Chapter 114: She must’ve escaped, right?

Lia’s scream tore out of her throat.

Her entire body trembled uncontrollably under the excruciating pain as the massive spike remained pierced straight through her torso.

Blood continuously poured down the sharp stone protruding from her stomach.

But the creature didn’t give her any more time and launched itself toward her once again.

BOOOOOM—!!

Its enormous body crashed down over her position with a horrifying force.

The ground trembled and collapsed further, cracking apart under the monster’s overwhelming weight.

Dust clouds erupted across the ruined street.

But once the creature slowly raised its massive head again—

Lia wasn’t there anymore.

The Giant Maw Worm suddenly jerked its bloated head wildly from side to side.

Its movements turned erratic, as if something had attached to its body.

Which had.

Lia’s bloodied fingers were deeply embedded in the pulsating skin beneath its head.

She was currently hanging beneath its enormous maw, dangerously close to the horrifying rows of inward-twisting spike-like teeth lining the circular mouth.

There was barely a shred of sanity within her eyes.

Her other arm raised upward, the structure of her fingers subtly shifting as her nails elongated unnaturally.

They became sharper and thinner, almost resembling claws more than human nails.

She drove her claw-like hand directly into the worm’s flesh.

The enormous body twisted fiercely through the ruined street, trying to throw her off immediately.

Despite lacking any visible eyes, it somehow seemed to know exactly where she was.

The large spike was still stuck in her pierced stomach, and blood continued dripping endlessly.

Yet despite such a fatal injury—

She still didn’t die, and neither did her grip loosen even slightly.

Her fingers only dug deeper, and her teeth clenched even harder, almost grinding against each other.

There was nothing on her face aside from rage.

Pure, terrifying rage that had long since crossed the boundaries of any rational thought.

“Aaaaaaaahhh… burn… burn…!” she muttered frantically between uneven breaths.

The temperature around her surged to insane levels.

Flames began spreading across her hands, rapidly crawling outward through her fingers and arms.

The Giant Maw Worm shook its head even more violently, making her body sway under it.

Its massive body slammed against the ruined structures repeatedly in an attempt to throw her off or crush her, but despite all that—

Lia’s grip didn’t falter.

Her sharpened nails dug deeper and deeper, as much as they could, almost tearing apart tissue.

“BUUUURRRNNNNN!!!”

Her mouth opened wide as the scream ripped out of her throat.

Her blood-red eyes glowed brighter and brighter.

The grotesque injuries all over her body began to heal at a rapid pace, even faster than before.

With her final scream echoing through the destroyed environment—

BOOOOOOOOMMMM—!!!

The flames exploded violently.

The massive surge of fire instantly engulfed the entire head of the Giant Maw Worm.

The explosion illuminated the ruined city further in a blazing orange light.

Its massive body convulsed wildly, twisting its frame, desperately trying to move Lia away from itself.

But despite all its efforts, the flames didn’t weaken.

Instead, they only grew hotter.

The smell of burned flesh spread heavily in the air.

Under the early sunrise, amidst the completely devastated streets and collapsed buildings—

The enormous worm looked like a gigantic nightmare writhing through the city, the only thing visible amidst the destruction.

Its raised head trembled violently beneath the sunlight pouring over it.

Flames continuously consumed its grotesque flesh.

Its circular maw twitched repeatedly, opening and closing, convulsing.

Then, a horrifying roar suddenly erupted from the creature.

Its dying roar echoed throughout the ruined streets.

Then—

Its body slowed, its body stiffening for a second.

Finally, the massive head lowered

And with a thunderous quake, the Giant Maw Worm collapsed onto the destroyed structures.

The impact shook the ground beneath its enormous corpse, crushing the already broken concrete.

A heavy silence followed.

Only the crackling flames still burning parts of the creature’s body could be heard.

Several long seconds passed.

Then suddenly—

Near the final section of the worm’s massive body—

A small portion of its flesh twitched faintly, pulsating unnaturally.

The skin bulged outward once, twice before—

A glowing blade suddenly pierced through the monster’s stomach from the inside.

The mana-coated dagger sliced downward in a sharp motion.

As soon as the flesh split apart, a bloodied hand emerged from within the corpse.

The trembling fingers grabbed onto the torn flesh and pulled it wider before the figure finally stumbled out from inside.

“Akh! Cough! Cough…!!”

Lucian collapsed on his knees the moment he got out.

A violent, hoarse cough tore through his throat harshly again and again.

His entire body trembled faintly.

Then suddenly—

“Blegh—!”

Bile surged through his throat as he immediately vomited onto the destroyed road beneath him.

The disgusting taste of acid and blood still lingered heavily inside his mouth.

After a few seconds had passed, he slowly wiped his lips with the back of his shaking hand.

His vision blurred slightly, and his body ached everywhere.

Every muscle felt sore, burning.

And strangely enough, he was even feeling incredibly lightheaded.

