[You have devoured a Celestial brain]

[Bio mass consumed: Celestial]

A golden light shone brightly in the tunnel.

Ayla’s mind was instantly flooded. A million foreign concepts—fresh air, the endless blue of the sky, the salt of the ocean, and the tangled web of human relationships—fought for space within her consciousness.

Happiness, love, lust, and rage collided; the goddess’s entire life story threatened to both expand and erase Ayla’s fragile sense of self.

[You have leveled up....]

[ERROR!]

[Uncontrollable amount of energy detected. Lower Crusade parameters exceeded.]

[Warning: User’s presence is destabilising local reality. Total Crusade collapse imminent.]

[Searching for solution...]

Ayla had no idea what the voice in her mind was talking about. She had lost all control; she was merely a passenger in her own body as the golden energy began to vaporize her form from the inside out.

[Solution found. Converting the goddess’s celestial biomass to develop a suitable Trait for the host.]

[Trait [Mimic] has been upgraded to [Perfect Assimilation]]

[Perfect Assimilation: Allows the host to replicate the exact racial structure and Traits of devoured beings. The host’s physical form will be perfect for the target race. Acquired Traits are permanent and can be utilised regardless of the host’s current racial form.]

[The bio mass of goddess is emptied. Not possible to replicate.]

The golden light vanished as quickly as it had arrived, leaving the tunnel in a heavy, suffocating silence.

Ayla lay on the cold stone floor, her gelatinous body quivering. The transition from a simple, mindless slime to a creature possessing the fractured memories of a goddess was like trying to fit the ocean into a single drop of dew.

She knew what "blue" was now. She knew the concept of "betrayal." She knew that the thing she had just eaten was called a "Goddess."

The silence did not last.

The rhythmic thud of heavy boots and the wet, frantic slapping of smaller feet echoed from the eastern corridor.

Ayla had no time to think as the footsteps quickly reached her. She reacted instantly by pressing her body flat against the damp earth as she slipped behind a jagged boulder.

A group of four humans stumbled into the cavern. They were covered in grime and blood, their breathing ragged.

Behind them, a tide of green-skinned monsters surged. Goblins, hundreds of them. Their high-pitched cackles bounced off the walls, turning the atmosphere into a horror setting.

Leading the horde were three towering Hobgoblins. One wore tattered silken robes and carried a staff made of human bone.

Another was encased in rusted iron plates, swinging a notched great sword.

The third was a shadow, flickering in and out of the torchlight with twin daggers.

Ayla watched in awe and hunger. She wondered about the taste of their brains. Then her eyes fell on the humans.

After absorbing the memories of the goddess, Ayla naturally felt a sense of belonging with humans. Still, this sense of belonging never stopped her from wanting to eat their brains.

"Hold the line!" shouted a tall man in the front. He carried a scorched wooden shield.

This was Kael, a Guardian whose Trait, [Iron Will], allowed him to ignore pain, though it did nothing to stop the bleeding from the deep gash in his thigh.

"Elara, we need a path out!"

Elara, a woman with short-cropped hair and glowing blue markings on her arms, shook her head.

Her Trait, [Wind Walker], usually made her the fastest Scout in the academy, but her ankle was twisted at an unnatural angle.

"The tunnel is blocked. The Hobgoblin Mage collapsed the ceiling behind us!"

"I can’t heal this much damage!" cried Sora, a young girl clutching a staff that flickered with a dying white light.

Her Trait was [Life Link], but her face was pale, her mana clearly bottomed out. "Kael, your shield is cracking!"

The fourth human, a boy named Jaxon, was frantic. He was a fire mage, but his hands were shaking so hard he could barely snap his fingers.

His Trait, [Pyromancy], was powerful, but he lacked the focus to use it under pressure.

"We’re going to die here! Those aren’t just Goblins; there’s a whole legion!"

Who expected a simple Tunnel run would turn into such a disaster?

The group consisted of ordinary guild members. They had chosen the lowest difficulty tunnel to complete their run and become Crusaders.

They never expected the Tunnel would mutate to Apocalypse difficulty the moment they entered.

These monsters were just outer creatures of the tunnel, and yet their group were already at death’s door.

The four youngsters knew that even if they survived this wave, they couldn’t finish this Tunnel run.

The Hobgoblin Warrior roared, a sound that vibrated in Ayla’s core. It lunged forward, the great sword slamming against Kael’s shield with a deafening thwack.

Kael groaned, his knees buckling. From the back of the horde, the Hobgoblin Mage raised its bone staff. A ball of sickly green acid formed at the tip.

"Watch out!" Elara screamed, pushing Sora out of the way just as the acid splashed against the cavern wall, hissing and eating through the rock.

Ayla watched from the shadows. Her translucent eyes fixed on the interface floating in her vision.

Name: Ayla

Trait: Perfect Assimilation

Rank: Iron

Level: 1 (0/10)

Available Forms: None

The biomass of the goddess had been converted entirely to upgrade her trait. Because of this, Ayla could not shift into the form of the goddess yet, as she lacked the physical matter required for the transformation.

Ayla tried her best to hide her presence from both the humans and the goblins. Anyone from either side could easily kill her without difficulty.

She could even be killed accidentally by the mere aftermath of the violent struggle.

The battle turned into a slaughter. The Hobgoblin Assassin flickered through the shadows, appearing behind Elara. A flash of steel followed, and the scout fell with a choked gasp, her throat opened.

"Elara!" Kael screamed, losing his concentration. That was all the Hobgoblin Warrior needed. It swung the massive sword in a horizontal arc, shattering Kael’s shield and sending the man flying into the stone wall. He didn’t get back up.

Sora was cornered next. She tried to use her staff as a club, but a dozen Goblins swarmed her, pulling her down by her hair and limbs.

Her screams were cut short as the green tide buried her. From there, mating cries could be heard.

Only Jaxon was left. The fire mage backed away, his eyes wide and leaking tears. He stumbled toward the boulder where Ayla was hiding.

"Get away! Stay back!" Jaxon screamed, throwing a weak, flickering fireball at the Hobgoblin Mage. The monster simply batted the flame away with a hand encased in mana.

The Hobgoblin Assassin appeared behind Jaxon. It didn’t make a sound. It simply drove a jagged dagger through the boy’s chest.

Jaxon’s eyes bulged. He coughed up a spray of crimson and fell backward, his body sliding across the floor and landing just inches away from Ayla’s hiding spot.

The Goblins didn’t rush him immediately; they were too busy fighting over the gear and meat of the other three humans.

The Hobgoblins stood back, watching their subordinates with cruel amusement.

Ayla looked at the boy. He was dying, but his brain was still warm. The smell was intoxicating. She flowed out from behind the boulder like a pale shadow.

Jaxon was still twitching, his gaze dimming as he looked at the ceiling. He didn’t even feel the cold, soft weight of the slime as she climbed onto his shoulder.

Ayla didn’t hesitate. She extended a thin, needle-like tendril of her body and slipped it into his ear canal, punching through into the soft tissue of the brain. It was much easier this time.

[You have devoured a Human brain]

[Biomass Consumed: Human]