If I had to describe what the sensation felt like in words, I would have to compare it to hitting a cube of gelatin with a whip, except for the fact that I had nerves in the whip and could feel the impact.
A streak of red akin to smoke erupted from the other side of the snakes head as my tentacle went straight through the snakes body, only meeting an ounce of resistance at the start before slicing through cleanly afterwards.
[You have killed a level 17 Venomous Sand Python!]
[You have gained experience!]
[You have leveled up to level 16!]
[You have gained 40 unassigned stat points!]
Smiling with my non-existent mouth, I looked happily at the notifications, specifically the one in regards to stat points.
Thus cue the evil grin.
40! 40 whole stat points just from a single level up!
I know that the stat points I gain from leveling up have doubled every evolution, but 40 points? That's insane! If I was to put all of my stat points into strength until I evolve next, I would probably have around 400 strength before I became a true yellow!
I'm already way out of the league of orange ranks in my attributes, especially in terms of strength, but if that number was to double?
Curling my tentacles around in delight at my discoveries I momentarily open my beak in my excited state.
"EYAK!" I yell out as I taste the familiar taste of rotten eggs in my mouth, doing my best to gag out whatever I can with my lack of a gag reflex.
Suddenly however, amidst my accidental self sabotage, I hear a muffle battle cry come from my left. Looking towards the sound, I see the leader snake who has regained composure of themselves, once again dashing my way with his mouth closed this time.
'At least it looks like he learned his lesson. And hopefully they didn't see me learning mine again...'
Turning my body to face the snake, I pull back the arm I used to slice through the snake before and constrict my muscles along my arms.
Multiple barbs slide out from within my skin giving me one hell of a more menacing look, however the large snake doesn't even blink at the change in my appearance.
"You guys aren't wild right?" I yell out as I dodge the first bite from the serpent, throwing myself aside into a nearby coral.
The snake doesn't respond but merely follows after me immediately maw open wide this time, as the battle has moved away from the ink cloud.
'I don't get it. I really don't get it! Did I wound this dude's pride or something? I was only paying you all back for what you said about me earlier!'
Even then though I can't wrap my mind around why this snake is still fighting me. At first I thought that he didn't realize the "rank" disparity between us, but looking at how he's acting now, he clearly knows that he can't win this fight.
'Are the snakes not allowed to run away or something? No, he sent that smaller snake away immediately... Shouldn't he prioritize his own life above the weaker creatures lives?'
"You snakes really aren't the brightest are you?" I speak once again, this time dragging out a visible reaction from my opponent, who narrows his eyes at me.
"Shut it!" It hisses back. "Why are you in our territory!"
'Oh? It looks like the snake still does value it's life somewhat seeing as it's willing to talk it out.
"Why do you think?" I speak sarcastically back at it. "I was just admiring the view!"
"You dare mock me?!" It shouts back defiantly. Thankfully this wasn't a rattlesnake, otherwise the noise from it's tail would definitely be getting annoying at this point from all the movement that he's making with it.
"What are you going to do about it?" I ask back.
The snake is clearly seething with more and more anger, but at the same time I can see it slowly gaining it's rationality back from before, no longer quite as desperate as it was a few moments ago.
"Leave! This is the territory of the Synok Tribe! Some wandering octopus has no business being here, we've done nothing to you!"
My beak curls up into a grin beneath me at their remarks.
"Nothing?"
I can almost hear the gears turning in the snake's head before it speaks up once again.
"Then do you have a reason for attacking us?" It asks much calmer.
"Other than for food? Yeah. You're clan is kind of hunting my clan." I say back as I see the snake's eyes widen in confusion.
"Your clan?... There's no octopus clan around here! You're lying!"
Oh, haha. This poor snake must think that I was insinuating that another clan was going to move here. The poor fellow looks even more skittish than when I first appeared and turned both of his friends heads into shish kebabs.
"I never said I was in an octopus clan..." I say once again to which the snake, merely stares at me dumbly.
'Seriously? Put the f*cking pieces together!'
After a moment of silence it's eyes widen even further as I can see the exact moment it comes to an realization.
"You..." It began. "You're part of that damned Carak tribe?!"
Congratulations detective s*hitlock! You figures it out! Before I can reply however the snake scoffs.
"Pathetic! You, a higher creature joining those sad crabs? Our tribe will slaughter yours!"
Jeez these snakes really do have a pedestal! I hope that other higher ranking creatures aren't all like this otherwise I can tell that I might have a problem being somewhat social in this world.
However with the current situation, I'm still able to disregard the snake's remark, as I begin to approach the scaled creature.
"Not quite a smart move to say to me at the current moment, is it?"
The snake reels back hissing, seemingly remembering what kind of creature is in front of it.
"You really are shameful aren't you! Hunting creatures a rank below yourself! It screams out.
I can see the panic in it's eyes growing, as it realizes that I'm gaining ground on it. Both me and the snake understand that at this rate I'll catch up to it in a few seconds, and I can once again see it struggling whether or not to literally turn tail and run.
"They can't win you know!" It shouts out defensively.
"What do you mean?" I ask back.
"The crabs! The Carak tribe! They can't win against us!" It yells out once again, seemingly have found a way to fight back against me without actually getting into a fight.
"Why not? I don't see why we can't kill a bunch of random snakes?" I say smugly, continuing my crawling towards the snake.
'Ooooh, it looks like that one really set them off.' I think to myself as I can see the snake scrunch its face up in irritation.
"We have tide candidates, Tyrus, and soon Rango will be of the green rank, and then your tribe really won't have a chance!" The snake yelled in outrage before freezing at his own remark.
'Tide candidates? Are their tide candidates identities public knowledge?' I though inside my mind before coming to a realization.
'Wait! Did he just say Rango? As in Rango, the small snake who he told to leave?'
I can feel my tentacles coil around each other in excitement as I realize what that means. I could kill a tide candidate today!