"Yeah, you're not gonna like what I'm about to tell you, then." She sighed.

E-Eh? What's that supposed to mean? The traps were already scary enough to deal with, and the laughing gas—ironically enough—was no laughing matter. So, now what is it? She's keeping me in suspense, unsure of whether to tell me what that fluttering sound was or not. After mulling it over for a bit, she eventually decided to be transparent with me.

"What you just heard was a monster within the third layer of the Shrine." She nervously explained, "It has the body of a bat, but the head of a cockroach."

"...E-Eh?" I whimpered.

"Ah, it also feasts on the golden parts of a seraphim." She nonchalantly tacked on, "So you're actually kind of lucky, because you won't have to bear witness as it tears you apart."

"Tears... apart?" I backed away.

"Ah, no need to worry!" She smiled, "The Shrine actually revives you back at the end of the previous floor once you die in the current one! Heck, I've gotten my heart ripped out and eaten in front of my very Eyes by them countless times before!"

Nonononono-! What the hell is she saying with such a straight and unfazed face, goddammit!? Cockroach bats?! A-And she just said she fell victim to them at least a few times now? Uhh, hello? You're telling me you died in Heaven and got brought back!? How did you forget to mention that's a thing until now!? And geez, don't just brush such a thing off!

"Sorry, if I told you guys before, there was a high likelihood you wouldn't wanna come with." She twiddled her thumbs.

"That's absolutely right!" I shot back, "No, this is just too much! For Allucius' sake, we only have a fork to deal with them!"

"...Oh." She looked at her empty hands, "I-I must've dropped the fork upstairs in the chaos, ehe... Silly me."

Silly... her? Silly her. Vastoria, goddammit...! Ugh, no, calm down Maggie. She was under the influence of the laughing gas, so you can't fault her for losing it in the midst of running through those traps. Actually, it's a miracle we even made it this far without a single injury, so when I look at it like that, she did exceedingly well to guide us to here.

"...Are you mad?" She asked anxiously.

"Sigh, no." I calmed down, "Actually, you said the Shrine only had 3 floors before we made it to that bedroom that takes us back to the surface, right? If that's the case, then we could probably just run through and..."

"Ah." She cut me off.

"Oh, what now!?"

"N-No, you're probably right." She tried to hide it, "Please continue."

"Well I can't continue now that I know you're keeping something from me." I crossed my arms, "Come on, out with it."

"Uhm... It's just..." She worriedly explained, "The laughing gas upstairs... wasn't there last time."

"Oh, okay?" I tilted my head, "Is that it?"

Is she saying she's worried about Sheep and Throne? I'm sure they'll be fine, they have Throne's wings after all. Besides that, we didn't know anything about the laughing gas too, and we managed just fine. In fact, if we're lucky enough, they might find the fork Vastoria so carelessly dropped and bring it back to us. It's not much, but if it can gouge out Eyes and ribcages, then it can fend off cockroach bats.

"What I'm trying to say is that the Shrine changed pretty significantly from the one Energy and I know of." She finally stopped beating around the bush, "So, maybe what we heard just now wasn't a cockroach bat... but something else."

"Something else? Ah, in other words—Something worse." I exhaled disappointedly, "...No, wait. Why should we think about it so pessimistically?"

"Come again?" She cocked her head back.

"Yeah! I mean, who knows what we might encounter once we pass through the door!" I smiled, "It could be those cockroach bats or something even worse, but it could also be something as tiny as a rabbit snake. Or a turtle lizard, or...!"

As I excitedly named off as many mythical sounding animal hybrids as I could think of, each example getting a giggle out of her, she eventually thought to join in on the fun and give a few examples of her own. What started as us using the most dangerous beasts ended with us just thinking up cute hybrids of tiny critters. It was a welcome change of pace, especially since we really needed to calm ourselves down somehow.

"Naaww, a cat pup would just be the most adorable thing!" She jumped for joy just imagining it, "With it's little tail wagging as it brings you leaves it found on its "hunt"... Ohh, now I want one for myself!"

"That'd be awesome." I sat down beside her, "Oh, here's another one-!"

"Baaahhhhh!!!" A shrill shriek echoed from upstairs.

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Immediately, the two of us stopped talking, glancing up at the source of the sound as we waited to see what was happening. Soon, another scream followed, only this time it was closer.

"W-What do we do?" I looked at her.

"No, we mustn't go out just yet." She looked at the jungle layer, "Whatever that scream was just now, it can't be any more dangerous than whatever's waiting for us out there..."

I gulped, and with a solemn nod I trusted her judgment on the matter. Once again, the shriek came and went. Drawing nearer as the sounds got louder, we eventually realized that the source of the screams was just up the stairs. In fact, it was headed down where we were. We didn't have anywhere to hide. Our only shot was to face whomever was arriving head on and hope they weren't a threat. The footsteps grew louder, and finally...!

"Baaaahhh!!" Sheep jumped out from behind the corner with no arm from the wrist down, "Aaaaaghhh!!"

"Ahhhh!!!" We screamed back.

"A-Ah!?" He looked surprised once he saw us, and as the adrenaline left him, he eventually fell unconscious in front of us.

