Into the Dark, part 2 (after battle)

The immediate sensation upon waking up was that it was moist and cold, yet oddly warm in some places.

<Where... are we?>

Mm... There's this long river-like thing. If we follow it, maybe...

... there'll be something at the end of it?

Hong Lu... How can you always be so calm about everything?

Is he...? I think that's just how that fella is with pretty much everything.

No... That's not what I'm...

I mean, where do you guys think this is...?

We just...

I am well aware.

We rowed into the maws of the beast. Of our own volition.

Not long ago...

I'm proposing that we... enter the stomach of the Whale that devoured the Golden Bough.

... You're mad. All that thrashing's finally sent you off the deep end.

I'm just going there for my mission. And the Golden Bough just happens to be in the way.

I'll leave it up to you. Well, to the manager, since their decision matters the most.

This Company, me... We're both just trying to find a way to reach our goals. That's all this is.

…….

Besides, does anyone have a better idea?

If that thing swallowed the Golden Bough... and if that Golden Bough really counteracts that damned Pallid Whale's Pallidification effects, then...

... We just might be able to survive without getting affected by it.

That's a gamble, Ishy. There's just...

Yeah. You should know. It's one of your favorite things.

What do you think, manager?

Ishmael looked at me with expectant eyes as though she knew I had no choice but to agree to this plan.

Her eyes were telling me: 'You came this far for the Golden Bough. You're not going to go back empty-handed now, are you?'

…….

Six hours.

If I don't hear anything from you in six hours, LCA will be taking over the rest of this mission.

Okay, LCA takes over the mission, then... what?

Well. If they hear the very unfortunate news that all of you decided to row into the Whale's belly and got yourselves trapped...

They'll be having a long internal discussion about how they could blow that Pallid Whale apart.

Then a very lengthy battle will ensue.

<Okay, so let me get this straight... If we fail to find the Golden Bough stuck somewhere inside the Whale's stomach in six hours, you won't hesitate blowing us to smithereens along with the Whale? Did I get that right?>

I will not relay that comment.

…….

<Faust, what do you think of our odds?>

Our odds are non-zero. But it may as well be nil.

At least with the currently known variables.

So we *have* a chance.

<... Do you have any other ideas that might get us the Golden Bough?>

No, not at this moment.

What I can tell you, however, is that we have a history of dramatically completing missions with a veritably low chance of success.

<Okay, then. Let's get this done.>

... Indeed. The lack of plan becomes the plan itself.

This solidifies the veracity of my new theory even further.

Luckily, we didn't lose any Sinners on the way down. All 12 of them made it down here, just as we planned.

But...

<Guys, where's - where's the boat?>

The boat was nowhere to be seen.