54 RISEN

Connor stood alongside Joshua and the Novices in the forest as they all stared at the gooey substance.

"It's taking up much more land than before, how can it grow this quickly?" Connor asked.

"Like Parasites, they eat and grow endlessly. I remember a story on the mainland of an Abomination that once grew enough to cover a whole kingdom. From what my father told me, all the forces of the mainland, be they kingdoms, clans and even bandit groups got together and fought against it" Joshua shuddered. "Even with the large numbers they still came too close to losing.. Imagine Tentacles larger than castles swinging down on you from all directions, even the powerful Warriors of the order died under its attacks, since that incident these creatures were black listed and were declared a kill on sight kind of thing"

The idea of this puddle of gooey substance, even if it took up this much land being able to turn into Tentacles and attack still didn't really set in yet, it looked harmless, maybe disgusting but nothing to fear. The story told by Joshua kindled an interest in Connor's heart. 'A being that grows stronger the more it eats… How enviable!' His thoughts were like so, his eyes scanning the substance. He looked around and noticed the trees that stood in the middle of it were fine, which meant no acidic properties, then Connor grabbed a large rock from the ground and threw it into the distance before falling in the goo with a thud.

"Why did you do that?" Joshua asked nervously.

"Testing a few things" Connor answered. "The goo isn't acidic so getting hit by it won't burn your skin off, although i'm not sure if you'd submerge into the Tentacle or take physical damage, but it's a good thing to not worry about stray goo hitting you" He continued. "I threw the rock to test how it will react" Connor said, staring at the area where he threw the rock. It looked like worms or maggots were inside the goo as it squirmed and covered the rock, then not long after something emerged from it. "Is that the body?" Connor asked.

"Y..yes!" Joshua saw the creature and took a few steps back, the Novices reacting the same way.

"Calm down, it can't see us" Connor said. The Creature had a smooth head except for the hollowed in mouth. "It reacts to exterior movements, guessing it compensates for its lack of sight by spreading its body as much as it could…"

"How did you know that?" Joshua asked.

"The Tentacles part sold it. If it has that much control, being able to move large portions of its body and attack with it only means that for it to do something like that it's either an exhausting thing to do and this is its normal form or it's spreading itself on purpose, and seeing how it reacts this fast to the rock means the latter… That opens up more questions though… Is it intelligent and is capable of coming up with this idea by itself or is it an instinct… Maybe it's a part of a hive mind? A queen?"

"Hey, you're thinking too much into this, what do you mean by queen!" Joshua spoke.

"I remember you saying something about the Town Guards clearing nests? What gives birth to these things? What's it like?" Connor kept looking at the Creature in the distance before grabbing a Scroll. "You guys spread around but keep a distance from me, I want to see how this thing fights"

"You're insane Connor" Joshua said. "Let's just leave killing it to the Guards and Warriors of the Order, don't risk it!"

"Joshua, sorry to say this but your plan was flawed from the beginning, you wanted to destroy parts of its body and you thought this thing wouldn't react? It came running for a mere rock but imagine what it would do if you vaporized parts of its own body!"

"Y..you're right!" Joshua thought for a bit and said. "I've never had any encounters with these things before, only heard stories from Guards or Adventurers that pass by.. Now that you're pointing it out, they either fought with small ones or lied" Joshua cursed. "Let's retreat then!"

"No, there's no need!" Connor spoke. "I have a plan" He turned to Joshua and smiled at him, sending chills to the man.

***

Connor looked around at the Novices walking in different directions while Joshua stayed in the middle but took a few steps back. They nodded at each other after everyone took a spot and then, with great ease Connor jumped into the zone, landing on top of a tree.

He kept repeating this until he reached the Abomination as it was still looking around. He broke a branch from the tree he was on and threw it deeper into the forest, where trees were more abundant, then quickly followed after it as the Abomination submerged into the goo and appeared on top of the branch.

"Alright, I have enough places to step on… Archil's Purification!" He didn't hesitate and used a Scroll on the main body of the Creature.

*AARRKKK*

A screech resonated in the forest, scaring away every bird and small animal in the area. right after casting, Connor quickly jumped onto a tree further away and watched as the body of the Creature started smoking, before disappearing, leaving behind a weak skeletal structure that looked like a rib cage, but Connor merely saw it for a split second before it fell into the goo, then a new body emerged the moment it did, and with it chaos erupted.

*WOSH*

As if on queue Appendages appeared from the ground, looking like the nubs the creature had for arms as they grew and started attacking its surroundings.

