Kai and Akari moved through the dark tunnels, the stale air pressing down on them. Suddenly, the sharp squeals returned—rats, the same kind as before, swarming from the shadows. This time, Kai didn't hesitate.
"Let's finish this," Kai said, voice low but steady.
Akari nodded, tightening her grip on her sword.
The rats lunged all at once. Kai's hands glowed as he split his illusions—two clones flickering into existence. One moved left, another right, drawing attacks while the real Kai struck from the center.
Akari spun, her snake weaving through the crowd like a whip, snapping rat necks mid-air. Her sword slashed arcs of light, each strike precise and fluid.
Kai dodged a leap from a rat, barely catching himself against the tunnel wall. Illusions slammed into the beasts, causing confusion and chaos, but they kept coming. His body stung from scratches and bites, but he pushed through.
"Akari, I'm going to take the last one down. Hold on!" Kai shouted.
"Be careful!" she called, circling around.
As the last rat hissed, bigger and more ferocious than the rest, it lunged at Akari. She barely dodged, spinning back toward Kai.
[Riftborn Identified – "Blightwhisk Vermin"]
Threat Tier: D-
A D- riftborn! Kai's breath was ragged. He tried to summon another illusion, but his energy flagged. The big rat knocked him to the ground with a swipe. Pain flared sharp in his side.
He gritted his teeth, forced himself up again. This fight isn't over.
Akari dashed forward, distracting the rat with quick strikes and her snake's snap. Kai found his opening. He dodged the rat's swipe, then lunged, his hand transforming into a blade.
But he missed. The rat snapped at him again, knocking him down.
Kai's vision blurred, but he pushed himself up. I can't... fall here.
The rat charged, but Akari stepped in, blocking with her sword and sending the creature sprawling. Kai wiped blood from his lip, breath ragged.
"Now, Kai!" Akari shouted.
Summoning all his strength, Kai roared and plunged his blade into the rat's chest. The beast shuddered, then collapsed.
Kai collapsed on one knee, chest heaving, eyes burning with exhaustion and determination.
Akari smiled, breathless but fierce. "You did it."
Kai nodded, pain forgotten for a moment. This was the fight that mattered.
Kai stood over the giant rat's corpse, hand trembling as he reached down and pressed his palm against its twitching body.
The parasite within him stirred—excited, eager. Veins glowed faintly beneath his skin as Sekh activated the devouring sequence.
Dark mist coiled from the carcass. Kai's eyes lit up.
[Processing Gene Generation...]
His heart thudded faster.
[Congratulations! You obtained your first RARE Gene!]
[System Unlock: Rare Mutation Analyzer → Available in Gene Management]
[GENE FRAGMENT ACQUIRED – "Pheromelody Node"]
Classification: Internal Organ / Sonic-Pheromonal Resonator
Effect: Installs a specialized vocal node that emits layered ultrasonic chirps laced with pheromone pulses, mimicking the hive-language of Riftborn insects. When activated, it can lure, confuse, or temporarily command insect-type Riftborn in the vicinity.
Rarity: D+
Risk: Vocal strain / Attracts hostile swarms if overused or mistimed
His jaw dropped. A rare gene... I actually got one.
Behind him, Akari crossed her arms, watching quietly. "He really reminds me of him..."
Kai didn't hear. He was too focused on the swirling code before his eyes.
The mutated Gene glimmered with shifting tones, oddly musical, almost alive in how it pulsed through his system.
Pheromelody Node... kinda sounds like a musical bug pipe, he thought. Then he frowned. Wait, this doesn't even help in combat. What's this supposed to do? Sing lullabies to cockroaches?
"It's not about how it looks at first glance," Sekh replied, tone calm and amused. "Remember the Heloxian sac you picked up in your first day? You made it kill a knight and destroyed a whole kingdom."
Kai smirked. "Right... I weaponized an organ meant to purify blood into a toxin chamber. I did destroy the Heloxian kingdom with that."
He closed his eyes. The possibilities flickered in his mind. Hive-language... influence... ultrasonic misdirection...
"I have a plan," he muttered.
Akari stepped beside him, nodding toward the stone embedded in the wall ahead. A Riftheart crystal, pulsing with faint violet light—the source anchor of this E+ Rift.
"There's two, right?" she asked, already raising her blade.
Before Kai could answer, she swung down, shattering the gemstone. Shards of energy scattered, fizzling into mist.
"One down," she said coolly. "One more to go."
Kai exhaled, tightening his grip around the rare gene still settling inside his core.
I'm going to turn this weird bug-singing organ into a battlefield weapon. Just watch me.
Then they continued down the fetid tunnel, stepping over broken pipes and sludge-ridden platforms. The air was thick, but Kai couldn't focus on the stench. His fingers brushed his throat lightly, right over the place where the new node had formed.
"Let's just try this for a second..." he muttered.
"What are you doing?" Akari turned to him, eyebrow raised. "Practicing your opera voice? You look like you're about to recite a poem in rat dialect."
Kai ignored her. He concentrated.
A low vibration pulsed from his throat, then split into a series of layered ultrasonic clicks—too faint for human ears, but the moment they rippled outward, Kai felt something shift. The air around them tightened. The walls seemed to listen.
Then came the rumble.
"What the...?" Akari turned, eyes narrowing. "Was that—?"
The sound deepened.
It was the earth dragging itself forward.
And then it appeared—crashing through a collapsed pipe like a living siege weapon. A monstrous Riftborn worm, thick as a building, armored in grime-encrusted chitin, with rows of hooked mandibles dripping with sewer runoff. It didn't even crawl. It swam through the concrete.
Kai's breath stopped cold in his lungs. Its body scraped against the tunnel walls, shaking the entire sewer system.
The worm paused.
And turned.
