Aya barely made it. She was currently wedged—no, crammed—inside a crevice in the dungeon wall like a half-melted gummy bear trying to hide from the wrath of a fat livestreaming gamer trying to find his snack while he is playing a game. Her mandibles clicked nervously. Her antennae twitched like faulty Wi-Fi. And the snake? Oh, that vile, noodle-shaped monstrosity? Still out there. Still slithering. Still angry. Still stupidly scary handsome in a way like "Hi, I'm going to murder you and look good doing it" kind of way.
Her thoughts spiraled.Okay okay okay—status check.Heart? Pounding.Limbs? Present.Dignity? Gone. Possibly left behind two tunnels ago.Snake? Lurking like a tax collector during an audit.
But she was alive. Somehow.
DING!
[New Achievement: "You Didn't Die… Yet!"]Reward: 1 pity skill point.
Aya stared. "...Oh, you son of a—" she hissed through clenched mandibles, only to stop herself from screaming because death, in the form of scales and fangs, was still doing donuts outside her rocky hidey-hole.
She took a slow breath. Tried to inch deeper into the crack—and that's when she noticed it.
Her legs were longer.Her body thicker.Her mandibles were SHARP ENOUGH TO CARVE A NAME INTO A TREE.
"...Wait a second. Wait just a larva-lickin' second. DID I GREW BIGGER AFTER LEVELING UP WHILE PANICKING?!"
She tried to shift again—and promptly collapsed like a soggy folding chair.
"NO NO NO, I WAS PERFECT AS I WAS!" she whisper-screamed, flailing in slow-motion. "I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS! I DIDN'T WANT TO BE BIGGER!"
Apparently, puberty came fast and hard in the monster world. One moment you're a small, manageable, sass-powered ant. The next, you're a chunky-legged kaiju baby who can't even crawl straight without hitting your face on the floor.
And then—like a fairy godmother with terrible timing—
DING!
[New System Function Unlocked: Skill Shop]
Aya blinked. Froze. Blinked again.
"Wait. Wait. WAIT. Did I just unlock actual powers?! Can I—hold on, HOLD ON—can I FINALLY be cool?!"
She yanked open the new menu like a starving gremlin at a vending machine.
[Skill Shop Menu]
SkillCost (Skill Points)
Fire Magic-5000
Flight10000Godlike Strength-99999
Slightly Faster Crawling-55
Mildly Better Digging-30
Aya stared. Long. Hard.
"...You're telling me I need to sell my soul and grind until I'm a senior citizen just to shoot a spark? But I can… crawl slightly faster? Oh wow. Oh. Wow."
DING!
[Yes.]
She snarled. "I HATE THIS SYSTEM. YOU'RE A SCAM ARTIST MASQUERADING AS A GAME MECHANIC."
With a glorious sigh of defeat, she tallied her humble 300 points—the sum total of her trauma, near-death experiences, and one awkward encounter with a BLOWING UP mushroom—and made her selections.
[Skill Purchased: Toxic Bite LV1] – Because poison is a poor girl's flamethrower.[Skill Purchased: Hardened Mandibles LV1] – For all your monster-chomping needs.[Skill Purchased: HP Recovery Boost LV1] – Because bandaids don't exist.
"Wow," she muttered, sarcastically clapping her claws. "I blew my entire life savings and came out with mosquito fangs, iron teeth, and a healing factor that works when it feels like it. AMAZING."
But she couldn't deny it—Toxic Bite was promising. And HP Recovery? That was practically a cheat code in this world where everything wanted to make her its crunchy afternoon snack. Maybe—just maybe—she could survive this dump long enough to become slightly less pathetic.
Then came the hiss.
The long, spine-curdling sssshhhhhrk of scales against stone.
Aya froze. Slowly turned.
The snake was still there.
Lurking. Watching. Plotting.
"...I am never catching a break, am I?"
Somewhere deep in the cosmos, the System chuckled.
And Aya?Aya sighed."Alright, you scaly bastard. Round two. Let's see if venom makes you gag."
