I waited patiently on the wall as the vibrations of battle drew ever closer. It didn’t take long for a large grey blur to enter the range of my admittedly bad eyesight. At first, I thought there was only the one, but I eventually spotted a much smaller blur zipping around.

It would seem like the bigger one was being harassed by the much higher speed of the smaller contestant. As they drew closer I tried to figure out the battle situation of the two, and it would seem like the smaller one currently had the upper hand.

Eventually, I could figure out that the big, gray blur was most likely some sort of elephant monster. I shuddered at the might a monster like that could demonstrate, considering I got almost done in by something as small as a hyena.

Although I couldn’t figure out what the small blur was, it was doing an admirable job of fighting the bigger monster by capitalizing on its speed. The elephant constantly tried to get away from its assailant, while trying to smack it away with its trunk.

But the small monster was persistent, zipping around the elephant and getting hits in every time it passed the elephant. There was already an unhealthy amount of red tinting the gray blur, indicating that it was getting cut up by the smaller blur.

I briefly considered that speed was the more powerful force down here and lamented that I was cursed to have one agility when the situation changed. The two of them were now somewhat close to my location, and I could clearly see the elephant come to a stop.

It slowly raised its trunk into the air, completely ignoring the cuts it was still receiving. The smaller monster must have smelled victory, as it became even faster. At this point, it was so fast that I could barely follow it with my limited eyesight.

But the elephant hadn’t given up at all. Suddenly, the entire wall shook around me, making it harder for me to keep sticking to it. I could see the smaller blur come to a stop and writhe around on the ground. Was the elephant maybe using some kind of sound-related skill?

For the first time ever, I was glad that slugs couldn’t hear.

With the small monster finally stopped, the elephant wasn’t about to let that chance slip. Its trunk started to glow, and I experienced an unpleasant flashback to the time I got bitten by the hyena’s skill. Before I could realize what was happening, the wall violently shook and threw me off my perch.

I fell to the ground in a panic, what the hell just happened? I struggled to right myself and waved my eyes around in order to get a bearing on my situation. It didn’t take long for me to spot the smaller monster crumpled to the floor, right next to me.

Did the elephant just trunk slap it so hard that it flew all the way over here and into the wall? The power of that skill was terrifying! It happened so fast that I couldn’t even process it!

It didn’t need a genius to figure out that the small guy was toast at this point. And neither was one required to figure out that I should run for it! NOW! Of course, my running speed was nothing to write home about, but I was still giving it my all, after all, the elephant in the distance seemed to be activating another skill and I didn’t plan to stick around to experience it.

I quickly conjured up some poison shots while retreating, absolutely peppering the loser behind me with my special spice. I was conveniently close enough to not miss, so I needed to capitalize on that.

I kept my eyes on the elephant, and almost had a heart attack when it started running at us. In my panic, I pushed my body to the limit, and I’m pretty sure I achieved crazy speeds of like, two agility there for a bit through sheer willpower. Especially once I saw that the entire elephant started glowing!

Was this dude actually using a charge skill to finish off an opponent that was pretty much dead already? Talk about overkill!

I barely managed to put enough distance between me and the dead meat and the elephant rushed past me, barreling straight into his target… And the wall right behind it. That’d had to hurt.

So far, the monsters on this planet didn’t seem too smart, because there was no way that elephant didn’t just shave off a bunch of his own HP. Not that I was complaining. After all, this would just make this next part so much easier.

I kept crawling for my life, eventually finding some cover behind a rock. My eyes poked out from behind my hiding spot, observing the aftermath of the fight.

The elephant staggered from the hit it brought onto itself but caught itself relatively quickly. I could see that it had suffered greatly from the fight, even if it overwhelmed the little one at the end. Who knows for how long the fast monster had been torturing the elephant before they arrived here? Hopefully long enough to bring its HP down to a sliver!

Unlike the panther I observed earlier, the elephant didn’t waste any time securing a perimeter. It located the heap of dead meat on the floor, grabbed it with its trunk, and popped that bad boy in its mouth like a skittle. Unintentionally eating my lethal poison in the process.

Success! I was two for two with poisoning banged-up monsters that had just won a fight. At this point, I had to assume that my poison either didn’t have any taste, or no monster had actual taste buds. Because if my poison was extremely bitter, they should be spitting out the prey that was coated with it.

I could see the elephant turning around, probably trying to figure out where to go next, when I noticed a flaw with my plan. What if the elephant just wandered off now?

Sure, I’d still get the XP if it keeled over, but what about the body? This thing was huge, and would probably provide me with food for a long time to come, as well as data points! What if something copied my cunning plan and got the elephant while it was weakened from the fight AND my poison? No nonono, I couldn’t let this happen. This elephant was mine!

In a moment of what I’d later consider absolute retardation, I decided to hitch a ride on this not-so-gentle giant. I zoomed out of my hiding place, and latched onto the elephant’s back leg, crawling up to about the halfway point. There was no way it’d notice me… right?

