I nervously kept my eyes trained on the sands around the platform. They continued to shift around until the worm either got deep enough underground or it just stopped moving, waiting for its next victim. Was this guy seriously just spawn-camping down here? If so, I had absolutely no chance to make it out of here alive!

I guess I should have just ignored this stupid quest after all! System? I’d like to go back up now, please.

Yet, as I pleaded with the system to get me out of here, the platform refused to budge. I took a quick look at my evolution requirements but the last bit was still not revealed. If my guess was correct, this platform was still a part of the second layer, and thus didn’t count as me descending to the third layer. Which means I’d have to get off to find out what it was.

I shot another quick glance at where the horse got ambushed and hurriedly moved to the center of the platform. Really, though, I want to go back up. Please?

I spent what felt like half an hour on the platform, nervously waiting for the platform to rise back up, but it just didn’t move at all. After about an hour I was losing hope. Thankfully, neither the desert worm nor any other monsters showed up to make my life even more difficult.

I had no other choice, didn’t I?

With trepidation, I approached the edge of the platform, the sands below feeling like a death trap. Even though there were only a scant few centimeters between me and the ground, it felt like I was looking at a deep drop and my body refused to move. I looked back up, the tiny black square in the sky taunting me, urging me to finally get off the platform.

I finally overcame my crippling fear, the rational part of my mind telling me that I’d just die on the platform if I didn’t, and started moving again. Even though I was a slow creature, I made contact with the sand in no time. I retracted my eyes, unwilling to watch as the worm came to eat me.

When I got completely off the platform, I peeked one eye out to see if anything was happening, and truly, as soon as I got off it departed back up towards the second layer. I cursed my luck but was quickly distracted by a notification finally revealing the last evolution requirement to me.

Survive for 14 days in the third layer (0/14)

Just my luck! A survival quest. How on earth was I supposed to survive here for two weeks, when creatures like the worm were prowling around down here? I was just a little slug, after all! And I couldn’t even find a little hole to hide in and evolve. If I just up and tried evolving in the open air, I’d be little more than a free snack for whatever happened upon my immobile form.

I quickly realized that the oasis I’d seen while descending was quite literally my only chance at survival. As a slug, water was imperative for my survival, and I’d only find it over there. I could already feel the sand clumping beneath me, exacting a higher toll on my mucus production than I was used to from solid ground. I really should have stored some water in my inventory!

As it is, the only liquid I had with me was the blood of the monsters that were still in my storage. Thankfully I’d left some of them in there, at least. Even then, I was on a timer and needed to haul ass toward the local watering hole.

I couldn't help but notice that I hadn’t died a horrible death by worm while I was ruminating about my fate, a pleasant surprise to say the least. With careful optimism I started making my way in the direction I knew the green patch to be, the movement being much harder on me than usual. I almost couldn’t believe it, but I was actually going even slower, a thing I didn’t think was possible.

The worm below was probably watching for vibrations above it to “see” when something was passing through above. Thankfully, my small frame either didn’t register as a worthwhile target or didn’t register at all. A small reprieve from all the bad things happening to me. Yet, I still struggled to move forwards… this was going to be a brutal trip.

I struggled to reach the top of a dune while keeping an eye out for any monster that might be out to get me. There were surprisingly few monsters in the third layer, at least that’s what I thought based on what I’d seen so far.

On the first and second layers, there were monsters more or less everywhere, constantly doing battle with each other. But here on the third layer, there were only a scant few monsters roaming the hot sands. Of course, it was entirely possible that a large amount of the monsters were underground, like the worm I’d seen at the platform.

Aside from the worm, I’d seen some huge snakes, lizards, walking cacti, and what looked like a wind elemental in the distance. That last one was surrounded by a sand cyclone, and if I didn’t see it actively attacking another monster, I would have assumed it was just a natural phenomenon.

Thankfully, none of them had come anywhere close to me. Whenever I got to the top of a dune, I took some time to survey my surroundings, which is what allowed me to gather some data on the local monster population. I even saw my destination once in the distance on an especially large dune, so at least I was still going in the right direction.

The sun was beating down on me, and my mucus had a hard time keeping up. In addition to the sand exacting a higher toll on me to move, the heat was constantly drying out the mucus covering my body. I occasionally resorted to activating my poison mucus armor, which was a stroke of genius in my opinion. Still, I felt my liquid reserves getting lower and lower, so it was time for my first meal.

I carefully took out a goblin I had stored in my inventory after making sure no other monsters were close by. I crawled on top of it, planning on eating my way into the stomach, and then eating the poor sod from the inside out. That way I wouldn’t be wasting any of the precious liquids inside of it.

