I crouched down upon a small rise in the land just at the edge of the mist. Below me was the flock of Tree Urchins. They moved in synchronicity just as they had been while I was cultivating. The herd wasn’t far from where I entered the dungeon. In fact, if I had fled the circle of trees in the other direction, I would have been in serious trouble.

Below me, in the middle of the flock of small urchins, were the two more significant energy sources I noticed during cultivation. Just as they were more prominent energy sources, their actual forms were two gigantic Tree Urchins. The normal-sized urchins went a little higher than my ankles.

The bigger ones reached my waist. They didn’t move around as much as the smaller ones, but I saw them roll around occasionally. Seeing the giant Tree Urchins, which is what I thought they would be, solidified my plan.

I hoped that their size didn’t equate to speed. I had enough trouble getting away from the small ones and had a fair distance to run. I looked back in the direction I needed to go, it was going to be a long run, but it wasn’t as far as I had thought.

Sure, the urchins were further away than the stump, but not far enough that I couldn’t make it. It had taken me so long to get there because I followed the creek bed. It was a lot closer in a straight-line distance.

I had scouted the path between the two and made markers, so I didn’t get too lost. The mist made it difficult to keep going in the correct direction. Although, I had two factors in my favor to help me find the way. First, I could periodically stop and cultivate, which allowed me to sense the energies and find my way. Second, there were no other creatures around that I had to deal with, so I could cultivate without worry.

Confident in my path, I grabbed a couple of rocks from the pile I gathered at my feet. I wasn’t dumb enough to wade in there to get stabbed a bunch of times, at least not unless I had to. I figured I could get their attention just as quickly by hurling some rocks at them. Honestly, I was hoping I didn’t get their attention and could kill a few of them first. I needed them for my plan, but I didn’t think killing a few of them would matter.

If my previous encounter with them was anything to go by, they tracked me by sound. They didn’t seem to notice me the first time until they were alerted by the knocking of my staff. If they didn’t notice me after I threw a few rocks into the pile, I was sure I could just yell at them to make some noise. Then they would flock to me like ducks to bread.

I launched the first stone. I was aiming at one of the giant Tree Urchins. If I missed it, there was a good chance it would hit a smaller one. Also, I wanted all of them to follow me, especially the large ones. I wasn’t sure the larger ones would follow if I just attacked the small ones.

My aim was good, and the larger-than-fist-sized rock slammed into the side of the hulking Tree Urchin. I heard a muffled thump from my spot atop the hill, but I didn’t notice any other sign that I had hit it.

The mass of Tree Urchins all seemed to know precisely where the attack came from. They began to surge toward me. I threw the second rock and the second large urchin, but I was rushed and more than a little bit panicked at the mass of urchins, so I missed. Thankfully, it didn’t matter. The bigger urchins both started to move toward me.

I grabbed my makeshift spear and turned to run. The smaller urchins were moving fast, and I didn’t have much time. To my chagrin, the larger ones didn’t seem to move as fast as the smaller ones. That was going to make this challenging. It wasn’t as far from the other monster as I thought, but it was still about a mile away. If the larger urchins continued to move slowly, I would have to find some way to double back, so I didn’t lose them.

I ran away into the fog at a steady pace. I banged my spear against trees and on the ground so I wouldn’t lose my pursuers. Once I felt I was far enough away, I stopped to let them catch up. It seemed that the large urchins had just started out slow because I could see their outlines in the mist before I started to run again.

I kept repeating the process of leading and then waiting, which seemed to be working. I only had a little more to go before I was at my destination when I stopped at the bottom of a rise. On the other side of the hill was the lakebed. I would have to keep the mass of Tree Urchins even closer once I was there.

I was hoping to surprise the Tree Trunctopus as much as possible. I thought that the makeup of this dungeon was weird to have such creatures, but I didn’t have any basis to tell. It might have been a tame one competitively.

I managed to get my breathing under control by the time the urchins came into view. Once they were closer, I started to move up the hill. I was forced to move slower as the urchins seemed to have trouble moving up the hill. Once the large ones hit the incline, they pulled slightly ahead of the smaller urchins. However, by the time I reached the lip of the hill, the small urchins had once again overtaken them.

I moved down the hill briskly, knowing that the urchins would move down it quicker too. I had a good idea of their speed, so once I was at the bottom, I waited at the edge of the lake bed. As soon as I saw a glimpse of them, I would run ahead of the mass all the way to Trunctopus. The dried lakebed was mostly downhill, so I would have to run fast.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I barely managed to catch my breath and turn around when the two large Tree Urchins were almost on top of me. They barreled forward with astounding speed. I clearly underestimated the speed they could go. I fell backward in shock, unable to do anything else.

My luck saved me as the border where the lake had a steep five-foot decline. The speed of the large urchins caused them to sail over me as I fell back into the hardened sand. The earth gave way as I rolled down the decline, only catching a quick glance as they narrowly missed me. I jumped up as soon as I could, covered in course sand.

