The gaping maw turned back to bite down, leaving no time to react.
Fortunately, Haoyuan was rich in combat experience, and his body moved first.
His free Kirin Arm immediately grabbed the monster's upper jaw.
The other Kirin Arm, which he had no time to retract from inside the monster's mouth, could only press down on its lower jaw.
His sharp claw blades sliced open its tongue, and his astonishing arm strength held the creature's mouth wide open, preventing it from snapping shut.
Unfortunately, everything had happened too quickly.
The Kirin Arm pressed against the lower jaw was completely bent, making it difficult to exert full force.
Under the intense pressure, his scales and flesh sank deep into the monster's teeth.
Those teeth were far too sharp—even with his scales and hide reinforced so many times, his defenses were nearly breached.
If the mouth closed even a fraction more, his scales and flesh would definitely be torn open.
This was definitely not a bite fit for any creature from Earth!
Haoyuan grit his teeth.
While struggling to hold on with his Kirin Arms, his thoughts drifted to his midsection.
What would happen if his flood dragon body was dragged into the monster's festering, ruptured belly?
The scales touched by those bloody tentacles were already corroding.
A sizzling sound echoed as wisps of white smoke curled into the air.
Clearly, whatever lay inside that viscous, crimson, ruptured belly was far more horrifying.
“I can't let myself get dragged inside!”
Haoyuan strained with every ounce of his strength.
He tensed his trunk to its absolute limit, resisting the drag of those blood-red tentacles.
His tail whipped around frantically until it found a nearby massive tree and quickly coiled around it.
“Phew~”
Instantly, his body stretched taut, and the tentacles could no longer pull him.
Haoyuan breathed a sigh of relief internally.
He thought he could finally focus on dealing with the gaping maw.
Instead, using his taut flood dragon body as leverage, the monster dragged its viscous, crimson, ruptured belly right toward Haoyuan's midsection!
“Dammit!”
“This creature is so disgusting!”
Haoyuan cursed under his breath and quickly shifted his dragon head around, trying to find a flaw in the monster's attack.
Unfortunately, the monster's entire neck had turned into a giant mouth, making a throat-lock impossible for now.
“How do I kill this thing? Do I have to crush its skull?”
“But where is its brain?”
The eyes on the original Tyrannosaurus Rex head were still moving.
Yet with the monster's mouth split so wide, was the T-Rex's brain still the monster's actual brain?
“No choice, I'll just have to gamble!”
Gritting his teeth, Haoyuan lunged directly to bite into the Tyrannosaurus Rex's cranium.
Before his teeth could sink in, several blood-red tentacles latched onto the Kirin Arm holding the upper jaw.
With a sudden yank, Haoyuan's entire upper body lost its balance.
Without the restraint, the monster's massive mouth snapped shut, swallowing Haoyuan's head and neck whole.
His other Kirin Arm was dragged out of the mouth by several tentacles as well.
“I'm done for!”
Haoyuan's heart went cold as a tinge of despair crept in.
The monster's upper and lower jaws snapped together instantly, unleashing a terrifying bite force that far exceeded that of any Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“Argh, so painful!”
Haoyuan roared in pain, but then was astonished to discover... had his flesh not been pierced?
“Huh?”
Through all those years of training and reinforcement, his scales and hide had achieved ridiculous toughness—they actually tanked the bite force head-on?!
“Holy crap!”
Haoyuan was overjoyed and immediately offered a devout prayer in his heart.
“Thank you to all the giant beach crocs and freshwater fish for your hard work and sacrifice! I will never forget your life-saving grace!”
After offering his heartfelt thanks, he scanned his dark surroundings inside the giant mouth.
Haoyuan opened his jaws, preparing to bite into the monster's thick, long tongue.
Right at that moment, his dragon whiskers twitched.
Deep within the darkness of the monster's throat... was something moving?
Before he could react, three thick, long black shadows shot out fiercely from within.
They were three thick, cylindrical tentacles.
As they shot forward, their rounded tips split open, revealing two rows of thick, white teeth that looked ferocious and terrifying!
