Chapter 1
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Chapter 1: Encountering Mass Extinction Right at the Start!?
"I’m sorry for making you go through this again…"
Surrounded by flames, Trilobite opened his hand, looking at the Trilobite fossil in his palm, whispering regretfully.
He was a paleontology enthusiast and was lucky to turn his hobby into a career. After graduating from university, he joined a natural history museum as a researcher and tour guide.
To him, the natural history museum was a book written by humanity about Earth’s history.
Researchers and guides were meant to honor nature, always improving this great epic, and like wandering bards, sharing its magnificence and grandeur with the public.
Although it might sound childish and the pay wasn’t high—dealing with chatty children every day or handling cold fossils—Trilobite truly felt this way, happy and fulfilled.
Until one day, a fire broke out in the museum.
After escorting all the children out of the fire, Trilobite rushed back into the flames, wanting to rescue a very precious Trilobite fossil.
It was small and plain, just the simplest form of a trilobite, so ordinary that few noticed it.
But Trilobite knew its value—this fossil was discovered from the end of the Permian period, dating to the time of the Siberian Traps event.
It was likely the last trilobite.
"What a pity…"
"I couldn’t learn more about you."
"At the Time of the End, what did you experience? What did you see?"
Poisoned by carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide in turn, Trilobite fell into a near-death state, with hallucinations flashing in his nearly broken mind.
It felt like the doomsday of the Permian was happening again.
Raging volcanoes threw flames into the sky, and lava, like a merciless killer, burned everything, setting towering fires across the land.
Acid rain fell in waves, leaving the land barren and lifeless wherever it passed!
The icehouse effect from sulfur dioxide and the greenhouse effect from carbon dioxide swung back and forth, violently stirring the atmosphere and ocean currents, making all beings suffer in this mix of ice and fire.
At that moment, Earth looked like a corpse floating in the solar system, oozing hot pus and giving off a sulfurous stench of death.
In such a catastrophe, ninety-five percent of Earth’s species died.
The last trilobite lowered its delicate antennae, its frail body rolling and drifting with the currents, sinking to the ocean floor…
"Ah!?"
Trilobite woke up.
"I wasn’t dead!?"
"But… where were my hands? Where were my legs!?"
Trilobite realized that his legs, feet, arms, and hands were all gone.
Surviving might seem lucky, but becoming a limbless stump felt worse than dying outright.
However, things weren’t that simple.
Not only were his limbs gone, but also his nose, ear blades, vertebrae—many organs belonging to a bony fish were missing.
Other organs replaced them.
"Ten pairs of jointed legs!?"
"What’s with this three-segment body structure? And these antennae?"
"Why am I still buried in the dirt?!"
"Oh heavens…"
Trilobite had been reborn as a trilobite!
Worse things were yet to come.
This ocean floor stretched desolate as a wasteland after doomsday.
Yet life stubbornly persisted.
Right above his buried forehead, a "worm" was "stepping" on Trilobite’s carapace, twisting its body!
It possessed a noodle-long form, earthworm-like segments, and a mouth ringed with teeth like some fleshy bloom!
The creature twisted recklessly, churning the sediment.
To Trilobite, this worm clearly meant to dig him out and devour him!
He recognized it instantly—he’d seen its fossil in museums.
"A Cambrian ancient worm? Something like a priapulid!?"
"Darn it! That’s a meat-eating worm, vicious beyond words!"
Hiding in the mud, Trilobite felt both the worm-induced terror and stomach-gnawing hunger. He fell into deep thought.
"What now?"
—-
"Ugh…"
A tall, stunningly beautiful female knight knelt on the seabed, propped up by her greatsword.
She commanded the "Human Resistance Organization’s Seventh Branch," originally a brave and heroic warrior.
But now…
Her armor lay shattered. Her skin-tight combat suit beneath was torn open in places, revealing pale, flawless skin.
Despite being exposed and torn, she showed no shame, indifferent to her vulnerability.
She lifted her gaze despairingly toward the serpentine shadow coiling overhead.
"It was the Chaos Godson, the All-Devouring Worm Graaki!"
"The deity itself has descended…"
"Victory… is impossible!"
The "great dragon," hundreds of meters long, loomed over the ocean people.
Its colossal form mocked human insignificance.
A doomsday spectacle enveloped the Despair Basin and all ocean people beneath it.
"Boom—!"
The massive sound shook the heavens and earth and stirred up violent currents in the ocean.
The silent ocean floor hills trembled from the deity’s anger. As the deity’s giant tail swept across, it sliced the hills apart, sending huge rocks flying everywhere and creating a spectacular underwater mudslide.
Humans suffered even worse.
"Boom—Boom—Boom—!"
The underwater infantry and sea beast knights were blasted away, screaming as they drifted with the violent currents.
"No—!"
"Help!"
"We’re done for!"
Screams echoed non-stop.
They were either blown far away and vanished, or crashed into the massive rocks lifted by the currents and were smashed into pitiful pieces!
