Settling The Beef (3)

Looking at the emerging dark shades on the lake surface, Matthew counted them and confusion started to appear in his mind as he realized that there are 4 dark shades instead of the expected 3.

'If I remember correctly, there were only 4 crocodiles last time, does this mean that there are even more crocodiles inside the lake?'

'Whatever, there's only one more crocodile and I can just consider it as a bonus meal.'

While the 4 crocodiles are getting closer towards the lakeside, Matthew is trying to drag the crocodile's body that he had just defeated further away from the lakeside so that the other crocodiles will have to walk on the ground further to reach it, which means that it will give Matthew more time to plan his ambush, especially now that there are 4 crocodiles that he has to deal with.

Matthew couldn't use the same strategy to inject one full dose of venom from one of his venom glands because he already emptied one gland and there is only one gland left that is full of venom. Although the glands are constantly producing venom, it would take a long time to fully fill up the venom capacity, and Matthew doesn't have a lot of time right now before the 4 crocodiles come and steal his prey again.

'Alright then, hope this strategy will work again!'

Matthew then put his two front feet inside his mouth and coated them with his venom, the same strategy that he used when he was dealing with the deers when he just got the venom glands.

Back then when he only got the spider's venom glands as his upgrade, Matthew has to play an extreme hit and run strategy where he could only hit the deers once before hiding for a few minutes to wait for the venom to take effect, and his claws are also not as sharp as what he has currently.

But now that Matthew already has a more potent venom, sharper and longer claws that could penetrate better into his enemies' bodies and more importantly, he now has his own aura ability that enabled him to be in full invisibility even when he is fighting his enemies, he is confident that he will be able to win the fight even against 4 crocodiles that are 2 or 3 times bigger than his size.

With the full invisibility, Matthew could now hit the crocodiles as much as he liked without getting hit back, instead of getting one hit in then hiding and waiting for the venom to take effect. And with his wolf claws, Matthew could penetrate deeper into the crocodile's under-scales and make the venom spread even faster.

As Matthew was preparing himself, one of the dark shades finally came out of the water, revealing a huge crocodile that was maybe even bigger than the crocodile that Matthew had just defeated. The crocodile's big mouth that can even swallow a deer whole and added with a set of razor-sharp interlacing teeth and strong looking jaw that could easily break bones surely didn't help Matthew to keep the confidence that he had at the start. Especially when seeing there are 3 other crocodiles with similar characteristics also came out of the water following the big crocodile.

The big crocodile already has a target the moment it decides to come up on the water surface and that target is the unmoving crocodile's corpse that is located a few feet away from the lakeside. And hence, the moment the big crocodile put his feet on the ground, it straight away walked in the direction of the crocodile's corpse.

Although seeing 4 crocodiles up close have waned Matthew's confidence, it doesn't mean that he will be giving up on taking his revenge.

Matthew knew that he already got the tools needed to be able to fight against the crocodiles, he only needed to utilize them in the best way possible and don't let himself be cowered in fear. Besides, if he decides to run away right now, it only means that despite the evolution and upgrade to his body, Matthew still hasn't developed and grown at all from last time when he was faced with the same challenge.

And with that resolution in mind, along with the fear of being stuck in the same place without progressing, Matthew took a deep breath, braced himself, and started to move his body towards the group of crocodiles.

Matthew didn't know exactly if the crocodiles in front of him all had the same strength or not, but by seeing the 3 crocodiles walking behind and following the bigger crocodile, Matthew could guess that the big crocodile needed extra attention when he was dealing with the group. And so, Matthew's first target to inflict his venom on has been decided.

Matthew then slowly inches towards the big crocodile. Although the distance between the dead crocodile body and the lakeside is not considered far at all, the crocodiles are not exactly agile on the land, and so far, they are only halfway towards their destination.

Matthew waited about 3 feet away directly in front of the big crocodile's face. With his claws already coated in venom, Matthew only needed to wait for the crocodile to go past him.

When the big crocodile's face was directly beside Matthew, Matthew brought up his claws, aimed it at the crocodile's under-scales, and with all his strength, he thrust his claws towards the under-scales in the crocodile's neck area.

When the claws succeeded in penetrating the under scales, Matthew didn't continue pushing his claws inside using the thrusting motion, but instead, he moved his claws in a pinching motion.

The reason why Matthew was pinching his claws rather than swinging it is because Matthew's body is different from the wolves. The wolves may mainly use their claws to attack their enemies by swiping their claws, but Matthew's two-toed feet are not designed for swiping. But instead, it is used so that he would be able to hold on to trees better. Matthew could certainly use his claws to claw-swipe his enemies, but he would be able to utilize more of his claw's strength effectively when he uses the pinching motion, which is how the two-toed feet are supposed to do naturally.

When tree trunks could even be penetrated easily by Matthew's two-toed feet, let alone an animal scales. It would be a different story if Matthew tried to penetrate the hard scales that are made of bone on the crocodile's back, but Matthew is aiming for the under-scales that are softer. And the result is clear, Matthew's venomous claws succeeded in penetrating deep inside the crocodile's neck area and spreading the venom inside the crocodile's body.

The crocodile who was suddenly ambushed was startled and the only reaction it could do in that split second was to abruptly halt its movement and whip its face in the direction of the attack to see what had just attacked him. But when his head fully turned to the side, he could not see who had just attacked him, and the initial shocking pain had subsided and left him with the residual pain. The pain he just felt was as if a wolf had succeeded in biting his neck, but only for the wolf to release the bite in the next second.

But the pain he felt is still there, which means that he was not imagining things. The big crocodile stopped his movement and looked left and right for the one who had just attacked him.

But Matthew didn't just stand there and waited for the venom to take effect, he wanted to make use of the full invisibility that he got and when the big crocodile was moving its head left and right searching for him, Matthew used the opportunity to sneak beside the big crocodile's body, coated his claws with venoms again and repeated the same motion of thrusting and pinching his claws into the side under-belly of the big crocodile's body.

This time, the big crocodile knew that something was clearly attacking him, he responded to the attack on its left belly by swinging his tail into his left and hoping to hit the attacker.

But Matthew didn't plan to stay in the same position to attack the big crocodile. The moment his claws were in and he was able to inject more venom into the crocodile's body, he already achieved what he was going for and quickly pulled out his claws and moved away from his last position. And thus, the crocodile's tail swing only succeeded in hitting the air.

The crocodile was livid as he opened up his mouth and let out a deep hissing sound that was different from a snake's and a cat's hiss. The hiss brought up the feeling of fear to the crocodile's opponent and it served as a reminder that he was not someone to be messed with.

But Matthew, who was an ex-human that was on top of the food chain, didn't really feel the fear and terror the other animals felt when they heard the crocodile's deep hissing sound. Because now, Matthew was seeing the crocodile from a predator point of view. Matthew was the hunter, the predator, while the crocodile was his prey. And such intimidation won't work on him, who was preparing for his revenge for a long time.

'Grunt, growl, and hiss as much as you want. But it won't change anything. The moment my venom succeeded in entering your body, your clock was already ticking, and it's ticking fast especially for you!' Matthew said as he closed his distance once more to inject even more of his venom inside the crocodile's body.