Sure enough, the closer it gets, the more obvious its mousey-ness becomes. It’s really just a mouse. Grey and small with little hands and feet and big, shiny eyes. Every few seconds, it pops up its head and sniffs the air before going down and all fours again and running about. I might almost consider it cute if I didn’t despise small things.

Within only a few minutes, it stands right above me. Scratch my earlier estimations, I am actually slightly smaller than the average mouse.

This would be the perfect timing and moment for me to take it off-guard and attack, but my body won’t move. I’m pretty much separated into three chunks, my legs only barely able to move at all. But I don’t think mice eat moss, so I should be alright.

The mouse burrows its nose into my chest and I feel immensely violated. Seriously, Mr Mouse, we haven’t gotten that far yet!

It sniffs me for a few seconds before taking a big bite out of me, tearing out what might as well be my intestines.

Y-, you!?

My legs jerk and the mouse startles, hopping a few paces away from me. Its mouth is full of moss. You’re not even eating it! Why the Hell would you bite the shit out of me if you’re just going to stand there like some awkward teen?! Are you a pervert? Should I contact HR about your conduct?

As I rabble curses in my mind, the mouse turns its back on me and hops away. Alright. Okay.

In my mind, I add Mr Mouse to my growing hit list.

But it seems I won’t need to go too far to bust his ass, since he quickly descends into an almost entirely invisible hole beneath a nearby tree. So that’s how it is, then?

...Okay. I’ve got a plan. All I need to do is to wait until it leaves and then enter its little hidey-hole. Then I can ambush and kill it before it has any idea of what’s going on. Considering that it’s a fucking coward, even if I can’t kill it, it’ll probably get super scared and just run away. If it doesn’t then I’ll just corner and kill it. Simple as that.

But for now, I need to regenerate. Hopefully without any further distractions.

As it turns out, God might just be on my side. Sometimes. After a few hours, I finally regenerated fully, rising from the ashes as a new man. Mossling. Creature.

During this time, the mouse actually emerged from its hole to gnaw on my flesh again, but before it did so, I had been able to drag myself into a different hiding spot. Look at me - outsmarting a rat. Aren’t I clever?

I crack my neck even though I don’t have one. It’s time.

The mouse left its hole half an hour ago or so, leaving its home supple and defenceless. Maybe I should just rob him? I’m sure he’s got loads of goodies stashed down there. Such as my intestines. Fucking ignora-mouse.

Blood boiling, I sneakily approach the hole. Not a mouse in sight. It’s dark down there, but not too dark for me to see. I can’t hear any mouse-like sounds from down below, so I guess there’s nobody home. Great!

Once I get a bit further down, I find that the path actually branches several ways. Hm. Let’s just go to the right and see where that leads us.

A small storage meets me. Berries, nuts, moss…

-Moss!

Fucking psycho. He’s got enough moss for three mosslings down here! Absolutely no regard for mossling life.

I’m just about to turn around with a sneer when I notice some movement in the moss. I turn back to look at it. It doesn’t move. I stare at it for a good five seconds before finally deciding to slowly, carefully, approach it.

There, nestled among the moss are seven little mouse babies.

Forestmouse(F+)

Stage: Kid Health: 3/3 State: Snug Forestmouse(Kid): Progenitor to Forestmouse(Juvenile). Fated to become a pest bearer and food to larger, more dangerous creatures.

Kid?? Those are babies! Barely bigger than jelly beans, hardly able to defend themselves…

Hm? Aren’t these little things, like, really weak?

Each is around as strong as an insect, though likely even weaker since they lack carapaces. I guess it shouldn't be expected for such small, defenceless things to be any strong, but now that I look at them, I can’t help but feel just slightly giddy.

After all, isn’t this the perfect opportunity for revenge?

An eye for an eye, tit for tat…

One of the mouse babies shifts closer to another.

Oh, yeah. That damn mouse is going to get sore for sure. In the moment of his emotional distress, I’ll probably get in a good few sneak hits, too! Hopefully, his need for revenge won’t give him a boost of strength, but the chances are just as great for him to break down and choose to accept death. Either way, these are some nice bags of meaty exp!

Giddy, I approach them. Compared to me, each one is about the size of a medium-sized dog. I raise my leg and stab it into the nearest one. There’s a sickening crunch as it goes through its brittle little ribcage, but then it only gives one little spasm before dying.

5 Exp gained

Weak. At least it gives me more exp than the insects.

I shake my leg, a splatter of blood and guts hitting the other mice babies. Aroused from their sleep, their bulging eyes fly open and they begin crawling over each other, obviously unsure of what’s happening.

Ugh.

I stab another one.

6 Exp gained

Another one.

4 Exp gained

Another one, and another one.

6 Exp gained 3 Exp gained

Level up!

You have reached Level 4

Heh, nice.

3 Exp gained Normal skill Stomp has reached Level 2 4 Exp gained

...Was that it? Seems like it. It’s a shame they didn’t give me more exp, they were F+, after all, but it makes sense considering how weak they are. Making sure to wipe my feet of the clinging mush and skin, I step away from the mutilated bodies. It almost looks as though I was stomping grapes or something. Well, all I need to do now is hide among the moss until the mouse arrives so that I can-,

In the tunnel before me stands a mouse. Its unblinking eyes stare at me and my bloodsoaked feet.

Forestmouse(F+)

Stage: Juvenile Health: 13/13 State: Shaken, Wrathful

How-, it’s already returned?

...No, this isn’t the mouse. This is another mouse, younger, weaker…

Mrs Mouse, I presume?

“SKREEEE”