Thanks to my gluttony skill I could eat the thing with no issues, but since my mouth was so small it took forever to eat even something as small as a goblin. I might have to invest some mutation points into a bigger gullet at some point, provided I even survived the next two weeks.

Sure, I got hella scared when I encountered that worm, but seeing as how few and far between the monsters here were, I got a lot more confident. If I could just make it to the oasis, I could hide myself away, and maybe even do some recreational hunting. I’m sure the oasis would be a gathering hub for all kinds of monsters, so while it would provide me with some safety and water, it’d also be a dangerous place to stay at.

It took me quite a while to eat the goblin while making sure to not spill a single drop of blood, but in the end, I was feeling refreshed and ready to continue on my journey. There was still a lot of ground to cover and I probably couldn’t get there today.

So far, the layers didn’t really have a day and night cycle, but I could watch the fake sun slowly move toward the horizon. If my, admittedly small, knowledge of deserts applied on this planet as well, the night would get incredibly cold. I also had to assume that more monsters would emerge from their hiding spots in the sand.

I wasn’t entirely sure if it would be as safe to travel during the night as it was during the day, and there were absolutely no rocks or anything similar for me to hide in or under, or behind. So, taking inspiration from some videos I’d seen of some spiders covering themselves with sand, I attempted to do the same.

It was a difficult thing to do since my mucus was clumping the sand together, but I managed to shimmy around until I was somewhat covered beneath the sand. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but at the same time, it made me feel safe.

Well, if things got too crazy during the night, I would just bury myself and wait the night out.

Well, I really underestimated the night in the desert.

Quite literally as soon as the fake sun disappeared from the fake sky, all hell broke loose. Monsters burst out of the ground everywhere, making me paranoid all over again. I’d been traveling over these hidden dangers this whole time, and the only thing that saved me was my small frame… probably. I guess being a slug wasn’t all bad after all.

As soon as I realized what was happening, I immediately burrowed down as fast as I could. Thankfully, the monsters were too preoccupied with tearing each other apart to pay mind to a small slug shimmying into the sand.

I currently had my body buried, with only my two eyes periscoping out from below. The desert around me was a sight to see, as giant bugs, lizards, spiders, scorpions, and other desert-dwelling monsters were tearing each other to bits. All of this is accentuated by the occasional worm bursting from the ground.

I occasionally took some potshots with my Poison Needle at the smaller monsters or some that were already flagging in their fight. Most of the time, I missed, and those that I hit were usually killed by whatever else they were fighting. But every now and again I’d get a kill. Of course, I had already topped out on XP, but I still got Data Points from doing this. The horde was thinning out by now, a few powerful monsters carefully eyeing each other as they partook in their kills.

No doubt they’d start laying into each other as soon as their food was consumed, most likely spreading out in search of more opponents after. Fairly certain that I’d done all I could, I started shimmying again, completely burying myself, going down even further just to make sure I wouldn’t be discovered by a random monster passing by.

I had a long day of traveling behind me, and an even longer day of traveling ahead of me, so I might as well get some shut-eye.

The monsters on the third layer seemed to fight like clockwork. As soon as the sun was coming up all of the fighting stopped and the monsters started burying themselves beneath the sands, where it would be cooler during the day, aside from a few that were active during this time. The dungeon must be spawning a ton of monsters during the day since the night seemed to be a complete battle royale. There was no way to keep these numbers up if the dungeon wouldn’t provide new tier-three monsters each and every day.

This system was working in my favor, though, since I could just travel during the day, relatively unbothered by the few monsters still awake. I would say my travels were incredibly boring because truthfully, they were. But the constant reminder that there were most likely hundreds of monsters hidden underneath the sands I traveled put me on edge the whole time.

Seeing how conceptually different this layer was from the first two made me wonder what the rest of the layers were like. They might be vastly different, both in environment and battle culture, so before I descended to the next layer I’d have to carefully plan and take into consideration any possible scenarios I might encounter. The sheer fact that I hadn’t put water in my inventory was still gnawing at my consciousness. It was such an obvious thing to do, yet I had grown complacent and failed to consider even the most rudimentary survival strategies.

I crested another dune, spotting my target in the distance. The green of whatever vegetation was over there stood in stark contrast to the golden sands all around me so it was easy to see, even through the constant haze trying to obscure it from sight. I grumbled, annoyed at how little progress I seemed to be making in traveling toward the potential safety of the oasis… I might have severely underestimated just how far away that thing was.

Or maybe it only took me this long because I’m so slow.

Several hours later I was resting on top of yet another dune, fascinated by a fight I could observe. A giant, black scorpion was fighting one of the sandworms that took out the horse from the second layer.

