“Over you go!”

 

Myles grunted, planting his spear shaft deep into the chest of a leaping Ootah-raptor. 

 

Creeaa!!!

 

The tiny dinosaur screeched in pain as the steel spearhead cut deep into its torso. Myles did his best to redirect the monster's momentum, throwing it back over the opposite side of his cart as if it were a seed sack. Spinning around using the same momentum, Myles pressed his spear forward in line with the next raptor. 

 

His periphery was filled with the blur of movement, signaling that Phillipe and Kostyantyn were also engaged. His senses were alright with the now reckless stamping of claws or the chattering and chirping of the pack predator. It was so much at once that he was forced to rely on eyesight alone.

 

“Avery!”

 

Myles yelled, turning his spear to the second raptor flying at him. He was slow. However, the creature nearly slammed into him if not for his reflex to turn and throw it aside like the previous one. Its body slammed into the opposite edge of the cart, flopping just over the edge and falling to the ground with a brief yelp.

 

“I'm in the dark; what can you see?!”

 

Myles yelled, turning back just in time to take the final raptor of the trio to his chest. Its weight slammed into him, sending him over the same side he’d discarded the previous two.

---

“Shit!”

 

Avery yelled, watching the third raptor slam into Myles. The knoll went over the opposite side of the wagon, his labored grunts and the continued screeching signaling that he'd regained his footing, if only barely.

 

“Myles is off station. Watch your blind spots!”

 

Avery directed the group, her voice barely echoing over the cacophony of barks and chirps. Her short swords drawn, she reached out with her Slayer-specific skills. With her tempered use of Predatory instinct and Rush of the hunt, she could more clearly discern their situation now that the enemy was roused into action. The pulses and breathing of the roughly two dozen raptors flooded her ears. Vague blurs of their natural mana content marked their positions as they traversed the environment around them. 

 

“Lykos! Several more to our front!”

 

The Arachne brought herself close to the ground, her thorax raising slightly as she prepared to throw her entire weight into the grouping soon to fall upon them. She got her arms low to protect her underbelly, wary of her relatively large flank when backed away from a tree. Backing up slightly and posting her rear-most legs served some piece of mind to know she wouldn't be encircled wholly. She seemed the entire part of a cornered spider that bore its fangs openly. She had to be, given her lack of protection. 

 

“Understood!”

 

Lykos prepared himself with Avery’s assessment in mind; his processing tools traded for a spear specialized in hunting boar or similar game. Its tip was hooked to each side with a reasonably dull bar, an implement to spare someone from an overly enthused prey that finds itself content with impaling itself as long as it can gore the wielder. It was nearly twice the length of Myles’s spear, giving a much greater reach. Regarding protection, he was no more sparse than the rest of the group. Leather bands around his forearms could be used to protect against teeth; however, raptors came equipped with more than one method to wound.

 

“Come on, I’ve seen skinks with more spine!”

 

Lykos took the initiative, planting his feet as he shoved his boar spear forward. Missing narrowly, the Raptor lept for his neck. Bringing his forearm up in time, the small dinosaur found its jaws obstructed by the leather braces. It didn't take much effort for Lykos to slam the Raptor to the ground, but its claws found purchase against his legs.

 

“Gah! Shit!”

 

Lykos released his spear, dropping his weight onto the raptor before producing a knife from the small of his back. Bringing the blade down, it was only a moment longer before the dead raptor released his arm. 

 

“We can only bleed so many dry if we let them swarm us. Guh-”

 

Lykos winced, looking down at his bloodied trousers. A robust cold sensation ran down his right leg, telling him he'd traded a more damning wound than he appreciated. 

 

“Got it, Lykos. Just hang on!”

 

Avery's entire body lowered further, building up explosive force like a massive spring as she held both swords pointed forward. 

 

I can take two more, but I must at least divert a few.

