Anaxa's blood boiled and churned beneath the eerie glow of the crimson moon, as a ravenous instinct to flee surged through him. This sensation swelled rapidly, becoming impossible to resist—like an ancient, primal call echoing through his very bones.
This pull continued to grow stronger with each heartbeat pull, urging him toward a specific direction- one that felt preordained.
"Is that where my prey awaits?" Anaxa wondered, his eyes narrowing with great sharpness.
Dash!
Then, unable or perhaps also unwilling to resist the call, the man with all his weapons equipped suddenly surged forward, deciding to face the challenge head on. What was to come will come.
It hardly took him any effort to locate the quarry as right as he crossed into an open field,
"Ding!
Target locked- Oriental rat snake (extremely mutated).
Biomass- 500 micro units.
Spirit- 100, Karma-100
Threat- Fight!
Note- Fight!"
The notification beeped quite close to Anaxa's nest and his eyes gleaned a chilly light reading it, especially the last two sentences. This, combined with all the previous clues pointed to the same conclusion- a brutal, oncoming battle.
Thus spotting the writhing shadow swiftly slithering towards him, Anaxa's heart quickly surged with a mixture of adrenaline and nervousness. Given how quickly the snake had found him and the enormous rewards involved, it could only mean that the snake was also there to hunt him.
This was going to be his life's first life or death battle and unlike all the previous battles, there would be no retreating.
"Hiss!"
Anaxa's opponent probably thought the same too, as snaking into the area, it introduced itself with a low, piercing growl, lifting its body up and hissing at Anaxa.
The huge opponent was just as menacing as its stats had suggested.
It had dark olive scales that contrasted greatly with the silvery underbelly gleaming under the strange blood light and as it locked onto the tiny lizard, a maddening look flashed across its golden eyes.
It flicked its forked tongue to taste the tension in the air and puffed its hood up to make itself even bigger. This was an intimidating technique, and combined with its enormous flashing maw, devilishly flicking tail and sharp, piercing dagger like fangs glinting under the red 'sunlight', it did have some of its intended effect.
Anaxa's heart skipped a beat at the sight, worried about how he was going to exactly fell such a huge beast.
Shoo!
However the man removed such cowardly thoughts quickly and as soon as the snake made itself vulnerable, the clever lizard flicked its tail with all it had, shooting the jagged piece of rock right towards its left eye.
"Hisss!" And true to his aim, it hit its mark accurately, courtesy of the newly obtained skill.
Night Vision- Proficiency- Beginner- 10 (0)/100. Allows host to see clear as day within 10 meters and with limited visibility within 30 meters. Effect temporarily enhanced due to the effects of the red moon. Additional ability unlocked- Host can spend spirit points to spot potential weak spots.
Anaxa was quite satisfied with the description given by the system, and rejoiced even more at the results after he tried them.
"Hahaha, so that is how to use my spirit points. Hmmm… I have got to say, this system might be quite irritating at times, but it does have its good points."
Indeed, he had chosen his target to be the eyes because he had used his spirit points to locate it as one of the vulnerable spots. They had appeared as shades of different tinges of blue all of the serpentine body, and Anaxa stuck the place that had the deepest colors- presuming it would be among the weakest.
"Hiss!" And judging by the low, guttural howl the snake made as soon as the stone hit, dropping into the ground and coiling its body whole around the injured head, it seemed his hunch was correct.
"Hahaha… good, good! I would have wasted my choices if I had chosen the warm blooded blood. My body already feels so energetic under this strange moonlight. It is not that much different from being under direct sunlight. Ahhh…"
Thus the bitterness and regret Anaxa had felt upon choosing the much simpler night vision skill were quickly erased and with the opponent distracted, he quickly equipped the spear he held in his mouth to his tail.
"Aghhh!!!" With a victorious roar, the brave lizard then charged forward, wishing to deliver a strong piercing strike to another of its weak points- a gap he had located between its large scales. And he wanted to do it before the stunned opponent could react.
"Hiss!" However this was where Anaxa's momentum was halted as he missed his mark.
He might have had the first strike and the snake might have been initially caught off guard by the stone throwing mutated lizard, but that was only a one time thing.
The experienced snake quickly got back its composure and sensing the rapidly approaching pitter patter of feet through its grounded body, slithered out of range, letting Anaxa's spear only hit the scales.
Clink!
The hit bounced off the rock hard covering with a dull, screeching tone, much to the man's astonishment, "What!"
And the phrase 'rock hard' was not just a figure of speech here- the scales really did appear rock hard.
Anaxa had a pretty good idea what snake scales were supposed to feel like courtesy of his battle with that green water scale. So he could confidently say not even its toughest parts were half of what he felt right now.
Thus Anaxa's spear at best managed to graze the body while the injured snake recoiled with a furious hiss, coiling itself into a tighter spring and launching itself straight for the head of the green lizard.
"Damn, it's fast!" Anaxa barely managed to leap aside in the nick of time, his feet skimming the soft ground as the serpent's head whooshed past uncomfortably close. It was so close that he even caught a glimpse of its left side—blood pouring freely from a savage wound, the result of a ruined eye.
Then taking advantage of the snake's ongoing momentum, Anaxa leaped towards its long, undefended body and once again activated his spirit eyes, looking for a good place to hit.
However most of the giant snake's body showed a pitch black blur- courtesy of all the strong scales covering it. And even the thin pale blue spots in between the overlapping layers, Anaxa found it too hard to hit given how fast the opponent was coiling its body around.
"Dammit it! Is this what the system meant by being extremely mutated? *Thack!*"
Anaxa could only choose the next best option and give the moving body a good smack with the stick.
"Hissss!" The huge creature instantly roared, its ribs painfully reverberating like a struck bell. The huge creature did not think it would hurt that much even through its scales and solid, fleshy body.
So in retaliation, it first circled its tails around Anaxa's flanks as a way to cut off his escape route and then dove straight ahead, angling its skull forward to retard any spear attacks coming from the desperate lizard.
Anaxa knew better than to tackle such huge momentum head on. So instead of launching a frontal attack, he cleverly used his twig like a fulcrum to jump over the 'tailed fence', safely landing outside the perimeter.
…Or so he thought.
Because even before he could get his footing properly, a shadowy whip of flesh suddenly breezed across his eyes, smashing directly into the fleshy belly of the lizard.
While Anaxa was jumping through the air, the rat snake was not simply idly sitting by- the clever creature had also willed its long tail to pursue its prey, and as soon as Anaxa landed, it greeted him with a ferocious swipe.
"Cough! Cough! Cough! Arghhhh!" Anaxa felt like his breath had been completely knocked out, proving how heavy the strike was.
That thick, fleshy tail, powered by such large, powerful muscles was no joke, so as he landed on his feet some distance away, he groaned with heavy pants, "Damn that is strong! I think I broke a few bones! Arhhhh!"
The absolutely stinging sensation coming from his belly certainly made the tiny lizard consider so.
Anaxa however did not have much time to dwell on his current state, as his enemy was not in the mood to simply sit idle. Rather, the intelligent snake immediately launched a follow up attack, wishing to finish the job once and for all.
It knew if it could get even one bite on its prey… the match would be decided.
Thus circling the still dazed Anaxa, the serpent bared its venomous fangs and launched a sudden strike from the side just outside the lizard's immediate line of sight.
Snap!
And the ambush worked!
Its deadly fangs sank deep into Anaxa's tail, drawing an alarmed cry from the desperate lizard.