Chapter 49 - Crown

The two peppers fell down the abyss that was the lizard's gullet.

The lizard king froze, while my eyes widened and pupils constricted.

My figure appeared on the lizard king's back.

The stones were trembling and there was already some heat seeping out from the lizard king.

Staying here is probably not a good idea.

My mind would receive backlash from another teleport, but there were bigger problems right now.

The air around me distorted and my figure appeared on the ground, a few meters away from the lizard king.

As my legs raced, they suddenly stumbled.

There was a roar that reverberated throughout the whole expanse.

More blood poured out from my ears and my mind was in a daze.

Some of the smaller lizards stopped moving entirely. As for if that means they died or just froze, I wouldn't know.

My legs continued shortly after, albeit with little coordination.

The lizard king was chasing me, and even faster than before.

Rather than lunging at me with its jaws, it opted to lay its jaw on the floor to the left of me. Afterward, it swept the area by dragging its jaw across the expanse.

My figure disappeared before the jaw hit me and reappeared a few meters ahead.

My mind instantly started the teleportation, but right before the teleportation, I was hit.

After reappearing a few meters ahead, my right arm was out of commission, dangling at my side.

Before my mind could even think about teleporting, my body was hit.

My left arm took the brunt of the hit while I was sent flying in the air.

My mind could hardly process the wind that was blowing past me over the pain.

My body slammed hard into the cave wall.

There was a clear cracking sound when my right arm collided with the cave wall.

The cave wall showed no signs that something just slammed heavily into it.

As for the lizard king, the rocky carapace had partially broken off. Under the rocky carapace was swelling skin that was burgeoning and shrinking.

It seemed that the potency of the pepper was quite terrifying.

Sadly, the lizard king wasn't going to kick the bucket any time soon. It continued to charge at me and ended up killing other smaller lizards on the way.

As it ran, pieces of its rocky carapace would fall off of it.

It seemed all I needed to do was survive until the lizard king collapsed. However, that wasn't going to be the easiest task.

...Unless I found the initial entrance to this expanse. There was no way the lizard king could fit through it.

The only problem was my vision was gone, sensing tremors would not be that helpful in locating the exit.

The lizard king reached me and performed a sweeping attack with its jaw again. The rocky carapace on the lizard king's head had broken off completely.

After forcefully shaking off the dizziness, my figure disappeared once again.

This teleportation only took me to between the lizard king's legs.

The lizard king tried to sidestep out of the way and bite at me.

I tried to match his movement, to stay in a position where it couldn't attack me.

During this short time, my mind focused and sensed the plants.

Though most of the plants were uprooted by me, my mind could still sense the strong presence of the plants in the lizard king's territory.

My mind pinpointed the opposite direction in hopes that the entrance to this expanse was somewhere over there.

After my plan was complete, the lizard king gave up on trying to use its jaw to hit me and directly used its feet to try and stomp me.

I leaped up and clung directly to its leg.

The air began to distort around me and the lizard king seemed to want to crush me using its body.

Before it could do so, my figure reappeared thirty meters away.

My mind was already mush, but this was not the time to take a break.

The air around me distorted once again and the lizard that just reached my position could only hit the air.

My sense of direction was heavily impaired. My judgement of nearby things was extremely weak, even though my skin was picking up on tremors.

The only thing left was to hope that my direction was the correct one.

The air around me distorted and my figure reappeared in the general location of the entrance.

Even with my muted senses, the thumping of the lizard king's steps was clear.

Without much thought, my body was just thrown towards the wall in the hopes that my escape would be there.

Unfortunately, my face rammed straight into a rock wall.

My hand clutched my head, but there was no time to lament in pain.

The lizard king had slammed its jaw down to my right.

In a last ditch effort, my mind tried to teleport past the lizard's jaw.

If the timing was a little off, I may just reappear right inside of the lizard king's maw, but this was my only chance.

My eyes closed and purely based on instinct, my mind teleported me forward.

The good news was that there was no sensation of being crushed.

The bad news was that my body was almost powerless.

My mind could barely process the fact I was even standing.

The savagery in my heart completely awakened.

The anger had forced me to crawl.

To ignore the pain.

And to keep moving.

My left hand pulled me forward and felt for the entrance to the cave.

Then... my hand felt the edge of the entrance.

I desperately tried to pull myself in, but before there was a chance to, my legs were hit by the lizard king's jaws.

My body was thrown into the tunnel, and my chest collided with the wall.

A few ribs were broken and my right leg was bent in the wrong direction.

The lizard king gave itself a running start and continued to ram his maw into the opening.

The maw got so close to me that even with my limited vision, the teeth were clearly lined up in front of me. The tunnel was trembling from the aftershock.

My trembling hands held my right leg and slowly forced it back into normal shape.

My eyes were closed and my teeth grit.

With a snap, my leg was bent back. Beads of sweat were falling from my head.

The tunnel shook again.

My breathing was ragged and the back of my head was bloody from the vibrations. However, my state was more or less stable.

The lizard king gradually became more sluggish.

It was relentless, but its body was giving up.

By now, the rocky carapace had completely fallen off.

The only thing left was a few scales that stubbornly remained.

The lizard king's maw had deformed, letting it reach further in the tunnel. My left leg and arm slowly crawled back to avoid the teeth.

The lizard king gave one more charge straight into the tunnel. However, blood burst from its maw once it collided.

After that, there was a strong burnt smell that reached my nose.

What was left of the lizard king slowly backed away. It no longer resembled its original form, now a bulbous clump. Blood was pouring out incessantly and its entire body was trembling.

It gradually laid down until its movement stopped entirely.

The only sound left was my ragged breathing.

The lizard king himself was taking its last few breaths.

All the other lizards died in the crossfire.

In the end, there were only two living things left in the cavern.

A few minutes passed... and there was only one living thing left.

A black crown slowly floated towards me.

The crown itself looked like a ring. On the front of the ring were three spikes both above and below the ring. The middle spike was twice as long as the others.

Smaller spikes were lined across the rest of the ring and at the back was the largest spike. It was slightly longer than the spike on the front.

The crown hovered above my head.

While I was inspecting how it looked, it suddenly pierced into my head.

I blacked out.

...

When my eyes fluttered open, a weak ache spread across my body.

The front and back of my head were sore and itchy.

My finger scratched at the front of my head. It was painful and my fingers hit something metal.

...It seems the crown was forcefully put on my head.

Could this thing come off?

My index finger and thumb gripped at the crown, avoiding the spikes.

With a little tug, there was a strong pain that seeped into my mind.

Well... no pulling out the crown.

My injuries were definitely not light by any means, but it seemed my constitution was strong enough to heal me with a simple nap.

I got up to my feet.

Other than a strong hunger, I was feeling great.

My steps leisurely echoed across the expanse. My destination was the end of the cave, to claim the previous king's food.

After a few moments, a rock wall towered over me.

My eyes closed.

The rocks parted like curtains, giving me access to the treasures inside.