In Loki's Honor

How do I escape a hole in the dirt with Adventurers watching me because I scared them too much playing with poisonous berries? In my defense, it was dirt and I lived as an earthworm and a rabbit. One could expect these experiences translated into a superhuman ability to dig, but neither method translated very well into human physiology. I could eat dirt, surely, but it couldn't move through my digestive tract fast enough to allow me to move several times my body length in a day. Or a month, for that matter. Nevermind that I engorged myself in poisonous berries. I needed tools.

Now that I recall, Rogue never even thought of using the berry juice in her daggers. You know, because rogues, poison, and cool guys doing parkour in white robes wielding wrist-blades. So I took the few berries I squirreled away in the inner pocket of my dress and spread the juices around the floor and walls.

With at least one deterrent in place, I went back to my predicament. I had to escape. Or at least hide until they got bored and left. They looted the wolf den, but they left behind a dented and unusable frying pan. I took the copper utensil and put myself to dig at the bottom of the den. Dig and worm myself over the dirt, using my whole body to push the dirt down the hole. I also pressed as much dirt I could into the walls of the tunnel, to make it stronger and generate less debris. Basic stuff for a former earthworm. I didn't even have room to wriggle my arm anywhere that wasn't ahead of me.

I was one body length and half down the tunnel after several hours of work when Tremorsense told me something was approaching from the outside. A minute later, I felt a hand grasping my ankle. It tugged. I kicked. It hadn't any effect. It tugged. I lodged myself inside the tunnel as hard as I could. It tugged. I emptied my bladder. I heard Warrior's voice scream. I frantically dug deeper. Metal scraped metal. A weapon was drawn. More screams. Now I heard Rogue, Elf, and Dwarf. Warrior was screaming more.

I felt a sharp prick in my ankle, and it burned.

Warrior attacked with Sword. You lost 120 HP (CRITICAL). You are bleeding. your ankle is damaged. Your speed is lowered by 20%.

Fucking asshole. It should be my teeth in your neck. I kicked a spray of pee-and-blood-soaked dirt down the hole and dug with renewed vigor. I even ate some of the dirt I was digging to speed up the process. It tested loamy and earthy with a tang of tree roots. No more attacks came. The Adventurers were arguing. Warrior was possessed, screaming like a madman. It seems he was in pain. I later learned two things about this incident. One, the berries' poison was deadly virulent and only insane assassins used them, and two, they had the cutest but blandest name. The word for them in the local language meant just "Deathberry." They couldn't even burn the bushes because the smoke from burning them was deadly.

While they argued, I dug. I froze when I heard the bellowing guffaws in Dwarf's voice. Then a booming impact on the side of the den that made my Tremorsense tingle the same way as an ear rang when a gun goes off next to someone. Another and Another. They caved in the Den. Earth fell on me and I found myself pinned and trapped in the hole.

Dwarf stared sideways at the upset Rogue. "It was necessary, lass," was all he said before he returned to watch the former entrance to the wolf den. His face showed he would harbor no argument.

"The kid is some kind of demon or worse. Nobody can eat Deathberries like that and live," Elf added. "For once I have to agree with our stout companion."

"It is a little girl! She probably developed resistance by eating the berry since she was little!" Rogue pleaded. "We can't let a child die like that!"

"Ha!" Dwarf scoffed. "There is only one way to develop permanent resistance to Deathberry. It's called death. We shouldn't even camp here. The only reason I didn't kill her was to avoid having that poisonous blood of hers on me."

"Will she escape?" Rogue asked, looking at the caved-in hill.

"Let's hope not," Elf conciliated. "If we don't hurry back to town and get Warrior the help of a priest, he will die. They will probably want to burn this whole patch of forest," He added with gravitas in his voice. "We can't let the deathberries spread."

Metabolic Efficiency lowered even my oxygen consumption. I didn't have much to work with, but I wouldn't give up and die. I packed the dirt to my sides by rocking my body back and forth, which invited more dirt to fall on my sides. Which I packed on my sides and behind me. I also ate as much dirt as I could. My stomach swelled. I dug up and felt the air in the small pocket around me become heavy and warm. I had no options other than pushing forward or dying. Entering Cyst Hibernation here was almost as good as dying. Who knows how long it would take for me to surface again? No. I had to dig myself out of here.

