnel. It was strange that there seemed to be light shone at the conjoint of the tunnels but darkness in all other part of the tunnel, though right now isn't really the time for Sachiko to ponder at trivial thing. But as soon as she caught up, the girl disappeared leaving no trail behind saving for the very strange rumbling sounds.
"Dammit!" Sachiko cursed looking at the multiple tunnels around her. A hand quickly appeared and clasped over her mouth, "Shh, it's coming this way very fast and hungry for flesh." Yumi was behind Sachiko and quickly dragged the woman with her to the safer spot of the conjoining tunnels, then leaving Sachiko there she moved away as the worm passed through from one tunnel searching for the aroma of fresh human. Summoning her scythe, Yumi grabbed onto it and let the blade hooked into the worm's mouth with six sets of razor-sharp teeth and ripped right through it as it moved, feeling as though it could take on a simple mortal's weapons can't hurt it (hasn't worked on it before).
What Yumi did was dangerous and she knew it, even if the person she's saving was after her life Yumi will not let the worms devour them while she runs away. It's not a noble act, it was about karma and she prefers not to have a guilty conscience for killing an enemy using her knowledge of the worms in the tunnels. From the recent fight with Sachiko, Yumi hands were still numb and that landed her in a bad position when another three other worms came through in different directions and one managed to tore through her rawhide shirt and pierced her right arm with its jagged teeth.
When she managed to defeat all 34 giant sandworms, Yumi was so tired that Sachiko could've killed her without using much effort. "Ugh, I need a bath," Yumi said trying to get all the sticky purple goo off her clothes (worm's blood). "Come on, we can kill each other after we get out of here and clean up." Yumi said walking past Sachiko and headed down a tunnel that isn't blocked by dead worms and Sachiko followed cautiously.
By the time they're somewhere, it's already late and Yumi found a small pond to clean up glad that she always managed to keep a set of spare clothes on her that even the worm's blood couldn't seep through the bag. "Aww… stupid worm," Yumi murmured once she returned and Sachiko started a fire to keep warm.
Sachiko took her turn to clean up, leaving Yumi there to keep the fire going and while she's at it Yumi took her carving knife out and put the blade into the burning fire until it turned red from the heat. Looking over at her ghastly wound on her arm, Yumi brought the hot knife up and waited for it to cool down a little before applying it onto the wound. Forgotten something, she hurried to find a piece of cloth and put it in her mouth, turning her attention back to the knife she brought it closer to her face to examine the temperature before pressing it onto the wound. Biting down hard onto the piece of cloth to keep herself from screaming out in pain, Yumi endured the searing pain from the hot blade that's doing its job in killing all the bacteria on the wound to keep her from infection.
"Bastards, I'll kill all of you next time I'm there," Yumi cursed after taking the cloth out of her mouth and rubbed her lower jaw. "Say that after you beat me," Sachiko said coming back from bathing in the lake with her long hair still wet. "Heh, I win if I left you there to fend off those worms," Yumi said with a smirk even though the pain was still there. "You seem to like a fair fight," Sachiko noted. "That would be because you're a demi, and it would be a shame to let one be eaten by the worms. Though now I kind of regret my decision," Yumi laughed lightly. "I could say the same with you," Sachiko returned as she tore the sleeve of her shirt off and used it to wrap up Yumi's wound. "Oh really?" Yumi suddenly sounded so charming to Sachiko's ears.
Her hand moved from Yumi's arm up to her face, Sachiko leaned in and kissed Yumi who was taken by surprise and didn't react on time. But the kiss was cut short when a roaring sound from the distance shook the ground and put out the fire. It seemed that love had crept up behind Sachiko and bit her just now, and she just can't help herself but to capture those pink petals in front of her.
"Out of the frying pan, into the fire…" Yumi sighed. Just as soon as she said that, an incredible force hit the ground denting it quite a bit and both women was sent flying from the impact. "I'm not sure if we should call it fire," Sachiko said coughing as she got up and helped Yumi up to her feet as well. There was a large and long line of sapphire blue color glowing beautifully under the cloudy sky. "Ohhh… no, not good…" Yumi said backing away and pulling Sachiko along with her. "What's wrong?" Sachiko asked feeling Yumi tugging at her arm while moving backward. "Just run!" Yumi shouted as she turned around and dragged the other one along until she came to her senses and run along with Yumi.
Just so, the crackling, popping, and zapping sounds started and flashes of lightning zapped through the air burning anything nearby the glowing lights. "What in the world was that?" Sachiko asked running still. "It's a giant water reptile that can walk on land as well," Yumi answered. "I'm not asking what kind of creature it was," Sachiko said. "Did I forgot to mention that it spit ice cold enough to instantly froze you up and emit powerful electrical static when its back started to glow blue?" Yumi added turning her head to look over her back checking to make sure the thing isn't chasing after them. "Yes, yes you did," Sachiko replied. "Dive!" Yumi commanded as she took a dive and rolled, Sachiko didn't question but mimicked the other girl. Which was a good thing, because when both looked up the small brushes in front of them was surrounded by crystal ice that emit cold airs from it that even they could feel it from where they're at.
"Ow, it's like I'm having the worst luck today…" Yumi grumbled feeling her side and pulled a rock shard off. "Guess the monsters just like your scent today," Sachiko tried to joke (which she got zero talent at). "Yeah, you're the start of my bad luck," Yumi retorted as she tried to get up and walked away once the rumbling sounds died away. Sachiko didn't argued about that remark and just followed, they walked until they found a decent place to start another campfire and hopefully no more monsters coming at them so they could get some rest. Once settled, Yumi once again tended her wound before leaning against the tree and fell asleep right away from exhaustion, while it took Sachiko a little longer to fall asleep.