My expression crumpled as the retracted tongue fed me more information. Like clay covered in earwax… Oh lord, I’m going to vomit…
Definitely, I need to stress the importance of baths in the future.
Despite my displeasure, I launched my tongue to impact Nightshade’s body for a second time. Even as my traitorous tastebuds activated, I forced the tongue to linger, more of its healing saliva seeping out-
Why am I seeping again?! SYSTEM...!
My eye twitched in displeasure as I could see little bits of mud and other assorted scum on Nightshade. I cursed our luck for landing in a wetlands filled with untrustworthy shallow water. My previously well-behaved, favored Skill Detection began feeding me an exacting list of all the disgusting particles I was consuming by licking Nightshade. And that didn’t even begin to address the strange pseudo-blood leaking out of the wounds in Indigo’s Interstitial Body Structure-
Your Skill (Temp) Healing Tongue has grown to Level 3.
Your Skill (Earned) Detection has grown to Level 8.
Detection pinged for a more useful reason; two of the fae squirrels beside me reared up and spat out their glittering bolts. The dozen or so fae squirrels that Nightshade had agro’d also pivoted from the fallen form and fixated on the threat I represented. My instinct to devour all these creatures ran straight into my experience from my previous life, which warned of how dangerous enemies could get en mass.
Especially enemies that could shoot magic bullets.
I skittered sideways, avoiding the two bolts heading for my back. Tentacles sprang from my form, stretching out to sweep up a fae squirrel close enough to harm Nightshade. It gnashed its teeth and slashed at me with its tiny claws. It ripped into my jelly tentacles but didn’t inflict any damage. My tentacle slapped the snout of Level 9 Fae Squirrel to occupy its attention. The monster pounced forward and began to wrestle the tentacle.
In the end, a single tentacle could really hold the monster at bay— perhaps 8 Strength was higher than I had anticipated.
I wanted to begin absorbing its Anima, but two many more fae squirrels rushed toward me, even hopping onto Nightshade’s collapsed form to bound at the new threat. I unleashed two more quick licks, hitting Nightshade and healing him a bit more and earning one last Level in Healing Tongue.
Then I had to focus on my own situation, as four fae squirrels in various positions around me reared up to spit out bolts-
Nightshade erupted from his collapsed position, the previous weakness looking like a feint. Both his arms snapped outward, gobbling up the bottom halves of two fae squirrels. I saw the fangs pierce into their bodies and drink down their Anima. The fae squirrels struggled, but from the way they couldn’t escape the serpent heads, Nightshade possessed more than 8 Strength.
You bastard, you simply wanted to let the agro reset?! My indignation at least knocked me out of my focused clockwork state.
…which made me realize what deep shit I had waded into.
Your Skill (Earned) Mana Sensitivity has grown to Level 8.
A dozen sets of eyes locked onto my central position. One of the squirrels shooting their dangerous projectiles twisted around, its attack shooting harmlessly between myself and Nightshade. But that left three shooting toward me. My large turtle feet did their best to shuffle me sideways, but my body was just a bit too large. Leaning sideways made two of the attacks miss, but the third clipped my side and took 8 Health away with it.
Your Skill (Earned) Body Manipulation has grown to Level 7.
My turn, My eye gleamed as I considered the fourteen remaining fae squirrels. Desperation and pain crystallized together to become vindictiveness.
A second tentacle shot out and helped subdue the squirrel I already grappled with; once its arms were bound, my serrated foreleg zipped out and laid its flesh open, throat to crouch. The tentacles immediately started gulping down Anima, but also a notification I wanted triggered.
Your Skill (Temp) Mana Feed has triggered! Restoring 12 Health and 6 Mana over the next 30 seconds.
Insurance is always nice. When you can afford it. My attention pivoted. A squirrel leapt at me. Instead of dodging, I raised a blunt turtle leg and kicked it in the chest— the show of power from my tentacles had given me some confidence to fight these bastards directly.
Even more than I expected, the squirrel crumpled.
The glittering monster hit the ground and wailed in pain. I hurried forward and began stomping on its body. I felt like a violent street youth as I marched on the fallen squirrel, but this was the way of this world; these bastards were literally bloodthirsty. If I didn’t act quickly, we would be killed.
