The gray-white rocky walls loomed, the surrounding light gradually dimming.
In this vast environment suffused with an eerie stillness, an outrageously large giant snake coiled in a corner.
Suddenly...
The giant serpent's dark-golden vertical pupils snapped open, contracting sharply.
It began thrashing wildly.
Amid muffled, low voices barely discernible, the giant snake's long howls and roars echoed throughout the entire floor.
From an outside perspective, it seemed this colossal monster had swallowed something it shouldn't have, enduring a pain only the Sword Princess could understand.
Then...
BOOM~
The agony didn't last long, after about several tens of seconds, sharp emerald spikes (wind elemental spears) suddenly erupted from within a segment of the snake's body.
Its massive form crashed to the ground with a thunderous sound, utterly lifeless.
Soon after, the scales on its surface began to crumble and dissolve into ash.
And at that moment...
"Slash, "
Pfft~ Pfft~
Two arcs of pale blue light crossed to form a glowing "×" shaped wound on the snake's belly.
The next instant...
Creak creak creak~
A grating sound like teeth grinding came from inside.
From the gash on the serpent's belly, the flesh writhed as if something was trying to claw its way out.
Finally...
"Huff~"
Aether, carrying a 'Cat Shield' on his back, along with the elven girl he cradled princess-style, emerged free from inside the giant snake.
Looking closer, the surface of the Cat Shield was covered in cracks.
Around them, a sharp sizzling hiss of strong acid corrosion echoed.
The dark liquid dripped onto the ground, smoking and dissolving holes.
Closer inspection revealed that the unconscious elven girl's body was covered with wounds, equivalent to severe burns.
Her clothes were completely corroded away without exception.
One could only say...
"Luckily, Lefiya is Level 3 and has developed abnormal resistance."
"Otherwise, this poor girl would have simply dissolved inside the monster's stomach."
Aether, still holding the unconscious Lefiya, took a few steps away.
Then, using wind elemental power, he swept away the corrosive digestive acids around them left by the Worm Well.
Crack~
The Cat Shield shattered.
Only then did he have time to look around...
"So, where exactly is this?"
Aether furrowed his brows.
A few minutes earlier, the expedition encountered an abnormal situation on the 28th floor when five Worm Wells tunneled up from the deep levels and attacked.
When the surrounding terrain started to collapse massively, Aether's judgement was spot on...
He and Lumine simultaneously sprang into action, rescuing those with the lowest survival odds.
Among them, the top-tier adventurers (Level 4 and above) were out of their hands.
Lefiya, still lacking mental toughness, and another rabbit-girl named Rakta were only Level 3.
If they were swept into lower levels alone, not to mention the stronger monsters, even the initial fall could be fatal.
After all, in the future timeline of this world's original trajectory, a certain red-eyed rabbit boy didn't dare jump down from the 25th floor's Great Waterfall after reaching Level 4, he had calculated he would definitely die from the fall.
On the other hand, adventurers like Tiona, Tione, and Bult at Level 5, and even Grace at Level 6, could jump directly from the 52nd floor to the 58th floor without a shred of difficulty.
Especially old man Grace, who had experienced so many collapse incidents that he'd developed a method to estimate depth based on fall time.
Getting off-topic...
In short, when Aether saved Lefiya, he planned an emergency landing using Wind Spirit Wings.
For a traveler who had leapt across the continent of Teyvat, falling was nothing.
In fact, Lumine used the same method to successfully rescue the rabbit-girl Rakta.
But Aether's situation...
"Got spotted by a Worm Well mid-descent, swallowed whole with an elf girl in tow... honestly, who else but me?"
Truth be told, he really didn't want to experience this kind of local protagonist treatment.
Right now...
"Gray-white rocky walls, plus these tall walls curving slightly to one side... Damn~"
Aether's face darkened.
"This can't be..."
================
Meanwhile, higher up inside the 29th floor,
[Midnight Phantasmagoria!!!]
Lightning raged, purple beams descended from the sky, piercing through the writhing mass of worms ahead.
At this moment, Lumine had formed a temporary squad of eight.
Tiona, Ais,, Lefiya, and the rabbit-girl Rakta gathered in a circle, their eyes scanning outward.
With two Level 5s and the Genshin Fischl among them, their defensive formation held steady with ease.
Before long...
BOOM~
Accompanied by Fischl's Midnight Phantasmagoria and Oz's diving final strike, the group of worms ahead was completely wiped out by their storm of lightning.
Among the group, Level 3 Lefiya and Rakta finally breathed a sigh of relief.
No matter how much they were adventurers, girls had their psychological boundaries with such disgusting monsters.
Of course, when it was time to fight, they never held back.
If they could avoid getting close to those disgusting creatures... even Tiona felt lucky.
"Really saved our butts."
=============
129+ Advance Chapters Available on Patreon! Patreon.com/Veltoria [remove brackets]
250 Power Stones = Bonus Chapter
Add to Library to support