Chapter 29

I raised both my hands up and said. "I'm innocent, don't shoot me!" Then I heard someone giggling at the side.

"Hehehehe."

I looked to my side and saw Rona laughing at me. "Rona!" I cheered.

"Lil!" Rona danced and made some weird moves.

Isaac sighed and put the gun away. "Is that your reaction when you see a gun?"

I looked at Isaac and said. "What's the big deal? Why point a gun at me? What did I do wrong?"

"How did you end up at a cliff?" Isaac crossed his arm and glared at me.

"I followed my instinct," I said arrogantly.

Isaac immediately replied. "Don't ever do that again, you bozo."

"They say to follow a woman's instinct."

"Not yours. Most definitely."

Rona grabbed something from her inventory and gave it to me. "Food!"

I looked at the 'food' she gave and said. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not hungry." I was creeped out by the gravy (?) on the food. 'Normally, I'm not picky, but no way in hell am I consuming that. It kinda closes my stomach, and that smell...Oui...' I backed away from Rona. I looked at Rona's clothes and said. "Nice shade of red."

Rona smiled and said. "Thanks, Lil!"

"Look at the food properly." Isaac pointed.

"Hmm?" I looked at the food Rona offered. "It's long and pinky. Reminds me of a worm... And it smells like blood for some unknown reason..." I glanced at Rona's clothes and glanced back at the food. I realized something was wrong. "... Oh..." I quickly moved away and hid behind Isaac.

I peeked out and asked Rona. "You shouldn't eat it raw, Rona."

"You shouldn't eat it raw? That's what you wanted to say?" Isaac asked.

Rona looked at me and shook her head. Then she shoved her hands into the 'food' and ate them joyfully.

"No wonder I smelled blood." I turned around and puked. Isaac patted my back and said. "Your reaction is more normal than what you say."

After I was done puking, Isaac asked. "You done?"

I nodded. I looked at Rona and said. "We should be lucky Rona isn't our enemy." Isaac nodded in agreement.

I looked at Isaac and noticed Isaac was sweating. 'Huh?' I scanned Isaac and saw Isaac's arm was wrapped with a cloth. "You're injured? Why didn't you take the Health Potion?"

"Hmm? Oh, right. Did you see any water nearby?" Isaac asked, and I said. "Nope. Come to think of it, I travelled almost everywhere and I didn't see any river. All I saw were animals and trees."

Isaac grunted.

"Let me see your wound."

Isaac reluctantly removed the cloth, and I saw an awful burnt mark on his arm. "Oui. That looks painful. A burn? What happened?"

"I was attacked by one of the worms. It snuck up behind me and almost took a bite out of me. Its saliva dripped on my arm. Who knew its saliva had acid. It melted my clothes and burnt my arm."

"Oh..." I looked at the nasty burn and looked through my inventory. "Tadaa!" I pulled out an aloe vera leaf from the inventory. "You're in luck, my friend, as you met me, the most benevolent person in the world!"

Isaac grabbed the aloe vera and inspected it. "Where did you get this?" Isaac took off the outer rind of the aloe vera and applied the gel on his burnt wound.

"Somewhere in the forest. I travelled almost everywhere in the forest. There's no place I haven't explored." I said sarcastically.

"... Right. But thanks to that, my wound would heal up faster. How did you know aloe vera can heal burns?"

"Oh, my Ma taught me. Whenever she makes her aloe vera mojito, she'll lecture me about the benefit of aloe vera."

Isaac stared at me with a confused look.

"What?"

"Huh? Oh... Ermm... Nevermind. Anyways, let's stop the chit-chat. I came up with an idea while waiting for you guys."

"A plan to defeat that giant worm? Seriously? In 2 hours?"

"Listen carefully. There are 3 of us here. One of us will split up and find our mascot, Looney, while the other 2 will stall the giant worm."

"Looney? What are you going to do to that poor old mascot?" I dread to think what would happen to us if we did something to Looney.

"Rona gets to eat Looney?" Rona became excited.

I stared at Rona. "Didn't you have enough worms in your tummy?"

"Rona knows that nothing is enough."

"Oui..."

"Shush! Let me continue."

Rona and I kept quiet.

Isaac continued. "We will make a deal with LM. Looney, his father's life for his surrender."

"Just to confirm, LM is Looney and Monica Jr. right?"

