The gigantic mess of filthy flesh and corrosive drool wiggled around like a dirty maggot. It needed to be destroyed! Such vile creatures cannot disgrace the lands of earth!

Gabriel stomped onto the dusty wood and shouted as loudly as he could.

"Come on! Show me what you got!"

The gigantic tongue sensed his location and lunged itself forth like a starving snake.

Wuh-PSSSH!!!

The vile flesh jerked itself and attacked like a lethal whip. It broke straight through the bridge and carved a deep hole into the wall.

But the tongue did not hit Gabriel.

"Is that all you got?" Gabriel shouted again from a few meters apart.

The tongue made a circle in the air and attacked again, much like a hungry frog when it senses a juicy fly.

But the attack missed, again.

How did Gabriel manage to dodge both of these attacks? The answer was much simpler than one might think.

It was clear that the giant tongue used echolocation to sense his whereabouts. While it might have been a bit dull, most of the monster's attacks landed on, if not close to the mark.

So how did it miss Gabriel more than twice? Easy.

Gabriel used the falling debris each one of the monster's attacks created to confuse and overload its senses. The dust, the tiny rocks, the falling planks… Each and every one of these built up an auditory mist that concealed Gabriel's location.

And the truth is, he was running in a straight line while taunting the beast.

"Over here!"

The tongue jerked forth and hit the wall.

"You missed!"

The tongue missed him again.

"You're making this fun!"

The tongue pierced the wall again.

However, this time it was different.

Gabriel stopped as he saw the beast did not pull back its tongue. It remained stuck inside the wall, staying completely still.

"Did it get stuck?" Gabriel thought as he raised his rapier.

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Slowly, carefully, he approached the tongue without making a sound. He managed to sneak four feet apart from the tongue, but as he readied for an attack, he felt a shiver.

A voice inside of him was screaming for him to run.

Gabriel was confused about this voice and why he was feeling so hesitant. But as he thought about it for a second, the answer was clear.

"Is that the work of my elevated senses?"

Gabriel listened to the voice and took a step back, and as he did, the tongue sprang into motion. Instead of jerking back to use echolocation, the tongue approached Gabriel's location by cutting through the wall, slicing the rough stone.

It was an unbreakable wall. And now, it was chasing him.

"Shit!" Gabriel ran as swiftly as he could. However, the tongue was fast. Very fast.

While this was happening, Naomi depleted all of his mana.

[ MP: 0/20 ]

He opened his inventory and quickly chugged down one of the mana potions. As he did, his MP began to recharge in a moderate paste.

Chucky, the girl on his back gazed at the complicated gestures and words Naomi read up from his book. She was still too weak to move her body, but she was well awake.

A sharp pain pierced her head. She grunted while scratching her ache.

"Huh?" Naomi glanced back at the girl.

"What is… happening?" She slapped her hand onto her forehead. "Ugh! My head is… killing me!"

"Shh!" Naomi placed a hand on her mouth.

Chucky was confused, but as she looked up and saw the scene before her, she willingly closed her mouth.

Gabriel ran as swiftly as he could, but the giant tongue was following tightly behind him. If it was powerful enough to cut through rock, it could surely kill Gabriel with just one blow.

And dying like that would have been the easy way out.

As Gabriel looked down to the depths, he saw the many rock monsters jumping off of each other, trying to reach him and get a taste of his flesh. If he was unlucky enough to fall down there, this fight would end immediately.

It seemed like his increased Dexterity gave him enough stamina to keep running for a while.

However, another problem presented itself.

The bridge was built around the walls of the mine. It went around in a circle, which meant that Gabriel would eventually end up where he began.

That 'when' presented itself way earlier, as he saw Naomi in a small distance ahead of him.

As the two's gazes met, an immense fear rushed through both of their hearts.

"If I lead this beast close to Naomi, even if I can outrun it, he can't!"

Something was needed to be done.

And Gabriel knew it very well. He gritted his teeth, tightened his grasp around the rapier and jumped into the air!

As his feet left the ground, the beast could not sense him anymore. This gave him the chance to hover around the tongue and strike his rapier deep into its flesh.

With one powerful move, he stabbed his blade straight through the tongue!

The monster's cry was unbearable. It was the loudest, earth-trembling shriek any of them had ever heard.

The tongue pulled away, but Gabriel did not let go. He remained standing atop the flesh, stabbing the monster over and over again.

It wiggled around crazily, trying to shake off the opponent, but Gabriel was a stubborn beast.

The monster whipped its tongue from left to right and launched Gabriel towards the nearest wall. Immediately after, it tried to squish him before reaching the ground.

But Gabriel had no intentions of hitting the ground. As his back met the wall, he put his feet against it and jumped towards the tongue.

This was an unanticipated move and the tongue attacked below where he hit the wall, thinking that he would fall to the ground.

Wuh-PSSSH!!!

The tongue pierced the wall. This time however it could not pull away. Thanks to being greedy and attacking with too much force, the beast got stuck inside the wall!

Gabriel landed straight on the tongue. It formed a clear bridge towards the monster's mouth and its hearth!

Pushing his rapier deep into its flesh, he ran straight towards the monster's mouth, leaving a trail of wounds as he pulled his weapon.

His goal? The monster's hearth.

"This is where it ends!" Gabriel roared with determination.