The constructs, which held human skill and wisdom, shattered under the Chaos God’s impact. They were either flung away or destroyed by the roaming demon gunboats, or exploded into bright red fireworks that dazzled in the deep sea.
Broken limbs and metal parts floated in the turbulent waters stirred by the Chaos God, painting a brutal and bloody scene that lamented humanity’s helplessness.
But some tried to resist.
Cannon fire, giant blades, and magic—none of humanity’s means could harm the deity at all!
"The Seventh Branch… and the resistance were all finished…"
Sulya gazed in despair at the destruction and slaughter happening around her.
The war against the chaos evil god had lasted for decades. Humanity had lost more than half the world. Those in the fallen zones who refused to surrender built mobile city-states and formed resistance groups.
They even changed themselves to adapt to the Ocean Environment as "ocean people," hiding deep in the sea to stubbornly fight the chaos gods.
But it was all useless against the gods.
Humanity was utterly defeated!
The troops fled but were chased by the Chaos follower and chaotic sea beasts, torn into shreds.
But Sulya did not flee.
She placed her long knife against her fair neck, ready to end her life.
"Suicide is better than being captured!"
Sulya couldn’t imagine what would happen to a beautiful woman like her in the hands of demons.
Just as she started to act…
"Roar—!"
The sharp roar hurt her ears and made her heart and lungs ache!
The thought of suicide faded.
The dawn of hope had appeared!
"Glaki is howling!?"
"It… it was in fear!? Shouting for help!?"
The female knight endured her splitting headache and opened her eyes.
An incredible light shone in her beautiful gaze.
"Booming…"
The ocean floor shook violently once again.
Thick layers of muddy sand and stone were overturned.
A massive, oval shadow obscured the ocean!
It resembled a giant "beetle" deity radiating simple beauty. His body glowed with sacred, vibrant light, dispelling the gloom from the ocean people’s minds.
Limbs thicker than constructs seized the Chaos God, restraining it brutally before shoving it toward his mouth!
"Eek—!"
The once-proud Chaos God became helpless as an infant before him; despite Grazki’s desperate roaring, howling, and twisting, all resistance proved futile.
The "Chaos God" was swallowed alive!
Demon followers and chaotic sea beasts abandoned their pursuit of vulnerable human survivors, rushing toward the Chaos God in a futile attempt to save their deity.
But…
"No! It’s getting sucked in!"
"Can’t escape! Pushing the Demon Engine to maximum does nothing!"
"Help!"
Whether hellfire-spitting chaos gunboats, bloodthirsty demons, or even mighty chaotic sea dragons—all were caught by the giant beetle’s suction, dragged helplessly into that colossal maw!
—-
To Trilobite, the ancient worm’s behavior made no sense.
An unarmored worm provoking an armored creature many times its size seemed like voluntary meal delivery.
Trilobite didn’t hesitate; he was hungry.
Yet this meal proved uncomfortable.
"Slurp…"
"Without teeth or jaws for biting, he could only suck in the ancient worm like eating noodles."
"In the process, he accidentally inhaled masses of plankton."
Though covered in calcite, Trilobite’s primitive eyes offered resolution worse than a Nokia feature phone. Large objects appeared as blurry outlines; smaller ones became mere dots.
All small dots registered as plankton to Trilobite.
Ultimately, low-resolution compound eyes paired with a "tunnel-entry" mouth created a terrible experience.
Still, Trilobite ended up full.
"Ding——!"
A prompt sounded as a transparent panel materialized.
It seemed that Trilobite had indeed received the benefits of crossing over.
【Current Form: Trilobite Type】
【Status: Full】
【Chaos Energy: 998/1000 (Only 2 away from entering the evolution interface)】
【Magic Power: 100/300 (Regenerates 1 per minute)】
【Skill 1: Unavailable】
Having a system was a good thing, but…
"Is this intentional?!"
Looking at the 998 points of chaos energy, Trilobite’s antennae shook back and forth in displeasure.
The system cruelly reminded him that he was just 2 points short of evolving.
That was really frustrating.
Trilobite recalled the irritation of getting stuck at 98% with the ‘Blue Bird’ method.
Besides, it wasn’t just about being annoyed.
He didn’t want to end up like the original Trilobite, flipping the world off and helplessly leaving his body in the layers of earth for future generations to mourn.
"I want to live!"
"To survive, I must become stronger!"
The only way to get stronger was to change, to evolve!
So, Trilobite decided to talk it over with the system.
"Uh… can you cut me some slack? Let me owe you for now?"
【Dear, it’s suggested you, as a poor commoner, eat peaches.】
"Damn it! What kind of attitude is that?!"
"If you’re dreaming of your mom flying to the Oort Cloud, just say it!"
Just when things were stuck, an unexpected troublemaker showed up!
"Whoosh—!"
A "giant sea snake," like a huge sea eel, swam out from nowhere.
He boldly faced Trilobite, showing his scary mouth and howling in grief.
"My son was only fighting above your head, didn’t harm you, yet you killed him!"
"Murderer, pay with your life!"
