The Marianna snake slowly went deeper into its lair where it's nest was. The battle against those annoying pests had tired it out especially that weird one that kept changing its forms. It was a primitive beasts , and so couldn't project its thoughts out with mana to speak, and , as it was the strongest creature in the surrounding area, it saw no need to learn how to do that.
As it moved though , it felt a strange resistance in its gut. Whenever it ate a creature , its throat contracted and shrank in order to crush it, bone and all , to make digestion easier. Also , it's body produced fumes that prevented the circulation of mana by anyone who smelt it.
It should've been impossible for anyone to survive once it devoured them, so , it pushed aside any other thoughts related to that topic.
Right now , it's only goal was to rest. Tomorrow, it could start eating the corpses of those it had killed.It couldn't wait.
As it curled up to sleep , it never occurred to it , that that would be the last time it closed its eyes.
...
The diamond squad , the most elite dwarf fighting force in the entire region silently surrounded the sleeping beast. They were like ninjas in the way they moved. So swift and silent.
After they arrived , and the survivors of the massacre gave them the information about the snakes location, they had immediately set off. They just didn't want to take the chance that the creature would relocate.
The dwark king -Dwarven led the group. He stood at the very front , with his stoic face as though even if the world ended ,he wouldn't care.
His silver armor, different from the black of his knights , barely glowed in the darkness of he cave.
"Fall into position. Get ready to attack "
Even his voice sounded like a low boom echoing out in the depths of the cave. It was a wonder why the snake didn't wake up from it.
The diamond squad swiftly surrounded the monster. Unlike the beastmen they'd hired to test out the snakes power, they didn't need siege weapons or heavy artillery. Although it was cowardly to use his subordinates like that, Dwarven really needed the Phoenixs favor right now.
His position among her retainers was in jeopardy. It wouldn't be long now before other high class nobles would start threatening his position, terrorizing not only his people , but even his family. He just needed more support.
The king came to as one of his knights signaled that they were ready. He nodded and raised his hand....
Then dropped it.
The mages in the group immediately let loose a string of spells. Fire , ice and earth magic blasted at the creatures vitals simultaneously. Ordinarily, it would be dangerous to use magic in such an enclosed space, but each dwarf was protected by a small barrier.
They wouldn't die from this.
The snake instantly awoke with a loud hiss and spat out acid and poison in its pain and confusion. Dwarven waved his hand and the next wave of dwarfs attacked-the foot soldiers.
The warriors charged the monster , unconcerned about their lives , ready to give it up for the greater good. They climbed up the snakes body, hacked at its scales and pierced its skin, with their superior weapons. A lot of them lost their lives during the charge.
Even more lost it during the attack. The battle lasted an hour before they brought the thing down.
At that time , the squad has lost about one-third of its members.
As the king moved among them , thanking them for their hard work and support, the entire group heard a loud tearing sound, and turned to a horrendous sight. They thought the beast was awakening ,but what they saw could be said to be worse.
The saw, impossibly , a half giant figure, rip its way out of the snakes gut with a roar , covered in acids and poisons. It looked like a demon, from their point of view, just popping out of the snakes body just like that after it's death.
But more importantly , how was it able to withstand the poison.
...
Salazar cursed the snake again with all of his being. The walls of its gut were trying to crush him, but it seemed like it's poison and acid would do the job quicker.
He kept changing his form, choosing his smaller and more poisonous creatures each time he did, in order to help ease the pressure and survive the poison.
But he was running out of transformations. Then , he felt the snakes body being jostled. At first he didn't understand what was going on. Then it occurred to him. It was being attacked.
Maybe the beastmen has come back.
He almost laughed with joy , if not for the fact that if he did, the poison would enter his mouth and kill him faster. He knew that the villagers weren't cowards. Maybe they'd realized that he wasn't dead , and had decided to come rescue their pal.
He grinned. Now , he just had to wait.
A long while later that felt like an eternity to him, he felt a shock pass through the beasts body and the constriction of its guts slowly slowed and stopped.
It was dead wasn't it. He grinned, then winced from the pain of doing that.
Although he was safe from digestion right now, the creatures poison was still slowly killing him and he doubted the villagers had an antidote. As he prepared to escape , he thought of how to survive this.
Then , it hit him. How was the snake able to live with such intense poison in its system. It had poison immunity.
So if he could eat the snake , the was a chance for survival.
There wasn't enough time to leave the same way he came , so he shifted again, into the form of the one armed giant that he'd assimilated on the first floor of the dungeon. His expanded size allowed him to rip through the creatures body.
It wasn't easy , and it was extremely painful. But thanks to the fact that it was dead , and couldn't fight back, he made it.
With a loud roar , he burst out of the snake. Not even glancing at the people around him. He activated Assimilation.
The poison was making him somewhat delirious and confused his senses and skills. Because of that, instead of liquidizing like he normally did to assimilate, he just tore into the creature like a wild beast. His jaw dropped three times below what was possible , and he began to eat.
The Marianna snakes scales, flesh and body swiftly disappeared into the bottomless pit that was his stomach. Whilst he was 'eating' , his hand suddenly reached out and punched through the snakes body , pulling out a dark green core the size of his fist.
As he swallowed the beast , the system acknowledged it.
[You have gained 75 evolution points. ]
[You have gained the racial skill poison resistance (passive) ]
[The essence of the Marianna snake is being stored in the food chamber ]
[You have discovered a new way to use Assimilation. The sub skill [Cannibalism ] has been unlocked. ]
[Cannibalism
A sub skill of the assimilation skill that allows the host to activate the skill with only a portion of his body. The skill has diverse forms , all depending on the way it is used and can making feasting easier and faster. ]
Salazar ignored the messages , and just focused on his health , which had stopped deteriorating thanks to poison immunity.
Thank god.
Although the skill doesn't allow him the skills of the monsters he ate , it allowed him to acquire their characteristics and talents. Luckily , one of the snakes characteristics was poison resistance.
He sighed as he activated [Reformation ] , and only just then did he notice the stunned crowd hanging around him. He frowned when he realized that it wasn't the villagers , but it only took him a moment to realize that they were dwarves.
His eyes seemed to glow as he glanced at the core in his hand and back at them.. "So who's the boss here. We have some business to discuss. "
Still in his giant form , his voice was like thunder that shook the remnants of the cave.
He knew he'd come out on top , he thought as he grinned.