The Ghostgroom suddenly swallowed several soldiers from another company whole, prompting the nearby soldiers to launch a frenzied counterattack.
“Spread out!”
“Aim for its legs!”
The soldiers of Company 16, who had taken the brunt of the attack, managed to retreat and widen their spacing. Bullets rained down on the Ghostgroom’s front, while soldiers from Companies 17 and 18, positioned on either side of the creature, advanced with swords, striking at its legs.
“Marksmen, hold position.”
“Yes, sir.”
El, who was standing next to me, grabbed my arm as he spoke. El, myself, and other marksmen from different platoons were stationed at the rear, waiting for an opening to shoot. Firing recklessly and risking friendly fire was out of the question.
For now, all I could do was anxiously observe the ongoing battle.
While it seemed I was still relatively safe, the soldiers weren’t faring as well. In coordinated shifts, squads charged the Ghostgroom, only for the beast to relentlessly target the soldiers from Company 16 at the front. They swung their swords at its legs, but as expected of a first-tier monster, their blades hardly left a mark.
Amidst the chaos, Aquila’s fire-enveloped sword illuminated the dark battlefield. With a powerful strike, he succeeded in severing one of the Ghostgroom’s legs.
“Yes!”
Emboldened, Winter followed suit, slicing through another leg, while soldiers from Company 17, working in unison, managed to sever the tail that had been whipping them relentlessly.
Though the cost in lives had been steep, it seemed, for the moment, that the tide of battle had turned in our favor.
For now.
The wounded Ghostgroom let out a pained cry, its mouth opening wide as a haunting, eerie wail resonated through the air.
“Uuuuuuuuu—!”
The sound was bizarre, otherworldly. While a dragon’s roar was ferocious, the Ghostgroom’s cry was haunting, like the lament of a ghost.
“Ugh...”
Jason, who had just rotated out of the front line, was visibly trembling. The Ghostgroom’s cry had an unnerving effect, sapping the soldiers’ morale.
“No!”
A scream came from the direction of Company 16 as more soldiers were pulled into the creature’s maw.
“That damned thing...!”
El cursed under his breath, his lips pressed tightly together.
Despite losing its legs and tail, and being subjected to continuous attacks, the Ghostgroom’s resilience was extraordinary.
“Be careful! The Ghostgroom’s tail can regenerate!”
Winter shouted from the front, slashing his sword through the air.
Unfortunately, in the chaos of the battle, not everyone could react to the warning in time.
“Watch out!”
“Aagh!”
The newly regenerated tail swung violently, catching soldiers off guard and knocking several of them to the ground.
Bang! Bang!
On the Company 16 side, marksmen had been aiming for the creature’s mouth. Their persistence paid off as blood finally began to drip from the Ghostgroom’s jaws.
It looked like it had finally sustained a critical injury.
“Uuuuuu...”
The Ghostgroom let out another mournful wail, swaying its massive tail a few times before...
“...What’s it doing?”
“Get back! Move!”
The Ghostgroom flipped over—or rather, it rolled its enormous body down the slope.
‘What the hell?!’
Using its remaining limbs and tail, the Ghostgroom began rolling its massive bulk down the hillside. Not only was it avoiding our attacks, but the sheer size of its body made it even more dangerous as it barreled toward us.
“Ahhh!”
“Grab my hand!”
The soldiers scrambled, desperate to get out of the way of the rolling behemoth. Its sheer size made it clear that anyone caught beneath it would be crushed instantly.
“Damn it!”
The Ghostgroom was far more threatening rolling downhill than it had been on its feet. Its unwieldy mass turned into a devastating weapon as it flattened everything in its path, including trees, which crashed to the ground with resounding thuds.
Soldiers positioned too close to its rolling trajectory had no choice but to flee downhill, running for their lives.
Seeing them sprinting toward me, I hesitated for a moment before El shouted.
“Run! Now!”
Without a second thought, I obeyed. In a place like this, following orders was key to survival.
We tore downhill, practically tumbling as we ran, with the Ghostgroom’s enormous body rolling after us. Trees snapped and fell with deafening crashes, adding to the chaos and terror.
“Stop on the flat ground!”
Winter’s voice carried over the noise. Up ahead, a clearing came into view—a place where both we and the Ghostgroom might be forced to stop. We sprinted toward it with all the energy we had left.
I stumbled several times, nearly falling flat on my face, but each time I caught myself on the ground and pushed forward.
When I finally reached the flat ground, I came to an abrupt stop, tripping over my own feet and falling. I quickly scrambled to my feet again, my heart pounding.
El, who had been leading the way, and I were the first to arrive. We turned to watch as the rest of our company, terror written on their faces, raced toward us with the Ghostgroom rolling behind them. Soldiers from other companies followed close behind, desperately trying to keep up.
“Do we shoot now?”
“Not yet. We might hit our own people.”