It took three stomps for the squirrel to stop moving. I happily gulped down its Anima, pushing me back up to 250 Anima, with quite a bit of extra swirling there, waiting for me to expend it. I speared another squirrel in the chest with my serrated foreleg but also had to forcefully endure a glittering bolt from a nearby fae squirrel.
Indigo ripped his way through five more Bloodthirsty Fae Squirrels faster than I could believe. Its limbs blurred and swelled, nudging aside blows aimed at his body and then shifting his weight to crush an unexpected target. I thought I was passable at fighting… but I guess this is the legacy of being a former demon king? Even though you were apparently a mage build in your past life?
…scary…
Your Skill (Earned) Monster’s Wisdom has grown to Level 8.
The screams of the dying squirrels echoed out through the grass along the treeline… and in response, a whole new cacophony of high-pitched barks and rustling grass began to build. Seven more squirrels popped out of the surrounding grass, their eyes narrowed at us. Then in the next instant, five more joined them. Most of these gathered Mana to their lips to spit out their bolts.
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Your Skill (Earned) Mana Sensitivity has grown to Level 9.
If squirrels keep flooding toward us- Nightshade, is this why you weren’t willing to come on your own? Ah, I’ve been duped. Nightshade had torn through the squirrels he faced, but they replaced themselves just as quickly. I barely had time to slice through the legs of a nearby squirrel and pounce atop it before the volley of projectiles whizzed into the space I had just vacated. This time, I had to take four directly. Nightshade took about double that, faltering and swaying.
…I didn’t know which would be worse, if his weakness was for real this time, or if he was just letting me take agro again. Emotions roiled in my chest and I narrowed my focus to the task at hand. My tentacle stabbed down into a life-giving vein.
Your Skill (Species) Absorb Anima has grown to Level 26.
Your Skill (Temp) Mana Feed has triggered! Restoring 12 Health and 6 Mana over the next 30 seconds.
Your Skill (Temp) Mana Feed has grown to 13.
You have Leveled Up! Health +5, Mana +3.
I’ve been cutting through these bastard squirrels and only earned a Level now… gah, earning experience off of lower-level monsters is difficult. I scanned through the notifications, then rapidly refocused as the pain of impact drew me back to practical concerns. The extra five Health was a boon, but I had suffered 26 damage due to the direct hits from the glittering bolts. Finally, I expended all the extra Anima, healing 20 Health back in an instant.
Yet more and more anxiety squeezed my heart.
More squirrels kept chirping out their impending arrival. Even if some of the movement was just the wind, the rustling grass took on a sinister smugness.
Nightshade growled and lashed back and forth with his serpent heads. One squirrel got snatched up and devoured to help replenish his Health, but the others kept their distance. They jeered and chittered, learning to stay a distance away from the former Demon King. They even avoided me as well, using their tiny paws to create harmless little mud balls that they tossed at me.
My mind spun. I used a tentacle to knock the small mud projectiles out of the air. I turned and unleashed a few tongue blasts toward Nightshade.
Your Skill (Earned) Body Manipulation has grown to Level 8.
Your Skill (Temp) Healing Tongue has grown to Level 5.
“Brother! Tonight we fight until either they are dead, or we are!” Nightshade roared nonsense, too caught up in his own bloodlust to realize how quickly the situation turned. Eleven more squirrels hopped out of the surrounding grass, essentially sealing our doom as their companions circled around us, preventing us from retreating-
Hum? Little spiderling? I pivoted sideways as I felt a tug on my Mana Core. Through the edge of the grass, I saw a familiar, small body waving a foreleg at me. As I examined the area more thoroughly with my energy sonar, I felt as many as a dozen little spiderlings waiting to our South, where I could also sense the enemies were the fewest.
I felt a strange surge through my body as the connection informed me of the possibility of escape. The Sleepy Heart in the core of my body began to beat with more vigor and adrenaline flooded through my stitched-together limbs.
Your Skill (Earned) Detection has grown to Level 9.
