“But I don’t want to get up.” Rhonda’s eyes fluttered open. They fluttered shut. She squirmed around on her comfy stone pile, grinding and shifting the debris beneath her.

She was unhappy with this development since she was having such a lovely slumber. But she knew she couldn’t stay asleep for long if the Administrator were looking to be mean, nasty, and abusive again. It was better to get up now and face the problem before it got out of hand.

It was still a struggle to climb out of sleep, though.

Rhonda blinked her eyes rapidly. This time they stayed open as she slowly pushed up into a seat on top of her stone bed. She frowned at the darkness while one hand scratched at her scalp under her tangled hair, and the other hand scratched at the side of her butt.

Hey, uh, Rhonda, my dear, maybe we should move a little faster? Londa suggested. I don’t mean to rush you, but I’m scared of what the Administrator has planned next.

Rhonda was opening her mouth to speak when she had a thought. The System and the Administrator didn’t know Londa existed or weren’t paying attention to Rhonda talking to herself. Maybe it was better to keep it hush.

Closing her mouth, Rhonda kept the words in her head, telling Londa it would be alright. Rhonda wanted the so-called boss to try to jump her, so she didn’t have to go looking for it.

Risky, risky, you’re so tricky, hon. Alright, we’ll go with that idea. I’ll keep on the lookout for anything strange. 

So, they waited.

Rhonda stayed alert to the best of her observational abilities. She would closely watch the only two entrances into the room⁠—a hole in the wall made by Rhonda and a doorway with a rotten door on rusty hinges.

When the night waned, so did her attention. Her observations drifted toward the shifting angle of the moonlight beaming through the gaps in the ceiling. Sometimes she would look down at her waving feet and then shake her head to snap herself out of idle gesturing.

This was hard. She was getting bored. Her hunger was hurting her again as well, grumbling loudly. The stone bed beneath her felt too comfortable to act as a seat. Maybe she could lie down and still keep watch. Maybe that would be okay… huh?

An inky black shadow peeked through the self-made hole in the wall with the moonlight at its back. Surprised, Rhonda blinked at the silhouetted figure; she then blinked again when it disappeared right before she got a good look at it.

Heart knocking, Rhonda stood. The stones being displaced by her movement sounded way louder than usual. Almost as loud as the blood rushing behind her ears. Almost as loud as her own breaths, which started to pick up speed.

She stared at the self-made hole to see if the shadowy creature would return. Nothing else moved, and all she could hear were the hoot of owls somewhere beyond the manor.

Rhonda clenched a fist against her chest.

M-my q-queen… that thing looked as large as you, Londa said. I’m paying more attention to your hearing right now in case it tries to, uh, sneak up on you. But I didn’t hear it come or go. That’s way creepy. We gotta be extra careful.

Rhonda agreed.

Maybe the plan to wait for it wouldn’t work anymore. Rhonda had a sneaking suspicion the monster would tire her out with its patience and then strike when Rhonda fell asleep.

At first, she hadn’t been bothered by such a thought. It was whatever. Now that she got a snapshot glimpse of something as large as her… cold sweat slicked her back as the touch of fear invaded her deeply.

“Ugh, I’m going after it,” Rhonda grunted.

She stepped down from her stony perch, her mighty footfalls sounding like wet slaps when she landed on a puddle. Most of the rainwater must’ve drained through the crevices and cracks in the floor. Parts of the floor were sagging downward, falling toward a fault in the foundations or a basement starting to collapse in like the roof.

Rhonda smartly avoided the sinking spots in the floor. She stuck to the wall, her hand trailing its surface. It acted as a guide in the darkness while she used the moonlight to help her see through the dim setting. She reached the self-made hole, hesitated, then peeked around the ragged edge to see what was inside.

It was another empty room if she ignored the rubble. She had already cleaned the space of dead rats, or whatever remained of them when they got squashed by her or falling rubble. It was just as empty as the last time she checked.

