This is where I should have leveled up if this was a game-based setting. The fact that I didn't means it doesn't rely on statistics. In other words, resourcefulness beats raw parameters. As seen with these beasts, I could defeat them with very simple yet effective methods. If the attacks with my transformed blade had been based on stats, surely I wouldn't even have penetrated their skin. I'm a newborn after all.

I said bigger on the inside, but my body is like a bottomless pit. No matter how many I consume, it doesn't show on the outside. Is it possible that I have a black hole stomach? Are glutton characters still considered cute these days? It's not like I want to, but I think my constitution requires me to eat constantly, so I can't help it.

That aside, these wolf beasts don't have much taste. I say taste, but I'm not really using any taste buds. The sensation they give me while dissolving inside me is nowhere as good as the one I got from the human king. Maybe because he was my first after all? In either case, I learned something new about the inner workings of my species. I should be able to sustain myself on this dozen of bodies for a while.

Hm, I feel heavier. Well, admittedly, I ate about half a ton of wolves just now, so I'm bound to be dragged down by it, but I thought the space inside my body was a different dimension. Must be my imagination. But I do feel like I have more mass to work with now. After losing the lower half of my body and my arms in the transportation circle, my bodily matter has been limited. But now that I consumed so much, I should have grown some of it back. I guess a Crawling Chaos regenerates quickly after eating, or something like that.

In the first place, getting my limbs torn off didn't really hurt, and I didn't bleed. So rather than malleable, I'm actually like a slime? But I'm nowhere near that weak. I mean, if I was like that, the story would have ended with me getting hit once by a human I just cause a mild inconvenience to somewhere on a field, who will later grow into the hero. Instead, I fought a bunch of monsters that seem more like midgame content. Ok, enough about games, I'm not really good at them either way, aside from fighting ones that is.

Now, let's aim for that huge cloud-like mountain-sized monster over there. Come what will, I'm invincible as long as I can change my body into the shape of a hedgehog with spines as hard as human teeth. Sea urchin? I have no idea what you're talking about, it's a hedgehog!

I got carried away again, I'm sorry.

Hearing the rumbling of heavy footsteps, I hid in a brush and waited. What approached was a giant Tyrannosaurus-like monster that could flatten me with a single step of its huge feet. Those feet look like they're covered in metal, so surely, they're harder than whatever I can produce. Furthermore, its jaws are made of metal, so even if I'm in hedgehog mode, those can crush me easily.

As if to mock my thoughts, the dinosaur bites into the trunk of a tree and the sound of a machine whirring starts up inside its jaw. Splinters of wood fly everywhere and the tree is sawed down. That's one of those tree-felling machines I saw on TV once! But it's alive and walking on two feet. Well, it seems like a herbivore, so it shouldn't pose a threat to me. With it being so loud, there's also no way to be surprised by it, so it can't be a predator.

A metal foot slams down right next to my hiding place and my body jumps into the air a few inches. Turning my head, I look into the maw of another such mecha-dinosaur. The inside looks impressive, but are you brushing properly? I feel like I'm seeing some pieces of fur and meat stuck in there, you know?

Rolling on the floor in an unsightly fashion, I dodge the jaws of death. The brush I just occupied is crunched and disappears into the dinosaur's stomach. That was too close for comfort! Wait, why are you looking at me like that? I'm inedible, so don't even think about it! Don't drool, oi!

The other one also notices me and is approaching. I can't fight these, they're practically cyborgs! They're only missing a pair of torn purple wings and a metal arm, and they could be the ultimate evolution of a certain digital companion and flagship monster. If they shoot rockets from chest cavities, I'll call plagiarism! Oh wait, it's my dream, so I'm the one who...

I'm on the run once again, chased by these two huge cyborg dinosaurs. Saying it like that sounds like a gag in a trashy movie, but when their jaws are humming with buzzsaws and their metal soles create small earthquakes with every step, I can't laugh about it at all. What's with the sharp increase in difficulty of this area? The wolves are in a completely different league!

Speaking of wolves, why am I running in my human form? It's far less efficient compared to a quadruped, especially since the footing in a forest is not so good for a human. With this, I morph into one of those beasts still dissolving inside me. Since I acquired their genetic material, it's even less of an effort than recreating my real form. Hah, I'm fast like the wind! They can't catch up to me at all. Ah, they gave up pretty easily.

Still, how am I supposed to fight them? I don't think my small hand blade is enough to seriously hurt them, and even though they look slow, getting hit by their tails or ending up between their jaws spells certain doom. If I had more material to work with, I could create a bigger blade, but there's no point to it if I can't swing it. Well, as a part of my body, it should be alright, I guess?