I cracked open the outer shells of each of the locust's limbs with [Bite] and with their exoskeleton removed, I was able to dig into their fleshy parts. The taste was revolting as usual, but I couldn't afford to be picky so I persisted. My HP was recovering at a snail's pace and I needed more strength.

My thoughts went to the [HP Recovery Potion] available in the store. With [81] experience points, I had enough to purchase one, but doing so would be a waste and would leave me with only [31] points.

If my fears came true and I was indeed inside the wasp's nest, my XP would be very important for my survival. I need every single point to strengthen my defence while I planned my escape from here. But as I looked over at the locust's main body, the juvenile wasp hasn't made much progress at all.

At first, its struggle against the locust's shell had been forceful and relentless but gradually it lost its strength and its efforts became weak. The loud scraping noises it made earlier reduced to no more than a scratch, and now there was barely any sound coming.

The hole on the locust's skull was wide enough for the wasp to break through, but it made no attempt to. It seemed to have drained all its strength and was unable to come out. The longer it stayed in, the more it would soak in a bath of poison, weakening itself even further, but I wasn't going to let my guard down yet.

I hastily ate all three of the locust's limbs, bringing my HP up to [29/55] before turning away from its corpse - I needed to move about to find more sources of food. But once I moved away, I heard the light cracking sound of the hard shell opening.

As I thought, the wasp simply chose to wait inside because of my presence but now that my attention was elsewhere, it decided to step out of the shell. Its act might have worked on other creatures, but unfortunately for it, I had my [Heat Sense] fixed on it the entire time.

The effort I put into crushing the locust's thorax was simply to destroy the wasp's wings, or at least damage them enough so it wouldn't be able to fly. The warped shape of the locust's body thereafter was only an added bonus that made its host's body tougher to break out from, keeping the wasp inside long enough.

However, from looking at the wet glistening limbs that were still pale green in colour and the body armour that had not yet hardened - it had also realised something was amiss. Its premature appearance rather than the strong armoured wasp I was expecting meant it had stopped absorbing the locust's body fluids after some time.

Doing so would have been a wise decision if it was any other creature, but this was my venom which could stay undetected until it was too late. My very first victim the bison, had only noticed it was poisoned when it nearly died from blood loss.

What made this wasp think it was any different?

It had only begun experiencing symptoms when it was deeply afflicted. The wasp made the wrong move by stopping its absorption and hindering its own growth. If it had continued, at least it would have finished its growth process and might've had a fighting chance. But now in its current state, it was bound to die.

As it broke through, its movements were slow and it trembled with every step. Its limbs were far too soft to be those of a complete creature. Two of its six limbs were bent at an awkward angle and its silvery translucent wings, that should move as fast as a blur, were now awkwardly twisted and unable to support its flight.

I was satisfied at the sight of the wasp, it had absorbed more of my poison than I anticipated, plus because of the fight before, it was damaged too badly. But unfortunately, it was still a higher level so I couldn't appraise it. Yet.

In its state, even if it was not killed by me it would eventually be devoured by its own brethren for being defective. Its fate had been sealed the moment it ingested my venom. I wondered what it would choose to do now as it too must have realised it would no longer be welcomed in the hive.

Observing it with [Heat Sense] I saw it shakily lift one of the shattered wings on its back, but its other pair failed to respond due to it being crushed beyond recognition. The wasp was in a terrible shape, but when it zeroed in on my presence and made an attack without any hesitation, I knew I could not afford to show it any mercy.

Easily evading its clumsy strike, I turned around and tackled it to the ground, before curling myself around its limp body. I applied most of my strength in the gap between its head and thorax to prevent its gnashing mandibles from biting me.

I was amazed a creature could hold a grudge that strong. The wasp was like an embodiment of hatred, programmed to fight even on its last legs. It reminded me of the human's that never knew when to admit defeat.

I had hoped the wasp would run so it could serve as a distraction for the other wasps which in turn would give me a chance to escape. But it still chose to attack despite its life being nearly exhausted!

The wasp was so different from the other monsters I'd encountered, and I could no longer take it lightly after everything I'd been through. I had little doubt it was capable of sound reasoning and thought, so for it to waste the possibility of freedom to engage in a death match really puzzled me.

It fought against my hold with the barbs on its arms, but without any hardening they did not do much harm. My scales were much tougher now and it could only claw at my body without breaking the skin.

It's tougher mandibles snapped loudly as it bent over to reach my body, but I tightened my hold over its head and bit down on one of its struggling legs, forcefully ripping it out of its socket.

This caused the wasp to screech loudly and its attacks to increase in fervour, until I increased my grip over the weak connection between its thorax and head, stifling its movements. From then on, it could only struggle uselessly in my grasp as I squeezed harder over the weak connection, before deftly taking off its head.

〚You have defeated LV11 Melior Hesperia!〛

〚You have earned 55XP〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

The system messages came all at once in a flurry of 'dings' and I barely had time to appreciate them before my vision suddenly turned cloudy. My view of the wasp disappeared, lost in the haze of something covering my eyes and I shook my head to throw it off, but it refused to budge.

Scanning around me with [Heat Sense] I saw no sign of any living creature, but I wasn't confident this wasn't an enemy attack. I was so glad the wasp had already fallen, or I would be in serious trouble.

What the heck could this be now?

I slipped off the wasp and rolled over on the ground, rubbing my skin that felt unbearably itchy against the rough surface. Then I heard the sound of something tear and the film that covered my eyes was suddenly ripped away. My vision became stunningly clear, much better than it had been since my birth.

The colours around me were much brighter, the figures of both corpses in my vision now devoid of any blurring. It was almost as good as the eyes I had as a human, except for its range. The objects up close were much clearer and I still could not see very far away. I was stunned at this new development, it had to be due to my levelling up!

The cloudy film that had obscured my vision turned out to be a piece of skin that was stuck halfway down my body. As I wriggled about, more of the skin loosened and I successfully crawled out of it, leaving behind a pale husk that looked like a replica of myself.