Chapter 42: The Days of Hunting (2)

The swamp breathed.

It wasn’t just the humidity or the heat pressing against Felix’s skin. It was alive in a way the forest hadn’t been.

Each step sank slightly into the damp ground, mud clinging to his feet, resisting him like the swamp itself didn’t want him there.

Felix tightened his grip on the stick in his hand. It wasn’t much. Just a sharpened branch he’d carved along the way, the tip hardened against stone.

It was primitive but useful.

His claws flexed beneath his skin, itching to come out.

"Not yet," he muttered. The air shifted with a faint rustle above.

Felix didn’t look up immediately. His body reacted first.

He stepped back. A blur dropped from the branches, it was a snake.

Its body snapped downward, jaws wide, fangs glistening, Felix’s claws tore through the air.

They extended in a flash, slicing across its body mid-strike. The snake split open before it even hit the ground, its momentum carrying it past him in two twitching halves.

Felix exhaled slowly, retracting his claws.

’If i had hesitated, even for a second...’He didn’t finish the thought.

Instead, he crouched, grabbing the remains, tearing into it without ceremony. It was warm and fresh but not enough for him.

Movement rippled through the water nearby.

Felix stepped closer, eyes narrowing as something shifted beneath the surface. The murky water gave nothing away, just faint distortions, hints of something large moving just out of sight.

He waited for a bit just looking in the direction of the ripples.

The surface broke and a massive jaw lunged upward, lined with jagged teeth...

Felix moved sideways, barely avoiding the snap. The creature surged out, a swamp crocodile, larger than any he’d faced before.

It twisted toward him, tail whipping through the water.

Felix stepped in.

His claws drove down into its skull as it lunged again. The resistance was thick, but not enough. He twisted, forcing his weight behind the strike.

Bone cracked as the crocodile convulsed, its body thrashing violently before going still.

Felix didn’t waste time and he fed on it.

Hours passed like that, he kept finding a lot of different animals in all places.

A cluster of frogs that exploded in all directions when he stepped too close—he caught three before they could escape.

A long-bodied eel that tried to wrap around his leg—he tore it apart before it could tighten.

A bird with a hooked beak that dove for his eyes—he caught it mid-air and crushed its throat.

Each encounter sharpened him as each kill refined something.

But the deeper he went....The quieter it got.

The insects faded.

The constant hum of life thinned until there was nothing but the slow, thick drip of water from leaves.

Felix stopped. He could feel it.... something was wrong.

Something ahead was forcing everything else out.

Felix stepped forward carefully, lowering his stance, stick in hand, claws ready.

The trees parted slightly.

The swamp opened into a wide, shallow basin of dark water, the surface unnaturally still and then ripples.

Not from one place but three and one way larger than the others.

They rose slowly, breaking the surface like something ancient waking up.

Snakes....massive didn’t begin to describe them.

Their bodies were thick as tree trunks, scales dark and slick with swamp water, reflecting faint light in dull patterns. One coiled lazily around a half-submerged log, its length disappearing beneath the surface.

The second lifted its head higher, tongue flicking, tasting the air.

And the third...Felix’s eyes narrowed. It had three heads.

Each one moving independently, eyes scanning, mouths opening slightly as if testing the world.

He exhaled slowly.

"...So i think it’s safe to say they are all mutated."

There was a moment of silence as Felix recognized the snakes and they recognised him.

The first snake lunged low, jaws snapping toward his legs. The second came from above, dropping from a coiled position with terrifying speed.

Felix jumped back, claws tearing into the first snake’s side as it passed. The scales resisted, tougher than anything he’d cut before.

The second snake hit him with a whip of it’s tail.

Its body slammed into his chest, knocking the air out of him as its coils wrapped around him instantly.

Felix growled, claws digging into its body, trying to pry himself free.

Its jaws closed around his shoulder.

Pain exploded through him. Felix’s muscles tightened involuntarily.

He was hit with paralytic poison. His grip weakened and the coils only tightened further.

Bones creaked under the pressure. His vision flickered.

’No....Not like this.’ he thought.

Felix forced his body to move, claws digging deeper, tearing through scale, through flesh. The snake writhed, its grip loosening just enough.

Felix twisted his body and managed to slip free. The second snake released him, pulling back as he hit the ground.

