Looking into the darkness of the third level, only a thick green carpet of softly glowing moss, giving any light to the surroundings, Anton felt goosebumps. Here he was again, but for the first time in ages, he had another shape. Meaning there was a chance, small as it was that he could get passed the bloody insects. Breathing in and out a few times, he began limbering up his legs, completely useless, really, but he was scared.

"Ok, enough procrastination. It's time to do this!"

Taking a last look around, he rushed into the darkness, heading straight for a dim carpet of light. As soon as he moved through the pitch dark, chittering and clicking came from everywhere. Ignoring it, he sprinted forward, feeling small things crunch under his feet before leaping onto the glowing moss.

Sitting up, he drew his feet in, making sure every part of him was inside the dim light sphere. Just out of view of the light he saw small things move around, chittering as they did. Breathing out, he tried calming his heart while feeling along the bottom of his feet with his last remaining front limb. No wounds, so far so good. He had expected the thicker, snakeskin, would protect him, and it seemed he was right.

Gingerly he began walking along the soft, bouncy ground, making sure not trip and fall off. In front of him, he could vaguely make out what seemed like roads in the darkness, dimly glowing.

Halfe a day later, he was sitting on the end of the luminous area, looking out towards what looked like a giant ant hive filled with neon lights. Barely discernable dots moved around everywhere, disappearing into the darkness or appearing from it to enter the city.

"Last stop, insect metropolis, everyone with a deathwish can get off here," Anton muttered as he looked at the place he had died at more times than he wanted to recall. Eaten, dismembered, drowned in his own fluids, and still, he came back to try and get through.

"I must be completely crazy by now..." he sighed. Then he pinpointed one of the lower hives, noticing the round opening. "Here, we go!" He uttered at the same time leaping into the darkness and sprinting forward. He felt small things crack and burst under his feet, making it difficult to keep his footing. A little bite came from his calf, and he shuddered, another came from his ankle, and he felt a burning sensation slowly spread.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck." He kept cursing the entire run, at one point almost falling when his left leg became numb. But he made it, and as he rushed into the light circle cast by the hive, he felt the small things drop from his legs and skitter back into the darkness.

Taking a deep breath, he looked around at the giant, tank-like insects that were moving along, ignoring him completely. Twice as high as he was, they resembled black beetles with a thick black carapace on their back. Although they looked dangerous, they acted only as workers for the hive. Not that he could fight one, either way, their carapace was almost impenetrable, and if he attacked one, the soldiers would come. Moving into the hive, he padded one of the beetles.

"Good seeing you again, let's hope we get along better this time!" The beetle just ambled on, and he looked around. The entire hive had a single long opening in the middle, giving a free look to the top, while slopes wound around the walls, with many little entrances leading to other, smaller rooms. Some of those were either filled with larva or food, and Anton now had to find them.

Sitting inside the chamber, both the walls and ceilings glowing with a bright yellow light, Anton looked at the larva lying around. They couldn't move yet and were fed by a smaller version of the workers. He had been waiting for the workers to leave because that meant they wouldn't come back anytime soon, and he would have his hands free to do as he wanted.

"Hands..." He sighed, looking at his last front limb.

Stepping in front of one of the larva, around the size of a spiderling, he examined the ugly little thing. Similar to a caterpillar, it was curved in on itself, small chitin plates growing on its back. Pushing his front limb against the underside of what seemed to be its upside, he began tickling it. Shuddering, it straightened, showing its vulnerable belly and mouth, that opened in anticipation of food. Anton put his foot just above the mouth and pushed, causing the thing to struggle violently before bursting open, fluids dripping from his leg.

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Energy trickled into his foot, but he didn't pay it any attention. It was so little, barely enough if he had been just a spiderling, and not for what he had come. Kneeling, he buried his face inside the soft tissue, gnawing at it until he reached the meaty part. Then he started eating, trying to ignore how disgusted he was by the whole process. When he finished, he felt the front of his head, small and connected to his round body without any neck burn and reshape. Moving towards the next larva, he repeated the process a few more times until he felt his head loosen from his main body. Turning it left, and right he reveled in the ability to look around with moving his entire body.