So there I was, hanging on to a much bigger monster as it lumbered away from the safety of the cave wall, praying to god that it wouldn’t realize I was there.

Every now and again, it stumbled a bit and it was definitely wobbling as it walked. Which was good! Please, oh please just die for me? Okay? I already couldn’t see the wall. Please, oh please, just lie down and stop living. Let me get back to my wall! Why would I ever think this was a good idea???

In my panic I missed the elephant keeling over, landing on its side. Once I did though, I was fueled by adrenaline. I was so close to winning over this behemoth! At this point, I had to commit, so I slithered off the leg I was attached to and made my way to the elephant’s mouth.

Its breathing was labored and it was clearly on its last leg, but that wasn’t enough! Time was of the essence here, so I shot my remaining two poison shots straight down its gullet! I’d expect some thrashing in its death throes, so immediately after, I activated both Compress and Poison Mucus Armor.

But the expected violence never occurred, as the big lugs breathing just stopped at some point.

You have killed a Lv. 18 Monster Elephant

You have been awarded 240(480)XP

You have been awarded 18 Data Points

You have gained 3 levels!

Your skill Lethal Poison Shot has leveled up!

You have unlocked an achievement!

I fucking did it! YEAAAHH! That thing was so huge, such a high level, and this tiny, insignificant slug brought it down! Nobody ever tell me poison wasn’t the most amazing thing ever! HAHAHAHA!

I was mentally fist-pumping and dancing around, which translated to me just wiggling around happily until I froze. Right. Away from wall, incredibly slow and tasty slug. Gotta move, fast!

I immediately commanded the system to store the elephant in my inventory, which was still incredible to see. The entire elephant turned into blue wisps, which flowed towards, and then into me. It looked amazing, but it was a light show that wasn’t appreciated right now. I was deep into enemy territory, and everything that brought attention to me was bad news.

I frantically crawled back the way I came, constantly looking for rocks to hide behind and rest. Eventually, I came across an oddly shaped rock that allowed me to crawl into a sizable indent at its base. My entire body was covered here, so I felt safe enough to take a break and take a proper look at my gains.

I gained another whopping three levels, and Lethal Poison Shot went up another level as well. Absolutely fantastic! I was already at level eight, so I only had two more levels to go until I reached level ten and could evolve!

Then again, I did resolve myself to complete both bonus objectives for my evolution goal. Even though slugs were supposed to be easy food for tier-one creatures, I had yet to see a single one of my brethren. Neither had I seen a tier-two monster. Did they even live where I was at? If not, I’d need to get lucky and catch a newly evolved one before it left for a deeper layer.

Could I even find one before I achieved level ten? Could I delay my evolution until I completed my bonus objective? Achieve? Hold up, didn’t the system message say that I unlocked an achievement or something?

Curiously, I looked around my status screen, and lo and behold, there was a new sub-menu. A new button labeled ‘Achievements’ had appeared. Curiously, I mentally pressed it, which opened up a new window. It was decidedly unimpressive, having only a single line of text.

The ant does not fear the dragon!

What a curious name for an achievement. Wanting to see if there was more to it, I prompted the system to give me an explanation.

The ant does not fear the dragon(SS)

Unlock condition: Defeat a creature that is at least 100 times bigger than yourself.

Reward: 5 Attribute points, Spell: Giant Spike

Whow! Free attribute points? Yes, please! Also, what’s the deal with this new spell I just got?

Giant Spike

Conjure a giant spike to impale your enemies!

Limitation: Can only be cast against enemies at least three times your size.

Cost: 150 MP

Holy Moly, what a spell! The limitation attached to it was pretty much meaningless to me, but that cost was going to be a problem. I currently only had twenty-nine maximum MP, so I was a far way off from actually casting it. But it would surely come in handy once I got there, right? After all, it was a reward for an SS-ranked achievement.

Together with the five attribute points from the achievement I had a total of eight points, which I decided to split evenly into intelligence and wisdom. Now that I had a goal to work for, wisdom seemed like a pretty attractive option to spec into. After all, the giant spike spell offered an actual way of attacking enemies, aside from poison.

With my new points distributed, my new status looked like this:

Name: Gary

Traveler Tier:0 Type:Monster(P2W)

Species: Poisonous Slug

Level: 8

Max HP: 90

Max MP: 43

Strength: 3

Agility: 1(permanently fixed)

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 7

Constitution: 15

Data Points: 34

Skills: Lethal Poison Mucus Armor Lv.2, Compress Lv.2(defensive), Bottomless Inventory

Magic: Lethal Poison Shot Lv.3, Giant Spike Lv.1

With my intelligence at ten now, I’m sure my poison was a lot stronger than when I first came into this world. Enough to bring down a tier two monster? Maybe not, but I’d still try if I got the opportunity!

For now, though, I needed to get back to the relative safety of the wall.