The sound was sharp enough to make my fur stand on end.
For a second neither of us moved. The only thing between us was heat, dust, and the slow grind of its mandibles.
Pale, bone-white plates covered its body, ridged and uneven, like armor grown from something else's skeleton.
My heart pounded so loud I swore it could hear it. Every instinct screamed run, but my legs weren't listening. The thing wasn't charging—it was studying me. Measuring. Its antennae flicked again, tasting the air like it was already deciding which part of me to start with.
Not good. Not good at all.
If I moved wrong, those jaws would snap me in half. I needed to know what kind of giant bug I was dealing with.
[Appraisal]
[Status]
Species: Gnawmite Worker
Level: 6/10
HP: 105 | MP: –
Stats: Vit – D- | Str – D- | End – D | Agi – E | Int – F | Wis – F | Lck – E-
Skills: [Mandible Shear Lv.8], [Pack Tactics Lv.4], [Pheromone Ping Lv.1], [Burrow Lv.3], [Tremor Sense Lv.2]
Bestiary: Worker caste of a mid-tier eusocial burrower native to the Grandforest; reinforces its chitin with mineralized bone from prey, forming dense, saw-edged plating. Operates under pheromonal command from a central queen.
W-What was with those stats!? This thing makes the Forest Snake look like nothing!
And does it say this thing wears bones?
That wasn't armor—it was a wardrobe of corpses!
Every plate on its body had come from something dead. Probably a lot of somethings.
I swallowed hard. The air suddenly felt too thick, too warm.
Okay. Okay, don't panic. Level six out of ten—that means it was technically weaker than me.
Except my health was all but gone.
…Just great. Wonderful really.
Its mandibles clicked again, slow and deliberate. Each sound felt like a countdown.
My mind raced. No way I could take that thing head-on, not like this.
I needed distance, cover, anything.
The brush rustled. Two more shapes slipped out beside it.
They spread out in a half-circle, antennae flicking like they were drawing an invisible net.
My stomach dropped.
Oh, come on.
One step back. They mirrored it.
Another step. They tightened formation, mandibles clicking in rhythm.
Not random. Not animals. Formation.
I swallowed.
Okay. Not rats. Definitely not rats.
The middle one surged forward, mandibles wide.
I dodged on instinct — dirt spraying — but the others were already cutting to my flanks.
Left. Right. Angles covered.
They were herding me.
Don't like this. Don't like this one bit.
One of them hissed — a sound like a kettle shrieking — and flicked its antennae toward me. A pulse of something invisible rolled across the clearing, making my fur stand on end.
[Pheromone Ping detected.]
My nose wrinkled. The air changed. Heavy, sticky, like oil on water.
Oh god, were they…talking with each other?
The two on the flanks shifted again, each circling wider, their paths weaving like a net being drawn tight.
Every time I tried to angle toward a gap, one blocked me — antennae flick, mandibles click.
They weren't just attacking. They were coordinating.
I crouched lower, horn forward, heart hammering.
If they lunged together, I'd be shredded.
Think. Think. Come on—
One more feint to the left. No gap.
A jump to the right. No gap.
They adjusted instantly, antennae twitching like puppeteers pulling strings.
The sunlight beat down on my back — hot, oppressive. My shadow stretched long across the grass.
And then I noticed it: the way their antennae recoiled when the light glinted off my horn.
Photosensitive.
A spark lit behind my eyes.
Light.
I yanked open the skills menu.
Come on, come on…I know you're in here somewhere—aha!
[Flash Horn] - Amplify ambient light through your horn and release it in a sudden burst. Blinds and disorients nearby enemies for a short duration. Effectiveness depends on available light.
Yes!
[Skill Acquired: Flash Horn Lv.1]
A spike of white-hot pain lanced through my skull. I winced, hissing.
Okay—ow–not now—ow—
I planted my feet, squared my stance.
Please work.
[Flash Horn]
Light exploded from my horn. The world went white.
The Gnawmites shrieked — a horrible screeching choir — their antennae thrashing, limbs flailing.
Formation shattered. Perfect.
I burst through the gap with a [Hop Step], the world whipping past in a blur.
Then a [Greater Hop] carried me out of the clearing, and I crashed into a bush at its edge.
Branches slapped my sides as I rolled, gasping for air. Then I dropped low and slipped into [stealth], melting into the dark between the leaves.
My form dimmed, outline blurring into the grass and leaves. My heartbeat thundered, but I forced myself to freeze.
Out in the clearing, the Gnawmites stumbled in tight circles, chittering in confusion.
When the glow finally faded, they regrouped — still blind, twitching.
They found the serpent's corpse instead. Sniffed it. Then the bird's.
And without a glance for me, they picked both clean off the ground, mandibles closing around the spoils, and marched single file into the green.
Gone.
I didn't breathe until the last rustle faded.
Then I exhaled, long and shaky.
Okay. That… that was actually kind of genius.
[Skill: Greater Hop Lv.1 → Lv.2]
[Skill: Stealth Lv.3 → Lv.4]
[Attribute: Vitality F → F+]
[Attribute: Wisdom E- → E]
I almost laughed. Almost.
Then I turned toward the path. "Enough adventure for one—"
A chill hit me mid-step.
Cold. Not physical — deeper. Like the warmth was being pulled out of me.
Every hair stood on end. My lungs locked.
My paws froze in place, muscles refusing to move.
And then came the pressure.
It rolled over me like a wave — heavy, suffocating, impossible to breathe through.
Every nerve screamed the same command: Don't move.
My body knew before my mind did: I was prey.
My gaze crept toward the source
A tree.
Split down the middle with rot.
And in the gap behind it something…moved.
Then I heard it again.
Breathing.
Slow, ragged, wrong.
Not animal. Not human.
Each inhale was quick and sharp, each exhale trembling with — excitement?
And under it — hell, there was that laugh. A rasping, human-laughing sound buried under the growl.
…hhuhhuhhuh…
I clamped my jaw shut, and closed my eyes.
The weight pressed harder, squeezing the air from my chest. My legs trembled under it, muscles quivering from strain.
I tried not to move. Tried not to breathe.
But then—
my hind leg twitched. Just once. A reflex. A mistake.
The pressure sharpened instantly, zeroing in on me like a blade finding its mark.
[Alert: You have been targeted by an Instant Death skill.]
The world collapsed.
Killing intent slammed into me — tangible, suffocating, claws sinking into my chest. My heart hammered, pain blooming like lightning.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Could only feel death crawling closer—
[Passive: Death Ward — effect triggered.]
[Instant Death negated.]
[HP reduced to 1.]
I gasped. The world went white. I swore something ripped through me — claws of nothing that tore every nerve raw — but somehow, I was still standing.
Barely.
Pain detonated through my skull. Fire raced down my spine, every inch of my body spasming.
No time to think. No time to look back.
I ran.
Branches whipped my face, dirt sprayed from my paws, the forest blurring around me. My lungs screamed, vision warping, black creeping at the edges.
The burrow appeared — salvation — and I all but fell into it, collapsing against the dirt floor.
The world tilted. My pulse pounded once, twice—
Then the System flickered.
[Title Acquired: Marked.]
[Title Acquired: Defiant.]
[Title Acquired: Fractured.]
And everything went dark.