Chapter 315: Breaking Out of the Bag

Liu Tiao was furious. She reached out and slapped it twice—of course, she was wearing gloves. The Jin Du whelp shrieked and struggled, but Liu Tiao showed no mercy, beating it until its mouth and nose bled and its face swelled up as if stung by bees.

While she was chastising the little monster, He Lingchuan remarked to Men Ban, "I chopped off half its leg earlier, and it's already grown back in such a short time."

There wasn't even a scar.

"This underground palace has too strong a regenerative effect on it," Men Ban added. "We should kill it to avoid further complications."

"Don't you feel this stomach is contracting faster?" He Lingchuan asked, pointing at the whelp. "The louder this thing cries, the more agitated the cave... no, the 'Mother' becomes."

"Are you saying this underground palace has emotions?" Men Ban was dumbfounded. "This mission is too difficult; it really shouldn't have been assigned to us guards. Unless we get paid more."

The guards' usual tasks involved fighting monsters and patrolling the plateau. This was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre underground palace.

He Lingchuan hesitated, then changed his mind. "Perhaps there are two ways," he said. "First, we kill the most powerful Jin Du whelp; if its magic disappears, the underground palace might also disappear. Second, we make this 'stomach' spit us out."

Everyone couldn't help but shiver. Liu Tiao pointed at the injured man and cried, "Spit us out? Even if it works, will we end up like this guy?"

Everyone there had experience squatting by a wall after getting drunk and knew well that vomit contained not just food, but also stomach acid and bile. If they got out that way, they'd be covered in it.

He Lingchuan shrugged. What was he afraid of? A man who had died four or five times wasn't going to be afraid of a little acid. Yes, he was just such an irresponsible captain.

Of course, no one would choose this path before absolute desperation. Men Ban coughed. "I wonder how the other two teams are doing."

"At least one team hasn't completed their mission; the strongest whelp is still alive," He Lingchuan said. "This underground palace might very well be its masterpiece. Its abilities will be far stronger than the other prematurely born ones; we need to be prepared." With that, he stepped forward, swung his blade, and sliced the monster into three large pieces from head to tail.

The blade's aura was not visible, yet the cutting was already done, startling the guard who was holding the whelp. He Lingchuan had already witnessed the various transformations of these whelps. Fearing they might survive even after losing their heads, he simply cut it into more pieces to completely extinguish its life force.

Since they were preparing to deal with the final boss, keeping this troublesome fellow around was useless. The blade moved lightly. Before the green blood from the wound could even spill out after the blade was sheathed, He Lingchuan gently kicked it over.

Everyone took the hint and dodged away. They then watched as the fallen flesh and blood slowly withered, quickly turning into bone. After another ten or so breaths, the bones also dissolved, leaving not a single trace. If it weren't for the injured man still being there, this whelp would seem as if it had never existed.

Even the Thin Man found this place truly disgusting. "Was it absorbed?" he wondered.

"This is the stomach, after all," Liu Tiao murmured.

The whelp had died and was absorbed back by the 'Mother.' Where it came from, it returned, completing a cycle.

He Lingchuan and the others, however, understood the danger this implied. If it absorbed every last drop of nutrition from its own kind, how ruthless must this final boss be?

Seizing the limited time, Liu Tiao bandaged the injured man's hands and handed him a weapon. "Success or failure hinges on this battle," she said. "Otherwise, none of us will get out."

Relying on the other teams was certainly not an option now. He Lingchuan and the others made some preparations, then took a deep breath and said to Men Ban, "Do it!"

Men Ban nodded, walked to the edge of the pit, and raised his great axe, chopping at the rock wall with all his might.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes...

The entire cave began to tremble violently again, in pain and furious, yet helpless against these small figures, like parasites. Vines and rock walls were shattered, and blood gushed like a fountain, rushing down into the pool below.

The two liquids mixed, hissing continuously and generating plumes of white mist, and a foul odor immediately assailed their nostrils. Men Ban didn't stop, continuing to hack away vigorously. He was determined to punch a hole through the stomach wall.

This underground palace was the Jin Du whelps' lair, connected to them by blood. Therefore, causing the underground palace to bleed and be injured largely meant weakening the whelps and continuously draining their power. If this monster was as ferocious as they imagined, they absolutely could not tolerate this.

The acidic mist grew thicker. He Lingchuan and the others covered their mouths and noses with cloths, and felt a stinging sensation in their eyes. By now, Men Ban had swung his axe fifty or sixty times, and his axe head was covered in debris. The underground palace was bleeding profusely and in immense pain, its stomach wall contracting violently, but it could do nothing to the humans inside this "ulcer."

Men Ban suddenly said, "I think I'm about to break through the stomach wall."

Everyone immediately perked up. "Can we get through?" they asked.

"Light is coming through," Men Ban said, also excited, as it seemed a third option had appeared. "I'll try again."

He Lingchuan's heart stirred upon hearing this. Light? How could there be light on the other side of a stomach wall?

Liu Tiao was also pleasantly surprised. "Could it be the other teams?" she wondered.

Men Ban delivered one last axe strike, wiped his face, and declared, "I've broken through! I'll make the opening larger." He chopped vertically and horizontally, indeed expanding a large hole. Once the blood stopped flowing, they could pass through.

