After the defeat, humiliated, the little monster returned to its habitat—the place where it cracked its shell and emerged into this world.
In the soil, pitch-black feathers formed a nest—A small nest, somewhere in the dungeon—filled with other eggs, embedded in colorful patterns.
The monster peered at the eggs as its stomach continued to grumble.
Saliva dripped down its lips. It opened its jaws wide. With its gaping mouth, it bit one of the eggs. The shell did not crack. The monster extended its claws and brushed them against the surface.
Still, the egg did not break.
The monster retracted its fangs and let go of the egg.
The monster rested on its paws and slept hungrily that night.
The next day, it marched forward. Fully determined to hunt prey.
The passage which began from the nest resembled a maze—each way leading to a different destination.
After birth, the little monster explored the new passages one by one, trying to learn about its environment. Yet after every time, the little monster would return back to its nest. Even in a maze, it always found its way back to the nest.
The little monster stood in front of one of these passages. Its arms quivered. Its inborn inner instincts screamed in fear. The little monster turned back and entered another passageway.
Bones lied on the ground. The monster shook its head as he walked past them. Saliva dripped from his mouth.
With its fiery eyes, it spotted a meter-long caterpillar entangled in white webs. The monster dashed. As it got closer to the caterpillar, the monster held down the struggling caterpillar, opening its jaws. It bit down to open the head of the caterpillar. Few webs entered his mouth. Some stuck to its claws. The caterpillar’s body struggled even harder. Brownish-grey liquid squinted through its bitten part. The monster chewed down the caterpillar flesh, especially around the eyes. Less meat and more liquid made it taste incredibly juicy and delicious.
The starving monster feasted incredibly, bite after bite until his instincts screamed once more. Webs encircled his body, it’s tail—webbed down to the floor. Its bod—entrapped, along with the caterpillar’s mid-body. The monster had already devoured the caterpillar’s upper body.
The monster’s head—some web’s attached to it—let out a tiny roar looking above the ground.
From the darkness descended a creature hanging on to a line of webs. It had 15 small violet eyes and eight long legs, similar to deadwood.
As the creature descended, its eyes matched with the prey it just captured.
Realization….
The red monster roared even louder.
The innate survival instinct possessed by all monsters…. it had realized...
The red marking’s on the monster’s white skin shone ever further like the lava continually flowed through it.
Throughout its body, this marking emerged, like transparent blood veins. But the liquid flowing through it looked not like blood, but glowing in the shade of orange and gold. It resembled lava.
The web entrapping the monster’s body melted down. Incredible rays of light got emitted throughout the passage.
The creature’s eyes expanded as it looked on to the light, then to the fierce eyes of the monster emitting that light.
Every monster in this dungeon possessed an inborn gift—An innate instinct that allowed them to sense the danger and the ability to distinguish between the prey and the predator.
The creature’s instincts screamed as now, it had realized, what its web had captured was not a prey but its natural predator.