Instead of running away, I ran toward the two behemoth urchins. They may have been bigger, but there was a horde of the smaller ones behind me, and I didn’t want to find out how close they were the hard way.

The large Tree Urchins split apart in different directions and started to back circle around toward me. Their large spikes left furrows in the ground as they moved. The sound of dozens, if not hundreds of the smaller ones were tapping at my heels.

I picked up more speed as the large urchins continued their tight arcs toward me.

I was right between them as they started to come together at my ten and two o’clock positions. I hoped they didn’t jump like the smaller ones as they came within reach of impaling me.

I leaped forward in a dive at the last possible moment. As I narrowly sailed over them, I tucked and tried my best to get ready to roll and then start running again.

The urchins struck each other, sounding like two sticks slamming together and breaking. I didn’t flinch in my movement and successfully rolled and then sprang up to continue running.

Once I was moving again, I looked back without breaking my stride. The mob of smaller urchins was swarming around the larger ones. It slowed them down, but they didn’t stop in their pursuit. While it was a close call, I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

After a few minutes of running, the outline of the Trunctopus appeared before me. I desperately wished I could wait a few minutes before starting the next phase of my ill-conceived plan, but with the mass of urchins still nipping at my heels, I couldn’t wait.

I ran forward right by the trunk. I was hoping the roots would already be emerging, but nothing happened. I kept running, though, which was part of my plan. I wanted to be out of the danger area for the Trunctopus when it hopefully started to attack. If it never did, I would just keep running until I once again lost the urchins, then I would have had to make another plan.

Luckily, I didn’t have to do that. It seemed like the urchins, and I was moving too fast for the tree trunk. As the large urchins reached the trunk, the roots burst from the ground. They moved much quicker than they had when attacking me. I thought it could somehow perceive the number of threats and adjust accordingly.

The first root rose quickly, straight into the air before teetering over and falling. The root slammed down, squashing a swath of the urchins in one attack. The ground rumbled as it struck, but I didn’t have trouble keeping my footing.

The root rose back up like a snake searching for prey. All along the bottom of it, there were urchins still stuck to it limply. The root honed in on another group and slammed down again, smooshing another large group, but afterward, it did not rise again. The root lay there as limp as the urchins that were beneath it. I just smiled that my plan was working.

Another root was busy swatting at the urchins from left to the right. The urchins it hit were scattered in every direction, but many managed to jump over the giant root. Some urchins even managed to land on the wooden tentacle and either stabbed it or moved up and down its length.

The large urchins managed to miss all the tentacles, and they arrived at the trunk and started attacking. Just as they did, three more roots sprang from the packed dirt in the area. The roots all started attacking to help them eradicate the smaller urchins.

I guess they deemed them the more significant threats. I found that interesting since the large ones were attacking the base, but I acknowledged that I didn’t know anything about the creature’s physiology. The trunk portion could just be a decoy, which was working great if that was true.

As I watched the melee, I was busy swatting numerous smaller urchins coming at me. Some of the urchins were from the roots striking them in my direction, but most were from the ones still targeting me. There were so many that I didn’t have the time to do anything other than club them away.

There were so many more than I initially thought. There were too many for me to fight, even with the Tree Trunctopus pulling most of them away. I managed to not get stung by their paralyzing stingers, but it didn’t last long. Right before I was about to be overrun, all the urchins suddenly peeled off and moved to support the larger urchins in attacking the trunk.

I was amazed at how seamlessly they all turned and headed in the other direction. Apparently, I wasn’t a considerable threat anymore. I watched for a moment to ensure I was safe to approach.

I made sure all the exposed roots were busy with the multitude of urchins and were far enough away that I wouldn’t get accidentally or purposefully crushed. The large urchins repeatedly struck the trunk while the roots were busy with the smaller urchins. At least neither creature seemed to have high intelligence, or else I would be in a lot more trouble.

I decided to help kill the smaller urchins. Hopefully, if I killed enough, the roots would move on to the larger urchins. Then, I could hopefully deal with whatever monster was left afterward. That was a very loose, hopefully.

I probably could deal with one of the giant Tree Urchins, but two would likely overwhelm me. I would only be able to deal with the Trunctopus if the roots were subdued and the trunk portion wasn’t a decoy. If I could deal with it at all.

I moved up to the nearest urchin and stabbed it with my spear. It didn’t even pierce it. I jumped back in preparation for its counter-attack, but the urchin kept ignoring me. I tried again but thrust harder to pierce its shell.

Just to make sure, I put my weight into the stab for some extra power. My second strike worked. The wooden spear squelched wetly as it broke through the shell, and the urchin shuddered. The spikes on the urchin went limp a moment later.

I didn’t wait for anything else to happen; I just moved on to the next. I didn’t know how long I went about moving between the urchins and dispatching them. It took longer than I expected because I constantly had to monitor my surroundings. While stabbing the urchins, I consistently dodged the flailing roots and ensured I wasn’t between the urchins and their targets.