Chloe turned sharply as a figure stepped out from between the trees. Hooded, cloaked, dangerous.

  He held two curved daggers, one in each hand, and dropped something limp and furry at his feet. It hit the ground with a dull thud. Brown, floppy eared, and punctured clean through the side, it looked like some kind of oversized rat. Maybe a mutant? Hard to tell, and not the important part.

  Her focus snapped back to the man. He didn’t look like a monster. No twisted limbs. No glowing eyes. Just... human.

  He didn’t speak. Just stood there, watching her like she was a wild animal that might lunge if he so much as blinked. Chloe tilted her head slowly, returning the stare without flinching.

  Everything about him screamed trouble. And not the fun kind.

  Finally, his mouth twisted into a sneer. “Well, well. What’s a dumb zombie like you doing with my stuff?”

  Chloe blinked, stunned for a moment. Excuse you?

  Her eyes twitched as heat rushed up from somewhere deep inside. Rage coiled tight in her chest, burning away every other thought. Dumb? This stupid human dared call her dumb?

  Chloe raised her hand and fired off a Rock Shot. The blast screamed through the air toward the man, but he ducked low, twisted sideways, and rolled behind a nearby tree just as the projectile shattered against the trunk with a sharp crack.

  She clicked her tongue in irritation. The cloaked man was faster than she had thought.

  Before she could line up another shot, he was already on the move. Daggers glinted in both hands as he charged, closing the distance with alarming speed. Chloe reached for the sword at her hip and drew it. If he wanted a close fight, she’d oblige.

  He lunged. Steel met steel in a burst of sparks as Chloe barely got her sword up in time. She backpedaled hard, swinging wide in an effort to drive him back. One slash missed entirely. Another came close, but he spun beneath it, his foot catching hers in a near-trip that left her stumbling.

  Frustrated, Chloe hurled another Rock Shot low, aiming for his legs. Yet, the man leapt clean over it.

  Before she could recover, he was already in her space again. Her sword swung wide, missing its intended target by a long shot. At the same time, a pair of daggers punched into her gut.

  Chloe froze, staring down at the twin hilts now lodged in her stomach. That wasn’t great.

  And yet, she didn’t scream. Didn’t even flinch.

  Instead, she swung her blade in a savage arc, the steel biting deep into his shoulder. Fabric tore, flesh split, and blood blossomed across his cloak in dark, spreading patches. He hissed and staggered back, and for a flicker of a moment, triumph lit her eyes. She’d finally landed a hit.

  But the victory went away as fast as it came. The man reached behind him like it was nothing, pulling out two more daggers as casually as drawing breath. Chloe’s gut twisted in utter disbelief. How many blades did this guy even have? Was he made of daggers?

  She raised her sword again, but he was already there, close enough that she felt the rush of his next strike. Steel flashed as Chloe parried the first blow, barely caught the second, then her heel snagged on a rock and sent her stumbling.

  That was when he drew something new, a shortsword in his other hand. Chloe was horrified, somehow, this guy had daggers and a sword? And he could use them both?

  She lifted her blade to block, but the strike came too quick, too clean. The shortsword carved through the air, and her right arm hit the ground with a soft, sick thud.

  Chloe was furious, she swung with her left hand in a desperate arc, but the man slid under it. Steel flashed again, and all of a sudden, her last remaining arm hit the ground with a dull, sick thud.

  She crashed to her knees as she stared at the empty stumps where her arms had been just seconds ago. This was a problem. A very big problem.

  She looked up at him with fire still burning in her eyes. “You are so dead.”

  The man looked surprised at first, though he seemed eerily happy not long after. “You can talk? Well, now. That changes things.”

  He stepped back, wiping blood from his shoulder with the back of his hand. “I was just gonna finish you off, but a talking zombie? That’ll fetch a very nice price.”

  Chloe wasn't sure what she could do now. Without her arms, she wasn't sure how she could even fight.

  The man approached her, but then, on the ground behind him, her severed arms twitched. Then, they moved.

  The man turned just in time to see one of the arms skittering toward. He cursed and kicked it hard, sending it spinning across the dirt, but the second grabbed his ankle mid-swing. “What the—?!”