Just looking at them gave the feeling that a bite from them would hurt like hell!
But Haoyuan had no time to react!
He had just opened his mouth to bite the monster's tongue when the three rounded tentacles shot out with lightning speed!
They plunged straight into his throat!
With a flash of inspiration, Haoyuan urgently reinforced his inner mucous lining.
As energy points flooded into it, the toughness of his inner lining surged instantly.
Ever since growing two rows of dragon fins, Haoyuan's dormant sleep mechanism had changed.
He seemed to have ascended to a higher life tier, where simple evolutions no longer caused drowsiness.
Simple evolutions could even be completed in an instant.
Therefore, Haoyuan's inner mucous lining instantly became significantly tougher.
Because the three tentacles had shot inward forcefully and he happened to have a long, slender body,
they slid deep down his throat and esophagus without bursting through the inner lining.
Instead, they stuffed his throat to the brim.
The intense feeling of pressure snapped Haoyuan back to his senses.
Crunch. He bit down hard.
Juice burst everywhere! Outstanding flavor!
Without hesitation, he swallowed immediately.
Pushed by his throat and esophagus, the three severed tentacles began sliding down toward his stomach.
Yet those three tentacles still retained life!
Even severed, Haoyuan could feel them spreading their thick, hideous teeth inside him, biting down hard on his esophagus's inner lining.
Fortunately, his inner lining had been reinforced. With their feeble, dying bite force, they couldn't break through his defense at all.
With another squeeze of his esophagus, they dropped straight into his stomach.
“Phew~”
That was a close call. Thank goodness he was a flood dragon with a long, slender body; otherwise, if a bite had ripped straight through his throat lining in his neck, he would have been killed or maimed.
Right at that moment, a pleasant message flooded into his mind.
Haoyuan's eyes lit up, his spirits instantly buoyed!
Energy Points +8,000!
“What! This monster gives so many energy points?!”
Haoyuan was stunned, looking at the monster as if it were a priceless treasure.
And this was just from that one burst of juice and a small portion already digested! If he digested everything that was currently undigested...
Haoyuan's breath hitched.
The gloom in the depths of his eyes was instantly replaced by pure greed.
“This isn't a crisis at all! It's a massive windfall!”
Unaware of Haoyuan's thoughts, the monster squirmed as its severed tentacles regenerated, revealing those ferocious rounded tips with two rows of thick teeth once more.
Seeing this, Haoyuan opened his jaws wide without delay.
At the sight of the opening, the ferocious rounded tips launched forward, plunging right in.
Stuffed to capacity once more, he swallowed.
His energy points surged.
A satisfied look appeared on Haoyuan's face. Seeing the tentacles regenerate again, he hurriedly opened his mouth.
The hideous ends plunged inside once more.
Gulp. Swallowed down.
Haoyuan was thoroughly enjoying being fed, a look of lingering desire on his face.
Before the tentacles even finished regenerating, he opened his mouth wide on his own, looking entirely open for business.
After this, the monster finally sensed that something was off.
The ferocious ends made no move for a long time.
Haoyuan waited a good while and tried stretching his jaws even wider, but the tentacles still didn't budge.
“Looks like it caught on.”
Haoyuan couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed, starting to close his open mouth.
Just then, seeing Haoyuan about to close his mouth, the hideous ends trembled in unison and instantly launched forward, diving for the narrowing gap!
Haoyuan reacted swiftly, hastily opening his mouth wide, ready to swallow all three tentacles whole again.
Unexpectedly, this time they didn't dive into his throat. Instead, they clamped down and bit hard into his tongue!
“Holy crap!”
Haoyuan flinched from the pain and immediately clamped down. Crunch. Juice exploded everywhere.
He bit down several times toward the tentacles until there was nothing left within reach before stopping.
“Phew, good thing there was oral mucous membrane on my tongue, or my defenses would've been broken.”
Still shaken, Haoyuan gulped it all down, then opened his jaws wide once more, waiting to be fed.
“...” The monster went silent.
Rate on N.U.
