The air was heavy with apprehension as I faced my attacker. This hybrid animal seemed straight out of a nightmare, both in its monstrous appearance and its aberrant, almost supernatural abilities.
Its camouflage made its immense bulk almost invisible, and to make matters worse, the little shit was silent and fast as hell, making it even harder to anticipate its attacks.
I had glimpsed its silhouette for a brief moment during its first attack. From then on, it showed a cunning like no other. It prowled, prowled, struck me from angles I least expected, trying to slowly exhaust me. Slowly, but surely, it was succeeding; proof: my HP was at 120/200 in less than 5 minutes of combat.
The most frustrating thing about all this was that I didn't see why such a specimen needed camouflage. It was strong, bristling all over, had a tail as fast as lightning, and finally a tongue as sharp as a razor that administered a kind of low-dose paralytic.
That's why I hate it! This place, I thought, narrowly avoiding a nasty tail blow while receiving a tongue lash out of nowhere. The animals have too contradictory abilities to counter them quickly and effectively.
Not wanting to be attacked again, I quickly crawled to a safe distance. I couldn't continue like this; I needed a plan, and immediately.
I had barely theorized any plan. I felt a sharp pain in my side, then a violent sensation of collision as I crashed into a nearby rock.
My status screen kept flashing furiously to notify me of critical hits and dangerously low HP. But I was too sore and groggy to pay attention. And unfortunately, the Komodo dragon was already on me.
Since my death, I don't think I've felt so much hatred towards a creature. Now that it thought I was defeated, it was playing with me. "It's mocking me, damn it!" I cried, frustrated and humiliated. Its sharp, invisible claws scraped my skin, drawing circles on it.
Even though they were different cases, it reminded me of my last moments at the hands of my treacherous wife. Just like her, it was an enemy that sneaked into my shadow and struck me, without me being able to defend myself. I'm fed up! Fed up with always being at everyone's mercy, I hissed with rage.
Which only earned me another vicious tail blow from the creature, still invisible. A blow that paradoxically gave me an idea, albeit a dangerous one.
"System then expel, the stored components," I asked, full of hope.
"Yes," it replied.
"Let's go all in," I emboldened myself, crashing into it like lightning despite its thorns that wounded me, and half of my body numb and paralyzed. Apparently, it didn't expect it, and its camouflage fell.
Faced with my attempt at constriction, it defended itself quite valiantly, lashing me with several tongue blows, numbing me even more.
But too bad for it, that wasn't my intention. I only needed to make its camouflage fall and have access to its head.
The death cry it let out as it violently freed itself from my head was pure melody to my ears; I had just sprayed all the sulfur, arsenic, mercury, and other crap I had in reserve directly into its eyes and nostrils.
Even if it was far from lethal for a creature as overpowered as it was. But the fight had just evened out, and I didn't intend to let it recover.
Zigzagging quickly, while avoiding its crazy and random tail blows, I pounced on it and wrapped myself with all my strength around its neck, while frantically biting it, pouring all my poison into its organism. It started rolling on the ground, trying to dislodge me, but I held on, and for good measure, I deeply thrust my tail into its ear canal, repeatedly, shredding everything inside, including its vestibular system.
Despite all this, it continued to struggle like a madman, decreasing my HP, which was now only 30/200.
A few minutes later, I released my grip and took a few steps back to contemplate the smoking carcass, short of breath, my body in tatters. It wasn't just a monster I had just defeated. It was my hesitation, the doubts that had been gnawing at me these last few days, and the non-acceptance of what I was now. But suddenly a cracking sound reminded me that this world wouldn't stop to congratulate me. I immediately went into attack position. Luckily for me, it was just a small animal, which scurried away when it saw us.
Against my will, I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Let's see what your characteristics are," I said, returning to my task, triggering the observe skill.
Race: Mutated Spiny Varan
Size: 1 meter
Length: 5 meters
Weight: 250 kgs.
Level: 2
"No wonder you were such a pain," I laughed, in a hiss both amused and a little shocked. I thought I was the only animal that could mutate in this area. I guess my only difference is my system and my intelligence. I can't even imagine if I come across a mutated Shadowy Owl. Better not to think about it for now.
"Well, reflection can wait, it's time to collect my due."
Easier said than done; I have the feeling that this meal will be as grueling as my fight.
—------
Two weeks later.
"It's over!" I said, relieved. I had finally digested my last piece of lizard. Unlike the fledgling, I couldn't swallow the varan in one go. I had to spend an incalculable amount of time ridding it of its thorns, cutting it into pieces that I could swallow, and finally constantly regenerating while eating it. The toxic substances I had injected into it, plus its paralyzing poison, really gave me a hard time.
In the end, it was really worth it. The gains offered by a mutated animal are just cheating compared to normal animals.
"Let's see my gains."
Biomass units: 100
Gene fragments; 10
Complete gene: 1
Alchemical components: 10.
I only needed a hundred more units of biomass, and I would have enough energy to trigger my molt. As for the genes harvested, five of them were related to camouflage, bringing my total to 6. I needed 2 fragments to complete it. As for the other fragments, 3 were related to defensive spines, the other two were useless to me for the moment.
The alchemical compounds amounted to a necrotic enzyme, an anticoagulant protein, toxins, and tracking pheromones.
Yeah, if it wasn't a sadistic bastard who liked to take his time and underestimate his opponent, there's no way I could have beaten him if he had given his all from the start.
However, the most interesting thing was the complete gene for the production of paralyzing saliva. Certainly, it wasn't extremely powerful, but it accelerated my evolution. If I hunted diligently in the coming days, I should be able to molt without any problems.
Surviving twice thanks to last-minute tactics is not for me, and anyway, it's not viable.