Evolution Paradox

"Hissssssssss"

Xerxes could feel himself being intimidated by the unseen enemy. He knew it was near, but he couldn't sense its presence.

Just then, a drop fell from above, and the spot where it landed melted the leaves, while the soil quickly became dull and decayed.

"Sssssrrrrrrrpppppppppp"

Xerxes felt its presence just above him, and he rolled forward.

At the same moment, the serpent, with a wide-open mouth, lunged at the very spot where Xerxes had been standing.

If he had been even a few seconds late, he would have been swallowed by the serpent.

It stopped hiding after determining that Xerxes wasn't a threat. It had a natural instinct that allowed it to sense if its prey was intimidated or not, and if they were, it would stop hiding.

It was a large green snake with small spikes on its skin.

Its tail wasn't visible, hidden in the dense fog, but just seeing the visible portion, Xerxes could imagine how enormous the serpent truly was.

The snake didn't attack again, instead glaring at Xerxes, who returned the stare while formulating a strategy to defeat the massive serpent.

He could hear his own heartbeat. He hadn't felt this intimidated even when facing a large crocodile and a brown bear.

"Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub..."

The snake began to circle Xerxes, who remained frozen. "This thing is bigger than I imagined," he thought.

Just as the serpent was about to lunge, it sensed a strange, powerful aura of dread emanating from Xerxes.

Xerxes wasn't sure how he would fare against the large reptile. He hoped his power would work, though he wasn't entirely confident and felt that something might go wrong if he didn't prepare beforehand.

Closing his eyes, he felt the strange power coursing through his body, and then, he transformed.

His body began to shift and change. It bulged, thick scales appearing on his skin, and a large tail growing from his back. His calm aura suddenly shifted into that of a predator.

Seeing this, the serpent didn't hesitate and lunged at him with its mouth wide open.

Xerxes, anticipating the attack, sidestepped and punched the serpent in the face.

"Smack!"

A heavy punch landed squarely on the serpent's face, sending its head crashing into a large tree.

"Thud!"

Xerxes also stumbled back a few steps from the impact. After regaining his footing, he looked at the serpent, which appeared unharmed despite the powerful blow.

It growled at Xerxes with a shriek so high-pitched it was barely audible to human ears. "It's angry now," Xerxes muttered, clenching his fists and charging toward the serpent.

The serpent had underestimated Xerxes initially, not considering him a threat. But after his transformation, it began to feel threatened.

The serpent was intelligent. It didn't repeat its previous attack.

As Xerxes charged, he felt something behind him, but before he could react, the serpent's long, heavy tail slammed into him.

"Boom!"

"Thud!"

Xerxes was unable to defend himself and was sent flying, landing heavily on the ground.

His mind reeling from the impact, he slowly got to his feet. Just then, another sweeping attack came towards him.

This time, he braced himself, using his body to absorb the blow and managing to grab onto the flying tail.

"Boom!"

He thought he might have avoided the attack by grabbing the tail, but as soon as he clung to it, the serpent slammed its tail against the ground.

Blood trickled from his mouth as his head slammed against the ground.

His body landed with a heavy impact, and the serpent's large tail then crashed down on his chest, breaking three of his ribs.

"Shit!"

he cursed, knowing he hadn't had time to evade the attack. The serpent was clearly intent on turning Xerxes into a pulp.

Just then, the serpent's massive tail came crashing down towards him again. "Move!" he yelled, and his transformation shifted.

The scales on his body transformed into smooth fur, and his large hands became sharp claws.

With the transformation, his body began to heal as he swiftly moved away from the spot where the serpent's tail landed with a heavy impact.

Now transformed into an agile, wolf-like creature, he attacked the serpent with his sharp claws, leaving deep gashes in its skin.

The serpent lashed its tail, while Xerxes lunged, this time using his claws to inflict deep gashes in its hide.

The serpent, crying out in pain, thrashed its tail violently. Xerxes, now riding the serpent's tail, attempted to use his power to absorb the entire creature, but to his surprise, he failed.

"Not working!" He closed his eyes, trying to connect with his power, but when he opened them again, he had still failed to absorb the serpent.

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Why?"

He cursed. He was about to be flung against a large boulder as the serpent prepared to slam its tail against it, using the impact to throw Xerxes off.

This time, Xerxes didn't allow it to repeat the same tactic. He leapt to a nearby tree just as the tail smashed into the boulder, shattering it into pieces.

Suddenly, the serpent's movements ceased as it retracted its massive body into the poisonous fog.

Xerxes knew it was still hunting him, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

"What is this?" he muttered.

The tree he was clinging to also bore the skeletal remains of a human. And the skeleton beside him wore a pendant that he recognized.

"This thing..." he murmured, touching the pendant. It was made of crystal and contained an animal's tooth—the same kind he had seen around Lulu's neck.

"Could he be Fia's father?" he wondered.

Just then, he felt the poisonous smoke become denser. "It wants to kill me using its poison," he realized.

"Hisssssssssss!"

A huge tail slammed into the tree he was hanging from, shattering it. The skeletons tumbled down as Xerxes tried to land safely.

"Shit!"

Below him, a massive mouth opened, and before Xerxes could react, it snapped shut, swallowing him whole.