‘Now that I think about it I should have attacked the snake first. Even if I didn’t manage to kill him, the wound it would have received wouldn’t be something to scoff at and I would have a much easier time fighting it. The bear wasn’t even a threat anymore.’ Leo thought as he looked at the snake. Despite the injury it sustained, its aura wasn't any less imposing and Leo knew that it wouldn't be that easy to get rid of it. He couldn't help but wonder if it would've been a good idea to try to kill the snake first.

If he had succeeded he would have been able to complete his mission very easily. Due to its injuries, the bear was a target he could kill anytime and the snake was the only true threat. Once he killed it, his mission could be considered complete. However, what he forgot was that, unlike the bear that was almost on the brink of death, the snake had very few injuries and was only exhausted. No matter how powerful he may look, Leo was still a lower-ranked beast and it was hard to tell if his attack could have broken through the snake's sturdy scale armor and kill it as easily as he killed the bear, even if he had all the boost from Innate hunter.

'There is no need to overthink about this. Even if I had aimed for the snake first, I could have failed. At least attacking the bear was a sure-fire move and thanks to that the fight with the snake would be easier.' Leo muttered. He would have loved to say that his choice was the best but he knew that despite his crazy improvement he had a glaring flaw and that was his lack of battle experience. If he had experienced more fights, he could have gotten a better understanding of the situation, and taken advantage of it in a better way. Anyway, he understood that it wasn’t something you could get just by asking for it as if it was a Christmas gift. Since he was still a newbie, he would brute force his way through things and try improving with each fight. 

Meanwhile, the snake king was also looking at him with a strange gaze. It was very curious about the beast that dared to intervene in its fight and killed its prey. However, when it saw that it was a tiny thing not big enough to fill the gap between its teeth, he felt that he was being looked down upon and became extremely furious. What was even more infuriating was the fact that the beast dared to stay and confront it without showing the slightest hint of fear. How could he not be infuriated? Did it look like anyone could bully him now that he was injured?

In rage, the snake king rushed towards Leo and tried to swallow him whole, moving at a speed that was unusual for a snake of its size. Easily, Leo dodged the snake charge and just as the snake rushed past him, a normal shadow spike rose from the ground and stabbed it. 

'Sigh. It's going to be troublesome.' Leo muttered. While he was just testing the water with that attack, he was still disappointed and irritated by the fact that it only ripped a single scale of the snake. 

Leo's attack infuriated the snake and he continued to angrily attack Leo, who easily dodged each attack. From time to time, Leo would attack the snake with a shadow spike and after repeatedly targeting the same area, he finally managed to break through the snake armor. 

Hissssss. The snake hissed as it stopped attacking Leo. It thought that it would be an easy task to get rid of Leo but after all this time it was unable to even catch Leo's shadow and Leo even managed to injure it. This shocked the snake greatly and it stopped to check something it didn’t give much attention to before. In fact, it has an ability that allows it to read the energy signature of others, and it was this ability that gave it enough confidence to start fighting the bear since it had a much stronger signature than it. As soon as the snake used that ability on Leo, its vision was filled with a black and intense signature no less strong than its. The moment the snake saw Leo's mana signature, he instantly understood that the cat in front of him wasn’t one to be underestimated.' It is certainly a creature with a special bloodline.' The snake thought. He was sure of this because only a beast with a strong bloodline could have so much mana and use a skill so easily before becoming a magic beast. When the snake thought about this, a greedy light shined through his eyes and it made its mind to use a certain ability. 'It is worth it. As long as I can swallow it, I will have the possibility to evolve. I can't lose such an opportunity.'

At the same time, Leo was looking at the snake not understanding the reason for the various changes in its expression. A moment its gaze was puzzled, another it was furious after belittling and then returning to a puzzled one before becoming shocked and finally greedy!? He was curious about what it could be thinking about but since he didn’t have any clues it just helped to piss him off. 

'I don't have so much time to waste.' Leo muttered as he started casting another shadow spike towards the snake. However, before he could do anything, an enormous amount of mana was emitted from the snake. In an instant, all its injuries were healed, and worse Leo could feel it wasn't out of mana anymore. 

‘FUUUCK.’ Leo couldn’t help but curse after seeing that scene. Everything happened too fast and before he could even react, the snake was already completely healed.

HIIIISS. The snake hissed as it looked at Leo smugly. Leo could almost hear it say ' You are done for.'.

DriftingLeaf

Part 2 will be out later.

Thank for reading. Enjoy.