CHAPTER 22: THE SERPENT'S LAIR RAID (9)

'Gulp.'

"Chaerin!" Jeanne shouted frantically. Her eyes couldn't believe what was happening before her. She froze upon seeing the girl who was just standing there being eaten alive.

In contrast, general Zhang was quick to act, and did not waste any time.

'BAM!'

He landed a heavy kick on the serpent's snout and immediately followed up with a lightning strike to its left eye.

"Tch. This damn worm. I'll make sure you'll die as painful as possible." He grabbed one of the fangs with both of his hands, and used his raw strength to pluck it off.

'KIIIEKK!'

Blood spurt from where the fang once was, and the serpent screamed in pain. It slammed its body on the ground repeatedly, trying to flatten its enemy.

"Hey, hey, don't die yet. I haven't even begun." He smirked, but his eyes were full of rage.

He landed blows upon blows on the serpent, each blow was fully charged with electricity. Shockingly, his attacks worked even without having to consume the serpent's skin, and the serpent's body started to crack everywhere.

"Don't die on me yet!" He grinned and landed a powerful kick to its upper jaw, opening its mouth.

His eyes examined the insides of its mouth, but unfortunately, Chaerin was nowhere to be seen.

"Tch. That little cub..." General Zhang didn't pause, and instead, immediately slashed its tongue into pieces using a sword he made from water.

'KYAAK!'

The serpent screamed and tried to bit him by closing its jaws, but general Zhang held onto its fangs and resisted the immense pressure. He was now standing in-between the serpent's jaws, one mistake away from getting crunched to death.

"This is a really bad matchup." He said.

General Zhang extended his right hand into the serpent's mouth, and in a flash, his hand morphed into a water javelin, piercing right through the serpent's head all the way from top to bottom.

"See? It's bad for you. I'm a slippery man." General Zhang's devilish smirk was plastered on his face.

'KKIIIIIK!"

The serpent, now unable to close its mouth, squirmed in pain while trying to remove the javelin that was puncturing its head.

Jeanne watched from afar, astonished by general Zhang's combat prowess, and at the same time, griefed her own incompetence.

'...I could do nothing while my soldier died.' She thought as she stared at her broken leg.

'If only I was stronger and braver... If only I could be as level-headed as general Zhang is, would it be different?' She clenched her fist.

"Would she be alive now, if I was a better general?" She muttered under her breath, while stroking the bandage Chaerin applied on her leg earlier.

--------

"AHHH! What is happening outsideeee!?" I screamed loudly even though my voice was suppressed here.

I got eaten for sure. But snakes swallow their prey without munching, so at least I still had my head and 4 limbs on me.

But why was the serpent moving so much? I'm getting nauseous here! I couldn't even tell up from down!

As I slowly descended into its stomach, I tried my best to not puke and keep breathing. I was not worried about its stomach acid because of the anti-acid pill I ate earlier, but I was more concerned about the oxygen.

I wasn't sure if there was even any clean oxygen inside, or if there would be enough room for me to breathe. And, indeed, it was a bit hard to breathe due to its inner walls squeezing around me.

'Plop!'

Suddenly, I found myself launched into a slightly wide, open area. It was filled with liquid acid and many monster carcasses, with occasional rocks and dirt.

"Oh my god, stop moving around!" I exclaimed while I grabbed the nearest monster carcass I could find. It was great that I could finally breathe normally without getting squeezed to death, but I couldn't stand properly if it keeps moving around.

Unexpectedly, the serpent really did stop. Did something just happen outside? Well, now I was able to stand on the monster carcass and observe my surroundings, so, good enough for me.

"Huh. Didn't expect you to be so obedient, worm." I mumbled to myself.

The space around me wasn't extremely wide or tall, but it was very, very long. To the point where I couldn't see the end of it. It was also pretty dark, if not for the crystals on the stomach lining which emitted a soft blue glow, while also continuously secreting stomach acid.

"Alright, I'm probably inside its stomach now. I have to hurry and find its heart, and then get out of here. Else, I'd be dead as fuck." I cursed. Why did I even decide to do this?

"But how do I search for its heart...?" I put my hand on my chin, trying to think of an effective way. I had to crush its heart and get out in around 5 minutes, before the pill's effect ran out.

After trying to figure out the best possible solution, I finally decided to try something.

"...I guess it's worth a try." I made several fireballs and moved them around the stomach linings to lit up this place more. As my fireballs danced around, I scanned the walls around me carefully.

"There it is!" I spotted a place where the stomach lining was pulsing aggressively. If my theory was correct, that might be where the big blood vessel was.

I immediately picked up a dead alligator's partly digested claw, and stabbed it into the stomach lining.

'PSSHT!'

