What is that thing?!

I didn't see any of these among my siblings...

Could it be that this is some special variant or something?

Or maybe a nest raider?

You know, a non-related predator which would raid nests or dens of other animals in order to feast upon the young.

Either way...

Right now, I'm just like a fish which escaped from the pan just to fall into the fire!

As if barely surviving from getting crushed wasn't enough.

What should I do now?!

Think, think, think!

In front of me stands a giant black scaled snake with greyish smudges around its body.

It is easily four times my own size and according to the 'Status Reading', it also specializes in physical combat.

This thing can probably make a paste out of me if it uses its strength, h.e.l.l, even half of its strength would probably end me.

Why is it looking at me like that?

Is it about to strike?

*Crash*

Yes, it is!

Not long after escaping one life-threatening situation I get myself into another one. This time I barely dodged its attack because I was foolish and lowered my guard for just a bit.

It's lunge ended up hitting the rubble I crawled out from.

It went through it like going through the air itself, unscathed at all. It really is very phisically strong!

My luck is really like a rollercoaster. I get a super overpowered skill which I won't even be able to use to its full extent as I will probably just die here and now.

Even with my superior speed I am still hurt from the debris on my way out from the now-wrecked hidey-hole.

Because of my injuries, our speed should be about the same, but I'd be in just a slight advantage.

There is no use fighting, I need to escape as far as my body can carry me.

I keep dodging it's attacked as much as I can while heading towards the hole which one of my older siblings made some time ago.

Going to a recently made hole would be suicidal so I will go to the one that was among the first ones to be made.

The Dark Earth Python keeps following me no matter how much of a distance I try to create. I'm just so glad my speed is faster than his even by a little.

Would you stop following me?!

Seriously, it is simply ignoring all of my other siblings, going strictly after me.

But even so, my sibling also try to avoid the Python for whatever reason.

Could it be it wants me for the water I drank from the fountain?

It couldn't be... Could it?

Thankfully all of my siblings are getting out of my way as they don't want to be made a meal out of by this huge thing. Even if their size difference is a bit smaller, it can still squash them all to death with almost no effort.

This makes it so that my escape is going rather smoothly.

This seems almost too easy actually. Even tho my body hurts quite a bit from my injuries.

Hmmm...

I don't buy it. It almost feels like it wants me to go that way...

Come on, that has to be a trap!

You take me for someone born yesterday... Well, it is almost correct, but my mind is that of a human.

And a rather not-stupid human if I say so myself.

If it wants me to go that way I will play along until I get a chance to circle around him towards the holes on the dirt covered wall.

It came up to me that the dirt wall is most certainly the wall that used to be an entrance to this cave before the snakes nested here, making it a kin-eat-kin incubator.

If that was an entrance then it should lead to some kind of an exit as well.

I am slithering for a good distance away from the ruble and I'm about to circle around the rock close to the hole in the stone wall.

I will use this rock to quickly make my pursuer lose track of me while I make a 180-degree turn next to him.

Hup...

Thankfully I successfully did a 180 turn and the Python even looked rather surprised... Well, humans wouldn't see the change on a snakes face but I could.

It quickly recovered and even closed some of the distance I made previously by getting into chase while I was slithering next to it.

It even went for a lunge attack, trying to stick its teeth into me but I managed to completely avoid his attempt of stopping me.

My next list of actions should be increasing the distance between us while circling around the destroyed fountain in order to reach the opposite wall on the other side of the den.

Just a few more slithers and I will reach the fountain, my speed is also starting to increase again.

It would appear that snakes pa.s.sively have some form of a healing factor, even if it isn't instantaneous, even this is rather quick.

If my observation is correct, it will take about a day to fully heal. Which is basically a miracle considering that I probably broke a rib or ten, as well as having some of my scales jammed into my flesh, drawing blood.

Yea...

In this body, even if it hurts like h.e.l.l, at least I can still move.

Being a monster really comes with some benefits.

I doubt I will be thinking that once I reach real civilization tho...

Anyway, while lost in thought for a bit I reached the fountain and began going around it.

It will shorten the distance I made with the Python but I won't risk it by going over the rubble left behind from the fountain.

The last thing I need is to get caught in between the rocks and end up becoming lunch.

As I thought, the Python's trajectory just kept heading straight, as if knowing I am bound to be heading to the other side, but just in case it never broke the line of sight from me.

It really wants to get me, it even squashed and ignored a couple of my sibling that were unaware of their surroundings.