  That was Chloe’s chance. She launched herself forward, head-first and furious. No arms, no hesitation, just full-body rage. She tackled him hard, driving her shoulder into his gut and knocking them both to the ground.

  They rolled through the dirt, limbs tangling, snarls and curses filling the air. He shoved her off with a grunt, scrambling to his feet, blade flashing as he raised it for the killing blow.

  But both of her detached arms were already doing work. One wrapped around his wrist. The other clamped down on his throat.

  “WHAT—?!” he choked, stumbling as the limbs constricted tighter and tighter.

  Chloe leaned in with a triumphant look on her face. "Looks like I win."

  The man gasped beneath her, pinned by her detached arms. “Wait, please, I give up, just—”

  Chloe didn't bother listening to the rest of his pleas. She bit down hard into his neck. The man's scream lasted a second. Maybe two. Then silence.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  [You have killed: Crowe Vexley (Human Rogue Level 8)]

  [Experience Awarded]

  [1 Trait Point Awarded]

  The moment he stopped moving, Chloe let out a giggle. Being dead was what he got for calling her dumb.

  Chloe flopped onto her side and wiggled as hard as she could toward the man’s head. She hooked her legs around his shoulders and twisted her body to drag his head closer. Her teeth snapped at the air, catching nothing but fabric at first. She tore through the hood with a growl, but the skull beneath was a bit tougher than expected.

  She bit harder, trying to put every ounce of undead rage into it. Nothing. Her teeth slipped, scraping bone. She hissed, shook her head like, and chomped again.

  Then, Chloe heard a crack. After that, she bit down again, harder this time. The skull split with a wet pop, and hot, glorious softness spilled out.

  Chloe dove in like a starving beast, every bite bursting with the rich taste of juicy brains. There was blood everywhere too, but she couldn’t care less about that boring red stuff.

  [Brain Consumed: Crowe Vexley (Human Rogue Level 8)]

  [Experience Awarded]

  [You have leveled up! 4 >> 5]

  [Strength +3, Speed +1, Vitality +2, Magic +3, Resistance +2]

  [New Skill Acquired: Basic Dagger Mastery III]

  [New Skill Acquired: Thieving IV]

  The visions slid in smoothly. Chloe found herself moving through the world in Crowe's skin.

  His hands moved fast, slipping things from pouches, knives from belts, shiny trinkets from unsuspecting pockets. This was apparently called stealing. Or… thieving, and this guy seemed pretty good at stealing, as he never got caught.

  Then a word floated up her mind: money. Crowe needed money, and apparently, that was why he did all this sneaking and snatching. Chloe still had no idea what a money was, but it sounded painfully boring compared to brains.

  The vision cracked and fizzled away like ash in the wind, leaving Chloe sprawled on the forest floor. She stretched out with a lazy flop, ready to bask in her victory, until something caught her eye.

  [Evolution is now available!]

  Chloe wasn’t sure what evolution was. She could only hope that it was good.

  [Evolution is a natural progression option available to wild monsters who reach certain level thresholds. This transformation allows the monster to take on a stronger form, but the process requires time and leaves the user vulnerable. It is recommended to find a safe location before beginning evolution.]

  [Note: Dungeon bound monsters may have evolution disabled, depending on a dungeon's strength and rules.]

  Chloe squinted at the message, chewing the inside of her cheek. From the looks of it, monsters could level up and change, just like that. The idea made Chloe excited, but the rest of the message gave her pause. Apparently, dungeon monsters weren’t supposed to evolve at all.

  Her thoughts flicked back to that level five zombie she’d fought early on. Poor guy. If he’d been locked out of evolving the whole time, that really wasn’t fair. Honestly, she was lucky to even have the chance. Not every monster got that.

  She almost rubbed her hands together in glee, until she remembered they were still detached, lying nearby in a lovely little puddle of grass and blood. “Oh. Right.”

  Chloe looked down at her arm stumps with a blank expression. Probably best to fix that before getting too excited about becoming some glorious new version of herself.

