Why Not Form a Band for Life

It was a close call, with only Nijika taking a tumble. She just got dusty, though, and wasn't hurt.

The group looked towards where the enemy had attacked, but found no hole like they expected. There was only an intact stone wall. If not for the rubble on the ground, Shiko would have thought it was all a hallucination.

"This monster didn't drop anything," Ichiri said, searching through the ashes multiple times but finding no special drops.

"Speaking of which, don't you guys think this place is too weird? We've been walking for so long and haven't seen any forks in the road..." Shiko felt increasingly uneasy the more she thought about it.

An environment they'd never seen, a situation they'd never encountered. The group fell silent. Finally, Kita spoke first, her voice trembling noticeably, "Are... are we going to continue?"

"...Continue." Though her voice trembled uncontrollably, Nijika made the decision.

The path ahead became increasingly steep. To ease the tension, Nijika started making small talk. Her efforts helped the group relax a little. However, their speed slowed considerably, as they no longer dared to lean on the walls. They had to watch their footing, moving slowly in the center of the path.

"It's getting steeper, be careful," Nijika warned.

Ryo, standing at the front, suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"There's a vertical shaft ahead. Below the shaft is a large space. I can't tell how big it is, but once we go down, there's no coming back up."

The group was disappointed. They'd run so far, and before discovering anything, they couldn't go any further?

"Let's go take a look first," Shiko wasn't ready to give up and started exploring forward again.

The slope was already very steep, forcing them to lean on the stone wall again. Shiko walked ahead, continuously creating steps for the others to walk on. The space also became narrower, gradually only wide enough for one person to walk.

"Is this it?" The group stopped. Shiko saw that there was no longer a path ahead, only ground that suddenly turned into a steep vertical drop.

"See, I told you," Ryo's head peeked out from Shiko's left shoulder.

"Eek!" Ryo was too close, her breath blowing on Shiko's ear. She instinctively flinched to the side, bumping into Nijika's head as she leaned in. "Sorry... why did you lean over?"

"If we put our bags down, two people can stand here," Nijika replied, looking down into the seemingly bottomless vertical shaft.

This was torture for Shiko. Her head couldn't go left or right, and if she moved forward, she was afraid she'd fall.

Ichiri, standing behind, was flustered, "Um, um, you guys are too close..."

"What? Oh, we are standing too close to the edge of the shaft. Let's step back a bit, it's a little dangerous." Nijika waved her hand backward, signaling them to retreat.

Kita, standing at the very back, turned around first. The firelight illuminated the scene and she immediately noticed something was wrong: the steps above were gradually disappearing!

"Wu-san, did you make the stairs disappear?"

"What?" As the two people beside her stepped back, Shiko finally breathed a sigh of relief, but her heart sank again at the question. She looked back: without her realizing it, the stone steps she had created were rapidly melting away, retracting into the original ground! And this trend had already spread to her feet! On this slope, if they lost their footing, they would only roll into the well!

"Run!" she shouted, pushing the person in front of her to run upwards. Kita, in the lead, quickly threw off her backpack, intending to discard it. Seeing Ichiri and the others behind her, she obediently hugged her bag again.

Shiko tried to create stone steps again, but failed. Kita had already climbed to where the steps disappeared. It was slightly wider there, allowing Kita to put down her backpack and grip the stone wall with both hands, climbing upwards. However, her palms immediately burst into flames, scorching the stone wall.

"What's wrong?" Nijika asked anxiously.

"The stone wall is seeping a slippery liquid, I can't get a grip! I can't dry it out! There's some on the ground too!" Kita tried harder, but it seemed ineffective.

"I can't control this liquid either..." Ichiri also failed.

At this moment, the group heard a rumbling sound from deep within the earth. It wasn't caused by a monster, but by the cave itself shaking. They lost their footing and tumbled backward, pushing each other and rolling into the large well behind them.

"Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble--" The ball of people bounced off the cave walls, but surprisingly, they didn't feel pain, only dizziness.

"Waaah--!" A ball of people fell from the cave ceiling, separating into five individuals.

The only sound was the wind. Shiko forced her eyes open, the strong wind making her squint. They were flying through the air.

"Bang-- bang-- bang--" Shiko felt like she landed on an air mattress. Opening her eyes, she saw Ryo plucking her strings, creating a sound wall floating in the air as a cushion. The sound wall instantly dissipated, and the next one immediately replaced it. They were falling little by little. Nijika quickly replenished Ryo's starlight to provide support.

