“I don’t hear anything,” Cillian says.

My feline ears wiggle. I turn my head and focus on my hearing. Then I hear it again. Some kind of movement. Not a step, but something. “I do, and It doesn’t sound normal.”

I sniff the floor and find an odd scent. A very odd, earthy scent rather dissimilar to stone. Finally, I scan my surroundings with my eyes. The walls and ceiling look fine, but the floor reveals something.

“We’re dealing with some kind of big snake,” I say.

All frown at my words. “How can you tell?” Emma asks.

I tap the floor. “The dust in the center of this hallway is cleaned up in a slithering motion.”

Cillian grimaces. “I don’t like snakes.”

I shrug. “They’re not that bad. So long as you avoid the venom and not get crushed, you’ll be fine.”

Myers glances at Clay. “Maybe me and Clay should stay behind.”

“NO!” Clay whines. “I want to keep adventuring.”

“It’s dangerous,” Myers counters.

“It’s fine,” I say. “There is only one snake, and I’m confident in taking it out.”

“Yes,” Clay pumps up a fist.”

“I don’t like this-” Myers begins.

“It’s fine. Just let me lead,” I interrupt. “We’ll go kill the snake first.”

Frowning, the old man relents. They all follow me along as I traverse the keep.

Unlike the previous buildings, everything within the keep hasn’t been destroyed. Undamaged paintings don the walls next to metal torch-stands on the walls. On the floor, we pass numerous piles of bones and clothing.

After several more hallways, we stop at the entrance to a vast room. The room has several large pillars, dozens of corpses, and most notably a single throne.

“The snake is in this room,” I whisper.

“What should we do?” Cillian asks.

“Nothing,” I answer. “I’m going to take care of it alone. Stay out of the way and out of sight.”

With my instructions clear, I travel into the large chamber. I glance around and listen for where this beast is. But I hear and see nothing. Taking a glance at the dust, I see that they disappear near a pillar.

So that's where you are.

I look up to find a monster falling midway from the ceiling.

SHIT!

With a thought, my body transforms into a Fenrimorph with gauntlets pre-equipped. I raise up both arms. Two scythe-like blades strike my arms with enormous enough force to crack the stone underneath my feet. Before I can recover, another two blades descend towards my head. With a grunt, I push away while hopping out of reach and narrowly avoiding my head getting decapitated.

When I land, I quickly reorient myself and take a stance. Then I take the moment to truly look at the creature.

Why does every monster I meet need to shit on my logic?

On account of a snake, I am only half correct. The monster I face has a serpentine lower body but an upper body not dissimilar to a mantis. The monster has four bladed arms and an insectoid head. Where its serpentine lower half is a leafy green, its upper half is brown with what looks like segmented bark. As for the blades, they aren't sharp and made for cutting, but are covered in thousands of serrated sharp spikes designed to rip and tear. Though, with enough force and speed, cutting is an option.

Just as I evaluate the monster, so too does it evaluate me. The monster rises higher and readies its four pincer-like scythe. Two beady eyes stare in my direction with clear intelligence.

We stand for what feels like minutes, but is only several seconds. Then, all at once, hell breaks loose. The monster accelerates forward. Expecting this, I block and dodge the scythelike swings until an opening reveals itself. When it does, my fist connect with an arm using enough force to remove the appendage from the beast.

Reacting quickly, the monster retreats with a limb leaking a green fluid. Seeing the surprise and retreat, I chase after the monster. The monster continues running, but I don’t let up. The monster attempts to climb up a pillar, but I react faster. With a hop, my fist lands on the pillar. The pillar breaks and shatters into debris. A mistake and a trap, for the dust obstructs my vision enough to slow my reaction. The monster's maw opens, and from that maw, a dozen needles release directly into my chest.

Though I’m surprised, I don’t allow my mind to wander. Ignoring the pain in my chest, I hop forward and extend my other fist. It was clear that the monster wasn’t expecting such a reaction. With the full force of my body, my fist makes contact with the monster's bark-covered chest. The beast's chest cracks violently before the monster is yeeted into another pillar. I hear the crack and impact as monster meets pillar. The monster, with chest indented and leaking green liquid, recovers immediately. Then it starts slithering up the pillar.

