Chapter 489 The Monster at the Deepest Core

Hulim Heyerar turned to look at her.

“Can you locate the target?”

“Alright, I’ll try to find it.”

With that, Prarlulu closed her eyes once more.

Yet this time, barely three seconds after she shut her eyes,

she snapped them open again, her face etched with utter shock.

“Hulim! It’s right——”

Rattle!

The sound of countless chains abruptly cut through the air.

“……Right in front of us.”

“Aah——!!!”

A shrill scream rang out.

Hulim spun around at once.

She saw a chain coiled around Hena’s right ankle, lifting her high into the air.

“Hena——!?”

Miko cried out in alarm, leaping into the air in an attempt to save her.

But before she could make contact with Hena’s body,

Rattle!

The chain shook violently, yanking Hena even higher.

At the same moment,

a colossal figure, massive as a mountain, slowly emerged from the darkness.

“Groar……”

A dreadful, low growl rumbled in its throat.

Rattle!

It clutched a great bundle of chains in its hand—and one of them was linked directly to Hena.

“Aah…… AAAAAAH——!”

The second she laid eyes on the monster, Hena let out a scream of pure terror, thrashing wildly as she hung upside down in the air.

The giant monster wore a hideous grin, stretching its maw wide, licking its lips with a long tongue. Its red-glowing eyes stared at Hena with greedy hunger.

It then opened its jaws wide, and under the chain’s pull, dragged the struggling Hena toward its mouth.

“No! We can’t let it devour Hena’s subconscious—if it does, we’ve failed!”

Prarlulu shouted in panic.

The instant her voice fell,

Boom——!

A crimson beam struck the monster’s neck.

“Roar!?”

The monster let out a pained shriek, and the chains in its grip flailed uncontrollably.

“Aah——!”

Hena’s body swung wildly through the air, her cries echoing through the abyss.

Buzz, buzz.

Boom——!

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The crimson beam flashed again,

slashing clean through the mass of chains hanging in the air.

Thrown by inertia, Hena flew outward, plummeting straight toward the boiling lava lake below.

Shwoop!

A white blur flashed through the air, catching her mid-fall.

Thud!

The two crashed onto the platform,

rolling across the ground before coming to a stop. They had narrowly avoided falling into the lava.

Meanwhile,

the monster struck by Hulim’s attack convulsed violently, a small section of its body swelling abruptly.

Rip——!

That chunk of flesh tore clean away from its main body and leaped to the side.

Upon landing, it rapidly expanded, soon forming a brand-new monster. As for its original body, it vanished where Hulim’s attack had landed.

“Roar——!”

The monster roared in fury. Countless chains shot forth from its body, lunging toward Hulim under its control.

A bright white light blazed to life around Hulim.

She dodged the assault at blistering speed.

Boom——!

The swarm of chains shattered the ground where she had stood an instant before.

More and more chains continued to chase after her.

Boom!

Boom!

Every time Hulim landed, a flood of chains crashed down right behind her.

The ground beneath them crumbled further and further……

Aside from targeting Hulim, a portion of the chains split off to attack the others.

“Waaah!”

Prarlulu hastily raised her divine staff to erect a barrier.

But the barrier was shattered by the chains in less than a second.

A chain coiled around her right ankle in an instant, hanging her upside down in the air.

“Eep! Help me!!!”

Luckily, the monster had focused most of its attention on Hulim, so it did not harm Prarlulu for the time being.

As for Miko,

she slung Hena onto her back and darted endlessly to evade the chasing chains.

At first, she could weave between them with her agile movements. But as the surrounding space was gradually sealed off,

her situation grew perilous.

Rattle!

A chain sliced past her ear.

The clinking sound of the metal chain triggered a violent reaction in Hena.

“Ugh AAAH!”

She clamped her hands over her head and screamed in terror on Miko’s back.

“Don’t be afraid, Hena!” Miko gritted her teeth. “I swear I’ll protect you——”

Rattle——!

A chain shot out from a blind spot, coiling tightly around Hena’s neck.

Hena’s body stiffened instantly from sheer terror.

A suffocating sensation washed over her as the chain around her neck tightened.

Just as Hena was on the verge of losing consciousness,

Crack——!

A sharp snap rang out. Miko had reached out, grabbed the chain, and bit down with all her might.

Naturally, she could not bite through it.

“Damn you, break——”

Even so, Miko did not give up. She pulled with all her strength, until blood oozed from the corners of her mouth.

“……”

Hena, frozen with fear, stared blankly.

She seemed to react, if only a little, to the sight before her.

Boom——!

A crimson beam suddenly sliced through the air.

Dozens of chains were cut clean in half.

The chain holding Prarlulu upside down, and the one coiled around Hena’s neck, both went slack, then faded slowly into the air.

“Hena! Are you alright?!”

Miko, blood still staining her lips, immediately pulled Hena into her arms to check her neck.

“……”

Hena stared back at Miko.

But the thick black mist armor shrouding her entire body hid every trace of her expression……

On the other side of the platform,

the battle between Hulim and the monster had reached a fever pitch.

As she moved at high speed, she seized every opening to counterattack.

Buzz!

The crimson light flashed.

It sliced through the chains in its path and struck the monster behind them.

“Roar!?”

The monster wailed in agony,

its body twisting rapidly.

Rip!

The area struck by the attack was discarded like trash—a huge chunk tore away from the main body, hurled to the side, and vanished the moment it hit the ground.

“This creature……”

It really was the same type as the monsters in the labyrinth.

It knew her ability all too well, and had found a way to counter it.

At this rate……

she could not win.

For a moment, Hulim could think of no way to defeat it.

Ordinary magic had no effect on it whatsoever—it could not even hold it back.

Case in point——

Boom!

Before Hulim could land mid-air, the ground at her intended landing spot shattered first, and a dense flood of chains shot upward.

Every inch of space around Hulim was sealed shut. There was nowhere left to dodge.

Hum——!

Just as she had in the labyrinth, she unleashed a wave of magic, hoping to hold the chains back for a moment and buy herself time.

However,

Thud!

The magic she unleashed was shattered effortlessly by the chains.

In the next second,

Hulim was wrapped in chains, encased in a tight, airless sphere of iron.

The sphere then began to contract violently, intent on crushing her body to pulp.

Sizzle……

Beneath the chains, countless tiny crimson sparks flickered.

Boom——!!!

A massive crimson beam erupted outward in an instant.

It obliterated the chains in one direction and slammed directly into the monster’s body.

“Roar!??”

A huge gaping hole was blasted through the monster’s colossal frame, and its face twisted with panic.

Squelch——!

The wounded area was far too large for it to discard quickly. In desperation, it detached its entire head from its body and fled toward the darkness.

Hulim watched its head escape, thinking to herself how unfortunate it was.

She could not unleash such a wide-scale Annihilation Divine Light a second time in such a short period. If she could, this would all be over easily.