As I lied in the dark entrapment of my egg, unable to move despite my best attempts, helpless to the predators prowling in the wild, all I could do was think. I couldn’t even access the System, probably because technically I wasn’t yet born to be a part of it.

I raged and shouted internally at the gods who put me into this predicament. After ages of eating my way to the top of the food chain of Hell, after ages of suffering hardship, when I finally could just relax in a well-protected palace full of conquered luxuries… They had to come and destroy everything.

I was so angry that I thought I would never stop, but eventually, that fury reduced to simmering embers and I could think about other things again. As I waited for myself to grow strong enough to break free of my egg prison, I wondered about what kind of creature I was reborn into. I hoped it would be something flying, or poisonous, or at least with some way to catch and kill prey. I knew I would have to start my way up from the beginning—even less than the beginning.

With no second chances, too—if I were to die there, my soul will fly to the Heavenly Judgement, where gods will be the one to send me to Heaven or Hell, and I knew they won’t let me go again. I only hoped that they wouldn’t find where I reincarnated in time to finish the job before I would become strong enough to take them on.

But one day, I will. I will reach Heaven and make good on the promise I gave to the gods.

As the time went, I found myself more and more enthusiastic to see the world outside my egg. It was the mortal realm! The place that, compared to Hell, was like Heaven. To find a way there was a dream for any demon, even the ones powerful enough to protect themselves from Hell’s many torments.

Visions of booze and scantily clad women vying for my attention filled my mind, and I began to try harder than before to break my shell. After what felt like centuries, I finally felt it giving and tearing under my pushes. With a surge of glee filling my body with energy, I burst outside.

I was free!

I stretched my entire body, unfurling its malleable length. My vision was too blurry to see more than shadows, but the sight of the endless green around me was still a welcome one. My feelers reached out, testing the air and the ground before me. I felt something slimy, something moving… Something that tasted like my kind.

My kind. A small insect with no legs, no protective carapace with feelers and eyestalks, what was I? I knew now, but I didn’t want to believe it. It was the worst thing I could’ve reincarnated into.

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With a thought, I opened my character tab. Even tiny insects like me were a part of the great System. The normal insects, though, didn’t have enough intelligence to access it and their character sheets, but I had.

I stared at what it showed me.

[Voren]

[General Info]

Species: Perasiad Slug

Sex: Hermaphrodite

Age: 0d

Height: 0.5cm

Weight: 0.004kg

Emotional state: Denial

Titles: Devourer, Alpha Predator, The Lord of Nine Hells

[Stats]

HP: 1/1

EXP: 0

STR: 1

DEX: 1

CON: 1

INT: 8

[Abilities]

Devourer (lv MAX)

Mucus (lv 1) (species boon)

A slug! I was just a slug! With no useful abilities, no EXP, with my stats as low as they can be except for INT, and even that was much lower than I had before. “Mucus”? What could it even do? Could I drown my prey in it? I doubted that. But at least my ‘Devourer’ ability was unchanged.

Despite all my anger, I had no inclination to give up. My goal became harder to reach, but I intended to succeed or die trying, possibly more than once.

I crawled out of the hole I was laid into. My stomach ached with hunger, and following my instincts, I joined my slimy siblings in eating everything I could put my feelers on. They were insatiable in filling their bellies with greenery, but I was even more so. My unique ability ‘Devourer’ let me eat infinitely. I could’ve eaten a whale, literally. And there was enough juicy grass and leaves for everyone. They were bitter, but still so delicious for me.

I ate, and ate, and ate. Until I felt a cold shadow falling over me. I only had time to curl into a ball before a gust of wind knocked me over.

When everything went quiet again and I dared to let my eyestalks out, I saw that the baby slug who ate his fill next to me disappeared.

A bird took it away.

It was careless of me to forget about the birds. The birds! I had not yet realised what a plague they were. But they were only a part of it, and I did my best to remember all I could about the creatures who wanted to eat me.

Ants and bugs, spiders, grasshoppers, lizards and toads—everyone wanted to feast on a tasty slug. I hid in nooks and crannies from them, but then I couldn’t eat and grew hungry and weak. There must’ve been a solution. And I found it.

I pushed my slimy body towards a patch of dry dirt. Normally I would avoid dry ground, as it hurt my soft body, but this time I crawled into it, ignoring the discomfort. It was nothing compared to what was considered the norm in Hell.

The dry sand stuck to the mucus on my hide with ease. I rolled around in it, making sure every part of my body was covered in it. It hurt, but this was the price of having camouflage.

With this, I could eat and grow safely. When I spotted a predator on the prowl, I only needed to curl into a ball and pretend to be a stone—a simple and very not tasty stone. Still, I was careful to stay next to hiding places as I ate.

Days had passed like this, between fear of discovery and mindless eating of leaves. My body grew and grew until I found myself too big for small leaves to hold my weight. This was when, I knew, it was time for me to begin my first hunt in this body.