Ash kept his crimson vines tying his body, not allowing whatever controlled his body to make any movements that would let himself known to the 6-meter-tall stag roaming around on the ground.
Fortunately, with the benevolent god's blessing, the disease soon ceased control over Ash's body.
Letting Ash regain complete control of his being.
He couldn't summon the codex to check what the hell had happened to him.
Or more precisely, what kind of disease or venom or poison or whatever it was that attacked him?
For now, the only thought existing in his mind was not to get caught by the huge stag.
About 10 minutes passed until Ash was finally returned to the ground, and bolted straight out of the area.
This was his third time almost losing his life in the damned fractured zone.
Even the third time, it didn't feel any less dangerous than the time when he almost overdosed on berries and mushrooms.
After making sure he ran far away enough, Ash breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.
So, what had happened to him that got him into this situation?
After finishing his newly spliced disease and getting his ability, Ash realized that the Thorny Berserkers skill wasn't something that he had in mind before.
He got the thorns, and he even got more vines, which was a cause for celebration.
But the boost in strength would also be applied to his opponents if he were to use the thorns to attack.
Heck, he couldn't even get the boost if he activated his steel bark skin before pricking himself with the thorn.
In the hope of fixing his mistake, Ash traveled deeper into the forest.
Searching for a suitable catalyst that he could use to make the perfect disease that would give him the desired ability.
To his surprise, he found it just at the dawn of the second day.
The creatures who would be the perfect catalyst seemed to be nocturnal, so Ash could only return to grab them at night tomorrow.
So of course, he returned back there in the evening, when the sun was about to set.
However, when Ash returned, another creature came into view.
A huge male deer, about 6 meters on the base of its neck, and its whole body seemed to be made out of twirling vines, braided to make the shape of a huge deer.
Flowers and mushrooms grew all over the vines, and a set of antlers almost as big as Ash's whole body decorated its crown.
The creature seemed to be minding its own business at first, but the second Ash walked closer to the area of the creature he had chosen for his catalyst, the stag jerked its head towards him.
Without wasting even a neigh or whatever sound a male deer made, the deer charged towards Ash.
So, what did Ash do? Of course, run the hell out of there as fast as his teeny little legs could take him.
But just running forward proved to be a retarded decision that only a mushroom junkie would make.
Keep in mind that the vine-y stag was 6 meters tall.
A step of its hoof could easily jump past 1 meter. Unless Ash suddenly grew wings and flew, there's no way his feet could outrun the deer.
Ash used everything he had in his arsenal of venoms and poisons.
Including his new abilities that he got from meeting and experimenting with other creatures of the forest.
He spewed acid from his mouth, which did nothing to the stag as the melted vines just regenerated in seconds.
He ran in a zigzag, knowing that it would be harder for a quadruped to change the direction of its movements than for bipeds.
And his knowledge turned out to be true. The stag could just run left and right with the same speed it had when it just ran straight forward.
However, that didn't mean the stag gave much damn.
As a creature that screamed, 'I'm a magical creature,' It used one of its abilities.
It was Ash's first time seeing a real magic-like ability from the creatures in the forest.
If the thorn spitting tree raised one huge question mark in Ash's mind, the stag's magic just fucked with Ash's mind, not letting it think at all as a garden of vines suddenly bloomed under Ash's feet.
Ash made quick work of the vines, though.
He used his crimson vines to kill off the vines that wrapped around him and tried to bind him in place.
But the vines were just too much.
It wasn't like multiple single vines the carnivorous tree had, or a single patch of weed like the strangleweed.
Several patches bloomed around him.
When Ash was done with one patch, another two or three made their way towards him.
And by the time he succeeded in cutting all the vines, the deer stood just a few steps away from him.
Ash was just one charge away from having broken ribs, internal bleeding, and possibly instant death, considering the size of the stag.
But to his surprise, the stag didn't just kick him or hit him with its antlers.
It just stood there, staring at him. Menacingly.
Its whole body, including its face, was made out of vines, so Ash couldn't really make out what kind of expression it had when it stared down at Ash.
But Ash swore to the benevolent god above that he could feel the stag was fucking sneering at him.
And as the flowers bloomed and the mushrooms twitched on the stag's body, Ash realized that he had indeed messed up.
Whether it was spores or pollen that had gotten into him, they had taken root inside his body.
Ash was prepared to feel another rising blood pressure, or see trees talking to him, or even coughing up black blood.
But not even in his wildest dreams that Ash could have guessed that none of the above were happening to him.
Instead, his limbs started to move on their own, stiffly walking towards the stag with such passion as if it were meeting its lover.
Fortunately, with his favorite mushroom, one that he might consider a god at this point due to its contribution in saving his life, gave Ash a sliver of control over his own body.
In the short second he could control his body, Ash raised his hand high, as if he wanted to offer his hand to the deer.
The deer welcomed his offer with an open mouth, which showed Ash even more vines in the insides.
But at the last second, Ash commanded his ability, which fortunately wasn't controlled by whatever force had taken over his body, to activate.
Thorns stabbed themselves inside of the creature's mouth, many of them in one volley to make sure the venom worked for such a huge creature.
Then he used the godly mushroom ability to create an illusion of himself running away with an unimaginable speed.
The stag didn't seem to feel pain from being stabbed with his thorns, but the thorns did their work.
The vines grew thicker as the stag bellowed, strength filled its body, and violent urges filled its mind.
With the illusion invading its mind, the stag charged to the side, not letting the prey escape from it.
Ash's body tried to chase after the charging deer, but Ash acted quickly.
He tied himself with his crimson vines and used the thorny vines to climb the tree, hanging himself mid-air on one of the branches.