Chapter 1904: Escaping from Within the Devil

Violent wind raged inside Leviathan's mouth. Before Joe knew it, a strong suction force pulled him deeper into the darkness that was Leviathan's throat.

The raging wind continued to assail his body, causing damage each second. Even with his Spectral Empowerment, he would have trouble staying alive for long. He realized then that he had overestimated his survivability. Luckily, Wilted had placed a soul link between him and Mothership Sigma. The soul link was still active even after he was swallowed by Leviathan.

He continued to plummet deeper into the devil's body. He only stopped after coming out into a large chamber. The chamber was filled with the same raging winds that eat at his HP. At the bottom of the chamber was a lake filled with silver liquid. This silver liquid was sizzling like lava. He didn't doubt his HP bar would decrease even faster if he touched this silver lava.

The worst thing was that some sort of powerful gravity was pulling him down toward the silver lava. The wings from his wing tool flapped rapidly to fight the pulling force, but he was losing altitude with each second.

While he tried his best not to get pulled down, he heard a call. "Joe? You are also swallowed by Leviathan?"

Joe turned and saw Paytowin. His body was glowing. Paytowin had used Unyielding Hope. The divine skill gave him a short invulnerability when activated. It was followed by a 90% damage reduction for half a minute, then a 50% damage reduction in the next five minutes, and finally, a 20% damage reduction for one hour. His natural recovery also doubled at this time.

That's how he survived this long while being inside Leviathan's stomach. The current effect of his Unyielding Hope was a 50% damage reduction. When that ended, the 20% damage reduction wouldn't be able to keep his HP up. Furthermore, he was close to touching the silver lava.

"I'm not swallowed. I'm here to save you," Joe uttered.

"Okay. Good job, man," Paytowin said with a sarcastic tone.

"Hey! Is that the way you talk to your savior?" Joe asked.

"How about you save me first, savior? Then, I will change my tone," Paytowin returned.

"You of little faith, I will show you!" Joe exclaimed and used his Eldritch Knight's level 70 skill. A circular portal appeared under him. At the same time, a similar portal emerged next to Paytowin.

"Oh, right! You have this skill," Paytowin uttered.

"Now, do you believe me?" Joe asked and stopped resisting the augmented gravity. He fell into the portal below him and came out next to Paytowin.

He grabbed Paytowin's arm. As he did, the two portals disappeared. However, another soon reappeared under them, and another one a distance away near the entrance to this chamber where they came in from. The two let themselves fall into the portal. They reappeared at the portal near the chamber's entrance.

The portals were from Joe's skill, Spectral Doors. This skill created two portals that teleported everything that went in from one portal to the other. At the first level, the maximum distance between the two portals was twenty meters. At Joe's max level, the maximum distance was fifty meters.

This portal was not a one-time cast spell. It was a maintained spell. As long as it was still within the spell's active duration, Joe could adjust the portals' positions and use them repeatedly. Spectral Doors at its first level lasted one minute. At max level, it lasted three minutes.

Joe repeatedly used the portals during the spell's duration. He went in one and went out another, all the while progressively placing the portals in the direction back to Leviathan's mouth.

"Can't you just place the portal directly outside?" Paytowin asked.

"I don't know how thick Leviathan's meat is. My maximum limit is fifty meters. We can be stuck inside his body if we come out where there is no cavity to move," Joe answered. "This is the safest path. We will exit the way we entered."

"Your spell's duration is enough for the task, right?" Paytowin asked.

Their progress was slow. The raging wind continued to blow them back into Leviathan's stomach. Joe had to always put their entry portal right behind them so the wind blew them back into the portal. This meant they always lost a little progress every time they advanced. Joe also had to be quick in adjusting the portals' positions, so they lost as little progress as possible.

"I hope so...," Joe answered. "Now stop talking to me. I need to concentrate."

*

Outside, the battle continued. Wilted cast Grim Reaper's level 60 spell, Soul Trap. This spell created a link that tethered an enemy to a target location. Wilted's max-leveled spell could tether a maximum of ten enemies. But currently, they only fought Leviathan, so only the devil was tethered.

Tethered enemies affected by this spell couldn't go further than thirty meters from the tethered location, which Wilted placed at one spot in the sky. At max level, the furthest distance the enemies could move was only ten meters away from the tethered location.

This ultimately anchored Leviathan to a spot. Additionally, all the damage suffered by the tethered enemies would fill the caster's soul orb, even if said caster was far away. This soul trap lasted one minute at its first level and five minutes at its maximum level.

