Into the Dark, part 4 (after battle)

Haah... Yeah, let's bounce before more of those Mermaids show up.

Bounce where...? We're trapped inside a Whale.

Are we... are we gonna end up looking like them, too? You know, we've been... 'devoured'.

The Golden Bough inside Dante's head is likely counteracting the Pallidification effects on the Sinners' bodies.

But there is no guarantee that this defensive effect would last forever.

We must take into account that we are in an unknown environment.

In other words, spending too long here could turn us into Mermaids, just like them...

I wasn't sure if I could bring back a Sinner that's turned into a Mermaid.

<But... Where do we even go?>

<I don't have even the slightest idea as to where we might be...>

Weird... I didn't know it could rain inside a Whale's belly.

I was still unsure where to go, so much so that I was starting to feel completely lost... when Hong Lu suddenly blurted something about rain.

<... What are you talking about?>

Oh, it's just that I felt a few droplets of water on my shoulder.

... Wait.

So this is the first place we landed on after the Whale swallowed us whole, innit?

<Right...>

Sorry, I just sometimes need someone to confirm my common senses.

When you eat something... where does it usually land first?

My stomach, of course. My poor, starving stomach...

... I see your point, Heathcliff.

The stomach constantly secretes acid in order to digest the food effectively.

Yeah, I think I learned about it in school. It's usually some kind of powerful acid...

That... dissolves everything it touches...

Ohh~

So that's why my clothes melted where the water touched. Feels a bit prickly, too.

I stared at Hong Lu's shoulder. Something had burrowed a hole there, and the surrounding skin was sizzling and melting away.

Are we fated to become porridge... so soon after our arrival...?

There is one positive discovery, however. This creature appears to share similar biological mechanisms and shapes as an ordinary organic lifeform.

<Everyone... We gotta run...!>

<I don't care how many pieces of you there are left, just make sure that there's something left for me to bring back...>