The Greatest Fight [progression cultivation isekai]

X2.6.3 – The Belly of the Monster

"Lymphrot," said Elevar, pointing to a landscape that looked like giant, rotting intestines as tall as mountains. White stains oozed out, plopping down like pus on skin.

"Charming," said Indigo. "Do all these places have great names like this?"

"These are the names that were given by Jumpers. The local name for this place is Thaat-torr," explained the monk. "We must speak with the elder of the Ujj Tribe. He will know how to get to our next destination."

"Can't we just use our Compass?" asked Rosso.

"The Gift only points in the direction of what we seek. It does not give us any details on what's in the way, nor the easiest path forward. Nobody knows the place like its locals."

A small village comprised of rudimentary shacks made of bones and large teeth welcomed them. Again, they were greeted by shaking spears and wild screams, as the locals amassed around the strangers. Their forms were grotesque, and although they were humanoid in shape, they had teeth too big, and body parts that were misshapen, or too long. None of them looked the same, some had more arms, others walked on all four. They did not seem intelligent, often interacting with each other through grunts and gurgles, as well as the occasional clap which often startled Indigo.

"The shaman says that for foreigners to know their wisdom, they must help the tribe defeat Ur-Ka," translated Elevar as the chief spoke.

"Ur-Ka?" Rosso asked. "It's a giant, hideous monster, isn't it?"

The monk did not respond.

"It's definitely a giant, hideous monster," said Rosso, shaking his head.

The chief handed them a bag made of skin, and as Elevar dumped what was inside onto the ground, out fell various weapons of the strangest kind.

"Do you know how to use the Arsenal Gift to manifest weapons of aura yet?" asked the monk, receiving a 'no' from both. "The Spinal Sword, the Tooth Scythe, the Intestine Whip, the Cartilage Bow, and the Femur Staff. Pick three, then."

"I'll take this one," said Rosso, picking up the scythe, as Indigo chose the sword. The robot instead had the whip.

"We are going to have to kill Ur-Ka with these, let me guess," said Rosso taking a deep sigh as the monk nodded.

"Not necessarily," explained the Pardasian. "The chief's son has been taken by the monster. He asks us to liberate him and bring him back."

Finally reaching the way out of the Tunnel of Tongues, a slimy, smelly, viscous place with giant meat protrusions, they made it to the Gurgling Hollow. There, the monstruous beast slept, its breath shaking the flesh that surrounded them.

"What the hell do we do?" whispered Indigo as they hid behind a large mound.

"The creature's aura is off the scales. My sensor cannot even indicate a reading," explained Thero.

"So, let's make sure it stays asleep, then," Rosso shot a stare their way before nervously looking back at the beast.

"There," Elevar pointed to the giant's teeth sticking out of its enormous jaws. "That looks like a person. It must be the chief's son."

"He's either unconscious, or already dead—hanging from his clothes from a giant tooth like that," said Rosso, shaking his head. "Do we really have to—"

The monk had already begun to sneak towards the monster, prompting the others to follow as quietly as they could. The breath rose slowly, gurgling, crackling, bubbling. Then, the breath fell, as a wind of warm, putrid air intensified with each step closer. Indigo fell to the ground as she slipped on what looked like mucous, forcing a grunt out of her.

The others froze as the breath paused. They looked at each other like deer caught in headlights. She stood back up, slowly, almost in slow motion, taking a sigh of relief when the breath continued.

At last, they reached the man hanging from the large tooth.

"Help me up," said Elevar, reaching up.

His hand grabbed onto the sleeve, slowly turning him, revealing his face.

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"He's dead," said Elevar, noticing that half of the man's head was missing. "It does not look like one of the locals. Must be some Jumper who got lost in this world."

"What the hell is that?" asked Thero.

"Looks like a giant, meaty—snake?" said Rosso, staring at the large, slithering mass slowly surrounding them.

"I don't think it's a snake," said Indigo, her shaking finger pointing towards the giant mouth. "It's a tongue!"

The Jumpers attempted to scatter, but noticing Rosso struggling as he tried to pick up Roa, they flew back to aid him. It was too late.

"It's like glue!" shouted Indigo, attached to thousands of tastebuds. "I can't—"

The travelers were carried into the darkness, as the giant monster's mouth opened wide, and swallowed them whole.

They slid inside a throat, as gastric juices and gurgling noises surrounded them. A light suddenly shone when Elevar manifested the Torch Gift. The travelers found their way to each other, slipping on ripples of flesh and chunks of half-digested food.

"We're going to die inside this giant idiot, Loor-Mah," shouted Rosso, slipping as he tried to sit up.

"I believe it is called Ur-Ka," said Thero.

"I don't care what's it's called, I don't want to end up digested," Rosso blurted back.