Its head, a nightmarish blend of sensory antennae and twitching feelers, faced them.
Akari backed up a step. "Kai... what did you just do?"
"I—I think I accidentally sent a mating signal—"
Then came the flood. From cracks in the tunnel, from rusted holes in the ceiling, from broken drain grates—rats. Hundreds. Maybe more. Crawling, leaping, swarming.
"Oh hell no," Akari hissed.
"Kai, RUN!"
He didn't need to be told twice. They bolted down the tunnel, boots splashing through the muck, the worm roaring behind them, its cry a low-frequency tremor that rattled their bones.
"I was just testing!" Kai yelled over the sound of crashing vermin and collapsing walls.
"No more testing in cursed sewers!" Akari screamed back. "Next time you sing, warn me first!"
I messed up! Behind them, the tunnel shuddered again. The swarm was coming.
Then something clicked. As Kai skidded around a corner, rats still pouring out of every pipe, he felt a weird resonance in his chest. The chirps weren't just random. There was pattern hidden in the chaos.
Am I really just sending out mating signals?
No. That wasn't all.
He slowed down.
"Kai, what the hell are you doing?!" Akari yelled from behind. "Run, you absolute maniac—"
"Wait," he muttered. "Just wait... I think I get it."
He planted his boots down and turned to face the storm.
Rats skittered to a halt around him. The worm hissed in the distance.
Kai exhaled and triggered the Pheromelody Node again—but this time, deliberately. He adjusted the pitch. One short burst, then a longer one, then a series of triple pulses with varying pressure in his throat.
The rats froze. Their ears twitched.
"...Wait, they're not attacking?" Akari said, her voice catching as she slid to a stop a few meters back. "What the hell did you just do?"
Kai didn't answer. He changed the note again. Instantly, the rats screeched in panic and surged forward.
"Wrong note—bad note—bad!" Kai hissed, hastily altering the frequency again.
The swarm halted mid-charge.
Oh. My. God, he thought. They're responding. It's like... I'm speaking their hive language.
"You can talk to rats now?"
"I think I can command them... if I get the right rhythm."
Akari gawked at him. "Do you even understand how stupidly dangerous this is?! One wrong squeak and you'll be devoured alive by plague-bearers with tails!"
Kai didn't have time to explain. He tuned the node again. This time, the massive worm slithered into view.
Its beady, lightless eyes stared at him. It didn't screech. It didn't charge.
Instead—it moved closer.
"Kai! Kai!" Akari's voice cracked. "What did I just say!?"
"I got this... I think," he said, not at all convincing.
The worm loomed. Then it slowed.
And then...
It curled around him.
"KAI!!!"
Its enormous body coiled like a python's. One twitch and he'd be crushed into red mist—but instead, it wrapped around protectively, like a dog nesting beside its owner.
"...It's... hugging me," Kai muttered, eyes wide.
"WHAT THE F—WHAT DO YOU MEAN HUGGING YOU?!" Akari shouted, blade drawn and ready.
"I—don't—know—but—it's—not—attacking?"
The worm nuzzled its head lightly into Kai's side, then let out a low chittering trill—almost like a purr.
Akari blinked. "I can't believe I'm seeing this."
Kai looked up at her, completely frozen in the worm's massive embrace. "I think I just became the Queen of the Sewer Hive."
"Don't let it kiss you, or I swear I'm setting it on fire."
Kai laughed nervously. "...Can I ride it?"
Akari didn't even dignify that with a response.
The worm surged forward beneath them like a train of muscle and sinew, weaving through the sewer tunnels with terrifying precision.
Kai gripped one of its dorsal ridges tightly as Akari balanced behind him, still mumbling under her breath about how this was the dumbest thing she'd ever agreed to do.
"I still can't believe we're riding a goddamn worm," she said, clinging to his shoulder. "You better be proud of yourself."
"I am," Kai grinned. "Extremely."
It wasn't just dumb luck. The Pheromelody Node was more than a freak power—it was a key.
He was still only scratching the surface, but if he could tame a worm this size with nothing but sonic pulses and instincts, then what else could he control?
"Wormie," Kai called, stroking the creature's segmented shell. "Take us to the last Gemstone."
The worm chirred softly, adjusted course, and accelerated with a deep ripple through the tunnel walls.
In less than a minute, the air shifted. Kai could feel the mana in the Rift grow unstable—like ozone before a storm.
"There," Akari pointed. The Gemstone was embedded in a jagged web of root-like tendrils sprouting from the ceiling.
It pulsed faintly, its eerie violet light bleeding into the sewer air like a wound.
Kai narrowed his eyes. Two Gemstones...
He turned to the worm. "This is goodbye for now."
The worm cooed.
Akari gave him a look. "...Are you seriously getting emotional over a sewer beast?"
"She's been good to me," Kai said. "Better than most people."
He stepped off the worm, the slimy concrete floor sticking slightly under his boots. But instead of destroying the Gemstone himself, he turned to Akari.
"I have a plan."
She folded her arms. "Of course you do."
"I want you to destroy the Gemstone while I'm riding her."
"What."
"I want to test something," Kai said.
"You want to surf an exploding wormhole."
"Yes."
Akari stared. "You're actually insane."
"Probably."
She sighed, raising her blade. "...Fine. But if you die, I'm stealing your jacket."
Kai smirked. "Deal."
He climbed back onto the worm's back, pulsing the Pheromelody Node again—this time a pattern of gratitude. The worm responded with a low trill and poised itself.
Akari raised her weapon and sliced cleanly.
The Gemstone shattered.
In that instant, the tunnel twisted. The walls screamed. The air collapsed into negative pressure. The worm howled and surged forward, reacting instinctively to the implosion.
Akari and Kai held on with every fiber on the worm.
This is it.