Shiko shook her head, trying to stand up, but immediately fell again in mid-air. In this situation, standing upright was impossible.

"Waaah! What's down there?" she heard Kita scream. Shiko quickly looked down, her pupils contracting sharply.

There was no need for light; Shiko could see the "ocean" far below—because it was glowing. It looked like lava, no matter how you looked at it. Bubbling, glowing lava! She had only seen lava like this in games before! And they were falling towards it step by step!

Shiko looked around and saw the stone wall not far away, with a few cracks. Lava was gushing out from them, flowing into the lava pool below. Logically, it should be unbearably hot here, but Shiko didn't feel any discomfort. Was this not actually lava? Shiko tried throwing an iron bar. The bar landed in the pool below and disappeared without a sound.

Regardless of whether it was lava or not, this was definitely not something a living person should touch!

Ichiri tried to summon a torrent to sweep the five of them onto the stone wall, but the water dispersed rapidly upon contact with the rock. Ryo's bass grew louder, but Shiko could clearly feel the power of the sound wall weakening! Nijika's light was also growing fainter.

This place was weakening their abilities! They had to find a way to escape quickly!

An idea flashed through Shiko's mind. She remembered the monster that had seemingly broken through the wall earlier. "Ryo-san! Next, I'll summon a copper pillar. We'll hold onto it, and you smash the pillar against the stone wall! If that thing could come in from the outside before, it means there might be space outside!"

"...That's not the same place! If I let go, everyone will fall!"

"We have to try!" Shiko shouted louder than the bass.

"...Fine!"

The next moment, a giant copper pillar appeared beside Shiko, with several steel cables extending from it. The five of them each grabbed a cable and tied themselves to it. Ryo couldn't free her hands, so Nijika helped her. The copper pillar began to shrink slowly as soon as it appeared, but judging by the speed, they still had time!

"Here it comes!" Ryo swung with all her might, exhausting all her strength, and struck the tail end of the copper pillar. The pillar, dragging the five of them, crashed into the stone wall!

The moment the copper pillar collided with the stone wall, Shiko lost consciousness due to the impact.

Chapter 11: Bio-Elevator

"...ko..."

"Shiko!" Darkness had just fallen before her eyes when light returned. Shiko blinked, finding herself in a completely different place.

Shiko stretched out beside her and realized she was lying on hard rock. She tried to push herself up, but her body wouldn't cooperate. The cold began to creep in. Before, she hadn't felt it thanks to Kita's protection, but now her body was starting to shiver. Hungry and thirsty, with aches all over, things were terrible.

Nijika quickly held her down, "Don't move yet, I'll heal you first." A glow washed over Shiko, and she felt herself rapidly returning to her original state. Soon, she was able to open her mouth and speak.

"Is everyone okay?" Shiko's first words were to ask about their current situation.

"The other three aren't awake yet, but they will be soon. You're the fastest to wake up. Look." Shiko tilted her head and saw Kita lying next to her, then two more heads, and that copper pillar, still stuck diagonally into the rock wall. They were still underground, just in a larger space. By the light of Nijika's glow, Shiko saw that although Kita was covered in dust, there were no visible external injuries. Seeing Shiko was mostly recovered, Nijika focused her starlight on the remaining three. Her light was completely undiminished; the strange influence from before had vanished.

Shiko managed to sit up and saw that she too was covered in dirt and dust. She did her best to conjure a washbasin and a towel, managing to clean her face and hands. Even conjuring such simple objects was exhausting now. Seeing Nijika also covered in dirt, Shiko hesitated slightly, then raised the towel and began to wipe Kita's face.

(I want to help her a little, but wiping the face of someone who's awake is just too embarrassing! Wiping Kita's face is helping, and it's embarrassing too, but at least she's not awake...) Shiko folded the towel thickly, trying to avoid feeling Kita's soft skin. Even so, she didn't dare look down, just rubbed based on feel.

Nijika slowly healed the three, but felt Kita's recovery speed noticeably decreasing. She turned her head and an urge to retort surged within her, "Little Shiko, you're suffocating Little Kita..."

Shiko, startled by this, quickly raised her hands. Kita coughed a few times in her unconscious state and actually woke up before the others.

Kita opened her eyes to see Shiko sitting beside her with a dejected expression. Once Kita was able to sit up, Shiko wordlessly brought her a basin of clean water and a towel, then sat back down in her original spot, staring into the dark space. Kita looked over and saw Nijika also looking away, her face full of guilt.

"What happened?" Kita couldn't stand the atmosphere and nudged Shiko.