  She stood slowly, buzzing with a strange mix of exhaustion and giddy anticipation. Picking up an arm without arms presented a unique challenge. What was she supposed to use, her teeth? Her feet?

  With a determined shuffle, she moved toward her right arm and knelt awkwardly beside it. After a moment of consideration, she leaned down, grabbed it by the wrist with her mouth, and dragged it toward her shoulder. It felt heavier than expected.

  Once it was roughly in position, she twisted her body just enough to wedge the limb up against her shoulder stump. Nothing happened. Not at first.

  Yet, just when she was ready to throw a fit, the air around the joint shimmered. Shadowy tendrils slithered out from the stump, curling into the arm and stitching flesh and sinew together in slow, pulsing waves.

  It took a couple of minutes, but eventually the arm gave a twitch. Then another. Chloe flexed her fingers and grinned. Rightie was back in action.

  With one working arm restored, she sat up straighter and gave herself a very unbalanced, awkward pat on the back. Then she turned toward her left arm.

  Grabbing it by the wrist, she dragged it closer and this time slammed it against her shoulder with far more confidence. No sense wasting time, best to get right to the point.

  Again, that cold, slick sensation crawled across her skin as the regeneration magic kicked in. When it finally finished, she rolled both shoulders and threw her arms in the air. “Yes! I'm back whole again!"

  But before she marched off to evolve, Chloe's eyes drifted back to the corpse of the hooded man. The now very dead, very lootable hooded man. She crouched beside the body and rifled through his belongings. Let’s see what secrets you're hiding, Mister Stabby...

  There were a few daggers scattered nearby. Chloe picked one up and gave it an experimental toss, then promptly dropped it into the dirt. Too small and boring. She preferred something with a bit more flair.

  Her gaze shifted to the man’s shortsword, half-buried in the grass where it had fallen during the fight. It gleamed with a faint sheen, well-polished and clearly well cared for. A far cry from the clunky blade she’d yanked off that skeleton back in the dungeon.

  A pleased smirk spread across her lips as she eyed it. Now that was more her style.

  Without a second thought, she dropped her old sword onto the ground and bent down to scoop up the new one. Her fingers closed around the hilt with greedy satisfaction. Smooth grip. Good weight. A real weapon.

  Afterward, she searched around the camp a bit more, just in case she’d missed anything interesting. It wasn’t long before her eyes landed on a cloth with two jagged spider fangs and a shriveled eye laid out neatly on top.

  Those parts had to have come from the big spider back on her floor. Chloe could only assume the hooded man had been some kind of weirdo. Why keep the eye? Or the fangs? Was he planning to eat them?

  She popped the eye into her mouth out of curiosity, and immediately spat it out. “Ugh! What is that taste? I'm never eating spider eyes again!"

  Frowning, she picked up one of the fangs and turned it over in her hand, studying the sharp edges. It looked too pointy to be worth eating, and she wasn’t that desperate. With a small shrug, she let it fall back to the ground.

  With the rest of the camp thoroughly picked over, Chloe gave the camp one last glance. Tents, crates, gear, most of it boring. Doesn’t look like there’s anything else I care about. Time to go find a cozy little corner to evolve in.

  She left the camp behind, weaving through thick roots and ducking under low-hanging branches. After a bit of wandering, she found a shallow hollow nestled between two moss-covered stones, partially shaded by ferns and thick leaves.

  Chloe knelt, scanning the treetops with caution. Nothing stirred but the wind. Looks quiet enough. This’ll do just fine.

  Settling in with a satisfied grunt, she hugged her shiny new sword to her chest. “Okay, System. I’m ready to evolve.”

  [Are you sure you wish to begin the evolution process now? This process will leave you temporarily vulnerable for up to 24 hours.]

  Chloe scoffed. “Pfft. Obviously. I didn’t crawl out of a dungeon to not evolve.”

  [Evolution Confirmed.]

  [Initiating Evolution Sequence.]

  Chloe thought she was ready for evolution. But she wasn't prepared for the wave of drowsiness that hit her like a falling boulder. Everything felt distant, heavy, slow.

  Wait, why am I sleepy? No... I’m supposed to... supposed to...