Tadpoles

While a part of Alice’s mind was busy focusing on her skeletal system’s overhaul, the rest of her consciousness hadn’t remained idle.

As a thin scaffolding of collagen slowly reinforced her bones, the girl had worked hard to turn into reality the plan she had devised in her mind room the previous ‘night’.

After all, if she wanted to obtain enough of the right nutrients for her needs, she would need to actively hunt for them.

At first, she had entertained the idea of consuming a large amount of the smaller insects that seemed to inhabit the expanse, an easy and bountiful meal to even the ineptest of hunters. The thought, however, had been quickly discarded in favor of a tastier and more effective, if quite riskier, approach.

She had started by searching for the right spot while she walked towards her destination, finding the perfect one in a small clearing between the numerous stalks, where an old mushroom had recently died and hadn’t yet been replaced by a younger one, a small opening between the caps revealing the stone ceiling above her head.

The glade was no more than five meters in diameter, with a flat enough ground filled with knee-high growths and some very useful fungal trees surrounding it. It in fact sported not one but two large cluster of the grey oyster mushrooms she had started recognizing as a safe haven, their only inhabitants the brightly-colored treefrogs that didn’t seem to mind her presence and whose deadly toxins she seemed to be completely immune to.

Aside from those two, the young woman could also see a few of the lanky enoki mushrooms that peppered the forest wherever there was an open spot; even if the majority of the stalks still belonged to the flat, platform-like fungi she somewhat remembered walking on the previous day, their caps buzzing with the constant drone of insectile wings.

After carefully inspecting each plant whilst searching for unwanted ambushes or unpleasant surprises, Alice had proceeded to remove every single obstacle from the clearing, pushing away the slowly decomposing chunks of dead mushroom, using the sharp blade of her knife to sever the many mycelia composing the forest’s undergrowth and then piling them high between the larger stalks as a sort of makeshift barrier that surrounded more than half of the clearing and would hopefully offer some protection to her back.

Once the glade was clean, the young woman had kept walking in a circle around it, clearing as much of the ground as she possibly could, sweat beading her forehead as she transported the sturdiest toadstools to the spongy wall she had created, piling them up until the barrier was taller than her and encircled most of the clearing, leaving only a four meters-wide section that she kept open to hopefully corral her opponents.

After that, the biomancer had unraveled the silken rope gifted to her by Chillushrith and extended it between the remaining stalks, taking particular care to wrap it around each of the thin trunks of the enokis until it was completely taut and hanging only around thirty centimeters over the ground.

By the time the last rays of light had disappeared from the cave and the last protein chain had settled in one of her femurs, Alice found herself standing in the middle of the clearing, weapons drawn as she waited for the first signs of her prey. She didn’t need to wait for long.

No more than fifteen minutes later, her enhanced hearing finally caught the sound of webbed feet scurrying over the soft fungal cover of the forest floor, sometimes followed by a frenetic struggle that soon turned into more silence until the prowling recommenced.

Her nerves were killing her as she moved this way and that, sometimes jumping lightly on the spot to feel the consistency of the ground, searching for some life-saving detail she might have missed.

She carefully moved forward, eyeing the largest of the two oyster mushrooms that she had chosen as her final retreat location. She wasn’t sure if they could climb but they would surely be at a disadvantage compared to her.

Alice finally had enough of waiting and her skin’s luminescence suddenly flared, bathing the space around her in a soft glow of green and gold, revealing the first tadpole as it emerged from the shadows surrounding the glade, its large nostrils almost pulsating as it sniffed the air around it, soon focusing on her still form and attempting to move around her like it had done with the dying water scorpion.

This time, however, she had been the one to choose the field and the creature seemed confused when it first found the thick heap of fungi preventing it from circling her, tentatively climbing upon it until a well-aimed chunk of mushroom clocked it in the head, causing it to emit a surprised yelp, stumble and retreat several paces away from the light.

“Come on. Come.” she uttered softly, moving to throw another chunk and missing by a few inches.

This time, the monster reacted by jumping on the source of the noise and extending its single hollow tooth in an attempt to suck the nonexistent juices of the perceived prey, only to screech in indignation when it discovered its nature moments later. Still, it didn’t come, probably waiting for more of its kind.

“Let me entice you then,” she stated with a predatory smile as she carefully lowered the mace and extracted her knife once again.

She didn’t hesitate while placing the incredibly sharp blade on her numbed pinkie finger and creating a shallow cut along its length that soon swelled up with her red blood.

She flicked her life fluids towards the annoyingly careful monster and then sent an empowered Hemostasis to take care of the cut, sealing it almost instantly with an already-healing scab.

The moment her blood landed on the ground, the creature’s nostrils opened impossibly wide, taking in the probably delicious scent as its belly started inflating.

