The rain came on the third day.
Aya had been making slow, agonizing progress through the forest, her reattached arm still throbbing with every step. The Steel Suture had done its job—her Healing Factor was working properly now, knitting bone and nerve back together. But it was slow. So painfully slow.
[HP: 27/100]
[HEALING FACTOR: PROGRESS 43%]
[ARM FUNCTIONALITY: 60% RESTORED]
A quarter of her health. Enough to move. Not enough to fight anything serious.
She was going in a direction she believed to be toward the village, but for some strange reason. This part of the forest had so many insects!
The insect monsters had been a problem from the start.
The first one, she came across was a Razorwing Mantis, it had ambushed her from a tree branch. Level 12, it was about as big as a human being, its scythe like arms glinting with an unnatural metallic sheen. Aya had barely dodged the first strike, rolling awkwardly with her still-healing arm tucked against her chest.
[APPRAISAL ACTIVATED]
[RAZORWING MANTIS - LEVEL 12]
[SKILLS: Blade Edge, Camouflage, Lunge Strike]
[HP: 340/340]
She'd killed it eventually, using her good arm and desperation. Quadra Emperor Style flowing clumsily, her movements hampered by injury. But she'd won.
[ENEMY DEFEATED: RAZORWING MANTIS]
[EXP GAINED: 450]
[LEVEL UP! LEVEL 23 → 24]
The experience had been intoxicating. A reminder that even broken, she could still grow stronger.
More had come. A Venom Beetle the size of a dog. A Thornback Centipede that had poisoned her before she'd crushed its head with a rock. Each fight was brutal, inefficient, but necessary. The poison was eventually counteracted by her poison resistance but not before it ate at her HP a little.
She though for a moment, "I have no idea where I'm going. I need to get my bearings." She climbed a nearby large rock formation.
By the time the rain started, she was level 26 and running on fumes. She didn't have the energy to run after prey. So she was slowly dying of starvation.
The downpour came suddenly, as if the sky had simply opened up and decided to drown the world. Within minutes, Aya was soaked through, shivering, her visibility reduced to mere feet.
I need shelter. Now.
Through the sheets of rain, she spotted it, a dark opening in the mountainside. A cave, half-hidden by overgrown vines.
Aya stumbled toward it, nearly falling twice on the slick rocks. The cave mouth yawned before her, and she ducked inside gratefully.
The relief was immediate. The sound of rain became muffled, distant. Water dripped from her hair, her clothes, pooling at her feet. She leaned against the cave wall, breathing hard.
[HP: 25/100]
[STATUS: COLD, EXHAUSTED, RECOVERING]
The cave stretched deeper into darkness. Aya summoned a small flame in her palm—one of the basic spells Tessa had taught her all those years ago. The flickering light revealed rough stone walls, moisture glistening on surfaces, and...
Movement.
Aya's hand dropped to the knife she'd stolen from a dead guard. The blade was chipped, barely functional, but it was all she had.
From the darkness emerged a creature that made her ant memories stir uncomfortably.
[APPRAISAL ACTIVATED]
[CARAPACE ROACH - LEVEL 8]
[SKILLS: Armor Plating, Scuttle, Disease Cloud]
[HP: 280/280]
It was the size of a small pig, its shell gleaming an oily black in her flame-light. Multiple legs clicked against stone as it advanced, mandibles working.
Aya sighed. "Hell nah. I'm scared of normal sized cockroaches. Why are you so damn big???"
The fight was quick, brutal. Her Quadra Emperor Style adapted for her one working handa low sweep to flip it onto its back, exposing the softer underside. Her knife plunged down, once, twice, until the notification came.
[ENEMY DEFEATED: CARAPACE ROACH]
[EXP GAINED: 290]
She then pressed deeper into the cave. The rain wasn't stopping, and she needed to find a dry spot to rest properly.
But as she walked, something else caught her attention.
A sound. Faint. Distant.
"—help... please... someone..."
Aya froze. A voice. Human.
An adventurer? This far out?
The logical part of her brain screamed to ignore it. She was injured, exhausted, barely functional. Whoever was calling for help was likely already dead or dying, and getting involved would only—
"Please... gods... anyone..."
Damn it.
Aya tightened her grip on her knife and moved toward the sound.
The cave descended gradually, the air growing cooler and damper. More insect monsters appeared—a cluster of Stoneshell Beetles, a lone Tunneling Grub that tried to ambush her from the ceiling. She killed them all, methodically, her experience bar climbing.
[LEVEL UP! LEVEL 26 → 27]
The voice grew louder, more desperate. But also... weaker. Fading.
"Help... it's... eating..."
Aya broke into a run, her injured arm protesting but functional enough. The cave opened into a larger chamber, and that's when she saw it.
