Riding a "Horse"

"Stupid kid. Looks like he burned through too much energy and crashed," Vic remarked as he watched Shen Yu stand motionless. What a waste of skill at that level.

Suddenly, all the worms unleashed their stored power at once, descending on Shen Yu in the center like a net.

Quite a few people covered their eyes or turned away, unable to bear what came next.

Then blood and chunks of flesh rained down, but there was far too much of it-far more than one living person could produce.

Vic stared with wide eyes. The Crossbow in his hand dropped to dangle at his waist, and his jaw went slack as he took in the sight before him.

Amid the flying flesh and blood, two streaks of white light danced at blinding speed, forming a barrier that shredded every worm that approached.

Combat skill: [Thread Dance]

Two seconds later, the pure white silk threads relaxed and returned to the palms of the gloves. Meanwhile, another Red Eyes appeared in Shen Yu's previously empty left hand.

Pigu gaped at the gloves covered in blood-red eyes. Was that thing the E.G.O. Red Eyes?

W-wait, what was that technique he just used? How come I've never seen it before?

Seeing how fierce his assault was, the first worm immediately lowered itself and gnawed a glowing hole in the ground.

But before it could make the hole big enough to pass through, an Ice Crystal Spear pierced it. Shen Yu tugged the silk thread attached to the spear's tail, retrieving the weapon and leaving a corpse on the ground.

Then Shen Yu turned toward the dumbstruck employees and said:

"Why do you guys keep spacing out? The big one's coming."

"Huh? What big one?" Vic was baffled by the cryptic remark.

"The one behind you!"

"Behind me?" Vic turned his head, only to see a massive maw filled with sharp teeth descending on him.

His mind told him to dodge, but his legs had already frozen stiff. He couldn't move out of the way.

Heh. Maybe dying at the hands of a creature I can actually see is a kind of good fortune.

Suddenly, a cloud of black dust shot over and enveloped the Giant Worm's head. For some reason, it froze on the spot.

At the same time, he felt his right hand being yanked forward, and his body flew uncontrollably after it. Once that guy let go, he tumbled across the floor before finally crashing into the wall with a bang.

"You..." Vic clutched his back, which felt as though it had nearly snapped, and pointed ahead.

"No need to thank me. It's what a good manager should do." Shen Yu gave him a light chuckle, then turned and walked toward the Giant Worm opposite him.

"What?" Vic suddenly wondered if something was wrong with his ears. "Did he just say he was... a manager?"

But he quickly pushed that thought aside, opened the communications channel on his wristwatch, and shouted into it:

"Why haven't the reinforcements arrived yet?"

The instant the connection went through, the chaotic roars on the other end already gave him an answer. Then Sam's frantic voice came through:

"We were ambushed. There's a giant worm here... Damn it, why have these worms gotten so strong?! Ron, hold the line!"

Even that surviving level-five employee can't handle it? A chill ran through Vic, and he shouted at Shen Yu ahead:

"Come back! That thing isn't something you can handle."

The Giant Worm's mouthparts opened and closed, all its eyes fixed on Shen Yu before it. More of the worms from earlier kept crawling out through the gaps in its carapace. (Image)

"Food Chain, huh," Shen Yu remarked as he looked at the Giant Worm before him. It certainly fit the Control Department's rule of the strong devouring the weak.

Just moments earlier, he had learned its attributes through his double's perspective.

With the Suppressors offline, not only had the damage dealt by these Amber Trials returned to its original level-five times what it had been-but their behavior patterns and thoughts were no longer restrained either.

They were no longer unable to turn as they had been before, and could even communicate with their own kind through some means.

As the Giant Worm, Food Chain, let out a low growl, all the smaller worms screeched and charged at Shen Yu.

Fortunately, their jumping height was still limited. Shen Yu chuckled at the sight, and the War Hammer-shaped [Red Eyes] in his left hand elongated into a blood-red blade.

Then Shen Yu put away the spear, gripped the blade in his right hand, and used Aerial Thrust to reach the space above Food Chain, slashing downward.

However, Shen Yu's body didn't bounce back up like Little Knight's. Instead, he dropped straight down and landed astride Food Chain's enormous body.

Vic and the other employees froze at the sight. Wu Ke couldn't help gaping and blurting out:

"Is he really that fearless?"

Uh, this is a little awkward. Shen Yu looked down at Food Chain's massive body, then silently stabbed it.

Food Chain let out an enraged screech and shook its body, trying to throw him off.

Shen Yu grabbed its carapace with his left hand to anchor himself, then repeatedly drove the blade into the gaps.

Although the Suppressors had failed and the Abnormalities' abilities were no longer restrained, fortunately, Food Chain still produced a fixed number of three worms, and it had already released all of them.

And in this life-or-death crisis, Shen Yu's mind raced, developing a new effect for [Red Eyes].

E.G.O. awakening: [Pain Toxin]: Every five attacks, the weapon accumulates one dose of toxin, up to a maximum of eight doses. When injected into an enemy's body, it causes pain unbearable to living beings, but deals no damage.

Cost: The wielder experiences extreme fear.

Whenever a worm climbed onto Food Chain's body, Shen Yu twisted the blade inside Food Chain and injected [Pain Toxin], making it buck violently and shake off the climbing worms.

Meanwhile, the E.G.O.'s side effect plunged Shen Yu into extreme fear. He chose to stab Food Chain like a madman to distract himself.

As for the persistent worms that successfully reached the top, what awaited them was Shen Yu's combat skill, [Thread Dance].

Although the combat skill consumed a great deal of stamina, riding on Food Chain wasn't exactly tiring.

Whenever Food Chain chose to ram the ceiling, he hid in the gaps in its carapace to avoid the impact, then gave it a few more stabs.

And so, everyone watched the terrifying Giant Worm hop and buck, with flashes of white light appearing above it from time to time.

"Is he riding a horse?" Wu Ke asked in bewilderment as he looked up at Shen Yu.

"I guess so," Vic replied.

Meanwhile, Pigu lay in the Rest Room, staring at the familiar ceiling. Under the effects of the Regeneration Reactor, his wounds quickly stopped bleeding and healed at a visible rate.

Although both his body and mind were recovering, his understanding of reality had gone awry. He muttered to himself:

"So that's how you use E.G.O. People really can fly in defiance of physics..."

Then Food Chain gnawed a glowing hole in the ground and plunged into it.

In another corridor of the Control Department.

Surrounded by senior employees from the other departments, the Giant Worm finally stopped moving. Amber bodily fluid flowed from the enormous tumor on top of it.

Sam dragged his leaden legs over to Ron, who was panting heavily, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Thank goodness we had a level-five employee like you here. Otherwise, we never would've survived."

Ron shook his head and pointed at his equipment.

"No, it was all thanks to this ALEPH-class set. Without it, I couldn't have withstood its damage at all. We need to get to the Control Department's Rest Room right away. If another one shows up, we'll all die here."

"Aw, come on." Sam waved a hand and chuckled. "We can't be that unlucky."

The moment he finished speaking, a glowing hole several meters wide appeared in the floor ahead. A Food Chain burst out of it, and, unbelievably, someone was riding on its back.

Looking at the bewildered senior employees, Shen Yu said awkwardly:

"Uh, good afternoon."