Chapter 188

The swamp lizard's scales along its back were different from our own–they protruded proudly from its spine all the way down its tail, and each scale was so thick that they felt like either armor or stones under my feet. However, it didn't seem that its belly was quite so armored, and I grinned in fierce satisfaction as my prey began to try to free itself from the stakes that I'd forced it to get trapped on.

Where the waters had gotten shallow enough, we'd buried stakes with the last foot or so ending less than two feet under the water and angled towards the shore, then Ytte had solidified that mud into stone with her magic. Thus, our hunting grounds became a spiky trap that could easily be entered but not escaped. Beyond that, with my particular prey, the weight of several hundred pounds of khatif had smashed it down and the swamp lizard's belly was suddenly impaled. With the stakes holding strong, my prey couldn't move, much less flee, and though it fought to escape, I didn't give it any opportunity.

The swamp lizard's body was stuck under the water, its jaws snapping frantically up at me, but I lunged down with both arms and my own jaws to begin the end of the hunt. With [Quaking Claw], my hands sunk deep into its body and shoulders again and again as I struggled to find purchase with my jaws on its thick neck. With a quick thought, I activated [Combatant's Bloodlust], and under its guidance, I showed no mercy. As the beast's struggles began to wane in intensity, a large red spot appeared at the base of its skull and I plunged my left hand in so deep that all my fingers were buried in the flesh as its tense muscles twisted and twitched around my fingers. With a firm hold on my swamp lizard prey, I began to stalk forward with my left arm still buried in the meaty shoulder of the swamp lizard. 

It twitched and began to try to extricate itself as my weight stopped pressing it down into the stakes, but I pushed forward, dragging my prey to firmer ground. Around me, the keelish assigned to assist in the hunt began to press in, but I raised my voice, "This one is mine. Try to draw and hunt another." They immediately gave heed to my command, but several couldn't help continuing to sneak glances at me as I dragged the prey fully out of the water and to solid ground.

The curious side of me was silenced and shunted to the back of my mind as the callous and cold part of my mind amplified by [Combatant's Bloodlust] evaluated the most efficient way to dispatch my prey. It was too heavy for me to flip it over without possibly injuring a muscle like I had before on a terrorbird, so instead my [Skill]'s focus was on the already weakened wounds surrounding the beast's neck and its ribs just below its forelegs. 

With a sudden surge of energy, my prey thrashed enough to escape my claws and flopped to the ground, where it reared its cavernous maw and roared its hissing roar in challenge. I feinted to one side, and it lunged wildly, mouth wide open in the hopes of catching me within. It had no such luck as I planted one leg and dashed to the other exposed side. There, a huge red spot glowed just below its armpit, and I plunged my hand deep in, scales, flesh, and organs quickly giving way beneath my [Quaking Claw]. 

The swamp lizard gasped in pain and stiffened, and, not wanting to allow it any opportunity to recover or escape, I dug my hand ever deeper into its chest and felt its lungs rattling as they filled with blood. I didn't stop, pushing deeper until, with a flash of inspiration, I sent a concentration of vibrations up through my hand and into my prey's chest. Somehow certain as to what the result of my attack would be, I pulled my hand free and watched the swamp lizard collapse to the ground, its chest twitching and convulsing involuntarily. It took only a couple of seconds for my magic to run its course, and the swamp lizard was completely still, bleeding profusely from the dozen or so holes spread through its body. Its death was confirmed by a series of quick [System] notifications that flashed in my eyes.

I let [Combatant's Bloodlust] bleed from my mind, and the previously forgotten curiosity within me surged with a greater strength than before as I looked down at the felled swamp lizard.

As I had thought, its back was patterned with lines of ridged, hard scales that functioned as better armor than anything I'd ever seen naturally occurring on a creature. Its sides and belly were scaled as well, though the sides' scales were smaller and thinner than those on top, and the belly was smooth and soft scales entirely, smooth except from where the stakes had disemboweled the beast. Its arms and legs both were short and stumpy, but obviously powerful enough to carry its whole body on the ground. The tail was a continuation of the powerful body, obviously serving as the primary propelling force for the lizard while swimming. 

From the tip of the snout to the end of the tail, the creature was at least 14 feet long, and I'd guess it weighed at least 1000 pounds. It could afford to be so heavy, given that most of its life was apparently spent in the water, though it could support itself on land. The neck was thick with muscle, and its head was almost entirely mouth, a long snout filled with a line of teeth obviously made for shredding flesh. Though the hands and feet of the swamp lizard were capped with clawed fingers and toes, its primary weapon was obviously the mouth. There was a moment of pride as I looked at my prey, entirely hunted due to my planning and wisdom, and I hoped for a moment that one of the notifications from the [System] would be letting me know that this swamp lizard served as another foe to progress my [Adversary] [Skill].

[Quest board updated. Skill evolutionary requirements discovered.]

Nievtala guide me to progress! I internally cursed to myself, wondering if I'd ever be able to evolve [Adversary], as creatures that had a higher total number of stats than me were increasingly rare. I glanced down at the updated [Quest], and found the true name of the swamp lizard:

[Hunt 5 new species. Reward will vary depending upon the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +3. PROGRESS: Greater Marsh Crocodile.]

A crocodile. The word was foreign on my tongue, and even though it could have been attributed to the original word potentially coming from the human's tongue, I knew inside that I had never heard of these creatures in my past life, though I'd already suspected as much. More importantly and interestingly, though, was the good news that I had received–the evolutionary requirements for [Quaking Claw].