The exit to the second floor loomed in front, but Anton did not attempt to rush out yet. First, he needed to make sure nothing was waiting outside to jump him. As he scanned the edges of the mushroom forest that spread all across this level, he tried to find any smidgen of movement. He knew there had to be something lurking about. The question was just where was it. He needed to run the other way, or he would rush into an ambush. This was one of the spots he still got caught sometimes, even after all the thousands of times he had been here.

Most of the time, it wasn't even his fault, but multiple things where there, waiting for him, making it impossible to get through.

As he patiently waited, he saw a small movement below one of the smaller mushrooms. Looking closer, he saw two eyes, staring unblinkingly at the entrance. There the first one was! From what he could tell, it was one of the bipedal snake demons. No problem there, he was much faster. After at least one more hour, he decided he was lucky this time. But to be safe, he rushed out of the entrance taking the least likely route. As he did, he was glad of it, because as soon as he exited the tunnel, he heard a loud hissing sound from behind him.

"Didn't expect that, did you? Fools." He snorted as he rushed almost straight at the mushroom he had seen the first movement. From below it, a bulky shape moved, and then a snake crawled out, walking on two legs with a large gaping map filled with horrific teeth. Ambling forward in an ungraceful gate, it attempted to block his path.

"Pff, far to slow." He laughed, rushing passed it with meters to spare, and disappearing into the forest. Behind him, he heard a short howl of anger, followed by the sounds of fighting. Those two should be attempting to eat each other now.

Keeping his attention focused on his surroundings, he rushed towards one of his safe spots. Although safe wasn't precisely the right word, nor where they truly his. All around, the mushrooms, small and large, were creating a dense odor, that he really, really hated. But it had its uses. When he sniffed a sweet, vomity smell, he turned and headed towards it. Following his nose, he found a low, wide mushroom, green and yellow, that seemed to be rotting. He knew most creatures stayed far away from it, and with good reason. But this was where the second benefit of the bloody worm came into play.

Moving next to the shroom, Anton felt an uncomfortable sensation from his skin that increased the closer he got. Almost beneath it, his skin began smoking. The stink was acidic, keeping all things on this level away. But his skin only smoked, and although it hurt like a sonofabitch, it didn't do anything else to him. Crawling the last part, he moved along a winding path, almost like a seashell, arriving in the middle of the mushroom. There was nothing there, except for the heart of the fungus, which was a pulsating white stem as tall as the small room was.

Lying down, ignoring the smoke, Anton put his front legs against the white stem. Hugging it, he felt the heartbeat grow faster. Taking a deep breath of the stinky gas, he began clenching his legs together as hard as he could. Almost immediately, the heartbeat became erratic, and drips of fluid began falling from the ceiling. Every time one fell on him, Anton sucked in air, trying to resist screaming. Luckily he had two sets of limbs this time, and it took only a few minutes before the heartbeat began to slow, cracks appearing on the surface. As soon as it stopped beating, an enormous influx of energy coursed through Anton, and he moaned in pleasure. He could almost see the energy, like a mist, surround him.

"Aaahhh bless you, you stupid worm." He sighed, feeling himself grow more powerful. He knew that this one mushroom had made him more powerful than one month of killing anything on the first floor could have. And it had been so easy, just some pain, which he had grown accustomed too. Crawling out was always a pain, he thought, as he pushed his larger bulk through the shrinking mushroom.

Outside, the acidic cloud was dissipating rapidly, and he knew it was time to leave. Running faster than before, he headed in a random direction. He knew, running anywhere on this floor was always better than standing around with your dick in your hand. A short pang made him sad as he realized, not for the first time, that he had nothing left between his legs.

--

Almost a day later, he was lying in the largest of the acidic mushrooms he could find, and the only one that he was still able to fit inside. As the rush of energy stagnated, he looked at the green ceiling. Drops of acid hardly hurt him now, and he rose one of his front legs to admire the muscles on them. The pasty white flesh bothered him tho, like that of a corpse, pulled from the river. One more level would solve that problem, but the idea of entering the third floor, again, caused him to sigh. He had stopped counting after a thousand attempts, but he knew that had only been the first few years worth of attempts.

