The Consequence of Mirth

The sudden strike expelled the last bit of air from my body and I felt a sharp pain throbbing all over my head from where I was hit. My vision spun rapidly as I found myself getting hurled across the cavern, crashing into the opposite wall with a deafening boom.

My body crumbled down into loose curls around me as I began to ache all over with pain after getting flung away. Ignoring the ringing in my ears, I focused on my surroundings with [Heat Sense], zeroing in on the figure of a creature some distance away.

My vision was still unclear, but its form was that of the lizard who was supposed to be paralysed.

I had been struck by the lizard's thick tail that was twice the length of its body, with rough scales covering along the top ridge of its back, extending down to its tail.

After confirming all the wasps had gone, I completely ignored it and lowered my guard. There was only one reason the lizard was able to move despite its paralysis state and I could've prevented it if I was a bit more vigilant.

In the dim light I made out the glint of the creature's eyes, alive and focused, without any hint of panic. Even with my faint vision I could tell it was armoured with muscle, the sound it made as its tail swung through the air was like a whip cracking with electricity.

As I raised myself up, I hurriedly curled into a defensive position, ready to strike in preparation for its charge. My body prickled with new pain as I moved, and I couldn't help but flinch when my wounded scales rubbed together. But with my surroundings still ringing with the vibrations from its tail and my eyes blurry, I couldn't allow myself to be distracted right now.

I stared down my new foe with a mixture of anger and helplessness.

The lizard's image weaved in and out of my vision, as I was unable to properly gauge the distance between us. I tried to focus solely on its figure to shake off the lingering traces of unconsciousness.

It appeared to be far away but being disoriented and unable to judge the distance I focused on the trembling vibrations of its tail, which revealed it was actually much closer than it appeared!

I barely managed to dodge as its tail swung low, sweeping over my head. It had only grazed me, but my quick movement sent my already disorientated head reeling with dizziness.

I suppressed the uncomfortable feeling and retreated away from it as I scanned the room with [Heat Sense] for the presence of the other eggs – I couldn't afford anymore surprises.

But the lizard was the only heat source present, aside from those in the other cells and it was swiftly approaching. Outside of having the wind knocked out from me, when I checked my stats, my hard earned HP had dropped to [46/55].

Because of this, I grew even more enraged at the sight of the creature. I decided if I ever saw the wasp again, I would definitely pay it back.

I took a deep breath to clear my head of distractions and focused on sensing the vibrations alone. On reaching my position, the lizard's tail swung down again, to finish the job.

Paying full attention to the sound of its tail extending, to the height of its swing, I predicted the impact area and gathered myself pre-emptively into a protective coil and its rigid tail struck the ground heavily, missing me by a mere breath.

Then I immediately sprung forward with all the speed I could muster. When the lizard's swipe struck empty ground, it followed up with a backswing, but this time I was ready for it. Ignoring the searing pain in my muscles, I slipped under its tail in a sidewinding motion – and it missed again.

It was a very strong attack that could do so much damage with just one hit. I could not afford to get hit again. So I continuously moved around, successfully evading its strikes, by predicting the path of its attack. But suddenly, the lizard broke its attack pattern and followed up with a third strike - an additional backswing right after the second sweep, finally hitting its target.

I could not evade quickly enough, and the heavy tail struck my midsection, sending me sailing backwards through the air. I struck the cavern wall once again but [Impact Resistance] softened the blow to a large extent.

That helped me to recover quickly and prepare myself to fight. But when the lizard swung around to attack once again, I caught a quick glimpse of its head and saw a bleeding scar from a wound just below its neck.

Through the open scar I could see a familiar bulbous white body inside and I grimaced at the sight as I thought of how the larvae must have eaten through the lizard's skin to burrow in.

The sight of the partly exposed larvae made me wonder if it was possible to save the lizard. If I was to bite the larva directly with [Poison Fang], would it only kill the larvae and leave its host? Or would they both perish?

Either way, It was worth a shot to find out.

Seeing that I had recovered, the lizard's attacks grew furious and its tail repeatedly struck the ground, beating bits of the surface ground into debris. It closed the gap between us in a few bounds, ready to bite me with its jagged teeth that dripped with strange fluid, but I swiftly dodged by lowering my body out of reach.

From a lower vantage point, I observed the sinuous motion of its body and the sudden lurch of its head told me it was going in for another backswing. I dodged the first and slipped backwards to avoid the second as the repeated swinging of its weighty tail had me retreating further and further backwards.

The reverberating vibrations told me I would soon reach the wall and I wanted to stop but there was no way to avoid the lizard's follow up strike. It dragged low across the ground leaving no gap for me to evade under.

There was no longer any space to retreat as the lizard continued to push me into the corner. But if I used [Poison Fang] on it, the lizard would likely perish along with the larvae, so I could only keep evading it for now. And I was not driven that far to be out of moves.

As the tail swung for me again, I leapt over it and the arcing shot grazed the skin of my underbelly, narrowly missing a critical hit by perhaps a centimetre. From there I moved under its tail, following the cover of its sweep to enter the blind spot under its body.

Before the lizard could make any additional moves, my fangs scraped across the bones of its heels that were too hard for me to break, but I quickly bit down, with all the force of my jaws.

〚Skill Aptitude Increase『Bite: LV3』has become『Bite: LV4』〛

The system alert came with an increase in strength and I felt the resistance over my jaws lessen. My fangs sunk easily into its skin and came away with a chunk of its flesh.

Although I'd rendered a [Bite], without the assistance of [Poison Fang] it was just as effective, and the lizard howled in pain. Its body staggered as it erratically swung its tail around to strike at me, but I remained underneath its body, moving along with it so it never got a clear shot.

With its body set in motion for another swing, I targeted the hind leg bearing most of its weight and bit down hard, coming away with yet another chunk of flesh. This time with both its heels in pain it was unable to support the full rotation of its body and it was thrown off balance by the swing of its tail.

When it cried out in pain, the floor dripped with more of its viscous saliva in a greenish glow, as opposed to the clear secretions from its skin and I couldn't help but think it was poison and I made a conscious effort to avoid getting bitten.

While the lizard tried to regain its balance, I prepared to climb its back. Before it retaliated, I had to kill the larvae burrowing into it and break the lizard free from its control.

But as it stumbled, my triumph was only fleeting. The lizard, while falling backwards, used its large tail to support itself to stand on its hind legs, exposing me under its belly.

On spotting me it charged with hooked claws outstretched. I was met with the vicious glare of cold eyes as it body descended downwards and with one sweep of its arm, I was snatched up from the ground and left to dangle helplessly from its grasp.