The Great Worm Lich

Zhang Lisheng watched with anticipation the venomous worms that were killing each other. He then mumbled, “That fuzzy bear caterpillar seems very ferocious, and that rainforest scorpion is remarkably using its poisonous sting so agilely, but Island Dragon’s tail has poisonous sting too… Hmm, what’s that…”

Just when the insects were about to come out from Zhang Lisheng’s witchcraft incantation, two beetles that flew side by side caught his attention. The beetle’s body looked like a human’s heart that was symmetrical. Just like Island Dragon, the shell above its wings would change colors continuously mimicking its surroundings. However, the change was crude so one could spot them if one would look closely. It was an extraordinary way of surviving in the jungle.

Zhang Lisheng knew very well all the insects and reptiles in the world but he could not remember seeing such a color-changing beetle like that. He thought this beetle might be like the giant hornet with poisonous spikes on its mouth and tail. Extremely agile when it was hunting and could suck its prey dry. They were indeed a strange species that definitely came from somewhere unknown.

Zhang Lisheng had his guards up and backed off slowly. He controlled Mountoad, and have it protect his front. He then got Island Dragon to extend its giant claws to catch the two beetles that flew side by side. What caught him by surprise was that the two beetles did not fight back. They were squashed flat in Island Dragon’s sharp claws.

“No offensive ability? Could it be a new species in the Amazon jungle that nobody knows about…” Zhang Lisheng mumbled in surprise looking at the beetles that were squashed into red and green dots. At the moment, he happened to see two color-changing beetles that were exactly the same flew by. The beetles got Zhang Lisheng curious. He thought that such an insect would be dead if they fight others for food; he controlled Island Dragon to capture them carefully from the air. He took out an energy bar. He finished it in a few bites and wrapped the beetles with the energy bar wrapper. He then tossed the beetles that he wrapped into his backpack casually.

Later on, he patiently watched the countless venomous worms before him fighting for the endless food under his spell. As time went by, there was finally a winner among the venomous worms. It was a giant centipede on the tall and broken tree whose front body lifted high like a snake. After devouring hundreds and thousands of venomous worms, the centipede’s body exceeded 80cm. Its body that was a mix of black and red was now completely dyed in blood red.

While Zhang Lisheng was looking at the centipede. He was hit by emotions all of a sudden. His first wizard worm Qing Hong was a centipede too. Now that he thought about it. Although it was not considered powerful since it was killed by an ordinary person, it was the venomous worm that accompanied him for the longest time.

“This is such a coincidence, I can’t believe a centipede showed up on the last day…” Zhang Lisheng mumbled to himself with shock and joy on his face. While he was in the middle of his mumbling. A loud thud came from the right side of the jungle all of a sudden. He controlled his wizard worm to protect him. He then saw a tree branch flying by. The tree branch smashed at the giant centipede’s head.

Zhang Lisheng was stunned from the shock, and rage could now be seen on his face. He climbed immediately onto Island Dragon’s back. He commanded Island Dragon to sneakily head towards where the loud thud came from. Zhang Lisheng was about to head out when he saw a huge green pool appear before him. The right side of the pool was connected to a deep valley. Water flowed out of the pool into the deep valley but there was no sound at all. It was beautiful around the pool, and it was tranquil as well. There were some pieces of thick trees on the ground that were torn into pieces. Tree sap flowed out of the trees’ fresh cuts.

Zhang Lisheng looked around and thought to himself while frowning. He controlled Island Dragon to get close to the giant log next to the pool. Suddenly, there was some rumbling in the pool. Zhang Lisheng controlled Island Dragon to back off carefully. He saw a giant deadwood that measured eight to nine meters long floating out of the pool.

There were three thick Amazon jungle boas which length exceeded ten meters. They were tangled tight at the front and the back of the deadwood. The boas were tightening their body; they even rubbed the deadwood’s rough dark brown skin out. The deadwood’s skin was opened and revealed a bloody flesh inside. It began struggling from the pain with great effort while waving the back part of its body blindly, slashing the trees around into a mess. Zhang Lisheng had just realized that the log was a giant crocodile.

“Saltwater crocodile! There’s no river here, how did such a huge saltwater crocodile crawl into the jungle and get into trouble with jungle boas?”

A saltwater crocodile was a crocodile that had no scales on its back. Even though such a giant crocodile had no protection of scales, it could reach four to seven meters long and could weigh 600 to 1,600 kilograms when it was fully grown to remedy its flaw. That made it on the top of the food chain in the jungle and wetlands.

However, this crocodile that looked much bigger than its own kind encountered three brutal and predatorial Amazon boas that were on the top of the rainforest’s food chain. After a while of struggling, it was pulled into the pool with the combined force of its three opponents. All of a sudden, everything around the pool regained its peace.

“Too bad I’m not in New York right now. It’s definitely impossible for me to refine such a huge saltwater crocodile or jungle boa into a wizard worm and bring it on the plane. It’s impossible that I would encounter a creature that possesses such unique omniscient power as Island Dragon does…” Seeing that the show was over at the moment, Zhang Lisheng lost his mood to wait for the ending. He mumbled to himself feeling depressed and planned to command Island Dragon to leave.

