It waited for prey.

Patient.

Like it should have been from the start.

Instead it was now stuck in this nearly immobile form.

Only the changes to this host, which it itself had caused, allowed it its current limited mobility.

Even then, it could keep up with nothing but the slowest of this forest’s inhabitants.

But that would change if it could find more mobile prey to integrate.

And if it could manage to catch it.

It had failed before, but this time it was determined not to.

Patience. That is what it took.

So that is what it would give.

Once it grew stronger, once it gained the ability to move more than its current limited form now allowed it, it would finally take up its rightful place as leader of this pathetic, weak world.

It suffused the soil. Sensing. Listening.

Waiting.

Eventually, prey would come to it.

And that’s when it would strike.

However long it took.

[https://i.imgur.com/Ls4tykN.png]

Assuming that at least one of the remaining two basics he needed to find for his quest was water—and even if it wasn’t he was thirsty and really wanted to wash the vileness from his body before he got an infection—Joshua had set out to find a source of said liquid, listening for the burbling sounds of brooks or the rushing sounds of rivers as he, slowly, explored the forest.

The ache in his legs grew the longer he walked.

He decided to take as a good sign.

It meant he wasn’t bleeding out.

He’d tried asking Sin to fly above the trees to see if it could spot a stream or river, but there was a maximum distance the bird could travel from him.

A distance that increased as the talent grew in power, according to the message his Divine Guide gave when Sin had gotten as far away as it could go:

[Sinister Pigeon] has reached the maximum distance from you and will return. Increase this distance by enhancing the ⧼Sinister Pigeon⧽ Talent.

Unfortunately, like his spells, he couldn’t enhance the talent until he obtained whatever spirit shards were, so instead of having Sin scout, Joshua had been following the bird as it looked for water.

Eventually, Sin squawked to let him know there was water nearby.

Joshua spotted a reflection of sunlight glinting off of the surface of a stream through a gap in the trees. Before he could step out of the forest and into the open, however, Sin swooped down from above and flew into the bag he held against his chest, knocking him backward and almost causing him to drop it.

Joshua felt something like a warning outburst of emotion from his familiar and so stifled his surprise and annoyance.

He was about to ask Sin, who had settled on his shoulder, what the bird had stopped him for, when he was interrupted by two figures popping out of the water.

Their bodies were humanoid, but it was blatantly obvious they weren’t human.

One had canid features, its snout long and protruding, tall narrow ears which looked closer to horns atop its head. It had a short mane near the back of its canine skull, the back and sides of its torso covered in a short fur of the same reddish color. Its front was bare of fur though thankfully not of clothing, which consisted of a loincloth and an overladen belt. Its eyes were giant and wild, seeming too big for its head, reminiscent of a pug.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The second creature was wearing what looked like children’s clothes, had a flatter, feline face that was surprisingly quite handsome, no fur, green skin, and large pointed ears that jutted up over the top of its bald skull.

“I won!” the feline one said, its voice smooth and male, though somewhat high-pitched.

“No!” the other replied, its voice gruffer and deeper, but not by much. “You came up first. I won. Stupid.”

“You’re stupid. You lost. I won.”

“No I did!”

They went back and forth like this several more times before they began to growl at one another.

“I’m going to seed your intestines!”

“I’m going to eat yours!”

Joshua slowly backed away from the clearing. Then he turned and set off decisively in the opposite direction. He liked his intestines just where they were, thank you very much, and the only seeds he was letting in them were those little white ones on hamburger buns.

He’d find another source of water. He had had quite enough fighting for one day.

A new quest message appeared before him.

“Another quest?” he muttered. “I haven’t even finished the last one you gave me.” He wasn’t about to stop to read it just yet, and continued putting distance between himself and the arguing creatures. He’d already moved far enough away that he could only barely hear them shouting at one another now, but that was not nearly enough distance for his liking.

It didn’t take long before he could no longer hear them at all, and he stopped and focused on the new quest message.

Sin was still on his shoulder and seemed to be looking at the notification as well. “Can you see it too?”

Sin squawked. Right in his ear.

Joshua winced. “We really need to figure out another way to communicate if you’re going to be perching on my shoulder.”

He read over the quest.

New Quest: [To Eat or To Seed]

Kobolds like to eat and goblins like to seed. Both will use you. Avoid this and find out what these mortal enemies are doing working together.

Reward: Shards

“Oh, goblins and kobolds. Of course that’s what they are. How silly of me for not recognizing.”

Keep it together, he told himself. Don’t go crazy now. You’ve made it this far.

“At least there’s a reward other than not dying. Shards of what?”

No new screen greeted him.

“Do you mean spirit shards? Joy shards? Daemon shards? Or are there some other kind? I guess any of them might be useful. At least there’s a real reward this time.”

Sin pecked at the side of his head.

“Ow. Was that a peck of encouragement?”

Sin pecked again.

“Can’t you just, I don’t know, speak into my mind?”

Sin pecked twice.

“Okay, seriously, stop. That hurts. I’m already bloody enough. Let’s find another source of water. Or a healing potion. Not sure which I need more right now.”

Sin flew off his shoulder and headed in a direction.

Joshua didn’t know which direction it was, since his Map spell lacked a compass. Due to his exploring, it now had more of the fog of war removed, but not enough to be useful.

At the very least, it would allow him to backtrack if he needed to, as the revealed area left a clear path of his travel.

Given the things he’d encountered so far, he didn’t have much desire to backtrack.

Then again, the devil you knew was better than the one you didn’t.

But if Sin could find water and a healing potion, that was a priority. The quests could wait. Joshua wasn’t in danger of bleeding out, as his numerous wounds had stopped oozing blood by this point, but his legs were seriously sore. And he didn’t want to find out what kind of infection he might pick up if he let them fester.

Joshua sighed, and limped after his mohawked familiar.

[https://i.imgur.com/Ls4tykN.png]

Joshua stared uncomprehendingly at the sight before him.

That couldn’t be what it looked like.

Could it?

What it looked like was a small tree with bottled water growing off of it like deliciously plump fruit.

He squinted. “Evian? It’s even name-brand. What is going on?”

Bottled water wasn’t the only thing growing from it. There were also small, corked glass vials filled with a viscous red liquid.

“Bottled water and healing potions? Way to go Sin.”

Sin squawked and fluttered around his face, but Joshua ignored his excited familiar, setting his makeshift bag of bodyparts down with a relieved sigh, and hobble-ran toward the tree.

Sin kept flying in his face, squawking, but he continued to ignore the bird.

He could already taste the cool, sweet water quenching his parched throat; feel the blessed relief of the healing potions.

He couldn’t believe his luck.

He was nearly upon the tree when he suddenly tripped over a root.

He got his arms out in time to save himself from faceplanting into the dirt.

“Ow,” he croaked, getting to a sitting position and staring at the root he had tripped over.

Except, there was no root.

“Am I hallucinating? Did I trip over my own—”

Something wrapped around his neck and yanked.

He let out a choked cry as he was rapidly dragged across the ground.

He slammed into a tree, which spun his body around long enough to give him a brief glimpse of what was pulling him.

A… vine?

Then he saw what the vine was connected to.

It was the small tree with water and healing potions.

Except, it no longer had either of those things. In fact, it looked very little like a tree at all. Now it looked like an octopus that ate a tree.

“What the—” he croaked, and though he couldn’t get the words out, his guide interpreted what he wanted and cast his Identify spell on the monster.

[Octovine Illusionist]

(horror)