"Much better, almost makes you feel human again..." he whispered the last part, before shaking his spider head. More to be done! He turned to the other larva, and across the span of an hour, he ate them all. When he finished, he knew his body had changed significantly, more so than on all previous occasions. Although still only with one limb, it was now longer and thicker, with small chitting plates covering it. His legs had turned an even darker shade of red, almost brow now, and rudimentary plates were growing on them. He moved his torso left and right, independent from his waist and head, and felt the shield covering his back.

"Time for the desert," he said, his voice still as human as ever, and he sneaked out of the room, leaving behind a bleeding mess of chitting, meat, and puss.

He ran along the ramp, passing a few entrances that held nothing interesting. When he heard some soft howling noises coming from one, he stopped and peeked inside.

"The hell..." Surprised, he stepped inside, looking at the pit in the middle of the room. Inside he saw many different kinds of dead animals, many of which were ripped into small pieces. Sitting on top was a demonic-looking lizard, something he had never seen on the third floor. Inspecting it, he wondered where it came from, but decided it didn't matter. It could only mean bad news. Backing up, he almost made it out when the lizard looked up.

"Now, what are you?" A human voice came from the lizard, scaring the shit out of Anton. He hated coming across intelligent monsters. He never found out where they came from, but they always tried killing him.

"Nobody important, enjoy your meal!" Anton grunted, turning around and hightailing it out of there. He heard some shouting coming from behind, but he wasn't planning on sticking around to find out what the other wanted. Either that was a human turned monster hanging around here, which meant no good, or it was a native monster, which was even worse.

He ran along the slope, heading back down. It was time to go to the main hive and find what he needed there. This one was way too crowded.

Getting inside the large hive was only a little bit more complicated than the smaller one. At the entrance, there were two guardians with the lower body of a spider, and a demon body ontop. From a distance, the top half looked somewhat human, but it was far from it. Their bodies were covered in slick, black chitin, and they had claws instead of hands. Their faces had facetted spider eyes and a spider maw instead of a mouth.

Feeling giddy, Anton threw a stone next to the entrance. In a rush, the two spider things moved towards it, leaving the doorway wide open. Anton quickly dashed inside, wondering why anybody would put such stupid guards at an entrance. Inside it was identical to the smaller nest, and he ignored the black beetles walking around as he dashed passed them towards the rightmost ramp. Slowing down to a walk, he kept an eye out for any soldiers while walking towards one of the small side entrances. Looking inside, he saw it was empty.

"Damnit, they changed the locations." Grumbling, he checked the next few entrances and only found what he was looking for halfway up the ramp. Moving inside the dim-lit room, he regarded the small piles of flesh and meat lying around, most with bones in them. Poking through it, he quickly found what he was looking for, arms. Most were old, and he kept looking until he found some that seemed fresh. They didn't have hands, but claws and he knew they had been part of the soldiers. These insects threw nothing away. Picking one up, he riped the end a bit and opened up the wound where one of his limbs had been.

"How about you give me a hand!" Laughing, he put the arm on the open wound. Right away, he felt the wound heat up, and soon after the sensation of a new limb. Feeling the many small cuts and wounds on the arm, he sighed. Wouldnt it be wonderful to get a fresh one? Oh well. Continuing, he quickly attached the remaining three, before casting a lingering eye on his last original limb. No use for that now, and he began twisting it off, using the much stronger new arms. The claws made short work of the spider leg, and he looked at it for a moment before tossing it with the trash. Putting the last arm on it, he straightened up, stretching and flexing all four.

"So, now that we are all armed and ready, let's get outa this dump." He snorted, before heading towards his last destination on this floor.