[Rona and Ronald's side]
The situation was spiraling out of control.
A pack of furious monsters circled in tighter and tighter, jaws gnashing, claws scraping the ground, hunger burning in their twisted eyes.
Amid the chaos, Rona suddenly screamed.
"Lil is dead! NUUUUU~!!"
Her voice cracked like a whip through the air.
Ronald snapped his head toward her, eyes wide.
"H-Hey! Don't say that!"
He tried to calm her down, grabbing her shoulders as she sobbed.
"Let's pray! Maybe if we pray together, Llyne might live...! Although, uh... the chances are slim... slime...!?"
He grimaced as the words slipped out.
Rona burst into even louder wails.
Meanwhile, Mimi, standing smugly atop a pile of rubble, snickered like a villain out of a bad fairytale.
She pointed lazily at the rabbit monster's swollen belly and cackled.
"Wow! What a thrill! Looks like your little friend there is as good as gone. Poof!"
She clapped mockingly.
Ronald's blood boiled.
"No way!" he shouted back, fists trembling. "It's Llyne! There's no way she'll lose to some ugly-ass rabbit!"
Rona, sniffling, stuck her tongue out at the rabbit monster and added with a vicious glare:
"UGLY!!"
Mimi only shrugged nonchalantly, her tail flicking with amusement.
"There's literally zero per cent chance of survival," she said, voice dripping with venom.
"Anyone swallowed by Mr. Rabbit gets digested by its poison. Drip, drip, drip!... How tragic."
Rona's small fists clenched even tighter.
"Poison...?" she muttered, trembling.
But then—she stomped her foot.
"No! Poison takes time! Llyne can cut through and escape! I believe in her!"
Mimi chuckled darkly, twirling a strand of her hair.
"Only tough luck can. How's your little friend gonna cut her way out—with a play toy shovel?"
With a malicious grin, Mimi projected a small illusion—playing back the memory of Ronald's frantic throw, the glint of the mini shovel, and Llyne tumbling straight into the rabbit's mouth.
The scene hit Ronald like a hammer.
He stood frozen, his mind blank, his mouth slightly agape.
"..."
Rona smacked him upside the head.
"Snap out of it, idiot!"
Ronald jolted like he'd been electrocuted.
He shook his head wildly, panic flooding his face.
"W-What just happened? No! Llyne!"
He dropped to the ground, tossing all the weapons he had been carrying into a heap.
Frantically, he rummaged through them.
Sword. Axe. Bow. Dagger. Hammer.
No mini shovel.
It was gone.
A terrible realization dawned on him.
Ronald collapsed onto his knees, eyes filling with despair.
"I killed Llyne!" he wailed, banging his fists on the ground.
"It's all my fault! I wanted to throw the longsword but—! I panicked and threw the wrong one...!"
Tears blurred his vision.
Mimi chuckled coldly, resting her chin on her palm as she looked down at him like a cat toying with a trapped mouse.
"Well..." she said sweetly.
"It's too late now!"
She snapped her fingers.
"Seek, my cute little fur balls."
The monsters moved.
With a low, unified growl, they closed in around Rona and Ronald.
Their steps were slow, deliberate, like predators savoring the inevitable.
The ground trembled under the sheer weight of their footsteps.
Rona and Ronald stood back-to-back, trembling.
The air was so heavy it felt like breathing through wet cloth.
We're screwed! Ronald thought, his heart hammering in his ears.
But Rona's eyes still burned with fierce defiance.
"We're not giving up!" she yelled, snatching a weapon from the pile.
Ronald gritted his teeth, steeling himself.
No matter what—
They had to hold on.
Because somewhere deep inside that monster's gut...
Llyne was still fighting.
[Llyne's side]
I laid there in the darkness, face flat against the disgusting floor, hoping—praying—that maybe someone would come cheer me up.
A minute passed. Then two.
Nothing. Silence.
Finally, I sat up and screamed into the void:
"BAH! No one is cheering me up!!"
My own voice echoed back at me like a mocking spirit.
I looked around, scratching my ear in confusion.
"Oh, right... there's no one here but me. Silly me."
I knocked my head lightly, sighing.
This wasn't going to fix itself.
