6 006

006

In an attempt to fend off competing hunters, this monster had a unique way of establishing dominance. Rather than directly fighting with another of its own kind and risk damaging its only predatory attribute, they'd simply extend their jaws to the widest angle they could.

This little skill showed off the very bright colored tongue and its inner glands, which released very pungent odors to ward off any other beasts from attacking.

Marcus did not understand as to why the creature was opening its mouth like an overstretched coin purse and hissing out the disgusting smell with its purple tongue flapping wildly about. He just kept throwing every rock and light crystal he could find next to him.

The monster did not feel its prey let up on the stinging hits, so it decided to crawl forward with the intent to scare him, or get close enough to clamp down. It continued hissing and sliding until an odd sensation travelled through its throat.

Marcus had managed to sink a baseball sized rock in its gullet, vaguely recalling the buzzer noise he heard when sinking a shot in a carnival game when he was a kid. For a moment they both froze, neither knowing how to react. They were both shocked at the event.

Once the creature realized its airway was blocked, it unfroze by letting out a guttural cough. It shut its mouth and began thrashing its head when it couldn't get the rock out on the first vomiting gag. The monster may have had a menacing looking set of teeth, but it needed them to break down its food more often than most, to a near pulp of viscera.

It was not expecting a solid rock to make its way through and nestle itself right on top of its already weak lungs. The violent shaking only got worse as it started slamming the side of its head against the walls in hopes to dislodge the obstruction.

Marcus could only watch with great amounts of relief and a bit of pity. He knew the disgusting looking monster was just trying to do what it naturally did, but his own life mattered far more to him in this situation.

The scene carried on for another three minutes, eventually the climatic show ended with the monster collapsing to its side, passing out from asphyxiation. Marcus dared not to move for what felt like an additional ten minutes.

Only until he had counted to one-hundred three times did he bravely make his way over to the overturned body. His legs shook from the adrenaline fading and the increased exhaustion, he practically wobbled all the way over.

When he was close enough, he could feel some of the heat radiating from the brown scales of the defeated monster. The body was rather large and its thick, spongy scales seemed to conserve a great deal of body heat.

Marcus had grown somewhat delirious in his time in the caves with no food or water, so what came next was almost like a dream to him.

At first, he hugged the warm belly of the dead monster, basking in its warmth while hearing the organs slowly shut down with the occasional moan and gurgle. Once that started to disappear, he started getting cold. He didn't want that to happen and suddenly a fantastic new idea came to mind.

He stumbled like a drunk to the monster's mouth and examined some of the razor sharp teeth extending from the edge of the lips. When it beat its head against the wall repeatedly, a few had become broken or chipped with a lot more coming loose. Marcus found that he could rip out a nice, long tooth with relative ease.

Once he made his way back to its stomach, he took the near foot long tooth like a skewer and jammed as far as it would go inside. It slid through all the way to the stunted ribcage, leaving enough of the tooth sticking out for Marcus to shove his weight into a sideways pull.

The tunnel soon reeked of fresh blood and gutted monsters, but Marcus didn't care. He made a long incision that was nearly his height in length. The cut was venting enough heat that he could see the condensing vapor around the edges, the sweet heat he wanted was still buried deep in there. No longer caring about smells or squishiness, he pried the cut open and pushed a foot inside.

He had no idea what came over him, but Marcus had spent too long trying to survive the cave tunnels with standards and strategies. That sensation was the first break he had gotten on this messed up world, so he took it for all it was worth.

A small part of his mind broke down as he snuggled himself in the hot and sticky intestines, becoming more of an animal than he thought possible. Regardless, it was the first time he got some decent sleep on Krotosia. He was unconscious almost instantly.

If this was any indication as to how messed up his journey was about to be, he was certainly gonna wish he had spawned in the world of only dinosaurs and cavemen.