This time, it was Alice’s moment to flinch as a gurgling croak suddenly erupted from the creature, reverberating through the silent forest and soon answered by at least a dozen replies.

“Dammit.” She muttered but soon steeled herself as the creature finally pushed forward, rushing towards her on its thin but powerful legs.

She winced when its legs bent and it vaulted over the thin line of silk; she didn’t know whether it had been ill luck or if it had sniffed out the trap but she didn’t really have time to further investigate as the frogling jumped towards her and extended its tooth at the same time, ready to plunge it into her soft flesh.

Without letting go of the knife, the girl tightened the grip of her fingers around the shaft of the mace and took one step forward at the same time, instantly closing the distance with the monster who, in the air as it was, didn’t have a chance to dodge the attack.

She let the metallic extension of her arm connect with the fleshy sack of bones and organs that was the creature, feeling the rebound of the impact traveling back through the bones and muscles of her right arm while its hide was torn open and its splintered bones ruptured the organs they should have protected. It had been like hitting an overfull sack of rubbish.

It only took one swing and the monster was done for, landing with a muted thud on the ground and laying there, bleeding out from the jagged cuts that had been caused by the sharp flanges of the mace.

The huntress could already hear the sounds of many steps moving in her direction but still rushed towards the broken body of the creature and plunged her knife deep into its brain.

Better be sure. She thought as she got up once again, turning to face the dozen of tadpoles that had come running towards her and hearing even more sprinting after them, still hidden by the dense and shadowy forest.

This time, it was with no sign of hesitation that they moved forward, three of them splitting just before the clearing and moving to circle around, disappearing behind her hastily-constructed walls.

For a moment, Alice dearly hoped her fortifications would be enough, but only for a moment as in the next one, the nine remaining attackers crossed the perimeter she had established.

Whatever luck had let the first tadpole miss the taut and almost invisible cord, it hadn’t extended to the newcomers and the young woman’s face lit up in a triumphant expression when the two front runners didn’t notice the silk and crashed against it at high speed.

The creatures whistled in pain as they fell, causing the ones behind to impact their flailing bodies and exerting even more force on the silken line which, instead of snapping like a normal wire would, simply cut through the brittle stalks of the enokis it was tied to, causing them to crumble on top of the still reeling tadpoles.

Alice grin grew even wider as the wave of would-be predators was crushed beneath the falling mushrooms, their deceivingly heavy caps breaking bones and pulping organs whenever they hit their target.

Her moment of triumph, however, was cut short as another half a dozen of the creatures climbed over the rubble and tried to move to surround her in the small amount of space they had available.

“No you don’t!” she exclaimed as she stepped forward.

Taking advantage of the chokepoint she had created, Alice thrust forwards the head of her mace, slamming it against the closest tadpole and feeling as the sharp syringe of the being was pushed backwards into its flesh, piercing its organs like an arrow that left it squirming on the ground as a watery blood gushed out of its mouth.

Uncaring of the fate of its sibling, another one tried to take advantage of the opening, moving beneath her extended arm in an attempt to pierce her chest with its tooth.

The strike hit its target but instead of soft skin and delicious blood, the monster found itself striking at the armored breastplate that was covering the human girl’s torso, emitting a strange, strangled sound when its needle bounced uselessly against the chitin and metal that were beneath the equally resilient silk.

Alice let out a small gasp as air forcefully escaped her lungs but still didn’t let it recover and plunged her knife into its nape, severing whatever passed for its dorsal spine before retracting the blade with a spray of blood.

In the meanwhile, two of the others had managed to cross the confusing heap of broken limbs and pieces of mushroom that had once been their siblings and had succeeded in entering the clearing, their heads twitching and swiveling as they attempted to orient themselves in the partially enclosed space.

While the creatures moved around in confusion, Alice used the time to focus on the ones still struggling in the heap, kicking away one of the tadpoles as it was righting itself and slamming her mace against another before the ones at her sides whistled a bit between themselves and then moved at the same time, trying to catch her in a two-pronged attack.

She, however, had been ready for it and finally tapped into her magical reserves, flooding her already active surrenal glands with magic and putting them into overdrive.

Her perception of time slowed slightly, her senses sharpening even further as her heart pumped more blood and her lungs more oxygen.

The mace now weighed next to nothing and she could feel her muscles contracting while she took a single step back, forcing the bipedal monsters to correct their trajectory and making them lose speed in the meanwhile.

She gently pivoted on her left leg, letting the movement of her body carry her arm and mace towards the opening maw of one of the tadpoles and letting go of it just as it collided against its snout.

The sudden loss of weight gave her a chance to halt the spinning motion and she watched as the second attacker whizzed past her, missing its mark and crashing against the wall of mushroom a few paces away.

Once again, Alice took that moment of confusion to plant her knife into its back and move it towards her while it was still in its skin, rending its flesh with ease before rushing back to her fallen mace.

