Episode 8 – Stomach
The place the seven of them had entered was… a stomach.
Dan, who was well-versed in the internal structure of living creatures, had said that this was probably the stomach, and since none of the other six had any reason to doubt him, they all accepted that the place they were in right now was a stomach.
All sorts of rubble, chunks of what looked like monster flesh, and even things they had never seen before were scattered chaotically around them.
And from the countless tube-shaped protrusions hanging down from the ceiling, a yellow liquid—presumably “stomach acid”—was being flung all around.
It dissolved everything that had been swallowed into the stomach.
What looked like monster corpses had already had their flesh melted away, leaving their insides and bones completely exposed. Whether they had originally been wolf-type monsters or something more like apes, it was now impossible to tell.
Dragon stomach acid didn’t stop at dissolving living creatures—it melted rubble and rock alike without discrimination.
“Be thankful the whole place isn’t one giant pool of stomach acid—”
The one who made that remark was Bramia.
After being doused in dragon stomach acid earlier, the only clothing Bramia still had left were pants whose hem had half-melted away, and his leather boots. Perhaps the pouches on his waist had survived somehow—two small leather pouches were still securely attached to his belt.
His upper body was bare, and thanks to Dan’s healing, there wasn’t a single wound left on him. Compared to the average adventurer, his build was somewhat on the slender side, but that was only natural. Bramia’s ability, Cautiverio Zero nullified the weight of any equipment he wore.
Thanks to that, Bramia never developed excess muscle—only enough strength needed to move and function inside a dungeon.
Another notable trait of his was that, whether because he could wear heavy armor thanks to his ability or because their party included an excellent healer, his body had almost no scars. The only exception was a circular scar that looked like something had pierced straight through his right chest.
“But looks like there’s stomach acid scattered all over the damn place—”
Nada grimaced at the evenly spaced organs releasing the fluid.
Of course, if they moved through areas without those organs—places without any acid splashing around—they would probably be fine. But they had no idea which path actually led to an exit.
No—this was the inside of a dragon. The idea of an exit was practically nonexistent. Realizing that a tiny adventurer like himself could only struggle desperately to survive inside a monster like this made Nada feel exhausted.
Like Bramia, Nada was also bare-chested. But unlike Bramia, his body was covered with countless scars. Marks from monster claws and fangs, from swords and spears—and most recently, the fresh wound on his abdomen where a gargoyle’s spear had gouged him. Layer upon layer of scars made Nada’s body both rugged enough to suit a seasoned warrior, yet tragic to behold.
However, even though Nada was half-naked, the one remaining piece of armor—the gauntlet on his left arm, Solideum—had not melted at all, not even at the edges, despite being hit by the stomach acid. Though worn in appearance, it seemed the claim that it was a dungeon-found weapon was no lie.
Dungeon-found weapons all shared one trait—immutability. Their shape would never change for life, or so it was said. This stomach acid had melted even Bramia’s high-quality armor. Any ordinary weapon or armor probably would’ve reacted and been ruined the moment it was exposed, or so Nada thought.
And yet, one of Nada’s weapons, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, hadn’t shown a hint of melting even after getting splashed earlier. At least in this regard, wootz steel truly lived up to its reputation, Nada thought.
On the other hand, the sheath of his kukri knife had begun to melt slightly. If it got hit again, the blade itself might be ruined too.
That was his one and only concern.
“So, what now? Shouldn’t we hurry up and get out of here?”
It hadn’t even been a full minute since they had entered the stomach, but Serena, her brown skin damp with sweat, glared forward with a look of disgust, thinking of the insects crawling behind the carved-open meat wall.
Not that things were any less hellish ahead.
Especially since Serena’s armor was thin.
She imagined what would happen if she got hit by stomach acid—certainly all the armor she was wearing would melt away—and naturally her expression twisted into a grimace.
“That’s true. So, which way do you all want to go? I don’t really care either way, but the two paths without stomach acid spraying are left and right, yeah?”
