I kept up with my Appraisal, but without seeing the numbers it was difficult to tell by how much they were increasing by.

And then, after the nth attempt at [Appraisal].

______________

LV11 Melior Hesperia

Specie: Ailith Vespoidea

HP: 104/104 Defence: 79

MP: ??/?? Intellect: ??

SP: ??/?? Magic: ??

Attack: ?? Agility: ??

______________

I wanted to jump with joy! But then I noticed the numbers kept rising. Suddenly, the wasp that had been eating peacefully began to glance around irritably, like it was experiencing some discomfort.

«It's evolving.» Was Sensei's calm response. «It's best to strike now when it's most vulnerable. If you let it pass this critical stage you won't be able to kill it anymore.»

"I'm not doing the quest. Give up already." I grumbled irritably

My attention returned to the wasp. I wondered if its detection was getting better too? Yet, it didn't stop eating so, probably not. The pain in my head receded for a second and then I heard a familiar ding.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase: 『Appraisal LV 2』has become『Appraisal LV 3』〛

The system alert was a welcomed sound and I tried one more time to test the improved ability of [Appraisal].

______________

LV12 Melior Hesperia

Specie: Ailith Vespoidea

HP: 108/108 Defence: 80

MP: ??/?? Intellect: ??

SP: ??/?? Magic: ??

Attack: ?? Agility: ??

______________

It had risen again!

However, this time, the wasp stopped eating and looked around, sensing something was off.

I wasn't expecting the sudden reaction but I was fairly hidden with a wall between us. I was confident it could not see me, but I could sense the wasp's eyes fixed directly at the wall I hid behind.

I felt a cold chill creep through my body. It definitely knew where I was. But then, rather than attacking, it turned its head back and continued eating, completely ignoring its instinct.

At this point, it had eaten most of the wasp's body and only bits of flesh remained. Was it waiting until it finished? Its body kept trembling as more shards of shell fell.

The more I let it eat, the more the wasp's stats would rise, and I was sure it had already noticed me. If I let it continue, it would attack as soon as it was done and by that time it would be much stronger.

And It was already too strong to beat now. But by then, I would have absolutely no chance.

What to do? Should I attack it or should I escape?

After a moment of contemplation, I slithered towards it, regretting my decision before I even began. The wasp was focused on completing its evolution and didn't notice my advance. It couldn't afford to be distracted due to the difficulty of the process and I took this as an opportunity to strike as fast as I could.

I gathered my body close and sprang at it with a burst, immediately coiling myself tightly around the base of its thorax. And before it could react, I bared my fangs and sunk them deep into the flesh with [Rapid Strike], releasing two quick shots of [Poison Fang] near the exposed seam.

The tissue of its back was softer than I expected, with a membranous texture similar to rubber that was soft at the surface but stiffened to hardened pulp the further in my fangs sunk. I encountered some resistance inches below the wasp's skin, like its flesh was solidifying from the inside.

Whatever evolution it was undergoing, was a blessing for me, to have weakened its shell to such a degree, but that would not last for long.

Fortunately my bite was strong enough to crush the new shell that had not yet formed. They made short work of the wasp's flesh, tearing open two gaping wounds that bled profusely like a burst sac.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase: 『Rapid Strike LV 1』has become『Rapid Strike LV 2』〛

The burst of pain on its back shocked the wasp to alertness. It let go of the corpse and immediately raised its arms to slash at my body with its sharp claws, but it missed. The front facing joints of the wasp's limbs made anything behind it difficult to reach and its inability to fly made its body inflexible and awkward.

Not giving it any chance to retaliate I struck again with [Rapid Strike], targeting its lower abdomen where cracks had begun to appear. Formed like shattered glass, they spread from its barbed stinger upwards across its bulbous abdomen like thin spider webs, increasing until even parts of its legs were affected.

With more cracks appearing, the softer parts I could attack increased and with each swift bite, more wounds opened up across its body.

The wasp who had long stopped eating was now shrieking in pain. Its body convulsed as more cracks appeared over the surface and more shards of its shell dropped to the floor. Its sharp claws sliced through the air in wide sweeps as they reached for me but they kept missing.

Its rigid shape made it all the more difficult to catch something on its back. Its arms weren't flexible and as long as I stayed put along its centre they would never reach.

With my improved agility I evaded them whenever they drew close by changing my position on its body. The large mandibles that were its fiercest weapons snapped angrily in the air with nothing to bite into.

The two puncture holes in its back were barely noticeable now with the barrage of injuries it possessed and I continued to evade while dealing more damage.

Poison was, and would always be, my strongest weapon against an opponent. The wasp was fierce but it was not the largest creature I'd faced. I calculated I had ten minutes at most before my venom brought it down.

Yet, the wasp showed no signs of slowing down, barely reacting to its wounds. Aside from the trembling of its body, it weathered my attacks like nothing was wrong.

The damage I had done looked plenty but as time went on, it became apparent it was focusing more on controlling the energy spilling from its body, than attacking me. Its movements were slow and lacking in ferocity.

I recalled how after my skin shed, all the wounds of my body had healed. Perhaps it wasn't bothering with the wounds because it knew at the end of its evolution they would all be repaired - especially with the new shell that was forming.

After inflicting more injuries and another missed swipe of its claws, I prepared to leap off its body to get away from sight, but a sudden thought made me stop.

Refusing to lose my nerve, I loosened my grasp and slithered up the wasp's thorax towards its head, just as its sharp claws whizzed over my head. With no time to lose after the near miss, I embedded my fangs into the socket of its right eye.

The wasp let out a shrill shriek as spurts of purple ichor gushed out from its eye. Unlike before, it seemed to be in genuine pain and I retreated from its head to stay out of range of its ferocious attacks. Compared to its body or limbs its eyes were delicate and could not be replaced or healed as quickly.

Almost as I had the thought, the shrill scrape of claws on hard ground alerted me to the wasps sudden movements. Increased vibrations pounded in my senses as the wasp flew across the floor at a fast pace, before suddenly coming to a halt. The force as its claws gripped the floor was enough to throw me off its back and I slammed into one of the crumbling walls in a cloud of debris.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase: 『Steel Skin LV 3』has become『Steel Skin LV 4』〛

I felt the cushioning effects of [Impact Resistance] more than ever. As I crashed through the walls, I rolled to soften the blow but my body still felt the sting. Landing meters away from the wasp, I raised myself to attack again.

Surprisingly, the wasp did not chase. As the seam on its back widened, its trembling increased to fierce lurches and its body contorted even more than before. It seemed to undergo a metamorphosis right before my eyes. The clawed arms it used mostly to attack split open at their segments, revealing rope-like sinew that held together each section, linking them together to form some truly bizarre long arms.

The two claws at the end of each, extended outwards before splitting and forming an extra appendage. The wasp now looked to have three long claws at the end of its limbs, with two on its arms shaped like opposable thumbs. Its sinewy arms pulled in on themselves, twisting in grotesque snaps to form knotted limbs that were tense and wiry with unknown energy coursing through its body.

Its evolution was progressing at a steady speed and I wondered when my poison would take effect. Had enough seeped through, or was its new body simply making it lose effect? I really couldn't afford to let it evolve further or its next meal would certainly be me.