“Think, think, think, think. Uh. I need to…… change trees.” Drew looked around for the next closest tree to the branch he hung on to while stuffing his sword into his fanny pack.

Another tremor shook the foliage above, causing him to grab a hold for dear life. He glanced all around him and saw nothing within climbing distance. He would need to leap for safety.

A tree ten feet away had a branch large enough to support his weight.

Drew watched the monster below focusing on the tree he was on and decided to make his move. After the next slash, he left for the tree and managed to catch himself with his arms and struggle up to safety.

He glanced down again and made a startling realization. Nurgle was below him still climbing up the wolf’s hairy body. The little mountain climber was nearly to the neck by the time the first tree fell.

The monster searched for its prey on the ground but failed to find anything of interest, leaving it to its senses. The beast raised its head up and took deep intakes of air.

Drew rapidly shifted around the tree, hugging its trunk for security. He glanced around for a way out.

All of the trees surrounding the one he was currently on were all miniature by comparison.

The instant he would land on it, they would bend all the way to the ground leaving him a sitting duck.

The monster’s deep breaths picked up their pace and Drew could hear them getting closer by the second.

He tried to get higher up the trunk only to slide back down with each attempt.

Suddenly the noises below halted all together. No more hard stomps or heavy breathes assaulted his senses.

Drew glanced down in hopes that the monster had left. He came eye to eye with the wolf as it stared up at him in anticipation. His blood ran cold as it leapt into the air to grab his prey.

The massive maw snapped shut a few feet below him, causing a loud pop as the noise reached his ears.

The monster gave up the lunges and went to work on the tree.

The large trunk was whittled away with each strike. The tree swayed more and more every second. Drew’s grip on the wood left his knuckles white for fear of incoming death.

A loud cracking noise stole his attention away from the dark inner thoughts he was conjuring and towards the base of the tree.

He felt his center of balance shifting as the tree started to creek and tilt to the side.

The monster pushed its full weight against the broken trunk and watched Drew get closer to the ground.

In an act of desperation, Drew leapt from the falling timber and dived into the farthest dense bush he could see.

The monster tracked him though the air and saw him disappear into the underbrush. The small trees in the way were crushed down as it rushed in after him

Drew scrambled on the ground to gain some distance and fled to the closest tree. The game of cat and mouse was back on.

The wolf swiped all of the underbrush away with one swing of its arms, leaving the ground cluttered with limbs before moving on to search for its prey.

It slinked forward, breathing in the forest's scents. Drew took his sword out and laid in wait for the rapidly approaching monster.

The sounds grew closer and closer until he saw the beast's muzzle enter his vision from the side.

Drew took this golden opportunity and prepared a sword thrust as the eye crept into view.

The massive red iris shined under the dark canopy, freezing him in place. The beast took only a second to realize he was glaring right at his meal. In the same moment, Drew thrusted the sword forward and deep into the eye of the large creature.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

It reared back in pain and rubbed its face with its insectoid arms to lessen the searing injury.

Drew took this opportunity to reposition himself without the beast noticing. Despite the quick actions, the wolf saw him trying to flee in its time of weakness.

It swiped at him in an attempt to bisect the smaller man, failing to end him by only a few inches. The follow up swing did not see Drew so lucky however. A large gash opened up through his armor and cut open a large wound on his back.

“Urgh!” He flew forward thanks to the shear force contained in the blow and came to a rolling stop upon contact with a tree.

The one eyed beast saw his debilitated prey before him and stepped forward in triumph. His debilitated figure was the most appetizing sight for the approaching monster.

It stepped within five feet of him and almost seemed to smirk at the drowned man.

Drew stared up at the hulking beast ready to fight for his life. His bloody sword was back in one hand while his ax was in the other.

The maw of the mighty beast dripped with saliva pooling underneath the large monster. It grew closer with each tense second.

It stepped within range of Drew’s weapons and he attempted to buy himself some more time as the monster easily dipped out of the way before lunging forward.

Time seemed to slow down as the bared teeth came forward with the sun at the beasts back. All of the poor decisions that led to this moment flashed in the back of his mind. The dark hole that opened up in the monster's throat sucked his mind in.

His death was drawing him near.

Drew saw a strange figure out of the side of his eye. A weird shadow stood on the side of the wolf’s head with its small arms raised in defiance.

In less time than the beast could move a single foot forward, the figure had one of its arms explode in size along with the cleaver held in its hand.

The silhouette of the figure was so heavily lopsided that the sheer enormity of the blade eclipsed even the large wolf’s head.

One second the blade was raised above him, the next it was sunk into the ground.

+ 2105 xp for defeating Alpha Preying Canis [Summon small monster] has inherited the xp in your place. 1410/9600 xp Level Up! Nurgle matures into an young adult [Dwarf Cyclops]

Sapphire expands her abilities.

The monstrous wolf’s head fell from its neck as time picked back up for Drew. A deep breath fell from his lungs as his adrenaline soaked muscles finally got a rest and the tension left his body.

The dark figure crawled forward with one arm pulling him forward, towards Drew’s downed figure.

Nurgle appeared in his full glory before his master. The cyclops had a shriveled up arm that limply hung to his side with the cleaver used to behead the beast still clasped in its palm.

“Heh.. hahaha… You saved my life again buddy.” Drew leaned forward to lift his friend up onto his lap, hissing in pain as the wound on his back came to life. “You did a great job.”

He patted the little monster’s small head, eliciting a weird one armed leg slapping from him.

The gore of a beheaded beast poured from the body before them, pooling out and around the muddy floor and creeping closer to the pair with each second.

Drew stood up with the cyclops cradled in his arm and hobbled away from the corpse to avoid any curious beast's attention. The walk was long and painful, but they eventually made it back.

Sapphire glared at her master as he crested the final path before rushing over with her teetering gate and sticking her proboscis to his lower back.

The wound was gone in less than an hour of healing, leaving Nurgle the only one not in peak condition. The shrunken arm that flapped in the breeze was reminiscent of Sapphire after she used her ray of healing.

Did that mean the cyclops had used the artifact attached to his hand?

“Master, what happened after you fled to the jungle? You should have stayed in the open where I could support you from my sniping nest.” Sapphire rattled off on his mistakes, furious that he had almost died without being able to help him.

He recounted the events and asked for her input on the strange ability Nurgle showed off.

“The flesh golem had shrunk in size after removing the pendant from its neck. Perhaps the pendant can increase the size of its wearer and, due to its location on Nurgle’s body, it focused its full powers on the single limb.”

Drew had arrived at a similar conclusion, but still found it hard to believe that the diminutive creature could morph and enlarge his arm to such a degree was ludicrous.

“So that would mean I am the only one that hasn’t been able to activate their relic without guidance.” Drew looked at his two summons and thought about the commonalities between the situations.

“Do not worry master, I have been reading the book in your absence with no small difficulty and I believe I can teach you the requirements on how to utilize it in no less than 12 hours.” Sapphire looked absolutely giddy with the possibility. Her feet tip-tapped on the ground in glee.

“Oh no.”