Heading back to Goblinsville, we dreamed of breakfast. We arrived at the canyon entrance.
The Greatwurm roar had sent all the pack crocodiles into a terrified frenzy. When we got to where we parked them, half of them had chewed through their reins and dispersed into the dark terrain. It took us an hour to round them up.
"Hmm... We're still missing a few," Sergei observed. Strangely, a few that we did find were noticeably fatter.
One of the pregnant-looking crocodiles rolled over, unconscious, grinning, and satisfied. It had a newly chipped tooth. I gently prodded its protruding belly with my riding whip, and it threw up a fractured crocodile skull.
I see.
We loaded the smaller sleds onto the larger sleds as we no longer had enough crocodiles. Leading them back on the long road toward Goblinsville, they seemed to stare longingly at each other and us.
"Sweet Lord Jesus, what have you not been feeding these guys" I broke the silence. How are they this hungry?
"They belong to the Goblins... Amere borrowed them from Elder Garn," Sergei confessed. They weren't terrifying at lv4, but their legs were significantly longer than those of the crocodiles I have seen in the zoo. They didn't seem like good pets or efficient pack animals.
"I think Garn may have played you guys. Nevertheless, I don't think the Imitator is government," I nonchalantly chided.
"How so?" Sergei scratched his chin, now curious.
"We're so good at killing each other and ourselves; the fucking agent shouldn't have to intervene."
"Hmm... I don't know about that one, Ennui, my boy. That knock-off Bond wannabe seemed psychotic enough... HEY! STOP THAT" Sergei pondered, then yelled as a crocodile gnawed off the tail of the one in front. Sergei halted our procession, got off his sled, and hit the croc with his brass whip. After the third crack, it brushed aside Sergei easily, biting and breaking his weapon.
"Sergei, get back before you end up like Steve Irwin," I commanded weakly.
"Ennui, when did we last update our HUDs?" Sergei cautiously posed, making himself bigger while stepping back.
"Two days ago," I sighed and slammed my head against a rock I carried. My vision blurred, and each number, bar, and text haunting my brain shimmered and changed.
This was noticeably the fattest crocodile. It furled up like a pouncing cat, waiting to strike, and as my headache subsided, I saw it for what it truly was.
Lv 54.