Belly of the beast part 4

This snake was beautiful to look at but Asato could not help the wave of fear that washed over him as he looked down at that beautiful creature. Somehow it looked like his death was staring right at him instead of a creature.

His body was too worn out to be able to do much and even if he could, Astao was not sure that he would be able to survive for long. He was beginning to feel the edge of the magic exhaustion.

However, not everything was lost since he still had his main source of protection available to him in the form of the talisman. Talisman would last only for a certain period of time before he had to replace them.

They were glowing in dim light right now which meant he had approximately one to two hours to think of something before they ran out of power and the snake would be able to reach him.

He had no plan to deal with it for the time being and his mind was also drawing a blank at this point. He had to take a gamble here which he was not looking forward to at all.

But it was not looking like he had a choice here. He would have to make it so that the monster down there would no longer be able to chase him.

He had the tools but his underdeveloped body worried Asato. His reach was not that wide to be able to cross the trees at leisure and as soon as he would move he would give his location away.

He had to take a gamble to find Sumeru and pray that she was not as badly hurt as him. Taking a few exploding talismans out of his bag, he once again took a look down there.

The monster had an eye out at his hiding spot but the constantly moving gaze told Asato that he had not been found for now. Taking a bottle out of his bag next, Asato gulped it down.

That was an energy mix that would allow him to function at extra capacity for a few minutes. It was relatively harmless but it could only be consumed in small amounts and there would be discomfort.

But he was willing to take the risk because this was his only chance. As soon as he felt even a small amount of magic return to him, he made the dash from his hiding place.

The noise that the leaves made alerted the snake and looking back, Asato could easily make out the shape rising up the tree he had been at.

Quickly taking out his knife, he made a shallow slash onto the near tree and stuck the exploding talisman to it. This would allow his scent to spread there without fail.

Then he climbed up a few times before he changed the trees and did the same to another tree. The explosion behind him told him that his plan had somewhat succeeded and that he should get out of here for now.

This was a chase of time. Would the snake outlive his explosives or would he run out of energy first? He was not sure of the answer for he had not seen the effectiveness of this talisman on the subject himself.

For all he knew, they might as well be causing no damage at all. But since the snake had not caught him yet, he was willing to take his chances that it was doing at least some damage to the snake.

The explosions were happening nearer and if he paid attention he could even know that some of the talismans was never triggered which meant that the creature was getting weary of his smell.

Good, this would give him an advantage.

The area was huge but Asato had a certain perimeter he was going around. When the ground had broken, he and Sumeru had fallen not too far away and knowing her, she would not have left without an advantage.

She had to be in the area.

Suddenly, he felt a moment behind him and he turned his body to avoid the incoming projectile. At the same time, his hands worked fast and the talisman was out of his hand toward the area where the projectile had originated from.

There was a shadow of a moment in his moving vision before he felt another explosion behind him. It was near enough to shake his foothold and he felt himself slip down the branch.

A moment of fear took hold of his senses before he felt his hand being grabbed by a stronger force.

“Don’t scream” Asato swallowed the screen that almost escaped his throat as he looked at the person holding his arm. The familiar face was in his sight and she looked fine at the first glance.

She quickly pulled him back up, her hold on him secure and tight. That felt good because he was not sure he would have been able to be steady unless she did that.

“The monster from before is down here with us. We need to get to a safer spot” Asato quickly informed the woman who narrowed her eyes at his words.

“It’s here? Down here? It did not fall down with us, did it? That only means there is another way up” Asato had guessed that too but his first priority had been to keep himself alive.

Now that there were two of them, the chances of survival had doubled and he felt much better.

“We can follow it’s trail but we’ll need to lose him first. I’m afraid it might not be a natural entity” Asato was more than sure that the monster did not naturally belong to this place. The magic felt way too odd for it to be the case.

“ I’ll draw a protection circle for us. Don’t move” he could feel her power resonate and it was incredible that she could still achieve this with such a limited supply of magic when it was barely reactive to them.

It did take some time before he felt himself cool down due to magic. The reptile was almost upon us and he watched as it stilled in confusion as soon as the circle was completed. There was no doubt in his mind that it had lost their scents.

No matter how strong that creature was, it all boiled down to their instincts and as soon as the magic took hold, he knew that they had won for the time being.

The snake slithered down the tree and back into the water. Its beautiful body, submerged in the water, did look majestically beautiful. An enchanting but deadly beauty.

“Should we follow it?” Asato asked, his voice full of questions. He did not feel he was in any condition to follow the monster right now but they might not have another chance again.

Already, whatever energy he had seemed to be draining away from him and his moment was turning sluggish.

“We might not have a choice. The magic down here is too thin and the conditions are really not in our favour here” Asato understood what she wanted to say and he agreed with her. He would not recover down here easily.

Somehow he managed to keep up with her and the snake. It was sheer willpower at this point and he knew that without it he would never have made it or been able to keep up.

Sumeru did turn around once or twice in concern but since he was able to keep up she stopped doing that. They did not speak because they had to conserve energy.

The monster seemed to move randomly for a long time and there was no telling when it would give them what they wanted from it.

But soon it made a turn which took them to a corner of the place. Asato was a little surprised to see it for he hadn't even realised that the place had a corner or even a finishing point at all. Logically thinking, it had to have an end but the darkness all around them made it seem like the palace was endless.

The snake passed through an opening and seemed to disappear down the hole. Thankfully the hole was big enough to crawl through and as they observed it, they understood that it was not a hole but a cave.

This was likely the way to the surface above but they could not take it right now.

For one, the snake was still inside the tunnel and for the other side, they had no idea what there might be. What they needed to do was to clear up the tunnel first before they actually made their way across.

“I still have some exploding talisman left. Think you can push them up?” Asato asked the female at his side who nodded. The aim was not to harm the cave but to produce smoke - enough to irritate anything on the other side.

“Leave It to me. Get ready to have a hard climb” this was an evil necessity he would have to embrace. He just hoped that his body would survive the ordeal in the process because he did not think he would get another chance to climb up.

But before they left, he made sure to scrape off a little bark from the nearby tree in the swamp water he would like to observe and figure them out too. He felt as if they hid some secrets. Secrets someone was desperate to keep.

Then there was a small explosion and smoke filled the tunnel.

(The system is giving me a little problem but I'll solve it soon, hopefully. Also, this part is not edited)