Chapter 9 – First Kill

Alex became nervous when he saw that the wolves had come back.

These wolves knew where Alex was, and if that weird lizard saw how these wolves acted up, it might decide to also attack Alex.

The wolves walked around, sniffing the ground.

Then, they turned their attention to the tree Alex was on and walked over.

Alex's heart beat ferociously as he tried to think of something.

He wasn't scared of the wolves. After all, these wolves couldn't climb trees.

However, he was scared of the lizard.

Alex still tried to hide as well as possible. Doing something stupid now might spell his doom.

BANG!

Alex's eyes widened in horror.

What had he just seen?!

The wolves immediately released short shouts as they jumped away.

However, only three wolves were left.

A fireball had flown over to one of the wolves and had exploded!

The wolf's body was partially torn apart, and the explosion of the fireball had thrown it against the tree.

Where had the fireball come from?

It came from the tree where the lizard was supposed to be!

The remaining three wolves immediately scattered into all directions, fearful of whatever it was that had killed one of their companions.

The last wolf was barely clinging to life, but to no avail. Even if nothing else attacked it anymore, it would still die.

Alex still could barely believe what he had just seen.

Had the lizard fired a fireball?

Was that why it was so confident in taking on the hog?!

Then, Alex saw the lizard slithering down from its tree as it walked over to the half-dead wolf with its long legs.

SNAP!

The lizard bit down on the wolf's neck, suffocating it slowly.

Silence.

Alex saw how the lizard was dealing with the wolf just beside his tree, and Alex became a bit agitated.

If he jumped down now, he could take out the lizard and claim both corpses for himself!

Alex had enough food for a day, but he would need to survive for longer.

Food was a pressing issue for him right now.

Alex readied his survival knife as he debated if he should jump down or not.

By now, the wolf was no longer moving, but the lizard wanted to make sure that the wolf was dead. Because of that, the lizard continued strangling the wolf.

Alex continued hesitating.

Alex readied his knife.

And then, he put it away.

The lizard was too dangerous.

If the lizard had the ability to shoot fireballs, it might have different abilities as well.

Maybe its scales were incredibly powerful?

Maybe its body was far more powerful than it appeared?

There were too many unknowns about this lizard.

CRASH!

Suddenly, Alex heard something crash through a bush, and he looked over.

One of the wolves was back, and it was charging directly at the lizard!

Alex also quickly noticed that the two other wolves were also charging at the lizard from different sides.

'They've assessed the danger from a distance and decided that they should try to kill the lizard,' Alex thought with narrowed eyes.

'This might be my chance to get some food!'

The first wolf directly charged at the lizard with its full speed, which was quite impressive.

The lizard suddenly hissed loudly as it showed its fangs to the approaching wolf.

Alex noticed this and quickly made several deductions in his head. If the lizard could quickly kill the approaching wolf, there would be no point in threatening it. This meant that the lizard might have been weakened by the attack it had unleashed previously.

Maybe the lizard's fireball was similar to a snake's bite? Snakes used their venom only sparingly since it took a lot of energy to create more of it.

BANG!

However, the wolf received another fireball to the face.

This time, Alex had seen the fireball clearly.

The fireball had only been about five centimeters across, but it had shot at the wolf with quite some speed. When the fireball hit the wolf, it exploded ferociously.

Half of the wolf's head was destroyed, making it fall to the ground, convulsing.

However, something surprising happened.

The other two wolves didn't let up!

This shocked Alex.

Two of their comrades had already died! So, why were they so adamant about taking down the lizard? This wasn't how normal wild animals behaved!

The other two wolves reached the lizard, and it sprang back with a violent and shrill hiss.

Then, chaos broke out.

The two wolves violently attacked the lizard as it tried to defend itself with its long claws, tail, and teeth.

'It can't unleash fireballs anymore,' Alex noticed.

The lizard was quite powerful. Every single bite from it echoed throughout the clearing. Its scales also gave it a considerable defense against any attacks. Whenever a wolf bit it, their teeth only barely managed to penetrate the scales.

