Drip-drip-drip.
Tanaka groaned loudly as he stirred from unconsciousness. He could feel water dripping onto his face. His entire body ached with pain, and as he sat up, he rubbed his neck.
Tanaka took a moment to adjust his sight to the low light of his surroundings. Even after the adjustment, it was still incredibly dark. He could just barely see a few meters ahead of himself.
"What the-. Where the heck am I? This isn't my room?!" Tanaka furrowed his brows as he thought for a moment. Then his posture shifted as his mind's groginess cleared. "Oh my God." He remembered everything and now sat in shock.
He took a deep breath as he placed his head into his hands. "Sigh. At least I'm still alive." Tanaka then shook his head, stood and stretched. Tanaka then looked straight ahead and spoke, "Bell, are you there?" Tanaka waited for a moment, and as he stood in complete silence, he knew he had his answer. "Looks like I'm doing this on my own then."
Clack!
Tanaka immediately turned around, preparing to face danger, but couldn't see anything there waiting for him. 'Darnit. It's probably better if I keep quiet.'
Tanaka crouched close to the ground as he crept closer to where the sound came from. With how dark it was, he was unsure if there was anything in there with him. Although crawling to whatever it was that made the sound seemed dangerous, Tanaka figured that not knowing was even more dangerous. He rubbed his neck as he remembered how that blob creature had gotten the jump on him. He shivered a bit as he realised how close to death he'd come.
Tanaka pressed on, crawling along the floor silently, observing, listening, smelling and feeling. He wouldn't let himself be caught off guard again. He crept forward slowly, but soon he realised that he had most definitely gone too far. 'There was no way that the sound was that far away from me. It sounded close.'
Thoughts raced through Tanaka's head as he felt the hairs on his back stand on end. He was now terrified of the possibility that there was another strange creature in here with him. He wasn't sure if it was just his paranoia, but he felt like something was going to happen.
'No! It's not paranoia. I'm sure something's going to happen, the same way I knew that Bell was real when he first started talking to me.' Tanaka then placed his left hand onto the ground as he tried to determine what was causing him to feel this way. It felt like when someone is watching you from behind, and you turn around and see them doing it, only this time, he didn't turn.
Clack!
'Behind me!' Tanaka quickly turned, ready to face the threat that was...not there. 'What! Am I being toyed with?' Tanaka was beginning to panic when:
Clack! Clack!
'Huh? That came from two different places.'
Clack-clack-clack-clack!
Tanaka's eyes widened as he realised what was happening. He looked down at his hand, which was still on the ground. He could feel it, although just barely. The ground was shaking.
Thwack! Bwoom!
Tanaka fell to the ground as the earth all around him shook violently. He stumbled his way back to his feet as the ground continued to shake. 'Darnit! What on Earth is happening?'
Crack!
Light spewed in from the top of the cavern, momentarily blinding Tanaka. He covered his eyes as he tried to maintain his balance. He stumbled around, no longer able to see his surroundings.
'Gosh, why is this happening to me? Give me a break already.' Tanaka grumbled at his situation. And right at that moment, the ground stopped shaking.
'Oh, thank goodness! I guess all I had to do was ask.' Tanaka sighed deeply as he rubbed his eyes. He slowly opened his eyes, finally looking at his surroundings properly.
It was a wide-open cavern. The cave had a single pathway leading out of it. Tanaka also noticed that the light revealed tiny crystals embedded in the walls. He looked up at the crack that had formed. Its width was thin, but it was long, stretching the entire length of the cave, ending at the walls of the cave.
He took in a deep breath and sat down on the hard, rocky floor. 'Phew. Finally, a moment of rest.' Whilst Tanaka wanted to sit and collect his thoughts, and decided that he first had to assess his current situation before coming up with any plans.
The blue gooey blob strangling him was the last thing he remembered before waking up. 'It was a lot like a slime that one might see in a videogame, although it didn't seem like a beginner mob.' Tanaka shook his head as he recalled the harrowing experience. 'A slime means that I'm probably not on Earth anymore, like in those webnovels I read in my free time. The most important thing for me to know is how I got here and how I can get home.'
Tanaka groaned as the reality of the situation began to dawn on him. Even if he figured out how he got here, that doesn't mean that he would be able to get back home. He stroked his chin as he thought a bit more about his current situation, but was suddenly interrupted by a tapping sound coming from the cave's entryway.
Tanaka quickly got on his feet, his body already bursting with adrenaline. The tapping sounds got louder and louder, and Tanaka was able to tell now that they were the sound of footsteps.
Tanaka gulped as he got low, preparing himself for anything. He would've hidden, but the cave had nothing he could hide behind. He could only brace himself for a potential fight.
"Graagh!" Something growled out as it entered the cave. It was short, had green skin and pointy ears. It stopped and stared at Tanaka, with its yellow, bloodshot eyes. It was dressed in just a loincloth and carried a small knife in its left hand.
'Oh no! Is that a goblin?! I couldn't even handle a slime, how am I going to handle a goblin!'