“So?”

“So?”

“... So what do we do now?”

“What do you mean by “what do we do now?”We keep running until that thing gets tired of hounding us.”

Behind us, the colossal beast continued to scream and charge at high speed toward us, effortlessly blasting everything in its path.

“So we don’t retaliate?”

“What do you want me to do? Remember my way of fighting, restraining, and finishing it with a blow, and all that in speed, I can’t picture myself restraining a mountain-sized monster like this one.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“If you have something you want to try, please do.”

I came to an abrupt halt and turned, conjuring up a powerful spike-like giant rock magic, which I then fired at the beast.

The spikes flew toward the monster's head, but it was swallowed by the monster, who chewed it up with a ferocious bite, turning the spike-like earth magic to dust that was exhaled along the monster’s breath.

Oh shit.

“ Your verdict?”

“Keep running.”

I immediately urged Han to flee because, while riding on the back of that thing, I noticed how tough and impenetrable its carapace was. From Han's description, I couldn't tell what kind of monstrosity that thing could be, evidently because it wasn't mentioned in the Encyclopedia, plus the fact that that thing was insanely enormous, plus from what I've read monster capable of cattling Dara, are generally overly stronger than them after all these Dara had no choice but to accept their fate as cattle, if that wasn't enough to indicate how strong that thing is, then I don’t know what would.

“Do you think you can find a way-”

Suddenly, among the rumbling and the loud and horrifying footfall, the sound of an electrical humming could be heard from behind us.

Glancing behind us, I saw the turtle-like monster's entire body glowing with the same yellow color of lightning while also being run through by sparkles, its appendage back spike turning blindly white, and a giant ball of lightning magic growing in front of its wide-open mouth.

Its mouth, I noticed, was made up of two layers of jaws on the outside and a smaller one in the first, resulting in the creature having four layers of teeth: the lower inner, the upper inner, upper outer, and the lower outer. The teeth that were from the outer range were protruding toward the outside.

“Hon, attention, it’s preparing a lightning attack.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.”

Taking a sudden stop, the beast fired its attack, a massive ball of lightning flew at us at breakneck speed, reducing everything in its path to ash; we, the target of the attack, were able to barely doge by abruptly parting ways in two opposite directions.

What the hell? Is that thing trying to kill us?!

I mean yes, but if we didn’t manage to dodge that attack, there would be nothing left of us but ash, what would be the point.

This is far too much of an overkill.

Besides, why the hell is something so big allowed in this forest? This creature is way too unfit for a densely packed environment like this one.

You can complain as much as you want, there’s no point to it.

“Do you think you can break through one of his soft spots?”

“Like?”

Each part of that creature's body was protected by a thick scaly armor, so there was no such thing as a soft spot on that thing.

“The eyes… Maybe.”

“I don’t know, maybe but I doubt it will allow itself to be attacked so easily.”

“So, what do you think about that ''place"?” I said, glancing at where the beast should be. “That is the only one I can think of.”

“You can’t be serious? Okay, you’re serious!?”

“I can’t be more serious than now. And yes I realise the risk but it’s our best shot.”

“ … “

We stopped running away from the monster and began charging at it once we had devised a strategy.

The turtle-like monster clawed at Hon with its grotesque front limbs; upon contact with the ground, the claws attack created a massive crater, sending visible shockwaves.

Naturally, I was unaffected by its attack since I had dodged it, but I did get a firsthand taste of the strength that the creature's limbs carried.

To put an end to this, the creature opened its mouth again, unleashing a similar attack as before.

“As if we will let him do that!”

We both charged toward the creature as soon as it opened its mouth, knowing that it was now or never.

. “Hon!”

“Roger that.”

Hon and I regrouped after coming from two different directions; he climbed on my back as I jumped to the creature's massive gaping mouth.

We landed in the creature's mouth, which was just big enough for me and Hon.

I immediately began to control my tentacles in order to create a pillar that would keep the creature's mouth open.

The stench was revolting, the upper mouth was the roof, and the ground was literally the lower jaw and monster's viscous, slimy, and bouncy tongue.

“Oy, Han, You better find a way to end this quickly, for I’m not sure how long I can hold it open like this.”

Hon acting as a pillar, I was completely free of any movement.

Since the creature's tongue became agitated, I immediately hugged it and tore it off with a mildly tremendous effort.

I grabbed what was left of the tongue and inserted them inside its throat since it really started to get lousy with its weird attempt to scream. And it did block the air and sound passage… but.

Due to Han's actions, the monster exerted even more force in its attempt to squish us inside its mouth; I'm not sure, but I believe this creature is hammering its own mouth against the ground in order to squish us.

To get rid of the annoyance of its own tongue, the creature took a deep breath that inspired and swallowed its own tongue down its throat; it was also attempting to suck us in.

“Chew before swallowing, you bastard!”

“Shut up and do something, you idiot!”

Not knowing what else to do, I sent out my strongest fire magic attack which was providentially swiftly sucked by the creature deep breath in.

The creature stopped hammering its head against the ground, but now was … I believe rolling on the ground trying to ease its innard’s pain.

The creature was screaming in agony, so I knew it had done serious damage to it. Hon and I knew it was dying, so I kept sending fire until its entire insides were burned to ash.

The creatures stopped agitating after about fifteen minutes and fell lifelessly to the ground.

Han and I emerged, covered in sticky liquid, after moving apart the creature's jaws to allow us to escape.

“Woooooooooooo! That was crazy! I’m down for another one.”

“Please spare me,” I said as I walked several meters away from the creature's corpse before falling headfirst against the ground.

I remained there, face to the disgusting ground, appreciating the fact that I was still alive and not being chewed to pieces by a massive turtle.

“So?”

“So?”

“Can’t you yet take that thing form?”

“Oh, that? Well, I think could but-”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. But I think it would be better if I were to take a creature's body that isn't this massive. It would be … how to put it? Very inconvenient straight up bothering me.”

I admit that with that much difference in size between us, our cooperation would be vastly affected, so I guess it is for the better.

“I see, it’s a shame since we finally managed to kill a strong one since our arrival here. Now it will all go to waste.”

“Hon, what are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

“There is no such thing going to waste here, loo- Now, you have enough meat to never ever starve for the three months to come with that big boy corpse. In the end, your hunt was pretty fruitful, right?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“And in fact, I’m pretty sure it’s already well cooked from the inside.”

Only then did I realize that, in addition to the putrid odor of the fluid covering my entire body, there was also a strange odor of roasted meat lingering in the air.

“With that smell, I doubt that “well-cooked” would be the right word.”

Suddenly, I felt something soft and weightless falling on top of my nose.

I felt it,

It was cold.

Despite the fact that the strange climate in the Frozen Hell had completely distorted my sense of the weather, I noticed that the weather here, which was following the season norm, was already getting colder and colder.

“Han, is this it?”

“Yes Hon, it is snowflakes, … snow is falling from the sky.”

“So… Winter is upon us then.”

For us, it was just the start of a winter, but in truth, it was indeed the beginning a winter; a long, bloody one winter without precedent.