Corvo, the leader of the seven, compared the two paths, confirmed that neither particularly differed in appearance, and asked the others for their opinion.
“Eeeeh, then let’s go right! Right is definitely the better choice!”
Clarisse raised one hand high as she loudly declared her vote.
Corvo gave a wry smile, nodded at her enthusiasm, and said as he looked toward the right:
“Then let’s go right. I’ve heard women’s intuition is sharp, after all—”
No one objected to Corvo’s opinion, and the seven of them set out for the right side, keeping the same formation as before.
Perhaps tired from being chased around by those insects earlier, the party’s pace was noticeably slower than it had been a few minutes ago.
“Still… this is my first time inside a creature’s stomach, but… wow.”
Walking inside a stomach was far from easy.
Unlike before, the floor of the stomach was coated in mucus that clung stickily to the soles of their boots, stretching into thin threads each time they lifted their feet. According to Dan, this mucous membrane protected the stomach from its own gastric acid—but for the other six, it was nothing more than a nuisance hindering their progress.
Another trait of the stomach was the presence of large “folds,” ridges, and valleys undulating in succession like a series of small hills. Combined with the sticky mucus at their feet, it made walking even heavier than treading on the earlier slabs of flesh. Amarelo, who wore straw sandals, struggled especially—not only did his footwear slip easily, but he seemed plainly bewildered by the unfamiliar terrain, making him the slowest among them.
“Eeeeh? My stomach isn’t like this, right? No way! Absolutely not!”
Clarisse was the first to oppose Dan’s explanation head-on, as expected of another Gift-user.
“Ahaha. Then Clarisse-san, what do you think the inside of your stomach looks like?”
Dan asked her with a wry smile.
“Well, you see— I’m sure it’s all colorful, like flowers blooming everywhere—”
“You sound more like you’ve got a flower garden blooming in your head rather than your stomach—”
Serena, walking beside Dan, reacted immediately to Clarisse’s words. Her husky voice held a faint mockery.
“What’s that supposed to mean!?”
Clarisse protested loudly from Dan’s other side, since she was walking right next to him as well.
“Hmph. Dan has the Gift of the Healing God and is well-versed in biomedicine. He’s probably seen the inside of a human stomach more than once or twice. There’s no way he’d be mistaken—”
“Well… when you put it that way…”
Serena’s argument was unassailable, and Clarisse puffed out her cheeks in a sulky pout.
“You should stop saying such nonsensical things. They’re grating on the ears.”
Serena snorted, and Clarisse glared back with a furrowed brow.
“But but— as a girl, don’t you think it’s nicer to imagine your stomach as something beautiful rather than something this gross? Though of course—a certain someone who’s practically thrown away her womanhood and turned into a wild barbarian wouldn’t understand what that means, would she—?”
Serena’s brow tightened at Clarisse’s words.
“Are you picking a fight with me…?”
Her low, threatening tone didn’t faze Clarisse in the slightest.
“Eeeeh? Who’s picking a fight with whom? Besides, solving everything with violence like that—it’s not very ladylike, you know? Don’t you think so too, Dan-san? Girls should act like girls, right—?”
“Dan, you’re not the kind of man who’d say something like that, right? I believe you’re someone who understands a person’s inner qualities.”
“Ahaha…”
Caught between the two, Dan could only give a strained laugh, unable to say yes or no to either.
It was a wise decision—agreeing with either side wouldn’t end well. Glancing around for an escape, he looked pleadingly at Nada, who quietly pressed his palms together in sympathy while keeping his distance from the argument.
As Serena and Claris continued squabbling around the helpless Dan, one of the three walking ahead, Bramia, suddenly shouted.
“Shut the hell up, you women! Keep it down for once! What, do you die if you’re not running your mouths? If that’s the case, then hurry up and die quietly!”
Corvo and Amarelo, who had been walking near Bramia, turned to look back with equally awkward expressions, silently observing the scene.
“Eeeeh? Bramia-san’s voice is way louder than ours, though? Oh, but monkeys do make loud, echoing noises like that, don’t they? Serena-san, don’t you think that kind of voice is really grating—?”
