But there was no rest for the wicked.

Just as I sprawled over, I heard a familiar high pitched whine and…

OUCH!

As I rolled over, I pressed down on something and I felt a sharp object dig into my back.

Eeek!

There was something there!

I jumped up from the ground and frantically twisted around to check. When I looked back, I caught a glimpse of a crushed transparent wing and my mind raced at the sight.

One of the horrid insects had followed me back!

Its rigid sword-like body had pierced through my scales like a thorn. Although it wasn't painful, it was irritating, like a splinter I couldn't get rid of.

And to my surprise, instead of trying to embed itself further, the thin insect screeched in anguish as it frantically tried to pull itself out. There was a sizzling sound as steam began to rise out of my puncture wound.

The creature forcefully pulled itself out just and I saw the lower half of its abdomen had already melted away.

HAH! That's what you get for stabbing a creature with acid blood!

But surprisingly, the creature was still alive, and it began to flutter around my cave like a fly, all while making that annoying high pitched whine – as if it wasn't annoying already.

I chased after it to snatch it out of the air. But then, I began to hear another high pitched whine responding to it from behind the opening I just sealed.

There was no time to waste!

Before more of its pointy brethren tried to force their way through, I readied a poison blade and shot it down, silencing it forever.

I then listened closely at the sealed doorway as the creature behind it continued to call, but when it heard nothing back, it soon went away.

Phew.

My puncture wound had already begun to close, and soon my scales were smooth again, like nothing happened. I was extremely excited as [Regeneration] was proving to be quite handy and I was eager to add a new skill to the list.

That means, it was time to eat!

I retrieved the bodies of the bat creatures and also that of the sword insect. They were both winged creatures so the chances of me getting a [Flight] skill was very high and I was equally excited.

However, when I compared the wings of the two, I was beginning to have second thoughts. The wings of the larger Occino were more impressive, they were faster, more flexible, they could also change directions at a split second, whereas the wings of the Dactus were quite ordinary to say the least. I wasn't even sure how fast it could fly.

With two readily available specimens to choose form, surely I could afford to be a little choosy.

Hmm...

I went back to the sealed opening and listened quietly, before opening a tiny hole, just enough to see and hear the sounds of the creatures still in a frenzy.

The walls were covered in dents, from where they had stabbed through to get me, but none of the creatures remained stuck, much to my disappointment.

High up at the cave opening, I could also see the evolved version of the sword insect, skilfully gliding through the air. Although it was fast, it didn't collide with any of the bat creatures flying around it, because it was that much faster than them, they looked so slow in comparison.

I sighed. If only I could catch it.

There wasn't much left of the bird's corpse and I wondered if it was best to attack it while the entire cave was distracted with eating.

«Your time is running out. Aren't you going to eat them?»

"I haven't decided which wings I want." I grumbled.

Sensei chuckled. «How can you be so sure you will get wings? Blindness is also possible.»

What?!

"Is that supposed to make it more appealing?"

Sensei just laughed and didn't say anything more.

Tch.

With no other choice, I ate the winged Occino, but nothing happened because there wasn't enough of it. And then, I started to eat the bats.

If they weren't enough either, I would just continue hunting them until it did. Nevertheless, on my fifth bat, I heard the system ding.

〚Devour has reached maximum satiation for specimen『Verum Dactuc』

Evolution tree of 『Ailith Crodon』has been unlocked. 〛

〚Would you like to acquire the attribute『Flight』(Accept | Reject)〛

Yesssssss! And on the first try too! My luck was simply too good!

Accept! Accept!

But soon after, I felt a horrible burning pain in my back. The row of spikes there burnt hot and there was a grating noise from under my scales as if my bones were being shattered.

Then I heard multiple cracks.

AHH!

And then more followed as I writhed around in pain.

AAAAHH!

I was hyperventilating. My midsection was on fire.

AAHAAH! OUCHH!

The bones of my spine seemed to be shifting around under my skin. My ribs bent horribly wrong, merging together as they grew in size to extend past my body.

It was the worst pain I'd ever been in.

My bones were growing too fast and already, I could see the bony structure of my wings forming. I felt every muscle stretch and tear, and then reform, and then tear again, my skin rearranging itself to stretch over the exposed bones while I screamed my lungs hoarse.

Nothing I did helped the process run faster. Using [Regeneration] did not heal me, if anything I seemed to be interfering with the process by trying to seal the holes my growing bones had opened. And I could only lay helpless as the excruciating process continued.

If only I had known it would be this painful…

I didn't think I would have to grow them.

Was it wishful thinking to wish they would just appear instead?

I lay on the ground trying to breathe for many seconds, before I felt it safe to try to move. And as soon as my flesh coated my new wings, the pain went away in an instant.

I tried moving my new wings, feeling a little giddy.

After all the hard work it took to get them, they better work perfectly!

My wings were dark, with the same purple iridescence as my scales. They were quite broad and when I stretched them out, they covered my curled up body and ended in sharp spikes to match my stingers, with a longer wingspan than I initially thought.

I tested them out, stretching and folding them repeatedly. They were surprisingly light and seemed to be fast too and I was eager to test them!

I returned to the opening to peek at the creatures inside. The bird monster was nothing more than a bony corpse, and the bats were settling down to rest after their meal.

The winged insect creature was still soaring high up and appraising it had shown me some interesting things like [Air Magic] and [Sound Manipulation].

Maybe [Air Magic] was how it was able to move so fast. If I went after it, there was a chance I could get any one of these skills.

Its [Sound Manipulation] would also be handy. I kept thinking of how I couldn't really talk as a snake and if I leant a language in the future, maybe I could use this to speak instead of having to wait for myself to gain a human form or [Telepathy].

I had to proceed with caution.

I waited tensely at the opening until the bats closed their eyes once more. The hovering insects returned to the opening in the roof to begin acting as bait again for any passing creatures.

I widened the hole a sufficient amount and crawled out as quietly as I could, after activating [Shadow Shroud].

My wings when folded on my back, pressed closely against my body, and didn't take up much space, so I was able to crawl among the bats, inching my way up the wall to get closer to the cave roof.

Occasionally a sleeping bat would unfurl its wings, but I made sure to carefully avoid each one.

Surrounded by a mass of flying insects, the swift figure of the larger Occino changed paths frequently. Anticipating its movements, I continued to inch closer.

My plan was simple. I only had to use their own tactics against them.

Once I was close enough to the winged insect, I leapt forward and snatched it out of the air with [Bite] and my fangs pierced through its rigid body.

Immediately, the high pitched ringing started, and the surrounding insects all rushed towards my free falling figure. Multiple angry insects pierced my body but I spun around in the air to shake them off.

They weren't the real danger, and as I endured their stings, I stared down at the cave in anticipation of what was coming.

The awakened bats all rose up to the air, and all I could see was a dark cloud of wings and sharp teeth as the frenzied rush began to form.

I spread out my new wings, catching the updraft to rise higher in the air. And just as the bats were about to reach me, I released one of the remaining corpses from my [Dimensional Box].

Since the bats were hopelessly blind and only reacted to the presence of food, they attacked the fresh bat corpse that I gifted them, ripping the corpse to shreds in seconds.

Only the insects pursued me as I flew out of the cave opening with my new captive.

As the forest above came into view, I wondered just how my nestlings were doing with their hunt.