Global Awakening: Only I Can Respawn

The wind rushed past her, and she kept herself as still as possible, not touching any part of the mole on her way down.

Lucifer was watching from above, let out a loud, dramatic sigh as Anna disappeared into the mole.

"I swear, I'm demanding a vacation as soon as they pull me up," he muttered. "Preferably far away from mortals and their insane ideas. Who the fuck would even come up with shit like this?"

But no one was listening to him. All eyes were on the mole, waiting to see what would happen next.

"Godspeed, mortal," Asmodeus mumbled, before turning away.

Frustrated by the prey, the mole got tired and closed its mouth before jumping to the ground.

Gina, Yeji, and Lysandra were there, watching as the mole disappeared along with Anna. For a moment, they wondered if they had misjudged Anna.

After all, someone like her wouldn't risk her life for anyone else. Still, Anna volunteered to bring YuWon back.

"We should have gone in with her," Gina commented.

"No..." Yeji shook her head. "You heard the angels. The fewer people go in, the higher the chance of success. For now... we can only trust her and hope everything goes well."

***

Meanwhile...

As Anna dropped further into the mole, the air around her changed. It became humid and carried a stench so strong it made her gag. But all of that was to be expected. After all, a disaster doesn't need to maintain hygiene.

However, her fall hit a stop abruptly. She hit something soft and sticky on her way down. She got stuck in the beast's esophagus.

"Damn it," she cursed, getting off the slimy surface.

The mix of mucus and who-knew-what-else remained clinging to her, making her smell like she had lived half her life inside the creature. Ignoring her state, Anna looked around but couldn't see much.

It was dark, too dark for her to see anything. Anna blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the dim environment inside the creature's body.

So much for getting in and out of there with ease.

Anna's target was the mole's stomach, where YuWon was likely being held if he was still alive. But the mole's sudden dive into the underground interrupted her fall. Now, she was stuck here, inside the esophagus.

"Of course, it couldn't be simple," she muttered. "I had to hit something on the way down."

She kept breathing through her mouth while her eyes adjusted to the surroundings. As her vision slowly adjusted, she noticed the esophagus walls pulsing faintly.

It was a weird feeling being inside a living creature. But things were about to get much worse. The rhythmic movement of the surrounding walls reminded her she had limited time before the digestive process would turn her into minced meat for easy digestion.

Come on... let's head deeper.

But that was easier said than done. Normally, the esophagus would have led her straight to the stomach. However, as she walked deeper, she found countless pathways ahead.

Thankfully, the person who eventually killed the mole in her timeline told her the method to look for the right path.

Take the path with most monsters lingering around.

Technically, they weren't monsters but bacteria and parasites that lived and bred within the mole. Since they needed food as much as the mole, they often gathered around the digestive tract to get fresh nutrients.

Speak of the devil.

Just as she was thinking about the bacteria and parasites, she heard some cluttering sounds. Anna turned around, only to see creatures as big as her crawling down the walls of the esophagus.

Their long pointy legs stuck to the walls as they rushed towards her. They were the natural cleaners of the mole's digestive tract. And right now, they saw her as a foreign object that needed to be disposed of.

"Fantastic," Anna grunted, unsheathing her sword. "You better kiss my feet after I go through all this shit, YuWon."

The germaphobe in her was kicking hard on her instincts. But for YuWon's sake, it didn't matter who she had to go against or how uncomfortable she was. She would save him and get something decent while she was at it.

The first of the creatures lunged at her, snapping its mandibles as it aimed for her legs. Anna sidestepped before swinging her sword, slicing the creature in half. The parasite let out a high-pitched screech before collapsing onto the fleshy floor beneath.

"...yuck!" Anna gagged, looking at the goo absorb dead parasite.

But there was no time to rest. More of the creatures swarmed toward her. None of them looked the same, and yet they wanted the same thing, Anna.

One creature, bigger than the rest, jumped from the wall with its claws, reaching out to grab her. Only for her to slice its head off. The beast dropped to the ground in two pieces, oozing a thick greenish liquid.

The next creature lunged for her back, but Anna spun quickly, jamming her sword straight through its head. It twitched and collapsed, joining the growing pile of dead parasites at her feet.

For a moment, everything was still again. Anna stood amidst the bodies of the dead bacteria, panting crazily. Fighting the parasites wasn't as difficult as moving around with the mucus and goo slowly her down.

Anna looked ahead. The challenges would get tougher from there and if she got tired then... it would be the end of everything she worked so hard for.

No wonder he said to go straight for the stomach. Damn it.

Anna sighed and pressed forward, looking for any lurking dangers left behind. No more creatures came at her, but the faint vibrations reminded her that her time was running out.

The walls kept pulsing around her, and the sounds of the mole's heartbeat kept getting louder as she went deeper. With each step, she got closer to the stomach and YuWon.

"Just hold on a bit longer..."