Two barbed, girthy skewering jaws were blocked in the mighty dire-worm’s throat, unable to reach out and devour Calaf as his shield-turned-battering ram was blocking the creature’s esophagus!

  “When it rears back, focus all attacks exactly one-third up its body!” Calaf ordered. “That’s where it’s segmented. We can still do this!”

  Sure enough, the creature retracted its neck rather than try to force down something that did not want to go down without an inordinate struggle. Calaf was left with an acid-melted half of a shield, more of a stub. Good for parrying and little else.

  The worm reared up to spew digestive bile again… and was struck by the full force of now less than twenty mid-level fireballs. The creature wobbled, and then its entire front-facing head snapped clear off! Magmalike sludge still lingered at the spot of its gaping wound.

  “There we go!” Calaf cried.

  Still, the beast had more health than any other creature yet faced by the guard.

  “Can we really kill it?” asked a Trailblazer.

  “Come a long way since skewering dire-rats back in the sewers,” Calaf said. “But same principle. Keep up the attack. Its second head doesn’t hit half as hard!”

  The second head proved much more cautious in its weakened state. It took a defensive stance, only peeking out to try and see if it could reach out and eat easy prey from relative safety.

  “C’mon, we’re so close!” said one of the lower-level clerics. “If we don’t kill this thing, it’ll all be for nothing.”

  Still on an adrenaline high, Calaf provoked the beast once more. Then, when it still didn’t come out of its shell, Calaf ran up, spear in both hands and climbed the beast. He ran to where the creature’s back ‘head’ would be and thrust his spear between two rocky plates. Calaf gave the spear a slow and grinding twist.

  The beast reared up to buck this parasite off its back. An opening!

  Another barrage of fire struck the beast between its primary plates. It wobbled, then the back third detached. Calaf rode the beast down as its HP drained to zero.

  Three great segments of the dire-worm sat gathering dust in the riverbed.

  Calaf stood there, spear chipped with battle damage and shield mostly melted. He stashed both in his Inventory to get them out of the way.

  “Thank you so much!” said that quick-thinking mage who’d pocketed Iodem’s catalyst.

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “You saved our lives,” said a Trailblazer, who then looked down, dejected “Most of them.”

  “Keep anything you want from this thing,” Calaf said. “Burn the segments, and any other corpses here, if there’s anything left of them. You don’t want to leave them be with no way of getting back to a priest for consecration.”

  He’d received a paltry amount of experience and gold. Not that he needed either. For the rest of the alliance, that experience had resulted in a level-up or even two.

  “Who are you, stranger?” asked one of the party.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Just a Wayfarer,” Calaf said. “Live around Riverglen.”

  Interface used to mention that.

  “We did it!”

  “Woo! That’ll be enough gold to buy a whole new armor set over in Port Town!”

  “Might even last us through the desert!”

  The parties celebrated as Calaf walked away. He stopped as the ground began to rumble.

  "What!?" Calaf turned.

  Two of the three segments of the legendary dire-worm – the segments that still were connected to a head – reared up. They let out twin roars, venom dripping from their maws.

  “What!?” Calaf raised his spear and the half a shield he had left. He’d ram it down another worm’s throat or die trying.

  Rather than stay and fight, the pair of new dire-worms buried their heads in the dirt and got to digging. They ran off, the burnt-over back ends rapidly morphing into a fresh maw.

  “Now what?” asked a Cleric.

  “Now we get back to Plains Junction,” Calaf said. “Tell the church there’s two dire-worms about. They send an arbiter around every few months. He’ll take care of it.”

  “Should we even still be here!?” asked another Trailblazer.

  “Relax.” Calaf put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “They won’t attack again until their segments grow back. Probably.”

  Or maybe they’d eat Walter next time. Who knew which option would be a better outcome?

  One final third of the great dire-worm writhed about on the lakebed. It was hard to retreat without any mouths.

  “We should still burn this one entirely,” Calaf said. “At least there won’t be three running about.”

  The alliance trudged back East towards the Plains Junction once the middle third of the legendary monster was well and truly slain.

  All the digging from the now twin dire-worms had covered up a great deal of earth from the riverbed. Those two skeletons of the Shielder and Healer were buried once more.

  Calaf left his ruined shield – the last legacy of Paladin Kai – wedged into the sands on a mound atop the riverbed. Maybe someone could have use of what was left of it when fighting the legendary monster in this spot down the line.

  Maybe someone would finish the job and make one of the beasts choke on it.

  Calaf walked back into town, armor scuffed, weapon dinged, and without a shield. He stopped by the cathedral to warn the church guards about the situation out by the lakebed. Walter would want to expedite his vermin extermination schedule.

  Task done, the Squire then went about checking in with traders and merchants for a new shield. He found something functional:

  That’d do. Another shield hefty enough to use as a battering ram in a pinch. He had the stats for it too and at his level range should more than be able to manage the weight.

  The Redstone Greatsheild of the Desert Wastes was wieldy enough for him to reasonably block one-handed and still strike with his spear. Duly, Calaf noted that both his weapon and shield were both from the desert.

  She’s really rubbing off on me, Calaf thought, blushing for no other reason than Jelena’s stupid, cocky, carefree face came to the front of his mind.

  He finished up his business in town by getting his Redstone Spear of the Desert Nomads reforged by a proper blacksmith. He was awarded a Redstone Spear of the Desert Nomads +3 for his trouble, with some extra poise and piercing force. He likewise had his armored repaired. Pricey upgrades, but he had the coin.

  The sun was low in the sky by the time he finished up. Calaf considered stopping by an inn.

  “Hey, it’s him!”

  “Yeah, the guy who saved us back with the dire-worms.”

  Calaf couldn’t help but notice he was being watched. Not by any prying eyes, but envious ones. He was quickly approached by a wide-eyed newbie.

  “Sir, good sir! They say you stood up against the worm single handedly!”

  “Oh, me?” he asked. “I had help.”

  “Yeah, but you tanked the dire-worm for a whole alliance!”

  “Just doing my job,” Calaf said with a quick bow of his head.

  “Wow! How can I be like you?”

  Calaf examined this fawning fan. They were barely level twenty, a Stalwart. A late-season pilgrimage-goer.

  “It’s all a matter of ranking up the levels. Gaining combat experience.” Calaf shrugged.

  He walked away, not used to adoring fans.

  “You’re a shining example for the church, good sir!”

  “I’m… I’m sure.”

  It was an easy trip, uphill mind you, to Twelfthnight. Perhaps he would carry onward, get an inn there, recuperate for a day amidst the hot springs, and then head onward to Deepwood from there.

  Calaf carried on to the south, into the evening.

  On that day, his Menu designation was thus:

  Finally, that ‘Kiss Stealer’ status had fallen off his Interface.

  The road sloped steadily upward. Calaf picked up the pace, more than capable of fighting anything on the short road between Plains Junction and Twelfthnight. It was a road well-traveled.