Immediately the monster's jaw closed around Eliron, Yennefer fell to her knees, then a pained scream tore through her throat.
"Eliron!" She shouted, both hands on her legs as she leaned forward slightly.
But no answer came, just the eerie silence that followed his disappearance.
The entire hunting party was beyond shocked. Seeing their leader defeated so easily was more than enough to completely shatter whatever confidence they had built up.
Their weapons hung loosely in their hands, some even fell to their knees, while a few others stared up, trying to suppress their tears.
This was very much true for the hunters Eliron had taken in as students.
'This can't be happening…' Yennefer thought.
She knew that the mammoth would be tough, but never in her wildest imaginations would she have expected this outcome.
She had grown used to seeing him pull out skills out of nowhere to drag himself out of tough spots, slowly, without realising it, she had come to rely on him.
Seeing him gone, and not being able to do anything about it caused her heart to tremble.
Now that the only notable threat had been vanquished, the Magister mammoth returned to trying to break free of its constraints.
It was ignoring them because it knew that no matter how much they tried, there was not even a slim chance of them killing the monster.
And as much as Yennefer hated it, the mammoth's assessment was right.
The elves did have exceptional talents among them, but this monster…
It was just too much.
Yennefer took a deep breath as her sorrows began to stir, and anger rose from the depths of her soul.
Then she got up, clenching her crossbow in her hand. "Give him back!"
Not far away from her, Ash was frantic.
Even as several men tried to hold him back, he was just a few seconds away from breaking free.
He did not care about the quicksand nor the fact that the monster could crush him without exerting even the littlest effort.
His mind was simply set on one goal, getting back his lord! "Let me go!!"
Artie on the other hand was very difficult to read, she simply stared at the mammoth, her jaw clenched and her hand tightened by her sides. Then she looked away, her gaze dark.
Unlike Ash, Artie was more logical, she knew that at this point, there was nothing that could be done.
She should have simply accepted reality…
But somewhere deep inside her heart, she could not just sit down and do nothing.
So Artie ran to the edge of the quicksand, her mana flaring around her like a storm.
Then she did the stupidest thing she could have possibly done.
Something that if they had told her she would do just a few days ago, she would scoff at…
"Hey!" She screamed at the top of her voice, light swirling in her hands.
"Give him back!" She shouted simultaneously with Yennefer, both women glaring daggers at the disaster within the pool.
The mammoth turned, its blood red eye fixing on them, and then once again, its trunk swirled with compressed lightning.
Its crimson eyes shimmered, electricity sparking within it, and then its hide began to glow like molten magma.
Artie unslung her bow from her back, raising an arrow and aiming it right at the monster's eye, while Yennefer began chanting a new spell, one that Arie had never heard.
The arrow began to glow fiercely as Artie poured nearly all her mana into it.
The arrow doubled in size, strings of light flowing past it.
But just before she could launch it.
Before Yennefer could finish her spell…
A star emerged.
•••
Meanwhile, inside the mouth of the mammoth…
"Ehehehehehe…" A dark chuckle filled the slimy cavity as Eliron chuckled.
"Everything is going exactly as planned!"
Then he paused and raised his hands, frowning as slime dripped off it.
He could already feel his skin burn merely from the digestive juices in the mouth… how then would it be if he got to the stomach?"
He clicked his tongue and immediately regretted it. It was as if he could taste the stench!
"Ack—!" Eliron wheezed.
Then suddenly the mammoth swallowed, taking him on a nasty trip towards his stomach.
Eliron pulled out the dagger strapped to his waist and closed his eyes, focusing on his hearing alone.
The truth about his 'accident' was that it wasn't really an accident.
After Eliron redirected its thunder strike to the mammoth, the mammoth's open-mouthed scream had made him realise something…
He had been thinking about it wrongly the entire time.
Instead of sorting through his collection, and pulling out the next plot defying skill like he had done with the goblin king…
He decided to be more tactical with his approach.
If the sadistic elephant was a walking fortress, then all he had to do was destroy it from the inside right?
No matter how tough you were, your insides would always be your weakness.
Strong men succumbed to sickness, even the toughest sword snapped if there was a fault within it.
It was the same for good ol' Mr. Magister here!
The mammoth's large heart was all he could hear as he went down its alimentary canal.
It was loud, annoying, and very soon, it would be silent.
Eliron slid down the elephant's throat like a string of udon noodles, a smile on his face as he went down without any resistance.
He was paying attention to the sound of the monster's heart, but he made no move, even as it got louder. He waited, because he could not afford to miss.
Badump—Badump—
Sweat drifted down his forehead, mixing with the ever present slime. The esophagus was unbearably hot, and the slime was already causing his skin to sting.
But Eliron remained steadfast, waiting for the right moment.
And then finally…
BADUMP—BADUMP!
When it began to sound as though war drums were being banged right next to his ears, Eliron knew it was time.
First, he stuck his dagger into the wall of the oesophagus, and then he summoned the perfect spell for the job.
Swoooh!
Dark glass like streaks of energy tore through him in all directions, coating him in a spiked ball of spatial energy.
The mammoth let out a deafening roar and violently shook, panic flooding it as it felt life beginning to drain from its body.
Its heart had been skewered in multiple places by the outburst— but Eliron did not stop there.
Instead, he continued slicing with his spatial energy, slashing and hacking as he dug towards the heart from the inside.
The mammoth tried to force Eliron out of its body by retching, but Eliron had long left its digestive system and was now deep in its heart.
Hot blood gushed into the space, scalding his skin, but Eliron continued. His eyes were clamped shut to avoid getting blood in them, so all he could do was feel his way through.
Like a mole digging its way through the darkness, all he could do was cut and slash, forming a tunnel to the outside.
The moment Eliron felt fresh air, he knew he had done it. He had cut his way right through the mammoth's heart!
He burst out from the mammoth's chest, sending blood shooting out.
Eliron could not see how he looked since his eyes were clamped shut, but the moment he emerged… with the spatial energy glowing violently around him like jagged spikes—
It was as though a star had been birthed in the heart of the beast.