Records of Rebirth

Chapter 18 - Scavengers

As soon as it turned around to charge at me, I'd already slithered away to its blind spot.

Sticking close to the ground, I used its huge bulky body to my advantage to hide myself, making sure to always stay behind its huge frame to not come into visual range of the eyes on the sides of its head.

A snake's agility was high, and the bison was a lumbering slow creature. Before It could move its huge body, my lithe flexible one had already covered the distance from it to the undergrowth.

Moving in quick bursts, it only took a few seconds till I was safely hidden from view, all before it realised it had been bitten.

The bison charged.

Viciously stomping the ground with its hooves, it beat up innumerable dust clouds in a display of its fury.

The earth trembled in its ferocity, the powerful vibrations of the charge through my skin akin to an earthquake.

Its intensity sent a clattering through my teeth like a particularly bumpy rollercoaster ride. If I was still close to it, I would have been pommelled to dust.

I watched it confusedly search for me. It knew something was wrong but with no creature in sight, it did not know what had bitten its thigh.

Failing to find me, possibly chucking it all up to a mosquito bite, it continued to eat.

As I watched the bison calmly chewing away at grass, when only a minute ago it had been so enraged. I began to feel dissatisfied.

What I expected to happen after, was certainly not this. Was my bite that weak?

Over the next few minutes I watched it continue eating, the time ticking away left me feeling disheartened. Was my venom really that ineffective against a large creature?

Perhaps I should have tried something smaller as a tester first.

I was about to confront Sensei to argue with him over giving me weak stats, when something began to happen.

The bison that had been happily chewing away began to slow down. Gradually its grunting and uprooting of roots became difficult and laboured.

Its deep guttural breathing becoming hoarse as its thigh began to exhibit some horrendous swelling.

The wound was red with purplish blotches, in a tensely swollen area extending right through its leg, with blisters containing a disgusting yellow fluid.

It grew so fatigued and nauseated, it actually vomited up all the grass it had eaten.

The wound failed to coagulate, and a wide area of necrosis was already noticeable around the bite. Its thigh had begun to fester.

The constant bleeding out caused there to be small pools forming on the green grass, staining it with blood an ugly dark shade that was almost black.

The bison's enraged guttural cries echoed loudly. Frustrated, it trampled the earth with its jagged clawed hooves, in a last effort to seem threatening.

Grasses and tree roots were strewn about everywhere by the tremendous hooves and tusks that trembled as it moved. It had sensed something was deeply wrong and it was restless. Its body had become weak, but it was desperately trying not to appear so.

The Bison left the area in a laboured run, swaying weakly as its leg continued to bleed, leaving behind a grisly trail.

Safely hidden within the camouflage of dead leaves I watched the creature's reactions. Creeping through the undergrowth I went after it, following the scent.

I made sure to remain hidden in the soft soil and was able to manoeuvre with my head below the ground, following it not with my eyes but through the vibrations its heavy body made in the ground.

Occasionally I would peek out of the soil to see it, and every time I did its state had grown worse.

The bleeding did not stop. The blisters only swelled more, the fur around the bite melting away in a mess of wet hairs.

Each time, the creature looked more and more frantic, its hoarse wails sounding pitiful in the air.

In the distance I felt vibrations made by the calls of many creatures moving through the trees. Had they smelled the blood?

Instinctively I buried myself deeper just in case any was within the vicinity. As I followed the bison I became aware of more presences hiding in the trees, warm heat signatures smaller in size than the bison, possibly coyotes or a pack of hungry wolves.

I did not see them yet, but the growls reverberating through the air as they tracked the bison, told me they were more than six.

Luckily, they did not notice me!

The bison had sensed them too, in its weakened state it struggled more trying to appear big and threatening.

The stalking creatures did not dare to come near and continued to evasively move through the trees. The bison's tusks were not able to strike anything.

The creatures seemed content to continue watching it as though they knew it would fall soon.

As for me, I decided to wait it out. My aim was never to eat the bison but to see the effect of my venom on a large creature. My experiment allowed me to learn a few things.

Firstly, my poison was limited. The bite I gave the bison contained three shots of venom, yet it took this long for it to show its effect.

Either my venom was not very strong, or the creatures here had built a certain tolerance. I had about seven shots left before I ran out and I did not know how long I would have to wait for a refill.

I didn't want to risk running out and becoming defenceless, so I never tried to bite the bison again to end its life. Leaving the existing poison to slowly overcome it.

Fortunately for me, it didn't gain poison resistance.

The amount of venom I had made sense, Poison Fang was only LV1. If I continued using it, the potency was bound to increase along with the toxicity of my venom, but for now I could only make a few shots.

I watched the bison struggle its last, its poisoned hind leg collapsing to the ground in an exhausted heap bringing down the great bulking creature.

From my bite to its fall, I estimated the process took about 20 minutes. I had followed it for that long just watching, but the result was impressive considering its size.

Now that the stalking creatures saw the bison fall, the first began its graceful approach.

The vibrations made by light feet padding the ground along with the drag of a heavy tail alerted me to the new arrivals, even before I heard them snarl.

In the dim light I made out many pairs of blue eyes gleaming like open flames, the smooth moving silhouette of a body with ferocious jagged teeth that glowed a pale blue in the dark.

The first wolf was large and elegant, with its bristling steel grey fur and elongated claws, it was clearly the alpha.

Since it was dark I saw their teeth first. They appeared like sinister maws floating in the dark, filled to the brim with vicious fangs.

They lit up the bushes around them with the eerie blue glow of their cruel mouths, one at a time, like twinkling christmas lights when each wolf opened its maw.

As the approaching wolves snarled, the bison picked up the fight, writhing and struggling, kicking its powerful front legs that could still move at the wolves when they attacked it as a group. It succeeded in wounding one with a blow to its chest.

The weakened wolf stood no chance as it limped away weakly, thereafter, choosing to stay out of the fight. Nipping instead at he bison's already bleeding leg, while the others attacked its front.

This wolf was closest to my hiding spot, so I took the opportunity to attack its leg while it was biting the bison's.

My lunging strike out of the sand was swift. I managed to deliver a bite in less than a second before disappearing into the undergrowth once again.

The wolf's reaction was much faster than the bison's had been. Once bitten it whirled around to sniff at the undergrowth snarling in rage. I quickly made my escape.

This time I only used one shot of venom, it would not fall as quickly as I would have liked.

The wolf who sensed my presence made to follow, but it did not move as quickly. Weakened by the bison's earlier blow its sprint was more like a jog, but its single stride covered a wide distance and it was gaining fast.

I slithered swiftly through the undergrowth eager to get away from the rows of glowing floating fangs that came after me like a nightmare.

The struggle of the wolves against the bison was already reaching its peak. Taking into consideration the bison's weakened state, I was surprised it put up much of a fight.

In the aftermath two more wolves were wounded but the alpha wolf had managed to deal the bison a critical blow, lunging forward its maws gripped firmly on the bison's throat ripping out a chunk of flesh.

The bison, bleeding even more than before howled in pain, its guttural voice reverberating loudly through the forest.

I could not see any more of the fight due to dealing with a pursuit of my own, but I heard the bison's howl get cut off, replaced by the sickening crunch of shattered bone.

The bison's pitiful wails finally stopped.

The surroundings fell to complete silence. Thereafter the alpha's triumphant howl was heard, with the other wolves excitedly joining in on its chorus.