“What the hell?!"
"Fuck!”
I scream at the top of my lungs as I witness his body disappearing into the gruesome, slippery neck. Waving in the wind, hanging from the sturdy branch with only my left hand, my forearm pumped automatically. Focus was in full use, but the well of power was nowhere in sight.
Nobody hears me anyway.
“This is not a fucking snail!”
It’s a gray snake, covered in mucus, with a massive shell and multiple beating hearts.
<hr>
Hanging by my arm, I try to comprehend what just happened.
It slurped him so fast I couldn’t even tell if he was bitten in half or simply slid inside.
The true horror begins as the creature starts moving again. Its snake-like neck shifts to a horizontal position, extending from the part of the shell where Mike was hanging.
Surprisingly, the neck does not retract into the shell; instead, the thing decides to scan the area.
My eyes widen as the gigantic, round head moves slowly, inspecting its surroundings.
How the heck can it even sense? I wonder, slightly haunted by its presence as I stare at it, looking for any openings as its mouth completely disappears once closed.
The texture of its skin resembles that of a regular snail—slightly leathery, but gray in color, and, of course, shiny, coated with a thin layer of mucus.
With its mouth closed, I can’t even tell where it was anymore, also no nostrils, no nothing. Just two dark spots on the sides under the skin, which I assume are its eyes, or maybe even the nostrils.
No eyestalks like a classic snail—more like a snail-snake hybrid. The shell covered in moss, soil and small bushes is rough and rusty coloured.
The head, as wide as a large dining table, slowly approaches the trees where I’m hanging.
Luckily, it scans the area below me.
<hr>
As it continues to swipe underneath me and away from me, I notice some unnerving movement on the side of its neck.
Something is shifting inside.
A quick peek at the top of its pulsating shell reveals that its health bar is slightly depleted.
“What the heck?"
"That''s Mike''s work?”
I wonder, focusing on the health bar to see if I’m imagining things or if it’s really chipping away.
Hanging by my arm, I feel the power radiating from my core. The longer I hang, the bigger my arm becomes as the bulletproof vest in one hand and hammer in the other are an extra weight I don''t need right now.
“What a time to learn new things!”
It seems the muscle mass doesn’t retract automatically once depleted; instead, a new wave replaces it each time. Of course with a tax of extreme energy and stamina drain.
I don''t know for how long I could hold on but the best thing I can do is to hide my hammer in my inventory, so I do right away.
After a few seconds of watching the health bar stay still, I accept that it was just an illusion.
The long, snake-like head twitches, interrupting its scanning and retracting back.
"Good." I should drop onto some other branch and sit or I''m gonna fall asleep or faint right on the place.
<hr>
Meanwhile, a weird-looking lump appears under its skin, just below the joint where I think the head and neck connect.
A sudden, quick movement above catches my attention again.
It is chipping away!If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
"Mike!”
I yell and look below into the trench after the gigantic snail and hope that I won''t see Astrids and Haralds corpses.
Looking back at the lump my eyes widen.
Oh my god.
The lump starts to bloat like a giant pimple and at that moment, the snako-snail begins to wobble, thrash, and turn violently.
*The pimple pops*
A shiny, pointy needle bursts through the skin and starts tearing it apart.
Following the weathered sabre, Mike emerges from the pimple as if being born, covered in mucus and blood.
I see him struggling to catch his breath.
The snail wobbles, yet I expect Mike to slide out the same way he slid in—easily. And of course deal massive damage to the snake despite his lower level and weapons in bad condition.
The thick neck, however, holds him tightly, stuck there, he barely hangs on as if something was pulling him back in.
All I can do is hang there and watch the situation.
Yelling to aggro the beast towards me and trying my luck would be pointless because of the noise. A quick glance at my hanging arm reveals the damage. My skin is overly stretched again, and I need to calm my left side down.
Checking the branches below me, I decide to drop to a lower one.
*Release*
As I fall, my eyes lock onto the branch I’ve chosen to grab.
I stare at it as it zooms toward me, crooked but thick enough to hold my weight, I reach for it with my right hand now.
*Tight grasp*
My hand wraps quickly around the branch, scratching my skin on its coarse bark. I feel tension in my shoulder as it absorbs the impact.
Gosh, this is painful as hell. There is no way I''m not gonna hop on the flatheads acid train again after all this.
If I could somehow use the well of power, it did something back there when I went over the limit, but why nothing happens now? I simply thought of it and a shiny bright light blinded me for a mere second and I jumped high!
"Come on! Well of power! Now!"
I grab the branch with my left hand too and look up at the sky.
"I need to. Pull myself. Up!" Clenching my teeth I barely speak for myself.
<hr>
I start to feel the warmth in my stomach as if the power was manifesting.
But the climax is right over as I notice in my peripheral vision that the massive snake sniffed on me and its head is speeding towards me.
Its huge head, capable of swallowing me whole just as it did Mike, starts sliding out of the shell even more and approaches me quickly.
“Oh dear lord!”
I clench my teeth and close my eyes, accepting my fate. I will get swallowed in a moment.
Squinting my eyes, my heart pounds wildly.
I wait for the first contact.
*Nothing happens*
I partially open my right eye and check the situation.
Shock, disgust, and fear overwhelm me. The thing—the monster, Nautilus—is staring at me from close proximity.
It no longer moves frantically.
I shift my gaze to the right and check on the slit where Mike was hanging from.
Finally, even through the rumbling, I can hear his agony.
His arms and face are scarred, as if attacked by some sort of acid or overexposed to the mucus. His sabre remains pinned in the creature’s skin as he grips it tightly.
He looks me in the eye, exhausted, and tries once more to pull himself out, pushing with his arms and burying the sabre deeper.
Nautilus notices and nonchalantly twitches to the right, gulping.
<hr>
Mike is pulled inside instantly.
His right arm disappears with his torso and head, only his left hand clings to the sabre.
Blood pours from his hand, mixing with the mucus outside.
His hand slips from the handle, sliding over the dull, dented blade and ripping flesh from his palm. His hand shakes yet he still holds on, without the aid of any painkillers.
The creature returns to its position and observes me, staring intently.
“What’s it waiting for?” I ask myself.
Mike interrupts, somehow, he still manages to pull himself out. But this time, he looks even more broken, I can see death approaching in his eyes.
*Blurp*
He looks at me and vomits a massive amount of green and yellow substance, followed by chunks of flesh and what I assume are intestines.
Life leaves his eyes at that moment.
The sight shocks and scares me, but anger wins out and completely overtakes my fear.
A new plan forms in my mind.
"Inventory!"
I let my right arm go and grab the hammer tight.
*Swoosh*
I swing my hammer in front of me, setting my entire body into motion.
Nautilus, surprisingly, does not react and I’m more than confident in what I’m doing.
As my hammer approaches it, the creature’s lightning-fast movement dodges the blow at the last moment.
“Good!”
My hammer swings down, setting me into a spring-like motion towards the thing.
The massive creature finally acts as I wanted, charging at me with a sudden movement that instantly reminds me of what I saw earlier.
*Slurp*
My fate is the same as Mike’s.
But his fate wasn’t planned just like mine.
Prepare to die!