Damon felt his body twist and topple in a whirlwind of movements. His sense of direction was gone, replaced by chaos and a foul, rotten smell that made his stomach lurch.
He felt a slimy substance cover his entire body as he kept tumbling down the monster's intestines until he finally fell into a vast space and hit a pool of acid liquid at the bottom of the creature's stomach.
The moment he pushed himself off the acidic bottom, he began gagging instinctively, spitting small drops of liquid that found their way into his mouth.
'Fucking disgusting...' he cursed inwardly, his head whipping around in confusion as there was no source of light, no sense of how large the monster's stomach truly was.
Damon lingered for a moment, his heart hammering against his ribs. One moment, he was enjoying a moment of peace after stopping the train, the next, he was swallowed by some gigantic monster.
'My phone!' he suddenly realised, pulling out his old mobile device and turning on the flashlight feature.
The sight before him made him almost gag once more. Calling the inside of the creature's stomach disgusting would be an understatement. It was vile beyond reason. Around him were scattered remains of half-digested human parts, animals, bricks and even metal parts of the train the monster had swallowed.
"I need to get out of here..." he mumbled under his breath, his eyes half widened at the horrific sight.
He looked down at his leather shoes, which were now sizzling from the stomach acid. It barely reached his ankles, but the moment it rose any higher, he knew it would be his skin that's gonna be sizzling.
'Let's try this...' he thought, picking up a metal rod he found in the creature's stomach. He shoved it hard into the flesh wall around him, but the piece of metal barely made an impact, the flesh of the monsters was as strong as steel, if not stronger.
Damon began to swing the metal rod violently in frustration, hitting the beast as hard as he could, but it was to no avail, no impact upon its rotten flesh.
'Dammit!' he cursed, throwing the useless rod away into the pool of acid.
Suddenly, the monster shook, forcing Damon to hold himself upright by leaning over the slimy inside of its stomach.
'Its moving?' he lingered for a moment, then realised that the girl wasn't swallowed by the monster. 'Could it be that it's chasing her?'
After a moment of pause, he shook the thought away.
'I don't have time thinking about others right now, I need to find a way to get out of here before I become this thing's dinner'
Damon looked around, searching through the half-digested rubble and the metal parts the monster had just swallowed to find something he could use to escape.
He began kicking around a loose piece of metal in frustration as he found nothing but bent metal.
'Well, its not like i was gonna find a weapon strong enough to cut through this monster' he argued to himself, trying to calm his frustration.
He paused for a moment, his mind racing for a way out, but before he could draw any conclusion, a horrific sound cut through the silence of the creature's stomach.
The walls of flesh around him lurched, expanding and shrinking in a steady rhythm, then with a final expansion, Damon saw four gaping glands along the stomach's tissue, each one large enough for him to walk into.
For a moment, all he heard was a faint sound of water or some other liquid trickling, but then, as if a dam had been broken, a burst of acidic liquid shot from those four glands and began filling the stomach with each second.
'Fuck!' Damon cursed as he tried to stand on a small pile of rubble, safe from the raging acid.
He continued to curse as his mind raced for a way out. Filled with desperation, he was left with only a single trump card, the beast summoning card.
'What a waste!' he thought, commanding the system to open his inventory. He lingered for only a moment, remembering his luck stat before sending a final command.
'Use.'
In an instant, a bright golden light filled the inside of the monster's stomach. The light was overwhelmingly bright, so much so that he had to squint to continue to look. The golden particles of light danced before him until they began to coalesce into a human-like shape.
Long silver hair cascaded around her slender shoulders, a stark contrast to her pale skin, which seemed to glow faintly despite the lack of light. She wore a flowing black and white dress, decorated with intricate golden ornaments that caught the reflections of the little light that remained. Behind her, Damon saw a long tail covered in white fur, swaying gently from side to side.
Damon's breath caught.
His gaze travelled up toward her hair, where two pointed ears protruded from her head, inhuman and definitely animal-like.
'F-Fox ears?'
At that moment, a loud notification echoed in his head.
[Beast Summoning Complete. You have summoned [Nine-Tiled Kitsune], a Divine, SSS Grade level beast.]
'What?! SSS?!' Damons eyes widened at the words, but at that moment, the figure before him spoke.
"Oh my..." her voice was soft, almost playful, "What a cruel place to be summoned to"
At that moment, her red, feline eyes met his.
Damon felt as if the world had paused for a moment under her gaze, before he realised the acid was now reaching the top of the pile of rubble.
"G-Get us out of here!" he demanded, his voice cracking with urgency.
The Kitsune tilted her head, and a faint smile played at her lips. "Shouldn't you ask nicely for me to save you?"
"What?! I summoned you!"
She didn't respond, and instead, her gaze dropped to her palm, studying something he couldn't see. Her smile faded, replaced by a faint frown.
At the same moment, Damon realised something else.
She only had one tail, not nine, as her name mentioned.
Damon opened his mouth to speak, the weight of time crawling on his back, but the kitsune spoke before he could.
"Since I only have five more seconds in this form... I'll save you this once."
'What? Five seconds?' Damon's mind raced with confusion, but he had no time to ask as the Kitsune had already begun moving.
She raised her left hand, palm facing upward. Then, using her right hand, she began weaving threads of crimson energy between her fingers, spinning, condensing, until an orb of swirling red light materialised above her palm.
The heat it emitted made the air shimmer.
"Consider this a favour," she said with a playful smile.
Then she released it just as the five-second mark was about to hit.
It created a massive beam of red light, so strong it tore easily through the creature's flesh. The monster swayed for a moment before its body collapsed to the ground with a thud so heavy it sent Damon flying all around its stomach.
His vision went dark as his phone disappeared into the monster's insides, but at that moment, a sudden notification flashed across his vision.
[You have slain a Level 25 Graveworm]
[New Monster Index bonus: +5 Strength, +10 Vitality]
[You have reached Level 6. You received 1 Stat Point]
[You have reached Level 7. You received 1 Stat Point]