I was at my limit. I needed air. I felt sick, warm gooey saliva gathering inside my mouth. I knew what was coming. Wiggling myself, I shifted and turned so I was facing down. Then I emptied my stomach. I immediately braced my head and closed my eyes. I sent as many pseudopods from all my body, to absorb oxygen, gather nutrients and water. I felt the tendrils extend from my face and dive into the pool of vomit. I wanted to recover what I lost.

I watched my HP and condition. The bleeding debuff ended with me losing another 47 HP. More than the necessary to kill rabbit me, but a bit more than a tenth of my current HP. No suffocation debuff. I focused on that and calmed myself. I needed to slow down my heart rate as much as I could. I emptied my mind and let my pseudopods do their job. Thrashing would only rip them apart. They first sucked back the moisture from the sheen layer of sweat that built around my body and then wriggled away to touch everything around.

The pool of partially digested dirt dried and I felt my pseudopods were bringing in enough oxygen to keep me going. I slowly shifted back around and started to dig again. I could see the tendrils of the root system from the vegetation covering the hill. It was what kept the whole weight of the hill from falling and crushing me. I also found several fellow earthworms, as long as my spread hand digging their way around.

I ate them.

Yes, why not eat the earthworms? I ate my own poo last life! They're almost pure protein and I needed the extra nutrition. After my rather desperate snack, I kept digging until I felt my lungs get heavy again and I had to stop. Maybe another session of pseudopod breathing would save me. Maybe not. It did alleviate, but I couldn't waste more time. It was break ground or break time.

Half an hour later, I felt the ground give when I shoved the bent pan up. Excited, I slammed again and again. With each strike, the earth shook, debris fell on me and the ground above became softer. Five blows later, my arm shot through the ground and I felt cool air cling to the sweat on my arm.

I moved my arm in a circular motion to widen the hole. A waft of fresh air entered the hole, and I sucked in a deep breath. Then I fell asleep.

I woke up and it was night. I might have skipped a day. My throat felt parched and I was rather hungry. Maybe I skipped a day sleeping in a shallow grave. I rolled my eyes and sent my pseudopods to get me moisture and nutrients. They went for the roots. I remained still while the vegetation around me restored my strength. It wasn't uncomfortable down there in the earth, and after I was fed and hydrated, I went back to sleep.

I woke up and I could see sunlight filtering through the grass that sill covered hole. When I broke ground, The grass remained where it was. I thought about digging myself out when I sensed the typical one-two cadence of biped creatures walking. One, two, five. Five people in the range of my Tremorsense. Either the adventurers or something else. They were crawling all over the hill, examining the entrance to the wolf den, and my herb garden.

I overheard them talking, but had no idea what they were going on about. But I recognized a few words, including the word for "Deathberry". If there was anything I learned from Tetris, was that mistakes piled up and successes vanished. I should've bought a Language Skill. I shouldn't have played with the deathberries.

Then I heard fire cracking greenwood. They were setting fire to the deathberry bushes. Which, given how horrified the elf became, it is a very sensible choice. Dumb me. I had a forest fire in my hands, and people going around probably making sure I stayed in the caved-in hill. A golden glow followed next, visible even under the sunlight. Magic. Was someone using magic over the hill? What kind of magic? I had no idea but the natural curiosity was there.

I felt things fall on the ground and the direction matched the location of the fires. Add that to the fact that I pretty much dried the vegetation a couple meters around me, I would soon find myself inside a dirt kiln. Not the best experience, I guess. Not one I had the displeasure of knowing, though.

I had to get out. I dug and ate some dirt to speed up the process. Once the hole widened a bit, I crawled out. I was naked, again. The only object I had was the bent frying pan. My pseudopods didn't discriminate my clothing and devoured the organic matter. I wasn't worried about modesty, clothing for me was just a way to protect my skin from contact with the vegetation. Not a concern right now. I crouched and sensed the ground. I went away from the fire and away from the people.

I was still in my home ground, so I knew this patch of the forest like the back of my hand. My left leg hurt and it was hard to put the weight there. My speed debuff was still in effect and I worried if I was going to become lame. It shouldn't, my Perks and Nurse Skills should take care of the wound. Pseudopods and Prophylaxis guaranteed the wound would be clean. I used Stealth and crawled, keeping my head down to expose less of my body, trusting Tremorsense to give me the location of my would-be hunters.

