Certain Death

Azu ran through the pitch-black cavern.

She'd never imagined a space this vast existed beneath the cliffs… but there was no time to marvel.

Her only light was the torch.

If she could just find a way back up.

That faint hope went unanswered.

What the torchlight revealed was a merciless dead end.

She looked around. No way out.

Panic built inside her with nowhere to go.

Then the crawling sound she'd heard in the distance grew closer.

No, not crawling. Something walking on countless legs, its body dragging across the ground.

Azu turned toward the sound and raised the torch as high as she could.

The flickering light slowly unveiled the source.

"Hii—!"

The instant she saw it, a strangled cry escaped Azu's throat.

A centipede… gigantic. Its head alone was larger than Azu.

Its full length stretched beyond what the torchlight could reach.

Enormous legs paired at every segment, each one dragging out a primal, visceral terror.

The only reason Azu didn't faint was the absolute certainty that fainting meant death.

But staying conscious didn't mean surviving.

The Giant Centipede clacked its massive fangs together in what could only be a threat display, each collision reverberating through the cavern.

Azu poured every ounce of strength she had into her still-numb right hand and gripped the sword Master had given her.

Maybe, just maybe, this sword could deal some damage to that thing.

If so, maybe it wouldn't see her as prey.

That was her thinking.

Her ragged breathing from the run had settled, but her heart hammered like an alarm bell with no sign of stopping. Cold sweat poured off her, every drop of color drained from her face.

When she instinctively stepped back, the centipede's head swung toward the sound.

No, more precisely, it was looking at the burning torch.

Azu had no way of knowing, but the centipede was nearly blind. It could only distinguish light from dark, relying on sound and vibration to track prey.

In total darkness, the torch was more than enough to hold its attention.

With one final, tremendous clash of fangs, the Giant Centipede lunged.

Its massive body flexed segment by segment, moving far faster than its appearance suggested.

Faster than Azu had expected. She barely dodged sideways, but a fang grazed her breastplate.

That alone was enough to crumple the armor. It fell from her body, destroyed.

Master had said it was enchanted with protective magic against impacts, hadn't he?

And it had broken that easily…!

Without the breastplate, Azu's body would have been the one crumpled. Fortunately, the protective enchantment must have done its job; no impact reached her.

And there, right before her, the centipede's flank lay exposed.

She batted away the writhing legs, dropped the torch, and seized the sword with both hands.

She could do this. The numbness lingered, but the enchanted lightweight sword could still swing at full force.

For the first time, Azu swung with everything she had. Genuine. Desperate.

Survival instinct overrode fear. Every ounce of strength she possessed, and then some, poured into that single strike…

Against the Giant Centipede's exoskeleton, it was nothing.

The blade bounced off that impenetrable shell, and the recoil slammed back through both arms.

"Ngghhh!"

The sword survived, but her hands didn't.

She lost her grip. The sword slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground.

She tried to pick it up, but the centipede swung back toward her faster than she could move.

She snatched the torch, wedged it under her arm, and hurried to put distance between them.

The Giant Centipede looked not at Azu, but at the sword. It picked the blade up in its mouth—and snapped it in two with its fangs.

Slowly, it turned to face Azu.

As if to say: you're next.

The sword and armor that had protected this ordinary girl were gone.

What remained was a defenseless child. Nothing more.

"No… no no no no…!"

With her protection gone, the dam holding back her terror broke. Panic consumed her whole.

She ran blindly from the Giant Centipede.

She tripped and fell over and over, cuts multiplying across her body, clothes shredding to rags.

The only reason the centipede's fangs hadn't found her was sheer luck. But a young girl's stamina had its limits.

The running felt like it lasted all night.

Her legs finally gave out and she collapsed.

She tried to use the torch as a crutch to stand, but her legs had no strength left.

Her numb arms couldn't support the torch either, and it slipped from her grasp.

The torch's burning tip, as it fell, illuminated a narrow crevice in the wall.

Long, but narrow.

She wrestled off the rucksack and crawled into the gap.

Just as she'd hoped, the Giant Centipede's head was too large to fit inside.

It rammed its head against the opening again and again, each impact shaking the stone and showering Azu with debris, but the crevice held.

(I made it. I'll rest here until that thing leaves.)

The instant she thought that, something grabbed the back of her clothes and yanked her out.

In the dying light of the dropped torch, she caught a glimpse of what had seized her.

One of the centipede's long, slender legs.

It had threaded its leg into the crevice and hooked her clothing.

Her ruined clothes tore. Stripped to nearly nothing, Azu had wet herself without even realizing it.

She couldn't even register the sensation running down her legs.

She couldn't see in the dark, but she could feel the centipede's head right in front of her.

And she knew its mouth was wide open.

The only things left on Azu's body were her underwear and the red magic stone necklace.

In the instant before her life could flash before her eyes, she remembered Master's words exactly.

"Break!"

Azu gathered her final scrap of strength and crushed the magic stone in her fist.