Before I can move to stop the thing, the pain in my chest elates considerably. Considering there is no reason for the pain to soften, I immediately panic. Grabbing a needle, I rip it out of my chest. When I do, I can't help but grimace at the bloody roots that started to sprout and feast upon my flesh.

These aren't needles, these are seeds!

Removing the rest of the seeds, I return my focus on the monster now wrapped snugly at the top of the pillar. Though the beast's chest is still damaged and arm missing, it is no longer leaking that green fluid.

Whatever that thing is, it’s smart. When it lost its arm, it retreated. And then, the moment the opportunity presented itself, it infected me with parasitic seeds. If I wasn’t a fenrimorph, those seeds would have been lethal.

Moving my body, I feel a bit of numbness and stiffness. Not enough to inhibit my movement, but enough to weaken.

Flesh-eating seeds that release a paralytic poison. Now that’s devious. If you get infected by the seed, it will numb the pain before feasting on your internals. By the time you realize what has happened, you’d be dead.

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For the next minute, neither me nor the monster move. For me, I wait as my body fully neutralizes the poison and regenerates damage. For the monster, it waits for me to succumb to the poison.

Just as the poison is fully purged from my system, I hear Myers yell my name.

“Quasi. That’s not a monster! It’s a Phytonid.”

Glancing at the room's entrance, only Myers is visible. The old man is holding his cane in one hand and the lantern in the other.

A Phytonid? As in one of those plant people? Aren’t they supposed to be humanoid?

I glance at the monster warily. To my surprise, it’s eyes are staring directly at Myers. I’ts mouth opens slightly.

“You speak my language and you know of my kind! Are you of this world?” A very feminine voice comes out of the monstrosity. A voice that is soft and alluring- a voice you’d expect to hear from a woman at a brothel.

Of this world? Is this thing a champion?

I blink as a recent memory resurfaces.

I’m an idiot. I should have realized sooner.

I activate [Shift]. My body transforms into a cat. The Phytonid focus immediately shifts back to me.

“Are you Nepenthes?” I ask.

The Phytonid tilts its head in surprise. Even the serpentine grip holding onto the pillar somewhat relaxes. “I am. How do you know about me?”

Because I’ve got a dumb goddess of luck on my side.

“Your goddess, Mus, and my goddess have formed an alliance with one-another. It seems we are allies and this fight between us is a mistake.”

Though still wary, the Phytonid relaxes a bit more. “I see. I was not informed of such an alliance.”

“The alliance was formed about a week ago. Mus told me that her champion was stranded on an island and that there was a castle nearby.”

The Phytonid stares at me for several long calculating moments. Then, all at once, it slowly slithers down. I don’t move at all and instead wait until she stops several meters from my position.

“This alliance? What does it entail?” Nepenthes asks.

“You will join my crew and follow my orders. In exchange, you will level and grow stronger so long as that goal does not interfere with mine.”

The Phytonid rises up as though to make itself larger and more terrifying. “I am a war daughter of a great tree. I was bred and watered to hunt and slaughter any and all that threaten my clan. To serve one weaker than myself is a great insult that I cannot justify.”

I chuckle, unbothered by her words.

“Weaker? Really? If I remember correctly, you ran from me after I destroyed your arm and crushed your chest.”

“I did not run. I merely relocated to a more advantageous position to wait for my poison to take effect.”

“A poison I am immune to.” I add.

Nepenthes pauses uncertainty. Her elevated body seems to lower several inchest.

“You are immune? Why were you waiting? Why did you continue to chase and hunt?”

I grin. “Because I have a naturally high healing ability. I was allowing the wounds your seeds caused to fully heal so that I am in perfect condition.”

The Phytonid lowers herself after every word. Her monstrous appearance starts to look slightly less monstrous.