Shiko held back for a long time, her voice cracking with tears, "Because I'm so useless and can't help Nijika, I can only guard the door..."

"How could you say that! Thanks to Wu-san, we escaped!" Kita wanted to comfort Shiko, but she had no idea why Shiko was shutting down.

Nijika couldn't take it anymore and pushed the washbasin towards Shiko, "Why don't you come back and wipe someone's face! You're making me feel so guilty!"

A little while later, Ryo also woke up, but Ichiri remained unresponsive.

"Ichiri is over there." Shiko, who had been watching the surroundings, pointed to mid-air. Everyone looked and saw a semi-transparent ghost with blue and yellow hair accessories floating over and entering Ichiri's body on the ground.

Ichiri blinked and woke up.

"..." Everyone decided not to mention it.

All of them had mostly recovered enough to move. Nijika's light flickered, about to extinguish. She struggled to maintain it, only managing to emit a candlelight-like glow from her fingertips. Once the light stabilized, Nijika wiped her sweat. Kita took Shiko's towel and helped wipe Nijika's face. The group now sat on a small platform, with dark void on three sides. They leaned against the rock wall, discussing their next move. To see their situation clearly, Nijika intensified the light as much as possible, and Kita assisted with a few wisps of flame. Only then did Shiko see where they were trapped.

"Is this... inside a creature?" Shiko exclaimed in surprise. Standing further away, she saw the structure of the place she had just walked through – a straight vertical shaft, like an esophagus; a huge cavity with a "lava pool," which was the stomach; and below them, piles of winding large and small intestines. Next to the stomach was a massive rock that, judging by its shape and position, resembled a liver. They had accidentally stumbled into a giant's body!

The remaining few were surprised, but after a closer look, they had to admit the conclusion.

So, this place... Shiko, disregarding the danger, crawled to the edge of the platform and looked down. Centered around the stone pillar beside them, there was another layer of neatly arranged platforms below them, like shelves in a warehouse. "Is this the spine?"

Nijika also moved to the edge of the platform and looked up into the darkness. She couldn't see anything. How could they get up?

"Wu-san, can you make a hot air balloon?" Kita suggested. "The balloon was destroyed in the stomach before, but it should be fine here, right?"

Shiko observed, but still shook her head, "That thing is too big, I can't make it now, and the space here is too small. Also, if something unexpected happens to the balloon, I won't be able to react in time while sitting in the basket."

"Nijika, Shiko, come back quickly," Ryo suddenly warned, "Something's coming."

Everyone had just recovered and had no strength to fight. The two quickly returned to the rock wall. Nijika extinguished her light, and their vision returned to darkness. Soon, not only Ryo, but everyone else heard the sound of something approaching. It got closer and closer. Before the lights went out, it was at the edge of their vision, but now it felt within reach! Shiko could hear its movements, shifting left and right, circling around them. Her heart pounded wildly, and she dared not breathe. Someone grabbed her left hand, squeezing tighter and tighter. She felt the owner of the hand trembling slightly.

They couldn't see anything, unaware of the situation before them. The unknown was the greatest fear.

However, Shiko began to notice her vision gradually brightening. Unlike the effect of Nijika turning on the light, Shiko's current sensation was like drinking a night vision potion. Although there was no light, everything was clearly visible. But at this moment, Shiko wished she couldn't see anything:

"Grapevine," was Shiko's first impression of the creature. She thought so because it really looked like a grapevine floating in the air, but upon closer inspection, she realized the vine was a segment of a spine, the giant leaves were flat, fleshy wings, and the "grapes" were clusters of lung alveoli shaped like bunches of grapes... Shiko didn't want to think about how it could fly, but she wasn't particularly disgusted. None of the monsters they had seen were normal; they were long accustomed to such indescribable forms.

But most importantly, it was too close. Close enough to count the segments of its body. The fleshy wings flapped up and down, and at their closest, they almost slapped Shiko in the face. She tilted her head back with all her might, clearly seeing the blood vessels on the wings. She glanced at the person holding her hand, it was Kita. Kita was also staring intently at it, her other hand clamped tightly over her mouth to prevent any sound.

This kind of monster would have been nothing to them in their prime, but now, it was enough to throw them all into the abyss of darkness.

It kept swaying left and right. The five of them remained cautious, not moving. After an unknown amount of time, the "grapevine" finally swayed away.

Shiko let out a long breath, instantly relaxing. It was then that she noticed the cold sweat on her back.

"Can you see?" Nijika whispered to the others.

