Episode 9 – Gizzard
The number of rocks dancing inside the dragon’s body wasn’t just one or two—an entire swarm was bouncing around inside its sand gizzard.
The reason was probably the floor of flesh overflowing with elasticity.
Unlike before, the seven sank deeply into the floor with each step. And when they jumped from there, their bodies bounced so high it made them think there was a giant spring hidden beneath the meat. Apparently, the rocks used this very force to dance about and grind down whatever came in.
Not just the trampoline-like floor—even the walls and ceiling were made of the same material. If they pushed off the ceiling the moment their feet touched it—faster than they could fall—they could propel themselves in whatever direction they wanted.
As an attraction, it was unlike anything the seven had ever experienced.
Well, if only the rocks weren’t in the way.
“Damn it! What the hell is this place!?”
Bramia yelled at the top of his lungs inside the sand gizzard.
Naturally, he still wasn’t used to this environment.
The highly elastic walls and floor irritated him, and he bounced forward while venting his anger, slamming into walls and floor as he went. He hit his head on the ceiling and nearly got clipped by the rocks more than once. But because the floor swallowed his body so deeply, even falling from ten meters up barely harmed him.
By now, the seven had no formation at all.
No—they couldn’t form one.
If they were on normal ground, that would be one thing, but in this sand gizzard—something none of them had ever experienced—there was a clear difference in how quickly each person adapted.
Bramia was one of the slowest to adjust, and he gradually fell behind the other six.
“Ahaha! This is pretty fun, you know—”
Meanwhile, Corvo—the leader of the seven—had already grown accustomed to the sand gizzard. He shot ahead with such speed and bounce that one might mistake him for a ball.
Aerial maneuvering, body control, and grasping the structure of the gizzard—his abilities lived up to his reputation as one of the top adventurers at Larva Academy.
He was the first among the seven to adapt to the environment, avoiding the rocks with ease as he advanced through the gizzard without trouble.
“…Hmph. Well, it isn’t exactly hard to move.”
Serena also adapted quickly, much like Corvo.
Using the walls and ceiling as if they were bubbles to lightly rebound from, she floated through the space as though moving in zero gravity. She might have been briefly confused by the strange environment, but she shook that off immediately. She wasn’t as fast as Corvo, but among the seven, she was definitely one of the quickest to get used to the sand gizzard.
“I hate thisss! I want to get out of here right now!”
The one struggling the most was Amarelo.
He couldn’t adjust at all. After bouncing once, he completely failed to control himself in midair—slamming his head against the ceiling, smacking his back against the wall, and when he finally managed to land, his sandals slid on the slick floor, sending him into a low-altitude spin before smashing his face into the floor and flinging him into the air again.
Whenever a rock came near, he would slice it cleanly in half with godlike speed, so he wasn’t taking damage. But mentally, the endlessly unfamiliar gizzard was wearing him down, and now he was openly whining.
“Aaah, this is such a pain. Don’t you think so too, Dan-senpai?”
As for the two Gift-users, Clarisse had adapted surprisingly fast.
She didn’t glide through the gizzard as smoothly as Corvo, but she quickly learned the knack of it and advanced in a steady parabolic rhythm. Whenever she was about to collide with a boulder, the dark god’s Gift pulverized it into dust—leaving not even a pebble behind. Among the rocks she destroyed were many that would’ve hit Dan.
“You’re right. I never imagined a sand gizzard could be like an amusement ride. I wonder if a human’s sand gizzard is like this, too?”
Dan wasn’t as stable as Clarisse, but he managed by bounding on all fours.
Of course, without Clarisse’s support, he would have been crushed by a giant rock long ago. Dan was their invaluable healer, and Clarisse guarded his life carefully.
Just like with the gastric acid earlier, she understood all too well that inside a dragon’s body, having a healer meant the difference between life and death.
“Haa—”
Lastly, as for Nada—unexpectedly, he adapted to this space rather quickly.
He didn’t move as lightly as Corvo, but whenever he made contact with the walls or floor, he always planted his feet properly, using the deeply sinking surface to kick off at just the right timing.
His ridiculous physical strength was probably the reason, but whenever he bounced higher than expected, he would stretch out the crescent blade he held in one hand and hook it onto either a wall or the floor to kill his momentum. Of course, that level of impact wasn’t enough to break the crescent blade, and with Nada’s monstrous grip strength, there was no chance of him letting it slip from his hand.
The seven of them each advanced through the gizzard in their own way and eventually reached an area with fewer rocks and a bit more stability.
Corvo was the first to arrive—naturally—followed by Serena, then Nada; after that came Clarisse and Dan, then Bramia, dragging himself in exhaustion, and lastly Amarelo, who arrived pale-faced.
“Think this spot should do? Nada, I’m counting on you—”
It seemed that in this party, cutting through walls had already become Nada’s designated task. Corvo asked him to open a new path.
“Yeah—”
Naturally, Nada had no reason to object. Bracing himself so he wouldn’t bounce, he approached the wall, careful not to slip, then swung the massive Green Dragon Crescent Blade sideways.
