Crocodile

BOOM!

Once.

BOOM!

Twice.

BOOM!

Thrice.

My fist struck the wall a fourth time, sending it tumbling to the ground.

'I only have 171 Impact, but I'm pretty strong.' The walls that made up the sewers were much stronger than regular, Earthen brick, and I was only 71% stronger than an average male. The fact that I could break down a wall in just 4 punches made no sense. 

'Hey, maybe it's because I could be considered the new protagonist.' I snickered at the thought, aware that not only was the book in my head most likely fake —although the information was true— but that there existed no such thing as a protagonist.

I stepped over the brick that attempted to block my entry into the passageway, striding through, into a pathway identical to the rest. The only difference was the massive crocodile at the end.

The crocodile was supposed to be asleep, but it was awoken by the destruction that Alexander and his mark had caused. I wasn't sure if the thundering booms that came from my fist smashing into the wall were enough to awaken the crocodile, but I hoped they weren't. It would make my fight much easier.

You see, at the time Alexander obtained the second cheat, he had reached the third element, meaning that he had about 1,000 Impact, and 3 different Elements to choose from. I, on the other hand, have less than a fifth of his strength, and 1 Element.

Was it foolish of me to attempt to kill the beast? Yes, but unlike Alexander, I was able to prepare measures to allow me to kill it.

'You're going to sleep either way, buddy.' In my pockets sat 2 very useful objects, ones I had been extra careful to take care of. 'A bag would have been nice. How could I have forgotten?'

I cursed my own stupidity but focused on my goal. I had only one chance to kill the crocodile, and failing to do so was my death. 'A nice motivator.'

As I walked along one of the paths that lay on either side of the sewage, my hands fidgeted with the objects in my pockets. I had just one thing left to do before they were usable, but I had to do it just before, or during the time I fought the crocodile.

It sounded dumb, but one thing I had noted from the book was that the crocodile had one very niche ability.

Only things crafted before it may work.

It was due to the Element the crocodile wielded —Truth— and it sort of made sense. Anyway, it was niche in the sense that the crocodile was limited in the use of its Element, due to a lack of intelligence.

Because of that ability, Alexander almost died before figuring out its Element. Luckily for him, conjuring an Element counted as being crafted before the beast's eyes, so his power was enough.

I had to be a little conniving if my plan was to work.

'Still don't get how a crocodile has Truth. It makes no sense.' I thought. 'If I was the author, I would have given it a better Element, like Poison, or Darkness.'

Soon enough, once I had traversed more than a kilometer, I came across a large, green, and scaled wall. The crocodile.

'Great news, it's asleep. Bad news, it's facing away from me.' My plan required access to the crocodile's mouth, and as of that moment, that was impossible. 'Guess I have to wake it.'

I cried a little inside at the thought, but what else could I do? I wasn't strong enough to kill it with a backstab, nor to fight it head-on. It was suicidal.

In my possession, there were no sharp objects, no blades for me to pierce into its hide. So, I had to punch it.

'I feel like an Australian. About to wrangle with a fucking crocodile. Or do they do that with alligators? Meh, whatever.' My brain conjured up the image of a certain 1986 movie about a poacher. It had fallen into my hands one day for whatever reason, and, after splitting it up into about 10 parts, I had managed to watch it on an old TV in the basement of the house.

'So many good memories, but not now.' I refocused on the crocodile, standing with the perfect posture to execute a punch onto the beast's spine. 

THUD!

My hand smashed against the back of the creature, and I did more damage to myself than it. Other than the sound, it remained completely unharmed as if a feather had landed on it, but it definitely felt it, even if it was similar to a fly. I, on the other hand, could see blood run down from my knuckles. Sure, punching the wall hurt, but that left me with mere bruises.

'Guess I gotta keep going.' The crocodile wasn't going to awaken because of my presence, and that punch did nothing, so I had to hit it until I ticked it off.

THUD!

THUD!

THUD!

THUD!

THUD!

Again and again, my fist slammed into the beast's spine, tearing off more of my skin in those few punches than punching drywall could in hundreds of times more. By the seventh punch, my fist had swollen, and, if you could glimpse underneath the blood, you could see that it had turned purple. 

Also, my fist had painted the green scales red, like an artwork, which was pretty funny.

'Ah, fuck.' The wound hurt, yes, but not so badly that I couldn't use it.

Just as I was about to throw the eighth punch, the crocodile stirred, uncoiling itself similarly to a snake.

Its giant head turned around to face me, and its massive, bulbous eyes that stuck out from its head glared at me. It looked at me as if I was a gnat, and to it I probably was, but I was going to use that to my advantage.

The beast's snout was as long as I was tall, if not longer, and each of its toes could bisect me with more ease than a sword. Its tail was long enough to coil like a monkey's.

ROOAR!

The crocodile roared at me, a notion I compared to that of a dragon, despite the lack of wings, showing me its yellowish teeth. The smaller ones were the size of my fist, and the larger ones were similar in length to my forearm.

'I hope it's strong enough.' I prayed, fiddling with one of the objects in my pocket.

On my walk to the crocodile, I had read the fight scene, trying to learn if the beast had any patterns I could exploit. Obviously, it only fought once, and as such, that wasn't effective, but I learned that it mostly stuck to lunges with its maw, attempting to turn Alexander into its dinner.

As I predicted, the beast lunged at me, so I pre-emptively leaped backward to dodge. The crocodile took up most of the space in the tunnel, so I thought about what moves it could make, finding that either a tail swing or swipe was most probable.

'I can avoid both my moving backward.' I thought, readying myself.

Either way, I was going to move back, so the moment the creature began to attack, I started to move back. If I did it too early, it might react to that, so I had to time it just right.

As the attack took place, I traversed a distance of maybe 5 meters, and I was very lucky in doing so, its tail sweeping just before my nose.

My life flashed before my eyes, and I began to contemplate why I was even there. I had no real conviction other than to get strong, so I knew that I would need to find a reason soon, however, I also knew that that wasn't the time nor place for such a topic.

I forced the thought out of my mind and took the objects out of my pockets.

A ball full of sleep powder, and a nail attached to a metal string.

BOOM! ROAR!

The crocodile's tail smashed into the wall —not a flimsy, thin one like the one I broke, but a proper wall that covered the earth, making it roar in pain.

I took the chance, stabbing the nail into the ball of powder and tossing it toward the beast's now-open mouth.

It whizzed through the air, hurtling straight on target, its trajectory true. The metal string in my hand that was coiled around itself began to unravel, letting me keep a connection to the nail.

The sleeping agent and nail landed in the crocodile's mouth, my aim so perfect that it fell into its throat, sliding down its gullet without the need to swallow.

The ball was made of a material that was easily melted by any acid with a low PH, and stomach acid was exceptionally strong, so I had no worries there, but the nail was slightly unsettling. I had no idea how fast the crocodile's stomach acid would melt the nail, so I hoped that the sleeping agent worked quickly.

I couldn't see it, but I could imagine the ball gliding down its esophagus and into its stomach. 

The crocodile shut its mouth in a poorly timed attempt to shut down whatever attack I had thrown its way. After, it began to thrash about upon finding out about its failure.

Its head swung wildly, and I came with, the metal string still in my hands.

'Oh shit!' I let go of the string, waiting for the powder to take effect, but I was still in the air, flying towards the wall. 'This is gonna hurt!'

BOOM!