The others responded in low voices. It seemed everyone had gained night vision. Regarding the source of this ability, the group searched in vain, finding only a new entry in the [Additional] section of their status panels: "Night Vision."

"Let's not worry about that for now, let's eat something. We're too weak to even fight that thing."

"I can't cook anymore, I can only conjure a candy at best." Shiko looked around. The backpacks they had initially carried were nowhere to be found, their rations and water were inside them.

Nijika fumbled in her pocket and pulled out a few packs of compressed biscuits. "I hid some things just in case of a situation like this."

Kita accepted them with tears of gratitude, "Without Ijichi-senpai, what would we do..."

With this meager supply and the pure water Ichiri managed to conjure, everyone gradually regained their strength.

"I think we can hang onto that thing and let it carry us up!" Kita suggested a dangerous idea while eating!

Nijika froze for a moment. (She must be joking, right?) Kita occasionally said outrageous things. But then she saw Shiko seriously contemplating it.

"Let's lure it over later and try tying a stone about our weight onto it. If it can support it, then we'll go up," Shiko proposed a dangerous idea!

"..." Nijika was the drummer for Kessoku Band. She needed to sit in the back row, observe everyone's actions, take care of the socially anxious and withdrawn, manage the shameless, restrain the cheerful and impulsive, and become a steady, trustworthy captain.

"I have no objections," Ryo's voice was calm.

"...Fine." Nijika suddenly felt tired. Even the most stoic tsukkomi had days where they were speechless.

"What about Ichiri?" Nijika looked at the only person who hadn't spoken yet.

(It's no use, Nijika. Ichiri will never refuse.) Shiko thought sadly to herself. (When everyone else has already agreed to something, someone with social anxiety will never voice an objection.)

"I-I-I-I'm fine with anything..." Ichiri replied with a broken expression.

Shiko was overcome with guilt. "I'll make it up to her later."

"Then, shall we lure it back now?" Nijika was about to unleash her light.

Ryo suddenly grabbed her, her expression turning serious. "Wait! After that last maneuver, I'm still too shaken to move!"

"Why are you so proud of that?" Nijika remembered that Ryo had always been the type who couldn't handle roller coasters.

"Then it's perfect, let's take a break too."

After sufficient rest, Nijika unleashed her light again, and the "grapevine" quickly flew back.

"Ryo." Shiko threw out a length of chain. Pulled by the shape-shifting sound waves, the chain and the boulder it was tied to wrapped around the "grapevine's" spine. It immediately plummeted, then quickly stabilized, thrashing up and down, but it couldn't shake off the burden. Seeing that it was working, Shiko repeated the process, creating similar chains, replacing the original boulder with an iron cage large enough to support five people. The chains flew towards the monster. The original boulder had disappeared, but a new burden was added. The monster struggled upwards, carrying the group in the iron cage with it.

"Careful!" Nijika shouted the moment the iron cage took flight. The violent shaking nearly made everyone fall. This was no amusement park Ferris wheel!

The six sides of the iron cage were stuffed with sponges, and Ryo's bass sound began, lessening the impact of the violent shaking a little. "Ryo... drag the other end of the chain over here..." Shiko, enduring nausea, took the previously thrown chain and locked it onto the railing. This way, the monster shouldn't be able to shake them off. The "grapevine," now wearing an overly heavy necklace, flew upwards.

Shiko clung to the railing, trying to look outside, but there was only the unchanging stone wall. She dared not look down, but looking up, she saw the cave ceiling, hidden in darkness, was now within reach!

"We're going to crash!" she screamed uncontrollably. Before anyone else could react, a violent collision knocked everyone down again.

Nijika began to feel a sense of weightlessness as the monster led them in a nosedive! At an even faster speed than before, they plummeted in one direction. Sticky blood landed on Nijika's hand. The "grapevine" was still struggling, groggily heading towards an area that remained pitch black even in night vision!

"That's it!" Nijika recognized the area. It was the liver! Even giants have that strange thing in their stomachs, and hitting the liver would definitely not be good! But it was too late. The monster crashed headfirst (where was its head?) into it!

With a huge bang, a cloud of dust erupted on the liver. From within, five people crawled out, struggling. The iron cage was twisted and deformed from the impact, and the "grapevine" had turned to dust.

Chapter 12: From the Liver...

The five stood on the ground again. Although it was a little higher than the spine they were on before, they were still a million miles from escape. The liver beneath their feet had an ominous atmosphere, and they felt they couldn't stay long.