Chapter 112: Clawing His Way Out

It took nearly a full minute before the massive waves inside the Giant Maw Worm’s stomach finally began receding downward, revealing Lucian in his full form.

He was still hanging against the pulsating stomach wall.

His right hand tightly clutched onto the handle of the dagger embedded into the creature’s tissue itself—with all his strength, while trying to grip the pulsating flesh with his other hand.

His nails tore into it hard enough to leave visible holes.

“Cough… Cough… akh!”

His violent, repeated coughing rang inside the enclosed space.

His hand felt like it was about to slip, making him grit his teeth as he tightened his hold further, even though the wound in his arm was getting worse by the second.

Still—

He refused to let go.

“Kha… agkhk…!”

Another gagging sound escaped him as he felt that the disgusting stomach fluid had entered through his mouth while he had been submerged earlier.

The taste alone was enough to make his stomach churn wildly.

Lucian spat out repeatedly to the side while taking heavy breaths in between.

His entire body was drenched completely.

His wet hoodie and pants clung tightly to his skin.

His jet black hair stuck messily over his forehead.

It took him a few seconds to get hold of himself.

Drops of the disgusting liquid slowly dripped down his body back into the stomach below.

For several seconds—

He simply hung there trying to stabilize himself, trying to stop the nausea.

And most of all, trying to breathe.

“Ha… hakh… disgusting,” he muttered bitterly as he spat toward the side once again.

Suddenly, a sharp hiss escaped his lips.

His brows furrowed immediately.

His body felt unnaturally hot for some reason.

Almost burning.

Lucian blinked repeatedly before finally focusing properly again.

The expression on his face changed the moment he looked at his hand.

His skin was getting red, and he could see that some portions had begun peeling off.

“I knew it… That liquid was acid after all…!” he cursed through his gritted teeth.

He didn’t know how he looked right now, but he was sure the sight wouldn’t be so good.

His body had already been heavily injured before getting swallowed.

And now—

Acid burns were added on top of everything else.

Taking deep breaths, he forced himself to calm down before analysing his situation.

Right now, he was trapped inside the stomach of a gigantic C rank monster, and if he stayed here any longer, then he would be cooked—and that too literally.

His thoughts then shifted elsewhere.

“Lia… what happened to her?” he muttered softly, the question making his eyes tremble.

“It didn’t go after her… right?”

He didn’t want to consider that, but his mind couldn’t help but go toward the worst thoughts the more he thought about it.

“I told her I would take the monster away… not get inside its stomach!”

His teeth ground against each other as he slammed his gripping hand into the flesh before him.

The flesh trembled faintly from the impact.

“What would I do if something happened to her… what if that monster… what if…” his eyes shook as he began mumbling rapidly, almost looking like he had gone mad.

[Get out of your stupid world, you fool, and focus on getting out of this stomach first.] Akasha’s sharp voice echoed loudly inside his head.

She sounded annoyed by her tone, because she truly was.

Every single time it came to Lia—

Lucian got more and more irrational, more reckless.

“…Right.”

Lucian sighed out loud.

The tension in his expression turned sharper, more focused—as if the breakdown were just an illusion.

Slowly—

He raised his right arm and grabbed the knife he was previously holding with his left, injured hand.

He moved his injured arm a few times, feeling it still trembling under the wounds.

“Let’s get out of this fucker first,” he muttered coldly.

A steel beam suddenly materialised in his hand.

The metallic structure was roughly a meter long.

Lucian inhaled deeply, then pulled his arm backwards.

The muscles in his shoulders visibly tightened, and with a sharp motion, he slammed the steel beam directly into the Giant Maw Worm’s stomach wall.

As soon as it struck the tissue, it rebounded slightly against the flesh with a dull impact.

Lucian clicked his tongue in irritation.

Of course, it wouldn’t just pierce through.

The steel beam didn’t possess a sharpened edge, so it was almost impossible to tear into the skin.

But—

That was only applied to normal human beings.

And Lucian had already surpassed that limit.

His bare feet pressed harder against the fleshy wall for balance.

Veins popped faintly along his forearms.

Then—

He thrust the steel beam forward again.

And this time, the metal pierced through it, though not very deeply.

Lucian immediately ripped the beam back out, showing a small visible tear in the stomach wall.