 

Avery thought over their predicament, keeping track of those raptors she could immediately sense and those hanging back within the woodline. The vague presence that she and Myles felt was now pressing itself into the foreground. It was as if the entire forest floor was a giant organism with its own flow of mana through it. 

 

Now!

 

Avery's entire body sprung forth, launching her at the pack following the raptor Lykos had killed a moment earlier.

 

Three this time!

 

The arachne’s vision tunneled as Coup de grace marked the heart and lungs of the raptors she'd sprung herself upon. Her short swords were met with a slight resistance that almost immediately gave way to a sliding motion. They'd buried themselves deep within the flesh, a sickening wheeze escaping thanks to the now punctured lungs. One of her legs managed to transfer the momentum of her body into a third, sending it through the air until slamming into a tree with a crack. Even with her sudden move to the offense, the screams of horses raised her concern.

 

“Phillipe! Kostyantyn! Report!”

 

Avery yelled, attempting to keep track of her group.

 

“Boss!”

 

Lykos yelled, tearing Avery away from her thoughts. Twisting her ample body, Avery wasted no time vacating her position in the open as the remaining three raptors of the initial seven closed on Lykos. He was recovering, but his spear was yet in hand. There was little he could do against three with just his knife.

 

“Shit,  featherweight!”

 

Lykos yelled a skill he'd learned for his class, pushing himself from his previous position as the three raptors landed. Falling back against the leg of the Brontosaur, he threw his knife into the haunches of one raptor before yanking his arm to the side and somehow slashing the knife at a second of the three.

 

“Braided wire does miracles for a floating skill and knives. I'm still in this one!”

 

Lykos pulled one last time in an attempt to move on the final raptor before things took a turn for the worst. The least he expected, however, was for their problem to suddenly become a different one entirely. 

 

“A-Avery! What the hell is that!”

 

Lykos pointed, halting Avery in her tracks. Her tunnel vision widened, granting her a greater view of what befell the mob of dinosaurs. Dirt and grass turned into a mud slurry as if a quagmire appeared from nowhere. Her stomach turned over as she watched a slightly translucent red ooze first flow, then spring from the soil, latching itself to the raptors, irrespective of the living or dead. 

 

“Gods!”

 

She whispered as a sudden chorus of animalistic screeches and wails resounded throughout the forest.

---

“Gods help us, what is that?” 

 

Marcus mumbled, blood draining from his face as the mass of slime slowly pried its victims under. The raptors screeched, clawing or biting at the viscous mass consuming them. The adventurers watched in horror as scales, muscle, and bone were wrought from each other in moments. 

 

“The horses! Ones down! Shit!”

 

Kostyantyn could be heard yelling, watching as the corpse of a freshly slaughtered horse was dragged away from the cart by the same slime. It’s killers in tow, scrambling for freedom as the mass began shifting to the lead cart. The horrifying mass shifted and grew, compiling its accumulated mass at the center of the turmoil. It grew in size, rivaling a Wyrm in stature as it took form. 

 

“Shit, Myles!”

 

Marcus yelled, catching sight of the knoll as five raptors attempted to drag his near-lifeless body into the forest. He coughed up blood, his throat damaged but not fatally. His luck wouldn’t hold out for long without aid. Marcus looked to the mass of red slime with fear before resigning himself to run for Myles.

 

“I can’t just let him get dragged away!”

 

Marcus yelled over his shoulder to Jude, breaking into a full sprint at the gaggle of raptors. He wasn’t the first to take notice of the knoll in mortal danger as a guttural reptilian roar split his ears. The raptors dragging Myles flinched in reaction, standing their ground as they taunted the encroaching rival.

 

“By Tyr…” 

 

Marcus stumbled to the ground as he looked on in fear. The mass of slime took shape, a massive six-eyed serpent, its maw opening wide as it bellowed and advanced over the brontosaurus. The body was nearly untouched, only slight burns scarring the massive corpse as the slime serpent slithered over it. Slamming into the ground, it rushed forth at a rate those watching thought impossible to indeed avoid. So quickly that it threatened to catch Myles within its torrent.

