As they conversed like that, they heard the sound of a groan coming from one of the unconscious team members. It seemed to be the muscular and cheerful man named Derell. His string body was not for show only after all.
When he opened his eyes, he was very confused, but he soon remembered what happened and he immediately shot up like a rocket and stood on his feet looking left and right frantically.
"Calm down, Derell. They are still alive, at least most of them." Leislet said as she looked at the others with a complicated gaze.
When he heard her voice, his tense body immediately relaxed slightly and he sighed deeply. But then, a grim look appeared on his face and a tear fell down his face. Dear friends of his that were A-Rank hunters are now dead. He really couldn't hold himself from crying slightly at his own bad luck. But, not long after that, he wiped away the tears.
"W-We are inside the monster's stomach right?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yes."
"M-My lady…I-I really can't find the words to apologize to you. We let our guards down when we completed the mission and suddenly, we found ourselves falling down into a huge hole."
Derell recounted what happened with a pale face and a dry throat. It seems that the things that happened were way worse than they expected.
"You can save your apologies for later. Now, we are going to get out of here alive…all of us." She replied with the most confident voice. It was as if she was just saying facts and not a plan that could succeed or fail.
'Hey, don't put pressure on me, would you?' Acht thought as he didn't know whether to laugh or cry inside.
Then, Derell sat down beside the duo and checked his equipment and other things he had. The most important of them was his spatial ring since it had everything inside of it.
"My war hammer vanished. Dammit!" He cursed quietly.
After that, gradually, everyone woke up from their deep slumber. Most of them were still injured after the accident so it took them some time to be able to move.
When everyone was awake and ready, Acht stood up and walked to the far front of the group before turning around and saying.
"Ok, the plan is simple. We are inside the monster's stomach so anything that damages the stomach walls will make the monster throw up. What we need to do is to hit these walls and destroy them until the monster throws up."
Everyone looked at each other and nodded in understanding. But, before they could say anything else, Acht continued.
"But we still have one problem. When the monster throws up, the acid will most likely hit us and burn us alive. So, we need someone who has an affinity with an element that could stop this acid and protect us. Anyone?" He looked around searching for anyone who could volunteer. But no one stepped up for a good 4 seconds.
'If Tania was just here. Things would've been easier.' Acht thought as he sighed inwardly remembering the cute girl that followed him around wherever he went. Her element was crystal which was most likely not something this acid could digest.
But, luckily, a few seconds later, someone raised his hand and made everyone around him look curiously.
It was a skinny young man who looked timid and shy in front of all of these gazes from his peers.
Acht could hear the sound of approval from the other as they looked at him. They seemed to also agree that he was the one for the mission.
"Introduce yourself and what's your gift."
"Yes, my name is Lenon and I have an affinity with obsidian." He answered with a quiet voice.
"I see, that's perfect. Ok, let's get into work quickly. This creature might start digesting whatever is inside its stomach any time soon."
Then, the group chose a good place where they could stand close to each other just so that Lenon would be able to cover all of them when the acid started becoming chaotic.
Acht touched the stomach wall and hit it a couple of times with his hand before nodding and looking at the others as a signature to start.
Immediately, they all pulled out their weapons and started hitting the wall madly, they seemed to want to vent their anger and frustration over the fact that their friends and companions died such a miserable death in a stinky place like this.
The stomach walls started getting dug like holes and carved into a weird angle. The size of the place made these damages not that apparent to the monster since no reaction happened. So, they kept hitting and hitting with all of their strength.
Minutes passed and no one stopped for a moment, they had their lives at risk so they didn't want to stop and be the reason for everyone's demise.
Finally, after 15 minutes of relentless attacks, a reaction finally happened and the sea of acid behind them started moving alone and creating waves.
"Keep on going! It's going to start digesting us! It's a battle of time!" Acht shouted loudly.
They heard his voice and increased their intensity. The walls now had these huge and deep holes that were carved into them that looked gruesome to some extent.
Simultaneously, the acid around them became so agitated that the waves started hitting and colliding with each other. Even the walls started contracting and relaxing from time to time showing that the monster was starting to feel uncomfortable.
Then, it started happening, the worst-case scenario for Acht. A huge swirl pool in the middle of the place appeared out of nowhere. It immediately started absorbing the things inside. It was huge and extremely fast.
'Shit.' Acht cursed and then looked at the other who started growing tired.
"Come on! One last push!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't forget to support this book. I would be more than happy if you review the book and give me your opinion about it. Thank you and have a good day <3
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnovel(.)com