Rhonda wondered if the shadowy thing had run away because it saw her and got scared off. That… that would be amusing.

She started to smirk at the thought when she heard a new sound. It was low, almost imperceivable. But it was near enough that Rhonda felt goosebumps appear all up and down her back. She almost didn’t want to turn around, but she forced herself to do so, following the sound of scraping coming from the other entrance.

The door.

Scrape.

Scrape.

S c r a p e.

Rhonda gulped.

Londa made a low, horrified moaning sound. That, my dear, is a can of NOPE! That is the nopest nopeity nopeling noper of nopes I’ve ever NOPED! That’s a heeeeeeeeeck to the Neigh Nah Naw No!

All true, yeah, but Rhonda had a responsibility to face this thing that garnered all the nopes Londa could come up with. She couldn’t let the Administrator lord another monster over her. She had to beat it if she wanted to continue doing as she pleased: eating, pleasuring, napping.

Rhonda balled her fists. She boldly crossed the floor, her stride long and crisp. She went around the sinking part of the floor and punched open the door that was twice her height.

Crack! 

The door snapped in half, tore off its hinges, and shattered into splinters against the opposing wall. It was a raucous noise that cut through the quiet dread that had swallowed the manor and had nearly killed Rhonda’s spirit. She wanted it to be a boisterous statement: the mighty giantess refused to fear the annoying administrator's latest pawn.

Doorway cleared, the giantess found nothing on the other side in front of her. The creature had moved before it could get heaping of a flying giant-punched door.

Rhonda peeked her head out to look at both sides. It was another hallway. The passage was darkened by the lack of gaps in the ceiling that would let moonbeams shine through. Rhonda narrowed her eyes, searching hard.

Nothing yet again.

“Ugh,” she grunted.

It’s okay, it’s okay, oh powerful one. Let’s keep calm. I don’t think rage will work here, not yet. We gotta keep cool until we can have you get your hands on it. Then you go ROAR BITE SMASH! Does that make sense, my love?

Rhonda leaned an arm against the door threshold, sighing. She let Londa know it did make sense. She didn’t like this one bit, but it should be expected that whatever the Administrator sent after her would be annoying.

S c r a p e.

The hair on the back of Rhonda’s neck straightened.

S c R A P E.

It was behind her again! She whirled around to face it and caught a glimpse of a shadow receding through the self-made hole. Again!

Rhonda entered a run, something she didn’t often do, and for good reasons. It was slow and laborious for her. It was super awkward, too. Her breasts and other jiggly parts bounced all wild, serving as an inconvenience now.

Meanwhile, her feet thumped the floor like giant hammers with each lunging step. The whole room trembled like she was a minor earthquake. In reaction, an already sinking crater at the center started to crumble away, becoming a dark maw to who knew where and how far down.

Didn’t matter to Rhonda as she rushed into the next room again. She came to a grinding halt, kicking stone out of her way. She looked around, feeling a little breathless and very flustered. She searched the corners. She looked around the ceiling.

Her enemy was nowhere to be seen. Yet again.

Rhonda, don’t lose your cool! Hold it, hooooold.

It was tough for her not to, but she listened to Londa. She did so with clenched fists.

Okay, alright, I’m going to ask you to go out on the craaaaziest limb yet. The next time you turn, puuuuuunch! It’s going to be right freaking there. Because the Administrator is a freaking dweeb, and this is suuuuuuuch a horror movie gag, it’s not even funny. I mean, it really isn’t, this stupid scary. But it’s worth a shot, right?

Rhonda hoped that Londa was right. Her patience was wearing thin, and she had built-up some fatigue from trying to chase down the shadow. She hated this so much; she really wanted to punch something and EAT it.

With nothing else to rely on, she followed through with Londa’s strange idea⁠—she turned around, fist already cocked, and⁠—

Her fist crunched the enemy’s snout while it was mid-pounce.