Settling The Beef (2)

Matthew observed the dark shade under the lake closely. And It was moving slowly towards the bait that Matthew had prepared for it. After Matthew activated his invisibility, Matthew went out of the bush that he used for camouflage, and right now, he is out in the open near the lakeside.

At first, Matthew wanted to directly ambush the crocodile when it went out of the water to snatch the boar, but at the last moment, he got an idea that he wanted to try. The idea gambled on the fact that the crocodile doesn't seem to be as smart as the wolves and their level of intelligence seems to be ordinary just like the animals back on earth.

If the plan succeeds, then it could significantly help Matthew in gaining an advantageous position when fighting against the 4 crocodiles. But if he failed, then he could only proceed with the first plan of directly ambushing the crocodile.

Matthew kept his eyes on the dark shade on the water, and while he waited for the crocodile to enter its jumping range, where the crocodile jumped out of the water to snatch the prey, Matthew coiled his tongue again on the hind legs of the boar.

As the dark shade was getting closer and closer, Matthew prepared himself and waited for the right moment to proceed with his gamble.

'Not yet Matthew, just a little bit more, be patient Matthew…' Matthew thought to himself.

Matthew waited patiently, and when the dark shade is finally stopped moving at the border of the water and the ground,

'Now!'

Matthew then jerked his tongue that was connected to the boar and pulled the boar away from the lakeside. And at the same time when Matthew pulled the boar, the crocodile jumped out of the water, with its long mouth aiming at the boar's body that was near the lakeside before.

The crocodile's ambush should have been accurate and the boar should have been inside the crocodile's jaw right now, but because Matthew pulled the boar towards himself, the crocodile missed its attack and the boar was safe from the crocodile's bite.

A crocodile's strongest attack method was its ambush when it launched itself out of the water. A quick and deadly bite that could take down its prey in a single bite. The prey could die either from the wound or when the prey didn't die from the bite, the crocodile would keep its jaw shut tightly on the prey and bring the prey back to the lake and drown them to death. Crocodiles are opportunistic creatures, and that's why the crocodile hunted their prey by waiting for a poor creature who got too close to the lakeside and ambushed them.

That's the reason why Matthew put the boar near the lakeside. To bait the crocodile to come out. But at the last moment, Matthew got an idea to drag the boar away the moment the crocodile decided to jump out of the water. So that the crocodile would chase the boar on the ground which means that the crocodile would be further away from the lake and it enabled Matthew to be in an advantageous position since the real fight is not with the first crocodile, but the other crocodiles that would come out later to feast on their dead friend.

And fortunately, Mattew's gamble seems to have worked since the crocodile is currently slowly walking towards the boar's body that is now at least 6 feet away from the lakeside.

Matthew didn't know whether the crocodile decided to chase after the boar because it was very hungry or because its pride was hurt since it never missed an ambush before. But Matthew is now sure that the crocodile is not the most brilliant animal in their intellect department.

After Matthew succeeded in baiting the crocodile to walk further on the ground, he let his tongue off the boar and started walking sneakily onto the crocodile's side.

When the crocodile finally caught up to the boar, it opened its mouth wide and bit the boar. And Matthew, who didn't want to miss this chance, went directly to the side of the crocodile's neck and swiftly bit the crocodile's neck at the under part of the neck where the scales are softer. Matthew didn't know if he could even penetrate the crocodile's under-scales using the original chameleon's mouth and teeth, but now that his mouth and teeth are the wolf's sharp teeth and strong jaw, Matthew could easily penetrate the under part of the crocodiles and injected one full dose of his venom, emptying one of his venom glands.

The crocodile, who didn't expect that he would be attacked out of nowhere, reflexively let go of the boar in its mouth and swung his body to the left where he felt that his neck was being bitten tightly and at the same time snapped his mouth in that direction in hopes that whoever attacked him will be caught by his mouth.

The crocodile's strategy should have worked well if the one who attacked him had a body that was at least as big as the wolf. But unfortunately, Matthew's body was only half as big and he was also not as tall as the wolves, and when the crocodile swung its body, Matthew's small body was moving along with the crocodile's body, resulting in him being safe from the crocodile's sudden attack, making the crocodile only succeeded in biting the air.

Matthew knew that when his venom succeeded in going inside the crocodile's body, he only needed to play the waiting game before the venom spread throughout the crocodile's body and weakened it from the inside until it died slowly. And now, Matthew had one job, which is to prevent the crocodile from going back into the lake and making sure that it died on land so that when the other crocodiles show up, they have to come up on the land if they want to take a bite.

To do that, Matthew used a similar tactic that he did with the boars. After giving his dose of venom to the crocodile, Matthew let go of the bite and started climbing on top of the crocodile and clawing the under-scales of the crocodile from on top of its back.

Although his claws can't make a deep cut from such an awkward position, Matthew's main intention when clawing it was to annoy the crocodile, which works perfectly as the crocodile swung its body left and right, forward and backward, trying its best to get the annoying creature off his back.

The crocodile didn't know what creature had attacked him since he wasn't able to see at all what attacked him from the start, but it knew from the creature's weight on top of his back, that it was not a big creature that could threaten him. And the fact from the attacks that he received so far, besides the initial bite at the beginning, the rest of the creature's attack is negligible for him and it only works to piss himself even more.

The crocodile who was livid that he still wasn't able to shake off the creature on top of his back, also failed to notice that his body is getting weaker by the second, and each swing that he did with his body only made the venom spread faster. The unfortunate crocodile only realized the abnormality inside his body when it was already too late.

Matthew's current venom glands can produce venom about twice as potent as before, and when 4 doses of venom glands are enough to kill off a crocodile in a matter of seconds, 2 doses of venom glands is certainly capable of incapacitating a crocodile in minutes.

The crocodile, who had just become aware of his body getting heavier to move, tried to go back into the lake so that he would be in an advantageous position against its attackers that was currently still holding on tightly on top of his back.

But Matthew also realized this fact and did his best to hinder the crocodile from going back into the water. And with the crocodile's body being weaker than ever, it isn't hard for Matthew to wrap his tongue around the crocodile's mouth and pull him in the opposite direction from the lake.

Crocodiles might have monstrous strength when they are swimming in the water, and their bite force is considered one of the strongest in the world, but when their mouths are tightly shut and they are out of the deep water, there's not much that they could do. If even humans can deal with crocodiles on the ground only by using their hands to forcefully shut the crocodile's mouth, Matthew could certainly do it too. And added with the venom, it's even way easier for Matthew to control the crocodile's movement.

Matthew waited for another minute before the crocodile didn't have enough strength to fight back and could only lay lifelessly slowly waiting for its death. Fortunately, Matthew isn't a psychopath who likes to see other creatures dying a slow and painful death. When Matthew noticed that the crocodile wasn't capable of struggling anymore, Matthew came in and tore open the crocodile's neck with a bite.

-Level 11 Porosus Crocodile Killed-

Matthew would have jumped in joy if this was his first time ever defeating a crocodile near the lake and if he didn't know anything about them. But Matthew already knew what he was dealing with and when he just succeeded in killing the crocodile, he didn't even celebrate for a second.

Matthew waited patiently beside the crocodile's corpse with his eyes glaring in the direction of the lake. After waiting for a few minutes, Matthew finally noticed a few shades of black appeared near the lake surface. Matthew gulped and stretched his body even though he had just finished an intense fight, but he does it nonetheless as a sign that the real battle is just about to start.