Again, he stabbed the metal into the escat same spot.

Again.

And again.

The flesh trembled violently each time.

The stomach around him contracted repeatedly with each strike, as if reacting to the pain.

But still, he continued.

Despite his muscles screaming in agony.

Only after almost a fourth of the beam was pierced into the flesh—

Only then did he stop.

His heavy breathing echoed through the enclosed chamber as he silently stared at the embedded steel beam for several long seconds.

Slowly, he moved his legs, which were bare for some reason right now, directly pressing against the wet flesh beneath him.

It was difficult to keep his feet against the slippery surface, which was even burning the soles of his feet.

Ignoring the discomfort—

Lucian grabbed the embedded steel beam tightly with one hand while his other hand held onto the dagger.

The dagger instantly disappeared from his hand into the inventory.

Raising the empty hand, he grabbed onto the steel beam—both hands tightly around it as he hung there, his body faintly swaying.

With a swift movement, he muscled his way upward before planting both feet directly atop the steel beam itself.

The unstable footing wobbled beneath him.

Before the creature could shift further and throw him off balance—directly into the disgusting acidic fluid—

The same dagger materialised in his hand instantly.

Tightening his grip around the hilt, he twisted it and drove the blade directly into the flesh wall once more.

The plan he was having was very stupid.

But there truly didn’t seem to be any other option left.

And after asking Akasha, he found out that the Giant Maw Worm had almost a hollow space internally.

And the flesh between him and the outside was, at minimum, about one to two meters thick.

“Now the question is, how do I tear a hole that large for me to escape?” Lucian muttered unevenly while breathing heavily.

His fingers tightened further around the dagger

Gritting his teeth and without thinking any further—

He dragged the embedded dagger downward, slicing through the pulsating tissue.

The stomach wall twitched aggressively around him.

Despite slicing directly through living flesh—

There was strangely very little blood.

Only a thick flesh pulling apart that began to tremble violently the deeper he sliced through.

Below him, the viscous digestive fluids began to shake again as ripples spread across the dark liquid.

Lucian did his best to ignore that while he continued to slice as deeply as possible.

Eventually—

After cutting a long vertical line roughly matching his own height—

He stopped briefly, then pulled the sliced, disgusting flesh forcefully aside with his hand.

But the moment his eyes lowered toward the blade—

His expression immediately darkened.

The dagger… it was chipping apart, with tiny fractures across its edge.

The once sharp blade had already begun deteriorating rapidly.

“Is it because of the flesh?” he couldn’t help but ask himself between uneven breaths.

Because even as he held onto the tissue, he could feel a sharp burning sensation across his fingers, which he had been ignoring till now.

His chest heaved up and down, his breathing becoming more strained by the second.

He bit down on his lower lip, his mind churning as he tried to find a solution.

“The flesh is tough… acidic. And it’s slowly destroying the blade.”

He exhaled out loud.

“At this rate, I’ll never be able to get out of this shithole.”

His fists clenched with so much force that they tore a portion of the muscle he was holding onto.

“Some way… something that would help me…”

He grabbed onto his head, pressing his palm directly over the fabric wrapped over the wound.𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The injury beneath it throbbed violently, and he could even feel his surroundings turn blank every few minutes.

But despite all that, he racked his brain while trying to find a way out.

He didn’t have any more blades with him.

And using the steel beams alone would never let him carve a large enough opening before the acid destroyed him first.

“Can I devour it?”

The sudden question formed in his head.

A faint flicker appeared across his exhausted face.

Without hesitation, Lucian pressed both palms directly against the stomach wall.

Then, mentally activated the skill.

Dark abbys-like tendrils erupted from his palms.

Lucian’s eyes brightened instantly.

But only for a second.

The moment the dark tendrils touched the living tissue—

The energy instantly retreated back into his body.

Then—

Two glowing messages appeared before his eyes.

[The target is still alive.]

[Devour Failed.]

Lucian’s expression fell as he looked at the floating messages.

“…Fuck.”

His head lowered as frustration almost overwhelmed him completely for a brief moment.

Slapping himself to get out of the lingering depression, he forced himself to think of some other idea.

After a few tense seconds had passed, as he tried to steady his balance under the trembling environment—

A thought suddenly crossed his mind, and maybe the way out of this hellhole too.