Chapter 26

Meanwhile, Rona was sitting on top of a tree, enjoying the beautiful landscape. "LalalaNanana~" Rona was humming happily, eagerly waiting for her new friend.

Thud!

"Hmm?" Rona turned and saw a bunch of trees falling.

"Oh?!" Rona jumped up and looked from afar. "I can't see anything. Hmph!" She pouted and narrowed her eyes. Aside from the falling trees, Rona saw something big rushing here at an extremely high speed. "Wow! So fast!" Rona couldn't see what it was. All she could see was a bunch of dust coming our way.

"Lil! Isaac! I think our new friend is here!" Rona waved at the mysterious friend.

"Friend?" I suddenly felt an indescribable chill down my spine.

"Friend?! Don't tell me our 'friend' is causing all these tremors!" Isaac shouted in frustration.

"I'm an introvert! I don't need a friend!" I shouted as loud as I could. "All I need is a 'ME' time!"

"Rona stopped waving at it. It might see us." Isaac shouted at Rona.

Rona didn't listen to Isaac and continued to wave at it.

Bang!

The tree behind us fell beside us, and the tremor stopped.

"Oui?" My weak hands and legs finally gave up. I dropped down from the tree and fell on my butt. Although the fall would normally make me scream bloody murder, however, this time, I felt nothing as my whole body went numb to what danger could be lurking behind me. I took a big gulp.

Isaac and I turned and stared at the fallen tree. Our minds were screaming not to look behind. We looked at each other, and we knew we were screwed.

Rona shouted from above. "Hello, friend! May I know your name? My name is Rona. The other 2 friends of mine are Llyne and Isaac. We have been waiting for you."

"..." Our 'friend' stayed still and didn't move an inch.

I signalled to Isaac to look up and tell me what our 'friend' looked like, but he ignored me. 'Why, that shorty...Fine. I'll do it.' I breathed in and out and repeated. "I can do it. If Rona can, I can, too." After some time, I finally worked up my courage and looked behind.

"Huh? What is that?" I stared at our weird-looking pink 'friend' that looks like a worm body. "...Wait...Don't tell me..." I slowly lifted my head and saw our 'friend'.

'...…' My mind instantly went blank. Our 'friend' is none other than a cold giant pink worm that is probably 50 stories tall and 150 meters wide with big ominous white teeth, ready to eat his tiny, warm, and loving friends. I regained consciousness and shook my head. "My Ma always asks me to make friends no matter who they are, but I don't think she'll approve of this one. HA. HA. HA." I looked at our 'friend' who was drooling at us like we were some ready-made food. "I never knew my end was sooooo near." My eyes were following the big disgusting acidic drool, dripping off the giant worm's mouth and falling on the ground.

Bloop.

Sizzle.

The place where the drool landed became a large hole. I cautiously moved towards the hole and looked inside. "Oui... I can't see the bottom." I looked up and stared at the mouth. I felt a strange sense from it. I poked Isaac. "Our 'friend's' mouth feels kinda familiar. Why is that so?"

Isaac, who was still gripping onto the tree for dear life, doesn't dare to look at our 'friend'. "Does it? It probably looks just like a monster's mouth."

I suddenly remember the dungeon's entrance. I grabbed Isaac's arm. "Isaac, you might not believe me, but I think that mouth was the dungeon's entrance we went through."

Isaac looked at me in disbelief, then turned and stared at the worm's mouth. His face went pale. "We went into him and almost became his food."

"Luckily, he doesn't have a super fast digestion." I laughed out loud.

Isaac stared at me unamused. I looked away and said. "It was just a joke."

Isaac glanced back at our 'friend'. "You know, I lived in the jungle since I was small, and I have seen many big worms the size of a human finger. I repeat, a human finger but never a worm as enormous as that! I mean, look at its teeth. One of the teeth is the size of a building."

"But look at Rona." I looked up at Rona and saw her happily chatting with the overgrown 'friend'. "Oh... How am I going to tell Rona that our 'friend' here doesn't have any slight pure intention towards us? It's going to crush her."

