Chapter 153 - Animal

A tight feeling wrapped around me.

In just a moment, I found myself standing within the entrance to the cavernous expanse. The lizard king did not give up and charged towards the entrance.

A deafening bang resounded.

The lizard king slammed its jaws into the entrance, but could only fit its maw so far in. Nonetheless, the ground shook violently, jostling my body up and down. The lizard king attempted to open its jaws, but could only do so slightly.

I could feel its breath brush past me, which was scorching hot, enough to start a fire. I imagine the cause was the peppers.

After a few more seconds of struggle, the lizard king backed up, then rammed the entrance once more. A few pebbles fell from the ceiling as the cavern shook violently.

I continued backing up just to be safe.

As for the lizard king, it backed up once more to try one last time. Its maw crashed against the entrance at a volume that hurt my ears. However, what happened next hurt even more.

The lizard king seemed to realize something. It no longer tried to smash against the entrance, but let out a terrifying ear-splitting roar. I hurriedly covered my ears, but in the second that they weren't covered, blood had already leaked out of them.

From there, the lizard king went on a rampage.

It ran around the expanse, flinging stones around wildly. The lizard king didn't seem to care about anything anymore, other than venting its anger.

Occasionally, the dying cry of a lizard would seep past all the smashing and angry roars. The place was being destroyed without abandon.

As time passed, the lizard king's bulging and contractions got more violent. Similarly, the reddish tone of its skin spread across its body and was getting far deeper in certain locations.

The rock armor could no longer remain on its skin that resembled the waves of a raging sea. Only a few fragments remained on the lizard king's skin, but even those began to fall off.

Though I couldn't see it, I was sure a bloody massacre occurred. The lizard king's gradually slowed down. As for its body, it began deforming further and further.

If one saw it right now, one would be unable to tell the original shape.

The lizard king thundering stomps reverberated but went at the pace of a metronome ticking its last few beats. Eventually, it stood still.

Then, the lizard king looked up to the sky.

Seconds later, it exploded, becoming pieces of flesh that shot in all directions across the air. Seeing this, a soft sigh escaped me.

As violent as the lizard king's fury was, it didn't directly concern me. Because of that, my body began relaxing ever since I made it into the entrance. However, my conclusions were a bit hasty.

I was not out of trouble just yet. 

There were a few skittering sounds coming from behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see the rough outline of five black lizards that were approaching me. They were tiny, that's for sure. However, my condition wasn't the best right now, especially after activating teleportation ability so many consecutive times. I didn't even have a weapon on me to use.

The only saving grace was that with the tiny black crystal in my hand, I was able to see them all clearly. From what it looked like, they couldn't see that far.

I slowly backpedaled away from the lizards who were cautiously approaching. Once confident I had the time, I picked up a pebble with my index finger and thumb. Then, I flung it towards the side of the cave.

It landed with an audible clack.

Moments later, like hungry wolves, all of the lizards lunged towards that pebble. From this, I could confirm that they were not peaceful, that was for sure. For a second, I had the thought of evading them entirely.

After all, their senses were clearly pretty bad. However, there was one complication.

The black crown.

After killing the black lizard, the black crown would come to me on its own and forcefully attach itself to my head. Although getting the crown wasn't a bad thing, it would also cause great amounts of pain and potentially make me pass out.

Leaving me defenseless against these lizards.

In other words, I was on a timer, and not a generous one either.

With that thought in mind, I moved towards the backside of an arbitrary lizard. The entire time, I didn't forget to move silently. Although my thoughts were muddled, those actions had already become something like an instinct to me.

I possessed no weapon, so I grabbed the lizard by the tail. My left hand wrapped around the tail while the other held onto the base of its body. I immediately lifted it up with all the strength I could muster, prompting it to let out a cry of shock.

The other lizards turned around, but before they could do anything, I slammed the lizard against the ground, head-first. A frightening cracking sound rang out as the skull of the lizard shattered.

Blood seeped out of it while the lizard's head had deformed greatly. Fragments of the skull were visible from the outside.

Naturally, with those kinds of injuries, the lizard was dead. There were four left.

But now, I had gathered the attention of other lizards.

Without hesitation, I threw the corpse in my hand to the side, letting it smash against the floor. All four lizards charged towards it without hesitation. They bit into the corpse aggressively, as though it was actually alive.

With this opportunity, I used the same trick.

Once more, I lifted one of the lizards by the tail, causing it to shriek in surprise. Then, I slammed it into the ground, cracking its skull against the rocky floor. Now there were three left.

The lizards turned around, prompting me to throw the lizard to the side, letting it smash against the bottom of the wall.

However, they didn't lunge for the corpse like before. Instead, they ignored that sound entirely and pounced towards me.

A small frown formed on my face.

The situation caught me off guard, but that didn't mean I was going to stand there and take it. My eyes widened while my pupils constricted.

Right when the three lizards were about to bite down on me, I vanished entirely. Moments later, my body materialized roughly a meter behind the lizards.

Several light smacking and snapping sounds rang out.

The lizards landed on the ground and began biting as though something was there, but came up with nothing. The lizards stopped moving, at a loss.

With that time, I picked up one of the lizards once more. Once it let out a screech, the other two lizards immediately turned and lunged towards me. Though I wanted to dodge, I more so wanted to make use of the opportunity at hand.

And so, I slammed the lizard down on the ground, splitting its skull and killing it.

The other two lizards each latched onto the calf of each of my legs. Their teeth sank past my clothes and into my flesh, sending piercing signals of pain into my mind. I clenched my teeth and grabbed one of the lizards below me in an attempt to pull it off.

My hands clenched until my knuckles were white. Then, I gave a strong tug.

However, its hold on my leg was simply too strong for me to pull off. The only thing I accomplished was make myself feel even more pain than before. It seemed like the correct decision might've been to dodge.

My vision was blurry, but I caught something in the corner of my eye.

It was the crown, floating over towards me. I suddenly remembered that I didn't have the time to be dodging, or even hesitating for that matter. In just a few moments, it would be too late.

An animalistic feeling bubbled up from within me. The insanity that rested comfortably in my mind suddenly flared up as though it came alive.

I gave up on using my hands entirely.

Suddenly, I raised my leg while my mouth was wide open. I lunged towards the lizard's neck then bit down. My teeth felt like they were on the verge of snapping while my gums were inflamed from the excessive force.

The lizards could do it, so why shouldn't I?

Blood rushed to my mind while my bite on the lizard's neck slowly sank further and further.

I was trembling violently.

As though matching my pace, the lizard's bite on my leg increased in intensity as my teeth sank further. Until eventually, it disappeared entirely.

I bit off the lizard's neck, causing fountains of blood to pour out from the wound. As for me, I had a mouthful of flesh in my mouth. Without hesitation, I swallowed it whole like a snake.

I was about to proceed with the other lizard.

But that was when I felt several spikes pierce into my head.