Gelman lowered the brim of his hat and charged into the billowing dust, bursting through like an arrow loosed from its string.
Suddenly, the huge beast ahead stopped moving. The rumbling of its advance and the scraping against the stone walls came to an abrupt halt.
"It stopped? Why?" Gelman cautiously slowed his pace and turned, pressing himself against the wall. "The 'bleeding' from the Leech Sleeve Sword shouldn't have made it lose the ability to move this quickly..."
"The only explanation is that Biscuit and Shizuku—or perhaps someone else—managed to deal it a corresponding blow."
Gelman waited a little longer. Only after confirming that there was no further movement in the cave ahead did he hurry forward to investigate.
"Pressure Value +6"
The En he released first detected the large tail he had stabbed earlier, inflicting a "bleeding state."
As he approached, half the dust in the air had settled. He could see blood still gushing from the wound beneath the scales on the large tail.
"Aura +5, Pressure Value +5"
Gelman noticed the projection from his Hunter Badge and realized that the owner of the enormous tail before him was dead.
He had stabbed it with the Leech Sleeve Sword in the dozen or so seconds before it died, causing a significant wound. That counted as taking part in the fight that killed it, so he had received "Grudge bestowal."
Gelman took the flashlight out of his backpack again and shone it on the scales along the tail, which glimmered faintly.
He walked forward and saw that its body was thick and long, with no limbs.
"As expected, it's a snake." Gelman had already suspected as much; now he was simply confirming it. "Its body alone takes up more than half the tunnel."
He continued on for an