I probably should’ve come up instead of eating it.
Every step I took caused something inside my body, presumably a drone that hadn’t fully melted yet, to slosh around.
It wasn’t that it wouldn’t melt, but the pace was slow, and the sensation of a foreign object was undeniable.
But there was nothing I could do about it.
After all, I hadn’t swallowed it out of spite for firing a laser at me.
I had no idea what had happened.
The things exposed to the bomb-like device Kim Cheon-soo detonated weren’t completely immobilized but twitched intermittently.
So, leaving them alone only to have them suddenly lunge at me and start shooting lasers would’ve been problematic.
Though it was for my safety, it was still unavoidable.
…The feeling of something sloshing inside me wasn’t pleasant.
If it were lighter, it might’ve been okay, but it was probably heavy because it was made of metal.
After all, no matter how much food I consumed, it never sloshed around like this.
In any case, I entered the steel serpent’s body calmly, feeling the residue of the melting metal within.
It was the second time I had entered such a large entity.
But this time, the impression was entirely different.
When the gigantic whale flying through the sky swallowed me, there was a strange feeling of being consumed by a living creature.
But now… Well…
Maybe because I entered on my own accord, it felt less like entering the inside of a body and more like walking into a building.
Even aside from that, the place I was now moving through didn’t feel organic in the slightest.
The interior of the steel serpent, filled with components whose functions I couldn’t guess, was undeniably more of a mechanical device than a living organism.
Yet, as I listened to the clicking of gears meshing, it reminded me of an animal’s cry or movement.
This thing was clearly beyond comprehension.
Why was it even chasing after me, trying to eat me?
Was it really trying to eat me in the first place?
I had no clue.
Well, maybe if it spoke while attacking me, I would’ve understood the reason.
Then again, who knows?
Perhaps talking to it would require learning computer language.
Thinking about how my discussions with machines always involved either a “beep beep” or a series of 0s and 1s limited my imagination.
As I was lost in those thoughts, I moved forward.
I slowly advanced on the cold slabs of metal, and somehow, I sensed a change in the atmosphere around me.
Though there was no apparent visual change, I could feel something shift.
Unable to describe it in words, the strange sensation made me shiver uncontrollably, stopping in my tracks.
The sloshing sensation inside had settled.
Then, my eyes caught something floating in the distance.
I didn’t know what it was, but it gave off an important vibe at first glance, similar to the precious thing floating within me.
Though I didn’t know exactly what it was, it reminded me of the thing bobbing around inside me.
Without any guidance from Han Seori or the knowledge pouch spinning uselessly, I realized I had arrived where I was supposed to be.
Noticing Jelly getting excited, I observed the object floating there for a moment.
The floating object was spherical, much like the one inside me.
Occasionally, it emitted faint lights and small sounds, giving the impression of being busy.
It probably was actually doing something.
If this was the core operating the steel serpent and it was currently disrupted…
Its role was predetermined.
Of course, I couldn’t be sure.
In the meantime, it hovered around and suddenly flailed up and down as if angered.
Watching its frantic movements, I imagined that if I swallowed it, it might burst out of me like some dark entity.
Picture blue jelly splattering everywhere, and the thought of extracting the jelly-coated thing made my stomach churn.
Apparently, solving things by swallowing them wasn’t going to work this time.
Well, Jangseung only got lucky when there was an opening; normally, swallowing something might’ve crushed his body instead.
But now, there was nothing in this space to help me.
So, what should I do?
It was slightly disheartening.
But there wasn’t much time to think about it either.
“Ki-gi-yick. Cheol-chuck.”
That peculiar sound, like pieces falling into place after something had been off earlier, echoed through the steel serpent’s body.
Judging by the vibrations, it wouldn’t be long before the serpent resumed movement, whether repaired or not.
Hmm.
At that moment, I remembered using something called a Jelly Cleaner on my keyboard.
