Elian wouldn’t mistake this call for any other beast. How did a Grumpbeing get this near to them without warning? Only now did they feel its aura.

A sense of dread gripped his heart, the hair on his neck standing on end. Fear from nowhere. Fear without reason. Bizarre. It was as if he was looking at someone else experiencing the fear, not understanding how it came to be. And yet, it froze his body, his muscles not listening to his instructions.

The ground shook from the heavy footfalls. The Grumpbeing was coming to eat the prey it had snared—unfortunately, that included Elian and Thorren. Elian concentrated his will to face Thorren and tell him, “Run… Ru-run…”

A stupid thing to say because both of them couldn’t move.

The shadow of a hill appeared behind the jarlion. A short tree bowed down before snapping as a slow-moving behemoth plowed onward on four legs, ending in a wide base with way too many toes. The leather-like skin of the Grumpbeing caught the last rays of the sun, highlighting many wrinkles. As it breathed heavily, louder than an industrial air conditioner, a subtle blue glowed from inside the cracks on its skin.

The Grumpbeing opened its mouth wide. Wider.

The ends of its mouth continued to split open past what one might think was its head, extending across its flanks, revealing that it was practically a giant head on legs. Its teeth were as large as a great shield. Shaped like one too; big rectangular blocks ready to grind prey into paste because the Grumpbeing didn’t have the internal organs for proper digestion.

Elian steadied his breathing and focused to regain control of his body. They had time. The Grumpbeing had something else on its plate. Literally.

The jarlion, recognizing it was dinner, struggled to move. Letting out strenuous growls, it managed to step once with its right foreleg. Its body spasmed as it tried to step again. The crystals on its back fizzled. It kept trying and failing to gather Aether. Its mind must be in turmoil so near the Grumpbeing, but its survival instincts fought back.

Too late. In a blur, the jarlion was gone where it stood.

The Grumpbeing had closed its mouth; the jarlion’s hind leg stuck out from between the massive teeth. The Grumpbeing might be slow in walking, but its bite was faster than an arrow loosed from a bow.

The jarlion didn’t have any chance to cry out as its head was certainly the first to be crushed. Sounds of breaking bones and crystals, squelching ground flesh, and the Grumpbeings satisfied grunts filled the silence of the night.

Listening to the jarlion getting chewed, Elian thought, Is it too much to hope that it’ll choke on—an idea suddenly came! Ninety-nine percent certain it’d work.

But first, Thorren should be out of the way.

Elian checked his body, tensing the muscles here and there. The effects of the Grumpbeing’s roar started to wear off. Only the pressure of its pesky aura, similar to the hobby of Priestess Hazelheart, but this was the work of a magical organ instead of caused by overwhelming strength.

It’s… weak? The aura wasn’t as debilitating as Elian expected, and he was able to wriggle his left arm after a few seconds of intense concentration. The Grumpbeing may be injured or diseased—this was why its aura didn’t reach far like the usual for its kind. When he heard of a Grumpbeing in the forest, he didn’t think much about it because the fear aura would announce its presence from a distance. And it was easy to break out of the aura’s grasp with mental prowess. The shout was a problem, which the Grumpbeing wouldn’t do unless it was sure of a scared prey nearby.

Elian stretched his arm and touched Thorren. He feebly pushed the red-haired Rakhonite. “Fi-fight it…” he said through chattering teeth.

He pushed Thorren again, a bit stronger this time. Would’ve been better if he could punch Thorren to snap him out of it. Thorren looked at Elian as he raised a trembling arm.

“Stab… pain… move…” Elian said, intensely looking at Thorren’s eyes, hoping he’d get the message.

“Yargh!” With a mighty roar, Thorren pulled out his hunting knife and stabbed his leg. The shock of the pain freed him from the paralysis. “I-I’ll sa-save you,” he said to Elian, words slurring. He tried to pick up the nearly immobile Elian, but his strength still hadn’t returned. His knees wobbled, and they both fell to the ground.

“Just go…” Elian imagined himself a three-month-old baby with how hard it was to lift his head from the ground. Pushing up his body was like lifting three fully-grown faeboars. “I’ll… handle this.”

“No,” Thorren replied. “Fo-forgive me… Raaah!” He stabbed Elian’s leg, probably hoping the same move would work. And it probably would’ve worked if the hunting knife pierced the flesh. But the blade broke as it met Elian’s skin, a chip off its end flying away.

