[Evolution Confirmed: Venom-Tipped Shadow Spider]
[Commencing Metamorphosis…]
Agony bloomed like wildfire through my nerves. Every limb convulsed. My carapace splintered, molted, and reformed, layer upon layer of obsidian chitin hardening over my fragile shell. I screamed—though no human voice emerged. Only a rasping hiss, sharp and guttural, filled the tunnels.
My legs lengthened, joints bending backward at unnatural angles. I felt something coil deep in my abdomen—glands swelling with venom. It wasn't just fluid. It was death distilled into a liquid promise.
The dark no longer felt like blindness. It was a cloak I could weave around myself.
[Evolution Complete.]
[New Form: Venom-Tipped Shadow Spider]
[Base Stats Increased.]
[New Skills Unlocked:]
• Shadow Meld I — Blend into darkness when motionless.
• Venom Gland II — Secrete neurotoxin capable of paralytic effect.
• Ambush Strike I — Deal bonus damage on first strike from stealth.
I uncoiled from the silk cocoon, reborn.
Sleeker. Deadlier.
And I was no longer alone.
The first intruder came from the western crevice—a dire cave rat, larger than any of the insects I'd devoured before. Its fur was matted with old blood, eyes glassy but alert. It moved low and quick, tail lashing behind it like a whip.
I watched from the ceiling, body flattened against the rock, suspended by a single whisper-thin strand of silk.
[Dungeon Alert: Foreign Entity Detected.]
My breath stilled. The world slowed.
The rat sniffed the air once. Twice. Then lunged—straight toward a pile of bones left as bait.
Now.
I dropped.
My body plunged from above in perfect silence, and as I fell, my fangs extended, glistening with translucent venom.
Impact.
I landed on its back with a satisfying crunch. Its squeal of alarm echoed—but I was already biting. The fangs punched through hide and muscle, injecting poison directly into its spinal column.
It bucked. Twisted. Its claws flailed wildly, slicing across my flank. I felt chitin crack—hot, stinging pain flaring—but I held.
[Skill Activated: Venom Gland II]
[Effect: Target paralysed.]
Its twitching slowed. The light behind its eyes dulled, drowning in the venom now flowing through its bloodstream like ink in water. I clamped tighter, mandibles grinding through bone.
It took twenty-two seconds to die.
[Dire Cave Rat devoured. 2 Soul Fragments obtained.]
[Wound sustained: Minor. Repair ongoing.]
I crawled off the corpse, body low, breath slowing. My flank throbbed where its claws had struck—three gashes, shallow but deep enough to ooze.
I licked the blood from my leg, tasting iron and rot. Then I skittered back into the shadows.
The second fight was less forgiving.
It wasn't a beast this time.
It was a man.
I didn't know how he got this deep. Perhaps a lost adventurer, perhaps a scavenger bold enough to enter the dungeon alone. He was armored in chainmail, bent and rusted, and carried a short sword dulled from neglect. But his eyes—burned with fury.
I clung to the wall above as he staggered into my territory, dragging a torch behind him. The light bit into my darkness like a knife.
"Damn place… nothing but webs," he grunted. His voice was rough. Low. The kind of man who'd killed before.
His torch caught on one of my outer threads. He turned—sword raised.
A mistake.
I moved.
I shot downward at an angle, silk trailing behind me in a spiraling arc. He turned just in time to parry—but I didn't aim for his chest.
[Skill Activated: Ambush Strike I]
I struck his arm—fangs snapping forward, embedding in the soft flesh above his wrist where armor gave way. He screamed, dropping the torch. It clattered to the floor, flames sputtering.
His sword arm spasmed—then froze.
The venom took hold.
"You bastard—!"
He swung with his off-hand, a dagger flashing from his belt. The blade caught my thorax, slicing a line down my side. Hot agony burst through me. I reeled back, legs scraping against stone. He lunged, desperate to finish it.
But I was faster.
I spun silk mid-air, firing a thread to the ceiling, then yanked myself up just beyond his reach. The torch flickered. Shadows danced.
He looked around, blood dripping from his arm. "Where—where are you—"
I dropped again.
This time, I aimed for his throat.
[Critical Hit. Target incapacitated.]
The fangs slid into his neck like butter. A wet gurgle echoed as he fell backward, limbs twitching.
Then silence.
[Human Adventurer devoured. 3 Soul Fragments obtained.]
[Foreign Weapon Retrieved: Rusted Short Sword]
[Dungeon Knowledge Expanded: Human Anatomy | Weapon Types]
[Wound sustained: Moderate. Repair ongoing.]
I pulled myself off his cooling corpse and retreated into the shadows, dragging the sword with me using a silk tether. It might be rusted and broken—but its steel could be repurposed. The Dungeon Core would drink from it, reshape it into something new.
For now, though, I rested.
My body ached. Scars ran along my side. But my mind was sharper. My skills, honed. Every fight taught me not just how to kill—but how to survive smarter.
I crawled back to the heart of the dungeon—my nest, now layered with reinforced webbing, the bones of intruders threaded into the very walls like morbid décor. The Core pulsed gently in the center, awaiting command.
[Dungeon Level: 2]
[New Feature Unlocked: Trap Design I]
[Resource Inventory Updated.]
My evolution had only just begun.
And the world would come for me soon.
Let them come.
Let them bleed