336 – Inside the Monster’s Belly

I don’t guarantee a 100% perfect translation.

Feel free to correct me in the comments.

I’ll see if i can churn out another chapter today. If you see the side menu thingy saying a progress on chapter 337 that means it will be out today, otherwise, tomorrow.

 

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„Tilly, you can’t” Ash tries to prevent her from going but is stopped.

„Those who want to go down the hole must rely on a flying witch ability” Tilly shows the ring in her finger „although after carrying something heavy the magic power consumption increases, but at least I can take an additional witch, the ones coming need to be able to cope with any situation.” She, moved her gaze to Border Town witches „Anna, Lightning and Macy, I’ll need your help.” 

The three people did not object, and the expression of the little girl was of excitement.

Tilly relaxed slightly „The ones who will be going down the hole will be Ash, Shavi and Silvy, the rest of the sisters need to defend the area around the hole.”

„Lady Tilly, let me also go along with you” says Andrea.

„If a group of demonic beasts comes, perhaps Nightingale alone might not be enough” she shakes her head, „is better for you two to be together and coordinate with each other.”

„Don’t worry, I’ll keep the exit safe” Nightingale says with confident, „Neither devil nor demonic beast will be able to approach this place.” 

Tilly considers the scenario, only a few witches can come down, because it depends on the flying witches’ capacity for carrying them. The most important thing is recovering the „ice coffin”, in case they are unable to open it, it must be carried off, and it seems to be at least equivalent in weight to two or three witches, in that case only Shavi’s invisible barrier can hold such a heavy object.

Silvy’s Magic Eye is a must, without her, they might be unable to locate the monster and the ruins inside of it. Anna’s ability to cut and heat is the same, but they are unable to fly, is a good thing they are light since they can ride on top of Macy after she transform into a demon bird. The last one is the Exceed Ash that can fight in almost any situation, she herself will be carrying her.

Lightning can fly freely, but according to her, once she shoulders another person her height and efficiency will drop dramatically. Her advantage lies in the extremely good mobility and speed and can play the role of a scout, exploring and attacking in case its needed.

The importance of these witches is big, making them irreplaceable, one less and it would make things too difficult. This is not a rash decision in order to go down the hole quickly but one made after careful consideration of the overall situation.

As for Andrea… …Her destructive power in close range is big, but once in the darkness down in the hole, her ability will be greatly reduced, so it might be better for her to stay with Nightingale above ground and guard against demonic beast that might come wandering.

Tilly has also considered giving up on the rescue and returning to Border Town, in light of the events that happened. But she has this premonition that makes her feel uneasy, why is the surrounding area intact? Why it only attacked the stone tower ruins? And specially the direction the giant worm-like beast is crawling to is to the northwest, towards the mountain range, to an area inhabited by the Devils.

Is there a connection between the two of them?

As the hot air balloon under the control of Wendy and Anna makes a fast land, Tilly clear her head of those distracting thoughts, and after reviewing the plan once more she took a deep breath and said „Lets begin.”

The hole is deeper than she expected, maybe the height of two houses on top of each other, at first it goes straight down but not long after it begins to tilt until it finally forms a horizontal cave, the surrounding soil exudes a foul smell and after approaching it she can see it’s covered in sticky liquid, like the traces left behind by slugs.

As they continue to walk deep into the hole, the sunlight quickly vanishes, except for a few torches lighting the way, the rest of the hole is pitch black. Not only that, the howling wind sound turned completely silent and the heavy cold was gradually being replaced by heat from the earth, Tilly could feel her body temperature slowly raising up.

Looking at the torches’ flame suddenly flickering, she can’t help to tank of it as fireflies.

„The monster is in front of us” at that moment, Silvy said in a low voice.

Even without saying, everybody understood that their target was not far from them, judging from the strange sound that came from further ahead, it sounded like the autumn wind blowing and the rustling of leaves, it seemed like the monster was chewing something.

„I’m landing” the torches in Ash’s hands leave embers behind as if wings, controlling the magic stone, she reduces the height until their feet reached the soft sticky soil.

Afterward Anna’s black fire lights up.

She changed the black fire to a firelight, the cold and soft light gently spilled all around, and under the green flame they saw the tail of the giant beast. It slowly crawls forward; the creeping gray skin constantly secreting mucus makes the foul smell even stronger.

„A disgusting big insect” Ash pulls out her big sword „how should we do it, do I cut open its belly?”

„Wait, let Anna kill it” Tilly shakes her head while saying that „I do not know if there’s any threat, if you approach close with your sword it might be risky.”

„Ok, let me try.” While maintaining the green fire, Anna summoned various black fires in the blink of an eye, the black fire turned into a finger-thick line and flew straight towards the giant beast.

The fine line penetrated the monster’s skin without any resistance and cut a side of its belly. Perhaps the temperature was too high, the moment the black fire touched the skin it suddenly burned up, turning the liquids inside its body into vapor, spraying a white mist. If not for Shavi deploying her invisible shields to protect them, the scattered liquids and mist would have covered them.

This is the power of evolution, Tilly thought, although before setting off Anna had introduced her own ability, seeing it with one’s own eyes caused a shock. It can be controlled freely, the fine line of black fire was sharper than any sword, and it was very difficult to observe while in motion, making it practically impossible to dodge by an enemy.

The monster cried a high-pitched whining sound, it’s body wriggles crazily. But black fire continued cutting forward, and quickly more than half its body had been cut. The flowing liquid did not approach the witches since it was being evaporated by another set of green fires.

The giant beast gradually stopped struggling, its skin also went limp.

„It died” Silvy said „the heart stopped beating.”

„Does this thing have a heart?” Ash asks while holding her nose.

„In the forehead, it’s almost the size of the hanging basket of Far Gaze. Moreover……” she paused „I could perceive the flow of magic power in it.”

„So, is this a hybrid species of demonic beast?” 

„Nobody knows the answer,” Tilly says „in history books and records, things regarding the demonic beasts are extremely few, so there are still many unknown things. Rather, lets hurry and dig out the ice coffin.”

After Anna burns down once more the huge monster, the smell is not as strong as before. Under the guidance of Silvy they find the swallowed ruins quickly, the basement had now turned into hundreds of pieces of stone scattered all over the place so they could not see its original form and after bringing light they noticed most of the magic illumination stones that Lightning mentioned had become a mass of paste. Fortunately, the big crystal-like pillar was still intact and after moving it out of the belly there were no traces of corrosion, inside of it was a female trapped with an appearance as if being alive.

„It’s your turn” Tilly said to Anna.

 

 

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