Rage, and its seduction towards a warrior's mind.

Such an impact had mesmerized the young man, to the point where he didn’t care that there was a bunch of the enemy’s blood laid throughout his entire face.

The adrenaline didn’t let him get spooked. On the contrary he stood up, and felt how his inner rage unravelled towards this battle.

Steve took a peek at the man who saved him just a moment ago, and the smirks across both of their faces were almost identical.

For that matter the young man had to yell, “Nice shot, you saved my head right there!”

“I’m not letting some crazed ass worm come for my head!” Richard followed along.

Such a reason seemed selfish for sure. But judging from the smile which this man carried, anyone could figure out that he either joked around, or didn’t want to admit to the good deed he just did.

Regardless, that shot was just what the group needed to attain the upper hand in battle.

And now it only seemed reasonable for the young man to rush towards this battle once more.

This time around, he could pull the couple of daggers that remained in his coat. Likewise he was more prepared to face this gruesome battle.

Earlier on he didn’t want to get close to any of these darned crimson-coloured worms; common logic advised against it.

But every step he took forward just fueled his rage-oriented bravery.

He had pushed down so many bad emotions, just because he didn’t want them to cloud his judgment.

This new life had not treated him well at all, but through the dilemmas he understood that a clear mind aided survival.

Such a decision was good, but now his heart was coated with a self-righteous rage.

He wasn’t happy with how this world treated him, and this scene seemed like a good opportunity to rupture a bit of that rage.

Likewise he leaped towards one of the enemies, and aimed to show them just how hard he could hit!

Steve swung his daggers against one of these worms, and managed to strike right against its throat!

He had attained such an advantage, simply because the enemy had prepared to leap forward.

It didn’t have enough time to detach from the floor, but it did raise its head high enough for the young man to strike through it!

Thanks to that same matter, the result turned out beyond stunning!

The blood worm’s potato shaped head, rolled across the weeds that were laid across this corridor.

Such a result was expected, but the hero had charged forward with a pace that was over the top.

He sliced through the enemy with ease, yet his pace did not slow down.

Such rage-fueled strength forced the boy to crash against the ground once more.

Thankfully there were enough plants around here which cushioned his fall, but such a crash had only made him angrier.

He arose from the ground through a split second and tried to find the other worms that remained in this battle.

His crave for violence was left betrayed after he noticed that Altima had taken care of the matter.

Thanks to Steve’s involvement in battle, those enemies were cut down in number. Two of them remained alive just a moment ago, but this fine lady sliced them into many pieces.

After that point these couple of friends locked eyes with each other. One look across their faces would help understand that they shared a similar rage.

But in this case, the younger one’s aura was far more overwhelming. Anyone would be spooked by such rage which could shake the grounds themselves!

Yet Altima felt that her cheeks flushed red, and the lower portion of her stomach tingled a little bit as well.

If she stared at the boy’s eyes for a few more moments, she would have most definitely pissed herself.

The worst part was that she enjoyed every part of this emotion, which mimicked a nervous breakdown. In the worst yet most enjoyable way possible, she was seduced by the other’s rage.

But thankfully she managed to get herself together once their eye-contact broke apart.

And finally she could recite, "Looks like that's the last of them."

...

The team found enough motivation to seek refuge in these corridors.

Sure they were almost killed by those blood worms, but a few other aspects of this place were beyond useful.

A bit of exploration helped them understand, regarding what could be the source of all this plant-life.

The main corridor they initially entered, led towards another corridor which was shaped similar to a circle.

There only was one route, and it spread about two hundred meters long, so the team took some time until they realised that they had walked in circles for a good while.

However, what mattered was the thing that this same circle-shaped corridor surrounded.

Once the team reached back to their starting point for the fourth time, they figured out what hid beneath their noses.

There was an entrance which had been hidden by various vines and weeds, the naked eye could barely capture it.

Once they figured out that there was a door, right near the entrance of this circle-shaped corridor, they could finally understand how this place was so alive.

As the door led them towards a massive cavern! This vicinity was at least three hundred meters wide, and it seemed deeper in comparison to the corridor they left behind.

This cavern had a massive pool of water right in the middle, which likely spread somewhere around a hundred meters wide!

Now this same water seemed to be the source which fed all of this vegetation. Such a conclusion was assured once the group peeked at the other features of this place.

The corridor behind them had been indeed filled with plant life, but this cavern was a few times more luminous in comparison!

Every colour that mother nature could produce, was spread around the area. But here, everything just seemed bigger in comparison, and had a softer aura.

They could see tens of bugs which lurked in the upper corners of the cavern, but it didn't seem like they aimed to be hostile; so those creatures couldn't be considered a problem.

"This place is better than gold," Steve uttered.

They walked downwards along a carved staircase at the moment, as the cavern's bottom grounds were at least a couple hundred meters lower.

Richard followed along the conversation, as he added. "Yes, but I'd rather have gold you know?"

"I doubt that this place has any gold," Altima interrupted.

And then she pointed towards the lower portions of this vicinity.

The naked eye couldn't capture much from here, but there were a few short buildings near the pool of water.

These houses seemed small, muddy, and they were shaped in a square matter.

They simply seemed ruined by time. As their roofs for example, had long been torn off and all ten or so buildings were covered with weeds and vines.

These brief details helped the group realise one key fact.

Altima was the first to point it out by word, "Someone has lived down here before."

"What does gold have to do with that? It's better if someone lived here, they probably left treasures behind." Richard insisted.

Such a topic could have become expansive, but the lady decided to cut it short quite calmly.

All she had to do was reach for a fruit. There were a bunch of them above their heads, as the ecosystem in this area was big enough to support a few species of trees.

She took a bite off the fist-sized, green fruit which she grasped a moment earlier.

And then she pointed out, "I don't think the people who lived here needed gold, for anything at all."