Have you seen a centipede with wings? I hope you never do. It's unsettling on so many levels that I felt like vomiting. As if having a million legs were not enough, now it needed wings too?

When I entered the arena I saw a beautiful pair of moth wings facing in my direction. I was fantasizing about having a pair of wings for myself. Then it turned around.

"What kind of sick joke is this?"

That was my first reaction to it.

I am not really good with bugs. Some are okay. I won't hold them or anything but I can look at them and appreciate their beauty. Centipedes and millipedes are no go. Their face pisses me off. Not the body, not the legs, just face. Too many things opening closings at once. Dragon flies have the same kind of face but I am completely okay with them. Most likely because they look kinda derpy.

The centipede looked like a normal centipede for the most part. Segmented body, purplish brown skin, too many legs and ugly. I can count six pairs of mandibles on its face. What does it do with that many mandibles? From its head segment two pair wings coming out decorating its head like a velvet veil.

I heard that some people keep giant centipedes as pets. Why? You had so many options but you had to choose the toxic one! That aside, I wonder what they will feel about this thing. If a foot long centipede is too long, how do I describe 'this'? It's around 4 foot in width. Each segment height is about a foot and a hulf long. 25 segment in total.

"Oh no."

Too soon my friend. I talked too soon. Another 30 something segments came out along with another four pairs of wings. Above those wings are two antennas. I mistook them for its hind legs. They were hiding under ground. There was a hole directly under the centipede. I think that's the way to the next level.

Do centipedes make sound with their mouth? Its kinda hissing at me you know. Hmm.. is this declaration of war? I do not accept. But I don't have a way out, do I?

The centipede did not play around. Attacking me right away. As if to prove that it will give me no breathing room throughout the fight. Mandibles open the centipede rushed toward me like a rogue train in a hurry. Unstrapping my unga bunga, I moved to the right and bonked on its head.

"Bad bug. You should not attack like that. Where is the monolog? Where is the intimidation tactic?"

The centipede did not mind my words. It's a bug after all. It probably saw me and thought I was food. 'I am not.' Coiling its body around me the centipede jumped toward my neck. I did not move. Raised my hammer high up and met its attack head on.

With a single bite of its mandibles the centipede broke my hammer and sliced onto my chest. An excruciating pain rang through my whole body. The neurotoxin in its full glory entered my body. My muscles began a rhythmic spasm.

"Ahahahahahhahaha… hahahaha.. aaaaaa…. so good. So gooodddddd. Do it again. Common."

I jumped up and landed on the centipede's head. Putting my both hands on its biggest mandibles I raised my weight to the maximum capacity and started pulling them apart. The mandibles swayed for a bit but efforts were in vain. The tough mandibles stubbornly stayed in place.

The centipede tried to slam its tail onto me but failed. Thrashing about for some time it gave up on that idea. It pulled its head up, raised its wings and jumped in the air. I was still holding on to its mandibles. Dangling right between its wings. Wings flapped in high speed grinding my sides. Another burst of pain entered my body.

"Fuck you too."

Shouting like a feral beast I arched my back downwards, raised my head and banged it on the centipede's head. Once, twice, thrice….. Blood seeped through my skin but I continued my assault. All the while rasping in a hoarse growl.

Yellow strands of light surfaced from the centipede's entire body. Wanting to shock me unconscious. In a fit of rage I pulled on the right mandible with both of my hands freeing from its cage and stabbed in its eye. The centipede squirmed in pain.

Thunder boomed with an ear piercing echo. A forceful hammer slammed on my body throwing me off of the centipede. Joulting pain ensued, rendering me paralysed.

I fell down on the ground making a mini crater. My equipment scattered around. Making a spoon like shape with earth magic I shoved a core down my throat. Soon the paralyzing effect started to wear off.

The centipede was still in the air thrashing about throwing lightning in random directions. I made a high spike to use as a lightning rod and started blasting fire balls toward the centipede. It did close to no damage but got the bugs attention.

"That's enough playing around."

Deciding its fate I started preparing my spell. The lightning rod worked like a charm. When the centipede saw its attacks getting sucked into a rock, instead of coming down it started making circles in the sky. Dark clouds formed in the sky. A sadistic smile surfaced on my face.

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"You should kill yourself. That will be for the best."

Using earth magic I created a circular wall of around 10 foot in height and 30 foot diameter. Filled it with water to the brim. Next I made a fireball as big as me, condensed it as much as I coud and kept a cushion of air magic around the fireball.

The fire boiled the water. Produced water vapour. The water vapour in turn made the cloud denser. Lightning snaked around the cloud. I kept looking at the centipede.

The centipede bit its tail making a ouroboros. Looking at the electricity gathering inside the circle, I held my breath. It was right above me. As soon as the thunder discharged I used gravity on the fire ball.