The scorpion seemed like it was at a disadvantage since the worm was literally running circles around it, continuously emerging from the scorpion's blind spot. Yet, the scorpion must have had some way to sense where the worm was and barely managed to dodge every attack. It would turn around lightning quick and swipe at the worm with both its claws and the stinger on its tail, but the worm was just too fast with going back underground.

Eventually, the scorpion managed to land a hit with its stinger, and if I knew anything about scorpions, the worm just got served a proper dose of poison. I felt a certain kinship with the scorpion for that and was wondering to see which one of us had the more lethal poison at their disposal. Of course, I wasn’t stupid enough to challenge that thing to a fight, but I was still curious.

The worm's attacks became more and more sluggish, a clear sign that the poison was doing its job, and before long the worm was too slow to dodge, getting caught in the scorpion's pincers. After that the scorpion made short work of the worm, chopping it to pieces before starting to eat it.

I was reminded of that one crab I once watched eat something, as the scorpion was just feeding itself tiny bits of its kill by shearing them off with the pincers and putting them into its mouth. Seeing as it would probably take a while to eat the big worm, I decided to make a little detour, so I wouldn’t run the danger of being designated as dessert.

I watched in awe as a literal fucking dinosaur passed by me. That thing was so big I probably didn’t even register as a blip on its radar. It kinda looked like some weird mix between a T-Rex and, weirdly enough, Godzilla.

Did that mean that it was an evolved species, or did these guys just look like this naturally?

I probably wouldn’t find out unless I saw more of them, but it was just kinda cool to see a dinosaur. Even after seeing all the fantastical things I’d seen so far, seeing one of these titans in the flesh just hit… different.

It was also incredibly powerful, potentially very close to reaching tier four, or maybe it was already there, looking for the place to descend. But after watching it easily rip apart some cocky monster that crossed its path, I decided that I wouldn’t want anything to do with it, no matter what level it was at.

Survive for 14 days in the third layer (3/14)

It had already been three days since I came down to the third layer. And I was still not at the oasis.

I know I had been cursing at my lack of speed all throughout the first two layers, but this was getting ridiculous. If I ever saw an evolution option that unlocked my speed, I’d probably take it, no matter how shitty it was or how much better the other options were. This was just torture at this point.

I had consumed six monsters from my storage so far, leaving me with only four more. If I didn’t reach the oasis within the next two days I might be in trouble. Sure, I might be able to steal one or two monsters from one of the nightly brawls, but that was only a last resort. I really couldn’t afford to enter open combat with anything down here. After all, I was a measly tier-one, trapped in a tier-three world.

I got really unlucky too, only gaining a single point in strength from my food.

The last time I was able to spot the oasis was yesterday, and it still looked quite some ways away. Hopefully, I was making good time, because I was really starting to worry about my situation. Sure, I was able to survive a lot easier than I initially thought, but this whole trip wasn’t doing my mental state any favors.

I was severely under-leveled and on a physical level vastly inferior to any living thing on this layer. All it took was one tiny mistake on my part and it was game over for me. So far, I had some leeway whenever I fought with another monster, but that grace period was over. And I had only my greedy self to thank for the situation I was in.

If I managed to complete this quest, the reward better be worth it, or I just might go on a vendetta against the system!

Well, knowing the system it was pretty generous with its reward whenever I completed something that was deemed borderline impossible, so I was probably getting something crazy as a reward for this.

Assuming I actually survived, of course.

For now, I could do little more than just soldier on, under the hot afternoon sun, slowly being cooked alive. All while cursing out past me for his misplaced confidence.

My fourth day on the third layer was slowly coming to a close and I felt exhausted. It was two days ago at this point, that I’d last seen the oasis in the distance, and at this point, I wasn’t even sure if I was going in the right direction anymore. I was hot, constantly at risk of drying out, and even started to ration the last food I had.

Day four had been a particularly hot day, and I had to consume three monsters to keep my body wet, which left me with a singular monster in my inventory. Since I had no clue how long it’d take me to get to the oasis, I would have to snag myself a monster tonight. There was no way around it, or I would probably die a dry husk tomorrow.

The sun was nearing the horizon, so I’d have to bury myself pretty soon. But I was also pretty close to cresting the current dune I was on, so I decided to push on in order to get a better vantage point.

Most of the fighting usually took place in the little valleys between the dunes, so I was relatively safe at the higher altitude. Yet, there’d be no way for me to snipe anything with any kind of accuracy from this far away, so I had to hope that some monsters would fight close to my hiding spot.

