Money Mancer; I bought my way to godhood

"A..." He quickly gagged himself with his hand, swallowing his scream.

His heart thumping against his chest loudly.

Fortunately the snake-like creature was too busy to notice him, not to mention he was sure the creature was blind.

Skin covered with brown, rock-like scales, it looked more like a slithering statue than an actual creature—its eyes marked by what he was sure were stitches.

It seemed someone—or nature—had chosen to stitch up the creature's eyes.

If that wasn't a testament to how dangerous it was, then nothing else could be.

"I have to get out of here."

Down only to his boxers, he decided to retreat.

He had had enough and wanted to get out of here before meeting an even greater threat.

He might truly die before beginning his adventure and that wasn't a gamble he wanted take.

Slowly, he stepped back, still conscious of the numerous eye frogs behind him, their consistent croaking a reminder.

His movements were deliberate and careful, yet his heart screamed, panicked as to what this creature's power could be.

If even a frog could have such terrifying abilities, what of its predator?

"This should be good," he thought, now a few metres away from the snake-like creature.

Now in the safe, he sprinted into the bushes, his gaze occasionally shifting backward, but luckily, the snake-like creature paid him no heed.

"Thank..."

Before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, a jolt of pain hit his ankles—as if he had been stung by an ant.

He quickly halted, his gaze dropping down, only to witness the rock serpent's fangs in his heels.

"Ahhhh!!" He let out an undignified scream, kicking the empty air with all he had—a way to jostle off the creature.

" Why!!! ... How!!..." His thoughts raced as he continued kicking, wondering how the creature could have closed the gap so quickly.

Unaware it was an another of its kind.

He was in a forest after all.

The serpent continued to latch on

The rock serpent was an Opisthoglyphous (rear-fanged); its fangs at the back of its mouth, each kick only pushed it further in.

Luckily, it didn't hurt as much as he believed—quite numbing, really—but it was still a f*cking snake.

"Fck..." He panicked, panting heavily. "Fck!! Let go!"

He began stomping his feet, yet the snake wouldn't let go, seemingly hanging on for its life.

"I need to get this off." He calmed down a bit as his actions proved useless and the pain was still bearable—almost like the bite of an ant.

He turned to a broken branch, and gritting his teeth, locked it in the gaps of the bite.

With all his strength, he pulled the mouth open.

He then placed both hands into the gaps, ripping the creature's mouth open.

Coupled with the intensity of the predicament and his panic, he used all his strength—the adrenaline surge even supplying more—as he was able to rip the creature's mouth open, drawing two fine lines across its stony body, its body split in two.

Richard fell on his butt, gasping for breath as he looked at the bloodstains of the snake on his hands and his foot.

"Huh!!"

He couldn't even celebrate his victory

His foot, where it had been bitten, seemed to have changed color.

Not quite—rather, it seemed to have gained a layer, a brownish layer of rock covering the entire width of his leg.

"What is this?" He touched the bitten part, feeling the sensation of solid rock, his nerves feet completely numb.

"What the..." He quickly tried to scrape it off with both hands, the skin resilient against his futile efforts.

His already beating heart thumped more.

True fear unlike the illusions of the eye frogs embracing him.

"Why won't it come off..." He took the branch, scraping it against his now rocky sole, yet it proved naught.

The rocky layer had spread to cover the entirety of the sole of his foot.

"No!! No!! No!!" he panicked, throwing away the stick.

Whatever this was, it was clear he couldn't handle it. His only choice was to get out of here and find someone to help him.

He quickly got to his feet, careful to anchor the petrified one. "Let's see if I put pressure on it..." He stepped on it—his foot completely numb.

An idea popped into his mind—to crush it into something—but he quickly dismissed it, remembering what happened to Medusa's statues when they were crushed.

They died, which could mean he could lose his foot.

"Not happening." He shook his head, dispelling such thoughts, his gaze darting around in search of the entrance through which he had come.

"Where is it?" He panicked once more, dragging his petrified foot, which now felt heavy—petrified to the ankle.

He had been moving for a few minutes now, but to him, it felt like hours.

The paradise had lost its gleam. Though the beauty remained, in his eyes it was slowly turning into hell.

He was cold, having just gotten out of the stream.

Fatigued, mentally drained, and physically losing his stamina, the rocky layer seemed to be sapping his essence as it spread.

And something else—a feeling the body seemed to recognize, but he couldn't, his sould not of this world.

He felt it—the same pull that had brought him here—but now, he couldn't give a damn about it, sweating profusely as he searched for the entrance.

He was a modern man, never once even going camping.

This was a gruesome experience.

Luckily enough, there seemed to be no mosquitoes or other bugs biting at him, making the journey a little less miserable.

"WINSTON!!" he screamed, hoping—wishing—the butler could somehow hear him through the glass.

He knew it was a waste of his ever-dwindling energy, but hope was the only thing left to cling to.

"WINSTON!!" he screamed again, this time his tone strained, desperate, as his head began to spin.

Maybe he had scraped against a poisonous plant...

Or maybe it was the slow drain of his strength.

In this chaotic paradise, it could have been anything.

Even the air he breathed felt wrong.

"WIN..."

He paused, stumbling into a clearing.

"ston..." he whispered, collapsing to his knees.

It was clear he had walked in the opposite direction—there was no clearing near the entrance.

"Am I going to die here?" he chuckled weakly, lifting his head in exasperation.

His gaze locked with an avian creature.

A creature as large as a commercial plane.

Its wings, from where he knelt in fear, looked dark and ominous—each beat like a ticking time bomb counting down to his end.

"Hahaha... I'm f*cked."