A larger monster was rising from beneath the ground — or perhaps it simply wasn't under the ground at all...
All that could be seen was the forest beginning to split apart; the entire ground was trembling, there was nowhere to hide!
Austin carried Alice on his back; Fiona and Nyx at his side had recovered and were constantly dodging between the enormous slabs of earth and rock. But it was all almost pointless — the violent tremors made it impossible to stand in one place for long, and if they weren't careful they'd be thrown into the fissures ripping the ground open.
Just when things were at their most desperate, massive vines appeared from nowhere, writhing upward and twisting toward the sky as if about to pierce the heavens. From the giant vine grew smaller tendrils that wound around Austin and the others, pulling them away from the ever-shifting ground below.
In the blink of an eye, the colossal creature finally revealed itself completely before their eyes.