Outside the opening, it seemed to be another passage.

"Who goes first?" Liu Tiao whispered.

"I'll go!" the Thin Man said loudly. He approached the opening but didn't go through. Instead, he pulled a hazelnut from his pocket and tentatively threw it out. The hazelnut rolled onto the ground and suddenly transformed into the Thin Man. Strictly speaking, it became an illusion of him, but in the dim environment, it was remarkably lifelike. It walked out of the opening and took two steps before disappearing.

This thing had no attacking power; it only served to deceive the eye. If there were monsters ambushing on the other side of the hole, they would likely reveal themselves.

Men Ban immediately grabbed his shield, holding it in front of him, and strode out of the opening. Then, his voice came back. "It's clear. Come on."

The Thin Man immediately leaped across, followed by Liu Tiao, the new recruit, and He Lingchuan. The last few quickened their pace, because the opening Men Ban had made was rapidly healing! By the time He Lingchuan passed through, one of his feet nearly got stuck in the wall.

They found a bundle of glowing grass on the ground. The light Men Ban had seen earlier came from here. Clearly, the other two teams had been here, and for some unknown reason, had left behind the glowing grass bundle. Nevertheless, leaving the flesh-and-bone-eroding stomach was always a pleasant experience, even if they didn't know where this path led.

Just as Liu Tiao picked up the bundle of glowing grass, a light suddenly flashed ahead, and several figures rushed towards them.

Clang-clang went their weapons as they were drawn, and both sides assumed their fighting stances.

Men Ban, however, breathed a sigh of relief. "So, it's you," he said. The other party was another patrol team, led by Xu Chun.

He Lingchuan glanced behind them. "Where are the others?" he asked. Including Xu Chun, there were only four people in front of them. When he had come, his team was at full strength, ten people in total.

Xu Chun shook his head and said gravely, "They're all gone."

He Lingchuan saw the other three's eyes darting around, constantly looking over their shoulders, like startled birds. "What were the characteristics of the Jin Du whelps you encountered?" he asked.

"It had an army of bone figures," Xu Chun replied.

The Thin Man thought he had misheard. "What did you say?" he asked.

Xu Chun said, "They were monsters made of bone and earth. Their numbers seemed endless, and there were even ranged soldiers. They swarmed us in battle and had a great advantage in the narrow passages."

"Did you only go through these kinds of passages, and not enter anywhere else?" He Lingchuan asked.

"We entered a stone cave, much wider than this place, symmetrical in shape, with a winding passage on each side," another team member said. "The bone figures emerged from there. We killed wave after wave, but it was endless, so we had to retreat. In the process, we lost four people. Later, the monster itself intervened and killed two more of us."

That experience was like a nightmare, and the four of them were still traumatized.

"What is this whelp's inherent ability?" He Lingchuan asked.

All four were silent. Xu Chun gave a bitter smile. "We don't know either," he admitted.

"You lost six people and still couldn't get a clear look at its movements?" Liu Tiao asked unceremoniously.

"It was too fast," Xu Chun admitted, knowing he had failed in his duty this time. "All I know is that the bone figures would attach to its body, forming an exceptionally tough armor that I couldn't cut through. We wounded it twice, but the bone figures filled its wounds, as if it couldn't be killed."

He watched helplessly as the monster dragged his team members into the darkness; the feeling was unbearable.

"If it had such an overwhelming advantage, why did it let you go?" He Lingchuan asked.

"We were almost driven to desperation," Xu Chun explained, "then the whelp suddenly stopped attacking and turned around and slipped away. The bone figures followed it, coming like a tide and receding like a tide. We don't know why."

Then, they walked here and encountered He Lingchuan and the others.

"I'm afraid we'll have to kill all the whelps to get out," the Thin Man said, sharing their team's conjecture. When Xu Chun heard the words "mimicking a body" regarding this underground palace, an indescribable expression appeared on his face as well.

Liu Tiao suddenly threw a few tiny mustard seeds onto the four people. After observing for a few breaths, she said, "No color change." These seeds, called "Thief's Mustard," would change color when exposed to demonic energy or spells. Liu Tiao used them to test if they were under the control of evil magic.

This was one of the guards' standard procedures, and Xu Chun and the others allowed her to do so. Then he rubbed his wrist and said, "Let's go. I see your team is still complete? And only one person is injured."

"We were lucky; we didn't encounter too difficult an opponent. These whelps don't seem to gather together; each chose a different location as its main lair. From your description of the battle location, your team must have encountered the strongest Jin Du whelp, the youngest one, whose difficulty is too high," He Lingchuan said, pointing at the healing rock wall. "Behind this rock wall is the stomach, and the acid pool inside, which dissolves flesh and bone, is the Jin Du whelp's main battlefield. That thing spits out acid, and its wounds heal at an astonishing speed, but it's not very smart. It tried to kick us down but failed, and we managed to kill it instead."

Both sides exchanged information, re-examined their weapons and supplies, and walked forward, holding the glowing grass bundle, hoping to rendezvous with the third team. However, the first people they encountered were not their own.