Liquidation: From Big Boss to Bloody Demon Sauce Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Better Out Than In

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However, surviving the acid was only half the battle; the immediate challenge was engineering an escape. I quickly realized that if I stayed inside this organic containment unit for too long, I would undoubtedly run out of whatever internal energy source was keeping my consciousness tethered to this slime. Being composed entirely of raw Ether energy, I noticed that without sufficient replenishment from the outside surroundings, I could literally sense my energy levels declining. It was a slow, terrifying drain, precisely like a human body running low on oxygen, or a company bleeding capital with no revenue stream in sight. As much as this bizarre adventure was teaching me about the baseline physics of my existence, I couldn't afford to spend much time analyzing it. I was on a clock. Experiment after failed experiment brought me dangerously close to the edge of despair. I tried aggressively slithering toward the lower exit, attempting to slip into the beast's intestines, but the sphincter was locked tight. I tried reversing course, ascending back up the muscular walls of the esophagus, but my form was simply too slippery, and the mucus lining the beast's stomach provided absolutely zero traction. I kept sliding right back down into the acidic pool. Battering myself against the walls of its gut in a series of blunt-force rams, I managed to do little more than irritate the creature. I could sense the deep, rumbling annoyance of the beast through the stomach walls as it growled and moaned discomfortingly, shifting its weight outside. Without dense limbs or a proper, hardened physique to make a significant physical impact, a heavy blanket of frustration settled over me. I was trapped in a meat-cage, and my operating capital was running dry. I decided to resort to my absolute last option. If finesse wouldn't work, I would have to rely on explosive, blunt-force market disruption. Concentrating all of my remaining, dwindling energy into the exact center of my mass, I tried exerting a massive outward force. I pushed aggressively against the heavy muscular walls of the gut with all my might, expanding my volume as rapidly as my Ether would allow. If successful, this hyper-expansion would either rupture a physical hole in the stomach lining for me to slip out of, or the sheer internal pressure would cause the beast's gag reflex to trigger and puke me out. Either way, it was a highly desperate, all-or-nothing business plan, but I didn't have the luxury of choice or time. Taking a metaphorical deep breath, I coiled my energy tightly, preparing for the sudden burst. But my internal machinations didn't go unnoticed. The beast immediately sensed my aggressive stirring and reacted on instinct, fiercely contracting its stomach muscles. It increased its internal pressure to counter mine, effectively crushing me further into the acidic pool. It felt like being caught in an industrial vise. Still, I held my ground, refusing to yield the space I had claimed. The sheer kinetic force inside me was building like a boiling, sealed pot of volatile Ether. With a final, desperate, and overwhelmingly powerful push, I released the tension. I exploded outward with every ounce of force I possessed. The violent, rapid expansion was more than enough to completely wrack the beast's internal systems. A thunderous, agonized howl echoed through the flesh around me, vibrating my core. The stomach muscles violently convulsed, rejecting the foreign pressure. The next moment, I was launched upward, riding a wave of bile and stomach acid, projectile vomited out of the jaws of the beast—only to be violently reintroduced to the spiraling chaos and hard stone of the outside world. Once out of the suffocating belly of the beast, I splattered heavily against the courtyard floor. I quickly gathered myself, pulling my scattered mass back into a cohesive puddle amidst the furious growls and enraged snarls escalating around me. Trying to regain my optical focus, I observed the b