The sound of water echoed in the damp, smelly area. Elvira, who had run out of mana, began to regain her consciousness.
Normally, she would be in a daze and take a few minutes before regaining any clarity, but this time the pungent smell jolted her brain awake.
"If you're awake, use your magi to make us float. You can do that, right?" Ben asked in a gruff voice. He could feel the slight movement on his back.
"Where are we?" Elvira asked, confused. Not even in all her past lives had she ever seen something .
Other than the dampness and sound of water, everywhere else was complete darkness—darkness that not even her sharpened eyes could pierce.
But it was different for Ben; he could see everything. Her question made him realize her limitation, but it didn't matter to him.
Right now, he had something more urgent. "We're inside the hell worm."
"WHAT!?" Elvira's eyes almost popped out. How could they have survived being eaten by a walking catastrophe?
That was her question now. But Ben cut her thoughts short. Before she could say anything, he spoke in a stern tone, "Stop asking meaningless questions and make us float."
Elvira then looked down. Since Ben had requested they float, the reason must be something below or up in the ceiling.
Her heart stiffened the moment she saw what was happening. Her gaze softened, and her lips curled into a short smile.
"You're always cold to me, but I know it. In reality, you care about me. My beloved."
"Spare me your fantasy. If you die, I die. You think I'll let that happen!? Anyway, go on quickly. My biomass is running out."
After they had been swallowed by the hell worm, Ben found them inside its intestine.
Its title as a walking catastrophe was nothing to scoff at. Its digestive liquid could melt everything as long as it was given time.
At first, Ben had tried using rocks and bronze ore as makeshift scaffolding, but both were pointless.
They didn't even last a second. At that time, in panic, he quickly spawned as many blocks as he could to buy as much time as possible, hoping to pass through this digestive liquid.
While doing this, he even tried creating a boat or whatever form he could in desperation.
When his final block melted and he fell toward the digestive liquid, Ben had really thought it was all over.
Even if he could regenerate, if his entire body submerged, his fate was clear: death.
Then there was also Elvira. Different from him, she couldn't regenerate endlessly.
If she died, he died. At that moment, he had raised Elvira as high as possible and desperately prayed, "GOD, Buddha, or whoever being up there that sent me here, please let me survive!"
Thankfully, the author that sent him to this liquid still needed the story to continue.
The liquid was quite shallow, allowing him to walk while keeping himself regenerating. It had been an hour since this happened.
Elvira let out a chuckle. She didn't mind at all Ben's answer. Even as he said that, Elvira could feel his concern.
As an Aetheris, her values were different from humans'. If Elvira were in his shoes, she would have cut herself into pieces to reduce the weight, allowing them to move faster.
After all, her body was not weak. She could survive even with only her limbs and head alone for days.
She could also regenerate with mana afterward. She raised her index finger, creating two magics. "Lumina, Feather Glide."
A sphere of light appeared near them, brightening the whole place. At the same time, Ben could feel a draft of wind surrounding them.
It then lifted their bodies upward, just inches away from the bubbling acid liquid.
Elvira could see that part of Ben's leg was left only with bone, while the other was covered in melted chitin.
To maximize time, Ben had only focused all his armor into specific parts.
The goal was that as long as he could stand upright and walk, the rest didn't matter.
'Despite his regeneration, that should be painful as hell,' Elvira thought. 'Now that I think of it, did I ever have someone treat me ?'
Feelings of guilt and happiness started overwhelming her heart. Meanwhile, Ben was oblivious to all this.
He was focused on looking for a way to escape. The surroundings were like a huge tunnel, with the only difference being the wall.
If a tunnel was made of concrete, then this one was a grotesque version made from flesh.
But the flesh didn't make it weaker. Instead, it was far stronger than normal concrete.
With Ben's current level of strength, he could easily punch a hole in a concrete wall.
But this meat wall? He already knew it was better not to try. Who knew what kind of response he would get?
'The only entrance is the mouth, but those sharp teeth... Yeah, I don't want to experience that again. But then, where should I go? Move toward the end of the tail?'
But Ben wasn't sure that was how worm biology worked. 'Do they even excrete the leftover?'
Looking at how potent the acid was, he doubted the worm needed to do that. 'I should've paid more attention in my biology class,' Ben thought with a heavy sigh.
Stuck with no idea, he asked, "Elvira, do you have any idea?"
"Ah? Oh, yeah, sorry. Dazed a bit there. If you mean escaping this hell worm, then no. I've never heard anything about it."
"Tch, so what now? We're stuck?"
"Well, even my mana won't last forever. If it keeps going , our fate is sealed. For now, how about we try to explore? This worm eats everything. Maybe we can find something useful."
Anything that could survive the worm's digestive fluid would be a treasure in Ben's mind. And it wasn't like he had another choice.
"Well, at the very least, do you know how long this worm is?"
"I don't know. No one's ever seen its complete body. The worm also often moves between layers, so I guess it's at least a few kilometers long?"
Ben's lips twitched as his gaze turned toward the endless tunnel. "Let's just hope we find something, then."