Isaac nodded.

"Oh! So that's how we defeat LM. What a brilliant idea. So, who's the pitiful bait?"

Isaac pointed at me and Rona.

"What? Why? Are you trying to kill us?" I grabbed Isaac's collar and shook him.

Rona stepped back in fear.

"W-W-Wa-Waiiit...I-I" Isaac was getting dizzy.

After some time, I stopped shaking Isaac.

"Ugh..." Isaac felt like barfing. His face was a bit green.

He rested on the ground and said. "Look, you probably wouldn't know where to find Looney, right?"

"You too."

"Right, but I got a rough idea where he is."

"Really? Where?"

"Remember, Mr. James said he would be waiting for us at the entrance of the dungeon."

"Oh. He did."

"I bet I can grab Looney from Mr. James."

"Are you sure?"

"If you can burn Monica, why can't I kidnap a tiny worm? Anyways, when I get Looney, I'll rush toward you guys immediately."

"Will this plan work?"

"If it doesn't, I'll figure another one out. So let's stick to this plan for now."

"Why can't I get Looney instead?"

"Do you remember where's the entrance?"

"No. But you can send me the coordinates."

"You can't read a simple map."

"But I still reached here."

"Besides, LM will probably try to destroy whoever injured its father."

"Oui... You get Looney better. Rona and I will try our best to distract LM, right Rona?"

…

There was no reply from Rona.

"Rona?" I turned toward Rona.

Rona was sleeping like a baby. "Zzzz..."

I smiled and said. "I'll tell Rona the plan later."

"Ya, you do that." Isaac shook his head.

I woke Rona up, and we equipped our weapons.

Isaac removed the cloth on his arm. "We got less than 2 hours left. Let's make every second count, guys."

"No need to tell me twice."

"Rona understood."

Isaac looked at Rona and said. "Good luck, Rona."

Rona excitedly swung her hammer around.

I stared at Isaac. "What about me?"

Isaac looked at me and then looked away. "What about you?"

"Ack! So cruel!" I teared up.

We walked out of the cave, hoping it won't be our last time.

[Llyne and Rona's side]

Step.

Step.

Step.

"It's just the two of us, Rona. Excited?"

"Rona is super excited. Rona can't wait to meet LM."

"Oh...Me too..."

We walked for 20 minutes, but we couldn't find LM.

"Shouldn't we feel some vibrations in the ground by now?" I touched the ground but felt nothing. "Gosh. It's so peaceful. It feels as if LM was never here."

Rona jumped up and down near a huge hole, LM left behind.

"Oh, never mind what I just said." I walked near the huge hole Rona found. "It's still fresh. I wonder why it's going incognito mode."

Ping.

[You got a new message]

Isaac: You all found LM yet?

Llyne: Nope. But we found a huge hole that might bring us to where LM is.

Rona: Rona found the hole.

Isaac: Good job, Rona.

Llyne: How about your side?

Isaac: On my way there.

Rona: Rona is bored.

Isaac: How can you be bored when our lives are at stake?

Llyne: You guys know what? LM has good hygiene.

Isaac: Did your brain rot while getting chased by worms?

Llyne ignored Isaac's insult and continued.

Llyne: LM brushed his teeth often. Look at those white shiny teeth. At least you know when LM tries to eat you. Its breath doesn't stink.

Rona gave a thumbs-up sticker.

Isaac: Is there no sane person here?

Llyne: By the way, why did you suddenly ping us for?

Isaac: Just to tell you guys that worms react to movements on the ground. So if you guys are trying to hide, make sure to stay as still as possible.

Llyne: What? Heart beating is a movement, right? Are you asking me to stop my heart?!

Isaac: …Sure. At least that would help remove my headache problem.

Rona: Isaac is a meanie!

Llyne: Anyways, we'll be busy for a while. Will catch up to you later.

Isaac: Sure.

Rona: Adios!

We closed our chat group and looked down into the deep dark hole.

"Oui..." I looked into the hole but saw nothing. I couldn't feel any breeze coming from or to the hole.

Rona stared at me. "We go, ya?"

I gulped and answered. "Yup, we do."

"Alrighty!" Rona jumped into the hole without hesitation.

"...Eehhh?" I looked down into the hole. "Eehh?!!! Rona! Wait for me." I jumped after Rona.