Several high pitched screams echoed through the forest as Thozronnath ran for his life. He was being forced to run as he fled, rather than his usual flight, as one of his wings had already been torn off by the beasts pursuing him. Needless to say, his morning was not going to plan.

The imp had spent the previous night in his former summoner turned victim’s house scouring for anything that could be of use, finding little else than the clay tablets he had been forced to sort. His rudimentary inspection also revealed that the building was in fact isolated in the middle of a sprawling expanse of trees, quite far from any other signs of mortal life. Though perhaps it was more accurate to say “humanoid mortal life”, as Thoz had learned the hard way that his surroundings were very much full of mortal life.

The inquisitive creature had left his temporary abode in the search of more humanoids, hoping to claim their souls before he inevitably was returned to hell. He immediately regretted that decision. Fifteen minutes after leaving the hut he was summoned into, Thoz accidentally walked straight into the territory of a rather aggressive colony of giant ants, and unfortunately these ants were giant by human standards instead of ant standards. Each of them stood well over a meter tall and weighed over one hundred and eighty kilograms, they quite literally cast a shadow over Thoz.

Aside from their gargantuan size, these ants resembled their diminutive cousins rather closely save for a few key features. The gripping mandibles that flanked either side of the insectoid mouths were heavily serrated, more than capable of tearing flesh. A power Thoz experienced first hand when one of them bit off his left wing, preventing him from flight-based escape. In addition to these natural pincers, each of them also sported a long stinger on their elongated abdomens. Stingers that rival small blades and drip with a steaming venom. Thoz had no doubts in his mind that one well placed skewer would be his one way trip back home, but he was not quite ready for that.

Yes, Thoz had earned a profit, and yes he had successfully completed his contract, but if he wanted to return as a glorious hero he would need substantial numbers that could impress Varekoth. Numbers he could only get if he escaped these insatiable insects and found a human settlement.

Unfortunately for him, the ants were a fair bit faster than he was, though much much larger. They were more than capable of keeping pace with him despite his best efforts to dodge and duck between obstacles at every turn. The ants merely plowed through anything in their way, or swarmed atop one another to climb over, truly utilizing “strength in numbers”. Though, to Thoz’s credit, he had lost several of them through this method. The original swarm of twenty or so that had started chasing him now consisted of less than a dozen, and they were rapidly being left behind whenever they functioned as step stools for their companions.

This chase went on for several more minutes, Thoz’s inexhaustible body beginning to slow down as the minor scrapes and wounds he was collecting slowly built up and impeded his efforts forward.

With ants nipping at his tail in a very real sense, and his ability to outrun them quickly dwindling, Thoz received a divine revelation, or what felt like one.

Congratulations! Your efforts have bore fruit. +1 Dexterity.

The resulting stat point would be a minor upgrade to any creature with a modicum of power, but for Thoz it literally doubled his physical capabilities. His body felt lighter, his feet felt faster, and it granted him a few extra inches of breathing room from the ants bearing down on him.

His clawed feet dug into the ground and he was able to continue his evasion of his hungry and aggravated pursuers.

Thozronnath’s good fortune did not end there, it would seem as if the gods themselves were smiling down upon him. The swarm on his heels had dwindled much further than he had realized, too afraid to look over his shoulder. What was originally a dozen assailants had fallen to a total of three. The first served as a jumping off point for the other two, one of which crashed head first into a tree and stunned itself, giving up on further pursuit. The final ant, unaware that he was the sole fighter should the imp turn on him, continued barreling ahead.

Thoz was ducking underneath fallen logs, through small bushes, and doing every single thing he could possibly manage to put a space between him and this ant. Eventually, he succeeded in a sharp left turn around the trunk of a large tree, a turn that caused the ant behind him to slam its shoulder directly into the tree.

Your pursuer has suffered a minor injury. -4 HP

The indication of "Your pursuer" rather than "One of your pursuers" is the first thing that indicated to Thoz he was now facing a one-on-one confrontation. Without hesitation he whirled around to face the disoriented ant. The insect in question had opened a small crack in the chitin on it's head and bent one of its antennae at an awkward angle; it was currently trying to shake the confusion out of its senses. An opportunity that Thoz quickly jumped on.

Running back towards his assailant with fear quivering his insides, the imp slid across the mushy forest floor until it was directly beneath the creature that tripled it in size.

Swallowing a bead of hesitation that was finally starting to grow in his throat, Thoz let out a deep battle cry.

“STINGSES!”

Well, a high-pitched battle cry of a rather pathetic nature, but a battle cry specifically. His scorpion based tail then lunged forward at the stunned creature and pierced its underbelly.

Congratulations! Your stunned target has been critically hit.

Your target has suffered a minor injury. -8 HP.

Your poison courses through the target's veins. -26 HP.

The results of his attack were better than Thoz could have hoped for, but the lack of indication to the ant’s death meant this creature had more than double Thoz’s HP, perhaps even triple.

