Chapter 449: Into the Cave?
The Jungle Lord lifted its spear out of the ground before turning towards Lillian, watching as she clapped for his performance and listened as she praised him:
"What a wonderful performance you displayed!" Lillian shouted in between claps, hints of her nobility accent seeping into her voice.
Listening to her praise, the Jungle Lord’s glowing hollow eyes flickered for a split second.
He then nodded and took a shallow bow, grateful for her praise as she stepped to the side and gestured towards the dark cave.
Lillian smiled brightly and folded her arms, nodding in a satisfied manner as she walked by—she wasn’t aware the Jungle Lord could be such a gentleman.
Upon entering the cave and lighting it up with her trusty lantern—whose flame would never die out—she discovered several other corpses and bloodstains slumped against the walls.
Signs of battle.
Just as she was about to journey deeper, she realised that...
The Jungle Lord was having a difficult time fitting through the entrance of the cave.
Lillian smiled wryly, watching as the Jungle Lord tried to fit itself through the hole, but failing.
She rubbed the back of her head.
’I guess it’s not going to work...’
Deducing that it would be best that the Jungle Lord remain as a Shard for now, Lillian raised her arm to transform him back into his glass shard form.
However, before Lillian could, she watched as vines slowly exploded out from the Jungle Lord’s body and wrapped around him into a large cocoon, which rapidly shrank.
C-crack! Squelch!
Lillian’s face wrinkled as she immediately took a step back, watching as blood suddenly began to seep out from the gaps in the cocoon, while a horrific noise of bones cracking emerged from within it.
What on Earth was the Wendigo doing?
And why did he have to undergo such a thing that looked extremely... Painful?
Soon enough, the vine cocoon unravelled itself to reveal the Jungle Lord’s new form...
Compared to before, where the Jungle Lord stood at the height of around 8ft... He had now shrunk down to roughly half of his original height.
The Wendigo was now petite, as most of its body was made of vines. It was a rather comical sight, considering that his skull head was almost as big as his entire body.
But in a strange way, he also looked cute, if you ignored his glowing eyes that gave you an unsettling impression.
’It may be cute, but...’
Lillian took another step back, watching as blood from within the vine cocoon began to emerge as well, as though it were a blood bag that had been opened.
She then looked towards the Jungle Lord with an inquisitive look and asked:
"D-... Didn’t that hurt...?"
’Didn’t the Jungle Lord hate getting hurt?!’
The Jungle Lord tilted his head at her for a moment as he processed her question. He would then straighten his head and nod slowly, confirming that it was indeed... Painful...
Lillian’s face twitched as she gave a wry smile.
She held a hand over the Jungle Lord’s right shoulder and patted him slowly.
"L-look... You don’t have to force yourself... There’s always a workaround for these types of things." Lillian chuckled nervously before giving a warm smile, "But thank you, I’m glad to see that you’re willing to put in effort."
Her mind then slowly shifted back to an oversized insect with a human face.
’Unlike another that needs to get forced to work...’
After tossing the Jungle Lord’s weapons into her spatial rings, given that they were too big to fit inside the cave, Lillian continued her way forward, navigating through the maze-like tunnel with ease.
And as she did, she went on to discover more and more corpses along the way.
With such clean cuts and slashes that could only mean instant death, she couldn’t help but admire the Captain’s swordsmanship.
She scratched the back of her head.
’And to think he’s still holding back...’
Although Lillian couldn’t remember the battle with the Twin-headed Seawater Leviathan, she was sure the Captain didn’t give it his all throughout it.
That was because...
’He still has that cutlass...’
While not in a literal way, the cutlass was a limiter of his abilities and talent—a seal born from his traumatic past in his Third Trial.
’Until that cutlass were to become destroyed and he suffers a major injury, he would still be reluctant to give it his all.’
With that thought, Lillian pulled out a rather dull-looking cutlass from her spatial ring.
She could actually hand this weapon over to the Captain, in case it ever happens—it would do better in his hands than hers, after all.
’I won’t need it anyway, I already have enough weapons.’
After putting it away, she scrutinised the corpses before moving forward.
She needed a special material found in the body of an underground monster known as an Umbralight Drake—another ingredient that was needed for the medicine she needed to concoct.
And unfortunately, the materials on the monsters found dead around her weren’t going to suffice in the slightest.
A few more minutes of walking eventually led her out of the tunnel system she was in, but it only caused her to end up inside a humongous ravine that was lit up with countless torches.
Lillian looked around and breathed in the strong stench of iron in the air as she noticed the corpses of humanoid creatures on the ground.
Their bodies were covered in rough, dark fur and had heads that were similar to those of canines—a monster in her old world would closely describe it as a kobold.
They were also the ones worshipping the Cliff God’s Temple.
Lillian looked around and placed her lantern back into her spatial ring. Since their location was lit up with torches, the lantern wasn’t needed for now.
The girl took a step forward and began to walk on what seemed to be a wooden bridge that, although constructed crudely, was held up rather well.