Yet, the two wolves were faster and more agile. They simply placed themselves at opposite sides of the lizard. Whenever the lizard turned to one wolf, the other one would bite its tail.

Alex readied himself.

Alex's heartbeat climbed to ferocious heights.

Alex had been in a ton of fights in his life, but no fight had been a genuine life-and-death battle until the very last moment of his previous life.

Alex knew that he was about to risk his life to take another.

Creeaaak!

The branch Alex was currently on creaked as Alex stood up. Yet, the sound of the branch went unheard due to the commotion going on below him.

Then, Alex jumped.

Time seemingly stopped for Alex as he fell down.

Nothing below him moved anymore as seconds seemed to take forever to pass.

CRACK!

Alex landed on top of the wolf with his knees, and he immediately heard and felt a brutal crack.

Luckily, this crack didn't come from his own body.

The wolf quickly fell to the side due to the force of Alex's fall, and Alex's knee traveled to the wolf's ribcage due to the new angle.

CRACK!

The ribcage gave way beneath Alex's knee, and Alex felt the force of the fall hit his own body.

Luckily, his body was fit enough to resist a fall from just a couple meters.

Alex's body was filled with adrenaline, and he immediately grabbed his survival knife and rammed it into the wolf's neck.

The knife went into the wolf's neck like it didn't even exist.

Obviously, the knife was not of inferior quality.

CRSH!

Alex immediately pulled the knife out from the side, severing the front of the wolf's neck.

While all of this was happening, Alex was keeping tabs on the other two living beings in the area.

The other wolf had immediately run away as soon as it saw that it was alone.

The lizard chased it for a couple of meters, hissing the entire time.

While Alex was still dealing with the wolf under him, the lizard turned back and looked at him, hissing.

Alex looked into the lizard's eyes as the wolf died beneath his feet.

Then, they only stared at each other for five seconds.

By now, the wolf's body only convulsed weakly, not being able to do anything else.

Alex slowly stood up and grabbed the wolf's legs.

CRRRRRR!

The sound of something scraping across the ground was heard as Alex pulled the wolf towards his tree.

The lizard continued hissing at Alex while he was doing that.

Then, the lizard charged at Alex!

Thunk!

Alex dropped the wolf and charged at the lizard.

CRK! HISSSSSS!

The lizard suddenly stopped its charge as it resumed its hissing.

When Alex saw that the lizard had stopped its charge, Alex also stopped.

They stared at each other for several more seconds.

The lizard had tried to frighten Alex into running away, and Alex had called that bluff.

Alex slowly walked back to his prey, looking at the lizard.

The lizard continued hissing, but after a couple of seconds, it seemed to calm down.

It slowly walked over to its most recent kill and bit down on one of the corpse's legs, looking at Alex the entire time.

Then, the lizard pulled the corpse away.

Alex only continued looking at the lizard.

A couple seconds later, the lizard suddenly changed its hold, bit on the wolf's neck, heaved it up in one motion, and ran away with impressive speed.

'Sure enough, this lizard isn't simple,' Alex thought with narrowed eyes. 'It should only weigh about 50 kilograms, but it straight-up lifted the about 80 kilograms wolf and ran off with it.'

Surprisingly, it left behind the other corpse.

Silence returned to the clearing.

Alex was slowly calming down as the thick scent of blood appeared in his nose, making him wrinkle his nose.

Then, Alex started feeling pain coming from his right knee.

He moved his leg around a bit, and it felt like his knee was burning.

Luckily, no bones were loose, and Alex could still move it without problems.

It simply hurt a lot.

'This means my knee isn't broken. Lucky.'

Alex looked at the darkening sky with narrowed eyes.

'No time to think about my first kill. I need to bring the corpse to a safe place.'

Alex looked at his tree.

'Up the tree would be best.'

Then, Alex looked at the bleeding corpse.

'Yet, how do I get it up there?'