Dull pain coursed through my body. My wings crumpled under the pressure. I heard a wet crack of my carapace under the force of the giant beak squeezing me. Its dark form covered most of my field of view. The rest of my surroundings were a blur of greenery and movement as the bird carried me in its beak.

I wiggled my legs and wings in panic, scrambling, clawing for something to take hold at, to stop my flight towards death, but it was all useless. I caught only air, my body completely immobile despite all my efforts. The best I could do was to buzz my crumpled wings a little.

Then, as suddenly as the bird took hold of me, it stopped. In a corner of my eyes, I caught a sight of a wide brown shape—a tree. With my body I felt a slight wobbling of the branch that my captor sat upon, no doubt to eat me without disturbances. I prepared to fight it to my last HP, however many I had them left still.

The bird raised its beak and opened it a little wider, letting gravity bring me down, right into the dark abyss of the bird’s throat. Its tongue shot towards me like a red, skinless snake. It was my only chance to strike, and I took it.

‘Take this, you stupid bird!’ I shouted inwardly and struck with the stinger growing out of my abdomen. Its sharp end pierced right into the soft flesh of the bird’s tongue, and I squeezed the muscles within, pumping it full of acidic venom.

The bird opened its mouth wide in pain, letting the light hit me fully. It was a perfect opportunity for me to escape. Even with my wings battered by the bird’s hold, my minuscule weight meant that I will be able to survive any fall with ease.

But I never intended to just survive. My goal always was to thrive, and that meant targeting and killing opponents bigger and stronger than me. I wasn’t going to stop doing so now.

Instead of jumping free from the bird, I grasped it with all my six legs. My tiny claws and the strength of my limbs let me take hold, despite the movement of the bird’s beak. First from the inside of the beak to the outside, and just in time. The bird regained its bearings and closed its beak with a sharp click, but was too late to catch me.

I crawled towards the bird’s head as it shook its beak furiously. It threatened to make me fall no matter what I did, but I held on and kept crawling until I reached the bird’s blue feathers.

Then it swung its wings at me, and I almost fell. Under the force of the bird’s panicked flapping, my legs slipped from its feathers. In the last moment I bit down with my mandibles, holding down so hard that my head hurt.

It was a mad rodeo. The bird flapped its wings, flew around and shook its head. Did all she could to get me off, while I grasped it with all I could and prayed for it to end soon. My world narrowed down to the feathers under me and the strength I spent to take hold on them. Who had more stamina, me or the bird?

Finally, the bird slowed down. Tired, it sat down on a branch, apparently deciding that I wasn’t worth the trouble, at least yet. My stamina won.

I crawled again. The bird jerked in alarm, but couldn’t muster the strength to do much more as I reached its eye. It stared at me, as big as my head, black and glassy. No hint of the bird’s thoughts, if it had any.

I brandished my stinger and stabbed it right into the pupil.

The bird screeched, pain giving it a second wind. It trashed around again, but I held on, knowing that this second wind won’t last long, and that I pumped my poison right next to the bird’s brain.

My attacker turned prey convulsed in pain, its wings flapping, until it fell down from the branch. We spiralled down, hitting branches on our way, my stinger still in the bird’s eye, and hit to the ground with a soft thump of the wet moss.

The bird landed on its back, still alive but with its fragile wings turned in awkward angles. It twitched weakly now, helpless before me, and I finally allowed myself to relax.

I let go and fell on my back next to the bird. Everything ached in the worst way. I looked at my stats and saw that I had a single HP left out of two. My carapace had cracks in it, and if insects weren’t so tough, I’d be dead long ago.

But I won. The elation brought me a fresh surge of energy.

With a lot of effort in my inflexible body, I flopped on my belly and crawled back to the bird. It might’ve still been alive by the time I bit on it for the first time, but I only cared for the sweet taste of its flesh filling my mouth.

I ate its meat, crunched on its bones and didn’t leave out a single feather. For the first time in a long while I felt full, though I knew I could eat more if I wanted to.

[Creature devoured. Gained 264 EXP. Gained new evolution options.]

I laughed inwardly and waved my limbs in the air to express my happiness. ‘EXP, yes, give me all of it!’ I had hunted for a spider and instead killed a much juicier prey. I felt on top of the world! Or anthill, at least.

Then the elation abated, and all my aches returned to me with vengeance. I remembered that I only had one HP left, couldn’t fly in the moment, and any other bird will be able to finish what the first couldn’t with ease.

I looked around, and soon enough found a hole under a tree root that looked good enough to hide in. There I settled in for rest and putting my new EXP into something useful.