Using a substance similar to what was inside me to clean keyboards, capturing both fun and practicality…
…though theoretically it was great, in reality, it destroyed the keyboard.
It hadn’t been fun either, as I wasted energy trying to peel off the sticky pieces.
But to sum it up…
The point was that “jelly” could wreck machines.
Though comparing this floating thing to a keyboard might be a bit… rude.
I wasn’t some cheap jelly from ○Isos, right?
Though my confident statement only indicated I thought it looked vulnerable enough to handle physically.
So…
Standing up suddenly, I charged toward the hovering spherical object.
I thought I was being stealthy, but apparently, it had detected me right away.
The round light, resembling an eye, scanned my body.
Since I was already discovered, I ran head-on.
Using my momentum to leap into the air, I realized a critical mistake.
…The size of the thing up close.
It was much larger than I anticipated.
Whether it had grown or it was an optical illusion, the spherical object in my view seemed far too large to swallow, let alone have it burst out afterward.
“Cheol-perdeug!”
My body contacted the sphere with a sticky sound.
It immediately began flailing its body, seemingly trying to shake me off.
The wind rushing past felt like it would make a human’s eyes and mouth flap open.
Though the jelly only splattered harmlessly, the disorienting shifts in my vision were slightly dizzying.
…What now?
The unexpected size was throwing me off.
But I quickly composed myself.
No matter the size, what I had to do wouldn’t change.
Sticking to the creature’s body, I focused my mind and projected tentacles.
And then…
I extended them toward what looked like the entity’s eye, the glowing circle.
Blue tentacles could be seen entering its glowing eye en masse, much like the jelly cleaner spreading into the keyboard.
How it didn’t break as the goo spread was baffling.
It felt like inserting something sticky into a computer and wildly stirring it around…
Urgh, just imagining it felt terrible.
To put it in human terms, it was like inserting a tentacle into the ear and stirring around the brain.
Though thinking about it made my stomach bubble, it seemed my thoughts were reflected, as the tentacles sprouting from my back wildly stirred the insides in every direction.
I could feel various component-like textures and even electrical sensations.
I smothered everything the tentacles touched with slime and assaulted anything they reached.
It wasn’t easy, as the sphere violently shook each time a tentacle made contact.
Controlling the tentacles while clinging onto the body was a mentally taxing task.
Thankfully…
The feeling that my regenerative abilities had improved was proving true.
The tentacles stretched further than before, and when severed, they quickly regrew.
Indeed, just as jelly cleaner was unparalleled for breaking keyboards…
Jelly appeared to be excellent for tearing machines apart.
At the moment I intensified my rampage…
From around the sphere…
“Cheol-chuck-cheol-chuck-cheol-chuck-cheol-chuck!”
An ominous noise echoed.
The sound alone sent a chill running through Jelly.
That sensation I felt while dodging lasers outside…
It started emanating from all sides.
“Wheeeee!.”
nIt wasn’t my imagination.
My expanded vision revealed countless red dots aimed at me.
The structures I thought formed the steel serpent’s body were now targeting me with laser points.
The space grew increasingly hot with the growing sound.
It felt like the heat would erase my existence entirely with lasers.
I reinforced my tentacles.
Leaving now wouldn’t cancel it, and based on the extreme methods used, it seemed like the sphere intended to self-destruct.
There was no other choice but to dismantle it.
I intensified the stirring of the tentacles and spread the slime.
I didn’t forget to burrow toward the sphere’s core, assuming something significant was there.
“Wheee!”.
The lasers targeting me grew denser and darker.
I could feel the jelly bubbling inside me.
Just maintaining my hold on the body while controlling the tentacles was overwhelming, leaving me unable to dodge the lasers.
At least the lasers weren’t strong enough to instantly turn me into jelly chunks, unlike the ones I had consumed.
Had I not eaten it, I might’ve been disintegrated right away.
Then, a strange sensation…
My tentacles felt something unusual.
