As I pushed through the swamp, the muddier it got, making it difficult to move.

I reached a point where the only entrance is a giant hole in a wall.

It was a cave.

It wasn't particularly dark for me. The mask kinda helped me with vision.

The cave entrance wasn't too big, it was just barely big enough to maybe fit 2 people.

But passageway inside the was long.

I grabbed the Spear tightly and keep my guard up, anticipating anything that would appear, I slowly make my way to the end of the pathway.

As I exit the pathway, the scene of the cavern really took me by surprise.

The size of the cavern was massive.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The sound of water dripping can be heard over the pointy rocks above.

However, within the wall of rocks, there was a giant hole above where the sunlight can pass through the cavern.

The air which was thick previously in the passageway, was now normal, making it easier to breathe in the cavern.

Right in the middle of it was a lake, that looked at least 4 to 5 meters deep.

The middle of the lake itself also has a rocky platform.

The way it was structured was a circle inside a circle inside a circle.

In this order:

Lake ---> Cavern floor ---> Lake ---> A platform

In the corner of my eye, I saw the 4 missing humans, surrounded by multiple corpses of the kobold.

Suddenly a tune was played.

Someone was singing.

I turned my head and saw it.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

A woman in the middle of the lake.

No, not a woman. A mermaid?

From top to her waist was an appearance of a woman, with dark long hair and what you would call a beautiful face until her waist.

Instead of legs, she has a lower body of a serpent, the tail of a fish and instead of having one tail, she had two.

She looked at me and smiled.

"What are you doing here, strange_."

I cut her off replying:

"Where are the animals around the humans."

I checked the cavern, there were corpses of the kobold everywhere.

But the animal spirit, there weren't any signs of them anywhere. Seeing that they might have materialized like the turtle.

"Well I wanted to eat the humans first, but the kobold tasted oh so good. I stopped myself from eating them.

"However because the animals were different. They were so cute, trying to protect their human owners so desperately___"

She took out a Crow from behind her back, pinch the feet of it, opened her mouth, and...

....dropped the Crow inside her mouth.

She gulped it and smile at me.

"____ I ate them. "

She proceeds to laugh hysterically at me.

"They were really delicious too. Oh don't worry, they died knowing that their human owner are going to join them. Now they can truly be together."

Her giggling slowly turns to wicked laughter, laughing maniacally.

"Oh you should have se___"

Thwump-!!!

The hand of the wicked creature got pierced through and the spear lands on a rock.

I walk towards the rock and pick up the spear again.

"You talk too much."

She stared at her hand, widening her eyes, and she stare at me.

Blinded by rage, she jumps in the water at starts to circle around the lake.

Out of nowhere, my back got slashed, sharp. Causing my back to be bleeding as she laughs while she circles around me.

"Your blood taste particularly sweeter than the rest, you would make a delicious dessert."

I took the Spear and kept it close to me, holding on with 2 hands, I waited patiently for the right moment, and just as she jumped and tried to cut me.

Thwinkh-!!!

The entire hand of the creature was cut off by me.

She screams hysterically:

"AIEEEERRHHGHHH!"

And retreats back into the water to do another surprise attack again.

I anticipated it and counterattack with the Spear.

[Stab]

I stabbed the sick b*stard on the right shoulder and pin her to the ground.

I got on top of her and was about to finish her off when she bites my leg.

"Arfghhhh!!!!"

Letting out a scream, I tripped backward and landed on my back.

I stood up, keeping a distance away from the creature with my spear pointing forward.

I look around, and I found her sitting in the middle platform, glaring at me.

She was sitting there motionless when something felt off.

Suddenly her body got ripped open with several new body parts appearing. She started growing in size, and you can hear the bones of her joint start to snap.

Craccklhhkkh

Kkrakkhhphhh

Her body changed from the body of a man to the body and belly of a beast.

Her previous tail was now molded and ripped a new one. It turned into a tail of a dragon with a snake's mouth in the end, with the snake alive hissing and snapping its fangs.

Her previous body that was ripped was grotesque. It turns out that there were 4 limbs she was hiding previously. The "Legs" she developed resemble that of an elephant with the same snake's mouth at the end.

Her face however remains the same, with the only exception that she is wearing a crown on top of her head.

She grew in size so large that the cavern could barely fit her in.

What am I even fighting, can I even run away?

I grabbed my spear dashing to Stab the head, however, the snake was always there protecting it.

I tried to back off from her to keep my distance, however, the snakes started striking me.

Most of them missed, however, one managed to graze me on my shoulder with her fangs.

I dropped instantly and started suffocating.

Looking at my arm, it's turned purple in an instant.

Which could only be one thing. It was poison.

I lay breathless as I repeatedly took deep breaths but couldn't.

Taking advantage of the huge monster's size, I roll to one side of the rock and hid away from that monster.

I start panicking but then a voice can be heard.

[Keep calm and focus on thy breathing.]

['i 1 minute thou shall die, 'lest thou hark to me]

(In 1 minute you will die, unless you listen to me)

I close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing,

As I concentrate on breathing, my chest starts to heat up and something seems to be traveling from my body below to my mouth.

When it reaches my throat, I choke and puked out whatever was inside.

It was a lump of purple substance lumped together with my blood. It was black in color when I spit it out.

As I try to recompose myself, I whispered:

"Can you help me?"

[Only if thou listens to me.]