Chapter 34 – Hunt (3)

The entire forest, within a radius of a hundred meters around the creature, simply ceased to exist. Only smoking stumps and untouched undergrowth remained. And that is what terrified even the souls of those watching this scene.

It was a perfectly controlled attack.

By pure luck, Aline was lying on the ground when she opened her eyes and saw the energy beam cutting through the air right above her, consuming everything in its path.

Her heart raced.

She jumped to her feet, her muscles locked in terror, her wide eyes scanning the desolate landscape around her. But nothing was worse than staring at the creature in front of her.

The Aligodon watched her with empty eyes. Cold.

As if that had been the easiest thing in the world.

"This bastard is toying with me… Son of a whore…"

Aline spat the words between clenched teeth, standing up with anger boiling in her chest. But there was no time for indignation.

The light blue glow began to pulse again on the sharp scales of the Aligodon's snout.

She froze for a second when she noticed this detail.

The beast was going to attack again.

The creature's eyes were fixed on her, and Aline felt the weight of her own vulnerability. But if he thought she would simply stand still and wait for the end, he was very wrong.

"Oh no, it won't be the way you want it, you piece of trash."

Her body was already moving before she even finished her sentence.

With an explosive momentum, she shot straight at the beast, jumping between the tree stumps and using them to gain momentum and leap forward. Every fiber of her being screamed that it was suicide, but her mind knew the truth: standing still was certain death.

Unfortunately, she didn't reach her goal in time, the Aligodon was faster and soon the glow intensified and peaked before suddenly disappearing. Then…

Crack

Again, with a dry snap of its jaws, the creature opened them to their maximum, releasing the beam of pure energy.

The glow was frightening, even closer and coming towards her… Aline felt death approaching, even tasting that beam of energy in her mouth…

But fortunately, the moment the beam of energy exploded outwards, Aline was already too close. And with a lot of willpower and skills trained for years, Aline managed to execute a miraculous movement.

Relying on her reflexes, she stepped on a log and threw herself to the side, throwing her body down towards the ground so that she could throw herself on it quickly… It was by a hair's breadth that she was not hit.

She felt the vacuum created by the attack as the blast passed a few centimeters from her body.

But the attack did not stop just because she managed to dodge it initially… The beast turned its head to follow her, keeping the attack continuous. Aline didn't need to realize that before she rolled on the ground and ran at full speed.

She ran away from the attack, but at the same time, she approached the Aligodon with a clear strategy in her mind: The closer she got, the harder it would be for the beast to use this attack. That's why she continued to dodge the attack while also approaching the beast with great effort...

Meanwhile, the lightning cut through the forest floor like a voracious blade, digging a colossal trench—three meters deep, two meters wide—, reducing everything in its path to dust and emptiness. The sound was deafening. An incessant thunder that made her bones vibrate.

But the worst thing was the cold. There was no heat in the attack.

On the contrary, the air around her seemed to die, drained of any trace of life. Aline felt her skin crawl, a chill crawling down her spine as she ran, dodging absolute destruction by the skin of her teeth. Fortunately, Aline managed to sneak fast enough to avoid being caught by the beam as she approached one of the creature's blind spots, narrowly escaping the destructive beam.

The Aligodon, in turn, remained still in its place while maintaining the energy beam — its own power restricted it. It had no freedom to move abruptly or quickly while firing the attack.

In fact, the most it could do was simple, slow movements. Just like when it obliterated the surrounding forest, it executed the movement slowly, only being able to make small adjustments in direction if necessary.

And this fact cost it a great advantage on the battlefield…

Aline reached its flank, taking advantage of this gap in its attack. And prepared a blow with all her strength, aiming the sharp scales at the Beast's snout…

The intention was to be an exploratory strike, much more a gamble by Aline than an actual plan to cause significant damage to the Aligodon. But if she won the bet, the return would be very beneficial.

Unfortunately, the Aligodon had no intention of receiving this blow, so it immediately interrupted the energy beam. The navy blue glow on its sharp scales dissipated, and its jaw closed with a dry snap.