Leviathan was angry for getting anchored. He pulled to release himself. But despite his overwhelming strength, the link refused to let go. It was getting thinner, though, due to the pressure from Leviathan's pull. A normal enemy might be trapped for the spell's full duration, but that was unlikely to happen against a powerful being such as Leviathan. Even one minute was already a stretch.

Leviathan was frustrated when the soul trap didn't let go immediately when he heaved. In his fury, he used another of his special skills. Countless things started to fly out of his body. Those things were the Remoron Bugs. Leviathan shared his mana to give these bugs the ability to fly and leave his body for a period.

These bugs scattered to engage the enemies.

Wilted and the others were aware Leviathan had this ability. They were prepared. Anotherday used Veiled Demon Slayer's level 50 skill, Protective Chakrams. Five chakrams flew out and revolved around his body. They dealt damage and knocked all hostiles that came into the user's melee range. He followed up with Concealed Needle, which struck all the Remoron Bugs in his vicinity.

Wilted used her buff spell, which was Grim Reaper's level 70 spell, Presence of the Reaper. This spell absorbed HP from all hostiles while healing all allies within range. It was similar to Reaver's Haunting Ground spell but covered a much larger area. It also lasted longer and followed the caster around.

She then cast Grim Reaper's level 80 spell, Conversion of Souls. This spell dealt 500% soul damage to a target area. This area was marked for the remainder of the battle. Anyone who suffered damage within this area contributed to the caster's soul orb, even if the caster was far away. Caster could also heal allies within this area even when these allies were not within the soul orb's range, providing she could see them, of course.

Wilted placed this spell where it also touched Leviathan, so the devil received the soul damage. With all the damage from her spells, her soul orbs quickly filled. She used them to heal Anotherday, Brave King, and Mazin, who were surrounded by the Remoron Bugs.

While Leviathan was immobilized, Wilted cast Grim Reaper's level 90 spell, Reaper's Touch. The spell dealt 2500% soul damage to a target. It had a 30% chance of an instant-kill effect. This instant-kill effect was useless against Leviathan. Even so, the devil received a debuff, the same as any target who survived the instant kill. The debuff caused the target's stats and defenses to reduce by 10% for the remainder of the battle. This debuff effect was not stackable. If Leviathan was hit again by Reaper's Touch, its stats and defenses would not reduce any further.

In the case that the target was killed by Reaper's Touch, the caster received a second fully-filled soul orb. This second soul orb lasted five minutes, similar to Reaver's Soul Annihilation, which Wilted also cast on Leviathan to add to the damage.

Leviathan was furious at being a punching bag while unable to move. He discharged wind blades to strike all the opponents, particularly Wilted. Wilted was standing on Mothership Sigma. The mothership had a barrier similar to Paytowin's. One had to deplete its shield bar before it received damage to its HP. This barrier shielded Wilted from Leviathan's wind blades.

Suddenly, a circular portal materialized beside Leviathan's mouth. Out of this portal, Paytowin and Joe emerged.

"What...?!" Leviathan couldn't believe what he saw.

Before Leviathan registered the situation, the two hurriedly fled to a safe distance.

"Graahhh...!!!" Leviathan roared in anger. He didn't believe he got played like this. His anger augmented his strength. Wilted's Soul Trap couldn't hold the devil any longer. It finally fizzled. Leviathan was free.

He opened his mouth, and a Soul Lasso shot out. It was not the thin version shot from his tentacles but the thick one that could drag even the Omega Battle Mech. Leviathan originally planned to use this Soul Lasso to catch Mothership Sigma, but he instead aimed this skill at the two fleeing outworlders. It was a waste to use this skill on them, but he was too pissed to care right now.

Luckily, the duration of Spectral Doors was not yet over. Joe hurriedly placed a portal behind them once he saw Leviathan open his mouth in their direction. The Soul Lasso shot into this portal. The other portal was placed right next to Leviathan's head. The soul lasso came out of that portal and slapped Leviathan's own head.

Leviathan growled. He almost couldn't contain his anger. Getting played twice, he had to tear those two outworlders to pieces to assuage his fury. But before he could chase the two, a massive torrent of water washed over him. A huge shadow within the water slammed into him and caused him to reel.

"Meratis!" Wilted called. The one who had butted in was Meratis and the Caelum Whale.

"The Caelum Whale is not fully healed yet, but I see you can use the help," Meratis replied.