Chapter 73: Caterpillars
Hugh felt the cold breeze whizzing past his face. The ground he was sleeping on was soft like he was on a high-three count bed.
He was exhausted before, so he wanted to sleep more to rest his body. He still had his eyes closed as he turned his whole body to the side as a way to make himself more comfortable.
As he turned, he felt the soft and silky texture of the place where he slept. It was soft enough for his head to dent the floor.
He was half-conscious at this state, and he smelled something in his sleep. Curious, he opened his nostrils more and sniffed the air surrounding him, only to feel a familiar scent overcoming him.
This scent was from a certain kind of delicacy food that he ate before. As fast as he could remember, the texture was like eating cotton candy, and it was refreshing as drinking a cold cup of water.
He did not know why, but he wanted to take a bite out of it again. Still half asleep, Hugh opened his jaws wide and took a bite out of the miniature hills on the ground.
As he remembered it, the scenario came back to his mind. This was the same taste and texture as the clouds he had eaten before.
Like a flash of lightning, he suddenly remembered where he was. He was still in a dangerous dungeon, and he had just woken up from a deep sleep after an exhausting day.
Adrenaline filled his body as he opened his eyes wide and looked at his surroundings. He remembered that he had slept on a squirrel's burrow that had rocks as a pile of treasure.
He expected a dark and woody interior as soon as he opened his eyes, but he was surprised to see a bright and blue scenery.
He quickly sat up and looked at his surroundings. He was not at the tree, but instead, he was at the same place he had been when he entered the dungeon.
The floor was filled with clouds, and the horizon was as flat as the blue sky. Professor Kain had not yet discussed things about dungeons' specifics, so Hugh was not knowledgeable in this regard.
He did not know that a dungeon resets every day. He could only look at his surroundings and marvel at the eternal horizon.
Seeing that there were no enemies near him, Hugh's heart rate started to slow down. He slumped his whole body on the ground and looked at the sky.
There was a vague memory of him receiving his rewards for completing his daily missions. He did not know if that was true or not because at the time that it happened, he was already half asleep.
Hugh raised his hand and looked at it. This hand was supposed to be broken after battling with the giant squirrel, but he could freely move it now.
It was the same with his shoulder as he could rotate it without any problem. This kind of recovery could only be explained by his Fat God System.
*GRUMBLE*
As if calling him, Hugh's stomach started to rumble in protest. He felt hungry, probably due to using up his energy to recover from his injuries.
There was nothing around him, so Hugh decided to munch on the clouds on the floor. He picked a handful of clouds from the floor, and it separated like cotton candy.
He ate it without any hesitation and grabbed some more from the ground. The clouds were tasty, but they were not filling. He needed more meat to satiate his hunger, but because there was nothing around him, he had no choice but to eat the clouds.
Hugh started to mow down the clouds like a cow grazing on the grass. Even though it felt like he had eaten a ton of clouds, he still was not satisfied.
As he was busy eating the clouds, the ground started to rumble, and small lumps in the ground began to form. Hugh remembered something like this happening before.
He did not feel anxious about the strange occurrence, but instead, he was excited. He had a smile on his face, and his eyes signaled greed as winged caterpillars burst out of the ground.
He remembered the sweet and juicy tastes of the caterpillar and how tasty they are. This was the kind of meat that would satisfy his hunger.
Hugh looked around and saw seven caterpillars surrounding him. He knew that they were virtually useless in fighting, so he did not worry about escaping.
He wanted to fight these caterpillars and take their bodies to fuel his hunger. The first time he met these caterpillars, he was the prey, but now, he was the predator.
He activated his armor on his leg and sped forth towards the nearest caterpillar. With his momentum, he armored up his fist and punched towards the caterpillar.
As his fist collided with the caterpillar's face, he felt the squishy face of its head. The caterpillar was thrown backward with its head bleeding from Hugh's punch.
Hugh looked at his hand and saw a tiny bit of blood from the caterpillar. He never took his eyes away from the caterpillar as he licked the blood off his knuckles.
His greed for the caterpillar seemed to give him a crazed state as he ran for the caterpillar again. He used his armored fist to bash the caterpillar's head into its skull.
He did not let it go as he continued to punch the caterpillar until its blood spurted in his face, making his face look horrifying.
The caterpillar was now dead, and its blood was spilling in the cloudy floor. He started to munch on the caterpillar without hesitation, even though there were still six caterpillars surrounding him.
He did not seem to notice that he had used his armor for every punch that he did to the caterpillar.
As Hugh was munching on the winged caterpillar's savory meat, he felt a chill on his back. His instincts led the charge on his body, and he dodged away while still holding the caterpillar's carcass.
The six other caterpillars had closed in on him and tried to take a bite out of his neck, but he was able to dodge them.
He did not see them as a threat, but as a meal waiting for him. He took another bite out of the caterpillar, with the creature's blood dripping from his mouth, and activated his armor to punch the remaining caterpillars.
One by one, Hugh punched the winged caterpillars' heads three times until they died. With his meal served up like a plate, he gnawed at the juicy carcasses of the caterpillars.
Once he had eaten his fill, he started to regain his sanity from hunger. It was then that he noticed that he had used his armor for longer than three seconds.
This discovery was a thing that Hugh rejoiced with all his heart. The rewards from his daily missions must have been real. His armor was now upgraded.
He could not wait but to try it out for himself. He raised his hand and activated his armor. The silver and brown liquid flowed out of his skin and covered his whole fist.
He could clearly see his silvery skin and his wooden muscles in high definition. He continued to activate the armor and count down the seconds until he felt the armor disappear.
1...2...3...8...9...10
After the tenth second, Hugh felt the power in his hands disappear. The armor returned into its liquid state and disappeared inside his skin.
He smiled and flexed his muscles. He could now use his armor for ten seconds and with a cooldown of five seconds.
He jumped up and stretched his whole body. He felt stronger than ever with this power-up. One of his weaknesses was his armor's transient activation, which led to him being vulnerable for most of the fights.
With this, he could fight with his armor longer and deal more damage to his opponents. The caterpillars were now easier to defeat with his armor, which meant that he could kill a lot more than seven at a time.
He looked at the left-over wings from the caterpillar's carcasses. There was also one more thing that the mission rewards gave him; it was the storage pouch.