Black Snake had never expected humans to hunt and kill one another so efficiently.
As the desperate fighting continued, his heat-sensing vision showed the fallen figures rapidly cooling. The things humans held cut far more efficiently than a beast's sharp teeth, easily stealing the warmth of life.
He silently committed the details of their fighting to memory. He would have to be on guard in the future.
As they fought, the battlefield shifted from the riverbank toward the grassland. Amid the frantic struggle, no one spared a thought for their surroundings.
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Black Snake remained coiled and motionless.
Even if they came closer, it would not matter. Neither he nor those humans had an overwhelming advantage, so there would be no conflict. They could simply leave one another alone.
Like the great white bird standing on one leg in the distance, he curled up lazily and quietly watched this bustle that had nothing to do with him.
The chaotic fighting was nearing its end. Some had died, some had jumped into the river to escape, and others had hidden in the great ditch under cover of the weeds. Neither side had many people left. Perhaps they had spent too much strength at the start, for now a long time passed before another person fell. It had become a contest of stamina, and of which side's nerves would break first.
The trouble was that they were so absorbed in fighting that they failed to notice the weeds being flattened and parted to either side, as though some enormous creature were silently plowing a path through them...
A scruffy-bearded man strained to draw his bow and loosed an arrow!
There were never many master archers in this world. Unsurprisingly, the arrow veered off course and buried itself deep in the grass.
Black Snake had raised his head to investigate.
With a whistle, something struck his side, bringing a sharp sting.
There was no roar, no warning. The instant he was wounded, he surged up and decisively counterattacked in the direction the arrow had come from!
An enormous black shadow charged between the two sides. The scruffy-bearded man was breathing hard, busy pulling another arrow from his quiver, when he caught something rapidly approaching out of the corner of his eye. Before he could react, his neck tightened, and a tremendous force slammed him to the ground...
Black Snake swiftly injected venom, then viciously tore away a chunk of flesh. His attack complete, he flung the prey aside!
Everyone froze in place, eyes wide with shock, while Black Snake continued his attack.
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The threat had to be eliminated completely!
His heart pounded, pumping ferocious strength throughout his body. He abruptly turned and bit another person, injected venom, and released him, then lunged at the nearest threat. He hunted them down one by one without distinction. Anyone holding a weapon was a target. To Black Snake, the blades in human hands were no different from the fangs in a beast's mouth.
"A demon...! A monster...!"
The man caught in his jaws hacked wildly with his blade. Black Snake took several blows, leaving a few white marks.
Had it been a spear or the point of a blade, he probably could not have withstood it.
Attacked by this unnatural creature, those who had not been bitten scattered and fled. Black Snake ignored anyone without a weapon and fixed on another archer, crushing the weeds as he raced after him.
The man had not gone far before his neck suddenly tightened. A tremendous impact drove him forward, sending him crashing into the grass and pinning him in the rotten mud.
He clawed and kicked wildly, trying to break free, but the weight was simply too great.
Venom entered his brain, and his consciousness rapidly blurred and dissolved.
The threats eliminated, Black Snake raised his head and coldly surveyed his surroundings. He did not care how many had escaped. Clearing away the threats before him was enough.
Those bitten by his venomous fangs bled from all seven orifices, their limbs twitching wildly beyond their control.
His slit pupils noticed two human cubs.
He raised his head and crushed through the grass, swiftly approaching. Stopping before the few trembling humans, he flicked his tongue to check whether the prey was edible.
An arrow hung from Black Snake's body, its barb hooked into his flesh. Blood slowly seeped along the shaft.
The two children gazed curiously at Black Snake with wide eyes.
Just as he lowered his head to feed, several neighs suddenly came from the riverbank.
Black Snake's attention was immediately drawn away. He smelled a richer abundance of blood than the humans offered. These large animals had firm flesh and could provide far more energy.
He immediately changed direction, swaying from side to side as he slithered toward the horses.
