Chapter 13: Battle
A/N: Sorry for the two-day break. I was busy with some other work.
Enjoy today"s chapter :)
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After killing the tiger, Leo walked toward his prize - the orange-colored herb. When he picked it up, he found that his earlier suspicions were correct. The herb didn"t burn his hand at all. When he placed it in his leather satchel, the satchel was completely okay.
He had been using the spell for a total of 45 minutes. He only had a little more than an hour before the spell would wear off. He would have to either finish killing two more animals, get the herbs, and then run out of the forest, or he would have to get himself to a safe place before the spell wore out and wait out the cooldown time.
He decided that waiting out the cooldown time was a better idea. But he still wanted to scout the area while walking toward his hiding spot. He paid full attention to the surroundings while walking toward the lake. He was going to hide in the cave behind the waterfall. It could fit one person comfortably.
While he was walking, he saw something interesting. In the distance, a herb gave a small shine before fading. He had already found another potential herb. He decided to go closer and take a better look.
He walked slowly toward the shine. He saw the shine again and it made him more curious. he peered through the trees to look at the source of the light. Behind the tree was a plant that was periodically emitting light. The source of the light was a low-hanging fruit that was dangling off the plant. In front of the fruit, a snake was coiled up in the gra.s.s.
The snake was bigger than the average snake. It was twice as long as him. The body was also as thick as Leo"s. The snake would be towering over his under-nourished body and crush him. At this point, it had noticed him peering behind the tower. It hissed loudly and stood up.
The previously coiled snake slowly unraveled its body, revealing its true size. It was 5 meters tall and dwarfed him. It was a few yards away so he walked from behind the trees to face it. While he was doing this, he was calculating how he could escape with the fruit.
He hadn"t really used any of his stamina to kill the sleeping tiger. So for this battle, he was full of stamina. He grabbed his knife and pointed it toward the snake. He immediately ran around the snake, hoping that it would take more time to move because of its lack of limbs. He was wrong. The snake moved lightning-fast and almost caught up to him.
He saw the snake coming so close. He jumped up and kicked against one of the branches to jump over the snake. He landed behind it just as it bit the spot where he had jumped out. The snake only found wood in its mouth. It closed its jaw and a piece of the wood from the tree got torn off like it was bread. The snake opened its mouth and the crushed piece of wood dropped out.
As he saw this, he understood that the scale of the battle was different than what he envisioned it could be. He immediately ran toward the fruit that was behind him and away from the snake. He had lured it toward him and now he put s.p.a.ce between it and the fruit. This was the perfect time to steal the fruit. He had planned this out because his main purpose was only to steal the fruit. Trying to kill the monster wouldn"t bring him any profit. He wasn"t going to be able to carry their bodies back to sell them anyways. It was also too dangerous.
However, he had miscalculated the speed of the snake. He was able to grab the fruit off the plant, but by the time he had thrown it into his satchel and taken a few steps, the snake had lunged forward toward him. He dodged the bite by rolling away. The satchel got away from him when this happened. The snake smacked its tail against him. freewe(b)
He took the blow and felt a crushing pain in his stomach. During this time, the snake coiled itself around him and squeezed him. The squeezing of his chest snapped him back away from the pain. He immediately used both of his arms to stop the snake from biting him. He had seen what the snake bites could mean. His right hand still had the knife. He then switched to stopping the head with only his left hand. He stabbed the knife deeply into the scales of the snake"s neck.
The snake stopped trying to bite Leo. It started squeezing him with even more power. It was trying to kill him before he could kill it. He realized that it became a battle of speed. He grabbed the knife with his right hand and dragged it up. The knife sliced the head of the snake and tore its brains. The snake stopped squeezing him and fell down, dead. He immediately got himself out of the snake"s lock hold.
He immediately grabbed his satchel. He was going to leave immediately after grabbing his knife from the head of the snake, but he saw a shiny stone right next to the butchered head of his victim. He grabbed it. It was an interesting stone that was a little shiny. He just threw it into the satchel and into the same pocket as the fruit. He then quickly started walking towards the lake. It would be a 30-minute walk according to his estimates. He could run, but he wanted to conserve all of his energy.
The battle took a huge chunk of his stamina, and he had spent 45 minutes there. Now, Leo only had 30 minutes of the spell. During this time, he would have to get to the lake and swim toward the waterfall. And the biggest problem was that he would have to face the crocodile.
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A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.
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