"This tastes awful... ugh!"
I spat out a huge wad of black saliva. My mouth was completely numb—my tongue and teeth felt alien, as if they no longer belonged to me.
Wet, squelching sounds echoed. My whole body was covered in those little tumors with mouths, still gnawing at my flesh.
I'd chewed a gaping hole in the stomach wall, now sitting by the edge of the digestive pool, letting those tiny mouths feast on my flesh—whatever they devoured grew back almost instantly.
Both my hands pressed against the stomach wall. Tiny mouths had opened in my palms, tearing into black flesh, chewing and swallowing it fast—turning it into energy to restore what the tumors had eaten away.
"Eat faster, Ethan Zhang. Don't stop."
Tong Ghost started nagging again. I just grunted.
"Yeah, I know."
As I spoke, I opened my mouth wide, rows of black, razor-sharp teeth showing. I tore off another chunk of Chaos Fiend's flesh, chewing noisily.
No matter how many times I ate the Chaos Fiend's stomach wall, it was always almost impossible to swallow.
"Ugh, ugh..."
Getting out of here is nearly impossible. In this stomach, any power I try to use is devoured instantly. Only by relying on Tong Ghost's trait—devouring the wall's flesh and turning it straight into strength—can I make up for what I'm losing.
My body was changing—turning black, hard, and lumpy. I spat again, unable to bear it. I stopped, stood up, and the tumors gnawing at me tore off with a wet pop.
I'd already carved out a meter-wide gap in the stomach wall, but my feet were still soaking in digestive fluid.
The stench—a mix of blood and acid—I'd mostly gotten used to. But escaping was still a huge problem.
"Keep eating, Ethan Zhang."
Tong Ghost urged me again. My hands moved on their own, mouths in my palms opening wide and biting down.
"Let me rest for a moment."
I said, but suddenly sensed something was off. The hole I'd chewed into the stomach wall was starting to heal—slowly, but the meter-wide gap was narrowing.
"Damn."