Your Skill (Temp) Inferior Adrenaline Rush has grown to Level 3.
Your Skill (Temp) Inferior Adrenaline Rush has grown to Level 4.
Perhaps it was the sense of danger, but the surge of adrenaline power seemed more overwhelming than I remembered. My tentacle flicked sideways, sweeping the legs of a squirrel now about to belch a dangerous projectile. They might only have a single shot before they needed to recover Mana, but not all of the squirrels fired their attacks immediately. And since I hadn’t been paying attention to which had yet to attack-
“To the South,” I chirped.
A growling Nightshade rounded on me. “There is more blood to spill here, brother. If we do not eliminate our own weakness now with effort, it will eventually consume us.”
…what?
What are you even talking about?!
Nightshade, apparently satisfied that my sudden stunned stillness meant I had been swayed by his nonsense statement, once more charged into the fray. Whatever Skill he used to move so fluidly and inflate the size of his limbs had Leveled with his frantic use, because he managed to crush, rip, maim, and devour five more squirrels in just as many seconds.
The grace of his movements made the scales of his snake heads glint in the sun. Nightshade propelled himself forward, causing most of the follow-up blasts of Mana to miss, and crash in the middle of the hopping enemies. Yet as he sucked down more Anima from the survivors, the grass parted in a large way, revealing a new challenger.
Bloodthirsty Fae Squirrel Champion Lvl 16
My attention narrowed to this imposing new arrival. What sort of swamp steroids has this bastard been sucking on…?
The being that swaggered out of the grass could technically be called a squirrel, based on its chubby-cheeked face and tail, yet its most eye-catching characteristic was the torso of a human body builder, covered with moss green fur. I couldn’t help but gape in disbelief as the champion’s intimidating slabs of chest muscle twitched as he looked around. The bulging swells along the squirrel's arms tightened as Nightshade and the Champion seemed to notice one another at the same moment.
Nightshade roared again, the serpent head’s swelling to double the size of the opponent’s arms. My companion rushed forward. His mantis head looked down with a predator's eyes as the two crashed into one another-
The Champion grappled with a swollen serpent arm for a second, rivaling Nightshade’s pure Strength. Neither could gain an advantage in pushing the other back, but the Champion swiveled its hips before the heads could bite. The squirrel jerked the attack sideways. Nightshade stumbled and tripped forward. I watched, unable to believe my eyes, as this strange muscle squirrel threw Nightshade over his hip and drove its elbow into the Chimera Core’s side, spiking him into the ground with such force the other bounced.
Then, while Nightshade tumbled mid-air, the Champion drew his arm back, settled into a kung fu stance, and thrust out a twisting palm. I saw the indigo interstitial flesh ripple like jelly on impact Nightshade gasped in pain and crashed into a nearby thicket of reeds. Just as quickly, the Bloodthirsty Fae Squirrel Champion drew a circle in the air with its hands— I especially didn’t like the way glittering energy began to gather in its palms.
…don’t tell me his about to release some sort of energy wave-
Your Skill (Earned) Monster’s Wisdom has grown to Level 9.
Your Skill (Earned) Mana Sensitivity has grown to Level 10.
The Champion finished its circle with its palms. The area began to glow. My worst fears were realized in the beam of pure, glittering annihilation unleashed by the muscle squirrel.
My stumpy legs moved before I had even thought about it. The Adrenaline Rush filled my body with a little extra oomph as I gathered up momentum and leapt into the air. My body impacted Nightshade’s as he staggered to his feet, knocking him slightly out of the path of the attack. And suddenly, I realized that while his momentum would carry him to safety, I would now take the blast.
I twisted as best I could, but as that beam rushed forward, I knew it wouldn’t be enough. Grimacing, I pulled all my precious organs to the other side of my body. My organs mushed together, but I lost no body parts as the beam tore through me. For a split second my lavender Interstitial Body Structure held, but it didn’t seem to weaken the attack in the slightest.
The flesh began to sizzle. Then it evaporated.
45 Health disappeared in a single moment, along with the left side of my body..
I smacked against the ground, dazed and blinking. Just like that, I had dropped down to 13 Health.