A Close Call and a Deep Grudge

Coming back from my thoughts, I knew I had to start moving because the blood would attract even more dangerous animals if I wasted any more time. So, I had to act fast. But first, I needed to take my spoils of battle; the snake's body was really good stuff with a lot more energy in its meat compared to some ants for sure. So, I couldn't give up on it. Plus, I had to use it to test my Heavenly Devouring ability.

I had to take it away to a safe place to eat slowly and test the effects. Thankfully, all the blood in its body had already dried out, and I wouldn't have to worry about animals following because I would leave a blood path behind me.

Before carrying such a big snake's body around until i could find a quiet place to eat would have been impossible. But now, after the red ants massacre, I had grown a lot more, three times more than before. Even while fighting the snake, I never stopped growing, which was the main reason why I could dominate it in the later stage of the fight, since I had grown bigger and so had my strength, giving the snake no chance to put up any resistance.

If I had to guess my current size right now, I should be around 75 cm long and 25 cm tall, which makes me a giant compared to the size of a normal beetle at 17 cm in length!

Thinking back on the documentary that I had watched in my past life, I remembered that a beetle would be able to lift around 850 times its body weight in laboratory conditions, and in real life, around 40% of that.

And thankfully, I am pretty good at math, which was the reason I could become a programmer at a small company in my last life.

So, I started doing some fast calculations on the spot to find out how much stronger I had gotten.

And the results shocked me!

Damn! I should actually be able to generate around 250 kg of strength with my 500 grams of body weight!!

That's absurd and totally overpowered. Also, it would explain why I had such an easy time handling that big snake.

So, after having a general idea of my newfound strength, I went towards the corpse of the snake, pinched it between my horns, and started dragging it out from the tall grass around the big rock.

In no time, I was out on a little plain surrounded by the forest with short trimmed grass, clearly the territory of some herbivores like deer or some other strange creature. After abandoning those useless thoughts, I looked to my left towards the big dense trees.

I'll go into the forest to look for a good place to use as a base. The small hole in the tree wouldn't suffice anymore.

As I was moving towards the dense forest with the snake's body being dragged along, I felt a strong vibration coming from above. Looking up while still moving at a nomral speed, I could see a huge eagle flying above my head!

It seems it had chosen me and the snake's body as its prey!

I know if I got attacked by that big eagle, I would be done for. The thought of fighting it didn't even cross my mind.

It was too big, and it had aerial advantage; it could easily pick me up and drop me to my death or directly swallow me.

So, I had to escape back into the thick forest, where it would find it hard to chase me from above. With a plan swiftly made, I immediately took action and pushed my speed to the limit.

Thankfully, even with my growing size, I hadn't gotten any slower but instead got even faster.

As I was getting closer and closer to the forest, only around 50 m remained between me and salvation.

But sadly, the eagle noticed my plan. Knowing it would have a hard time going after me inside the thick forest and would most likely lose this nice meal, it immediately dove down with full speed, making a strong whishing sound, generating great winds in its fast descent from above.

And I could feel those terrifying strong winds as vibrations in the air, which almost made my insect heart explode from fear upon feeling them.

Damn! My luck sucks, I cursed in my mind as I moved my body even faster while contemplating if I should drop the corpse of the snake.

Even though it weighed nothing for me, I could maybe use it to distract the big eagle, buying myself a few precious seconds, which would help me survive!

And after feeling the vibrations getting even closer, I knew I couldn't make it in time. So, I cursed once more and gave up the snake's body with a heart full of grievances. I threw the snake's body with all my strength in the air.

The body flew like a rocket right towards the descending eagle. Seeing an object moving at high speed towards it, the eagle immediately slowed its descending speed to avoid a full-on collision.

That was all I needed. Just a few seconds later, I successfully entered the forest.

Not even daring to look back, I continued dashing into the tall grass and bushes, completely disappearing from the sight of the now very angry eagle.

With a loud angry cry, the eagle took one more angry glance at where I had disappeared into the forest. And then, it turned around and went after the snake's body.

As I heard the angry cry while running for my life, I swore to take revenge on this damned bird for trying to take my life and stealing my prey.

The small amount of confidence I had gained after the fight with the snake was now gone, just like the snake's body.

But I knew I was just too weak now, so I swallowed my anger and kept running for my life.