“How would you have beaten me?” she asks.

I shrug. “Not sure, but I figured I’d destroy the rest of the pillars so you can't run. And then I’d use my superior speed, strength, and reflexes to whittle you down and eventually kill you.”

At this point, I can’t help but feel a bit sad for the Phytonid. The woman's body is practically slouching towards the ground.

“Your… plan would work. I do not have a counter.” She crosses her blades in front of her chest. Then she lowers herself further. “I will yield to your authority and strength as the prime matriarch until such time I am strong enough to take your place or my goal is realized.”

Matriarch? Really? Boris is going to have a goddam field day if hears this.

“What goal?” I ask.

Nepenthes rises up. One of her serrated bladed limbs taps her belly. “I carry the seed of a great tree within me. When I have gained enough strength, I will plant the seed and revive my clan after the flaming scourge.”

“Flaming Scourge? Actually, you can explain later.” I wave a paw towards Myers. “Myers, all is good. Everything is taken care of.”

Myers and the rest warily walk towards me. As they arrive, Nepenthes stares at them with curiosity and a complete lack of hostility.

“I’m guessing she is an ally now?” Myers asks on approach.

“Yup. By the way, why’d it take so long for you to tell me?”

Myers raises a lantern. “I can’t see well in the darkness. It was only when I noticed the green blood and plantlike body that I realized you were fighting a Phytonid.

“Fair.” I point a paw towards the Phytonid. “Everyone, this is Nepenthes. She is now part of our crew.”

“Your crew is getting real odd.” Cillians strides up with a frown.

“She’s not that odd,” I counter.

Nepenthes does something of a bow to my crew. “I welcome my sisters in war and hope we will sever stems, shatter bark, and feast upon the nectar of our enemies.”

Cillian raises an eyebrow in my direction.

“Riiiight.”

I ignore his look and instead introduce my current crew. I also inform her about the presence of both Boriss and Irmgard. Once the introductions are complete, I return to the mission at hand.

“Alright. Myers. Just to make sure, we’re currently in the audience chamber, correct?”

Myers nods. He raises a palm to the singular throne at the opposite end. “Yes, and it seems the remains of the [King] and his subjects are still present.”

The king is a meatless corpse covered in aged fabric, surrounded further by the corpses of more of his subjects.

“Then we best get to looting.” I grin.

“Matriarch.” Nepenthes interrupts with her voice. “Before I am to join you on plundering the remains of those yet to fully return to nature, I wish to request time to reconstitute my arm and regenerate the wounds inflicted upon my chest cavity.”

“Go ahead. Also, call me Quasi.”

“To call you by your name is an insult to the sisterhood and your leadership. I cannot allow myself to give such an insult.”

“How about patriarch?”

Nepenthes shifts back in utter surprise? “Why do you wish to be called a slave? I would never wish someone of your strength such an insult.”

Dear god!

“Just call me [Captain]. It’s a term most similar to Matriarch.”

Though unhappy, Nepenthes obliges. “Then, [Captain], give me time to reach peak combat performance.”

She slithers away. While she does, I return my attention to the rest of my crew. “Let's go.”

We arrive near the throne and glance at all the bodies. Near the throne, there are numerous corpses dressed in aged fine garments and jewelry. Unfortunately, it’s clear that the corpses were thoroughly searched and looted. The only thing remaining is jewelry and whatever garments that are still in place.

Regardless, Cillian and Clay are already kneeling and picking up the jewelry. Cillian with glee, and Clay out of curiosity under the watchful eye of Myers. As for the throne, it’s clear that nearly everything was removed from the [King's] person. Only the shredded remains of whatever clothing he had on him is left.

“There’s something here,” Emma exclaims. With her hand, she begins wiping dust off the throne. Then she grins when she dusts behind it. “Look at this.”

I walk behind the throne. On the back of the fancy chair, I’m met with over a dozen inactive runes.

“The throne is runed?” I ask.

Emma nods, grinning from ear to ear. “Yes! A lot of runes. Over twenty!”