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Remembering how close he got last time made him feel better, and he was about to crawl out when he heard a soft hissing come from outside. Shit, he had stayed too long! The acid cloud must have dispersed, and someone was coming to check why. Raising himself back on his feet, he tried to hear where the thing was. He knew it must be one of the snake people. Those were always out hunting around the edges of the forest.

A soft knock against the side of the mushroom, far to close to him for comfort, made shuffle back involuntarily. As soon as he did, he cursed and stopped moving, but it was too late. A heavy thud came from the same spot, together with loud, angry hissing. Feeling his heartrate rise, Anton knew he was in serious trouble. He might be able to outrun these dumb snakes, but in a straight-up fight, they were far too strong. Cracks appeared on the decaying wall of the mushroom, and his breathing became labored. If that thing thought he would take it lying down, it was wrong.

"Bring it on, you son of a bitch!" He growled, waiting for the wall to collapse. He didn't have to wait long, the cracks became longer, and then a part began bulging inward, parts falling out. Razor-sharp, glistening teeth were the first thing he saw. It was a damn snake alright, trying to shove its entire head inside. Backing up as far as he could, which wasn't far at all, Anton held his breath and got ready.

The wall caved in completely, and the snake demon fell forward, landing with the edge of his head on the ground. Anton rushed forward, leaping on top of the shape, aiming for its eyes. With surgical precision, he speared the yellow, heavily lidded orbs causing the snake to hiss and slam its head from left to right to try and dislodge Anton. Holding on tight, he was just about to let go when the snake managed to get a foothold somewhere and get his entire upper body back out, dragging Anton along with him.

"Shiiiiit," Anton hollered as he attempted to let go. But his handless front limbs were stuck inside the snake's skull, and he was pulled out into the open.

Rising to his full height, three times that of Anton, the snake banged its head against the side of the mushroom. Feeling a massive blow against his back, Anton heard cracking sounds and knew one of his limbs must have snapped. Cursing, he finally managed to get his last leg out and tried to wiggle free. The snake had him pinned against the wall, trying to angle its head to take a bite. Anton felt his body slip, and a wet sensation came from one of his stolen limbs.

"Noooo..."

A snap followed a horrible tearing sound, and then Anton felt pain. Immediately he was dragged up in the air from his limb, dangling from the mouth of the snake creature that began chewing on his foot. In between the bursts of pain, Anton knew he had no other choice, and he began turning himself in circles. Three full circles later, his leg popped off, causing white goo to spurt onto the snake's face while he dropped to the ground on the three remaining legs.

Turning around, Anton hobbled away, hoping to flee his assailant. Within moments he heard the snake Snake hiss and bang into something. Wait, the thing was blind! Turning around, he saw how the snake moved its head from left to right, sniffing and hissing. Its forked tongue darted in the air and eventually found some trace of Anton. He rushed forward, but couldn't see one of the mushrooms and slammed right into it. A soft crack came, and it staggered back, shaking its head.

"Owww now, I've got you shit face." Laughing through the pain, Anton moved behind a large mushroom.

"Yo, over here! Come get some spider legs, nom nom!" Yelling to the snake caused it to hiss and rush his way. As expected, it slammed full force into the mushroom. This time it didn't stagger back, but slumped to its knees, hissing softly. Grinning, Anton circled the stupid thing and made sure to give it more time to gather speed. From a bit further off, he began calling again.

Getting back to its feet, the snake wobbled twice before opening its mouth and rushing towards the sound. He had a lot more distance to gain speed, and this time, when it hit the mushroom, Anton heard the satisfying crack he had been hoping for. The snake bounced back from the tree, hit the ground, and didn't move. Waiting a bit to make sure it wasn't acting, no matter how unlikely, Anton then sneaked closer. Carefully stretching out a front limb, he prodded the black leathery skin.

He got no reaction, but he felt some energy flit into him from the point of the limb.

"Hah! Who would have known!" Jumping forward, Anton sat down on the snake's chest, feeling an immense amount of energy rush into him. It had to be the same as two or three of those large acidic mushrooms, he thought happily. Then he eyed the heavily muscled legs of the snake.

"How about you lend me those, as you don't need them anymore!" He smirked, opening his mandibles wide.