The flesh surrounding them throbbed until they were once again sliding. Further down, deeper within the beast's belly they fell.

"This must be the stomach," said Elevar, standing up, shining his light upon the gargantuan, squelching chamber.

Several giant tapeworms fell from the ceiling and unto the Jumpers, who surprised, attempted to break free.

"Get these things off of me!" shouted Indigo as one wrapped itself around her body.

An explosion of blood was followed by the plop of the worm's body, now sliced in half.

"The Tooth Scythe is not bad," said Rosso, admiring his strange weapon. Unfortunately, the thing broke in half as he was smiling, causing a serious look to appear on his face. "Never mind. It was—single use."

"Watch out!" shouted Indigo as a man appeared out of the darkness.

Elevar shone the light on him, revealing the misshapen shape of a local of Carnassia.

"Tatt-Ur-Ka-ne-Wawa," said the man, barely able to stand.

"He said he was digested yesterday," Elevar explained. "He's the one we are looking for."

"Ask him if he knows a way out," asked Indigo.

"I believe that he would have taken it already if he knew," said Thero, causing her to nod and shrug.

"My skin—it's burning," said Rosso, attempting to wipe some of the gastric juices off of himself.

Indigo grabbed her strange sword and lacerated the side of the stomach, causing rivers of blood to ooze out.

"If we can't find a way out, we'll make one," she said, slicing into the flesh.

A large moan shook everything.

"The beast—it's feeling the sting from your cuts. I think you should stop. It might—" said Thero.

The stomach churned and the travelers were thrown into the air for a moment before sliding further down into the intestines of the beast. The space was tight, and they used their strength to keep the fleshy walls surrounding them from collapsing. In the fray, Elevar crawled around until he found the others.

"Listen, listen to me," he said, panting, as the light from his index finger revealed the terror in their eyes. "I need you to transfer to me as much aura as you can."

"What are you going to do?" asked Rosso.

"These weapons are useless against a behemoth like this. If you give me enough of your energy, I might just be able to pierce a hole through the belly."

The others placed their hands on the monk, and silence fell upon the group. The tried to hold on to him and each other as best they could as the flesh around them moved them deeper into the recesses of the giant's body.

"That's all I got," said Indigo.

"It's been fifteen minutes. I think you should try," Rosso pointed out, lifting his hand from Elevar's shoulder, at last.

The monk concentrated, and his right arm began to glow with a bright, blinding white light. He pointed a Gunhand at the wall and unleashed a powerful blast that shook everything. For a moment, everything went dark, and the intestines went wild. The travelers were thrown all over, covering their noses and mouths to avoid drowning in gastric juices, their hands desperately hanging on to whatever sleeve, ankle or wrist they could find in the chaos. When things finally calmed down again, they found themselves even further down the intestines.

"I don't think it will work. The body is too big to pierce through, and the intestines will move each time we hurt it," said Elevar with a tone of resignation.

"I got an idea!" Thero said as the others stared at him. "Well, we can use the sword to pierce the walls of the intestines."

"Why?" asked Rosso.

"Because, it seems that each time we upset it, it sends us deeper down."

"We are trying to get back out, not go deeper, Thero. Is your motherboard fried?" said Rosso.

"Well, every intestine ends at some point, does it not?" the robot said with a smile.

"You want us to escape—through the back door?" said Indigo with a disgusted look on her face. She sighed and said, "alright, let's do it!"

She grabbed the sword that looked like a spinal chord and began shoving it into the flesh around them. Over and over, she pierced it, causing them to slide and be thrown around.

"I can't do this for much longer," shouted Rosso, holding his hand over Roa's face to avoid him choking on the juices.

Indigo did not relent, however. She continued on until she could not stab any longer, exhausted from almost half hour of sliding and cutting.

"Do you smell that?" shouted the circus performer.

"Yeah, it smells like crap," said Rosso.

"It's the smell of freedom!" she shouted, tearing into the intestines once more.

Light blinded them all of the sudden, as they felt their stomachs drop. As soon as Elevar's eyes opened, he realized that they made it out, falling down several stories until they landed on an enormous mound of feces.

"We're alive!" shouted Elevar.

The monster turned around, sniffing the air, growling a growl so guttural that everything vibrated.

The Jumpers grabbed Roa and the chief's son, and flew away from the beast, which roared in the distance as it thrashed around in pain.

Covered in filth from head to toe, they stopped to wipe some of it off in a river of mucous.

"It's not water, but it's still better than feces, I guess," said Elevar.

"This is hands down, the single worst place in all of Existence," said Indigo as she wiped herself off, gagging every few seconds.

"I've seen worst," the monk said.

"Worst than—this?" Thero asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, unfortunately, much worst."