Isaac appeared beside me. "Don't worry. I'll do it."

I whacked Isaac's head. "You'll make it even worse, you foul-mouth oaf."

Guuoooo...

"Huh?" We looked back at our 'friend'.

GUUUWOOOHHHH!

"WOW!" Isaac and I dropped to the ground and covered our ears.

The giant worm was squirming vigorously.

Isaac stood back up. "What the hell happened?" Whereas I was still sitting on the ground, couldn't move with all the ringing in my ear.

Isaac stared at the giant worm. "Wait. Is it weeping? Worm weeps?"

Step. Step. Step.

Rona walked towards us and said. "Looney and Monica Jr. seems awfully angry. I wonder why?"

Isaac grabbed Rona and asked. "Looney and Monica Jr.? What kind of name is that? No. Wait. What did you tell it, you imbecile?"

"Rona told him what happened in the 1st game till now," Rona puffed up her chest and said proudly.

"Even how we accidentally burnt down Mona?" Isaac trembled as he asked.

"Yup. Rona told. EVERYTHING. But was it an accident? I told our friend it was intentional since his mom wanted to eat us up. I also told him that I wanted to eat his dad ever since I met him, even though his little tiny body won't be able to appease my hunger at that time."

Isaac raised his fist and chased after Rona. "Why you little!"

"Uh- Oh!" Rona turned and ran away as fast as she could to avoid Isaac's fury. "I'm innocent!"

Once the ringing in my ear stopped, I got up and looked above the giant worm. "Eh?" I rubbed my eyes and looked at the top of the worm's head again. It was there, the HP bar, which I normally see on top of the monsters' head, is now casually floating on top of our 'friend' head. "Huh? It can't be. W-Why is there a HP bar all of a sudden? It wasn't there before!" I quickly turned towards Isaac, who was busy strangling Rona. I rushed towards them and hit Isaac's head. "What's gotten into you?"

"Me? Me? It should be her. Now we really are Looney and Monica Jr.'s food. She told that thing we intentionally burnt his mother and tried to eat his father."

"WHAT?!! Looney and Mona Jr.? They were a couple, and they had a child?" I shook Rona. "Why did you tell that monstrous worm everything!!! Now it's going to eat us alive to avenge his mother!!"

Isaac placed his hand on my shoulder. "Wait. There might be a solution to this."

My eyes brightened up, and I stopped shaking Rona. Rona immediately dropped to the ground on all four and puked.

"What solution, smarty-pants? Spill it!"

"I don't know. I'm just trying to be optimistic."

I clenched my fist, trying to resist hitting Isaac in the face, and screamed. "Well, your optimism is useless at this point because that worm is going to EAT US!"

Suddenly, everything stopped moving, including the crying worm. It felt as if time stopped.

"Eh... What now?" I had an unsettling feeling.

[Now that you have met your friend, I would recommend bonding with him.]

We jumped in shock.

"Oh! My heart nearly stopped. Don't spook us like that, Mr. James." I turned and faced the blue screen.

This time, we saw Mr. James on the blue screen.

"Too afraid to meet Looney and Mona Jr., Mr. James." I crossed my arms and glared at Mr. James.

"Mr. James, you tricked us. You said we'll be friends." Rona sulked.

[I didn't trick anyone. You guys did become friends. It's just that someone spoilt their friendship by running their mouth a bit too much.]

"Honesty is the best policy," Rona said proudly.

Isaac refuted. "Honesty also kills a person." Isaac closed onto Rona and said. "Mercilessly."

Rona backed away. "I can't lie. Lying is bad. Rona is good."

"You cannot tell things like we burnt his mother or you tried to eat his father." Isaac glared.

Rona hid behind me and quivered in fear. "Ok. Ok. I'll try."

"What's the use of trying when we are going to be dead?" Isaac mumbled.

I sighed and turned towards Mr. James. "More than that, what do you mean by bond? How do we bond with someone who bears grudges against us?"

[Easy. Let him eat you. So good luck and carry-on, little bunnies.]

"EAT US?!!" I screamed.