They Wanted a Hero. They Made a Monster: Born at the Bottom
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 11: The Second Earthborer
The Mana Crystal atop Elara’s cap flared. In a panic, she cast Mire.
Solid ground became a bog beneath the Earthborer. The stone fragments it had torn loose dissolved into muddy water.
The transformed layer was not deep. Farther below, where the end of the giant worm’s body remained underground, the earth was still firm.
Using that buried section for leverage, the Earthborer continued to drag itself slowly downward.
Evan had no intention of watching it escape.
“Elara, keep casting Mire. Don’t stop!”
“All right.”
The Puffcaps taking damage around the cavern finally returned fire. The soft popping of Spore Cannons became continuous.
Evan concentrated every shot on the section where the Earthborer’s stone armor had shattered.
Its HP fell steadily on the Status Panel. At the speed it was burrowing, it could not escape.
They were going to succeed.
This was Evan’s path out of the dungeon. Once the Earthborer died, he could move here temporarily, decompose the corpse, and obtain its skill. Then he could dig upward and see daylight again.
It had been so long since he felt the sun.
But why was the ground trembling again?
The vibration was coming from...
...
“Elara, run back!”
“What?”
Focused on maintaining Mire, Elara did not understand. She took two instinctive steps backward.
Another colossal worm burst through the stone directly in front of her.
A ridge of rocky armor struck Elara like an uppercut and hurled her into the passage.
“Elara? Elara!”
She did not answer. Evan opened her Status Panel in alarm.
She had lost 400 HP.
With more than 3,000 HP, she was nowhere near death, but the impact had clearly knocked her unconscious.
Four nearby Puffcaps collected Elara and the fallen A-grade Mana Crystal, then carried both deeper into the tunnel.
Elara was safe for the moment. The battle was not.
The second Earthborer rampaged through the cavern, crushing Puffcaps by the score.
Without Elara to maintain it, the bog around the wounded Earthborer began to harden. The creature’s burrowing speed increased visibly.
Why was there a second Earthborer?
Had Evan used so many Mana Crystals that the bait became too enticing?
Or did the worms possess some sense of companionship and come to one another’s aid?
There was no time to consider it. Defeating the newcomer was impossible. Evan concentrated his remaining firepower on the wounded target.
He ignored the Puffcaps dying all around it and unleashed everything he had.
If only he could reduce its HP to 0 before it escaped.
“What? Another Earthborer knocked me away?”
Twenty-three Puffcaps and one newly awakened Elara, who was still confused and somehow a little excited.
That was the full strength of the force that made it back to the Mycelial Garden.
The wounded Earthborer escaped with only a sliver of HP remaining. Meanwhile, the second worm inflicted devastating losses on the surviving Puffcaps.
Worse, collapses had cut off large sections of the cavern. Many Puffcaps could not reach the passage home and had to be abandoned.
The mana disturbance from the battle had at least frightened away every small monster in the area. The survivors encountered no further attacks on the retreat.
Otherwise, none of them might have returned.
Evan felt like a speculator who had wagered his entire fortune and lost it all.
His savings were gone.
At least the dungeon had no mortgages. He still owned the Mycelial Garden.
One mushroom’s sorrow was incomprehensible to another.
Evan mourned his losses. Elara was in an excellent mood.
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