Lake chase

Something good happened; the impact of the snake falling into the lake caused Drayan to be pushed away, distancing him from the creature. But the creature was large and could easily cross the lake to get close to Drayan.

The snake wasted no time and swiftly advanced, moving its body from side to side. It was staring directly at its prey.

Drayan couldn't stay still and began to swim deeper. He executed the Level 3 Crushing Wind Fist technique. His skin began to tear, and much blood was leaking from his body, painting the lake red.

His strength increased, but he was still slow compared to the snake. Ten meters, that was the distance between them.

Drayan activated the body growth genes of the sawshark and created a new arm. Now he had two arms to swim.

But the snake advanced even faster.

I won't die!

Drayan had 50% of unused sawshark nutrients. This was the perfect moment.

Boof!

Drayan punched the lake, generating a wave that pushed him away from the snake.

The nutrients wandering in his body were sent to his cells. The cells fed on the saw shark's nutrients.

Drayan used 20% of the nutrients for evolution. At the same time, he used 10% of temporary nutrients to strengthen his body.

Modified cell evolution (low level): 5% > 15%

Temporary body: Low-level mutant (10% of the original body)

BOOF! — Drayan used another punch.

A tremendous power emanated from his fist. The force in his arms was completely different, but to the snake, it seemed like nothing had changed.

The snake moved faster.

BUUUF!

Why?

BOOOOF!

Why can't I get far enough away?!

No matter how many times Drayan hit the lake with his fist, even though he created a good distance between him and the snake, the creature always stayed close to him. The snake seemed faster in the water than on land.

Damn! Was it a mistake coming here?!

Drayan was in an advantageous environment for the snake.

Desperate, Drayan continued punching the lake. More than 30 punches were executed, but none of them were good enough.

Even if he created an opening of 400 meters or more, it didn't matter. The snake decreased more than 150 meters in seconds by propelling itself in the water.

It was as if the snake were a type of spring.

The force of the snake's impulse and speed was unimaginable to Drayan.

The worst part was that Drayan was going deeper and deeper. The density of the water was making his body extremely heavy.

While the snake only increased speed, Drayan was losing strength.

He was losing a lot of blood and the snake showed no signs of giving up. His body was heavy from the gravity of the water; he was already more than 1000 meters away from the lake's surface.

I can't keep going deeper!

Drayan initially thought that going deeper would slow down the snake due to water pressure. Of course, the snake became slower, but not enough.

However, thanks to this, he was managing to survive the snake's speed, but he couldn't sink even further into the lake, or his body would have difficulty moving due to the pressure.

Drayan activated the mutant wolf's aura mode, obtaining golden irises. His strength and resistance increased drastically.

Drayan pulled his two hands to his waist and, in the next moment, delivered two spinning punches to the lake below him.

BOOOOFSH!

The explosion was like a mini missile falling and exploding inside the lake. Drayan was sent upwards, towards the surface.

He managed to climb more than 200 meters up. But even after creating waves, the snake ignored the waves and impact, swimming upwards.

BOOOOOOFSH!

Drayan delivered another blow, sending his body 300 meters away from the snake, but the creature closed the distance in a moment.

600 meters were left for Drayan to reach the surface.

Drayan managed to move further away from the snake, but he could only execute that punch one more time. He couldn't do this multiple times, not when his body was already tired and losing blood.

It's over! I'm dead! Why the hell did I come to this damn forest?!

At that moment, Drayan had no time for regrets.

The snake opened its huge jaw, showing two large, sharp upper teeth. The back of his throat was like a cave without light.

I'm going to die! There's no way!

It was just a matter of time until he was swallowed.

Do I use my vines?! No! My vines don't have the strength to contain such a huge monster!

...

What do I do? What do I do?! What do I do?!

...

Cent?! I still have Cent! I'll summon him inside its throat!

Two meters for the snake to swallow his small body.

Drayan threw another punch and moved away, creating an opening to summon Cent. He extended his left hand.

Come on! Cent! — Drayan thought.

Grrrrr!

At that moment, a muffled growl from the lake reached Drayan's ears. The water became turbulent, as if a slight earthquake were approaching.

The shadow of a figure, swimming swiftly from the deepest darkness, emerged.

The long jaw full of sharp, pointy teeth opened. The snake, noticing the attack, tried to escape, but the creature's snout was too long. It was too late.

SNAP!

The jaw closed, biting the snake, making it writhe in pain. The teether was a crystalline crocodile with a bluish glow. Her skin was radiant.

The snake wrapped itself around the crocodile's body in an attempt to suffocate the creature. The crocodile shook its body, clenched its jaw, and more blood gushed from the snake. The blood spread across the lake quickly.

