After a few days of travel, Alice and I reached the sinkhole in the woods near Stilpan.
There was a significant change to the sinkhole and its surrounding land compared to the last time I was here and experienced a tragic defeat due to the beast dwelling inside the sinkhole.
The meadow in which the sinkhole was situated, was now wholly barren. The land was dry, and cracks could be seen running radially from the sinkhole. Also, the size of the sinkhole had increased from the last time.
"Woah! It looks completely different than the last time."
Alice exclaimed in surprise as she and I disembarked from the carriage and walked on foot cautiously to reach the sinkhole.
I bent down to peer into the sinkhole and found that its interior was also very different from before. The walls were not smooth and were punctured with shards of ice. The density of the ice shards increased proportionally to the depth.
The sunlight refracted through the upper layers of ice shards, turning them into rainbow-coloured jewels. Seeing these crystals, Alice's eyes sparkled with excitement, and she shook my hand.
"Little brother, aren't they pretty? I also wish to have some accessories as pretty as those."
Every girl likes pampering and beautiful accessories from her lover. My lovely sister was no different. Although the various top-grade accessories given to us by our mother were quite precious and beautiful, none of them had the charm of being rainbow-coloured. So, seeing so many crystals displaying the spectrum of colours clearly aroused Alice's interest.
I pulled her closer, held by the waist, and said lovingly in her ears.
"Big sis, if you like these rainbow-coloured crystals so much, then I will make accessories for you that will be prettier than those."
My lovely sister blushed due to my actions. She just hummed in acceptance and turned her flushed face away from me. I pecked her adorably red cheek and continued to walk forward with her hand clasped in mine.
Within the last few days, I had gotten a little more capable of controlling my ability of 'Color Feel'. So I started to act a little more touchy-feely and smoothen the relationship between Alice and me.
The changes in the sinkhole and its surroundings were brought on by the existence dwelling deep inside the sinkhole.
Still remaining cautious, I tied a silk rope around a nearby tree and dropped the other end into the mouth of the sinkhole. Due to the last experience with the sinkhole, I had made preparations to handle the slippery inner walls.
Even though the ice shards could give decent footing to propel us out of the sinkhole after defeating the beast lying in slumber, it was better to be extra cautious.
The silk rope was made from the threads of the 'Basilisk Spider', generally a Blood beast. It has high ductility as well as tensile strength, making it a perfect material for making high-grade ropes.
With the preparations completed, Alice and I leapt into the sinkhole. Using the ice shards as footholds, we gradually descended into the depths of the sinkhole.
It was a long way down, taking nearly a quarter-hour of continuous descent. At the end of our descent, the walls were fully covered with ice, leading into an ice cavern at the bottom of the sinkhole.
There were ice stalactites covering the whole cavern, their jaggy edges sharp as blades. The ground was undulating at a definite rhythm, just like the beating of someone's heart. Cold wind was expelling from the cavern's depth that matched with the rhythm of pulsing of the ground.
Till now, Alice and I hadn't suffered any sort of aura attack, quite unlike the situation I experienced in the past. We stepped into the depths of the cavern slowly and steadily. As we moved, the cavern became more expansive, and we entered a large chamber.
This chamber was warmer than the previous regions, and the ice stalactites were melting slowly. Although the liquid dribbling down the stalactite looked like water, we moved skilfully, avoiding every droplet.
A little ways away from the other end of the chamber, a random droplet landed on the edge of my robes. I was quite startled as the drop penetrated my robe, my skin as well as my flesh.
It tore a hole through my arm and landed on the ground. But surprisingly, after coming in contact with the ground, the drop of liquid lost its corrosive power and acted like an ordinary fluid. Even our feet were not affected till now.
(A very intriguing place.)
After the painful discovery, we siblings treaded the cavern much more carefully, avoiding the dripping corrosive fluids.
Finally, we reached the end of the sinkhole. There were no more ice sheets or stalactites. Instead, the veiny structures were covering the whole pinkish-red room. The veins were pulsating and emerging heat.
Therefore, the temperature of the room was hot and seething, completely unlike the previous chambers. And within the centre was a large red lump of thumping mass through which the veins started emerging.
This throbbing mass of flesh was quite similar to that of a heart. We didn't find anything else except that glob of mass in the whole sinkhole. And quite frankly, the entire chamber was quite creepy and disgusting to look at.
My sister tightened her grip on my arm and voiced out her opinion.
"Little brother, it seems we have reached the end and still couldn't find the beast. Also, this room gives me the chills."
"You are right. The beast hasn't appeared yet, even after we reached the ends of the sinkhole. The only thing that I could call a living being is probably this 'heart'."
I acknowledged my sister's worries and put forth my deductions. I tried to touch the pulsating organ to ascertain more information.
But a frightening heat scorched my hand the second my fingers touched it. If not for the fact that I had externalised my stellar energy to protect my fingers, they would have straight up evaporated into thin air. After I pulled my hand back, the flesh started thumping faster, emanating more heat inside the chamber.
The veins were pulsating more frequently as if pumping out 'blood' faster than before. And when the throbbing reached its peak, the oppressive aura, which I hadn't felt till now, surged out from the flesh glob and honed in onto me.
Due to the rise in our strength, with our combined efforts, we were able to resist the aura attack. But we were still pushed back dozens of steps. With the aura attack came the transformation in the chamber. The fleshy walls and the ground started wriggling and pushing us out.
"Let's focus on defending till we get a good picture of what's going on."
I gave my input to Alice, and we siblings solely focused on our defence as we were pushed out little by little till we reached the edge of the chamber connecting to the previous chamber. Alice caught my attention and pointed at the surrounding walls.
"Look, there. Here also the walls and the ground are turning into fleshy pink colour, and they are pulsating veins present deep into the walls."
I observed everything in the room and connected it with all that I had seen from the moment we entered the sinkhole and came to a conclusion.
"We are inside the Spirit Beast. The long fall was the connection from the mouth to the stomach. The stomach was the chamber with corrosive liquids, and the last chamber was somehow connected to the heart. It has a different anatomy than humans, but the many similarities in the organ functions prove that we are inside a beast."
Alice widened her eyes after listening to my words. She wanted to say something but couldn't voice it out due to her surprise. She took a few moments before composing herself and asked.
"So, we are eaten up by a beast but are still alive. How do we get out of here?"
I looked around the 'stomach walls' couldn't find anything that could help us out of the current situation. And when I focused my eyes back on the 'heart' of the beast, I got the idea.
"We have to hurt the beast where it will feel the most painful."
I directed my fingers towards the 'heart', and my sister understood my intentions. We changed our strategy and went on the offensive. Alice and I externalised our stellar energy and pushed through the aura outburst, re-entering the chamber containing the heart.