It happened faster than expected.
One moment, Yuto Nakamura was crossing the street at 2:03 a.m., ramen bag in one hand, phone in the other, eyes barely staying open after a grueling 20-hour coding session. The next—
**Bright lights. A blaring horn.**
*THUNK.*
There was no time for a scream. His body slammed into the car, crumpling like a doll tossed by a child. The last thing he saw before the world went black was the *flash* of his phone screen—a new fantasy RPG called *"A World for Heroes: Defeat the Demon King!"* staring back at him.
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***Game Over.***
No white tunnel. No angels. No regrets. Just… cold, suffocating darkness.
And then—
**[Reincarnation Complete.]**
**[Welcome to Velzareth — Aether Layer 0: The Endless Abyss.]**
**[Race: Abyss Broodling (Larval Stage)]**
**[Rank: F-]**
**[Class: Final Villain (Sealed)]**
**[Initializing Strategic AI: System Advisor "Nyx."]**
> *Ding!*
> **[Hello, User. Your current survival rate is 0.001%. Encouragement protocol: Try not to die.]**
The voice was clinical, cold, as if it was reading data off a sheet of paper. The words, however, were not what Yuto was expecting.
"W-What…?"
He tried to speak, but the only sound that came out was a wet, slurping *click.* His vision was blurry—more like complete darkness—and his body felt… wrong. Soft. Soft like he was inside something. Something *alive.*
He attempted to move—only for his body to twitch uncontrollably, like a baby bug barely aware of its limbs. Panic surged in his chest as a terrifying realization dawned.
**Was he… inside something? Was this his new life?**
A sudden cracking sound echoed in his ears.
*Crunch.*
He jerked as the soft shell around him broke open, spilling him onto the cold, wet ground. Instantly, his senses were assaulted by the smell of rot, decay, and the distant sounds of something hungry.
**He was reborn.**
And the world wanted him dead.
> **[Congratulations! You are now officially an Abyss Broodling (Larval Stage). Survival chances: 0.001%.]**
The voice in his head continued, offering no compassion, no explanations. It was merely a fact, like the coldness of the stone beneath his body.
**Abyss Broodling.**
**Larval Stage.**
That meant nothing to Yuto. The hunger gnawing at his insides? That meant something. The dark cavern around him? That was a problem. The distant growls and slithering noises? Those were the things he needed to worry about.
He tried to push himself upright but only managed a few inches before collapsing back to the ground. His new, soft body wasn't made for walking or even crawling—it was more like a bug, too weak to even control itself properly.
> **[Skill Acquired: Crawl (LV1)]**
**"What the hell is this?"**
**[Skill Acquired: Venomous Spit (LV1)]**
The voice was… unhelpful. Nyx, the "system advisor," just kept spitting out skills that didn't make any sense in his current predicament. He wasn't even sure he *wanted* these skills. Right now, he just wanted to *survive.*
---
Minutes passed. Maybe hours. It was hard to tell in the endless blackness of the Abyss. Yuto's stomach growled again—an empty, gnawing pain that only grew as the minutes ticked by. His limbs were useless, barely able to twitch in response to his commands.
It was clear that in this world, everything—*everything*—was bigger and more dangerous than him.
A shadow passed over his fragile body, and Yuto froze. His heart thudded against his chest as a low, guttural growl filled the air.
From the shadows, a massive, multi-eyed monster emerged—a creature that could only be described as some sort of mutated slime-worm. It was at least five times his size, and from the looks of it, it had one thing on its mind: eating him.
**[Danger detected: Poisonous Slime Worm approaching. Estimated time to consumption: 13 seconds.]**
**[Recommendation: Evade. Estimated chances of survival: 0.001%.]**
Yuto's mind raced, but his body refused to obey. His legs—if they could be called that—shook uselessly. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
> **[Warning: You are about to die.]**
Suddenly, a strange surge of energy pulsed from deep within his core. It wasn't magic—no, it was something darker, something that he couldn't comprehend. The Abyss responded to him. He didn't know how or why, but it did.
---
Before he could even process it, his body reacted.
The energy inside him surged outward. His instinct was to *survive*, and as if responding to his sheer desperation, his body *shifted*. His veins pulsed with raw power, and from his mouth, a sickly green liquid shot out, hitting the approaching slime-worm square in the eye.
**[Skill Acquired: Venomous Spit (LV2)]**
The worm shrieked in pain, staggering backward, but Yuto couldn't keep up. His energy drained too fast, and his body was still too weak.
*But it was enough.*
The worm hesitated, its movement slow and sluggish. Yuto felt the pulse of the Abyss growing stronger. For the first time, he had a small chance. A chance to survive.
> **[Skill Acquired: Instinctive Surge (LV1)]**
> **[Recommended Action: Fight or Flee.]**
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With everything he had, Yuto tried to crawl into a small crevice, desperate to escape the monster that had appeared to devour him.
He had no idea what this world was. No idea what was waiting for him in the darkness ahead. But one thing was clear:
This wasn't just a game.
This was his new life.
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