They'd cleared a control line to stop the fire from spreading. The upturned topsoil showed the trees were yanked from the ground. Not a single stump or root could be seen. Past the trench, I could see the trees being de-limbed by a team of civilians with copper hatchets. I felt at the edge of my tremorsense a large biped moving, but whoever it stayed behind the treeline.

I frowned. Another flash of gold swept the whole area, and I could see it stopped next to me and went around. It was as a circle that spread over everything but just didn't exist around me. Divine magic. The loggers were unfazed by the spell, so they must've been using it for some time. I couldn't risk detection. I went around the control line, trying to find a spot with no people around.

The choice was stolen from me by the fire. I was going upwind, but the fire still spread my way. I had to cross the control line. I looked around and sensed nobody. I crossed the trench and ducked behind a bush. I looked behind me and wiped my hand to raise the grass and try to erase my footprints.

I walked through the forest, going deeper. The trees were getting taller. I paused to collect and eat herbs, berries, and nuts. Two hours after the fire control trench, I found a creek and drank some water. The current was too strong for me to attempt to swim through. And I had no idea if the water was safe. While I pondered, Sense Monster tingled. It was coming from the water, and I turned around and ran. A flash of pain hit my ankle and I fell on the ground, getting some bruises as a reward for my carelessness.

Looking behind me, I saw a creature that looked like an ugly cross between a goblin, a fish, and a frog. It had a warty leathery skin, fins, a wide mouth with triangular teeth, dead fish eyes and was less than a meter tall. It had a bone spear in its slimy hands. The creature looked at me flat on the ground and growled-gurgled before it charged, spiky end of the spear pointed my way.

I jumped back on my feet and waited. If I wanted to win this fight, I would need to dodge the spear and attack from close range. I kept my eyes trained, my thigh muscles tensed so I could jump to either side. The spear came for my left side and I missed my jump.

Fishman attacked with Spear. You lost 34 HP. You are bleeding.

The spear scratched my flank, scraping my ribs. I grabbed the weapon and bit the monster's arm. Vorpal bite triggered and The monster had one less limb to threaten me with. it flinched with the pain and I stole his spear. Giving it a spin in my hand, I stabbed at his eye. The monster dodged and I scored only a scratch on its thick hide. It jumped over me and opened its maw wide. Falling backward, I kicked its abdomen and pushed it up, trying to add to its momentum and making it fly over me. I spun and pulled my legs behind me so I could go from prone to a crouch the fastest.

It came again and I readied the short spear. When it jumped, I stabbed inside its mouth and braced. The monster impaled itself in my spear. Today, death wouldn't rise from the tide.

You killed level 18 Fishman. You gained 4,050 Exp (3,240 Base x 10,000 x 0.0001 x 1.25 Fast Learner).

No size bonus. This guy was supposed to be a small fry. So much for the big monster hunter. I would need to kill thirteen of these guys to gain a level of Monster Hunter. Doable. At least I had a weapon. I left the body where it stood even though something was drawing me to mess with the corpse. I wasn't sure the fight went unnoticed. My paranoia won.

A kilometer upriver, I found a spot where the riverbank widened and was covered in gravel and rocks. I think I could cross here. I looked around and estimated I had about three or four hours of light remaining. I had to find shelter. I crossed to the other side and looked at the trees. They were ancient. I rubbed the bark of one of the gigantic trees and something happened. I heard a sound just like a bubble popping. A faint green radiance I didn't even notice was on the tree vanished.

Curious, I went to another tree and touched it again. The same thing happened. I could notice the popping sound and the faint glow vanishing. On the third tree, my suspicion was enormous. I checked the tree carefully without touching it. Yes, I could see the green glow. Magical, obviously. And the only kind of magic that vanished against my touch was those stemming from the Gods.

I withdrew from the tree and bowed in respect. I took a look around and found the forest most quiet. My eyes went wide when I put everything together. Ancient forest deep away from civilization. Divine magic laid on the colossal trees. A fantasy world. A blundering human stumbling around and making a mess. Nope. Not going to happen.

I turned around and ran back to the river. I had to get out of there NOW.