Chereads / I am a snail. / Chapter 72 - Day 22.88: Hatchery.

Chapter 72 - Day 22.88: Hatchery.

Before I could even think, I bit down on the webbing instinctively. Harder than it looked, I couldn't tear through it even a tiny bit let along swallow it.

I needed another plan.

With the way out sealed behind me, I continued to struggle as I tried to break free. Knowing that my mucus dissolved the webbing, I tried producing and releasing as much as I could in the hope of releasing myself.

It pooled. Like a bowl, the webbing around me held fast as I felt the mucus surround my body. At first, it seemed to work as I started to get some leeway - I was able to wiggle my body just a bit. Noticing progress, I decided to produce more and more as it started to overflow the small cavity that I was in.

the gluttonous voice urged on.

'I know.' as I stared at the egg sack and struggling insect in front of my body. 'Can you believe it would just dump us next to another bunch of eggs and some other piece of food?' I questioned as I continued to struggle.

But my momentary freedom quickly changed as I felt the resistance from around my body increase.

I couldn't see it, but I knew that the mucus and the disgusting white paste that it dissolved was slowly being mixed together against my body. As a result, the fluid began to thicken.

Slowly the disgusting mess of dissolved webbing and my mucus mixed and became a thick slough. And soon enough, with the coldness of the air, it took all I had just too keep it from solidifying once more.

No matter how I struggled, I knew I was stuck. Well, 98% stuck. 2% chance of getting free.

...

Watching the black bar drop more and more as I pumped out more and more mucus, I decided to stop. For the sake of running out.

the gluttonous voice asked.

'We're stuck...'

it complained.

'I know.' I replied as I felt my saliva gather within my mouth at the thought of sinking my teeth into more eggs and the beetle.

it continued.

'Don't you get it? I know. But the thing is we need to get out for or WE WILL be the FOOD.' I emphasized as I tried struggling once more to no avail.

The more I struggled, the hungrier I grew. My orientation didn't make it any better. Stuck in a fixed position, I was forced to stare at the white sack and a brown-horned beetle that was also struggling to free itself, but couldn't.

...

Minutes past as I continued to gaze. Torture. It was pure torture. Like waiting for that one late relative before starting a meal, I stared at the food without being able to eat it. I was hungry and it was torturing me.

Like a parasite, the hunger was slowly controlling my thoughts as the uncomfortable feeling grew and I became more and more irritated at my situation.

'I want to eat and I want to eat now!'

[Status: Hungering]

Current stacks: 6

Current buff: 30%

Feeling a boost of strength, I looked intently at the food in front of me.

'I will eat you!' I bellowed inside my head as I continued to stare at the goal: the beetle and another sack of delicious eggs. Deciding not to free myself, I tried stretching my body forward and swiping at the meal in front of me.

Swish. I missed by a lot. There was no way that I could reach. It was too far away, but that didn't stop me in my crazed hunger as I continued to launch my head forward, just for it to be pulled back by the slushy encasement around my body.

Even after a few minutes of struggling, I made no progress.

I grew more and hangry.

I was beyond irritated.

Violently thrashing around in my thick fluid filled straitjacket, I continued to struggle, but couldn't get to it. Bending my head downward I tried to take a bite out of the web, but I couldn't. It was stronger than it looked. Way stronger than white filaments that were produced by the Male Frostfang.

Through all my attempts and thrashing, my stamina hit 0.

My body went limp as my head fell and slumped against the white encasement that held together under my weight.

Snapping out of my hunger-induced rage momentarily, I knew I needed to distract myself.

the gluttonous voice asked.

'Help me think of something... like a topic. I can't stand this anymore.'

'I can't stare forward anymore. Distract me with questions. Anything that comes to mind.'

<... when can we eat?>

'...' I paused as I didn't know if the voice was just messing with me or not. '... something else.' I replied as I started to pant as I had sudden flashes of hunger like having hot flashes.

Like a dense idiot, the voice decided to ask .

'No... no more food!' I screamed into my head as I struggled to regain control of my body.

'I thought I said that the question shouldn't be about food!' I replied. Although the question was a good one, I didn't want to think about eating. Even if it was something that was going to eat me.

It continued as if it did intend to mess with me until it said something else.

Like an awkward co-worker speaking to you for the first time, the gluttonous voice decided to go with this line: . But it was actually what I needed.

'Horrible. I replied. 'My siblings betrayed me. I betrayed me. Heck, and you saved me out of all things.' I thought as I felt myself calming down a little.

'We got our shell punctured and I ... I saw something in the Mist.' I continued as I tried to remember the mist once more. How it flowed. The illusion of the Frosty Mist...

I closed my eyes as the world around me darkened.

I was back in my mental space as the same swirls of mist moved around within my head. Clumping together, dispersing - tiny dots of white. Free yet constrained.

But again.

I was shaken out of my mental world as I heard the gluttonous voice call out once more.

Before I could get angry at the voice, I heard it. A faint popping noise.

'What could that be?' I asked but I soon found out something exploded in the distance.

Boom.

It was the eggs.

The eggs were hatching.

...