I stayed a little while to observe the winner of the battle. Of course, it was the hydra.
Somewhere along the line, the basilisk grew careless out of weakness. A length of its body strayed too close to the hydra's massive feet and, a wobbly step to regain its balance later, the legged monstrosity dropped a clawed foot down. The blow completely crushed the snake's innards. It was a rather gruesome sight. Scales parted, entrails oozed from every seam. An agonized hiss ensued, followed by a series of frantic throes in a futile last effort to resist.
Thus mortally wounded, the hydra went to work on the head with its beak and teeth, completely dismembering it from the main body. The snake's decapitated head fell, spinning thrice before meeting the earth with a rumble.
As it finished, the forest floor was painted scarlet and mauve, with a gaping, arterial maw capping brutality's masterpiece. Revolting. Because I didn't have the facilities to suffer a visceral reaction, the gore had no effect on me. Perhaps I wouldn't have handled the situation as well in my previous life, but as a blob I was completely inured. Nonetheless, I could tell it was an awful sight.
Besides, I could've been pressed in those broad strokes somewhere. Art never was a fancy of mine, bit of a bore if I recall. I had better things to do back then... or did I? It seems I've forgotten what I even did for a living in my previous life...
Now that I think of it, those monks would add a bit of needed flair to this bloody mire. Mhm, indeed. A stroke of genius! Maybe I could take up art some day after all.
Fiendish artistic tastes aside, it was clear to me that the further I delved into the forest, the more powerful the monsters would become. A substantial leap occurred with only fifteen minutes worth of travel northward- or I suppose that's an understatement. Up until now, I hadn't encountered any living, breathing thing whatsoever. Odd, considering how much of the forest I'd covered so far. About a kilometer from the forest's edge at best, but still...
Regardless, their number and strength would probably increase exponentially. The hydra and basilisk were bad enough, but if something twice the size of those behemoths with an untold multiple of strength showed up, it would be... impossible to survive, if not suicide to throw myself into. I was fortunate to have escaped from these two alone.
I couldn't go any further than this. It can't be helped, I'm not a dominant resident of the forest's food chain, largely because of my lack of combat ability. [Rudimentary Shape Manipulation] was 'shaping' up to be a promising solution to that shortcoming, but until I pare down the unknowns and build up the skill's use cases -but mostly holding out until it somehow improves- the skill will remain as its name implies: Rudimentary.
As far as my future plans went, my goal was to put as much distance between the humans and myself as possible. What for? To avoid unnecessary conflict, of course. There was no telling what people would think of a sentient mass of gelatin. Hah, I don't even know what to think of myself, to tell the truth. For all I knew, I might wind up back inside that tower again.
Who am I kidding? It's pretty easy to predict what they'd think, and clear as day what they'd do. I'd wind up dead. Again.
In the battle's advent, however, it looked as though overly distancing myself from them wasn't necessary or tractable anymore. It wasn't like anyone would risk pushing this far into the forest, or even a quarter as far. I wouldn't, that's for sure.
In fact, there didn't seem to be any traces of people at all. Judging by the trees around me, the cattle enclosures I'd left behind were built from the firs constituting the lion's share of the surrounding forestry. Not that I was expecting any signs around here, but if the townspeople were harvesting the forest for lumber, there'd have to be some felled timber around or a mill of some sort... or corpses. The lack of any of those things indicated that they steered clear of the the forest's depths.
No skin off my back though. If these monsters can serve as a natural barrier between the town and myself, all the better. The only problem- or rather, salient irony, is that these monsters were more of a threat to me immediately than the humans were. I could only assume that proceeding cautiously would get me through it.
Or sheer luck. That would be more helpful, but I already used one roll of the dice. If probability taught me anything, it's that trying your luck too many times practically assures snake eyes. Fallacy or no, I wasn't going to press it.
As for that hydra, I left it to feast on the head of its victim. There had to be venom in its skull somewhere, but if there was, that tasteless diner didn't seem to mind. The minotaur head grabbed it up and, in one crunch, swallowed the thing whole. Skull, fangs, venom, and all.
