Endless Evolution As A Skeleton In A Game-Like World
Chapter 16: [16] Corpse Keeper Worm

Chapter 16: [16] Corpse Keeper Worm

The dust clearing was accompanied by Charles’ blood curdled cry. He had already been pulled down to torso level, and soon he would be submerged.

[Charles is bleeding. His health will continually be depleted over time]

He clawed at the dirt, struggling for his life while screaming out for his brother.

And the fool? He ran to save him.

"Nolan! Get back here! It’s already too late!" Ark screamed.

But Nolan would not listen. Like a man possessed, he rushed to where his brother was and held his hand tightly, trying to prevent him from going under.

"Y-you can’t die! No matter what, we will leave this place together, big brother!" Nolan gritted his teeth, pulling Charles with as much strength as he could muster.

His eyes blurred with tears, his nostrils flared with anger.

He could see his brother dying right before his eyes. Blood was pouring out of his nose, and his eyes had lost focus.

’No, no, no, no!’

"PLEASE CHARLES! Please don’t leave me alone!"

Tears rushed out of his eyes as he summoned his spear with his free hand, and jabbed it repeatedly into the dirt.

The ground became mushy, like quicksand, and Nolan began to sink in as well.

Stab Stab Stab—!

"Let him go!"

He has sworn to his mother to protect his brother, and he would do so, even if it cost him his life.

"Nolan... let me go." Charles mumbled.

[Charles’ health is at 50%! All stats will be affected!]

"HYAHHHHHHH!" Nolan’s spear grew a fiery red light, and he jabbed it into the ground with even more force.

Black blood spilled into the air, clouding his vision and spewing into his mouth.

On the other side of the clearing, Soo-Jin pulled out her hand fan from her robe. "Olivia, rescue that moron before he gets himself killed." She said, not a hint of emotion in her voice.

"Let you go? What are you talking about?" Nolan asked his brother with a crazed look in his eyes.

He blinked away the black blood and continued stabbing. Again and again and again, when suddenly—

Swish!

A crimson fan flashed past him...

Blood splashed onto his face and body as he fell back, landing on the cold floor. But this time, the blood was red.

"Huh? What just happened?" He muttered, unable to process what was in front of him.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

Charles’s faint smile as his eyes met his brother’s for the very last time, the sickening feeling of holding his brother’s severed arms, and those final words that settled deep in his heart.

"Take care of mom."

"NOOOOOO!"

Nolan immediately reached for him, but within a second, he was pulled under, leaving him to grasp at wet sand.

[Charles is unconscious! He can no longer carry out his duty]

[Charles has passed on to the beyond. His game has ended.]

"No... no... no..."

He turned around to see Soo-jin catch her bloodied fan as it returned, then a gust of wind cut past him as Olivia grabbed onto him with her claws, pulling him out of the sand and lifting him into the air.

Ark gritted his teeth as he stared at the floor Charles had vanished into.

Despite being the cause of the problem, he couldn’t help but feel a pang in his hollow chest.

Being swallowed by a worm, one that would strap your lifeless body on like a new pair of boots... It was a terrible way to go.

But there was no time to waste.

The large worm shot out of the ground, trying to snatch Nolan from the sky, but with a massive beat of her wings, Olivia went higher.

Now fully revealed, they finally had a proper glimpse at the monster.

It was about seven feet long, and was robust, with a mouth the size of a manhole. Its body was milky white, with swirly patterns of red, but most of the patterns were hidden underneath what looked like rotting body parts.

The heads, limbs, even organs of various monsters and humans were strapped to its skin like a coat of flesh, the smell of rot heavy on its body.

[Threat detected! Corpse Keeper Worm, Level 5 x 1!]

Olivia dropped Nolan on the ground where they were, and stared at it in pure horror as it chewed down what was left of Charles.

Nolan emptied his stomach, and the others struggled not to do the same.

"We have to run, now!" Ark said as quietly as possible, even though he knew there was no point.

Nolan was in no state to run, so he pulled him from the floor and carried him on his back, all while the boy mumbled rubbish, a lost look in his eyes.

They were meant to be players, they had been told about the harsh reality of this world countless times... they had been told to expect death.

But nothing could have prepared them for this. At the end of the day, they were barely adults, with a number of them still being kids...

Nolan must have been around sixteen, and Isabella fifteen... children were never meant to witness such ghastly sights.

Yet for the sake of the world, they had to carry on, they had to look beyond the deaths, because the tower was merciless. There was no time to grieve, the moment you stopped moving...

Death would come for you too.

Without questioning him Soo-jin followed after him, running in the other direction, and because she did, the others followed suit.

Then all of a sudden, Nolan screamed in Ark’s ear.

"Why are we running?! That thing killed Charles! It’s just one monster, we can kill it!" He screamed with livid rage.

"He’s right. We can definitely kill it." Olivia said from above, although she sounded more logical than Nolan.

But Ark shook his head and kept running. It seemed it was only the two of them who hadn’t grasped the severity of the situation.

They believed there was only one corpse worm because the system had only alerted them of one.

But if you wanted to survive, you needed to learn to look beyond the system.

The system only showed monsters that were visible, that was why they didn’t know about the goblin ambush until it was too late.

"Do you hear that sound?" Ark asked, his feet pounding on the forest floor as he ran.

"What sou—"

Olivia froze. It was then that she realized the thunderous rumbling had never really ceased.

"That place Charles visited was a nest. And the monster we saw?"

The one that ate Charles...

Ark laughed bitterly. "That was just a scout, a baby if you must..."

The faces of the party members turned as white as a sheet of paper.

Soo-jin turned to him. Her face looked as stoic as always, but Ark could piece out the uncertainty in them. "What are you trying to say?"

Ark shook his head and stared up at the azure moon and golden stars, as though help would descend from above, as though some deity would speak against the cruelty of this so-called tutorial.

But all that greeted him was a deafening silence, and a sky that seemed to mock them.

The sky which once seemed so dazzling suddenly no longer felt beautiful.

There was nothing beautiful about this world.

With dread in his voice, he answered in a low tone. "The real monsters are on their way."

And there was no way to outrun them.

Behind them at a distance, a beast so large that it towered up into the sky arose, and a shriek tore through its throat, causing the very forest to tremble.