Chapter 110: A Difficult Situation

"Ugh... this feeling is just too... awful."

Crawling out of the Worm Carrier's stomach along the narrow esophagus, Agatha covered her mouth and gagged a few times. "I feel like I've been stuffed into a bag full of mucus and then slammed against a wall dozens of times."

"An accurate description," Nightingale said casually, emerging from the mist. She shrugged, looking at the damp crowd. "If Fran hadn't collapsed the cave entrance, we'd all be in trouble now." Due to her ability to move freely in mist form, she didn't need to crawl into the worm's belly like everyone else, so she naturally avoided the impact, stench, and viscous mucus.

"Sorry... was I too rough?" Fran asked cautiously. The intense smell made Agatha gag again.

"I don't think it's... that bad," Lightning said, wiping the liquid from her hair and sniffing it. "Being swallowed by a giant crawler and then crawling out unscathed is an unprecedented experience—I don't think any explorer has ever tried anything like this."

"You guys are ungrateful," Elena rolled her eyes. "Being unconscious is better than what we felt, and the smell and stickiness are already enviable."

This statement was unanimously agreed upon by the God's Punishment Witches.

"Okay... that's enough," Agatha coughed twice, her voice hoarse, interrupting. "The next question is, what do we do now?"

Recalling the change that had occurred a quarter of an hour ago, the witches were still somewhat shaken. Although Fran had issued a warning at the first moment, controlling one's gaze was always faster than consciousness, especially when the strange buzzing sound rang out. More than one person couldn't help but look up.

No one saw the monster's true form—all they could see were those millions of scarlet eyes.

Recalling the black stone tower swallowed whole by the worm, those densely packed eyes should belong to the Watcher Eye Demon that was perched at the top of the tower. But unlike the Eye Demon, it covered a much wider area, as if the body covered with strange eyes had been flattened.

After the buzzing sound, numerous Hybrid Demons emerged from the depths of the ruins, swarming towards them. According to Nightingale, countless specks of magical light suddenly lit up in the cave. They seemed to appear out of nowhere, from the mountain walls, streams, the dark places of the dome, inside the monsters... almost everywhere. The surging lights converged into streams, and the noisy, piercing roars drowned out the rumbling of the water. The entire snow mountain seemed to wake up from a dream, launching an attack on the uninvited intruders.

In this critical moment, Fran made a crucial decision.

She swallowed everyone except Nightingale into her belly, turned around and burrowed into the cave wall. When her entire body disappeared into the rock, the demons caught up and frantically tore at her tail. Even with Nightingale providing cover, she couldn't drive away so many enemies.

Fran endured the pain and continued to burrow for more than ten meters before violently rolling her massive body, crushing all the pursuing demons into meat patties. Then, she arched her tail and slammed it hard against the cave ceiling, causing the bedrock to collapse and seal the entrance, finally shaking off the enemy's pursuit.

As for the witches hiding in her abdomen, they experienced an extremely unforgettable quarter of an hour. The shaking caused by the original rotation and hitting the stone wall was enough to make them vomit. Not to mention that the storage chamber and digestive chamber of the Worm Carrier were not far apart, and the smell of digested food was almost suffocating.

Fortunately, everyone was safe and sound in the end.

"First, we need to figure out what happened," Elena looked at Fran. "How did you get trapped here?"

"Probably because of water erosion. The moment I broke through the passage, the rock layer beneath me suddenly collapsed. There was no time to react. I had already fallen into mid-air, and then I don't know what I hit, and I directly lost consciousness." Fran replied weakly. "When I woke up, I found myself being carried by a dozen invisible worms, and then I was thrown into this place."

"I see... they treated you as an empty carrier," Elena raised her eyebrows. "Lucky you, in a way."

"It is indeed fortunate that I wasn't eaten on the spot," Fran

muttered. "It's a pity that when I was about to sneak away, I accidentally glanced at the cave ceiling."

"It was really a Watcher Eye Demon?" Agatha asked in a deep voice.

"I don't know—although the moment I saw it, it saw me too, but that monster was much larger than the Eye Demon." The worm sighed, and a gust of fishy wind suddenly rushed towards everyone. "Ah, sorry... Elena and the others can't smell it, and I usually don't pay attention to this..."

"Cough cough, it's okay," the Ice Witch held her breath for a while. "Have you seen its full form?"

"After I was tied up, it landed for a while, soaking in the lake in this cave..." Fran paused for a moment, seemingly considering her words. "I don't know how to describe its appearance. The monster looked like a flattened mass of internal organs, and the body of an Eye Demon was superimposed on its surface. The two were not integrated into one, it was like they were forcibly pieced together. I also saw many tentacles wriggling between the two, and I don't know if they are living worms or part of the monster's body. It's just that the organs below are much larger than the Eye Demon—even compared to a Hell Beast, it can't be compared."

"Could it be absorbing devils?" Nightingale frowned. "This can't be considered a simple Hybrid Demon, right?"

"What it is can be put aside first, we need to find a way to escape from here now," Elena patted Fran's huge mouth. "Next time you encounter this kind of situation, remember to call attention first, then say the content, understand?"

"Mmm..." the latter responded dejectedly.

"Can you still move?"

"I don't have any strength..." Fran shook her head. "I need food to continue driving this carrier. The time spent trapped here has exhausted all the food in my belly."

"Can we put our rations together?" Lightning asked.

"It's probably not enough for her to drill out a hundred steps," Elena took a deep breath. "Now we can only wait for reinforcements or risk breaking through."

"Waiting in place is also a kind of risk," Agatha said calmly. "The space here is too small, we will suffocate to death in the cave in less than a day. Even if Sylvie can determine our location, the army must first defeat those demons to save us." She paused. "And don't forget, the enemy can also devour Worm Carriers."

"But if we rush out now, we may be swallowed by the horde of beasts," the God's Punishment Witch hesitated. "Also... what about Fran? She can't evacuate with us. If she stays here and is discovered by the enemy, she won't even have a chance to resist."

"Anyway... let me go outside and scout the situation first," Nightingale turned around, seemingly not wanting to participate in this dilemma.

"If you can leave, don't worry about me," Fran suddenly said. "The witches of Taqila are never afraid of sacrifice. Even if I become like this, I will always be a member of Taqila. By the way, I have some things in my belly that might help you." After saying that, she wriggled her body and slowly spat out several slimy iron boxes from her mouth.

"This is..."

"The First Army asked me to carry the camp supplies," Fran said, panting. "They said these things were too heavy and inconvenient to carry, so I swallowed them all."

Agatha opened the iron boxes one by one—inside were shovels, spades, iron wire, and other earthwork supplies. When she opened the last box, she couldn't help but froze.

This iron box was not big, but it was particularly heavy. Inside, in addition to being filled with shock-absorbing wheat straw, there were also neatly stacked more than a dozen wooden boxes. The boxes were labeled with the words "Chemical Plant No. 2, Batch 64 Products, Qualified."

If she remembered correctly, most of the decomposed nitrogen gas was sent to this factory.

This was actually a box of explosives.