Han-Jun pressed his scaly belly against the cold, damp stone, his heart hammering like a pneumatic drill. The lantern light swung closer, illuminating the jagged edges of his hiding spot.
'This isn't right. This is too real. Where are the polygon edges? Where's the slight lag when they move? I can smell the stale sweat and the cheap ale on that guy's breath.'
He stared at the adventurer leading the pack—a burly man with a jagged scar across his nose. The man's leather boots were caked in mud, and every step sounded like a falling mountain to Han-Jun's sensitive reptilian ears.
"Hey, look at that," the scarred man grunted, pointing his sword toward the crevice. "A grey lizard? Looks like a mana-leech. Kill it before it sucks the charge out of our lantern."
The man raised his boot, the heavy iron-shod sole looming over Han-Jun like a falling sky.
"FUCK! MOVE! MOVE!"
Han-Jun's instinct took over. He didn't run; he launched himself. But instead of a graceful leap, his stubby legs gave way, and he tumbled forward like a dropped potato.
[NOTICE: PASSIVE SKILL ACTIVATED — VOID REACTION]
As the boot descended, the world slowed down. A strange, cold hunger surged from Han-Jun's stomach to his throat. He didn't even mean to do it. He just opened his mouth and let out a desperate, panicked hiss.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: GULP OF THE ABYSS (RANK: SSS - LOCKED/RESTRICTED)]
A tiny, marble-sized sphere of pure black void appeared in front of Han-Jun's snout. When the leather boot hit it, there was no 'crunch' of a crushed lizard. Instead, there was a sound like a vacuum cleaner sucking up a heavy rug.
SHLORP.
"MY FOOT! AGH! MY FUCKING FOOT!"
The man screamed, collapsing as the entire front half of his boot—and the toes inside it—simply vanished into thin air. There was no blood at first, just a clean, cauterized stump of darkness.
'Did I... did I just eat his toes?'
Han-Jun stared in horror as the man thrashed on the ground. The other two adventurers drew their rusted shortswords, their faces twisting from greed to pure, unadulterated terror.
"What is that thing?! It's a demon! Kill it!"
One of the men lunged, swinging his blade in a wide, clumsy arc. Han-Jun tried to dodge, but his lizard body was still a work in progress. The sword clipped his tail, sending a jolt of white-hot pain through his spine.
"OW! SON OF A—!"
He spun around, his tiny draconic eyes glowing with a sudden, predatory blue light. The pain triggered something primal. He wasn't Han-Jun the gamer anymore; he was a Calamity. He lunged at the second man's throat, his mouth unhinging far wider than any lizard's should.
CRUNCH.
He didn't just bite. He consumed. The moment his teeth touched the man's neck, the [Gluttony] trait went haywire. He felt a surge of warm, golden liquid—mana—flowing into his small body.
The man fell silent, his eyes rolling back as his very life force was ripped out through the wound.
Han-Jun tumbled back, landing on his haunches. He looked at the corpse, then at his blood-stained paws. His stomach lurched. The reality hit him like a freight train.
'I just... I killed him. That wasn't an NPC. He was screaming. He was breathing. Oh god, I'm going to throw up.'
He doubled over, dry-heaving. His vision began to blur, the edges of the cave spinning in a nauseating whirl.
'Focus, you idiot! There are two more! If you stop now, you're a decorative rug!'
The third adventurer, a scrawny kid who looked no older than eighteen, dropped his sword and turned to run. "MONSTER! IT'S A DEVOURER!"
"Don't... don't let him... call for help..." Han-Jun wheezed, his internal monologue slurring.
He didn't have the strength to chase. He just glared at the retreating back of the boy and willed his mana to move. A spark of blue lightning crackled between his tiny horns.
[TRAIT ACTIVATED: HEART OF THE DRAGON - OVERLOAD]
The air in the cave suddenly grew heavy. The retreating boy froze, his knees buckling under a pressure he couldn't understand. It was as if a giant had placed a thumb on his shoulders.
Han-Jun crawled forward, every muscle in his tiny body screaming. He reached the man with the missing toes first. The man was too shock-ridden to move. Han-Jun placed a paw on the man's chest.
'I'm sorry. I really am. But I am NOT going back to being a Wood Mage.'
He closed his eyes as the [Gluttony] trait finished the job. He felt the mana being siphoned out of both remaining men, flowing into him like a refreshing drink that left a bitter, metallic aftertaste in his soul.
As the last drop of mana left their bodies, a gruesome sight unfolded. The adventurers' skin shriveled, turning a sickly, translucent grey. Their muscles withered away in seconds, leaving behind three skeletal, rotting husks that looked like they had been dead for a hundred years.
[NOTICE: MANA CONSUMED.][LEVEL UP! LEVEL 1 -> LEVEL 4]
[EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS: 15% COMPLETE.]
Han-Jun stared at the "rotting mummies" he had just created. His heart ached, a heavy weight settling in his chest that no amount of XP could fix.
"I think... I'm definitely... going to be sick now..."
His legs gave out. The blue light in his eyes flickered and died as darkness rushed in to claim him. The tiny, grey lizard curled into a ball amidst the remains of the men he had just unmade, falling into a deep, exhausted unconsciousness.