This evolution had done wonders for my physical strength. I caught up to the creature within seconds and jumped on top of it, pinning it down to the ground. My size and strength had made this all too easy. I finished the female deer off with a stab to the head, killing it almost instantly.

You have killed a Large Royal Forest Deer: No experience was awarded.

That came as no surprise. It was getting easy to kill these creatures. I had started to outgrow them in more ways than one, after all.

I didn’t hunt this creature for experience either way. I needed something to eat.

I stared at the creature that now lay on the ground, wishing I had arms and tools to cut it open. Instead, I had to use the ends of my legs like knives to tear open its skin and expose the beast’s flesh. Not caring about how it looked, I dove down and started tearing into its juicy, raw meat with my teeth.

I found that the meat was quite good, albeit very tough. Since I did not intend to spend hours eating, I decided to upgrade my jaws and teeth skill by two levels, costing me 55 points and leaving me one level shy of its maximum upgrade. After the changes had taken effect I found that eating was quite a bit easier.

It was still slightly tough, but more than doable now.

A bit of salt would not be misplaced here…

I continued eating and decided to check out the achievements I would need for my next evolution in the meantime. I remembered I’d gotten several achievements earlier that were not required for the next evolution at that time, but were necessary for future evolutions. I wondered if any would show up now.

I mean… it was either now, or the next evolution…

Achievements required for Iridescent Queen Aquent/Iridescent Queen Kizerain/Iridescent Empress Kizerain:

Bloodbath

Kill 100 creatures with a single attack or spell. (Complete)

Dungeon Delver

Kill your first dungeon creature. (Complete)

Treasure Trove

Loot a dungeon treasure.

It’s a trap!

Trigger or disable a dungeon trap.

Wanted: Dead or… well, dead.

Kill an undead enemy.

Regicide

Kill a queen of any species.

So…

All evolutions needed the same achievements? Elysa?

Affirmative.

That did make things at least a little bit easier.

Most of these did not appear like they would be problematic. I do recall there being a specific spell aimed at killing undead. I should probably enhance that one whenever I encounter any undead creatures.

If I remembered correctly, they were one of the more common creatures that dwelled inside dungeons. If that was the case for this dungeon, then all these achievements were really just aimed at forcing me into a dungeon.

Well, I planned to do it anyway, so…

The very last achievement was the only one that stood out. A queen? Like a queen bee?

Ants had queens too, right? I’d go and explore this dungeon first. If by any chance I ran into a queen of some species there, it would be nice, but otherwise, I might have to revisit that giant ant colony. There was bound to be a queen there somewhere.

Silence fell over my surroundings as I ate the deer’s meat. I noticed that any creatures in the nearby area had fled the scene.

I couldn’t blame them.

As I ate, I focused on the “normal” meat. Eating the creature’s organs wasn’t for me. The mere thought of it made me nauseous. I was confident there would be nearby scavengers happy to clean up after me.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

With renewed energy after a filling meal, I continued my journey to the dungeon.

My speed was unparalleled. I reached the dungeon entrance far faster than the day before. The tree’s corpse was still present, as was the deer that I’d killed, although that one was visibly mutilated as other predators and scavengers had eaten large portions of it. There was no sign of human activity in this area. Everything else was the same as when I’d left it yesterday.

I checked the clearing for footsteps, to make sure that nobody was aware of the dungeon that was present. I didn’t need people checking up on what was going on here when I intended to use this as my hunting grounds. If it was discovered and made public knowledge that there was a dungeon here, who knows how many adventurers would show up?

I didn’t need any of that.

I didn’t know how active this forest was in regard to sapient creatures passing through. This place was bound to be discovered eventually, and I intended to make as much use of it as I could before it was.

I skittered over to the tunnel entrance and started clawing away the dirt, expanding the maw. I kept digging, which went surprisingly well, until I’d laid bare the stone walls leading further down. The entrance was now wide enough that I was confident I could fit through, even in the next evolution or two. The path was about fifteen feet wide, and at least ten high.

Digging had taken quite a while, but I wouldn’t have to do it again.

The way led gradually down. It wasn’t too steep, but it was evident this tunnel kept leading down. It was pitch black, but fortunately, my eyes seemed to work well enough in the dark that I didn’t bump into anything. I could make out most of the surroundings, and imagined that my thermal vision would help out as soon as any creatures showed up.

I then started wondering how undead creatures would appear to me with my thermal vision. Would they show in the same colors? They were dead. Would they show any heat?

Why was I making this so complicated when I didn’t have to?

I created a flame spell that floated in front of me, illuminating the surroundings very clearly. Its mana cost was negligible, so I might as well use this.

The stone walls extended ever forward, with no sign of stopping. It made me wonder how this dungeon was laid out. I’d heard stories about some dungeons being literal mazes where people would get lost and simply die because they couldn’t get out again. In that regard, having one tunnel would make it easy to navigate.

A few minutes of careful skittering later, I heard the first sounds of activity. A hissing sound came from the darkness outside of my flame’s illumination range. The image of something that resembled a giant snake appeared in my thermal vision. It wasn’t red as I’d expected, but the blue color it gave off was still easily recognized.

What was odd about this snake was that behind its head, its body expanded outwards, giving it the illusion of having very broad… shoulders? Then its body converged again into a long tail.

That’s a weird snake.

Its body was large. Although, most of my body was behind my head. All in all, I still outsized it by quite a lot.

I got close enough that I could strike it with a spell. I still had my multi-barrier active. I’d activated it when I headed out, as was my routine nowadays. I still did not intend to get hit, as I didn’t know anything about this creature’s strength.

I fired my spell, a high-velocity ice lance, at the creature. Its “shoulders” were an excellent target. I fired a second one directly after the first, and both hit the creature where I intended to hit it. The icicles flew right through the creature’s body, leaving massive gaping holes through which it quickly bled out. The only thing that the creature was able to do was hiss loudly, open its mouth and spray venom at me.

Most of it landed on the stone floor in front of me, but some of it landed in my two large eyes. I was happy I’d taken the highest level of toxin resistance as I barely even felt it.

You have killed a Titan Cave King Cobra: EXP+420

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 2!

You have been awarded 75 EP.

I noticed that the number of evolution points that I received had not changed since my last evolution. There weren’t many more interesting spells for me to gain at the moment, but it was a bit disappointing. I would have loved to clean up the list by upgrading all my enhancements to their maximum levels.

The good news was that these creatures gave me experience. It hadn’t been hard to kill this snake-like creature that was apparently known as a king cobra, so to know it gave experience was a relief.

I had started to continue my way down the tunnel when more hisses and blue outlines appeared before me. I could make out three more of these creatures, and apparently, they had spotted me, as they started slithering my way.