Severely Wounded

Rowan felt he'd been too reckless. The moment he realized there was a storm outside, he should have left. What was he doing lying there, daydreaming? Didn't he know watching the action could be dangerous? Now look at him: not only had he been forced to watch from up close, he'd gotten caught up in it himself.

If he got another chance, he'd stay in his room, no matter what was going on outside. He wouldn't move an inch!

The sky was pitch-black as the violent storm roared past, making a spine-chilling sound while sweeping up great clouds of sand and gravel. Driven by the wind, the debris shot forward like bullets.

Unfortunately, Rowan was right in its path.

Though his body was small, the sandstorm was so dense that a great deal of debris still struck him.

Rowan stretched all his limbs toward his head. He used his two Digging Legs to shield his eyes and held his other limbs around his head as well. At the same time, he twisted his body with all his might, turning his back toward the oncoming storm.

His newly formed shoulder plates and back plate were highly protective. Though he couldn't feel pain, the fine hairs covering them could tell him that, for now, the debris hadn't penetrated their defenses.

But the flying debris still battered him, tossing him through the air and making it extremely difficult to keep his balance.

As the world spun around him, his unprotected abdomen took another beating. His back plate covered most of it, but the sandstorm attacked from every direction, with no blind spots. His abdomen, which had only just shortened by a small section, was badly injured again.

Rowan had no time to worry about his abdominal injuries, and he gave up on keeping his back to the storm. He was constantly tumbling, and the storm was unpredictable; the wind changed direction from moment to moment.

In the end, he could only hunch his neck and use his limbs to shield his head as much as possible, then leave the rest to fate.

He'd already experienced having his abdomen torn up, and there was still hope he'd survive. But if his head was smashed, he'd really be done for.

He still had a whole lot of time left to live. He didn't want to get written out this soon.

All around him was pitch-black. The wind howled, and Rowan couldn't tell where he was. Even if he could, it wouldn't have helped. Before long, the storm had swept him far away.

After being tossed around for who knew how long, even his sturdy back plate had sustained some damage. At last, Rowan felt the wind around him begin to weaken.

It looked like he'd made it through, but he immediately faced a new problem.

He couldn't fly! He'd been "born" only a few days ago, and hadn't even had time to develop.

But even if he could fly, his tiny body would have been powerless against nature's might.

By now, he had no idea how high the storm had swept him. He was severely nearsighted, and even a human's eyes probably wouldn't have been able to see very far in this gloomy, low-visibility environment.

After who knew how long, Rowan felt himself begin to fall. Fortunately, although the wind had weakened, it still caught him from time to time, slowing his descent somewhat.

His hollow body also made him lighter, and his semicircular back plate acted like a parachute.

And just like that, he fell from an unknown height. Despite having no ability to fly, he didn't suffer much damage when he hit the ground.

No wonder he'd never heard of bugs dying from falls in his previous life. Even without wings, they came with certain amazing talents.

After landing, the wind carried him through another couple of rolls before Rowan finally came to a safe stop.

Without checking his injuries, he stuck his rear end up and began digging into the ground.

Based on the meteorological knowledge he'd picked up over the years from watching movies, tornadoes had a calm eye at their center. He had no idea whether he was in the eye of the storm.

He didn't even know if it was a tornado. Even if it wasn't, he had no interest in figuring out what kind of storm it was. He was just a bug now, and all he wanted was to stay alive.

Whatever the case, staying on the surface was asking for trouble. He had to get away from here and hide deep underground before he could feel even a little safe.

He dug who knew how many meters underground. After reaching the layer of soil, Rowan kept digging for a long while... but he was definitely much deeper than his old room had been.

Thinking about it made Rowan want to cry. He'd only just enjoyed a little bit of peaceful living. He'd barely gotten to use his new home, and he'd had all the White Grubs he could eat. But after getting nosy and going to watch the action, it had all slipped away from him. All he wanted to do now was cry out about how miserable he was.

But his injuries were even worse. One of his Digging Legs had been broken, and several of his middle and hind legs had snapped as well. Even the ones that weren't broken had suffered some damage.

His head and eyes, protected by those limbs, didn't look badly damaged from the outside, but they'd inevitably taken a few knocks. He could tell that several black blind spots had appeared in his vision. He guessed that the tiny eyes responsible for those areas had been scratched, though he didn't know if they would recover.

His antennae hadn't been shielded, but they were too thin to bear much force. Only half of one had been knocked off.

His shoulder plates and back plate were badly damaged, with a large piece missing from the back plate.

But his abdomen, which had only just healed, was in the worst shape. Last time, he'd lost three sections of tissue when he was injured, and his body had shrunk as a result. This time, he hadn't lost several whole sections, but it was hardly any better. Much of it had been battered open, exposing the internal tissue.

Rowan did notice, though, that although his abdomen had been torn up, he could see a lot of fibrous material through the holes. It had sealed up the holes, big and small, to keep his bodily fluids from leaking out.

It seemed this was another result of his last evolution. The changes had taken place inside his body, and he'd only discovered them now.

But Rowan hadn't wanted to discover this change.

Still, this development had been enormously helpful. His abdominal injuries looked even more severe than last time, but they'd already been patched up temporarily, keeping them basically stable. They shouldn't get any worse, at least not to the point where food went in at the top and flowed out at the bottom.

His remaining one and a half antennae swayed. The fine hairs stood on end as he carefully sensed for any unusual scents or vibrations. Finding nothing, Rowan slowly closed his eyes.

Now, he needed to rest and hope that he could recover using the energy stored in his body.

Overall, the injuries he'd suffered this time were far worse than before. There wasn't a single part of his body that was in good shape. Even his head and eyes, the parts he'd protected best, had suffered many scrapes and scratches.

And the environment he was in now was far harsher than last time: it was completely unfamiliar.

At least last time, there had been food nearby, and he'd replenished his energy several times while recovering. This time, even though he'd eaten a White Grub just before the storm, the storm had consumed a tremendous amount of his energy.

Worse still, although the fibrous material produced by his new ability had quickly filled the gaps in his damaged abdomen, he'd still lost some of his food reserves.

Overall, he now had only about half of his full energy reserves.

Faced with this situation, his recovery process changed as well.