Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

10...9...8...7...

Time ticked by, and those ten seconds felt incredibly slow to these professional wizards who were used to measuring time in years.

Their position had moved several meters again. Although they were close to the giant mouth, they were fortunately still trapped within the slow-moving space.

—Boom! Boom boom!!

With only 5 seconds left, they could already faintly hear a buzzing sound coming from behind the worm—Klotir was rapidly approaching.

"Eek—!"

Unfortunately, this commotion alerted the Cold Storage Worm King, which first shifted its massive body, and then—suddenly lunged forward.

"Bang—!"

With a gentle thrust of its mandibles, Hughes's sluggish space trembled for a moment before collapsing with a deafening roar.

The next moment, the feeling of stagnation on everyone's bodies vanished instantly, and they were once again sent flying backward uncontrollably.

1 second……

"..."

Hughes felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, followed by a cool, fishy stench that instantly filled the air.

He immediately realized that he had been sucked into the mouth of the Cold Cave Worm King.

Without hesitation, he immediately activated the boundary anchoring rune in his consciousness world, intending to resonate with the teleportation point he had previously placed in the Kudo Snow Mountain.

But just then, a faint noise came from outside.

— Buzzing

"boom--!!!"

The next moment, a blinding golden light suddenly surged into the worm king's mouth, tearing through the darkness inside its oral cavity.

The golden light, like the sun falling into an abyss, instantly illuminated everyone's vision, and the worm king's mouth, filled with fangs and slippery inner walls, was clearly revealed to everyone.

"Ugh... That's disgusting."

Grendes covered her mouth and nose tightly.

"But, has Lord Clotilde arrived?"

As for Hughes, he silently withdrew from the teleportation point he had just sensed.

Because he knew he could go out.

Klotir arrived just in time; the Cold Cave Worm King probably hadn't even had a chance to swallow them before he had to go to war with them.

Therefore, they were able to remain inside the Cold Storage Worm King's mouth, and they would have a chance to get out as long as the worm opened its mouth.

As for Jaejoro?

Thinking of that unfortunate fellow, Hughes glanced back at the intestines behind him that were as big as an underground passage.

It goes without saying that the other party had already been dissolved into nothingness by the acid in the worm king's stomach.

"..."

Without much thought, Hughes turned around to look at the situation ahead.

At this moment, the golden light that had entered the worm king's mouth was constantly burning its oral cavity. It was believed that soon the worm king would be unable to bear it and would open its mouth to spit out the golden light.

That will be the time for them to escape.

— Buzzing

"Boom boom—!!"

The roar outside continued, and things weren't peaceful inside the Cold Cave Worm King's mouth either.

It now appears to be locked in combat with Clotilde, its massive body twisting and trembling, its entire mouth shaking incessantly.

Everyone could only try their best to keep their balance, fearing that if they lost their balance even slightly, they would slide into that bottomless belly and turn into a pool of acidic water.

They didn't just wait idly; they unleashed their most powerful fire magic, burning the Cold Cave Worm King's mouth along with the golden light.

"Whoosh—Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The most outrageous was Lapris, who was engulfed in flames and had once again transformed into a "human of fire," continuously spewing flames forward.

Soon, with everyone's concerted efforts, the Cold Cave Worm King's tightly closed mouthparts finally loosened slightly, and after a moment it slowly opened its huge mouth.

"Boom!"

The next moment, before anyone could move, a powerful current of air surged out of the Cold Cave Worm's body, carrying everyone, along with the golden light, out of its massive maw.

"Whoosh—click! click! click!"

"Eek—! Eek—!!"

The moment he escaped the giant maw, the sound of ice crystals shattering and the hissing of the Cold Cave Worm King instantly flooded Hughes' ears.

Hughes forced himself to stay awake and opened his eyes, immediately spotting the two figures locked in fierce combat in the passageway.

Clotilde was clad in jet-black armor, his staff flashing as he unleashed powerful ice magic downwards.

Not only that, but several jet-black ice blades whistled and swirled around him.

"Whoosh—whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!"

They burst forth intermittently, seizing the opportune moment to pierce the damaged shells of the worm king, leaving deep wounds that expose the bone.

As for the cold storage worm king, it took advantage of its huge size to roll and writhe freely in the passage.

Each twist and turn almost completely encroaches on most of Clotilde's living space.

Aside from the sound waves, Hughes finally witnessed the other party using a spellcasting ability.

The medium through which the Cold Cave Worm King cast his spells appears to be those eight ice-blue eyeballs.

"Whoosh—whoosh! Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!"

At that moment, all eight eyes simultaneously lit up with a chilling blue light. The next second, the four single eyes at the bottom row continuously spat out ice bullets, blasting them towards Clotilde.

Not only that, the four single eyes at the top row had also accumulated magic power. With a flash of blue light, four freezing rays were simultaneously released from their eyes.

"Sizzle—sizzle—crack crack crack!!"

Wherever the rays passed, the rock walls instantly froze into a thick layer of frost, which then burst forth with piercing ice flowers.

However, Clotilde was able to use its agility to move nimbly around the Cold Cave Worm King, easily dodging the ice bullets shot at it and the four relentlessly pursuing freezing rays.

But this is not a long-term solution. The blocked passage was a battlefield that the Cold Cave Worm King had carefully constructed for himself.

No matter how agile Clotilde is, he can hardly use his full potential here.

"This is the closest place to the open space! Let's go!"

Just then, Clotilde looked over.

"Immediately head to Mount Kudo and send a message to the academy requesting assistance!"

Clearly, for some reason, he was unable to send a crisis message to the academy to summon the already prepared support team.

However, he did not explain, but turned around and continued to attack the Cold Cave Worm King.

Hughes and the others were unwilling to delve into the reasons behind it; at this moment, they had only one thought in their minds—to reach the open space and return to Mount Kudo.

Unexpectedly, at that moment, a loud bang exploded without warning.

"boom--!!!"

The next moment, the only area in the passage leading to the open space collapsed with a roar, completely blocking the way.

"Oh no—"

Someone muttered that.

Left with no other choice, the group returned to the place where Clotilde had fought the Cold Cave Worm King.

"We've been ambushed!"

Clotilde had also noticed the explosion. While fighting off the Cold Cave Worm King's attack, he shouted to the crowd:

"The specially made communication crystal has been tampered with! It can only send early warning messages, not crisis messages!"