Aline felt the icy aftermath of the attack abruptly ceasing in the air and was certain that she had made the right call. This would be a super effective blow.

But before she could touch those scales with her gauntlet, the beast jumped.

To Aline's disbelief, she saw the beast make a surreal and unbelievable movement... An almost supernatural movement for a being of that size.

At 12 meters long and almost 2 meters tall, the Aligodon propelled its colossal body upwards and backwards, jumping almost two meters into the air and advancing more than seven meters in a single movement.

The Aligodon's dense muscles and sturdy legs are not mere supports for its weight, but true pillars of strength. Unlike many massive creatures that crawl or rely on inertia to move, the Aligodon moves with precision and power—a beast of compact muscle, designed for both speed and brutality.

Aline watched in disbelief as the creature landed with a surprisingly subtle impact for its size, absorbing the force of the jump with deftness.

And the worst? The Aligodon landed directly in front of her, completely destroying the efforts she had made to get to the beast's blind spot. She was stared into the beast's blank, sinister eyes as a sense of injustice washed over her.

"What the hell… Fuck it, man. How does this bastard move like that?" Aline protested, frowning with a confused and clearly offended expression. Aline had no time for further protests.

Grrrhhh

The Aligodon advanced on her with frightening speed, its half-open jaws ready to tear her apart without hesitation. The muffled sound of its heavy footsteps mixed with the rustling of the earth being torn apart by its claws.

Aline quickly threw herself to the ground, seeking shelter in a tree stump that provided her with light protection, distracting the Aligodon. But she did not wait for the creature's next move; she fled from there, crawling along the ground.

KRRRAAAK-THUD!

At the same time, she heard the sound of the tree stump being crunched and mercilessly ripped from the ground.

Certain that she had narrowly escaped, Aline got up and ran to a safe distance, which she managed to do in time for the Aligodon's tail to pass so close to her that the air pressure was enough to ruffle her hair and bother her long ears.

Lucky? Maybe, but that doesn't matter to Aline at the moment, since the Aligodon didn't stop its attacks. After lashing out with its tail, the beast adjusted its body and jumped again, but this time towards her, it wanted to crush her with its weight.

Aline had no choice, she turned her body and ran to get out of the impact zone quickly.

Unfortunately, she was out of time. All she could do was take a leap of faith and throw herself as far away as possible, which saved her from receiving a potentially lethal blow, but didn't save her from losing her balance and rolling across the ground until she hit another tree stump.

"Ufffrhgggmmm" She felt all the air in her lungs leave her when she received the sudden blow to her back.

The dust that rose gave her a few seconds, but she couldn't take advantage of it to run away while she was catching her breath.

And not even the Aligodon had any intention of stopping its attacks… It took advantage of the fact that she was at its side to whip her with its tail.

Creeeaaak

Luckily or unluckily, the tree trunk protected her from receiving the blow directly. Even so, the blow was so strong that she was thrown against the ground and dragged for almost 3 meters as soon as the tail hit the Stump and tore it out by the roots.

Dirt, dead leaves, roots and small plants rubbed against Aline's face and hurt her skin. The protective equipment was dirty, but it did its job and didn't tear anyway, preventing her from receiving greater damage.

_____________________________________

💬 📢 Your opinion matters! If you enjoyed the content, leave a like and comment! Share your thoughts, suggest improvements, or even point out something that could be corrected—your feedback is essential. Let's keep the conversation going!

⭐ Rate and give a score! This helps the content reach more people and allows me to understand what you enjoy. Your rating is crucial for me to keep creating even more for you!

📖 Check out my ongoing works! I'm currently releasing How To Train Your Monster Girl and Ruach: Whisper of Dragons—two exciting stories filled with adventure, fantasy, and unforgettable characters! Stay tuned for more updates!

🎨✨ Want to support my work? Consider supporting me on Patreon! Your support helps me continue creating amazing content. 💖 Be part of the journey: [patreon.com/UndeadNazar]