The Paladin in the Abyss-Chapter 742 - 763 Swallowing

Little Esha, who possessed the ability to fly, was the first to rush to the side of the giant worm, she flitted through like a swift, darting between the bone spurs on the monster’s body, and the creature didn’t even notice her presence. Upon seeing Lancelot’s figure, Little Esha immediately aimed to fly towards him, but Lancelot’s voice suddenly echoed in her mind.

’Don’t come here, fly up high!’

Little Esha was taken aback and her face showed a delighted expression—formerly, at the bottom of the fissure in the Iron Ice Plains, in an attempt to steal control of those zombie giants, Lancelot accidentally formed a master-servant pact with Little Esha, and although he had never demanded anything of her as a master since then (to the girl’s slight regret), this bond still had other uses, such as allowing direct mind link communication within a certain distance, which could bring a great advantage during combat.

Even though Little Esha had immense trust in her Cold Iron Shortsword, she was also conscious that her weapon, less than two feet long, was unlikely to inflict any significant damage on the creature before her. With a slight change in the angle of her wings, the little vampire’s figure instantly shot up more than fifty feet into the air, overlooking the entire battlefield from above.

’Brother Bruto is about to reach the monster, and Brother Kalalin has just conjured a gigantic magic hand...’

Little Esha quickly reported the situation of the battlefield to Lancelot, enabling him to better plan his next move. On the other side of the armored worm, the frenzied dwarf had already raised his warhammer, and with a loud roar, he heavily smashed it onto a segment of the enemy’s carapace.

A grating sound of bone cracking was heard, and the carapace hit by the dwarf cracked like a wall smashed by a catapult, spurting out a small amount of dark-red viscous fluid. Against the hard armor, blunt weapons were indeed more advantageous than swords, especially when the target was a terrifyingly large insect.

Stimulated by the pain, the giant worm violently turned its head, only to be solidly hit by a magic fist the size of its own head, which made it wobble and twist back around.

"Wow, Bigby’s Hand." The Elf Priest next to the Scholar raised an eyebrow in surprise, "I didn’t know you could already make Fifth Circle spell scrolls."

"I can’t." Kalalin pursed his lips, "I bought this scroll. Fortunately, it didn’t exceed my spellcasting abilities by too much, so the chance of failure wasn’t high..."

Facing the monster’s head advancing again, Lancelot, forewarned by Little Esha’s hints, was already prepared. After a brief build-up of power, he swung his long sword, heavily slashing across the gaping maw of the giant worm, creating a terrible wound: the creature’s lower jaw was nearly cut open down the middle, copious blood gushed out like a waterfall, and it emitted a deep, horn-like screech, a sound that spoke of both pain and rage.

Lancelot felt elated, ready to press the attack, but his Spirit Perception suddenly issued a warning, prompting him to instinctively leap backward. Where he had just been standing, a flagpole-sized spike suddenly shot up from the ground, bearing a greenish glow that made Lancelot’s flesh crawl, and in just a few short breaths, the ground around the spike had turned pitch black, a clear indication of the potent poison on the spike.

Seemingly convinced that this strike was sure to hit the Human Knight, the giant creature had already shifted its focus elsewhere. On another side of its body, the carapace shattered by the dwarf exceeded ten feet in length, and the gigantic magic hand was poised with two fingers extended, as if it was about to jab at the spot broken by the dwarf.

The worm, though lacking vision, was incredibly sensitive to danger; Lancelot’s sword strike, though effective, hadn’t truly compromised its fighting capacity.

"Brother! The monster is about to turn over!"

The young Elsha warned again from her position high above, her vantage point allowing her a clear view of the lower half of the massive, elongated creature’s body beginning to contract and twist.

"Bruto! Retreat now!"

Lancelot immediately shouted, but the Dwarf, caught in a Berserk State, couldn’t hear, nor could he comprehend his comrade’s warning even if he did. He kept swinging his Magic Warhammer with all his might, but the next second, he saw that the wall he was trying to tear down had collapsed, swiftly submerging him completely.

The giant worm’s body rolled over the Dwarf, then completely shattered Kalalin’s magical hand. It seemed to want to roll back over to ensure it had completely flattened the Dwarf, but before it could do so, a swift shadow rushed to the Dwarf’s location, took off again, and left.

It was young Elsha, holding onto the handle near the neck of the Dwarf’s breastplate with both hands, flapping her massive bat wings behind her in a strenuous effort to fly upwards. Bruto appeared to be unconscious, with black and red blood seeping from his nose, mouth, and ears, most likely with multiple fractures all over his body, looking extremely tragic.

Just then, a bright golden light suddenly appeared out of nowhere, enveloping the Dwarf in Elsha’s hands. This was the Healing Divine Art that Alamir had prepared earlier, as a massive influx of life energy poured into the Dwarf’s body, healing his most severe injuries first: changing his deformed bones, repairing his injured organs, mending his ruptured blood vessels, and stitching up his torn muscles, practically causing Bruto to open his eyes almost immediately.

However, what met his gaze was a rapidly approaching gaping maw full of sharp teeth, at its center a dark tunnel-like hole, like an entrance to the Nine Nether Realm.

Carrying the heavy Dwarf significantly impaired Elsha’s flight capability, and from the gaping maw emitted an overwhelmingly strong suction force. Without giving them any time to react, both were instantly sucked into the belly of the giant worm.

The gaping maw clamped shut, and with it, the figures of the two disappeared completely.

Just at that moment, another figure leaped in front of the giant head of the worm – it was Lancelot, who had run over in a frenzy. He had switched his weapon to the Giant Sword Glacier, and with it, he chopped at the upper part of the monster’s gaping mouth like an axe chopping wood. After an unbearably loud and discomforting noise, Lancelot split the creature’s mouth into four sections, which from a distance looked like some mutated flower, displaying its hunger to the gods above.

Before the creature could bring its ’petals’ back together, Lancelot’s figure flashed as he intentionally dove into the monster’s throat.

"What?" Alamir couldn’t help but exclaim, "What is he doing?"

"Solving the problem," Kalalin replied calmly, "That purple worm is finished. Prepare to cast the group Healing Divine Art."