 

“No!” 

 

Marcus clambered forward, screaming for his friend, only to be yanked backward by an equally fearful Jude.

 

“Let me the fuck go! We can’t just let it eat him!”

 

Marcus attempted to swing at his teammate, missing her by mere inches.

 

“We can’t! Do you want to be swallowed up like that?! We can’t just-“

 

Marcus screamed at Myles.

 

“Myles!”

 

The knoll could barely rouse himself, stirring only in time to feel the sensation of the slime flowing over him. The group watched in horror as the beast swallowed up their friend alongside some half dozen raptors left of the original two dozen that failed to flee. The giant serpent rose as it swallowed all it absorbed, everything within its confines being torn apart as its mass became less and less transparent. Everything, save Myles, who was now rousing from his stupor as he soon realized his predicament. The knoll seemed shocked, reaching out in an attempt to free himself in vain. 

 

“Wait, he’s still alive?”

 

Jude whispered. 

 

The serpent turned to face them, its six glowing eyes turning to face her and Marcus. A jolt of fear passed through them as the amorphous monstrosity seemed to eye further prey, only for an abrupt and relatively violent explosion of fluid rain onto the ground surrounding it. Its cause was thanks to a stone slab, soaring through the air as if it were light as a javelin before impacting. 

 

“Shit, Myles!”

 

Marcus managed to get his feet under him, and Jude withdrew her weight and followed to render aid. 

 

“Get him, fast! Before it reforms!”

 

Jude and Marcus each grabbed Myles by his shoulders, dragging him as quickly as they could manage. The mass of slime quickly began to recuperate as it amassed itself. It was as if the blood from a freshly slaughtered animal rushed to its corpse. It grew and reanimated itself as the low-toned growl continued to emit.

 

“Fuckin hurry!”

Kostyantyn blurted, his sudden rush of footsteps marking his arrival. He grabbed Myles's legs, lifting them as he urged Marcus and Jude to each begin running. As they did, the form of their would-be savior lept over the brontosaur. 

---

The first time I leave town without the other two in a while, and this kind of shit happens?!

 

I exclaimed, my vision tunneling as I stared down the reformed serpent. 

 

Is this why things were off?

 

I shifted Wyrmstooth in my hands, mana flowing freely into the weapon as I thought over my next move. 

 

Violent impact did nothing, and it's already reformed- Aw fuck, I’m gonna have to find the jade again too. 

 

The giant serpentine form faced me, unmoving as its low guttural growl filled the air. It was as if an entire community of alligators were calling out to one another. It was uncanny. It was familiar. It stood, unmoving, as its six glowing orange eyes settled on my form. 

 

What is this thing?

 

I wavered momentarily, flinching as it moved forward only a few feet.

 

Shit- Fuck- 

 

I clenched my teeth, pouring more mana into Wyrmstooth than I'd done in weeks. The blade came alight with flames as its surface became superheated. It was only in the next moment of strange familiarity that the reality of the situation dawned on me. The six yellow eyes locked onto mine as I realized its core, the heart of slime, was absent. The massive guttural growls, once a gentle chirring, slowly died away as the enormous wyrm of slime sank into the ground. Disappearing in a quagmire of loose soil and stray bones, remnants of its meal. And with its withdrawal, the familiar presence of a lone, red slime made itself known, rubbing its dog-like head against my trousers. 

 

What… what have I gotten involved with?

 

A sense of horror and sorrow mixed violently as I realized what precisely the slime monstrosity was. Subconsciously, I ceased the flow of mana to Wyrmstooth, the blade hissing as the flames stopped. I found myself loosening my grip, lowering it to the point it rested on the hide of the bronto. 

 

Lapsha… Lapsha… What will they make me do to you? What- What should I do with you?