Aya's antennae were doing their best impression of a car alarm—full-on twitch mode. Across the rocky floor, the snake's eyes locked onto her like two death lasers forged from cold-blooded spite. Her every neuron screamed: DANGER DANGER DANGER! But her body? Yeah, still wedged awkwardly in a rock like a dollar-store action figure.
Aya: "Alright, brain. Time to shine. What's the plan?"Brain: "PANIC."Aya: "Wow. So inspiring. Just full of wisdom today."
between all that sound she was making, the snake found her location.
The snake lunged like a meat missile with teeth. Aya squeaked and flailed out of her crevice like a trash bug on caffeine. Fangs slammed into the dirt inches behind her.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:[Survival Tip #1: Avoid being bitten.]
Aya: "OH, REALLY? I WAS GONNA CUDDLE IT NEXT!"
The snake recoiled, hissing like a sentient espresso machine. Its tongue flicked the air. That was when Aya spotted it—a lonely stalactite hanging above the snake. Sharp. Jagged. Probably the OSHA violation of this dungeon.
Aya: "That… looks pointy. That's my whole plan now."
She needed to lure the snake right under it. Which meant she had to do the stupidest thing imaginable: trash talk a predator.
Aya (shouting): "HEY, SCALES-FOR-BRAINS! YOUR MOTHER WAS A BELT!"
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:[Touting hostile creatures is not a good idea.]
Aya: "AND YET HERE WE ARE."
The snake took that personally. It hissed and charged like a slithering bullet of vengeance. Aya screamed and ran, legs windmilling in full-blown existential terror.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:[Survival Tip #2: If you stop running, you will die.]
Aya: "THANKS, SYSTEM! YOUR SUPPORT MEANS NOTHING!"
She reached the stalactite zone, dove, slid, and twisted just as the snake struck—fangs narrowly missing her antennae. The snake was right under the rock. Perfect! Almost. The stalactite didn't fall.
Aya: "Of COURSE it didn't! Because why would anything ever be EASY?!"
She scrambled up the wall, mandibles clicking as she tried to dig and wiggle the rock loose like a desperate rodent in a claw machine.
Aya: "COME ON, COME ON—FALL, YOU STABBY CEILING THING!"
The snake hissed, coiled, lunged. Its gaping maw zoomed toward her like a portable grave. Aya, shrieking, chomped down on the stone with everything she had.
CRACK!
The stalactite fell!…Right on the snake's tail.
Aya: "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I GET ONE SHOT AND I TAG ITS TAIL BUTT?!"
The snake let out a shriek like a kettle possessed by demons. It thrashed and turned, tail bleeding, eyes now boiling with pure hate. Aya's life flashed before her. Mostly it was her getting stepped on, running in circles, and yelling at the system.
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:[Survival Tip #3: Wounding an enemy does not mean they stop trying to kill you.]
Aya: "I SWEAR I'M GONNA DELETE YOU!"
With nothing left but pure spite, she leapt off the rock, onto the snake's head, and bit it. Hard. Like, full chomp mode. Panic-powered mandibles of doom.
Silence.
Then—
SNAKE:HHHHRREEEEEEEEEE!!!
It thrashed. It rolled. It screamed like someone stepped on its soul. And then… it collapsed. Dead. Still. Aya stood on its skull, mandibles still embedded, eyes wide in disbelief.
Aya: "…Did I just WIN?!"
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION:[Congratulations! You have defeated: (???) Unnamed Serpent!][EXP Gained! Level Up!][Skills Leveled Up! Skill Points Gained!]
Aya: "You're telling me… panic biting… is my strongest move?! WHAT KIND OF HERO ARC IS THIS?!"
But fate wasn't done being rude.
CRACK.
Aya: "Wait. What was that—?"
CRUMBLE. SNAP. WHOOSH.
The floor beneath her gave way. Gravity grabbed her like a possessive ex.
Aya: "NOT AGAAAAAIN—!"
She plummeted, screaming, flailing, falling into yet another chapter of absolute, unstoppable nonsense.