Adam pressed his back against the cold, damp wall of the cave, his knees pulled tight to his chest.
His heart hammered so loud he was afraid whatever was coming would hear it.
He didn't move... and he didn't want to breathe louder than necessary.
he just watched that single entrance; the narrow crack about fifty feet away where the sickly green glow from the fungi dimmed into pure black.
Something scraped there. It was slow and sneaky.
Its claws sounded on stone, not really hurried, but heavy enough to instill fear. Like weight being shifted with purpose.
Then it appeared.
A lizard...
Except no lizard Adam had ever seen on Earth looked like that.
It was the size of a mature crocodile, or maybe longer. With thick, greenish scales that shimmered wetly under the bioluminescent light, like oil on water.
Yellow eyes slit vertically, glowing faintly, and unblinking.
It's jaws parted just enough to show rows of jagged, uneven teeth; some broken, and some stained dark.
A long tail dragged behind it, tipped with a bony club that scraped the ground with every step.
The red panel flashed in his Adam's vision again.
[Cave Lizard]
[Level 5]
[Beware of venom]
Adam's mouth went dry from the information. 'Level 5...? I'm just level 1. And it's warning me about venom.'
The thing paused at the entrance, its head tilting and its nostrils flaring.
It sniffed the air around there. Before its yellow eyes locked onto the small figure huddled against the wall. On Adam.
Adam's stomach dropped as they're eyes met. 'It can see me... It probably thinks I'm food.'
He forced himself to move, with his fingers scrabbled across the cave floor until they closed around a sharp shard of rock—jagged, about the length of his forearm, one end naturally pointed like a crude knife.
It would have to do.
He stood, but his legs were shaking. His grip was tight on the rock.
Then the lizard hissed, low and wet, vibrating in Adam's chest.
And the monster began to move.
Not really a charge, not a lunge, but just… sudden silent slither.
Still, despite this seeming slow motion, one second it was twenty feet away, the next its jaws were snapping shut inches from his face.
Adam screamed and swung the rock shard wildly.
But he missed.
The lizard's head whipped sideways and its teeth clamped down on his left shoulder, and pain exploded there; a burning and tearing pain, as bone grinded against bone.
The monster shook him like a rag doll, and Adam's body slammed into the ground—once, twice—then into the wall.
The stone cracked against his spine, and his left arm twisted at a sickening angle as something popped there.
[HP: 40/50]
[HP: 30/50]
[HP: 31/50]
[HP: 27/50]
[HP: 20/50]
[HP: 12/50]
The numbers ticked down in his vision like a cruel countdown. Adam understood what would happen if it reached "0."
Venom burned through his veins, like liquid fire spreading from the bite, numbing then scorching every nerve it touched.
His vision blurred at the edges, as the lizard kept thrashing him, smashing him again and again, using him to batter the cave floor like it was tenderizing meat.
'I'm... going to die.' His thought was calm, and nearly detached, 'not even fully five minutes in this world and I'm already dead...'
The lizard soon paused, just for a heartbeat, to readjust its grip. But it realized something: Adam had gonecompletely limp.
He had stopped struggling, and stopped breathing, making his body hang like a boneless ham in the monster's jaws.
The Lizaed hissed softly but uncertain, and the violent shaking slowed down. The pressure on his shoulder eased a fraction.
In that tiny window of hesitation—
Adam snapped his good arm up immediately and drove the rock shard straight into the soft spot under the lizard's jaw, where scales gave way to thinner flesh.
The point punched through, as warm blood sprayed across Adam's face and chest.
RAAARRR!
The lizard roared, a guttural and horrifying sound, and thrashed harder than before.
But Adam didn't let go.
He wrapped both arms around the lower half of its thick neck, hugging it tight against his body like a lover, pinning the thrashing head close so it couldn't bite another part of him.
Though, his broken left arm still in the mouth of the beast throbbed in pain, but he ignored it. He squeezed with everything he had, and soon, the lizard bucked.
It rolled, then slammed him into the walls, its tail whipping wildly, cracking stone.
Adam still held on.
Blood, his and the monster's, mixed on the floor, as the thrashing grew weaker and weaker.
Until—
The body went slack.
A long hiss escaped its throat, more air than sound.
Then silence...
[Cave Lizard defeated]
[Reward: Poison Resistance LV1 acquired]
The red panel updated instantly.
[HP: 50/50]
[STR: 10]
[VIT: 12]
[AGI: 15]
[SPEED: 10]
[DEX: 30]
[INT: 50]
[WIS: 20]
[LUCK: 8]
After noting the stats, Adam collapsed.
He hit the ground hard, gasping, his left arm swollen to twice its size, purple-black from venom and trauma.
Every inch of him ached, as his vision swam.
But then… the pain began to fade.
Not slowly, but unnaturally quick. Like someone turning down a dial.
He looked at his arm to see the swelling receding before his eyes. The bruises lightening, the tooth punctures sealing, and those scratches vanishing into nothing more than slight scars. Even the broken bone inside felt… whole now.
He flexed his fingers, and he felt no more pain.
"Wow…" he whispered with a hoarse voice. "It really worked… My whacky plan truly worked! I'm alive!"
GRUMBLE.
His stomach growled loudly; insistent and painful.
"Ugh, I'm suddenly so hungry…"
He glanced at the dead lizard, the scales still glistening as blood pooled under its head. Its jaws were slack, and its teeth red.
"This lizard doesn't look edible at all," he muttered, turning his face away. "And it's poisonous too… Maybe I should go out and find something else..."
So he pushed himself to his feet, his legs wobbling, but stronger than before somewhat.
The new power he got from defeating the moster was thrumming under his skin like a power generator.
He looked back at the corpse of the woman, his mother, even though he never knew her as one.
"I'll be back real soon," he said softly. "I got to check out something edible before I join you in that eternal sleep."
Then he turned toward the narrow exit/ entrance and stepped through.
And he emerged into the true belly of the 490th level of the Labyrinth of Armageddon.
The air changed instantly; thicker and colder, heavier with the smell of old blood and something gone bad.
Massive stalagmites rose like teeth from the floor. Distant roars echoed from unseen tunnels. Faint red light pulsed from cracks in the ceiling far, far above, as if the whole place breathed.
Something moved in the shadows to his left.
Then to his right.
When he jolted and flinched, the shadow ran back into darkness.
Adam immediately regretted it: regretted coming out here.