Ignoring the cooling bodies and the screaming humans on the ground, he struck with tremendous speed, biting his target's neck, injecting venom, and coiling around it to squeeze hard!
The other horses neighed in panic, stamping and leaping as they tried to snap their reins.
Crack-
A muffled sound of breaking bones came from the horse trapped tightly in his coils.
Its bones broke, the venom spread, and its struggles grew weaker and weaker. At last, it went limp and stopped moving.
Focused on the hunt, Black Snake failed to notice that the arrow lodged in his body had fallen out while he coiled around the horse.
He released the horse, squeezed out of shape, and examined it with flicks of his tongue. It had been many years since he had caught large prey. Unfortunately, he could not swallow much, so he would have to leave the others.
The wind along the riverbank carried the river's distinctive damp scent, dispersing the stench of blood and drying the sweat on the survivors.
The surviving men and women, young and old, seized the chance to retreat and put some distance between them. They did not flee outright. Abandoning their horses and supplies would make it difficult to get out of the wilderness, so they could only stand at a distance and watch cautiously.
At least facing the great black snake was safer than facing their pursuers.
Losing a single horse hardly counted for much.
They even let their imaginations run wild, believing the great black snake's appearance had been arranged by fate.
They could even draw connections to the mysterious. Did finding life in a certain-death predicament carry some special significance? A few more strokes could be added to their Lineage records, and it would become a tale passed down through generations, more authentic than the stories people without such extraordinary encounters forced themselves to invent.
Then they witnessed an unbelievable sight. The great black snake did not swallow the entire horse, but tore at its flesh instead.
He bit down and pulled hard.
The hide was very tough, and his teeth did not seem strong enough. It looked as though he would have to keep making his head bigger.
After tugging backward five or six times in succession, he finally tore the hide open. It was anything but professional: he ripped away haphazardly and swallowed the pieces whole.
The sun climbed higher and higher. His fumbling wasted quite a bit of meat, but eating most of it was enough.
This place was no longer suitable for resting and digesting. Black Snake swayed from side to side and headed deeper into the meadow.
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He paid no attention to the bodies strewn across the ground. The crows would take care of what came next.
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The survivors did not dare linger. Once the great black snake left, they quickly loaded the usable supplies onto the horses and hastily dug pits to bury their companions. Under a heavy, oppressive atmosphere, the group set off downstream along the river.
The little boy among them kept looking back toward the grassland, unaware that he had just walked along the edge between life and death.
Black Snake lazily basked in the sun, using its warmth to digest his food and occasionally lowering his head to inspect the wound.
The wound no longer seeped blood, but flies kept lingering around it.
His heat-sensing vision picked up a cluster of small heat sources landing. The crows cheerfully enjoyed their feast. So many bodies would keep the crow Lineage well fed for several days.
The humans' appearance had caused no emotional stir in Black Snake.
Nor did he think humans were becoming numerous. There were fewer of them than wild boars. He could not be bothered to pay attention.
He rested for roughly two days.
That afternoon, rain fell in fine, silken threads. Black Snake entered the water to hunt and discovered schools of large, plump fish swimming upstream.
The most bountiful harvest season of the year had finally arrived quietly amid the mistlike drizzle.
Through the vibrations in the flowing water, he locked onto the largest one.
He struck, clamped down, and waited for the great fish to stop struggling before swallowing it in great gulps. Then he caught and swallowed another before returning to shore to digest. Once digestion was complete, he hurried back into the water to fish. He had to obtain as much food as possible over these few days to prepare for the rainy season.
Along the bank, the scattered carrion had been more than half picked clean. Insects, birds, and beasts each took what they needed, working together to wring the greatest possible value from the corpses.
Black Snake drove his digestive abilities to their limit, making every moment count as he converted prey into reserves.
Day after day, he repeated the cycle of hunting and digestion.
In this vast sea of forest-covered mountains, Black Snake worked hard to keep himself fed.