Thoz’s estimates were not far off, as it took three more stings before the ant would die. Thankfully Imp poison affected it and helped prolong the effects of the stun. If Thoz hadn’t been critically hitting the creature would have recovered its senses before the imp slew it.

Congratulations! Your target has died.

Unlike when he had slain a gnome-thing, Thoz did not gain any souls, a disappointing fact that lessened his celebratory victory dance.

Congratulations! Your cunning tactics have bore fruit. +1 Dexterity.

The stat increase healed his broken heart though.

Congratulations! You are now a level 2 Imp!

The level increase that came a moment later made him ecstatic.

Thoz hadn't gotten a soul or any direct benefit for hell, but after thousands of years as the smallest and weakest creature in his entire home plane, he was now making progress forward.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

SYSTEM OVERRIDE - Special skill "Progenitor of Sin" granted.

Effects learned: E̴̚͜ͅx̷̤͚͛̃p̵͎̀͘@̷͎̯͗͘ñ̴̢̪̍?̷͙͉̊ ̴̘͘#̵̜͌o̷͈͐͝u̴͇̤͝&̶͍͒͐ ̴͍͔͊̀9̷͕͚̌3̷͈͒@̷̺̈́̄c̸̞̠͑h̷̺̑ ̸̱͖̍̕G̸̠͊̕&̷͉̉@̶̻̏̈́^̶̺͝ ̸̨̖̑0̴͚̂n̶̥̥͆̀3̵͍̩͂̈

Immediately after, Thoz fainted as his mind was overwhelmed with information. Breathing heavily on the forest floor, now in relative safety, his body wounded and his mind nearly shattered. He did not even have time to comprehend the new skill that he had been granted, or even investigate his post-level status.

The imp remained unconscious for several hours, only awaking late into the evening after sunset. More accustomed to darkness, it would have been comforting for Thoz if he didn't have a pounding headache.

“Statuses?” Thoz questioned aloud.

The resulting status was extremely similar to the one he was already familiar with, but thankfully the level up had filled his HP pool to its maximum number, even if it didn’t regenerate his wing. Thoz actually stood a chance at finding a human settlement now.

Walking slowly towards a random direction, hoping to eventually leave the forest, Thoz preoccupied his mind with the new skill he had gained. “System Override” was completely unfamiliar to him, coming from a world without computers made this concept far more foreign to him than one might expect. “Progenitor of Sin” was fairly straight forward, he was very old by Devil standards, and first of the imps, it was likely referring to that. However, being unable to read or even comprehend the effects was disconcerting to say the least.

Fully unaware of his surroundings, Thoz didn’t even realize he had exited the forest some time ago until he spotted the firelight of a village in the distance. Having been so utterly immersed in his pointless and rather repetitive thoughts, he had wandered for miles without noticing.

Approaching the light he quickly made out the details of a small village, surrounded on all sides by wooden palisades. As he approached the structure, the light he was seeing was clearly coming from flaming torches mounted on this wall, their flickering light casting shadows of patrolling guards.

In his stupor and post-level confidence Thoz had neglected to activate his invisibility skill, and was merely relying on his passive stealth. This was pointless against the trained eyes of a human scout, especially one that was born and raised on the edge of a forest. Adaptable as they were, man-things could train and level faster than any species of monster, meaning Thoz was outclassed before he even decided to approach the village.

With a distant twang and low pitched whistle, an arrow cut through the darkness as it sailed overhead, arching perfectly until it burrowed itself deep into its target.

You have suffered a critical injury. -20 HP.

Congratulations! You have died.

Its target of course being the unaware imp currently approaching a guarded settlement. Thoz didn't even have time to react before being sent back to hell, again.

General Stats Classes Level Name: Thozronnath "The Pitiful" Strength: -2 Imp 2 Species: Imp (Lesser Devil) Dexterity: 3 Sex: N/A Resilience: 2 Age: 3667 Intelligence: 2 Affiliation(s): Hell Wisdom: 1 HP: 20/20 (+0.2/sec) Charisma: 0 MP: 20/20 (+0.2/sec)

Skill

Level

Progenitor of Sin

1

Invisibility

1

Stealth

1

Subterfuge

2

Silver Vulnerability

1 (Max)

Fire Immunity

1 (Max)

Shapeshifter

1

Eyes of Hell

1 (Max)

Sting

1

General Stats Classes Level Name: N/A Strength: 26 Giant Ant 11 Species: Giant Ant Dexterity: 12

Warrior

1 Sex: F Resilience: 19 Age: 1 Intelligence: -5 Affiliation(s): Colony 4 Wisdom: -2 HP: 105/105 (+1.9/sec) Charisma: -4 MP: 10/10 (+0.01/sec)

Skill

Level

Giant Ant

Warrior

Sting

3

Grappler

1

Natural Weapons

2

Pheremone Communication

1 (Max)

Antenae Sight

1 (Max)