But it simply ignored them while heading straight towards me.

By each second I can feel that it is going after me for something I have, in this case, the power I obtained from the fountain.

But that doesn't make much sense...

By what I understood there are a whole lot different powers that can be obtained through mysterious ways.

My status reading is no different as there are heroes who have it as well.

So it isn't a unique skill or anything like that. It just requires a special condition to be met with a few other factors aligned in order to activate.

I myself am not sure why I got it because I only drank that sugary water.

Sure, it is very mysterious but by simply drinking it I shouldn't have simply gotten it without some kind of ritual or something like that.

The more I think about it the more confusing it gets.

I really need to find a way to access this world's libraries to learn more about how things in this world work.

Ehhh?

When did the Python stop following me?

Did it figure out that I am too fast for it?

HAHA, that is what happens when you hunt someone faster than you.

So long, sucker!

I stopped looking back at the python as I continued heading towards the hole in the dirt wall.

I didn't lower my speed by even a bit because lowering my guard would be fatal for me.

*Slam*

What was that?

Is it putting up a tantrum because of its loss?

Well, it is just a stupid monst~

*Crack*

~er...

Just as I was saying that, while full of myself, a stalact.i.te fell right in front of me, almost making a snake kebab out of me.

No, it would have decapitated me without the slightest problem.

YOU CRAZY b.a.s.t.a.r.d, THAT ALMOST KILLED ME!

And me! I got outsmarted by a stupid monster!

*Crack* *Crack*

Why are they still falling?!

Yikes!

There are so many close calls, but how do the ones only above me keep falling???

Does that thing have magic?

But my status reading didn't say anything about it having magic.

Even it's magic stat is rather low.

And no skill listed could do something like this.

Well, the thing I heard was probably his tail slam, but just by itself it wouldn't have this kind of effect.

Is my 'Status Reading' really so low level?

Forget this skill being OP, it even gives fake information!

This thing sucks!

What if I die just because of this skill.

No!

It isn't the skills fault that I am still so weak.

The skill itself said it will grow stronger along with me. So if the skill appears so useless then what that does make me?

Am I really that useless?

Even now, while trying not to get squashed to death by stalact.i.tes, I can't really do much to rebel against this treatment.

Well, the least I can do is show that I am not easy to bully!

I stop dodging the falling stalact.i.tes while moving towards the hole and instead, I start going straight towards the Python who has been torturing me ever since it appeared here.

I'll see how much longer you will act so big and mighty...

Well not that it has to act it out as he is both big and strong...

But still, I won't give up!

A rather happy yet arrogant smirk appeared on the pythons face as it hissed at me.

He probably thinks I became suicidal.

I will make him eat his thoughts.

Even if I can't kill this thing, I will at least hurt it before leaving this place.

Ten years isn't too long for a gentleman to get his revenge.

Jeez, even my thinking sounds more and more like the things I've read in novels...

Either way, I won't take this sitting down.

The closer I got to the Python, lesser the frequency at which the stalact.i.tes fell towards me.

It seems that it is cautious of hitting itself by mistake!

It began to aggressively coil while waiting for me to reach its striking range.

Even tho it is rather arrogant, it doesn't lower its guard. This thing is surprisingly smart for a monster. As I made a charge at it, it waited to see if I really gave up on life.

Trust me, my life no matter how s.h.i.+tty it seems at times will always be the most sacred thing to me.

Even if I sometimes do rash things it will never be to purposely throw away my life.

It will always be like a gamble to further improve my well being, no matter the cost.

But this Python doesn't know that now does it?

In its eyes, I probably look desperate but it isn't sure whether I am attempting a suicide attack or if I simply went insane.

But I feel rather sane considering everything thus far.

Just before reaching its striking range, I used all of my strength to launch myself into the air.

The Python looked very surprised as it followed me with its vertically slit

eyes.

While in the air, I gave it my all to build as much momentum, I even began spinning mid-air to build up as much centrifugal force as I can while getting higher and higher.

Once it saw me spinning it even opened its mouth as it looked in bewilderment.

I must look bad s.h.i.+t crazy from its perspective.

Why am I doing this you might ask. "Why do you want to be a helicopter" might be going through your heads.

Well, you see, it is quite simple actually.

I will feed it its own medicine!

As I reached the stalact.i.te located just above the Python I used all of the acc.u.mulated force together with all of my strength to tail whip it out of place.

OW!

*Crack*

And it began falling down just as I planned, but my tail feels very numb right now...

HISSSSS!!!!