Chapter 4 Evasive Maneuvers

"Evasive maneuvers, put your back to the-" Lucius's orders were drowned in the screams of the other leaflings as they stumbled over each other in an attempt to get as far away as possible from the threat.

"Stop running in random directions, you'll just hurt each other!" However it was already too late, several leaflings had fallen down and couldn't get up as a stream of leaflings was constantly running over them. Although they had lost quite a number of leaflings to the boar, there were still about 50 leaflings left in the group, so the scene looked akin to a stampede.

"You! Get over here!" Lucius shouted, running towards the leader leafling who was currently hiding behind a nearby shrub.

"Lighted Savior you sho-"

"Enough of that. You're going to help get rid of those worms. The others are too scared, and because you never implemented any sort of emergency procedures, this is your responsibility. So get your leaf up and let's go," ordered Lucius, already running towards where the worms were spotted.

Logically speaking, it shouldn't have been a big deal that they were being attacked. The forest was quite dense, so much so that they literally couldn't see anything more than several feet ahead of them, unless there was some sort of clearing -like the one that the worms were on. However, the leaflings seemed to have the intelligence of young children, and though Lucius felt it should've been instinct for them to hide calmly, it was only due to his years of on-field experience that he could so calmly try to deal with the threat at hand.

"Wait, you call that a worm?" whispered Lucius, peeking from the edge of a buttress root to take a look at the clearing. There were two fat worms that moved at incredible speeds. Their maws had circles of sharp teeth, and instead of moving like normal worms, they slithered on the ground like snakes. One of them was currently eating a leafling and within seconds nothing was left of it, not even its stem.

"Yes, they are worse than boars," replied the leader leafling, trembling as he watched on.

~No weapons, no arms. What the hell do I do?~ wondered Lucius as the worms moved to catch yet another leafling. Running away wasn't an option, the worms were faster than the leaflings, and if they did decide to run then a good chunk of the leaflings would fall victim to them.

"Okay, listen. When this is over, you're going to take the surviving leaflings to someplace a little off the ground. Preferably someplace that gives you a view of the surrounding areas but doesn't leave you too exposed. I don't have much faith that you understand me, but... yeah that's it," with those words Lucius ran towards the worms, his little leafling legs moving at full speed.

~This is a stupid idea, so why am I doing it?~ he thought to himself as he took a route around the worms to approach them from behind.

"Savi-" Lucius couldn't hear what the leader leafling had screamed out, his mind was too preoccupied with the sheer amount of stupidity he was about to involve himself in. The plan would never work, in fact, he was half certain he would die without making much of a difference, but it was his nature to try.

"Oi, fat lug!" Lucius shouted once he had gotten directly behind them. The worms didn't react, they continued devouring the leaflings that they had caught, completely ignoring him.

"Over here!" he shouted again, this time kicking the worm to get its attention.

"Keee" The worm stopped what it was doing at moved the upper part of its body to see what had just hit it. Although they traveled fast, their movements were quite sluggish due to how fat their bodies were.

~Even if they do catch up to me, eating me is going to be another story,~ Lucius thought to himself, before dodging the worm's sluggish lunge.

~This body.~ Although he had managed to dodge the attack, it had been too close for his liking. His leaf body lacked muscle fiber, and its reactions were a tad too slow, though only by mere fractions, it could be the difference between staying alive and becoming worm food.

The worm clumsily picked itself up and prepared for another lunge, by this time Lucius was already on its side, baiting it into lunging at him.

*Lunge* Once again Lucius dodged to the side, however this time the worm's maw had just barely scraped the side of his body. It was an odd feeling, there was no pain, though a piece of his body had clearly been eaten.

After quickly picking himself up, he moved a little more to the side, baiting it to lunge at him once again. The worm seemed to be getting angry at its pesky prey, this time moving even further back to lunge with more power.

*Lunge* It took the bait, once Lucius dodged to the side, it planted its maw into its partner. The other worm instinctively bit back, planting its maw into the first as well.

~Seems like everything in this dream has the intelligence of a child~ thought Lucius as he watched the two worms begin fighting. Lucius was no entomologist, but were worms supposed to be this strong? Their teeth bit in deep, goring gruesome holes into one another.

Seeing that the worms were no longer after them, the leaflings stopped running. Several of them cautiously walked towards Lucius, making sure to stay a few steps behind him.

"What are they doing?" asked one of the leaflings as worm guts flew a few steps away from him.

"Fighting," replied Lucius. At this point both worms had been heavily injured, much of their bodies had been destroyed by the other, so much so that even if one of them did win, they would probably die due to hemolymph loss.

"Let's get out of here! Those who I stationed to face left and right, get into position here," ordered Lucius, using his feet to point at a spot close by.

"Those who I stationed facing forward, pick up the wounded and position yourselves between the others," Lucius ordered, using his feet to point directions at the other leaflings.

It took a few minutes but the leaflings were finally in position. By this point the two worms had reduced each other into mush, the victor was missing half its body and was trying to crawl away, however it was certain to meet its demise soon enough.