[APPRAISAL ACTIVATED]
[ELDER ARACHNID - LEVEL 34]
[SKILLS: Web Snare, Venom Fang, Exoskeleton, Tremor Sense, Crushing Grip]
[HP: 2,100/2,100]
The spider was massive—easily the size of a car, its eight legs spanning the width of the chamber. Its body was a mottled gray-black, covered in coarse hairs that bristled as it moved. And in its mandibles, wrapped in thick webbing, was a man.
The adventurer was still alive. Barely. His eyes rolled toward Aya, pleading, as the spider's fangs pierced deeper into the cocoon.
"H-help..."
Aya's mind raced. Level 34. Seven levels above her. Her HP at quarter strength. One arm still healing.
I should run. This is suicide.
But the man's eyes...
Damn it. Damn it all.
She charged.
"HEY! Eight-legged bastard! Over here!"
The Elder Arachnid's multiple eyes swiveled toward her. It released the adventurer—who slumped to the ground, gasping—and turned its full attention to this new threat.
Aya threw her knife. It bounced uselessly off the creature's exoskeleton.
Right. Okay. Improvise.
The spider lunged with horrifying speed. Aya dove sideways, her shoulder screaming as she rolled across stone. One of its legs stabbed down where she'd been standing, cracking rock.
[SKILL ACTIVATION: QUADRA EMPEROR STYLE - FLOWING RIVER]
She slid beneath its body, striking upward at joints where the exoskeleton was thinner. Her fist connected—barely did any damage, but it made the creature rear back.
A mistake.
The spider's leg swept out faster than she could track. It caught her in the ribs, lifting her off her feet and slamming her into the cave floor.
[HP: 18/100]
[DAMAGE: SEVERE BLUNT TRAUMA]
[RIBS: 3 FRACTURED]
Aya gasped, tasting blood. The world spun. Through blurred vision, she saw the spider advancing, mandibles clicking.
She tried to stand. Her legs wouldn't cooperate.
Move. MOVE.
The spider loomed over her. She could see her reflection in its cluster of eyes—a broken girl who'd bitten off far more than she could chew.
Its leg rose, ready to impale—
And then the floor gave way.
The sound was catastrophic. A rumbling that started deep in the earth and surged upward. The stone beneath them cracked, spiderwebbed, then collapsed.
Aya and the Elder Arachnid fell together into darkness.
She had enough time to think: Oh. This is how I die. Again.
The fall lasted forever and no time at all.
Stone rushed past. The spider's legs flailed, trying to find purchase. Aya tumbled end over end, her body already broken, each impact against the walls making things worse.
Then—
CRASH.
She landed on something. Something that crunched and gave way beneath her.
The Elder Arachnid. She'd landed on the spider.
It didn't help much.
[HP: 3/100]
[CRITICAL DAMAGE: MULTIPLE FRACTURES DETECTED]
[LEFT LEG: BROKEN]
[RIGHT ARM: RE-DAMAGED]
[RIBS: 5 BROKEN]
[INTERNAL BLEEDING: MODERATE]
[WARNING: IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION REQUIRED]
Aya couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. Could barely think through the tsunami of pain.
Beneath her, the Elder Arachnid twitched feebly. The fall had shattered it, too. But unlike Aya, it was still conscious enough to try fighting.
Its mandibles snapped weakly at her. One leg jerked, cutting her shoulder.
Then the chamber exploded with movement.
They came from everywhere—tunnels in the walls, cracks in the floor. Dozens of them. Hundreds.
Ants.
But not like the ants Aya remembered from her first life. These were massive—even the smallest workers were six inches long, their bodies gleaming with a crystalline sheen that caught the faint bioluminescent fungus growing on the walls.
[APPRAISAL ACTIVATED]
[MINERAL ANT - WORKER TYPE A - LEVEL 5]
[SKILLS: BURROWING, DIGGING, DILIGENT WORKER]
[HP: 120/120]
[MINERAL ANT - WORKER TYPE B - LEVEL 6]
[SKILLS: MINING, COLLECTING, DILIGENT WORKER]
[HP: 110/110]
They swarmed past Aya—through her—as if she didn't exist. Their antennae twitched, their mandibles clicked, but none of them paid her any attention.
[PASSIVE SKILL ACTIVE: HIVE BREAKER]
[EFFECT: INVISIBLE TO HIVE SYSTEMS]
[DURATION: 4 HOURS 17 MINUTES REMAINING]
[MANA COST: 2 MP/MINUTE]
The ants converged on the Elder Arachnid.
The spider, despite its injuries, fought. Venom sprayed. Legs kicked. But it was outnumbered and broken.
Then the soldiers arrived.
[MINERAL ANT - SOLDIER TYPE A - LEVEL 21]
[SKILLS: POISON, POWERFUL BITE, HARD EXOSKELETON, DILIGENT WORKER]
[HP: 680/680]
These were three feet long, their mandibles like curved swords. They tore into the spider with mechanical efficiency, ripping legs from joints, puncturing the softer abdomen, injecting venom that made the creature seize and foam.
