[Vol. 8] Chapter 33: This Is Called Infiltration. Got a Problem With It?
“Zzzzzzz—!”
With a sharp sound like a blade tearing through cloth, a golden flame at the Dragon God's fingertip spread out. In that moment, the entire fortress seemed to freeze in shades of gray and white.
The Glem birds circling in the sky suddenly stopped in midair, unnaturally frozen. The flames on the torches around the training field also stopped flickering. Time and space, strengthened by the Primordial Flame and the Dragon God's mighty claw, completely stopped flowing. Even the deep, gaping mouth in the ground, which had been about to close up, turned into a motionless statue under this absolute divine power.
Inside the entire fortress, only two people were unaffected.
The two girls stepped out from hiding and walked up to the mysterious, terrifying creature frozen in gray and white. They stood silently, studying it for a while.
“This thing is also undead... What a monster. It looks like it has been nesting around here for some time, feeding on the infected zombies… Maybe this creature is connected to the undead zombie outbreaks in this fortress, and even the large-scale outbreaks that happened before in the Holy Empire.”
After thinking it over, the priestess turned to look at her dragon.
“By the way, Xiao Guang, you seem to be using your ‘Space-Time Rift’ more smoothly than before. Does your Divinity also make the powers you brought from the Illusory World stronger?”
Miss Dragon God nodded slightly.
“I think so, Master. Before, I could only rip open time and space briefly with my physical body. The stopping effect would last at most about a minute. But now, with the Primordial Flame helping me, I can hold it for nearly three times as long.”
“This so-called Divinity came from the power hidden in that ring. After merging with that mysterious energy, my abilities evolved and became something new. So it makes sense that it fits me well.”
“I didn’t expect that even after reaching max level, I could still grow stronger like this... Divinity really is an interesting kind of power. Maybe I can try it too... haha, never mind. Let’s talk about that later. Let’s go.”
She had no awareness of being a divine being at all. Like a puppy getting praise, the blonde girl nodded excitedly, then tilted her head in confusion.
“Yes, Master! But… where are we going?”
The priestess pointed to the giant mouth frozen in midair, still reaching up from underground, and smiled.
“Inside it, of course. Since there are far fewer zombies in this fortress than we expected, that means they must’ve been moved or made to disappear through some hidden way. I have a feeling… there’s something special inside this undead creature’s belly~”
Three minutes isn’t very long, but it was more than enough for these two powerful girls to climb inside the creature. They walked through the dark inner tunnel until they finally stepped onto solid ground again.
The Dragon God snapped her fingers. The gray-and-white stillness that had covered everything around them quietly faded away. At the same time, the frozen giant creature began to move again, retreating underground with ripples flowing across the ground.
The empty training field slowly returned to normal. But no one in the fortress, not even the birds flying overhead, noticed that two unexpected guests had just entered a very important place… in a truly unbelievable way.
Inside the belly of the undead giant insect, Violet looked around with curiosity, not seeming nervous at all.
"This place... is actually a lot cleaner than I expected."
After entering the creature’s mouth, the two of them had dropped straight down for nearly ten full seconds before landing on a floor that felt soft, like the inside of a living creature.
They had thought the creature, having swallowed so many undead zombies like a glutton over the years, would have a stomach full of bones and rotting flesh, with a terrible stench.
But the truth was different, the spot where they landed was surprisingly clean. There was no mess, no foul smell, and no sign of the zombies it had eaten. Around them, there was only the dark red inner wall of organs, with nothing else in sight. It was strange.
Based on the [Space-Time Rift]’s ability, they should have entered only a few seconds after those zombies were swallowed. Unless those things were digested the moment they came in, there shouldn’t have been time for them to disappear so quickly, even if they had been moved somewhere else.
Something felt off...
"Xiao Guang, can you smell any trace of those creatures from before?"
What surprised the priestess even more was that, this time, even Xiao Guang’s super-sensitive dragon nose failed. The blonde girl gently shook her head.
"The air is surprisingly clean. There's no strange smell at all, Master. I think those stinking zombies never actually ended up here."
"Really? That’s... very strange. Interesting..."
To avoid alerting anyone, Violet didn’t use her spiritual power to scan the whole area just yet. Even though she didn’t fully understand what was going on, the place only had one path, straight ahead or back the way they came, so there was no need to overthink it.
"Let’s walk around and see what they’re up to. Be careful, we might run into a fight at any time."
"Don’t worry, Master! I’m ready!"
…………………………………………
While the two uninvited guests were exploring the inside of the strange creature, the person Frederica and the others were looking for, the Great Chieftain of the Behemoth Tribe and current leader of the Tribal Alliance, Tairnak, had already arrived alone in a mysterious, hard-to-describe space.
The ground and walls were dark red, covered with vein-like patterns and twisting lines that moved like living tissue. A creepy and evil feeling filled the air, just being in this place was enough to make one’s heart race in fear.
At that moment, it wasn’t just Tairnak. More than ten high-ranking leaders, chiefs and vice chiefs from various wild tribes, were also gathered there. Except for the few still in charge of the army outside, nearly all of the top leaders of the Tribal Alliance were now present.
But even though these people were respected, powerful, and well-known in the buffer region, now they stood silently with lowered heads, like humble servants. They were gathered in front of a strange “door.”
As soon as Tairnak arrived, one large man with an elephant trunk and tusks, whose massive size matched the Behemoth Chieftain’s, quickly stepped forward to greet him.
The Elephant Tribe and Behemoth Tribe were known to have the strongest alliance among the sixteen tribes. Their leaders had been close for over a hundred years, and both tribes played key roles in forming the current alliance.
The Elephant Tribe’s chief spoke fluent [Enilu Language], a language from the Austre Empire. Though he was tall and had a strong, intimidating presence, his voice was soft and careful now, as if afraid of disturbing something dangerous. But even so, his worry was clear in his words.