Neva stared at the Worm in front of her, trying to find a weak point in its defenses.
But unfortunately, she couldn't find any place to attack; this Worm was covered head to toe in grayish-white Bone Armor, practically armed to the teeth.
The Worm itself realized it couldn't outmaneuver Neva in terms of speed, so it changed its strategy.
It seemed to be brewing something in its mouth, and then it spat a viscous, yellowish-brown Corrosive Saliva at Neva.
Seeing that disgusting spittle flying towards her, Neva hastily dodged.
This was too disgusting for a Worm!
Spitting during a fight, and judging by the color, what exactly had this Worm been eating?
The "phlegm" the Worm spat landed on the rock where she had just been standing, making a sizzling sound.
The hard rock was corroded, creating pits of varying sizes.
Seeing this sight, Neva unconsciously swallowed and took a few steps back.
It seemed that the disgusting spittle wasn't as harmless as she had imagined; she didn't want to test the power of this "aged phlegm" with her own body.
This should be the ability called Corrosive Saliva.
The Worm turned its head and spat another glob of yellowish-brown spittle.
Again!
She maneuvered her body to dodge, just barely avoiding the spittle, and before she could steady herself, another glob of spittle came flying.
"Is it trying to wear down my stamina?"
After dodging several more globs of spittle, the opponent finally stopped spitting.
Neva breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed to have run out of stock.
But this still wouldn't do; although the Worm couldn't catch her for now, she also had no way to deal with the thick Bone Armor on the Worm, and in a test of stamina, the opponent had the advantage.
Was running away the only option?
However, with the Worm in front and the pond behind, escaping wouldn't be easy.
Just as Neva was hesitating, the mutated Worm seemed to lose patience; it stopped circling Neva, quickly turned its body, and charged forward in the most violent manner.
Even after Evolution, she couldn't compare to the Glutton Worm Adult Form in terms of size; the opponent was more than twice her size, after all, the Shadow-Prey Beetle's advantage was speed, not strength or size.
If she were to be hit head-on by the opponent, the outcome would definitely not be good.
The distance between them was constantly shrinking, and the Worm opened its gaping maw, like an invincible armored vehicle, bringing her immense pressure.
Along with that pressure came the strong, pungent stench from the Worm's mouth, which reminded Neva of uncleaned trash cans that had fermented for a long time in the hot summer; the smell was exactly the same.
Wait!
Bad breath?
Neva suddenly thought of something.
Although she couldn't find a weakness on its body, its mouth wasn't protected by Bone Armor!
It was a bit dangerous... but not impossible to try.
She let out a provocative hiss, luring the opponent to attack again.
"Hiss..."
The mutated Worm also let out a sharp hiss, as if responding to Neva's provocation.
Neva was confused; what did this Worm understand?
But the problem was, she didn't even know what she herself had said!
Ignoring the minor detail of how Worms communicate, her gaze was fixed on the charging Worm.
The Worm's mouthparts suddenly opened, revealing sharp fangs inside.
Wait a little longer, a little closer... suppressing the fear in her heart and the urge to flee, Neva watched as the terrifying giant mouth approached.
Now!
"Don't you like to eat? Then I'll give you something to eat!"
Neva jumped into the air, narrowly dodging the Worm's mouth, her leg-claws gripping tightly to the Worm's upper jaw, then quickly striking, actively extending her scythe-like forelimbs into the Worm's mouth.
There was great resistance at the tip of her forelimbs, but the resistance quickly disappeared, followed by the sensation of piercing through flesh and blood.
Blood gushed from the Worm's mouth.
Neva knew she couldn't delay any longer; she finally controlled her forelimbs to stir vigorously inside the Worm's mouth, then, as expected, they were bitten off by the Worm.
The Worm's massive body thrashed wildly, flinging Neva away directly, and it rolled on the ground in pain, the entire ground trembling slightly.
Neva, who had crashed into a rock in the distance, struggled to get up; her condition was also not ideal, the terrifying impact had caused several large cracks in the Bone Armor on her body, and had broken another of her leg-claws, with other leg-claws also suffering varying degrees of damage.
Although the injuries were severe, she had won; she didn't think a Worm whose brain had been churned to mush could still survive.
"Hiss, ouch! But it feels a bit exciting!"
If it had been right after she was born, Neva definitely wouldn't have done something so crazy; sacrificing her forelimbs was easy to say, but it really hurt to do!
"Although it was successful, I can't do this next time; who knows, I might kill myself one day."
Neva reflected seriously.
Just as she thought the matter was over, the still struggling Worm made a move that greatly shocked Neva.
Perhaps knowing it was about to die, the Worm unleashed its last strength, dragging its body to smash into Neva.
Neva didn't understand how it, having lost its brain and its ability to think, could do this. Was it hatred? Or instinct?
"Bang!"
The Worm's huge body crashed down, smashing some small rocks nearby to pieces, and the stirred dust scattered all around.
The dust quickly cleared, and Neva crawled out from a crevice in a rock; those rocks had blocked most of the impact force, and the Worm's final revenge ended in failure.
"[Killed Glutton Worm Adult Form (Mutated), Evolution Value +1.5]"
Looking at the Worm lying motionless on the ground, Neva felt both relieved and had some different thoughts.
If it hadn't encountered her, would this Worm, which had already gained Enlightenment, truly have been able to live to become a High-level Life Clan member, and genuinely possess its own thoughts?
She recalled when she was first born, attacked by a Grayish-white Worm, how even though she knew it would be difficult to turn the tables, she still wanted to make a final effort, with the mindset of taking the opponent down with her.
Even if it only caused negligible damage to the enemy, one still had to do it; perhaps this was the vengeful nature inherent in all life.
Why did the ending of this mutated Worm feel a bit tragic?
Neva shook her head; in a world where it was either you die or I die, there was no room for pity.
After all, no life survives solely on the pity of others.
Neva sighed deeply in her heart.
"Sigh, why think so much!"
"But this was indeed a powerful opponent. The best way to remember the opponent is to eat it completely, leaving nothing behind. My stomach will remember you forever."
Neva performed an odd prayer gesture towards the Worm's corpse, then began to enjoy the feast before her.
Sure enough, she was still her carefree self... After a long time, a prompt sounded.
"[Devoured Glutton Worm Adult Form (Mutated), Evolution Value +0.5]"
"Burp!"
Meal complete!
She hadn't expected this single Worm to provide her with a full 2 points of Evolution Value; what a great harvest.
Even her data rating had increased to 2.2; was this because she had grown during the battle?
Feeling the breeze in the cave, the full Neva declared that she didn't want to move at all.
Although the wounds on her body were still throbbing, they were nothing serious; with the help of Healing, these wounds would probably heal in a few days, and the lost leg-claws would grow back.
If it weren't for this ability, Neva wouldn't have so easily given her forelimbs to the Worm.
This wind was really comfortable!
Why hadn't she noticed it before?
Hmm... wind?
Neva suddenly realized.
Having stayed in this cave for so many days, she had hardly felt the presence of wind. Where was this wind coming from?
Could it be... Neva immediately got up from the ground and carefully felt the direction of the wind.
It's this way!
Neva came to the entrance of a cave, confirming that the wind was indeed blowing from inside.
Her heart was filled with excitement at this moment, carrying anticipation and joy, she entered the cave entrance, hobbling forward at her fastest speed.
She didn't even pay attention to the few oblivious Worms she encountered along the way; at this moment, she even found those Worms quite adorable.
The passage was constantly ascending, which further confirmed her guess.
About a few minutes later, Neva finally saw what she had longed for.
It was light! Dazzling, brilliant light!
She had finally come out, out of that dark cave...