Ackster didn't even know he had blacked until after he woke up, still sitting on the rock lizard's neck. His brain was numb, and it felt like his thoughts were swimming through tar as he tried to remember what he had been doing before he took a nap.
"Urgh!"
However, a splitting headache impeded his efforts of trying to recall what had happened.
And like a match thrown onto a plain of grass, where rain was naught but a faint memory, the headache incited flareups of pain all over his body.
Ackster almost lost consciousness again. But the feeling of life beneath his legs made him acutely aware, even through the pain, of his current circumstances. He would die if he blacked out again.
He would have wondered why he wasn't already dead yet if the first wave of pain brushing through his body wasn't so intense.
And when the pain gradually cooled down, Ackster had better things to think about than question why he was still alive. The first thing was why both his legs felt like they were broken.
However, he quickly got an answer to that question when he looked down to the side and saw that the rock lizard had collapsed. He could sense that it was still breathing, but it had fallen to the ground for some reason. And in doing so, it pinched both Ackster's feet below its neck and took revenge on Ackster's legs for what he had done to it.
Ackster felt like both his legs were broken because both his legs were broken.
"Fucking bastard."
Ackster groaned as he leaned back and closed his eyes.
At least it looked like he had managed to knock out the rock lizard. He glanced at the wound on its forehead. It looked pretty shallow, and it was hard to see the details since his and the rock lizard's dark and thick blood mingled and covered it. But the indentation told Ackster that he had been a little successful in headbutting the rock lizard.
It hadn't been enough to kill the stupid lizard, but it was enough to save Ackster's life.
Now, he only had to hope that he could recover before the rock lizard. He also had to get his feet out from under the rock lizard's neck. He was pretty sure that as long as the rock lizard was heavy enough to break his legs just by lying on them, his recovery would never be enough to heal his legs while they were still trapped.
There was also the matter of his broken arms, which limited how much he could help his legs move. But it seemed like he had been knocked out for a couple of minutes since he could move his arms. He could even bend them at the elbow, even if he probably shouldn't since he could feel the bone fragments grind against each other.
It was a wonder he had survived and that the rock lizard had also lost consciousness long enough for Ackster to wake up again.
However, there was no guarantee that the rock lizard would stay down long enough for Ackster to recover even more.
With the state of his body, Ackster didn't think he would survive if the rock lizard recovered. The quickest way to ensure his survival would be to remove the threat.
Ackster forced his arm to pain, regardless of how broken the elbow was, and put his hand against the wound on the rock lizard's forehead.
Since he had mostly bashed against the same spot to break it, there wasn't a clear opening he could use to get his fingers inside, but there were cracks. And fortunately, there was one large enough for him to start fiddling his way through the rock lizard's armor, skin, and skull.
Ackster dug and plucked away several scales and tore open the split skin, and revealed a dented skull with multiple fractures running through it. It was no wonder the lizard was out cold with an injury like that.
Ackster touched his forehead with a tentative hand, barely wanting to believe he had caused it by using his head.
Ackster winced as he could feel the swelling and soreness of his skull. It also felt like his forehead would cave in if he pressed too hard. But Ackster decided it was an illusion to comfort himself before promptly returning to shoving his hands inside the rock lizard's skull.
By mustering some of the energy he had left, Ackster rammed a fist down onto the bare skull and crashed the poor rock lizard's head in.
Ackster sighed in relief as the shards of the rock lizard's skull pierced its brain, and he could feel the remaining tension in the rock lizard's body trickle out as the monster died. All the muscles relaxed, and the monster stopped breathing.
Ackster was so relieved he didn't even feel the pain of the rock lizard's body pressing against his legs even more with its newfound deathly relaxation.
A little extra pressure on his legs, which were already teeming with pain, was nothing in comparison to having survived this ordeal.
With the rock lizard's death, Ackster could finally relax. Well, almost. His legs were still stuck by the rock lizard and ground vice.
Ackster took a few long moments where he closed his eyes and breathed deeply as he tried to gather enough energy to endure what he was about to do.
Since he had already confirmed that he could kind of use his arms, he put his hands on one leg before leaning forward slightly to get better leverage.
And then, with gritted teeth, Ackster threw himself backward and managed to free the leg he had used to kick the rock lizard. Since it was broken from before he straddled the rock lizard, he hadn't managed to cinch it around the rock lizard as well as the other, which also meant that it wasn't as far beneath the rock lizard.
With one leg free, he could throw himself over one side and crash into the ground, groaning in pain, but in a better position to free the leg that was still stuck under the rock lizard.
He just had to breathe a little first.