Wonder what a bunch of cows have to eat in a place like this anyways. Maybe there’s fish in this deep ice? Then again, fish can’t swim in ice. Hmmm. A conundrum!

I take a glance behind, just to get a peek at what they’re doing. Yeah, they’re just sort of walking there. There are a few very small ones which I assume to be the children. Some have longer horns than the rest, but only one is significantly larger than the rest. Looking at them, I sort of hope they’re about the size of those primorial tiny horses, otherwise, if they really were the size of bison, with myself as a scale…

Heh, let’s not think about it! I just gotta survive, that’s a-,

A shadow looms over the herd and I stop in my tracks. The heck is-,

It swoops down with wings of light, claws stretched wide, aiming for one of the cows. The introduction of the massive bird-like creature sends the rest of the herd into a frenzy while the bird narrowly misses one of the cows by mere centimetres. It shoots up into the sky again, circling around, black eyes peering down below, preparing to strike again.

I move before I think about why. Faster than I thought I could.

The herd is soon at my feet and the bird shoots down towards one of the stragglers - did it mean to cause panic to grab one of the scattered ones? It approaches one of the cows, wings folded, claws wide…

It catches nothing but my own tentacle. It doesn’t hurt.

It seems confused and dazed but it has no chance to escape before fifteen of my tentacles shoot up at it, grabbing ahold of its feet and legs and body, it opens its beak wide in horror, and compared to me, it’s about the size of a crow to a human. But even a human could crack the neck of a crow should they have the chance. The herd at my feet seems uncertain whether to panic about the bird or about me.

Since their opinion of me is presently unimportant when compared to the large bird currently struggling to high heck and back in my grip, I ignore the cows at my feet and crush the bird’s windpipe and spine.

It goes limp in my grip and as to get rid of the body as soon as possible, I feed it into my primary mouth.

0 -> 900

Hm. Still no taste, but it has that general texture of raw chicken. Don’t-, don’t ask why I know that. Otherwise, the bones are crunchy and the internal organs make for a nice mushy surprise inside.

With the bird dead and gone and myself not acting as an obvious attacker, the herd at my feet slowly calm down and collect themselves. The bull seems pretty much ready to charge me while the cows and the young ‘uns seem more innocently curious than anything. Since I really don’t want to bother them or anything, I shift over and away from them, spreading my previously collected tentacles wide so as to step on any tiny cow.

And soon enough, the situation calms back down. I’m walking ahead, and they’re keeping their dista-,

No, wait, hang on. Are my eyes deceiving me, or are they getting closer?...

Nah, nah. They’re not stupid!

They know I’m dangerous. No chance in heck they’d take the chance to approach me.

-No, hang on, I take that back. A calf is currently standing just a little bit away, looking up at me with big, brown eyes. Shining eyes. God, that is a beautiful little thing. It’s so close that I could pick it up. I won’t, but with how adorable it’s looking, I’m feeling a very strong need to. Why have those big fluffy ears if not for them to be rubbed?

The calf’s mother soon approaches, her eyes just as big as her child’s. We share a look, and soon, the other cows and calves approach. Slowly.

We start walking almost side by side. They’re far from right next to me, but surely they must know I could eat them at any time?

...Or maybe they trust me?...

That would be-, that is… The calf is looking at me. Holy shit. Yeah, okay. These buggers trust me, alright. Man. I really feel like my heart is about to melt. If I only had one, that is.

The bull still seems a bit suspicious of me, but as we continue walking and I make no move to hurt them, he slowly grows to trust me as well. Likewise, I trust them. After all, how couldn't I? Though, after an hour or so of walking alongside them, I’m starting to wonder how they live. All this time I haven’t seen a single piece of greenery, and I doubt they eat snow. I hope they’re not cannibals, that’d be weird.

...Wait, what’s that over there?

Sticking out from the middle of the deep ice we’re walking on there’s what seems like a bunch of protruding trees, if they can be called that. They seem to grow out of an open, water-filled hole in the ice. The trees themselves are an aquatic sort of green, but it’s hard to tell from this distance. As I and the herd get closer, it becomes more obvious that these are, indeed, some form of trees, possessing leaves and things, although the colour is pale and odd. I wonder if I could eat them.

As we come closer, the calves of the herd start half-running to get to the trees, skipping and hopping excitedly. Although the rest of the herd isn’t exactly as obvious in their excitement, I can still notice their pace quickening.

We reach it. It’s about half of my own size but over a dozen times as tall as any of the cows. A few of the more excited calves fall into the freezing water surrounding the tree, but before I can panic and pull them out myself, they easily hop back onto the ice.

Whoa. Impressive.

This is what they eat, then? Big weird tree, huh?

...I almost want to taste a leaf or two, but I don’t want to take food away from the herd. They’re all eating very respectfully, calves standing on their mother’s backs to reach the leaves… It’s actually pretty cool. Since it’s a plant, eating a leaf or two might give me the herbivore skill, but I don’t want to-,

Uh, the main bull is looking at me. Wassup, man?

The guy plucks a little twig from the tree, and holds it up towards me. As a gift.

I move one of my tertiary tentacles slowly, taking a hold of the twig with my smallest possible hand, only barely small enough to hold the twig without breaking it. I bring it to my mouth, chew, and swallow. One of the team now, huh?

I guess he and I are bros now, huh?

...Wait, why didn’t I get the herbivo-,

I don’t hear it; I feel it through the quakes in the ice. The “branches” that the herd had been eating suddenly curl onto themselves, taking a hold of several cows and calves before the creature finally shows its true colours and crashes through the thick ice like a piston, emerging onto the black ice with large, black eyes.

It’s almost as large as I am, but it makes up for it with mass. The mouth of an anglerfish and the body of a thick-skinned salamander. Sharp, thick claws dig into the ice as the lure atop its head lets the cows dangle helplessly. Its large black eyes blink once, twice, and then it moves again to flee below.

Hey, you stop that-!

My tentacles shoot out towards the escaping figure, grabbing a firm hold around the base of its lure. It opens its many-toothed mouth wide in gawk and surprise, but I don’t let go. Still, the ice beneath my tentacles is slick, and when my tentacles start slipping, there isn’t much I can do but fall into the water alongside it, only barely being able to tear off its lure and throw it onto the ice before being submerged.