Jason would be more worried about the raging rapids all around him, if it wasn't for how clear the water was. Sure, irl, he wouldn't be trusting something like that, but here he was willing to take a chance. After all, normally with something like this, the water would be all cloudy with debris and dirt. So with how clear things are after the first rush of water, there must be something keeping the dirt in place.

That, however, did not mean he was willing to try and jump over the water. While the gulleys seemed to keep the water contained, the clarity of it revealed what lurked below. An unending stream of the small beaver frogs. They were clearly in pain and dying, something about being away from the big beaver frogs, but that didn't mean they weren't willing to kill him.

Though one thing did stand out to Jason as the monsters washed past. They were all the older of the small beaver frogs. It wasn't the easiest to notice at first, but after watching for a while it became obvious. Every one of them had scars and were overall on the larger side. Not quite the size of the two main beaver frogs a lake would have, but getting close.

This led Jason to guess that this was how the adult beaver frogs culled those who might threaten their rule. Though that also meant that since there isn't just a single large lake with one pair of beaver frogs, some must be able to hang on. Jason guesses that they probably need to be within a certain distance of the water node to survive, which is why they haven't spread further.

Then, just as quickly as the water came, it ended. There were a few monsters flopping around in the channels, but without water, which had likely carried some of the water node's power, they soon died. While that was happening, Jason took some time to check the channels.

Jason didn't have to look long though as the rush of water had revealed what had somewhat been hidden. The entire channel was basically just a solid hunk of roots. Aggressive, nasty roots as all around the corpses small spikes are spearing outward.

Those spikes? They are nasty jagged bits of nonsense with hooks, all spearing into the dead beaver frogs. Jason could see the blood being literally sucked out of the bodies as the spikes visibly swell and shrink, pumping out the liquid. Not that they were waiting for that to finish as the roots all started to grow over the rapidly shrinking bodies and pulled them under.

Jason raises an eyebrow before deciding to not look too closely into the gulleys. In fact, as he glances around and notices how the gulleys extend in every direction and criss-cross themselves many times, he decides to be extra careful with any fights that might happen. Who knows what roots might do if something bleeds on them? They can't be so specialized that they only react to beaver frogs right after a flooding event.

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Though this doesn't prove to be too hard as the further into this area he goes, the more sparse the gullies are. Not that the monsters around made it hard, either. They all had an equally cautious attitude towards the obvious danger below. Not that the grass was all that much safer?

While nothing would attack if you bled on the grass or spent the night on it. Dead bodies and anything injured enough to be incapacitated would be "cleaned" up in a similar manner to stuff in the ditches. In fact, such events seemed to make the islands of grass more violent.

A fact that the monsters knew well enough as more than once Jason saw bodies being shoved into the nearest ditch instead of being left alone. Even the predators were more careful, eating less than Jason had seen elsewhere, instead choosing to only eat the choice bits before dumping the rest. It was also telling that most of the monsters in the area seemed to focus more on blunt damage than anything else.

Not many snakes, though, the ditches being just a bit too dangerous for them to thrive. What was thriving though, and very much at the top of the food chain, was a carnivorous kangaroo. Their main advantage was that once they make a kill, they can carry the body away and hop over obstacles so the body doesn't fall into a ditch.

While it might not seem like much, being able to get all the food you can out of a kill is quite important. It isn't easy to hunt, so every bit counts. They weren't the toughest or strongest monsters around and yet still stayed at the top.

Though it probably also helped that they could travel even while the water was flowing. Not that the water always came from the beaver frogs. Over the next couple days, water would rush through multiple times though none of the subsequent floods had any beaver frogs.

Once there was a bunch of fish, but the rushing water ended up being empty most of the time. Though those times it made up for it by taking longer to finish. Worse was that the roots would try and spear anything that came close to the water during those times.

So, while the kangaroos weren't jumping super high, they did have enough height on their jump to cross the water safely. While useful for moving around, the biggest advantage was that it allowed them to hunt during the longer floods. Any monsters that got separated by themselves would be targeted.

This observation, in turn, caused Jason to be confused by why he hadn't been attacked. He had been alone this whole time and yet the kangaroos avoided him. Not that they were wrong to do that, he just hadn't really shown why it might be worth it to avoid him.

Not that all of his time in the oft flooded plains was completely dull.

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