Blood gushed out from the wound, which was a good sign for my plan. I promptly inserted my hand to plug up the wound, stopping the bleeding.

"Please, work!" Once my hand was inside, blocking the blood from coming out, I created a little fireball inside the blood vessel.

Then, I concentrated fully on that one single fireball. I carefully tracked its movement, sensing where it was being transported to.

If my memory wasn't wrong, snakes mostly have a closed circulatory system, meaning all the blood that came from the heart, will eventually go back again into the heart.

After spending what felt like an eternity, I felt my fireball enter a place with overflowing mana.

"There it is!" I opened my eyes and rushed towards that place. Fortunately, it wasn't too far from where I currently was.

I hopped from one carcass to another, and finally found a heart inside a crystal embedded into the stomach lining.

"So that's the heart..."

It was beating softly, but rapidly. The glowing crystal encasing it gave off a calming feel, albeit it being the very reason why we lost so many soldiers today.

I wasted no time and hastily pummeled on the crystal with all my strength.

"Damn it, please budge!" I gathered my mana into my punch, and for a second I felt my stomach and my heart burning again.

'CRACK!'

The crystal cracked, and I kept punching it while mustering up any leftover mana I had left. Even though my heart and my stomach were burning like crazy, which was probably from the effect of the dead skin, but I'm glad the skin gave me the power to inflict damage on this monster.

Finally, the crystal shattered, leaving the heart open for killing. But unfortunately, my mana was depleting like crazy. It was a miracle I managed to last this long, especially since I used a rifle that was pretty heavy on mana consumption.

"...Shop." My breathing was rough, but I managed to let out a word.

[Ding!]

A window appeared, and I immediately searched for a specific item without bothering to check on other items. At this point, it was a race against time.

[Would you like to purchase the item 'Grade-E mana potion' for 50 gold?]

"I'll take two."

I quickly opened my inventory and took the potions. I didn't have any gold left after buying these, but at least I had a better chance of survival now.

I chugged down both potions, and felt like I was reborn. My mana was replenished in no time, and I was ready to bring an end to this raid.

'BOOM!'

I grabbed the heart and ignited it with my flames. In a flash, the space around me was distorted and I was almost thrown around.

The serpent seemed to be wriggling in pain, causing me some difficulty. I tightened my grip on its heart so I won't be carried away by the stomach's content, and kept feeding my mana to my flame.

I can softly hear the serpent's cry reverberate throughout its stomach, as the walls around me tremble.

'KIEEEK!'

And with one final cry, the serpent's body flopped to its death. The heart on my hand had stopped beating altogether, and was now a piece of burnt meat.

"Did I... Succeed?" My eyes widened in disbelief.

I tried to sense any mana coming from the serpent, but there was none. The crystals had even stopped glowing, and my surroundings got dark from the lack of lighting.

"I really killed that thing... I can't believe it..." I stepped back.

"Oh yeah, what about the time!?" Panic quickly overrode my excitement as I opened my status window.

[Stat points: (Yoo Chaerin)]

[Strength: 21]

[Intelligence: 15 (+5)]

[Agility: 12]

[Physique: 17 (+5)]

[Stat points available: 0]

[Special buff: Anti-acid pill (immune to acid for 10 minutes, time left: 1 minute)]

My stats seemed to have gone down by 3 points each. If my 'fighting dirty' skill was no longer activated, that meant the serpent was dead for sure. But the more pressing matter here was...

"Crap." I only had a minute to get out of here.

There was no way I could get it to puke me out of here since it was dead. I also didn't have time to crawl my way up to its mouth.

"I need to punch a hole on its stomach!" I started to repeatedly punch the stomach lining in desperation. I had no weapons, no available stat points, and no gold left to get me out of this situation.

Unfortunately, my attacks only left a few marks on the stomach lining. There was no hole in sight.

[Special buff: Anti-acid pill (immune to acid for 10 minutes, time left: 40 seconds)]

'BAM! BAM!'

I continued my fruitless effort of showering the stomach lining with punches and scratches until my knuckles made cracking noises and my nails became bloody.

[Special buff: Anti-acid pill (immune to acid for 10 minutes, time left: 30 seconds)]

...Was this really where I would die?

I didn't want to die yet. I haven't met him here.

'BAM!'

I poured all my strength into one single destructive blow, hoping it would finally puncture a hole.

[Special buff: Anti-acid pill (immune to acid for 10 minutes, time left: 20 seconds)]

Alas, it heeded no result. The wall was heavily dented, but there was no hole for me to get out from.

[Special buff: Anti-acid pill (immune to acid for 10 minutes, time left: 10 seconds)]

I plopped down on my knees, splashing the acid that was pooling underneath me.

"Haha, I'm fucked."