Watching that, Drayan felt small witnessing the battle between two giants.

But he also felt that he was in a spectacle.

As impressive as it was, he couldn't just stand there watching. Drayan seized the opportunity to escape, swimming upwards towards the surface.

Drayan vomited all the water stored in his lungs. And he thought of one thing:

In this forest... Are there only mutant-level creatures?!

But what Drayan didn't know was that none of them were adults. They were just young creatures.

Drayan dissolved his arm and canceled the mutant wolf's aura. He simply fell with open arms on the ground and looked at the sky.

I'm tired... Very tired... I thought I was going to die...

His chest rose and fell. Drayan was panting.

Zzzzap...

What sound is that...? Is it coming from the lake?

Drayan raised his body.

His face turned pale when he witnessed in front of him the lake covered in lightning.

Electric currents filled the lake's surface.

An electric creature?!

The first thing that came to Drayan's mind was that some electric sea creature had joined the fight against the crocodile and snake.

Drayan's hands were trembling. If he had stayed in the water a little longer, he would have been killed by the electric currents.

Saved... He was saved.

Wait... The crystal!

Drayan quickly felt his body and found something hard in his pocket. He pulled the object out.

Drayan sighed in relief to see that the Crystal was still with him.

He didn't know what the function of the crystal was, but since the saw shark ate the crystal and Darkening wanted to eat it too, Drayan understood that the Crystal is probably something rare, for mutant-level creatures to be interested.

Drayan spent the rest of the time resting on a tree trunk, far away from the lake.

He needed to recover now.

I need to get out of this forest! I don't have the strength to survive here! The creatures are too insane!

Drayan understood that there was a huge difference between these creatures and the saw shark. The Saw Shark became weak compared to them. It seemed like Drayan had entered another dimension. The level of the forest creatures was on a completely different level from the city.

His whole body shivered at the thought of how strong a modified mutant-level creature was.

Not even Drayan knew how he managed to survive the previous situation.

I was very lucky...

Drayan could only thank his luck.

But he also realized how vast the world was. And how weak he still was. He couldn't rely on luck forever.

I don't have what it takes to compete with these creatures, I better get strong somewhere else and then come back here.

That's what Drayan thought initially. But in the next two days, while returning to the city of 'Dallen' riding on Darkening's back, he only found highly evolved creatures in the forest. Like bees and small rabbits.

Drayan could have a good source of nutrients in the forest, and with that, he was quickly recovering from the injuries and increasing the evolution of his cells.

Modified cell evolution (low level): 15% > 16%

Drayan realized that in the region he was in, there were no strong creatures. This means that only in that region near the lake could there be many mutant-level creatures.

Drayan had his reasons to stay in the forest, even though this place was scary for him.

If Drayan returns to the city of 'Dallen', he will no longer be able to evolve his cells by eating beetles. There was the city of 'Eity', but he needs to cross the sea. With his only arm, he couldn't do that.

He hadn't completely mastered the saw shark's cells and microorganisms to perform the saw shark summon. So far, he could summon the sawshark in its small form, but it wasn't a good size for Drayan to ride on the saw shark's back.

100 centimeters is not enough. Drayan also didn't know what kind of creatures he might encounter when crossing the sea.

Of course, the saw shark is the strongest creature in that sea, but there was no absolute certainty. Another foreign creature could be there now, dominating the sea. In the worst case, a modified mutant creature.

All he had left was the forest.

As long as I don't approach the lake, I'm not in any danger here.

Drayan wanted to make a map marking the lake, but he had lost his bag and the materials to make the map. But he was happy to have his dagger, even if it had cracks over its teeth.

Drayan continued his journey for another day, riding on Darkening's back. And something peculiar happened.

Drayan could see more than twenty brown-furred monkeys from a distance, descending a hill, while chasing a human.

I better get out of here before I get into trouble.

Drayan encouraged Darkening to turn around. Both of them turned their backs completely on the person in danger. As if they didn't care.

"Help! Hunter! Help me! I promise to reward you! Save my life! I beg you!"

The one who fled the chase was a boy who looked to be the same age as Drayan. The boy screamed desperately, with tears on his face. He seemed to be losing his breath and getting slower. It wouldn't take long for the monkeys to catch up.

This is not my problem.

This was Drayan's genuine thought. But Drayan remembered how desperate he was when he was running away from the snake, he also wanted someone to help him at that moment.

And there was also something that caught Drayan's attention, in the boy's words.

But if I'm going to get a reward... I guess it's worth the effort.

"I'm coming, princess." — Drayan mocked, showing how relaxed he was with the situation.