"...Guess Throne still couldn't figure out how to get in." Vastoria just kinda shrugged.

What the hell kind of a comment is that? There's a handless dude lying on the floor in front of you, and you're not even gonna address that fact? Poor Sheep...

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"What do we do? He's bleeding out!" I worriedly rushed to check up on him.

"Oh, he'll run out of blood eventually." She brushed it off, "He'll be fine."

"Huh? No, he won't??" I looked back at her in disbelief, "If he runs out of blood, that means he'll die, y'know!?"

"No, the same thing happened to Energy when he lost his foot and Eye." She explained, "We bleed in here, but that blood isn't required for us to live. In other words, it's purely for show."

"B-But he fell unconscious...!" I pointed at him lying face flat against the ground, "That's definitely because of the amount of blood he lost!"

"I think he might just be a hypochondriac." She shrugged.

"Hypochondria is when you panic over a measly scratch." I groaned, "Does this look like a measly scratch to you?!"

"Okay, okay..." She looked me dead in the Eyes and said, "Hemophobia then."

"Hemo-!? Ugh, you're useless!" I shook my head before ripping the end of my dress and tying it tightly above the wound to stop the bleeding, "This isn't much, but it's better than just not caring at all."

"Hey now, I care!" She pouted, "Of course I care, Sheep's a friend!"

"So why are you being so nonchalant right now!?"

"Because panicking won't get us anywhere." She calmly replied, "Plus, he's fine, see?"

"Hm?" I turned around only to get jumpscared by an awoken and drowsy Sheep, "Gah!"

"Mnnn... What's goin' on...?" He looked around, trying to lift himself up with his hands, but failing to do so because of his missing left one, "Oof!"

"Hey, careful!" I helped him sit up for now, "You okay? What happened up there?"

"My hand itches..." He confusedly looked at it, only to faint again.

"Eh? Sheep? Sheep!" I slapped him about a bit.

Quickly, I checked his breath, his pulse, and his heartbeat. Everything was in order, despite the blood loss. Weirdly enough, if we ignore the missing hand, the rest of his body is just peachy.

"See? Like I said, he's okay." Vastoria put her hand on my shoulder to reassure me, "Honestly, do you think I could've survived getting my chest ripped apart with a fork without the Shrine's effects? I'm telling you, he'll live."

Once again, we waited in that position for him to wake up a second time, only making sure to keep his missing hand away from his line of sight. It didn't take too long for him to open his Eyes, and since this time he was in a way more comfortable position, he seemed to react a lot more positively to the situation.

"Oh, Magnes, Vastoria." He smiled somewhat weakly, "Boy, am I glad to see you."

"What happened up there?" I asked him.

"...Ugh, my hand itches..." He went to inspect, but Vastoria quickly yanked it behind him, "Yeowch!"

"Answer the question first, please." She somewhat sternly asked him, "What happened?"

"...I phased through the barrier." He finally began retelling his story, "Throne, I wouldn't be surprised if he's still banging his head on that damned wall."

"We figured as much." I chuckled, "And? Then what?"

"I signed to ask him if he wanted me to wait for him, but he instead just shooed me away." He explained, "Tch, the guy probably wanted me to come find you as soon as possible, so I ran in."

"How'd the first layer go?" Vastoria asked.

"It was a bit topsy-turvy, but otherwise okay." He laughed.

"And then?" I added.

"Then... Ack, I lost my hand to a wall trap!" He panicked, trying desperately to free himself from our clutches and inspect the wound for himself, "No, let me see it! I wanna see how bad the injury is!"

"Ugh, if we show you, you're just gonna fall unconscious again!" Vastoria ripped the bottom of her shirt as well to use as a cover for the stump, "Ngh, almost... There! Now you can look, geez..."

"Ngah!" He fended us off and immediately went to inspect it, only to stare blankly at the stump where his hand used to be, "...Oh. Oh wow..."

"Sorry about your hand." I carefully approached him, but he backed away.

"I-It's fine. Not your fault I was careless." He refused to look away from it, "Oh Gods, this never would've happened if I just stayed back at the shop..."

"...Quit whining." Vastoria furrowed her brows, "It'll grow back."

"E-Eh?" We looked at her.

"Any and all injuries that occur in the Shrine grow back as golden parts." She crossed her arms, "Just look at what happened to my chest. Seriously, it's not the end of the world!"

"That might be, but..." He looked down at his stump, "Even if it's back, it'll be golden."

"So? You'll be able to feel what you touch with it, isn't that a blessing?" She pouted, "Honestly, I'm envious of you!"

"Envious..." He then smirked, "Yeah, I bet you would."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I followed his example.

Without even saying a word, he cooly used his remaining hand to poke my cheek, signifying he saw what happened between Vastoria and me back at the surface. After that, he kept walking through the doorway to enter the jungle layer as he called for us to follow along, only for him to get eaten alive by a cockroach bat. The bat was done with him in less than a second, and it only took me a singular blink to find myself upstairs with the two of them looking just as confused as I was.

"Oh good." Vastoria clapped her hands happily, "We get brought back once we die, and the cockroach bats are unchanged as well. Looks like we can do this after all."

"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Sheep curled up on the floor to cry.