Hugh panted as he felt the squishy face of the winged caterpillar. It fell down his fist and had on the cloudy floor, dead and not moving.

He had finally killed all of the winged caterpillars in the area. His whole body was sweating, and his muscles ached from running all over the place.

*Glrrrgh*

His stomach grumbled in protest as he got hungry from exhausting all his energy in defeating the winged caterpillars. He looked at the clouds underneath his feet and contemplated eating them.

The clouds were delicious, but it was not filling in his stomach. It was more of a dessert than a full meal, so he would have to eat many clouds if he wanted to satiate his hunger.

He looked around the dungeon's space, and only white clouds, the blue sky, and the carcasses of the winged caterpillar could be seen.

His stomach started to burn as he looked at the dead winged caterpillar near him. He was disgusted at the winged caterpillars when he first saw them, but now, they were looking scrumptious.

He thought about the squishy feeling of the winged caterpillar when he punched its face. What kind of juices was inside the body of the mutated monster that was hell-bent on eating him?

His hunger overcame his disgust as he bent down and looked at the winged caterpillar up close. It had tiny little hairs on its head that acted as sensory parts for the caterpillar.

Its head was bashed in, and there was a green liquid oozing from the bruises on its head. He scooped up the liquid with his finger as he tasted the creature’s blood.

As soon as he put his finger near his mouth, he could smell a faint sweet smell coming off from the green liquid. This made him crave for it more as he tasted it, putting his whole finger in his mouth.

It was strangely sweet, like honey. It changed his whole perspective on the caterpillar as a sense of craving replaced his disgust.

He put his head down and opened his jaws wide as he took a bite out of the mutated monster’s body. As soon as he bit down on it, sweet green liquid spilled out of his mouth.

Just from biting the meat, Hugh could feel the caterpillar’s savory insides. It melted directly in his mouth, and as soon as he chewed it, the more sweet green liquid was squished out, giving the tasty meat a sweet taste.

He would have never thought that a caterpillar could taste this delicious. One bite was not enough as he continued to devour the caterpillar, one bite at a time.

He closed his eyes and savored the taste of the delicacy that is the White Winged Caterpillar. He reached his hand to grab more meat when he felt nothing.

He opened his eyes to see that he already devoured the whole caterpillar. Only the wings were left on the cloudy ground.

If the meat was juicy, how would the wings taste? He took the pair of wings in his hands and saw that they were as light as a feather.

It was more like a film of bendable plastic than normal cartilage. He could easily fold the wings into a more compact version that could fit in his mouth.

As soon as he took a bite, he felt the chewy exterior of the wings. Its consistency was like gum, and he could feel the sweet juices flowing with every chew.

He continued to chew the wings until it was all out of juices, then he swallowed the remaining parts. He had now eaten every aspect of the winged caterpillar with nothing left on the ground.

He had eaten one whole caterpillar, but there were many more dead caterpillars on the ground. His greed for them could not be hidden as he raced through the clouds, searching for more dead caterpillars that he defeated.

Time continued to pass as Hugh munched on the remaining caterpillars on the cloudy ground. He had folded the wings and saved them in his pockets to eat later.

The wings were more suited to eating while walking because of their gum-like consistency. 

He looked around and saw that there were only three caterpillars left on the ground. It felt like his hunger for them had not yet been satiated as he continued to crave for their juicy bodies.

As he was about to come towards a different caterpillar, he saw a shadow cast over him. He felt a chill in his neck as his instincts told him to dodge.

He did not forget that he was in a dangerous dungeon, so his guard was always up and ready for anything that could attack him.

Hugh ducked and rolled out of the way as he felt a cold wind blow past his body. He tumbled in the cloudy ground and stopped himself when he saw that he was safe.

He raised his head and saw a majestic creature right in front of him. He could see feathers floating in the sky as the beast landed on the winged caterpillar.

It was an eagle-like creature with brown and white feathers and an orange beak. It opened its beak and used its leg to tear off the caterpillar's body and feed on it.

It was bigger than him, so Hugh was intimidated. He did not dare move as he did not want the eagle to notice him. It was only interested in the caterpillar, so Hugh wanted to get out.

++++++++++++++

INSPECT

Species: Caterpillar-eating Bald Eagle

Stage: *unadvanced*

Rank: D-rank

*Locked*: *locked*

++++++++++++++

As Hugh saw the creature’s rank, he immediately decided to run away. He could not fight against this creature only using his armor, so he would have to inevitably use his transformation.

He did not want to use his transformation because his journey through the dungeon has only started. If he were to use it prematurely, and an even more terrifying creature came, he would not be able to defend himself.

He also wanted to improve his armor, so he wanted to fight only using his armor this time.

Hugh backed away a step, and the bald eagle stopped moving. Hugh’s heart skipped a beat as the eagle slowly turned its head towards Hugh.

Hugh flashed an awkward smile as he tried to disarm the creature from attacking him. The creature looked at him for a second, then screeched as it unfurled its mighty wingspan.

Hugh activated his armor on one of his legs as he sprinted away from the angry eagle.

He was fast due to the armor in his leg, but it seemed that the eagle was faster than him. Hugh saw a large shadow in front of him, signaling the eagle’s proximity to him.

He would not be able to run away from the eagle, so Hugh decided that the only way to survive was to fight it head-on.

Hugh stopped in his tracks and turned around towards the bald eagle coming for him. It was high up in the sky, but as soon as it saw Hugh stop running, it dove down.

The eagle was like a comet falling through the sky, creating shockwaves in the air behind it. Its beak was in front of it, ready to pierce through Hugh.

Hugh was intimidated by its speed, but he did not back down. He planted his feet firmly in the ground and activated his armor on his right fist.

As the bald eagle down towards him, Hugh reared his hand and greeted the beak with a punch.

*BOOM*

A shockwave was heard from the collision as Hugh successfully stopped the eagle from and advancing further. 

Even though he stopped the eagle, Hugh’s body was flow meters away from the point of collision due to the eagle’s force.

Hugh shook his smoking hand as he felt a stinging pain from the piercing ability of the beak. He looked at his knuckles and saw a small dent on the armor.

Hugh was glad that he was able to intercept the bald eagle. This gave him hope that he could defeat the eagle using only his armor.

The bald eagle shook its head out from confusion. It seemed to have suffered a concussion of some sort due to the collision, but it recovered quickly.

It spread its wings and looked at Hugh with a deathly stare. It flew up again in the air; this time, it flew even higher as it got ready to attack Hugh.

Hugh looked up at the blue sky and only saw a small figure of the bald eagle. It got ready for another attack, so Hugh got prepared with his defense.

He planted his feet firmly in the ground and got ready to punch the eagle back again. As he reared his arm, he remembered something critical.

He looked at his arm and saw that no silver and brown liquid was protecting it. He could no longer summon his armor, which meant it was on cooldown.

He could only look up at the eagle that was coming towards him at full speed.