The swarm was gaining on Rio as he continued to evade their grasp. Cutting down the few that had reached him while maintaining his speed.
His heart was racing as he continued his flight as the number of creatures had reached the point where it was almost impossible for him to continue avoiding them all.
He wasn't sure where he was headed anymore as he Began flying through tunnels at random. There was no time to think. All he knew was that he needed to get away from these things no matter what.
As the Strings caught up Rio removed his hind talons and replaced them with cannons as he filled the tunnel with the echoes of his destruction.
He rained down fire down the tunnels behind him blasted through the swarm of strings reaching for him. This would have been amazing for him if not for the fact that they would just come back stronger.
There was no more space in the tunnel for more strings to become visible to Rio, but he could hear the sounds of rumbling behind him as they raged.
Rio took a quick glance behind him to see that he could only see a large mass of red rapidly approaching him. It was as if there was a wall behind him ready to slam into him at any moment.
"Oh crap," Rio whispers under his breath as he continues firing behind him.
Soon, even his gunfire wasn't enough to hinder their progress towards him.
Noticing this, Rio put all of his efforts into racing down the tunnel.
The swarm rages behind him as Rio spots a clearing up ahead. The two race down the tunnel, only inches apart.
The swarm is only cm away from reaching him when he soars into the clearing. But Rio doesn't stop, He continues flying through without a second thought unaware that the swarm had stopped their pursuit.
After what felt like forever Rio began to slow down as he took a look behind him.
"Phew, note to self don't ever touch the ground again. I definitely don't want to deal with that ever again."
Calming his nerves Rio listens for the humming sound, noticing that he had traveled even further away than where he had started.
Carefully backtracking, making sure to watch out for the swarm, Rio returns to the clearing that he had passed in a panic previously.
Rio takes in his surroundings as the room was noticeably brighter than the tunnels. He was able to see the interior of his location in much more detail now. He could make out a large structure made out of sand with a heavy door lining the wall. The room was also filled with two large statues depicting some form of worm-like creature.
As Rio began inspecting the statues he noticed that there were several symbols etched into their sides.
None of the symbols meant anything to him so he decided to ignore them for now.
As Rio began to fly closer to the door he could hear movement around him but couldn't pinpoint their location.
Rio continued to fly closer to the door until finally he planted his jaws around the handle. As he tried to pull the door open, He heard the sound again but this time he knew exactly where it had come from.
It was coming from the Two massive sand worms that were moments away from devouring him whole.
Rio opened his mouth and released a torrent of blasts passing through one of the worms creating a hole in it. Using that hole, Rio flies past it dodging out of the impact from the other worm.
As Rio turned to face his adversaries, he watched as the Worm that he had blasted to all hell reformed itself with the surrounding sand.
After recovering the first worm began charging at Rio with the other following suit. Rio wasted no time in responding to this new attack with one of his own. He began blasting the worm before him into pieces as he reformed his talons to cut into the other.
And just as before, the two worms reformed their bodies, preparing to come at him again.
"You guys just keep coming back for more huh. Rio taunts as he flies towards the worms.
Despite their regenerative capabilities, they were extremely fragile.
"Destroying you two over and over is fun and all, but I don't want to spend anymore time in this flesh cave."
Rio begins to turn his attention to the room once again. There had to be some way to get rid of these guys for good.
Shooting a hole into one of the worms, Rio flew towards the sand structure to look for any clues.
"This place seems to be a little more advanced than it should be for a place made of flesh." Rio mutters as he cuts down a raging worm while inspecting the room.
As he inspected the room, he noticed a small device implanted into the wall near where the Statues had been stationed.
"I'm sure this is related to the worms in some way. Buuut, I have no idea how." Rio says as he ponders how to use the device, All the while breaking apart the worms periodically.
Rio tries to think of how the device worked but quickly gives up. there was no way he was going to figure this thing out without any prior knowledge.
"I guess I'll just go with old trusty," Rio states proudly as he charges a blast towards the device.
Shooting the blast into the device, Both worms begin to deconstruct as their bodies drop to the ground as if they were normal grains of sand.
"I don't know why I don't just do this more often. It's far more effective than what I usually do.
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