She had just grasped the hilt when she felt an impact just behind her left knee that made her leg buckle while, at the same time, something hard punched through the skin and muscle of her thigh and hit her lower femoral artery, immediately starting to siphon her blood from the source.

She cried out and fell back on her butt, essentially crushing the pollywog that had managed to crawl over the barricade and sneak up on her. She felt a surge of her blood mixed with saliva and venom get regurgitated straight in her blood stream just before the needle retracted and let the floodgates open, a steady flow of blood gushing out of her torn-open leg.

“Fuck!” she cried out while uselessly pressing on the leg, her adrenaline-filled mind working to seal the wound and, at the same time, to keep an eye on the two other attackers that had just managed to land on the ground a couple of meters away from her.

She forced herself back up on her feet, grasping the mace and the knife with her hands now slick with her own blood, putting most of her weight on the uninjured leg while the walls of her main blood vessel slowly sealed themselves shut thanks to the large amount of magic that she was sending towards the wound while the rest of her body worked to destroy the poison that had been injected.

She could barely feel it as she started moving towards the closest oyster mushrooms, its low-hanging ledges promising safety from the greatly-reduced pack.

“Come on. Try me.” she said as she slowly moved towards the fungus, constantly turning around herself to keep an eye of the remaining four monsters, now slowly moving around her like wolves, trying to get in a good bite.

“I’ve killed much worse. You’re just meat. Experience towards a new level.”

Moments passed and she finally felt the hard edge of the lowest protrusion against her hip; the tadpoles were closer now, slowly advancing, feeling her cornered.

She winced when she felt the muscle of her leg slowly repairing itself, the muscle fibers hitching horribly as they connected to each other once more. It was not ready but she couldn’t wait any longer.

Let’s hope my training has been enough.

She instantly turned, bent her knees and jumped, landing on the first ledge just as the tadpoles jumped after her, as if sensing the opening in her defenses.

Alice, however, had also been prepared for the event and was already using the weight of the mace to turn around once more, her weapon hitting the closest of the creatures and sending it careening into the air and away from the young woman, causing it to fall on its back onto the ground, twisting and flailing to right itself back up.

Two other sailed right over her, missing completely as they landed on the protrusion on top of her while another one hit her head on, the deceptively sharp talons on its webbed feet raking her naked legs as it tried to force its needle-like tooth into her face, a pitiful keening sound escaping its mouth when the tip of her knife found its belly, stabbing it furiously and repeatedly before she launched its heavy and barely-moving body against the one on the ground, causing it to get slightly crushed by its dying brethren.

A moment later, Alice was rolling to the right in order to avoid the two creatures trying to drop on her from above.

She could feel her body move even before her mind could tell it to, almost spectating as her right arm swung her mace once again and crashed it against the thin legs of one of the tadpoles, breaking them both with a single strike before her hand let go of the shaft it was gripping and sent the heavy weapon crashing against the second one, causing it to retreat back and away from the pain for just enough time for her other weapon to land in its ear. Repeatedly.

Everything had become a vortex of actions and reactions, of blood and platinum as she rent the body of the last of the attackers, soon finding herself coated in blood and alone on the ledge, the last of the pollywogs having escaped in the darkness.

She dropped on her knees, her chest madly pumping oxygen into her lungs, wincing at the handful of stabs and holes she had obtained in the last minutes of crazed fighting without even realizing it.

She numbed her nerves and, at the same time, sent a few overcharged Hemostasis to stop the flow of her own ichor, glancing around at the broken bodies of her prey.

Seventeen tadpoles lay on the ground in front of her, one more twitched on the mushroom ledge, barely alive even after her hurried ministrations. Its legs were still broken. It awaited its fate.

Alice had taken her time to rest and recuperate before slowly moving the carcasses in the center of the clearing, even the particularly pulped ones she had had to recover from the broken remains of the enoki mushrooms.

She smiled wide as she moved to the first one, a slight limp the only clue of her still-healing body, the rest of her wounds already scabbed over.

She plunged the knife into the exposed belly of the creature, ripping away the liquid-filled intestinal tract of the creature, harvesting the best meaty parts of the creature and laying them on the carefully cleaned surface of the oyster mushroom.

After that, she regurgitated a good amount of Lumen and directed them to the rest of the carcass, consuming its fleshy remains until a fractured skeleton was all that was left of the tadpole.

“Not the most pleasant meal… but it will do.” She said as she started using the mace and the pommel of the knife to crush the bones as best as she could before encasing the sharper fragments into more of the Lumen and swallowing a good amount of it.

It didn’t take long for her to feel the combined work of her stomach acids and luminous glimmers as they worked to consume the calcium-rich organs.

It wouldn’t take long for her own bones to get their nutrients and, in the meanwhile, she could work on her nose.

It was all coming together.

*****

This chapter is officially sponsored by Sekander! Thank you for your support!