He heard Rexanna swear, and fervently agreed with her assessment. This wasn't an ideal situation, but he knew too little about the worms to know if running would be wise, or only encourage them to give chase. Though, for that matter, he didn't know enough about the worms to know if they even had vitals, or where to strike to find them. The heads, apparently, as Rex's firework had shown, and he glanced back at her with a faint whine that was almost a question.
She was ready, fierce and proud, and Jigano had to admit that he wasn't exactly proud of himself for considering running from worms. Sure, they were bigger than him...
But they were still worms.
Maybe they could climb a tree if things got hairy? Er... slimy?
Then there was no more time for thinking as the Magna Vermis reached them. The biggest of their number flung itself at the body of its slain brethren but landed short, slamming into the earth with an unpleasant squelching sound. One of the medium-sized worms had better aim, striking the corpse squarely but bouncing off the much larger ex-worm and wriggling in confusion as it tried to reorient itself.
Unfortunately that still left four worms that focused on the smaller but more mobile intruders.Rexanna would find the two smallest worms striking at her ankles with aggressive intent. One of them only managed a glancing blow, leaving a smear of sticky slime on her boot, but the other managed to strike squarely, bruisingly hard, and began to twine itself around her leg in mindless fury.
Jigano had problems of his own as the other two mid-sized worms focused on him. The first to reach him lunged from the mud with a wet sucking sound that had him inwardly cringing as he jumped to avoid it, landing on its slippery head and using his black claws to pin and hold it down. Its partner tried to headbutt the place he had just been, missing the fox but crowding closer to Rexanna even as the fox snarled and bit down on what he assumed was his worm's neck. He got a mouthful of mud and slime for his trouble, but also managed to remove a significant chunk of flesh as he shook his head violently, and the Magna Vermis beneath him spasmed wildly in its final throes.
She was ready, fierce and proud, and Jigano had to admit that he wasn't exactly proud of himself for considering running from worms. Sure, they were bigger than him...
But they were still worms.
Maybe they could climb a tree if things got hairy? Er... slimy?
Then there was no more time for thinking as the Magna Vermis reached them. The biggest of their number flung itself at the body of its slain brethren but landed short, slamming into the earth with an unpleasant squelching sound. One of the medium-sized worms had better aim, striking the corpse squarely but bouncing off the much larger ex-worm and wriggling in confusion as it tried to reorient itself.
Unfortunately that still left four worms that focused on the smaller but more mobile intruders.
Jigano had problems of his own as the other two mid-sized worms focused on him. The first to reach him lunged from the mud with a wet sucking sound that had him inwardly cringing as he jumped to avoid it, landing on its slippery head and using his black claws to pin and hold it down. Its partner tried to headbutt the place he had just been, missing the fox but crowding closer to Rexanna even as the fox snarled and bit down on what he assumed was his worm's neck. He got a mouthful of mud and slime for his trouble, but also managed to remove a significant chunk of flesh as he shook his head violently, and the Magna Vermis beneath him spasmed wildly in its final throes.