Dammit, Thorren. Elian wanted to rap the Rakhonite’s forehead for wasting time and breaking a family memento. “Just go…” Elian had better control of his mouth. “Don’t worry. Not die. I… won’t die.”

“I can’t leave a friend,” Thorren lifted Elian. He succeeded in doing so but didn’t get far before falling again. Thorren cursed in his native tongue.

Elian glanced at the Grumpbeing. It had noticed them trying to flee. It headed towards them as it continued to chew the jarlion. The low grumble it let out didn’t bode well.

“Save yo-yourself.” Elian gave Thorren a stronger shove. “Leave now. Can’t shout while… eating.” Thorren’s face was wracked with conflict. Elian voiced what the Rakhonite was thinking. “Your cousins need you.”

“What about you?” Thorren asked.

“I’ll survive. Trust me.”

Thorren nodded and hobbled away.

It’s just you and me, big guy, Elian thought, looking over his shoulder at the Grumpbeing. It stopped chewing, regarding them with its crown of beady eyes ringing its dome-shaped top. It spat out the tattered remains of the jarlion. Elian realized its plan. “Thorren, it’s going to—”

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A monstrous shout washed over them.

Elian blinked, pulling his consciousness back from the abyss. A wall in front of him? With a blue light branching out like a fork of lightning.

Not a wall. It was the Grumpbeing. Elian got knocked out for several seconds, enough time for the beast to close in on them. He wasn’t worried about getting eaten because of his massive Armor. This was all still according to his plan.

But the Grumpbeing had no care for his plan, going against it and ignoring him.

No! Elian willed the Grumpbeing to turn to him. Of course, that didn’t work because he had no mind powers. “Ea-eat…” he weakly said. His tongue wasn’t following him. His lips quivered as his jaws twisted. “Eat, eat me. Don’t go… to him.”

Instead, the Grumpbeing continued and went for the farther prey—Thorren splayed on the ground a dozen feet away. The Rakhonite hadn’t come to yet.

Elian clenched his teeth in fury. Thorren wasn’t going to die on his watch. Recall meditation aspects. As the war with the Giants escalated, humans came up with mental defenses for the overwhelming presence of their enemies. It was different from fighting the magically induced fear paralysis by the Grumpbeing, but it was worth a try. He cycled memorized chants, and visualized the sigils for mind fortification. It wasn’t effective, as he expected, but it worked somewhat.

“Hey, giant turd!” Elian shouted. His body spasmed from the effort.

The Grumpbeing stopped in its tracks. The eyes on its side facing Elian swiveled down to examine him. The Grumpbeing must’ve wanted to eat Thorren first to prevent another escape attempt before returning to Elian. And so, Elian tried with all his might to crawl away.

With the Grumpbeing right next to Elian, the oppressive aura was amplified. His head felt much heavier, and his neck refused to support it. “Eat me! I’ll escape if you won’t!” Convulsions threatened to collapse his chest. “Eat me! Eat—!

“Grouagh!” The Grumpbeing turned to him with a cavernous mouth.

Complete darkness. Borlen’s lantern ball activated. It broke and lost its light as something wide and slimy wrapped Elian’s body—the Grumpbeing’s tongue. He managed to free his left arm before the tongue tightened. The Grumpbeing positioned Elian’s head on one of its massive lower teeth. Some light came in from the cloudless night outside as the monster opened its mouth for a big bite, its upper molars above Elian like a guillotine. Fresh air diluted the stale stench inside the mouth.

The Grumpbeing chomped him. Elian braced his arm against the side of his face. A sharp shot of pain as his arm and head were squeezed hard.

Nothing more than that. Not even a broken bone. Elian imagined the beast surprised. He was also surprised at how well this worked. The upper jaw raised like a castle’s portcullis, ready to descend once again. Elian propped his elbow on the lower teeth, his fist pointing upward. The Grumpbeing bit down again. The teeth from above met his fist. His Jawbreaker Knuckle got shredded as his fist pierced the tooth. Chunks of the broken tooth tumbled along with Elian in the Grumpbeing’s mouth—its strong bite worked against it.

Jawbreaker Knuckles, I’ll avenge you, Elian promised in his mind. At least it broke a tooth before it was gone. It's not a jaw, but close enough.

The mouth vibrated as the Grumpbeing bellowed. Could be from pain. Could be anger.