Felix tried to move but nothing happened, his body didn’t respond.

The poison spread fast, locking his muscles, freezing him in place.

His breathing slowed. The snakes circled him cautiously.

One nudged him slightly with its head but Felix didn’t respond.

Then....They lost interest. Slowly, they began to pull back.

Felix lay still...Helpless as a newborn.

His mind screamed, but his body refused to answer.

Time stretched from minutes to hour’s maybe even more.

The swamp returned to silence.

Then a twitch. His finger moved followed by another as the paralysis began to fade.

Felix sucked in a sharp breath as control returned in fragments.

His muscles screamed as sensation flooded back in.

He didn’t wait, he moved fast.

The nearest snake that had already let it’s guard down didn’t expect it.

Felix’s claws drove straight into its eye, sinking deep before it could react. The creature thrashed violently, its massive body tearing through the water, smashing against trees, trying to dislodge him.

Felix held on.

His feet dug into its scales as he drove his claws deeper, tearing, ripping, forcing his way along its body.

The snake convulsed, its movements becoming erratic.

Then Felix dropped off, breathing hard.

’One down.’

The second struck immediately.

Felix barely rolled out of the way, its jaws slamming into the ground where he had been. He grabbed the stick, driving it upward as the snake recoiled.

The sharpened end pierced through its lower jaw.

The snake snapped the stick in half, lunging again.

Felix met it head-on.

His claws tore into its throat as it bit down on his side, teeth sinking deep but he didn’t pull away instead he pushed in.

Closer and way more deeper.

His claws ripped through its neck, tearing muscle, severing something vital.

The snake’s grip weakened and it’s body shuddered as it collapsed.

Felix staggered back, breathing uneven. Blood ran down his side but he ignored it.

Instead, he turned to the third snake that hadn’t moved this entire time.

Its three heads watched him, each one focused, calculating.

Felix exhaled slowly, "Smart."

The snake shifted slightly, its massive body sliding through the water toward the edge of the basin....

Felix followed.

The ground firmed under his feet, mud giving way to damp sand. The open space felt different. It was less confined.

Better for movement.

The three-headed snake raised itself higher, all three heads spreading out, surrounding him from different angles.

No blind spots were left.

Felix flexed his claws. Something felt... different.

A faint liquid coated them, they felt thicker.

He didn’t question it. The snake struck all of its three heads at once.

Felix moved.

Barely slipping between two strikes, the third grazing his arm, slicing his skin.

He countered instantly, claws slashing across one head’s eye.

The reaction was immediate.

The snake recoiled, all three heads pulling back in unison before striking again, faster this time.

Felix adapted...each movement sharper, each reaction tighter.

He aimed for the same head again.

Forced it to defend itself and created an opening...The second head lunged.

Felix drove his claws into its mouth, feeling the strange fluid spread as he tore through flesh.

The snake convulsed. The head spasmed, movements slowing.

Felix grinned, "Yes."

The third head came from the side...He didn’t dodge but he instead stepped in.

The jaws closed around his arm.

Pain flared alongside his arm but Felix ignored it. With his free hand, he grabbed the broken half of the stick and drove it upward.

Straight into the snake’s eye.

The resistance was brutal but he pushed harder and the stick pierced through way too deep.

The snake thrashed wildly, its body slamming against the ground, sand exploding around them.

Felix didn’t let go...he climbed. Used the embedded stick as leverage, pulling himself up along its head as it writhed.

Then...He forced himself in through the eye...Through the opening he had made. The world became tight, wet and suffocating.

The snake’s movements turned erratic, desperate. Felix drove his claws outward from within, tearing through anything he could reach.

The thrashing slowed...it weakened up until it stopped.

Silence fell all around them.

Felix dragged himself out, collapsing onto the sand beside the massive corpse.

His chest rose and fell heavily.

The swamp watched as a cool breeze passed by Felix.

Felix looked at his hands. At the faint sheen still coating his claws.

’Paralytic venom huh.’ His lips twitched slightly, "Useful."

He stood slowly, body aching, wounds already beginning to close.

Behind him, the bodies of all three snakes lay still.

Ahead of him the swamp stretched further, much deeper.

Felix picked up what remained of the stick and kept walking.