"Fucking hell." I complain as the last squirrel falls to its death against our ward after being knocked from its perch with an arrow. It's just the latest piss in the bucket and everyone in our group is exhausted.

Josh moves over and picks it up, adding it to the pile with the other six freakishly muscled rodents to be skinned for dinner.

We made it out of the nearby tunnel to here thinking we'd finally catch a break and get a decent night's sleep when these rats started pelting us with Sandbox Seeds. It's just another pain in the ass the Dungeons thrown at us this month.

It started with the bugs.

Like always we had set up a protective circle to sleep for the night and taking turns on watch. Not even into the first watch we started getting pelted with stones. We thought something like a Goblin was throwing them at us, only to find out it was a damned roach, which didn't make any sense.

But it kept happening. Every time we finally started to sleep we'd get pelted by pebbles from a new bug. Not that it hurt, but it's hard to sleep when you keep having rocks hit your face.

Then the fire bugs started appearing. They're a right pain in the ass, especially when they got into our packs. How the fuck a six inch roach SNEAKS into your bag I don't know, but when you reach into the bag and scare the fucker, and it SETS FIRE to your hand AND your supplies, you tend to notice. That's when we knew things are fucking up: a level one creature with MAGIC. First any of us have seen that: never saw magic in something till it hits level two minimum, and these roaches are new.

Know what else is new? Fucking IRON SPIDERS.

Landon, our Mage, went to use fire magic to clear some spider webs. Has done it hundreds of times before. Now? Didn't even get close before he said somethings biting him, turned around and fell flat on his damned face. Then Chris went to pick him up and fell too. Guess which dumbass our Healer is?

Had to lasso them both with rope to get them back, then dig around for a couple potions. Then get stabbed by the near invisible poisoned needles sticking out of their faces while feeding them the potions.

Adam, our tank, had to use his shild- against fucking spiders- just so our Mage could get close and torch the nest, which THEN caused hot metal threads to fall on us.

Wasting expense ass healing potions because of bugs.

And rats. Running into a nest of rats is normal. Running into a fucking ARMORED RAT is not. Getting ambushed by a dozen and them spit fire at you? That is right fucked up.

But hey, then you find a few gold coins and your week is better, yea? NO. Cause those damned coins are Mimics who EAT half your real gold coins before you notice, and even then you can't tell which is real without bashing every single one!

Fucking teammates wouldn't have been laughing their asses off if they found'em.

Since our Mage couldn't get a proper rest to restore all his spells he's practically useless. Not that any of us are better off: lack of sleep screws up your focus, so even the "normal" monsters we've been fighting have given us a harder time.

"At least we can eat the squirrels. " Josh says as he rests on a nearby stump and pulls out a knife to skin them. I'm more looking forward to catching fish nearby, assuming there ain't some new fucking monster in the water too.

—

–

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

-

I see motion nearby, drawing me out of my slumber. Thankfully this doesn't require opening my main eye and alert the intruder.

Moving about in the cave is a small lizard, currently chomping on a smaller rodent. It takes a moment for me to realize it's the same type that was here before, and I can't help but wonder why.

'I don't think lizards stay with their parents, so is it a coincidence?'

Every now and then the lizard will stop moving and just stare at me like it's mesmerized. And I get it, it's hard not to look at the awesome creature I've become, but it doesn't explain the behavior.

After watching it a bit longer an idea begins to form: 'It's guarding me.'

That's the only reasonable explanation: the larger one was here, guarding the last chest. And now that it's dead, a new "guard" was assigned. For whatever reason it seems infatuated, hence staring at me so often.

'So what's going to happen when I move? Will it still try to guard me, or will it realize I'm not what it thought I was?'

I also wonder: if a guard was assigned to the chest, does that mean it wasn't put here by a person? if I leave here, will a new chest appear? If so, will it already have gold in it or does that appear over time?

It's not like I'm in a hurry; I could just hang around and see, though I don't know how long it would take.

'Speaking of "how long"- I was asleep for…' I question as I open the Menu, no longer shocked by how much time I tend to sleep 'a week. Not too bad.'

After further consideration I wait for the lizard to turn away from me and fire a stream of acid at it, feeling a little guilty at its death but deciding it'd be foolish not to take advantage of the situation.

As much as I enjoy the essential Mimic experience I decide it's not best for moving about and shift back to the Armored Dire Rat form before heading deeper into the forest.

–

A half hour walk from the cave I find something familiar: dozens of pock marks littering the ground and nearby trees of a clearing with a single tree at its center. After the squirrels it's hard not to recognize the explosive effect of the nuts they threw and the surrounding damage makes it evident this is the source of their ammunition. The tree itself is about 100 feet tall and three feet wide, with its length covered in small spikes. Unsurprisingly there's a lot of damage to the ground around it and it's clear any "seed" that fell exploded upon impact.

After checking my environment I shift to squirrel form and climb up, taking care not to prick myself on the spikes. I find and carefully pick a dozen acorn sized seeds, plus two apple sized seed pods. With a little concern about moving them I push my Mimic form into my current one, extending my mouth half way down my body so I can consume the seeds and pod. Once back to normal I consider finding a way to break apart and eat some of the tree but feel the risk of attempting to could set off a deadly chain reaction.

Back on the ground I continue on my way, checking the Gluttonous Gut menu to discover the plant is called a Sandbox Tree. I also decide to Devour the small reptile: the species is named Komodo Lizard- instead of Komodo Dragon, which kind of makes sense considering there may be actual dragons in this world. Sadly it's only skill is "Infected Bite", which essentially just spreads bacteria into the wound. As much as I want to be versatile I'd rather not be spreading diseases and infections, especially while knowing those "Diseased rats" I saw means it might do weird things when magic is Involved.

Despite the Dexterity increase my slow pace has me constantly wishing I caught a wyvern so I could fly but wondering if the speed would be worth the risk of being caught off guard. While weighing the pros and cons I notice the air seems to be growing thicker and with horror realize it's becoming foggy.

The relatively recent memory of the "Nightmare Deer" sends a shiver down my spine and I set off in a dead run to my right, hoping to avoid another meeting with that creature.

Eventually I find the edge of the river and the ever-present fog not letting up makes me afraid I'm being stalked by the creature.

In a harried rush I shift back to Mimic form and crawl into the water as I shift to copper fish form before swimming upstream as fast as possible.

It's hard to tell if the fog is present above the water but after an hour of swimming I shift back, using a breath of air from my Gut as empty lungs reform under water before shifting to Fire Urchin form.

Above the flow of the river I find the air thankfully clear, letting out a mental sigh of relief.

As I continue on land I begin to hear faint noises echoing through the woods, sounds that seem remarkably human.

—

–

-