The boiling water encapsulated the fire ball and attracted the lightning toward it. The centipede was still in the sky. I casted a air spell and gave it a slight push toward my concoction. Like a moth to the flame, the centipede flew right into the water.

Hot water is a better conductor of electricity than cold water. Hot water is bane to all centipedes.

The centipede tried to overpower my spell at first but slowly it's movement subsided and finally it became completely still. Its carapace became twisted and the centipede too died due to natural causes.

My body relaxed. Completely out of mana. My spells broke and I plunged down on the ground. 'Ah, I forgot to use my knives.' Fainted.

__________

I woke up under the debris of my magic. Tired, pained. I didn't even try to move for a long time. The cold soil, the absence of light brought me comfort. I wanted to stay there. Forever. But I couldn't do that. Not yet. So I stayed there for just another minute.

__________

The centipede did not have a heart. I expected as much. But the thing I found inside it shocked me a little. A blob of jelly-like substance. Similar to the one I had near my heart but bigger and blood red in colour. I quickly picked inside me and saw that mine too was bigger now. Suspicion reared its ugly head, but I had not a single clue.

I broke off four of the mandibles. The sharpest and strongest of them all. Bigger ones were three and a half foot long whereas the smaller ones only a foot long. They were to be my weapons of choice in the near future.

I harvested as much undamaged body parts as I could, including the head. Heading toward 21st level I collected a huge amount of vines. I had a plan. I wanted to turn the centipede carapace into an armor.

I took the raw carapace, cleaned them and started cutting them in desirable pieces. One piece chest and back guard. Thin straps for other parts. After assembling them I encountered a problem. I did not have anything to make small holes. The carapaces were an inch thick so if I had used the mandibles it would become a large hole.

I went to the door again to grind one of my knives. When it became thick as a finger I stopped. After making holes, they went to dry themselves and I made another set armor. This time, with the thin under belly carapace. This one was to be used under the main armor.

The leathers from the boss monsters turned out to be much stronger so I decided to use that instead of the vines. I made a big rope with the vines. I wanted to scout out the next area first. Who knew what was lurking there.

I tied the armor pieces together. It turned out like a Japanese armor with all the segments and shoulder pads. Made a new set of clothes and boots. The only thing I was unsatisfied with was the helmet. I could not find anything from the head that would work. So I shaped leather in my helmet. Hardened it. Slapped some straps of the carapaces on it and called it a day.

I held the centipede core in my hand, looking at it. Not knowing what to do with it. 'This was the only thing that looked magical in its body. So, it should work!' I decided to eat it. I tried to mimic cultivation with it but I didn't know any breathing techniques. Ya ya, cultivation isn't real and so is magic. Yet here I am throwing around fire from my hand. Let a man dream.

I did not get any vision from it. That felt wrong somehow. I was looking forward to the huge thunder call technique. That reminds me, thunder magic is a bitch. It's so hard to hit in the right spot. Takes up too much mana but it also hits extra hard. Soooooo…., balance? I was sure that thing didn't exist in this place.

It was fun slinging lightning at things, so I decided to become a lightning boy. Now all I needed was to search for the colour code for black and code for red emission light to create the Dragon Element.

__________

Days passed by. I spent every day eating, shitting, sleeping and got bored sooner than I anticipated. Before there used to be BGM now it's pin drop silence everywhere. I decided to move on to the next level. I wore my armor. Picked up the rope and headed to the hole in the ground.

Tying the rope on a tree trunk, I descended through the hole. I did not bring any of my food baggage. The hole is narrow and could only fit one person. I thought I would go down first, see what was going on, then make a suitable plan.

"Let's hope it's not another corridor."

The descent was long and tedious. I have made a very long rope. I thought it would be unnecessary but now I thanked my past bored self. Looking downward, I saw sand and the rope almost touching the ground. Hopping down I looked toward the distance.

"Huuuuhhhh.. it's a desert. This will be a little problematic. I need a lot of woods for markings."

As I was trying to come up with a plan to safely navigate the desert the sand under my leg shifted. I was surprised for a second. That's all it took. Next thing I knew I was in a black pit.

"The fuck is going on? Is this a trap?"

I moved my hand to touch the wall. What I touched was not made out of sand. It was squishy and a little slippery.

"Oh great. I just set my foot here and I am already inside someone's stomach."

Tightening my grip I punched on the wall in an upward angle as hard as I could. The wall busted open and created a tunnel connecting the surface. I walked out and looked at the creature. A sand worm. 'I should have known better.'

Cursing my luck I turned around to go up. I needed to get food supplies. This place was not looking good. I would rather die than eating sand worm meat.

"Oh, no."

Chill ran down my spine. The rope was not there. Neither was the rocky protrusion. I panicked. Jumping high up I tried to locate the rope but no matter how much I jumped I could not see it.

"No, no, this isn't happening right?"

"Shit shit shit shit me and my big mouth."

No matter what I said or did. One thing was clear. I was thoroughly fucked.

"Ffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkk……"