‘I’m one hundred percent sure there was something in the air inside its stomach…’

The thought surfaced weakly in his mind as he took several deep breaths, clenching his fists tightly.

‘Where would I find myself a doctor to treat me?’

Despite the situation he was currently in, that was somehow the first question that came to his mind after getting out.

Lucian slowly blinked before his eyes widened faintly.

As he calmed down, he finally remembered the situation he was currently in.

Lia.

The monster.

His head turned sharply.

Lifting himself with some struggle, Lucian stood to his feet, the bare skin touching the ground and prickling slightly from the burns.

His pants had almost torn into shorts, burned and melted by the acid, though he hadn’t noticed much.

He instantly stepped back as he noticed the thick stomach fluids slowly leaking through the opening he came through.

His face immediately twisted slightly in disgust.

Since his skin remained faintly red, burning—almost as if he had submerged himself inside an acid pool.

Which honestly wasn’t really wrong in his case.

Pushing those useless thoughts out of his head, Lucian moved back again, trying to create more distance from the monster lying before him.

But even after a few seconds had passed—

The creature didn’t move again.

Its body remained completely still under the morning sunlight.

Lucian frowned slowly.

After taking a proper look at the creature’s enormous body sprawled across the destroyed street, he turned his head sideways.

“What…?”

A small mumble escaped his lips unconsciously.

Because not very far ahead of him, the creature’s massive head was still burning.

For a second, Lucian thought he was hallucinating from the poison.

His brows furrowed.

‘Did it die?’

Just the thought itself felt impossible.

He hadn’t even done anything.

At most, he had torn through part of its stomach and escaped, and that shouldn’t have been enough to kill the monster of this size?

Then how…?

Did it smash its head into some large gas tank or something like that?

But even that couldn’t have created a fire powerful enough to kill it—not without any visible proof.

His mind churned despite his exhausted state.

But then, he suddenly shook his head.

‘That’s not important right now,’ he reminded himself.

Lucian instantly looked around and checked through the destroyed surroundings for a few seconds.

Then, his leg muscles tightened as he shot from his spot immediately.

His body still screamed in pain with every movement, but he ignored all of it completely, climbing right onto the enormous Giant Maw Worm’s still body in a single leap.

Lucian steadied his balance from the momentum before immediately looking around, trying to locate the building where he had left Lia.

But as he looked around, his body froze suddenly.

Because… there was nothing nearby.

If he remembered correctly, then that building should’ve been just ahead of him.

But before him was nothing but destroyed structures—remains of buildings with rubble and broken slabs that still fell and slid down.

His heartbeat immediately spiked.

“No…”

The word escaped his lips weakly.

“No… no…”

His eyes frantically scanned through the rubble as he immediately jumped down from the worm’s body and rushed toward the destroyed structure.

“Lia—!” he shouted, his voice trembling faintly as it echoed loudly.

But no response came.

Lucian immediately grabbed a large broken slab of concrete and forcefully pushed it aside.

Dust exploded apart.

Then another slab.

And another.

Despite his heavily injured body screaming under strain, he kept on moving pieces of rubble desperately—all while shouting her name.

“Lia!!”

Each time, his voice shook harder, panic creeping into it while he continued digging through the rubble.

His breathing rapidly became uneven.

His vision blurred faintly from exhaustion, but he didn’t stop.

“It c-couldn’t be r-right…? He muttered shakily.

“There is no dead body here… She must’ve escaped, right? Right?”

He almost sounded like he was trying to make sure with his desperate words rather than asking someone.

He got no answer from Akasha either.

The silence made his expression fall even further.

Something cold sank into his chest as his movements slowed for a second.

Before his mind could fully plunge into darkness—

He heard a faint sound in the distance.

Lucian’s head instantly snapped toward that direction.

Without hesitation, he threw away the large concrete pillar he had been lifting.

It crashed loudly against the rubble as he ran forward with all his remaining ounce of strength.

Toward the Giant Maw Worm.

Toward its head.

His bare feet slammed repeatedly against the destroyed streets as he sprinted forward.

Pain surged through his body, and his lungs burned violently.

But none of that mattered right now.

The massive flames covering the worm’s head began to die down rapidly.

Ignoring that too, he continued running forward.

Then suddenly—

His bare feet came to a sudden stop.

Something felt wrong.

Ahead of him, the burning flames had almost completely dimmed, leaving behind blackened, charred flash covering the worm’s enormous head.

Smoke rose from parts of its body.

But Lucian’s attention wasn’t on the corpse anymore.

His eyes narrowed and remained fixed on something else.

A silhouette.

Someone was standing there.

The wind faintly swept through the ruined street, gradually shifting the dust and smoke aside.

And little by little—

The figure became clear.

And the moment Lucian finally saw the person standing there—

His eyes widened instantly.

100 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter

50 Golden Tickets = 1 extra chapter

This is the most I can do by now. Might increase the number of releases if you support me more.