I wasn't inclined to observe. Its eating habits were repulsive, to say the very least. I'm a vegetarian, after all. At least, that's what I've been ever since my first 'meal'.
My departure from the clearing led me back into the dense woodland. I struck a tangent across my original trajectory, with half a mind to turn a full one-eighty after that encounter, but thought better of it. As long as I didn't go any deeper in than I already am, I shouldn't stumble into anything dangerous.
About a minute or so passed before I realized I didn't have the faintest clue in what direction I was headed. Amidst the confusion of the monsters' battle I lost track of it. There wasn't a sun to guide me, what with the sky above obscured by the canopy overhead.
Everywhere I looked, the forest stared back, without an inkling of difference. There wasn't really a sign of where the depths where, since everywhere was the depths. Non-descript trees were hard to differentiate between, besides their general shape and type.
With the mental compass I was trying so hard to keep now ruined, any direction I choose now amounts to yet another dance with Miss Fortune. As things stood, I couldn't afford to take another gamble.
Grappling onto a branch, I alighted atop of it. I was getting better at handling myself, though it was difficult to focus on more than three tendrils at a time. All the better, since it was the minimum needed to counterbalance the main body's weight.
I wanted to get above the canopy line to get a hold of my bearings, but that was out of the question. Higher up, the bulk of the branches were much too thin to support my weight. Above those, the firs blocked the rest of my designs, with their branches far too high to reach. I reluctantly had to give up.
At the moment, I didn't have anything better to do other than reflect. Two options come to mind immediately. I could go back to that clearing where the hydra was, in the hopes of gathering my bearings once more. Or, I could throw a stick in the air to see where it points. Torn between sound logic and insanity, I chose the only reasonable option and reversed course.
Returning to the clearing once more, to my surprise the hydra left. It must've been too weak to consume the rest of the basilisk's corpse, and intended to return for the rest after it recovered.
That's when it hit me. What a golden opportunity! This is my first chance at meat, isn't it? I was wondering what would happen if I tried engulfing an animal's or monster's flesh, and at last a chance to try it came. I looked inward at myself, at the grass blades tumbling about inside me. Compared to that, it was like ranking up from a peasant's gruel to a sumptuous feast.
Anticipation frothed from my body's depths. Instinctively, it clamored for something more substantive than raw plant matter. Meat. Glorious meat. While I couldn't taste anything, the thought of incorporating it into my body lightened the tense mood I'd been under these past few days.
My escape from the tower monks, to that close call with the humans, and now these horrid monsters. I was long overdue for a good meal.
I dropped from the clearing's edge, and waddled cautiously toward the still corpse. It looked so powerful and fearsome before, but without its head it was only a fraction of that. Less, I suppose, owing to how it was dead without it.
Hm... I wonder what I looked like when I finally kicked it. Did I look as defeated and pitiable as it does?
As I neared, the presence of the snake's body triggered my proximity sense into hysterics. Dead, yet still able to put me through the wringer like this? I really am batting out of my league, aren't I?
I panned about the clearing as I advanced. Nothing in sight, save the few birds that had the wherewithal to return to their nests after their terrible fright. Maybe later, I could take a leaf out of the basilisk's book. Eggs would make a welcome addition to my diet.
The gaping hole where the head once sat drenched the ground with its sanguine ichor. Occasionally, bouts of pulsing rigor mortis caused its muscles to spasm, prompting its length to convulse. As though unaware that the body had long since parted with its charge.
Without a second thought, I grappled onto the exposed spinal column, and threw myself inside. Then... oh, this was a pleasant texture. A seductive cross between the softness of velvet and suppleness of leather brushed against my body. Was this how it felt to touch open flesh with this body?
Almost too alluring. A insatiable hunger, something that I'd never felt up until now, began to stir. Guided almost one-sidedly by this desire, I suffused the body mass that could barely restrain its hunger over the flesh, and dug in.
A familiar, intoxicating fugue took over my senses. The minutes that followed were some that I had no recollection of afterward, but what I can conclude from that is that they were the most satisfyingly gluttonous ones I ever lived.