The Grumpbeing chewed Elian, rubbing its jaws back and forth, trying to grind him. Still not doing much other than ripping apart his helmet as if it were paper.

“What are you going to do now?” Elian shouted, cackling like a deranged witch. The pain of getting chewed snapped him out of the effects of the shout. The fear aura wasn’t strong inside the beast because it projected it outward. “I’ll hang around—urk! Blasted smell!”

Injure the beast from the inside—that was Elian’s plan. Wouldn’t be counted an attack if the Grumpbeing swallowed something it couldn’t break down into smaller bits.

Elian shoved back the tongue as he crawled deeper into the Grumpbeing’s mouth. In the struggle, he lost his backpack. The Grumpbeing must’ve spit it out thinking it was him. Elian hung onto the bumps of the tongue and pulled himself into the darkness. He called upon his Abyssal Eye’s Curse to use its tattoos for light. Really wasn’t sure what he was looking at. Must be the start of the monster’s very short digestive tract. The Grumpbeing shouldn’t be able to handle something as large as him in its innards; it had to chew its prey very well before swallowing.

That was all logical and seemingly viable, but it wasn’t working as fast as Elian wanted. The Grumpbeing was still up and about, and it might eat Thorren soon.

However, Elian’s tattoos gave him another idea.

After a little bit of scrambling, he reversed positions. Now, he tried to climb back out the Grumpbeing’s throat, if it could even be considered one. Tattoos of unnatural black that shone in the darkness unfurled on his arms, the scales of the Magistrate’s Curse covering him.

Through the jumbled mess of slimy tongue and walls of teeth above, Elian saw hints of the stars swallowed by swirling clouds. Muscles pressed him from all sides. The Grumpbeing faced upward, mouth wide open, trying to vomit him out.

“Eat this Tribulation!”

The darkness retreated for a moment. Bright blue filled the night. The Tribulation broke some of the Grumpbeing’s massive teeth on the way to slamming Elian deeper into the bed of guts. The second strike came. Elian no longer understood what was going on. Which was up? Which was down? Everything was a mess. Warm blue blood sloshed out of destroyed organs, glowing bright blue at first, slowing dimming and losing their light as life left the beast.

A couple of level-ups. I won…

Elian didn’t celebrate because he was buried in gore. Six white balls representing the Tribulation rewards crowded around him. Couldn’t just leave them around. He hesitated for a moment before picking Attack Power—he’d just have to cheer for the plant symbiont growing in his arm. And, as always, he chose added Health. He’d need all the life force he could in this situation.

How do I get out of here? Digging seemed to be considered an attack. What did work was pushing stuff to the side. Shimmying forward was also possible to some extent. But those weren’t enough to escape.

I have to trust Thorren, Elian thought as he calmed down.

He relaxed his muscles and descended into half a trance, slowing his breathing to conserve energy. Might take some time for Thorren to dig him out, so he should stretch his oxygen for as long as possible.

It wasn’t a close call. A few minutes later, Elian felt a surge of air.

“Elian, are you there?” came the muffled voice of Thorren. The Rakhonite feverishly shoveled at the mushed insides of the monster. Soon, a hand covered with glowing green tattoos burst through a wall of flesh.

Elian grabbed the hand. Thorren pulled him out of the Grumpbeing’s stomach into its mouth. Looking around, Thorren had used the monster’s teeth knocked off by the Tribulation to prop up the collapsed roof of the mouth. There was a pile of flesh next to the hole Elian came out of; Thorren used his broken hunting knife and a shard of the monster's tooth in another hand to dig. And together, they crawled through the remaining teeth of the dead beast and out into the night.

“Well… we could’ve died here,” Thorren said, taking a deep breath as he gazed at the skies that had cleared up after the Tribulation.

“Just you,” Elian said. “I wouldn’t.”

Thorren looked at him. They both laughed. “That explains your supreme confidence in telling me to trust you. Calling a Tribulation while being swallowed by a Grumpbeing… I admit I wouldn’t have thought of that or have enough bravery in my body to try it.”

Elian shrugged. “Desperate times call for crazy desperate plans.”

“And so, your plans did come to fruition. Let us depart to clean ourselves. The stream should be running that way. Perhaps we can find—”

“Not yet,” Elian said. “You’re not going to leave all this money lying around, are you? We should harvest the jarlion and Grumpbeing.”