CHAPTER 183: THE WOMB RAIDER

Squirming and wriggling like a worm in mud, Finn finally slipped all the way through and dropped into the monster’s throat. He landed with a disgusting squelch, the floor bending under his weight like half-rotten tissue.

It was warm. Too warm. Every breath came with the faint sound of pulsing ahead of him, like the creature’s body was alive in ways it shouldn’t be.

Groaning, Finn planted both hands on the floor and pushed himself up. Slime clung to his palms, stretching into sticky strings before snapping. The ground was wet, squishy, disturbingly springy—like a cross between wet earth and a clogged shower drain.

"This is so wrong," he muttered, wiping his hand on his shirt. Bad idea. Now he was more slimy.

He finally stood upright and looked around... only for his jaw to drop.

The throat chamber wasn’t empty. It opened into a fleshy cocoon-like sack, suspended by thick cords of slime. It reminded him of the giant one they’d seen in the slime cavern—but this one was worse. He could see a figure inside.

A human figure.

Curled up tight, its features obscured, but definitely human-shaped.

The cords pulsed in and out like veins, expanding, then deflating. Feeding something to the sack. Oxygen? Slime juice? Both? Finn didn’t want to know.

His skin crawled. ’This thing... was it piloting the monster?’

He crossed his arms, frowning at the cords. "So this creepy cocoon controls the big weird gross bird outside, or—hell, maybe it’s just the battery pack. I dunno."

He cracked his knuckles. "Guess I’ll just unplug it then."

Marching up, he grabbed one of the pulsing cords and gave it a good yank. It tore free with a disgusting pop, snapping back like a rubber band.

The entire chamber shuddered. Slimy walls rippled, the floor vibrating beneath his feet.

Finn froze, wide-eyed. "...Uh. Okay. Definitely did something."

The pulsing slowed for a second—then steadied again.

Seeing the pulsing slowed, Finn yanked harder, ripping them off the cocoon one by one. Each pull tore another slimy vein free, the pulsing sack dimming with every snap.

But the more he ripped, the more the monster convulsed. The walls around him trembled like an earthquake, making him stumble as the cocoon’s heartbeat quickened—faster, faster—like it was about to burst.

Finn froze, sweat running down his temple. "Oh no. No, no, no. If that thing blows, I’m inside it!"

He slowed, hesitating, when a deafening blast outside rattled the entire chamber. The creature let out a roar so deep it vibrated through Finn’s bones. He tripped, falling shoulder-first into one of the cords and tearing it loose by accident.

"No! I don’t wanna die!" he screamed, curling up and covering his ears.

The ground heaved like a living trampoline, slime raining from the ceiling. Finn huddled tighter, absolutely terrified, convinced this was it—he was about to get dissolved into monster soup.

The roars stopped for a moment, replaced by high-pitched screeches of pain. Explosions thundered outside, each one shaking the body harder until Finn could barely stay upright. He gave up trying to stand.

He just laid there, balled up, shaking, muttering between sobs. "Please let this end, please let this end. God, I’m sorry for all my sins. Or goddess—whatever! Whoever’s listening, I’m so sorry!"

Then, somewhere between the panic and the explosions, something shifted inside him.

He blinked, looking at himself—slimy, trembling, crying—in a fetal position inside a monster’s throat.

"...What the hell am I doing?"

Getting up almost immediately, Finn slammed a fist into his chest and shouted, voice cracking but full of fire:

"I am Finn Wiggles—the one and only man that has seen hell and came back alive! The man who suffers through headache-driving women every damn day! And this? This is nothing compared to everything else I’ve endured!"

With new determination—or at least hysteria—he grabbed another slimy cord and ripped it free. Then another. Strings snapped like rubber bands as the cocoon inside the throat throbbed wildly.

But before he could celebrate, the wall came from him burst. A giant claw speared through the throat’s flesh, swiping blindly and raking at the space.

Finn stumbled back, yelping. "Holy crap!"

Another talon stabbed through, widening the tear, raw light bleeding in from outside. The whole chamber shook as the monster clawed at its own neck, desperate to rip him out.

It wasn’t just reacting—it was trying to excise him.

Outside, more explosions rattled through the body. Not the single thunderclap from before, but a rain of smaller blasts. The creature screeched, clawing harder at its own flesh, as if in a frenzy.

Finn covered his head as chunks of slime-ridden tissue fell around him. His heart hammered.

’What the hell are they doing out there?!’

Unannounced to Finn, after he had ripped through most of the cords, the creature only grew more unstable—its whole body spasming, talons tearing at its own neck in a blind frenzy to dig him out.

The weight shifted violently. The fleshy chamber tilted, sending Finn crashing into the wall with a loud wet slap. He sank into the sticky surface up to his elbows, shuffling and thrashing to pull himself free. Every move made a disgusting noise, like someone stirring hot macaroni and cheese.

"Ugh—oh my god—this is the worst!" he gagged, yanking himself out with a nasty squelch.

But then his eyes locked on something. Two massive cords pulsed near the cocoon, thicker than the others, expanding and contracting rhythmically like lungs.

’Bingo.’

Moving to a nearby wall, he planted his hands against the slick wall. The flesh gave under his grip like rotten fruit, but he forced himself to climb, teeth gritted. Each pull upward made his fingers sink deep into the warm tissue, slime oozing between his knuckles.

Every "step" squished, every breath reeked—but he kept going, dragging himself higher until he was within range.

At last, the cords loomed before him, throbbing steadily, the sack trembling with each pulse.

Finn’s chest heaved as he crouched against the wall, legs shaking. "This is it... winner takes all."

He launched himself forward in a desperate leap, arms outstretched, diving straight for the cords.