The Elder's forelimb whistled past Roman's temple, snow exploding off its chitin like a storm of shrapnel. He dropped to one knee, heart pounding, as the massive claw slammed into the frozen soil inches from his head.
Then, the Elder lice the largest and most menacing of the swarm lurched forward, mandibles raised like twin guillotines.
A sudden warmth surged through his limbs, lighting up his veins. His muscles burned, but not from fatigue—they were stronger. Ten times stronger than before. His heart thundered louder, his senses sharpened. He could see every twitch in the Elder's movement.
The massive insect lunged to bite. Roman spun away, barely dodging by a hair's breadth. Snow and shards of chitin scattered around him.
"When did I become this fast?" he muttered, eyes wide in shock. Even on the edge of death, he couldn't help but feel a thrill.
"This is Tier 2."Just Tier 2.
"If this is the power of a C-rank Tier 2… what kind of monster would an SSS-rank be?" he thought, stunned.
A medium-sized Lice General darted at him—Roman's fist shot forward, faster than even he expected.Crack!His punch blasted straight through the creature's shell like it was made of paper. The insect popped like a balloon.
[Ding! Host killed a Bison Lice. Gained +1 EXP!][Talent Activated: 10,000x EXP Multiplier!][Received +10,000 EXP!]
"Huh? My EXP got halfed?" Roman muttered, frowning.
But he didn't have time to process it.
The Elder spun wildly, its massive forearm slashing in a deadly arc. Roman dodged—but not fast enough.A searing pain tore across his upper torso. Blood sprayed. A long, deep gash opened across his chest, staining the snow crimson.
The Lice's caught the scent.
They turned rabid.
Dozens charged at once. Even the Elder, which once moved with cold precision, now flailed in wild fury, its strikes smashing everything around it—friend or foe.
"Damn it!" Roman hissed, gripping his Mandela tighter.
He charged into the swarm, slicing at the weaker lice, carving through them in a blur.[Ding! Host killed a Bison Lice. Gained +0.25 EXP!][Received +2,500 EXP!]
But it wasn't enough.
Even with his new strength, he was still just one man. And they were everywhere.
...
[Received +2,500 EXP!][Received +2,500 EXP!][Received +2,500 EXP!][Received +2,500 EXP!]
Roman's vision blurred.
His ribcage was visible now—skin torn open, blood frozen to crystal. The cold had claimed both flesh and feeling. Inside and out, there was nothing left but fire in his veins and a whisper of will.
Adrenaline was the only thing keeping his soul inside his body.
"F-Fuck…" he rasped, the word barely a breath. "Is this… how it ends?"
He couldn't move.
Not really.
His hands dangled by his side, twitching as if denying death. His legs trembled, half-frozen stakes buried in snow. His thoughts screamed for action, but his body—his weapon—was breaking apart.
And yet the swarm did not slow.
They came.
Clawing. Biting. Cutting.The sound of insect wings felt like laughter—mocking, victorious.
But ahead of him… stood the giant.
The Elder Lice.Its forelimb was torn—crippled from Roman's earlier, desperate slash.Yet it didn't charge.
It watched him.
Its ember-black eyes burned—not with hunger, but with a hatred far older than the snow beneath their feet.A hatred that felt… written into its soul by something ancient.By something that had once known Roman—before Roman was even born.
As if it wasn't seeing a human.But a remnant. A curse.A rival from a war the world had long forgotten.
Roman didn't know why.Didn't care.All he knew was—
He had enough EXP to evolve ten times over.
But he'd never had the time.Every drop of EXP had funneled into his SSS-tier talent—a gluttonous talent required 10 million of EXP.
And now, he was dying.
[Received +2,500 EXP!][Received +2,500 EXP!][Received +2,500 EXP!][Received +2,500 EXP!]
His mind frayed. His heart skipped.
Still—he fought.
"At least… if that buffalo was still alive," he muttered, staggering, "these damn lice wouldn't be this many…"
And then—
Something cracked.
Not inside him.
Inside the Elder.
It moved.A vicious, predatory shift.
The injured forelimb snapped forward in a blur, faster than anything its size should be capable of—And slashed across Roman's left forearm.
Agony flared. Skin peeled. Blood sprayed.
But Roman didn't scream.
Because something else snapped too.
Perception.
A sudden shift, whether from fear, instinct, or the edge of death—The world slowed.
Everything around him—every flinch of leg, twitch of claw, gust of wind registered instantly on his mind.
And there it was.
A flicker.A whisper beneath chitin.And then he saw it a old hidden deep cut in its body, where the chitin didn't cover fully. Just a small patch of soft tissue. Vulnerable.
Roman's eyes widened.
He could end this.
But the sudden sense of perseption make his head hurts, idamn it he shouted as a small flicker wave passed through the field.
Several weak lice was instantly lift to the air and immediately flown away by the STRONG WIND SOME EVEN DIED WITH THE TOUCH OF STRONG WIND AS HIS
SYSTEM NOTIFICATION FLOWN IN HIS EYES
[Received +2,500 EXP!]
[Received +10,000 EXP!]
[Received +2,500 EXP!]
...
"Is this… what Psych did?" Roman muttered, eyes wide.
He looked around.
The field had cleared—just a giant oval of broken snow and twitching bodies. A place where something wild had happened, but he didn't even know how.
Only he and the Elder Lice stood in the middle now.Everything else… pushed back.
But not for long.
The swarm was already filling the gap again, crawling, screeching, piling over the corpses like a wave of black needles.