The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 49 - 44 Stuffed into the Belly

"But they are thirsty and hungry; they might not be able to make it back to Twin Bridges Town." Barrend had no good impressions of these Gray Dwarves, but Lancelot knew the old Dwarf would not really ignore his kin who still harbored hatred towards him. "Besides alkali, is there any other method to deal with it?"

"You won’t think of a way to deal with it; you’ll only think of how to go around it," Kalalin explained, "The Mud Monster’s bodily fluids are highly corrosive. The fluid that sprays out from a wound will harm the attacker, and the weapon used to attack will quickly corrode into a pile of scrap metal."

"These creatures have almost no intelligence. Generally speaking, if left alone, they will move away after a while. I have never seen any Mud Monster so persistently block an entrance, and it seems this has been going on for several days."

"Regardless, it is blocking our path," Lancelot declared, "Scholar, do we have enough alkali to deal with this creature?"

"I’m afraid not," Kalalin shook his head. "The alkali will react with the strong acid in its bodily fluid, releasing a lot of heat, but on one hand, the concentration of acid on its surface is not high, and on the other hand, such surface damage is unlikely to be fatal."

"What if we pour a bottle of alkali directly into its body?" Lancelot stroked his chin, looking at the corpse hanging in midair. Baldness was a prominent feature of the Gray Dwarves, and even though the flesh had been corroded away, the skull of the corpse still shone faintly in the weak light.

"Theoretically, this would cause it immense damage," Kalalin looked at him strangely, "but Mud Monsters do not have mouths, and you can’t pour alkali into its stomach."

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"We could stuff it in," Lancelot turned and looked at Barrend, "I’ve heard that the skulls of Dwarves are very hard. Is that so?"

"Few Dwarves die in battle from their skulls being shattered," Barrend replied, his tone laced with pride.

"Why ask this?" Bruto subconsciously covered his head while turning to check the position of his father.

"What are you thinking? I’m not interested in your head," Lancelot said, amused, looking at Bruto, "but I do plan to smash a Dwarf’s skull. Kalalin, do you still have ammunition for practicing your sling?"

Kalalin took out a small pouch filled with stones the size of pigeon eggs.

Lancelot grabbed one from inside, tossed it in his hand, and then hurled it with all his might at the Mud Monster.

The throw was powerful; the stone even whistled through the air. However, when it hit the Monster’s gelatinous body, it suddenly decelerated as if thrown into water, and after a stubborn advance of about three feet, it stopped completely.

"If you plan to throw a bottle of alkali like that, I’m afraid the bottle would remain intact, and you’d have to wait at least three days for the Mud Monster to corrode the stopper," Kalalin commented.

Lancelot was not discouraged by Kalalin’s words. He reached into the Scholar’s ammo bag and took out another stone.

"Watch closely!"

This time he invoked the mental method of the ’Gathering Qi Slash’. The stone even drew a trail of flame-like light as it flew, penetrating nearly six feet into the Mud Monster, very close to the corpse of the Gray Dwarf inside. However, due to the refraction of light, it ultimately stopped about a foot above the body.

The Mud Monster’s body shook as if it felt pain. But since Lancelot and his party kept their distance, they were not attacked.

Lancelot turned to grab another stone, only to find his partners looking at him with incredulous eyes.

Although they had seen it from afar before, this was the first time the three had observed Lancelot demonstrate this astonishing technique up close.

"Uh," Lancelot scratched his head, "I have something special in my mind, it has given me special abilities."

"Magician bloodline," Kalalin nodded in understanding, Lancelot was glad someone was willing to help him explain.

"Are you talking about those people who have ancestors like Dragons or Angels and one morning they wake up to find the powers in their bloodline have awakened?"

"Exactly," Bruto affirmed, "Lancelot must be one of those cases. Just now the trajectory of the stone was aflame, I guess one of his ancestors most likely had Red Dragon blood."

"You silly boy, what do you know! All Dragons can breathe fire, that power felt very familiar to me, I guarantee it’s definitely the flames from the Abyss. Maybe Sir Lancelot’s ancestor was a Demon who had escaped from its brutal nature and went into hiding in the Mortal Realm," one of the Dwarfs retorted.

"Impossible! Descendants of Demons aren’t that rare, and the traits are quite obvious, Sir Lancelot apart from being rather tall doesn’t exhibit any other characteristics," Kalalin disagreed with the two Dwarfs’ opinions, "Do you still remember how he described the process of going through the Portal?

A normal portal just requires stepping through to reach the other side, definitely not that long passageway. I think he was likely exposed to the native magic power of the Multiverse during that process..."

Lancelot coughed loudly to interrupt their debate over the source of his abilities, feeling somewhat guilty for having to hide his true situation, but he believed that now was definitely not the right time to reveal the secrets of Spiritual Cultivation.

"Stop arguing, I’m pretty sure I’m human."

"You will awaken more such powers from your bloodline in the future, don’t worry," Kalalin said with conviction, and Barrend and Bruto both nodded in agreement.

Lancelot shook his head, deciding to let the topic drop for now. He threw another stone, this time aiming slightly lower, and the stone ultimately grazed past the skull of the Gray Dwarf corpse.

The mud monster shook again violently, seemingly confused but still refusing to move.

Lancelot didn’t hesitate any longer and took out the alkali bottle he had gotten from Kalalin earlier. This time, he used the power of his Innate True Qi to throw the alkali bottle.

Unlike the previous two times, this alkali bottle didn’t show a splendid flame tail in the air and made hardly any noise during flight, but it was as fast as Lightning, speeding unslowed into the gelatinous body of the mud monster.

The other three were wide-eyed; they could all see the power of the strike, but what was truly terrifying was that the attack appeared very ordinary on the surface, which could catch an opponent off guard in combat and result in them making a costly mistake.

The alkali bottle struck the Gray Dwarf’s head precisely, and the small bottle shattered on impact. The Dwarf’s skull was indeed exceptionally hard, just as Barrend had claimed.

The mud monster’s body began to tremble as the alkali reacted violently with the acids in its body fluids, releasing a lot of heat. Its transparent gelatinous body started to become murky, and before it became completely opaque, Lancelot threw another alkali bottle.

Just like adding fuel to the fire, the mud monster turned pitch-black, and its surface began to bubble incessantly like boiling water. This process lasted for about five minutes until the large mass of gelatinous substance finally softened down, much like a snowman under the blazing sun.

As the mud monster died, many items fell to the ground. These were the remnants of its victims over the years. Aside from the most dreadful kind, most mud monsters only consume flesh and leave behind bones, Metal, and magically rich items inside their bodies.

It was no doubt that the victims mostly devoured by the mud monsters were various miners, so there were several fine gemstones that fell onto the ground, which the sharp-eyed Bruto quickly picked up.

Lancelot’s Spiritual Sense alerted him to an inconspicuous small bag. He picked it up and immediately noticed something unusual about the bag.

Although the Storage Bag appeared somewhat different from the description in the bamboo scrolls of cultivation anecdotes, Lancelot knew for certain that this was a Storage Bag.