Chapter 82 First Encounter (3)
In the past, everytime I suffered from the excruciating pain I have gotten used to now, I always wished for adrenaline to kick in—I wanted it to somehow lessen the pain I was enduring.
... It never came.
Looking at how slow everything moves now however, I am sure adrenaline has just kicked in. I can see Vibiane slowly calling my name in absolute terror, meanwhile I enjoy the longest few seconds of my life.
Maybe it is because this is my last few seconds—even though it is by no means beautiful to be remembered, I can enjoy it greatly.
Even as I am getting farther from Vibiane and Eliseus, I can still wonder what I should do to Vibiane if I managed to survive.
I can even think of spanking her assess for a month straight, which is definitely not something a dying person would normally think about. I mean, most people would be reliving their memories in this situation, wouldn't they?
I muse about how nonchalant I am about the fact that I am going to die in a few seconds, and I soon find out the reason.
"Who the fuck is going to die here?!"
I don't have any intention to die this soon. I have just stopped dying less than a month ago, and I will hate to die for the last time.
I still have many things to do—I haven't killed a single one of my former tormentors. Dying this soon will bring me a greater regret than the regret I got from ever falling in love with the bitch, Brianna.
Taking out Rexorem quickly from my Spatial Storage, I channel my Mana into the Magic Stone as everything moves normally once again.
I can only hear Vibiane's panicked shout briefly, because the Magic Barrier Rexorem has produced encapsulates me not long after I channeled all of my Mana into it.
Due to the urgency of the situation and my uncertainty of how well the Barrier will be able to protect me, I have just made Rexorem produce the thickest Barrier it has ever produced so far with my Mana.
It completely isolates me from the outside world, so I can't hear anything that comes from the outside. I can still see the outside just fine however; I can see the other Warriors stopping in their track briefly to look at me in bewilderment.
All of them still continue to run right after regardless, so I can easily conclude the camaraderie Velucan said he had instilled into their mind was a complete bullshit ... Well, not really.
I understand well they can do nothing about my situation. I am sure I am just a few feet away from the mouth of the Earth Eater currently, so rescuing me will be the same as delivering themselves to the death's door.
I, too, am not hoping for someone else to save me. I have been by myself for too long—I have learned the best person who can help me is myself.
That is why instead of doing nothing, hoping for Velucan or someone to save me, I decided to put a Barrier to protect me. I don't know if I will truly be able to pull through it, but I am confident I will find a way to survive.
Turning my body to the back, to the gaping mouth of the Earth Eater, I can now see its tongue that looks no different from an empty vast land. It is slimy and wiggly though, so it is disgusting, in which an empty land is not.
Upon entering the mouth of said creature, I can finally see the full interior of its mouth. It looks like like a cave with many stalactites like thing hanging from the ceiling.
Its teeth also look like stalagmites but bigger and pointier, further making its mouth look like a cave—a very huge cave.
I really wish my flight will stop in its mouth, but instead of falling down on its tongue, I keep being sucked deeper. I can see the back of its throat, and I am afraid I will soon enter its esophagus.
In other words, in about 20 seconds or so, I will end up in its stomach. Wishing for the best scenario to happen to me, my body, while still being encapsulated by a Magic Barrier slowly gets closer to entering the gigantic worm's esophagus.
"What the heck?"
Just as I am about to reach the entrance of the esophagus however, I am greeted by a surprise. Something suddenly falls down from the roof of the mouth, blocking my way to the esophagus.
Judging by its fleshy look and structure, I conclude it is an uvula. My eyes light up in delight immediately as I have just found a way to survive.
Crashing into the uvula just a few seconds after, my advance to the esophagus is completely stopped. The surface of the uvula looks slimy enough to be slippery, but contrary to my expectation, it is sticky enough to hold my body.
My body actually doesn't stick on it since my body is still encapsulated by the Magic Barrier that Rexorem has produced, but despite so, its stickiness still works on the Magic Barrier, which is honestly surprising.
"Okay, now that I have stopped moving, I can feel the burden of keeping the Magic Barrier active," I mutter to myself. "Seriously, my Mana Pool starts to hurt already."
I cringe as I feel the burning sensation in the area below my navel. It is not painful per se, but knowing what will happen if I ignore the sensation is scary enough to make me cringe.
Mana Exhaustion is a situation where you find yourself unable to draw anymore Mana from your Mana Pool, because the remaining Mana you have is so little, it is negligible for your sense to pick.
Mana Exhaustion doesn't mean you have exhausted all of your Mana—it is still there, but you instinctively ignore it due to how little the amount is. It often happens after casting a Spell that uses a huge amount of Mana.
In my current case however, although I am experiencing the same symptom that people will get when they are having Mana Exhaustion, I am not going to experience Mana Exhaustion ... It is much worse.
People experience Mana Exhaustion after they use a huge amount of Mana at once, but I am using a huge amount of Mana continuously. On top of that, my sensitivity toward Mana is above average, so I will definitely dry my entire Mana Pool.
When that happens—when my Mana Pool is completely dried of Mana, I will either risk losing it or explode.
"It is at times like this that I always thank my ability to stay calm in every situation."
Luckily, there is a way to prevent the unwanted thing to happen: Lowering the usage of Mana, which in other words, reducing the thickness of the Magic Barrier.
I still need to be careful however, since if my Magic Barrier becomes too thin, it will break easily. If that happens, I will directly stick on the disgusting uvula—I don't want to dirty my beautiful coat!
In my defense, the uvula of the Earth Eater might be sticky enough to prevent me from prying my coat off of it. That is not a good thing since other than increasing my agility, my coat also protects me from Low Grade Spells.
"Gah! It smells worse than a sewer here."
... Actually, it is just very smelly here, so it's enough reason to never let my coat directly stick on the uvula.
That aside, I can still feel a force pushing me forward that is also slightly moving the uvula, but it is definitely weaker than before.
I turn my gaze to the outside and find that the mouth is gradually closing. The worm has also stopped sucking things in, since nothing is flying around in its mouth anymore.
I may have been calm for the entire time, but upon seeing that scene, my gaze immediately darkens as my heart gradually beats faster.
I am not afraid of darkness, at all, but thinking that I might spend my whole life in this stinky place freaks me out slightly.
"Stay calm and think of a way to get out of this place..." I sigh as I look around for escape. "So, the only way to get out of this place is through its half closed mouth?"
I chuckle ironically as I figure that my fate has been completely sealed. The distance between me and the half closed mouth is at least 2,000 feet, which means there is no way I can cover that distance before the mouth is completely closed.
Deactivating my Magic Barrier as I feel my Mana starts to thinning, I do a brief maneuver to let my feet land on the uvula, not my body.
Covering my nostrils with Mana to prevent me from smelling the torturing smell, I watch as the mouth completely closes itself.
"Ah, what an end," I muse to myself as I look at the closed mouth.
I sigh lightly as I deem it's all over.
"Follow me."
... At least, until I hear that out of nowhere.