Well, the good news was, Ryla had found what had happened to the missing miners. The bad news was... everything else.

With a burst of energy, she evaded the creature's jaws, but now she had a new problem to contend with: There was no moonlight down here. Whatever energy she expended, she wasn't getting back anytime soon.

Even as she splurged, pouring all of her mass out and twisting it into her preferred monster-fighting shape, the creature towered over her like a tiger to a bobcat.

When she acted, it wasn't out of strategy or any sort of conscious decision. She needed to finish this fast and conserve as much energy as possible! She lunged, open-mouthed, taking the predator head-on!

Fate, it seemed, humored her today, as the next thing she knew, she was slurping down the creature's tail like a footlong sandwich.

You really never truly appreciate self control until you're deprived of the multiple steps between "object in mouth" and "object in stomach".

Fortunately, the creature, for all its strength, was clearly built for hunting things smaller than it, whereas this form was designed to battle larger beasts. The predator's superior strength was rendered moot by its complete and utter lack of leverage, cramped and stuffed into the giant sack that was now her stomach.

She let out a sickened belch, slumping over onto her belly.

"This... is gonna take a while, isn't it?"

There would be plenty of time to get to know her opponent-turned-meal between now and whenever she regained the ability to walk...