Battle-Damaged Nun Outfit

Watching the moist mucus slide along the inner wall, carrying the stench of rust and humus straight into Flona’s nose.

“Blech!

That smells awful.”

Flona quickly covered her mouth and nose, casting a purification divine art to ensure she could breathe smoothly.

“No matter how many times you experience being swallowed whole, it still makes your scalp crawl every time.”

【So this isn’t the first time you’ve been swallowed?】

The eyeball watched as Flona skillfully cast a holy light barrier over herself to fend off the corrosive mucus.

Flona’s gaze drifted into the distance as if recalling some memory, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“It was a pretty terrible experience too.”

Back then, because the team was short on funds, Mu Kongyi secretly decided—without telling anyone—to steal treasure from a dragon’s hoard.

She was immediately noticed by the dragon, which then attacked the hero party.

After exhausting all her divine arts, Flona was swallowed whole by the dragon while protecting Abigail, who couldn’t run anymore.

Flona sighed.

“Thankfully, Mu Kongyi suddenly broke her limits and used space magic to slice open the dragon’s belly.

That’s how I was rescued.”

She even pulled out a pile of dragon scales along the way, completely solving the team’s money problem.

Of course, since the trouble had been caused by Mu Kongyi in the first place, Flona later gave her a proper scolding.

【That really does sound dangerous.】

“But this time, there’s no one coming to save me.”

Flona tentatively sent holy flames toward the inner wall, but the thick mucus quickly smothered them instead.

The result made her frown.

No good.

The magic concentration in the internal mucus was even higher than that of the mud on the surface.

【Can’t you use Blink to get out?】

The eyeball thought of another method.

Flona tilted her head.

“I can use it, but I can’t take you with me.”

【Then forget it.】

The eyeball lowered its gaze dejectedly.

It didn’t want to be left alone here to be digested by the worm monster.

【Am I holding you back?】

It had warned her too late, which led to Flona being swallowed.

And without it, Flona could have escaped on her own.

“How could that be?

I brought you along because I trusted you’d be useful to me.”

Flona gently comforted the eyeball.

“Even without Blink, we’ll find a way out.”

Suddenly, the fleshy walls began to contract, squeezing Flona’s holy barrier along with the mucus.

Each time the barrier was compressed, another crack appeared.

“We’re running out of time.

Eyeball, do you know where the worm monster’s weakness is?”

Digestive fluid seeped through the cracks in the barrier.

In the span of a breath, the fabric dissolved into shreds, exposing Flona’s fair shoulder.

【In theory, as a scavenger that lives underground, worms fear light and dryness.

But since even holy flames don’t work, I honestly can’t think of what this monster’s weakness would be.】

The eyeball watched anxiously, panic rising inside.

If Flona fell here, it wouldn’t be able to escape either.

Flona, however, focused on something else.

“Scavenger?

The scavengers where I come from are slimes!”

Although slimes were classified as monsters, they could engulf all kinds of waste in their gelatinous bodies, digest it, and return nutrients to the land.

They were an indispensable part of nature in her world.

【Aside from cleaning things up and producing mucus, what other similarities do slimes and worm monsters have?】

Similarities…

Similarities!

【It should have a core too!】

A flash of inspiration struck the eyeball.

To move such a massive body, the worm monster must have a core capable of supporting its actions.

With the worm monster’s magic interfering inside its body, Flona couldn’t accurately locate the core.

But as a fellow monster, the eyeball had an instinctive connection to such things.

Spending some magic to enhance its perception might just allow it to pinpoint the location.

As magic poured in, bloodshot veins spread across the eyeball, turning it red.

But it finally saw the core and hurriedly warned Flona.

【The core is at the one-o’clock direction—its thickest segment!】

“The core?”

Seeing that the eyeball had found it, Flona wasted no time and headed straight for the indicated direction.

The worm monster also seemed to sense the threat.

The writhing flesh walls tightened again, crushing Flona’s barrier.

For a moment, the nun’s outfit soaked in digestive fluid like soggy paper, corroded until it was riddled with holes.

When the mucus was only millimeters away from her skin, Flona released holy light in time.

The light wrapped her body like a thin veil.

The instant the two touched, they neutralized each other, turning into wisps of white steam.

But focusing too much on controlling the holy light around her body caused the purification divine art to fail.

The foul stench rushed into her nose, forcing her cheeks to flush red.

She was going to suffocate.

“Let me go!”

At this point, Flona no longer cared about conserving power.

She ignited all the holy light on her body, transforming into a blazing sphere of light.

Before the core entrance could close, she plunged straight into the worm monster’s core region.

【We’re here!】

The eyeball was still shaken.

It had almost been crushed into a paper-thin sheet.

Flona steadied herself and clenched her fists as she looked at the scene before her.

“So this is the secret behind this monster’s immense magic.”

The worm monster’s core was a pulsating flesh sac connected to several tubes, continuously supplying magic to the creature.

Most horrifying of all, distorted faces would surface from time to time within it.

“Kill us.

Kill us!” they wailed.

Flona’s gaze swept across them.

She recognized several blurred faces inside the core—they were the hostages from the kidnapping case.

It seemed none of them had escaped the fate of becoming sacrifices.

Their souls had been collected inside this flesh sac, drained for magic.

Still, now that the core had been found, things were simple.

Holy flames continued to condense in Flona’s hand, taking the shape of a heavy hammer.

“It’s not as good as my original hammer, but it’ll do.”

With that, she swung it down hard, smashing into the flesh sac as holy flames burned fiercely.

The faces scorched by the holy flames instead showed relieved smiles.

Gripping the hammer’s handle, Flona spoke softly but firmly.

Her prayer echoed through the worm monster’s body.

“Pitiful lost souls, you no longer need to struggle in pain.

Guided by holy light, I send you on to rest.”

Amid radiant light, the core began to crumble inch by inch.

The worm monster let out a mournful screech before crashing heavily to the ground, twitching with only a few weak breaths left.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you.”

Amid the voices of gratitude, each soul was freed and gradually became transparent.

Among them, the soul of Muraki Ichiro lingered, turning to Flona.

“That… I’m sorry.”

Flona shook her head.

“I won’t accept your apology.

And the ones you should apologize to aren’t me.”

“But…”

As Muraki Ichiro opened his mouth, Flona cut him off.

“I can pass your apology on to someone else.”

“Really?

If possible, please tell my parents.”

Tears slipped from the corner of Muraki Ichiro’s eyes as he faded away.

“I’m sorry to them.”

The eyeball tapped her hand with a tentacle.

Flona asked curiously, “What is it?”

【You’re even helping this bad guy?】

The eyeball clearly remembered that Muraki Ichiro was the one who had sent the threads into Xibai’s body.

Flona thought for a moment.

“It depends.

I’m not helping the monster he became, but the man who made a mistake and felt remorse toward his parents.”

【That’s something you can ‘decide case by case’?

Never mind, forget it.】

The eyeball then asked another question.

【My lady, can you dim it a little?

I’m about to go blind.】

The eyeball didn’t even dare open its eyes anymore.

Flona was glowing brighter than a lightbulb right now.

“Later.”

Flona scratched her cheek awkwardly.

She was currently in a state of tattered clothing.

Once the holy light was removed, she’d be completely exposed.

So to avoid that, she could only keep the holy light active for now.

Later, she’d have to rummage through her wardrobe of transformations to see if there was an outfit with a lower cost.