I Became the Only Reptile in the Community

Chapter 9

—–CROW—– 

What was this cat?

Why was it munching on my tail so deliciously?  For a moment, I stared blankly at it, engrossed in its enthusiastic tail-eating, thinking it would be a great mukbang star.  Well, part of my reaction was due to not fully grasping the situation.

Whack.

“Sss?!”

“Ow?!”

It was the sharp pain in my head that finally snapped me back to reality.  I blinked, and there it was, a cat looking at me with a disgruntled expression, tail swishing.  It probably found my blank staring while it was eating disturbing.

“Seriously? You slapped me?”

I woke up to my tail being eaten, and now I’d been slapped across the face.

Crackle.

“Sss!”

“You damn cat!”

Even a magnanimous snake like me couldn’t tolerate this.  I glared at the cat, preparing for battle.  It might not know, but I had hunted a giant rat five times my size without getting seriously injured. A little cat like this would be easy prey!

“Sss!”

“Here I come!”

Did you think I felt sorry for the cat?  Sorry, but the moment it started chewing on my tail, it was game over. Just like with the giant rat, it was the cat that attacked me first.

“Sss!!”

With its small size, it should go down in one, maybe two bites.

Coiling my body like a spring, I launched myself at the cat.  Opening my mouth, I coated my few teeth with venom, ready to sink them into its flesh!

Whoosh.

“What?!”

But my attack was effortlessly thwarted by the cat’s nimble sidestep. How? That same attack worked on the giant rat.  Blinded by rage, I hadn’t properly recalled the previous fight. The giant rat hadn’t just stood there; it had charged at me too.

“Seriously?!”

But that wasn’t a big problem.  My initial surprise attack had just failed.  I could still beat a small cat like this, even without a surprise attack.

Flick. Flick. Whoosh.

But why?

Why was it dodging my attacks so easily?

“Meow~.”

“That little…!”

Now it was even yawning as if bored? It was completely crushing my pride.  Burning rage coursed through me, but I forced myself to calm down.  Relying on instinct and fighting in a blind rage wouldn’t give me any chance of winning. I was already being toyed with; relying on instinct now would be suicide.

Whoosh.

“Sss!”

“Meow~”

How could I possibly land an attack?  Charging directly was useless; it dodged too easily.  As much as I hated to admit it, my movements were so predictable that the cat was yawning out of boredom.

“I need to make my attacks land… prevent it from dodging… Ah!”

Yes, that’s what I needed to do.  This was the cave entrance; there were plenty of things I could use.

Ssssss.

I slowly slithered to the side and picked up a pebble from the ground.  Good, I had my tool. Now, lock onto the target… done. Prepare to fire… okay.

“Sss!”

“Here it goes!”

I threw the pebble at the cat.

“Meow?!”

A clear look of surprise flashed across its face.  It dodged with a jump far exceeding its previous displays of agility, and I smirked.

“This is what human ingenuity is all about.”

A human should know how to use tools!

However, this groundbreaking method didn’t yield satisfactory results. There was a slight problem with my pebble-throwing technique.

“Damn it, my tail!”

Without a tail, it took longer to pick up pebbles, the throwing power was weaker, and the accuracy was abysmal.  If only I had a tail…

But my tail was currently being enjoyed as a snack in the cat’s mouth.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

Hop. Hop.

I threw a pebble. It dodged.  I threw another pebble. It dodged.  I threw another pebble. It dodged.  There was no hitting.  Only an endless cycle of throwing and dodging.  At some point, the cat stopped being surprised by the flying pebbles and started dodging them like it was playing jump rope.

“Meow~ Meow~”

It was enjoying itself, wasn’t it?  It was playing around with my brilliant strategy as if it were a game.

But it was too early to be complacent.

“Yes, keep playing like that.”

Until it lost interest in me.  The moment its attention shifted from me to the pebbles would be my chance to strike.

Stop.

What would happen if the pebbles suddenly stopped coming?  It would pause and think, huh? Why aren’t the pebbles coming anymore?

“Meow?”

The cat tilted its head, its movement momentarily ceasing as it looked towards me.  This was my chance.

Chomp.

Finally, I sank my teeth into its body.

“I won.”

I had diligently gathered venom in my fangs for this one strike.  10 seconds passed since my venom entered its body. 30 seconds. 1 minute. 3 minutes… 5 minutes…?

“Sss?”

Huh?

Why was it still fine?  It should have collapsed and died by now.  Something was wrong.  Realizing this, I noticed something strange that I hadn’t noticed before.

“How can that cat move so freely in this place?”

Even the giant rat had struggled to move here. It took me a considerable amount of time to adapt when I first arrived.  But the cat? Did it ever look uncomfortable moving around during our fight?

“Ha, I was wrong.”

The answer was simple.  It was an extraordinary creature, capable of withstanding the mana here.

“It’s not a mythical creature.”

But it was close, probably on the verge of becoming one.

“Why did I only realize this now?”

I should have realized this much earlier.  Why hadn’t I?  There were several factors.  First, I had only gotten an hour of sleep after 10 days of non-stop gallery browsing.  On top of that, the sudden appearance of a stranger, the damage to my body, and the slap across the face – this triple combo had disrupted my ability to think straight, leading to this predicament.

“Hiss!”

Whack.

A devastating blow, far exceeding any I’d received before, rocked my head.  For a moment, I thought my head had exploded.  The impact was so strong that I literally saw stars.

Thud.

Was I going to die here? No, I couldn’t die here.  Being born as a snake was bad enough; I couldn’t die in this form before even transforming back into a human.

“No way.”

Whirl.

“Meow?!”

“Ssssaaa!!”

I wouldn’t die.  Absolutely not. Never.  I would become a mythical creature, live as a human, and die as a human!

Squeeze.

“Hiss!!”

“Ssssaaa!!”

Perhaps due to the head injury, my vision blurred and wavered.  As everything doubled and tripled before my eyes, I mustered all my strength, climbed onto the cat, and coiled around its neck, squeezing.

I didn’t question whether I was actually constricting its neck.

“Cough. Hiss!!”

Its reaction gave me the answer.  The venom wasn’t working?  Then I’d just suffocate it.

Crunch.

Of course, it wasn’t giving up easily. It thrashed around, slamming my body against the ground and raking its claws across my scales, leaving deep wounds.

“I won’t let go.”

But I was a tenacious Korean. I wasn’t foolish enough to let this last chance slip away, nor did I lack perseverance.

“Blame your small size.”

If it were as big as the giant rat, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of attempting this.

Luck was on my side.  My luck, its misfortune.

Thump.

As I continued to constrict, its struggles finally ceased, and its paws went limp.

“I won.”

In the end, I was the victor.

Slide. Thud.

Just like the cat collapsing on the ground, I too lost my strength and collapsed on top of it.  It would have been perfect to finish it off right there, but unfortunately, I was at my limit. I had no strength left.

“Sss…”

As my eyes grew heavy and my consciousness faded, I prayed desperately.  I envisioned a certain goddess who truly existed in this world.

“Goddess Raine, please let me wake up before it does.”

***

“Meow, meow~”

Roll, roll.

“Meow~ Meow~”

“God is dead.”

Otherwise, there was no way she would have let the cat wake up before me.  Feeling the cat nudging and rolling me around, I memorized this humiliating moment and vowed internally,

“You damn cat. I’ll kill you for sure!”

Of course, whether or not that would happen… I couldn’t know right now.

—–CROW—–