I got myself into position and started my now daily ritual of burying myself in the hot sands. This always used up more mucus than necessary, but once the sand engulfing me absorbed as much liquid as it could and hardened, it wasn’t that bad. As always, my eye stalks were peeking out of the sand, two tiny sticks of black among an endless sea of brown.

I took this opportunity to relax a bit. The last few moments of sunlight after a hard day of traveling across slug-hostile terrain. Even if I was in a terrible situation, and it was about to get a whole lot worse… I had to admit that the fake sunset was pretty nice to look at.

I was watching the bright red sky, mentally dreading the moment the sun would completely vanish and usher in the time of unrelenting slaughter when I perceived some slight vibrations in the ground. At first, I thought the worms below me were waking up and getting ready for their nightly ritual of ripping apart unsuspecting combatants, but these vibrations were different.

Contrary to the constant vibrations caused by the shifting sand as the worms dug around below, these felt more rhythmic. They felt rhythmic, and a lot heavier probably belonging to something I hadn’t seen so far. The vibrations kept getting more and more intense, causing me to worry about just what was coming my way; my eyes on a constant swivel.

And then I saw it.

Two massive horns appeared behind a distant dune, followed by a massive, bull-like head. An equally gigantic torso followed, decorated with beefy arms, and legs that could not only crush watermelons but probably huge boulders as well. This thing had to be at least ten meters tall! Dark hair covered the entire creature, and even though it was far away, I could see only madness in its tiny eyes.

Danger! Emergency Quest! Danger!

You have encountered the Hunter of the third layer! Defeat it for a sizable reward!

Objective: Defeat the Hunter.

Reward: A C-Rank skill of your choice. Special evolutionary energy.

Failure: Death.

…

Yeah, there’s no way. I already had no chance against the regular monsters down here, so there was absolutely no way I should even consider fighting that thing. Considering that it was some sort of boss of the third layer, it was probably more or less on par with the Reaper Snake I defeated in the first layer.

I only managed to kill it through sheer luck and an unhealthy dose of madness. Maybe I could seek it out once I reached the highest level of the third tier if I was even still on this layer by then. The rewards looked mighty juicy after all. But for now, I’d just have to rely on my stealth passive and hope that it wasn’t interested in a tiny slug hidden in the sands.

As if on cue, the sun went down and all hell broke loose once again. Dozens of monsters exploded from the sand and immediately started fighting each other, unaware of the giant looming above them. There were a few blissful moments where the bull giant just let his gaze wander over the fighting masses, before letting out a massive howl that shook the earth and jumping into the fray itself.

It wasn’t a beautiful sight, to say the least. It rained down punches that absolutely obliterated whatever got hit by them. Kicked away some feisty monsters that had the gall to go for its legs, all of them flying away in their best shooting star impression. It let loose another howl and every other monster, excluding myself froze in fear for a few seconds, allowing the bull to spread its mayhem undisturbed. Probably some sort of skill that petrified anything that heard the cry.

Having no ears paid off once again.

It made short work of all the monsters in sight without receiving more than a few surface-level cuts and started shoveling dead monsters into its gullet. Soon enough, it got distracted by the sound of fighting coming from the dune behind me. It focused its gaze toward it and for a terrifying split-second, I thought it was looking right at me.

Another howl and it kicked off toward where more prey was, one of its cloven hooves stomping down dangerously close to where I was hidden. The action dislodged me from my hiding spot, sending me tumbling down the slope among copious amounts of sand. I took a moment to reorient myself, my tiny heart beating a mile a minute while listening to the Hunter dismantle more monsters just one ridge away.

If I’d thought I stood no chance before, now I knew.

I hurriedly snagged a few uneaten monsters, putting the four closest to me into my inventory. Not daring to do anything more, I hurriedly started burying myself again. There was an active hunt and I considered myself prey.

I was never happier to see the sun.

I had spent the night relatively undisturbed, but the tremors I could feel all throughout, told a story of unimaginable violence taking place wherever the Hunter went. Some cheeky worms had taken care of the dead monsters in my vicinity, making me glad that I’d managed to steal some away before it was too late.

I emerged from my sandy tomb and took out the last monster I had from the second layer. Time for breakfast. I managed to eat and drink my fill in peace, the day being a stark contrast to the night.

Refreshed, I once again started on my journey. I could probably last for two more days like this, but I’d really much rather just find this damn oasis. I continued my travels for another day, constantly paranoid to see a pair of horns appear from behind a dune, but I finally arrived at my destination.

It took me five days, but I laid my eyes upon the patch of green that had eluded me all this time. A sizable area of green sprawled out in front of me, a crystal-clear lake in the center.

I couldn’t wait to finally drink some real water again!

Survive for 14 days in the third layer (5/14)