Connor, being far enough, sat there and watched, learning. "The Tentacles are hard enough to destroy the trees, so no submerging into it but I'd get every bone in my body broken… It doesn't know where the attack came from which means its senses are restricted to its own body and that's it… fast attacks with enough strength behind them, would kill me in one hit… it's only using 4 Tentacles, is that its limit or can it control more?" Without hesitation Connor moved a bit closer and used another Scroll, but this time not on the body itself since he couldn't get close enough. The area he attacked quickly vaporized and just as quick Connor retreated before 2 more Tentacles appeared where he was and struck around randomly, nearly hitting him. "6 Tentacles… Can it use all the goo as long as it was available?" Connor thought. "Most likely not, if so then it would have used all of it and destroyed the whole area to get me.."

Connor knew how to kill it the moment he saw the skeleton appear after vaporizing the body around it, but he was interested in the creature and wished to understand it a bit. If something like this appeared in his own world, it would be nearly impossible to notice them at the start. Especially with the number of buildings, forests and even the sewers and other places, his world would be heaven for these things and when the time comes that he encounters another, one that had enough food and time to grow, he would know what to do and what to expect.

"Time to test my own Spells!" Connor has 2 Spells.. Chill Touch which is still a 1 Star Spell, Eldritch Blast which was the upgraded version of the Lesser Eldritch Blast and that was it. One 1 Star and one 10 Star Spell which was powerful, but only against intelligent creatures. "Now, little slime, are you an intelligent creature?" Connor did not hesitate and reach forward, not long after a dark and eerie ball of complete darkness flew out, bending light around it as it quickly reached its target with the speed of a bullet.

The attack landed on the creature's main body and Connor watched with his fingers crossed, waiting for something to happen… And something did happen, but this did not make Connor happy at all as his eyes widened and he felt his knees getting weak.

"What the hell was that?" He muttered in horror. A scream erupted from the distance, it sounded like it came from the mountain itself before the whole place started to shake violently as if an earthquake struck. But this was not what put fear in Connor's heart.. It was the voices and whispers he heard as the Abomination in front of him stopped in its place and its whole body contorted. A face appeared in place of the old one, but this time eyes emerged, deformed and full of maggots, teeth and blood started dripping from the previously hollowed out mouth as a split tongue was now visible.

"...Ț̸͚̃h̷̰̜̐e̷̳̐ ̶͈̇C̶̭̈h̷̜͍͋͝a̴̲̅͛ǒ̶̼̋s̴̨͂ ̶͚̾Ē̷̦̯l̷̜̔ē̴̦̔ḿ̸̹ě̷͚͝n̴̡̯̈́ť̵̠̓.̷̛̪.̸̢̜̊̎.̵̖͆ ̷̙̠̏̕I̴̦̤̾́ ̶͔̘͌f̵̫̙̽̌î̸̗̗͘ņ̷̊͋a̷̹̒l̴͓̋ĺ̶̗̮y̶̗̫͝ ̷̦̏̇f̷̧̭̀o̸̰͓͌ũ̷̙͉n̶͓̅d̸̲̑ ̵̹͓̂̏i̴̡͗t̶̥̺̚!̷̧͗ͅ.." The thing kept looking at Connor for a while, its eyes dead and unmoving, the maggots inside them squirming, then it spoke again, louder this time. "Y̶̧͓̞̼̼̭͚̱͍̿̿̀͐̑͑́͗o̸̳̒̈́́̄́͝ǘ̵̧͔͉̙̼̃͑͋̾̕͘ȓ̵̖̦̥͓̱̯̈́̈́̀̚͠ ̷̧̞̥͙̺̗͊̈́̽̿̑̃̉̈̊S̴͉͌̌͗̓̚̚͠ơ̵͙̙̦̮̙̠͉̂̈̎͝u̸̮̭̗̞̰̫̖͔̒̊̓͐̈͜ḻ̶̡̺̑͗̒̐̾̿̐̆.̵̞͍̩̫̩̂̚.̴̖͎̞͍̺̇͌̓̎̂̑̎̽ͅ.̸̗̲̦͍̣̃̈͐̅̔̒̚͝ ̵̱̪̘͇͍̟͎̦̈́̅̆̏̐̈Ḡ̵̛̟̣̘͆̃̕͝i̴̧̻͍̟̗̭̝̠͂̇̃̍͌̔̒v̴̢̗̭͍̘̣̜̮̚̚ē̵̲̮̬͕̍ ̶̢͓̥͈̘͔̈͛̌̋͘͠i̸͕̹̻̪̓̏̈́̀̓̚t̸̢͕̙̦̺̟̞̉͒͐̓̕̕ͅ ̷̡̞̲̮̮̺̭̾͋̆̆͋̕͝͝ẗ̴̛̮͓͑̎̾̎͆͜͠o̸̪͍̙̖̝̹̠͔̽̇̅͘ ̶̼̬͈̩͇̺͖͖̌̏̇͗̋̑͆͠m̵̡̰̝̭̤̘͒̈́̇̕͠͠ȩ̴͕̻̰̹̬̥̈́͛̿̆͆̏̀̽!"

Blood started flowing out of Connor's ears as his vision blured, losing strength and his grip on the branch loosening, falling off the tree!!