Everyone was in shock; it was my first time seeing a creature like this. A creature with a worm's body and a human's face—it was quite a horrific scene to behold.
We shouted at her for some time, and even though it couldn't respond, I left the cart and started moving toward the girl, slow and steady. As I approached, the worm monster released the girl and backed away.
I was puzzled by its sudden behaviour, but when I looked in front of me, I saw the corpse of the girl—her body torn apart, her internal organs spilling out, half-eaten.
I lifted my head to see the worm monster smirking at me, its tongue licking the blood from its mouth. I felt fear—a humanoid creature, so different and gruesome, unlike anything I'd ever seen in my life until now. My mind swirled with all kinds of thoughts: fear, bravery, guilt for not saving the girl. I wondered, Should I fight it or escape from here?
I gathered my courage and warned everyone in the cart not to come out unless it was an emergency. I wielded my sword and ran toward the worm monster with all the speed I could muster at that moment.
I lunged at it and tried to cut off its human head. I succeeded in slicing it off, and for a moment, I thought I had won—but my happiness vanished quickly as the head regenerated in mere minutes.
When I tried to get closer, it used its body as both a sword and a shield, attacking and defending itself at the same time. Just as I thought it was getting tough, reinforcements arrived from the cart. They began using their long-range attacks, which became quite helpful to me.
Suddenly, I thought of burning the monster. Though I was weak at magic, I had learned a basic Agni spell that produced a fireball—a spell that took me nearly a year to master. I chanted the spell, created the fireball, and hurled it at the worm monster's human face, which I figured would burn more easily than its sturdy body due to its human-like features.
The face burned and then regenerated. I kept casting the spell at its face every time it regrew. But then, three more of the same creatures appeared and attacked the cart. Akon was killed first—his martial attacks had no effect on the monsters.
Next, the girl with the bow and arrows was slain.
Leon put up a decent fight until the three lunged at him, tearing him apart and feasting on his internal organs. I, too, lost my stamina and energy due to the excessive use of spells and sword attacks. With its sharp legs, one of the creatures cut me to pieces—that was the last scene I saw before I died.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself tied down with ropes, a cloth stuffed in my mouth. What I saw completely shook my mind: just moments ago, I had died, and now I was back in the same place where I had killed that orc. In front of me stood a tree with people hanging from it. When I looked closer, I realized they were none other than Akon and the girl with the bow and arrows.
Beside me was the girl who had lost her sister, bound in the same position as me. A hand came out of nowhere and started dragging her backward. I tried to shout and scream, but no sound escaped. Then I saw a figure I recognized all too well in that moment—Leon.
He was dragging the girl to the tree by a rope tied around her neck. He hanged her on the tree, and as she screamed in agony, Leon began to laugh like a madman.
He then approached me and whispered in my ear, "Did I wake you up from your dream, Kex?".