Endless Evolution as a Centipede in a Game-Like World

The Nymph’s face paled the moment the sword was driven into her chest. The attack shouldn’t have been fatal since it missed her heart, but instead her body slowed significantly as her heartbeat began to slow.

At that moment, she realized something and stopped the flow of mana coursing through her body.

Her face also softened into a warm smile as her body grew weaker until her heart finally stopped.

"She’s dead?" The Phoenix King cocked his head in surprise.

He didn’t expect her to die since he had missed her heart, but what really bothered him was what followed afterwards.

Nothing...

After killing an S-ranked boss monster, he should’ve received several notifications congratulating him and listing his rewards, but instead nothing happened.

"What the hell happened?"

At the same time, a gecko made its move without the Phoenix King noticing it. The beast had the ability to make itself invisible, and it had climbed onto the Nymph’s shoulder while everyone was distracted.

Without hesitation, it plunged its claws into the open wound of the Nymph’s body and pulled out her monster core.

The Phoenix King realized something was amiss when he noticed the core floating in the air. He quickly slashed at the air with his sword and split the creature in half, but just before the attack, the gecko had thrown the core.

The rank 6th player watched as the core fell to the ground and was then picked up by another monstrosity.

A monster that looked exactly like a centipede!

The Phoenix King locked eyes with the creature, and he felt in his gut that something wasn’t right about the beast.

Unlike the others, its eyes gleamed with intelligence. Seeing this would be terrifying for most.

He clicked his teeth in annoyance and raised his sword towards the monster before his body flashed forward at the speed of light.

But right at that exact moment, an emotionless voice sounded in everyone’s head.

[Objective has been met! End of scenario]

In the same instant, all the players’ bodies became pixelated as they were immediately transported to where they were before the scenario began. The Phoenix watched the centipede disappeared just like all the other players. This caused his eyes to widen in surprise.

...

[Objective has been met! You have slain an S-ranked Boss Monster!]

[You have ascended to Level 14]

[You have ascended to Level 15]

[You have ascended to Level 16]

[You have ascended to Level...]

[You have ascended to Level 20!]

[You have acquired 1 Terra-shard!]

An onslaught of system messages popped up on the holographic screen in front of me, but I ignored them all and instead focused my attention on the bright green monster core in front of me.

This was all that mattered in that moment. A sense of relief washed over me as I stared at the core.

It actually worked.

The sword that was used to kill the Nymph was covered in my venom, which was enhanced by mana. The Nymph sensed it and allowed herself to be killed by my venom. That was how I was able to steal that player’s kill and end the scenario.

But for my plan to save her, I needed her core.

Without hesitation, I activated one of the abilities given to me by my ’Boss Monster’ title.

[S-ranked Boss Monster Core. Would you like to create your very own monster from it?]

This was my plan all along: to use her core to create a monster. This was the only way I could revive her, but to do this I needed a large amount of biomass just like the first time I created a monster. The first time, I used the core a flame hornet I killed to experiment but later on I was planning to use the core of the Queen hornet.

But to turn the core of an high ranking monster into my very own monster, I needed a lot of biomass.

She would still retain her memories and status as a Nymph. The only downside was that her abilities would reset since I didn’t have enough biomass to retain them.

The cost of her retaining her memories was already high, plus the fact that she was an S-ranked Boss Monster.

[Cost: 2100 biomass]

Thankfully, I had enough biomass so I quickly paid the cost.

[New monster has been created! Please give her a name _____]

I’ll have to name her...

I wasn’t sure if she had a name before, but considering the fact that she hadn’t spoken to anyone besides me, it was highly unlikely.

I was bad at naming. The Nymph was normally sweet, but I imagined if I named her something stupid like ’Forest Monster 101,’ she would have my head.

It was best to go with something simple. How about Lily?

[Name inputted!] 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Immediately, the monster core began to emit a dazzling green light that lit up the dark area of the dungeon.

The light was blinding, but it soon dimmed as the core slowly molded itself into a pale green egg.

-Status-

+-----+

Name: Lily

Race: Forest Nymph

Danger Level: F (Potential S)

Class: Chlorokinesis (Plant Control)

Duration until egg hatches: 1 week or use 1000 biomass to hatch instantly

+-----+

1000 biomass to hatch instantly?! Unfortunately, I didn’t have that much, so I’d have to wait.

In the meantime, I should go home. My wings were destroyed and so was my exoskeleton which had several large cracks. I couldn’t molt again since I ready did the first time I performed the sonic attack using mana and I did it once again to save the Nymph hence my current state.

I’d been in this game world for about 6 days now, so at least it meant I’d be going home a day early.

I wonder what Amelia is doing...

I quickly stored the egg inside my storage space, and at the same time, I retrieved the ring that would store my body in a temporary storage space while I was logged out.

As I logged out, my mind felt as if it was traveling through hyperspace, and soon I was back in the real world, my eyes shut as I lay on my back.

Sensation slowly returned to my body, and that was when I felt something pressing against me.

My eyes slowly opened, and I was greeted by a pleasant surprise.

For whatever reason, Amelia was sitting on top of me, smiling warmly with one hand touching my lips, but her smile froze the moment our eyes met. Her face turned beet red all the way up to the tip of her ears.

"Eeep!"

"Amelia..."

Confused, I slowly began to sit up, but I caught a glimpse of my appearance from the mirror in the corner of the room, which caused me to snap my head in its direction.

"Am I wearing makeup?!"

"And why am I wearing a suit?"

"When did I get a haircut?"

I immediately turned to Amelia for answers, but she strategically buried her face into the palm of her hand.

What the hell did she do to me while I was unconscious?

Looking around the room, I realized that there were also several framed pictures of me wearing different outfits.

The others, which weren’t framed, were pasted on a wall, almost covering the entire wall, but also...

"What’s with the lipstick stains on them?"

"Eeep!"

I looked over at Amelia again, and I could’ve sworn smoke was coming out of the top of her head.

"Y-You, You weren’t supposed to come back so early... A-Are you... mad?" She spoke in a soft voice that was barely audible.

"Mad? No. Confused? Yes."

She let out a deep breath.

"Do you think I’m crazy?"

Hearing her question, a warm smile spread across my face as I brushed her long blonde hair, which caused her to have a strange reaction.

"I always knew you were crazy, but it never bothered me before."

She finally removed her face from her palm.

"Really?"

Seeing how embarrassed she was, I decided to change the subject.

"I want to show you something."

A bright yellow magic symbol formed as I reached into my storage space and pulled out a green egg covered in tiny black spots before placing it in her hands.

"Eh, what’s this?"