Suddenly, there was another round of rumbling in the pool. There was a red liquid that came out from beneath the pool, dyeing the surface of the pool red. Zhang Lisheng could not help himself but continue watching. The giant crocodile got out of the water again. The three giant boas were still strangling the giant crocodile though. The one that was strangling its neck had a sharp stone pillar pierced through its body.

Boa’s reacted extremely slow when it was hurt. Although the stone pillar clearly pierced its vital part, it was still strangling the giant crocodile by tightening its body. The actions of the jungle boa were undoubtedly suicidal, which made the wound on its body tear even more.

Soon, the hurt jungle boa could no longer take it. It released its body, and the giant crocodile that was about to die finally had the opportunity to breathe. It seized the moment when its neck was released and turned around with all of its might to tear into half the hurt jungle boa. The giant boa that broke into half did not die right away. Instead, it strangled the saltwater crocodile even more. However, it was a futile effort that only made the crocodile want to tear the boa apart even more.

After defeating one of its opponents; the giant crocodile that had its front legs released crawled out of the pool strenuously. It turned its body with its front legs continuously. The jungle boas that were tangling around its stomach would rub against the ground each time it twisted its body.

The jungle boas became more wounded as mud and branches flew everywhere. Ten minutes had passed after the beast’s ‘make it or break it’ fight. The giant crocodile had finally shaken off the jungle boas. It mercilessly killed its second opponent that was in a bloody mess. At that moment, the predator and prey’s position in the hunt had been changed. Finally, the saltwater crocodile tore the third jungle boa into pieces.

After turning the tables around, the severely injured saltwater crocodile turned around and glared at Mountoad and Zhang Lisheng who seemed to be hovering midair with its huge diamond-shaped eyes. It opened its mouth wide to show its sharp teeth to threaten Zhang Lisheng. Although Zhang Lisheng knew that he was very safe under the protection of his wizard worms, he could not help the numbing on his scalp and the goosebumps on his back because he was being glared at by a giant deadly crocodile.

However, such a terrifying feeling made him reveal joy on his face. “A reptile that doesn’t give up after encountering such powerful opponents is born to be a wizard worm embryo, I must try to refine it whether I could bring it with me or not. The only thing I would lose is a little bit of wizard power.”

Zhang Lisheng began chanting witchcraft incantation while sitting on Island Dragon’s back as he spoke. He spat a mouthful of black blood at the giant crocodile and shouted the word ‘assimilate’. As the spell echoed in the jungle the black blood turned into a mist; it covered the giant crocodile that was dashing into the pool to avoid the mist by instinct. The blood mist penetrated into its body through its wounds.

The giant crocodile rumbled in pain and released a loud shriek. Soon, the wounds that were torn apart by the jungle boas extended continuously. Its skin was cut into tiny pieces. Meanwhile, the bones between its skin continued to grow bigger and longer while its flesh was growing in distortion. As it struggled with all its might; its body did not stop growing. Eventually, it grew to over 20 meters long and four to five meters wide.

When its muscle and bones grew to its limit; the giant crocodile’s skin began to grow slowly. They began connecting each other to cover its entire body. Three to four minutes later, a ferocious wizard worm that looked like a prehistoric dinosaur sat quietly before Zhang Lisheng.

“Cloud, absorb. Cloud, absorb…” Zhang Lisheng’s eyes widened not because he was shocked by the wizard worm’s gigantic body that transformed from a saltwater crocodile but the two hieroglyph words that appeared in its head when he looked closely at the giant crocodile. “It’s the same with Mountoad, it had omniscient power the moment it was refined. But it’s so big… Forget it, it doesn’t make sense for me to think too much about it now, let’s see after checking out what its ability is…”

He began chanting witchcraft incantation after making up his mind. However, the giant crocodile began shaking its head while moving its body after being controlled by the incantation. It caused a tremor in the jungle like there was an earthquake, but that was all that happened. Zhang Lisheng was stunned and proceeded to chant witchcraft incantation. As the chanting went on, the giant crocodile moved even more but still—nothing else happened.

Zhang Lisheng thought about it carefully after he stopped chanting. He vaguely came into a conclusion. He thought there might be too many restrictions to the giant crocodile’s omniscient power. However, since the wizard worm already obtained its omniscient power, he must test what exactly it was.

After Zhang Lisheng gave it some thought. He commanded Island Dragon to return to the pool. He climbed down from the wizard worm’s back and picked up a few dry branches and vines from the jungle’s ground. He lit up a bonfire with a lighter and took out an energy bar then ate it in big bites. He used the energy bar’s wrapper to pick up some water from the pool and poured it on the fire while chanting witchcraft incantation.

A cloudy mist of light was created from the water pouring onto the fire. The cloud mist’s nature was created by the consolidation of the evaporation of water on the ground from the sun which turned into steam that went to the sky. As soon as the steam appeared; it went up quickly and was swallowed by the giant crocodile that lifted its head lightly all of a sudden before the steam managed to fade away.