As before, the fleshy wall split easily, drenching Nada in blood as a new passage opened.
Thanks to receiving a generous amount of blood, his hair had turned a dark, muddy red, some parts already drying stiff.
“I wonder what kind of space comes next? First was the swarm of insects, then stomach acid, and after that, the rock-filled attraction, right? So next is a pool of blood? Ugh, no thanks. My beautiful hair will be ruined!”
Clarisse loudly protested toward the unseen new area.
They had wandered through various parts of the dragon’s insides by now, but not once had they reached a place that felt even remotely safe or restful. They’d been moving nonstop without a break.
“I beg you, anything but a place like this again. I don't want to bounce anymore—absolutely not—!”
Amarelo no longer had the composure he’d shown at the start.
It seemed the gizzard had exhausted him enough to make him mutter complaints.
“I don’t really care what’s next. I just want to get out of here already.”
Bramia wasn’t as miserable as Amarelo, but he let out a small groan as well.
It was only natural—aside from failing to adapt to the gizzard, he’d taken a direct splash of stomach acid, ruining his armor, and had suffered serious injuries on top of that. The kind of wounds he’d never expect to take in a normal adventure.
He was thoroughly sick of being inside a dragon.
“I don’t care what kind of place comes next either, but… it’d be nice to get out sometime soon—”
Even Serena let a bit of her true feelings slip.
She had handled every space so far without trouble, but the overwhelming pink scenery was beginning to give her a headache rather than nausea. She wanted to see a blue sky already—that was her honest opinion.
“I wouldn’t mind staying here a bit longer, personally… but, yeah, it’s not really the situation to be saying that.”
Among the seven, only Dan seemed to genuinely enjoy the place.
The biggest reason was likely that he was able to experience—firsthand—an environment he had previously only ever read about in anatomical materials.
Naturally, he was the only one among the seven who would find such a thing exciting.
“Well, everyone… I also want to get out of here quickly, and going somewhere new again takes a bit of courage, but… let’s do our best, yeah?”
With a complicated expression, Corvo said this—Nada, expression composed as always, was the first to enter the newly opened space.
The other six followed after him, drawn along.
The place resembled the one where Nada had first awoken.
The ground wasn’t the springy material from before—it had a firm, taut surface. It was a little difficult to walk on, but nowhere near as bad as the previous area, and all seven were already used to this sort of footing.
Amarelo let out a relieved sigh and stroked his chest in relief.
“Thank goodness—”
“No, looks like we can’t relax yet, Amarelo-san.”
When Clarisse pointed behind the group, they saw—barreling toward them—an enormous boulder, several times larger than the ones they’d encountered earlier.
“Can anyone break that thing?”
Corvo looked at Claris and Amarelo, who had been smashing rocks earlier, but both of them shook their heads.
“Then let’s run for it—”
Bramia said that and immediately turned his back to the boulder, sprinting at full speed.
The other six also tried to flee from the giant boulder, but when Nada narrowed his eyes toward the split in the path ahead, he saw something unpleasant.
“They’re coming—”
It was insects.
A massive swarm, much larger than before, was rushing toward them through one of the forks.
The seven instantly tried to switch direction and run down the other branch, but this time Serena spotted something else.
“Mugh. Isn’t that stomach acid!”
A churning, yellow torrent of stomach acid was flooding through the corridor straight toward them.
“Hey, Dan. In a human body… is there ever a place where the stomach and gizzard fuse together, and parasites breed?”
Maybe his mind broke from seeing a giant boulder from one direction, stomach acid from another, and hordes of insects from the third. Nada was grinning nihilistically.
“Ahaha. Nope.”
Dan laughed the same way Nada did.
“What are we supposed to do!? This is seriously a hopeless situation!”
Clarisse looked back and forth between the three incoming threats, her voice panicked.
“These walls are awfully tough around here—”
Meanwhile, Amarelo tried slicing through a nearby wall to make an escape route, but the walls here were too hard, and he wasn’t having any luck.
“Hey! Seriously, what do we do!?”
Bramia, also trying to cut the wall, was failing just as badly.
“What should we do? Even I don’t think I can handle this one.”
Corvo, normally the competent leader, finally gave up and let out a weary sigh.
“Hold on! I’m not ready to die yet! Someone do something!”
Clarisse screamed, but the three threats continued closing in, slowly but steadily.
There was no escape route. Dealing with even one of them seemed impossible.
“Serena!”
At that moment, Dan shouted at her.
“I know!”
Serena—apparently in possession of something that could break this deadlock—yelled back and nodded.
Then, as the three threats converged on them, she spoke in a rich, resonant voice:
“《Escondil Utero》”
In that instant—at the tip of Serena’s right hand, a distortion in space formed, and a black rift opened.
“Get inside!”
Dan shouted, and the seven of them dove headfirst into the space Serena had created.
Previous Chapter - TOC - Next Chapter
Comments
Post a Comment