You Fucked Up Now

My plan was simple.

Find a weak species. Slaughter them all.

Through this, I'd gain experience. Strengthen my body. Maybe even evolve my stats.

After enduring that agonizing encounter with the manticore, I noticed something.

My body didn't just heal.

It adapted.

Every time I was mutilated—torn apart and put back together—my body didn't just return to its original state.

It improved.

Muscles regenerated stronger. Bones mended tougher.

It wasn't some mystical healing—it was natural enhancement, accelerated beyond human limits.

Which meant...

There were two ways to get stronger:

1. Find a weaker species and massacre them.

2. Let a stronger enemy kill me over and over until my body adapted.

Either way, I would grow. Faster. Stronger. Much, much faster.

A grin stretched across my face.

"This is going to be fun."

...

Days passed.

This godforsaken desert stretched endlessly, its dunes rising and falling like waves frozen in time.

Yet—I found nothing.

Not a single living thing.

Even that damned manticore never returned.

I didn't know how far I had traveled, but by my count, it had been four days.

For food, I found cactus fruits—small, strawberry-shaped, and oddly sweet. Almost like candy.

They kept me alive. Water? The fruit's juices were enough.

Whether they were poisonous or not didn't matter.

My body was tough enough to handle it.

Everything had been going too smoothly.

And yet, the emptiness of this desert...

It gnawed at me.

There was no life. No creatures to hunt.

No prey to massacre.

It pissed me off.

Was my only option to hunt down that manticore after all?

If I couldn't find prey, then I'd let a predator mutilate me instead.

I was more than willing to be beaten to near-death if it meant growing strong enough to return the favor.

Rustle!

My thoughts snapped.

Something moved.

I froze.

The sound was faint—but I focused, scanning my surroundings.

It was beneath me.

Bang!

The ground exploded.

A worm-like creature shot out, its mouth a circular nightmare of jagged teeth.

It lunged.

Instinct took over.

I kicked.

My foot slammed into its disgusting face.

The force hurled it out of the ground.

It landed with a thud, twitching violently in the sand.

That's when I finally got a good look at it.

It was about four feet long, with a cylindrical, slimy body and rugged, dark skin. Its tail coiled like a snake, and its marble-sized black eyes were glossy and vacant.

Pathetic.

The moment it hit the ground, its body convulsed, writhing as it desperately tried to dig back underground.

Too late.

I grabbed its tail and swung it like a damn fan.

BAM!

I slammed it into the ground.

It twitched once—then went completely limp.

Mucus leaked from its eyes. Drool dribbled from its gaping maw.

Unconscious.

Weak.

I exhaled, shaking off the excitement.

So this was it? This was the kind of mob species I was going to grind?

I frowned.

"Too easy."

The disappointment barely had time to settle before—

AGONY.

Something pierced my foot.

A sharp, needle-like stab.

I jerked my leg, and another one of those worms was latched onto me—smaller but identical.

Its jagged teeth burrowed into my flesh, and then—

[ Host is being injected with neurotoxic venom. ]

[ Host is currently paralyzed. ]

WHAT?!

Before I could even process it—

Thud.

I collapsed.

No struggle. No resistance.

Instantaneous paralysis.

I could still feel everything.

I could still think.

But my body?

Useless.

The moment I hit the sand—

Dozens of them burst from the ground.

Their glossy black eyes stared hungrily.

And then—

They swarmed me.

...

The first bite sent a jolt of sharp, concentrated pain up my spine.

The second?

Agony.

The third?

Torture.

By the tenth, I couldn't even count them anymore.

Tiny, jagged teeth tore into my flesh, ripping me apart piece by piece.

It was like being stabbed by hundreds of rusty needles all at once.

It was slow.

Too slow.

If it had been instantaneous, I wouldn't have had time to process it.

But these creatures?

They were eating me alive.

I felt every nerve rupture.

Every muscle severed.

Every drop of blood drained.

I wanted to scream.

I wanted to thrash.

But my body wouldn't move.

I was fully aware, trapped inside a corpse that hadn't realized it was dead yet.

They kept eating.

And eating.

And eating.

They chewed through my skin.

They burrowed into my arms.

They ripped my stomach open.

I lost count of how many times I should have died.

But then—

Something changed.

At first, I barely noticed it—too lost in the pain.

But then—

A system notification flickered into my mind.

[ Chaos Embryonic Core saturation increased. ]

[ Host has gained resistance to neurotoxic venom. ]

[ Paralysis removed. ]

My body twitched.

Oh.

Oh, you fucked up now.

A slow, dark grin spread across my face.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity—

I moved.

And then?

I killed.