BANG!
Kyle hit the worm again when it wanted to retreat into the ground.
It could only dig with its maw, and as long as he kept hitting the sides of the maw, it couldn't dig into the ground.
After five more hits, something strange happened.
Kyle heard the sound of ripping flesh from the middle of the body.
In an instant, the worm's front half split from its back half.
The front half kept moving, but this time, it moved in a very chaotic manner.
"Attack the back!" Theodor shouted.
Kyle saw a new maw appearing on the front of the back half, and he immediately ran over.
The maw dug into the ground.
"No!" Kyle shouted as he rammed the pick of his hammer into the body of the Colossus.
The body stopped moving as all of Kyle's muscles bulged beneath his armor.
"Come back here!" he shouted as he pulled.
Both sides seemed to have entered a stalemate.
With the Colossus only being half as long now, Kyle could actually have a contest of strength with the Colossus without immediately losing.
He pulled and pulled, but he just didn't have the strength to pull it out.
CRRRR!
At that point, Kyle's pick tore a huge gash into the worm's skin, and the worm managed to dig deeper.
"Fuck!" Kyle shouted.
And then…
Skweera bit the Colossus' tail, stopping its retreat again.
"Pull!" Selene shouted.
Kyle rammed his pick into the Colossus again and pulled together with Skweera.
The worm was pulled out of the ground, and Skweera held it in place.
Kyle grabbed his hammer and hit the new maw, breaking two of its teeth.
Skweera kept the tail in its mouth as it retreated from the spinning maw.
While this was going on, Selene took out several pieces of ore and powder, painting a weird diagram on Skweera.
The next moment, she jumped off Skweera and landed on the Colossus' back.
Kyle stopped hitting the Colossus when he saw Selene on top of it.
This was quite dangerous for Selene since she didn't have an improved body.
The next moment, Selene threw a bunch of powder onto the Colossus' back and put her hand in the middle of it.
"Hit it!" Selene shouted.
"You sure?" Kyle asked.
"Yes!"
"Alright."
BOOOOM!
Kyle hit the maw again, making sure that the worm didn't spin.
"Again!"
BANG!
"Wait!" Selene shouted.
The next moment, the worm stopped moving.
Three seconds of silence passed.
"Hit it again."
BANG!
"Wait!"
The Colossus didn't move.
The next moment, Skweera let go of the tail and approached the maw.
Its neck and cheeks bulged, and it opened its mouth, revealing a burning glob in its throat.
Nothing happened for several more seconds.
Finally, Selene sighed and jumped back onto Skweera, which closed its mouth again.
"It's done," Selene said with exhaustion.
"We're done?" Kyle asked.
"Yes," she confirmed with a nod. "It is my Secondary Beast now."
The Colossus moved slowly and dug into the ground as Kyle watched it warily.
This thing wouldn't come up to attack them again, right?
BANG!
The next moment, the worm shot out of the ground near its thrashing front half.
Its maw expanded, enveloping the back portion of the front half.
Then, it moved forward, shoving more and more of its front half into its gullet.
'Dude, this thing eats faster than me,' Kyle thought.
Meters upon meters of thick worm meat entered the maw, but the worm didn't become wider.
It was like everything was just vanishing.
"A Colossus' stomach stretches across its entire body," Theodor said. "If you enter its maw, even barely, you will turn into Ether. As long as you are behind the first set of teeth, you are in its stomach."
"And you should know what that means."
Kyle nodded.
All the meat he ate also vanished in an instant.
Earlier, Kyle had entertained the idea of jumping into the maw to kill the thing from the inside, but he was glad he decided against doing that.
Within less than a minute, the ten-meter-long and two-meter-wide worm vanished.
This thing ate several tons of pure meat within less than a minute.
'I can see why Theodor said she was crazy,' Kyle thought as he saw the worm digging into the ground again.
Surprisingly, it had already recovered to its original size.
He remembered how big the Initial Ferocious Beast specimen was.
That thing was more than double as long and double as wide.
Then, Kyle looked at the Mid Ferocious Beast specimen resting on one of the teeth of the adult Colossus.
That was only a Mid Ferocious Beast.
How much food would this thing eat?!
Taming a Colossus wasn't hard on the body or mind, but on the wallet.
This was a rich people's beast.
A luxury.
Eventually, the Colossus just vanished into the ground.
Thanks to Kyle's instincts and Ore Sense, he could still feel it below the ground.
It was just a couple of meters below Skweera.
"So, that's it, then?" Kyle asked.
Selene smiled. "Yes, thank you for your help."
"No problem," Kyle answered with a smile. "You're going to accompany me to the Big Bazaar now, right?"
Selene laughed a bit.
Apparently, her mood had improved after achieving her goal.
"That makes it sound like I'm escorting you," Selene said. "No, I'm not escorting you to the Big Bazaar."
"We are traveling in a group."
"Sure!" Kyle answered with a happy shout.
"Kyle," Selene said a moment later.
"Huh?" Kyle uttered.
"I'm sorry for underestimating you," Selene said with shame and guilt. "To be honest, I thought you were lying about all your exploits, but you have proven again and again that you are not a liar."
"You have deeply humbled me today," Selene said with a respectful bow.
"Aw, shucks," Kyle said as he waved her off. "Don't mind it. I know that I don't always seem reliable."
"But you are reliable," Selene said. "Skweera has only attacked a single time during our trip. You've essentially dealt with everything on your own."
"To be honest, I almost feel guilty for letting you do all of the work. I feel like I haven't done my fair share of work."
The next moment, Skweera lowered itself in front of Kyle.
"Come! Jump on! You did almost all the work with the Colossus."
"Let me do all the work for the remainder of the journey."
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