The Elder Arachnid's death scream was a chittering, hissing thing that echoed through the chamber.
Then it was silent.
The soldier ants began dismembering the corpse, carrying pieces deeper into the tunnel network. The workers returned to their tasks—some expanding tunnels, others hauling chunks of glowing ore.
And Aya, lying in a spreading pool of her own blood, watched it all with a sense of surreal déjà vu.
I'm in an ant hive. Again.
She wanted to laugh. Or cry. She wasn't sure which.
Her vision was dimming. The pain was fading into numbness—not a good sign. Her HP was at 3. Any lower and she'd start losing consciousness permanently.
[HEALING FACTOR: ATTEMPTING EMERGENCY STABILIZATION]
[PROGRESS: INSUFFICIENT RESOURCES]
[RECOMMENDATION: CONSUME NUTRIENTS IMMEDIATELY]
Nutrients. Right. Like she could just—
Her eyes landed on a chunk of the Elder Arachnid that had fallen near her. Spider meat. Raw. Probably toxic.
Beggars can't be choosers.
Using her one functional arm, Aya dragged herself toward it. Every movement was agony. Her broken ribs ground against each other. Her leg twisted at an angle that made her stomach turn.
But she reached it.
The meat was tough, fibrous, tasting of copper and venom. She forced herself to chew, to swallow, ignoring the way her body tried to reject it.
[CONSUMED: ELDER ARACHNID MEAT (TOXIC)]
[HP RESTORED: +5]
[STATUS EFFECT: POISONED (MILD)]
[HEALING FACTOR: RESOURCES ACQUIRED - RESUMING EMERGENCY REPAIRS]
[HP: 8/100]
Not much. But enough to keep her conscious.
Aya collapsed onto her back, staring up at the cavern ceiling. Bioluminescent fungi cast everything in soft blues and greens. Worker ants marched past in perfect lines, following pheromone trails she could almost remember laying herself in another life.
This is insane. I escaped being an ant. Became human. And now I'm lying broken in another ant hive, invisible to the very systems I used to be part of.
The irony would have been funny if it didn't hurt so much.
A larger shape moved through the tunnel to her left. Aya's head lolled toward it.
[APPRAISAL ACTIVATED]
[MINERAL ANT - SOLDIER TYPE B - LEVEL 31]
[SKILLS: POISON, POWERFUL BITE, HARD EXOSKELETON, SASAGERU, DILIGENT WORKER]
[HP: 920/920]
The soldier was even bigger than Type A—nearly four feet long, its mandibles scarred from battle. It paused near her, antennae sweeping the air.
For a moment, Aya thought her invisibility had failed.
But the soldier simply turned and marched past, joining others in hauling the spider's remains.
Sasageru, Aya thought distantly. A suicide skill. They boost their stats by 50% and self-destruct on contact with threats they can't beat.
Kamikaze ants. This hive didn't mess around.
She closed her eyes, focusing on breathing. On letting her Healing Factor work. On not dying here, invisible and alone, in a hive that would never know she'd once been one of them.
[QUEST UPDATE: SURVIVE THE HIVE]
[OBJECTIVE: HEAL SUFFICIENTLY TO MOVE]
[TIME LIMIT: BEFORE HIVE BREAKER EXPIRES]
[REWARD: CONTINUED EXISTENCE]
Four hours. She had four hours before the ants could see her.
Four hours to heal enough to escape.
Or she'd be torn apart by the very creatures she'd once been.
Somewhere deeper in the hive, Aya could sense it—the Queen. A massive presence, ancient and patient, coordinating her workers with pheromone commands that made the entire colony move as one organism.
I remember that feeling. Being part of something greater. Having purpose beyond just... surviving.
But she wasn't an ant anymore. She was Aya. Or Tessa. Or whoever she was supposed to be now.
And she had to survive long enough to find out.
Around her, the Mineral Ant hive thrummed with life, its workers and soldiers moving in perfect synchronization, building their empire beneath the earth.
Aya lay among them, broken but breathing, a ghost in their perfect machine.
The timer ticked down.
[HIVE BREAKER DURATION: 4 HOURS 03 MINUTES REMAINING]
She had to heal.
She had to move.
She had to survive.
Because somewhere far above, Tessa's parents were waiting.
And Aya refused to fail them the way she'd failed their daughter.
Even if it meant crawling through hell itself.
[END CHAPTER 28]
System Notifications:
[LEVEL UP! LEVEL 27 → 28]
[MULTIPLE CRITICAL INJURIES SUSTAINED]
[HEALING FACTOR: EMERGENCY MODE ACTIVE]
[NEW ENVIRONMENT DISCOVERED: MINERAL ANT MEGAHIVE]
[HIVE POPULATION: ESTIMATED 500,000+]
[DANGER LEVEL: EXTREME]
[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 12%]