I managed to hide the spider in the bag... My familiar somehow managed to get through most of the food it was given earlier. It looked like I didn't have to worry about space in the bag. Even though I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible and I had no time to wait... I had to make sure that the larva eats as much as possible.

I ate some sprigs of phoenix feathers. This time I needed more... I could say that I got used to the taste... But it's unreal! I got up and started walking forward. My ability to use magic was almost... Gone. I was too tired.

I ate some of the fruits I picked yesterday. It helped me a little.

After a long time, I saw something that looked like salvation. A few bushes with berries! They were black... But it could have been something useful!

Halfway through, my joy was interrupted by a very loud growl. I looked uncertainly in that direction and saw very large wolves! Their size was equal to the Great Dane.

It hurt a lot... But I summoned the last of my magic and threw a fireball that exploded in front of the wolf's paws. The animals jumped back, surprised by the explosion, and I took the opportunity to reach the bushes.

I ate several berries at once. I didn't have time to check what they were, it was my last chance. They were very sweet and had a very specific spicy smell. The wolves wasted no time and headed toward me. But I felt a very powerful boost of energy. And that's what I was looking for!

I gathered fire magic in my hands and I threw large fireballs into wolves!

- Eat this! - I screamed when I heard their screams.

My next move was shadow blades that I threw at the monsters. 8 out of 13 were defeated. I created shadow swords in my hands. When the others jumped on me with an attack, I made strong cuts.

The largest of them managed to dodge the attack and bit me on the arm. I fell and felt his jaws crush my bones. A terrible feeling of pain ran through my body, paralyzing me for a moment.

Adrenaline reached its peak at this point. I stopped feeling the pain and looked at the animal with extreme anger. I grabbed his muzzle with my good hand and squeezed hard. My hand looked different at that moment. It was covered in blood-red fur with black zigzags.

This was no time to worry about my appearance. I don't know when, but after a while I heard a huge crack and the animal released me.

I crushed his jaw?! I even felt sorry for the animal that was throwing itself on the ground in shock, and I ended its life with a shadow blade.

- It... Was something - I looked at my arm.

It is still covered in this fur... Funny feeling... And warm. In a way, I was glad of it. After all, that's what everyone around me expected. But after a while, the changes began to reverse.

- Oh... - I muttered disappointed.

At least I know I can do something like this in a critical moment. I stuffed the wolves into a bag and collected all the berries. It took some time, but thanks to them I have a better chance of surviving fights. Besides, their name is "Sugarberry". They are very energetic and preserves from them are very popular, although they are difficult to grow.

My next opponents were golems again. I felt safer with a supply of sugarberries. I threw large shadow blades at them, which damaged their stony bodies very deeply. Success! I was getting better at dealing with golems.

After a dozen or so minutes, I had the remains of 12 cores, which I gave to my familiar. I moved forward quickly and tried to defeat the monsters on my way as quickly as possible.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Another species I encountered were gargoyles, which were very resistant. I had to put in a lot of effort to beat them. They weren't big... Because of this, they were fast. And they were the first things my familiar refused to eat. Surprising!

It took me 8 hours to be halfway to the exit. Monsters appeared in herds, mental fatigue exceeded my physical fatigue. Everything except the gargoyles went into the bag.

All the don't-go-bad containers were filled with berries and herbs. I started throwing surpluses of less valuable things to the larva so it was able to taste something different than monsters.

My familiar, after reaching almost a meter in length, stopped growing, but its colors began to change. It had yellow, blue, and green spots on it. It was a good sign... Those colors were related to what I wanted.

An unexpected creature blocked my path. Huge lizard bigger than an alligator. Basilisk! Not a lesser one! This one is basilisk! I covered my eyes. I can't look into its eyes!

The monster started running towards me, I could hear it clearly. I prepared a shadow blade and waited for the moment when the beast would be close. But suddenly it became quiet. I was confused. It discovered my tactic? Suddenly I heard this monster behind me!

I turned as fast as I could and slashed blindly with the blade. I felt no resistance. I didn't hit him! Suddenly, powerful jaws bit down on my leg. I raised my hand and this time I hit it! The jaws didn't let go of my leg, but I distinctly heard the rest of its body fall to the ground.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I cut off most of his head. It... Didn't look nice. I put the dead monster in a bag and ate a few pieces of fern again.

- Gwaaaaah! It is still horrible - I screamed.

I continued my horrible journey. And soon I reached the worst place... Huge space. According to Edan's directions, it's five kilometers in diameter. The ceiling was also at least a kilometer high. I ate a few sugarberries and decided to not waste time. Gargoyles should be very often here... And soon the first ones appeared! I aimed shadow blades at their wings.

When I managed to destroy the wing of one of the monsters, it fell very quickly to the ground. The sounds of the fight soon attracted other monsters, such as golems and wolves... And to my despair, 3 more basilisks appeared. I stepped back to the tunnel exit and gathered all the magic I had.

The stream of fire I unleashed was the greatest I could create. It hit almost all my opponents! And killed some of them! I had a few berries in my hand, which I ate right away to regain my strength. I didn't have to worry about their supplies...

I started aiming concentrated fireballs at the monsters. I felt that... This transformation of my hand from earlier. I was stronger after this. I was killing monsters pretty fast. In the end, their bodies were everywhere in front of me.

I put as much as I could into the bag. I gave my familiar some time to eat and looked around. I found more phoenix feathers. They were a little damaged... But still very impressive.

Another enemy has also appeared. Another huge spider! After defeating it, I heard more golems coming here. These were bigger! And much faster! I started throwing concentrated fireballs at them, but the effects were much weaker than with their smaller version.

I started running to keep my distance and kept attacking them. It took me almost half an hour to kill all of them! Simple strategy... But it worked. I collected the core remains from all 6 golems and I put them into my bag... Oh, my pet ate almost everything.

I gave the larva all the rest of the monsters from my earlier battle and moved on. Along the way, I met individual monsters. Stronger ones. I think they were all from the lower layer.

After a hard hour of running, I found a tunnel! I was so close, I was close to tears of happiness. I jumped in quickly and looked around. I didn't notice anything serious, so I quickly went toward the hidden room.

And of course it couldn't be too easy. Everything around me shook violently.

- I'm running out of time! - and the last fight awaited me...

There was a huge number of centipedes in the room. They were also huge, each one around 15 meters long.

- Sorry, I don't have time! - I created 2 shadow swords on my hands and I extended them to my limits.

It looked like my limit was 2.5 meters. I started slashing the monsters and running ahead. The tremors were getting stronger and stronger. I left a lot of bodies behind, but there was no time.

When I was almost at the exit... The larva jumped out of my bag crying and started devouring dead centipedes.

- Nooo! wait! We have no time! You are a goofy thing! Leave this!

I tried to catch the animal in despair, but it was incredibly fast. The surroundings began to fall apart as I finally managed to grab the pet and jumped into the portal, carrying a large fat worm.

Behind the portal I saw sharp rocks, I made a quick turn in the air to take the force of the fall.

- Owww... My poor bones... You behaved very stupidly, you bad larva! - I admonished the pet, who laid flat on me. - Oh, now you are sad? - I muttered still a bit angry.

And that's when my crystal tablet started howling... How many missed calls? 2349?! And it just started ringing again, so I answered the call.

- Uh... Hello? - I asked uncertainly.

- WILLIAM! WHERE ARE YOU?! EVERYONE IS LOOKING FOR YOU! - it was Lily.

I didn't know she was capable of screaming so loud...