Thud!
The Ghostgroom came to a stop on the flat ground with an earth-shaking crash. The impact made me wince instinctively.
“We’ll end this here!”
Winter’s voice rang out as the soldiers who had reached the clearing turned and charged at the Ghostgroom in unison.
“Salvia, we’re taking this side!”
“Yes, sir!”
Positioning ourselves, El and I began firing at the Ghostgroom, reloading and shooting as fast as we could.
‘Damn it. This era’s weaponry has its limits.’
The process of reloading after just a few shots was maddeningly slow. Even as we fired repeatedly, soldiers were still swarming the Ghostgroom’s flanks, hacking at its body.
And then, suddenly, it moved.
The Ghostgroom lunged forward with a speed it hadn’t shown before.
Straight at me and El.
“Damn it!”
We fled blindly, racing backward in a panic—until I realized what lay behind us.
“...Ah.”
It was a cliff.
And just as we grasped that fact, the Ghostgroom’s enormous maw opened wide before us, its gaping throat ready to swallow everything.
In the fraction of a second I had to process the scene, everything around me became shockingly clear in my mind.
“Wait, what?!”
The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.
El, teetering at the edge of the cliff, flailed wildly to keep his balance.
The Ghostgroom’s massive throat loomed ahead, a black void of impending doom.
“Save them! Hurry!”
Winter screamed furiously, attempting to drive his sword into the Ghostgroom’s head.
“A...”
Time slowed as I realized the truth: I had reached the moment to make my decision.
If I fell off the cliff, there was no chance of survival.
Avoiding being swallowed by the Ghostgroom was already a failure.
Now, I had only one plan left.
Survive after being swallowed.
Grabbing El’s arm, I launched us straight into the Ghostgroom’s mouth.
Darkness enveloped us immediately.
“What the—?!”
El’s panicked voice echoed beside me just as—
Clack.
The Ghostgroom’s mouth slammed shut, cutting off the last bit of light.
Now completely shrouded in darkness, I might have felt overwhelmed, but I moved quickly instead.
“El! Listen!”
I opened the lid of a small container strapped to my belt—the one thing I’d managed to keep when raiding the kitchen, despite Blair and Topio shaking me down.
Lizardtail Powder.
The same substance Patty had accidentally dumped into the soup, the one that monsters despised, Ghostgroom included.
I shook the container frantically, scattering the powder inside the Ghostgroom’s mouth. Dust clouded around me, sticking to my skin, but I didn’t stop.
Soon enough, the Ghostgroom reacted.
Instead of pulling us deeper into its throat, it convulsed, as if trying to spit us out.
“Salvia?!”
El’s confused voice rang out, though I couldn’t see him in the dark.
When the container was finally empty, I could feel the Ghostgroom’s inner walls shifting unpleasantly.
‘It wants to spit us out... but it can’t.’
The Ghostgroom’s throat had a special membrane designed to prevent anything it swallowed from escaping. This allowed it to slowly digest live prey—but anything it couldn’t digest could harm it from within.
We were stuck in its throat, too disgusting to swallow, but impossible to spit out.
“El!”
“What?!”
“We’re going out through its nose!”
“...Its what?! Oh...”
It seemed El caught on quickly. With his experience, he understood my reasoning.
If we let ourselves slide down into the Ghostgroom’s stomach, we’d be as good as dead.
Its mouth was blocked off, so the only way out was through its nasal passages. Given the Ghostgroom’s size, its nostrils were large enough for a person to pass through—though the thought made my skin crawl.
‘There’s no other way.’
Even attacking its inner walls wouldn’t work; its hide was far too thick to penetrate.
Besides, we only had guns. Our bullets wouldn’t be strong enough to pierce its hide without being infused with aura, and channeling aura into a bullet while firing was virtually impossible.
‘By now, they probably think we’re dead.’
I couldn’t hear anything from outside, likely because the Ghostgroom’s thick hide muffled all sound.
...But there was no time to dwell on that. We had to act.
“El!”
“I’m ready! Give me a second!”
Though my vision hadn’t adjusted to the darkness, I could hear El moving around, likely using his rifle to feel for direction.
“Salvia! I think we can climb up this wall!”
“Got it!”
I scrambled toward El’s voice and reached for the Ghostgroom’s inner wall. Its slimy texture made my stomach churn, but I forced myself to hold on.
‘Just endure it. We have to get out of here.’
We needed to escape before the Ghostgroom overcame its revulsion and tried to swallow us again.
Just as El and I began climbing the walls of its throat, I felt a sudden shift in the air.
“What’s that?!”
Pausing mid-climb, I turned my head and froze as realization dawned on me.
“Salvia!”
“...Oh.”
Light flooded the space above us.
“Salvia! El! Are you alright?!”
The voice echoed from beyond the Ghostgroom’s torn hide.