Steeling my nerves, I stood up and struck a pose—one foot forward, index finger dramatically pointed skyward like a hero preparing for a suicidal mission.
"Looks like I have no choice but to use the last and only solution. Mission: Pooperoni!"
I set off to search for anything—anything—that could serve as a paddle, a boat, a lifeline.
But before I could even begin my foolish quest—
The world trembled.
The ground quaked beneath my feet.
A low, ominous rumble filled the air.
"Eh? What's happening?" I spun around in confusion—only to be greeted by a nightmare.
A massive, writhing wall of water, black and venomous, towered above me like a living tsunami.
My heart nearly stopped.
Without thinking, I bolted, hopping desperately from one floating object to another, arms flailing as I struggled to keep my balance.
"WAAAAHH!"
The deafening crash of the water behind me roared like the end of the world.
The force hit me from behind like a battering ram, launching me forward at breakneck speed.
"ACK!"
I slammed hard against the monster's stomach wall.
Pain exploded through my ribs.
Dazed, I realized too late—I was slipping.
Below me, the digestive fluid churned like a living swamp, waiting to consume me.
Desperately, I clawed at the wall, digging my fingers into the flesh.
But the moment I touched it—
"AAAAARGH!"
A burning, searing pain shot up my arms.
It was like plunging my hands into acid.
"You've got to be kidding me!" I howled. "There's poison inside the walls, too?! This is one toxic-ass rabbit!!"
My fingers trembled violently.
The agony was unbearable.
The flesh of the monster was slick, oily, and alive—pushing, rejecting me.
No matter how hard I tried, my grip weakened.
The pain blurred my vision.
I screamed, thrashing in agony as my fingers finally gave up—
and I slipped.
Falling.
Falling.
Falling—
BAAAM!
My body slammed into something hard, the impact sending shockwaves up my left arm.
"Argh! My left arm!" I immediately clutched it, grimacing through the pain.
Frantically, I checked its condition.
It hurt like hell, but when I moved it around, it responded.
"Ugh... It hurts a bit, but there doesn't seem to be any broken bones," I muttered in relief.
I tilted my head back and glared up at the place I'd fallen from—an impossibly high, slimy wall lost in the shadows above.
"Gosh, I managed to survive that fall without any broken bones? Luck sure works in a weird way."
Chuckling dryly, I dusted myself off and turned my gaze downward.
It was then that I noticed what I'd landed on: a battered old treasure chest, its surface scarred with deep scratches that looked suspiciously like claw or tooth marks.
Curiosity immediately flared in my chest.
"Oooh~ an old treasure chest! I wonder if there's any treasure inside."
Hope rekindled, I hopped onto a nearby floating plank and leaned over, my hands prying the heavy lid open with a creaking groan.
A cloud of dust exploded into the air, making me cough and wave my hands frantically.
When the dust settled—
"Empty."
Nothing but dust and cobwebs greeted me.
My heart deflated like a popped balloon.
"What a way to crush a person's hope," I grumbled, my shoulders slumping.
Still, I wasn't ready to give up on the chest entirely.
I examined it inside and out.
Despite the ravages of time and the monster's stomach acids, it remained surprisingly intact.
A miracle, in this cursed place.
Aside from the claw marks, the wood was solid. No cracks. No rot.
And most importantly—
"No digestive fluid inside."
My lips curled into a wide grin.
I climbed into the chest without hesitation, nestling inside like a cat curling up in a box.
"Oooh~ I've never sat inside a treasure chest before!" I giggled, wiggling in excitement. "This is a whole new experience for me. Oooh~ I feel like a little kid again. So exciting~"
I huffed and puffed with childish glee, drumming my fingers against the sturdy wood.
It was ridiculous.
It was absurd.
But it was also the first moment of true safety I had felt since falling into this grotesque, nightmare rabbit's stomach.
For just a brief second, cocooned inside the treasure chest, I forgot the poison, the danger, the hopelessness.
I was alive.
But even in my brief moment of joy—
The acidic mist in the air thickened.
The stomach walls pulsed ominously.
And somewhere deep within the monster's guts, something massive shifted.
The real battle to escape hadn't even begun yet.