Clarisse tilted her head as if stating an obvious fact.
“Absolutely. Especially male monkeys in mating season—they squeal constantly. Hearing noises like that gives me a headache. And as it happens, we have a certain male here who seems to have reached his mating season as well. We should stay alert.”
Serena said this with a perfectly calm expression.
“Who the hell would go after sluts like you!? I’d rather screw one of the beasts around here than lay a hand on either of you!”
Bramia shot back furiously.
“That sounds like sour grapes—you’re just upset that cute girls like us won’t give you the time of day, so you’re making excuses. Isn’t that kind of pathetic—?”
“Well, any decent woman would rather die than sleep with a man like you.”
“You what!? Say that again, you—!”
What had started as an argument between Serena and Claris had now escalated with Bramia joining in, making the party of seven even noisier than before.
Although three of them—Serena, Clarisse, and Bramia—were the only ones actually shouting, the other four reacted in their own ways. Amarelo and Corvo ignored the quarrel entirely and kept moving ahead, while Dan quietly slipped back from between the two women and hurried over to stand beside Nada.
The three who were arguing continued forward as they bickered. After crossing several folds of flesh, the seven of them heard an unpleasant sound.
“Hm. And what might this be?”
It was a thunderous roar, like raging water rushing in from a distance.
The seven immediately suspected more “insects,” but apparently that wasn’t the case.
What surged toward them, flooding over the folds ahead, was a yellow liquid—gastric juice. Until now, only small amounts had dripped onto the floor, but this time a whole torrent came rushing at them.
“It looks like we’ve got no choice but to run. If I got hit by that… even I’d probably die.”
Even Corvo, a seasoned veteran, broke into a cold sweat as he grimaced at the tsunami of stomach acid bearing down on them.
Naturally, the other six felt the same—especially Nada and Bramia, who had already been splashed by stomach acid earlier. Terror spurred them to flee for their lives.
Instead of continuing in the direction they had been heading, the seven of them turned and sprinted away from the oncoming acid. Nada, who had been slightly slower earlier, now moved surprisingly fast without his armor weighing him down.
Even so, the flood of gastric juice was faster than their legs.
And then—
“Looks like… this is a dead end.”
To make matters worse, the seven were blocked by a wall of flesh.
“Move!”
From the rear, Nada shouted.
The other six quickly cleared a path, and Nada alone sliced the fleshy wall open with his Green Dragon Crescent Blade.
Drenched in blood, Nada forced himself forward, and the other six hurried into the newly opened space after him.
“You’re kidding me…”
Bramia’s voice faltered as he took in the scene waiting beyond.
The walls and floor were still flesh as before, but what caught their eyes were stones bouncing around.
And not fist-sized pebbles. Huge boulders, far larger than a person, were bouncing and rolling violently through the fleshy chamber. They must have been moving around inside for years; their edges were worn away, giving them the shape of perfect spheres.
“My, my… even if they built this in the capital, I doubt this amusement park would be popular. A swarm of insects, a sea of acid… and next is a dancing hall of stones, hmm?”
Amarelo joked lightly, though his heart was full of panic.
The reason: there wasn’t just one bouncing stone. Dozens of enormous rocks were springing high off the elastic flesh and smashing the surrounding debris to pieces.
“Come to think of it, some animals have something called a gizzard—they swallow small stones to grind up their food and help digestion,” Dan said calmly as he observed the boulders.
“These are supposed to be ‘small stones’? I don’t think so…”
Even cheerful Clarisse, usually unfazed, sagged her shoulders in exasperation at the sight of the stone swarm.
“To that dragon, stones of this size must indeed count as pebbles. Honestly…”
Serena’s eyes widened in astonishment.
“They’re coming.”
Nada instinctively looked upward. Of course, the others didn’t need him to say it—they all sensed it. One of the massive spheres was falling toward them from above.
And the seven adventurers all leapt aside to dodge the descending boulder.
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