(I Died and got Reincarnated) My New Life as a Saltwater Crocodile Begins

CH•15 - "The Enemy of My Enemy is My... Enemy?!"

I don't remember her name. What was it again? I still remember Tiny though, but I can't remember what that little girl's name is. Argh! How come I still know Tiny's name when that's not even his name? Tiny was just something I only called him in my head, I never actually called him that since I can't even talk. This is making no sense! Did some kind of mental stress phase happen when I was unconscious by the cobra's venom? I can't have possibly forgotten the name of the one little girl I risked my life to save over and over again.

Urgh, thinking about complicated stuff tires me. Maybe I'll get better after a quick brunch. ...... I finally found use for that word. Breakfast and lunch. Brunch! While I was just floating across the bank, I felt a ripple from another animal. It doesn't seem big and it's heading my way. Yes. This prey won't know what hit it. As I submerged underwater and prepared to launch an attack, the prey approaches, but it was actually...... the snake!

It's that same cobra who bit me! I don't get it. I already met it before, so why was it an unfamiliar ripple in my radar? Hmm.... oh yeah, it never went into the water back then..... I see. Well, now I can pay it back for what it put me through. The snake then changed direction. Wait, what? No, stop! Come back this way! I went after the snake.

Following the snake led me to a burrow near the water. The snake crawls out of the water and heads to the burrow. Is that where its nest is? If the inside leads to a deadend, I could block its escape route and it would have nowhere to go. Gotta be careful of its bite though. I somehow got lucky after getting bitten by it once, but I'm not gonna risk it again. I'll play it safe this time.

As the snake was about to enter the burrow, a rock came hurtling down at the burrow's entrance. What the-... I turn to look at the direction where the rock was thrown at. Two barefooted topless men wearing a white skirt are seen in the distance. One of them holds a spear. What are they doing? They can't be childish enough to play around a deadly predator, are they? I mean, they're grownups. Heck, even I'm not dumb enough to do that if I were in their shoes. And, I'm not even an adult yet.

The snake turns around and sees the two men. It hisses at them and crawls into the grass. Is it gonna leave its home and run away? One of the men with a turban on his head brings out a... flute? Or, at least it looks like a flute. The man puts the tip of the flute in his lips and begins to play. So it really is a flute. The snake that hid in the grass sways its body up to the melody and slowly reveals itself. Is it mesmerized by the tone? I knew snake charming was a thing but I've never seen one up close in person before.

The snake extends its short hood, further showcasing that it's a cobra. I don't know why its hood looks short though. Maybe it's a juvenile and is still growing. That thought didn't last long though, after taking a peek of what was inside the snake's nest, I saw eggs in them. The snake... has babies. I let that sink in for a few moments. It's a mother. It has unborn hatchlings to protect. I'm... I'm having mixed feelings about this.

The mother cobra remains in a trance from the tune of the flute that the man is playing while the other man slowly and carefully approaches the tranced snake with a sack on hand. Are they planning on capturing it? Normally, I'd be okay with it since she bit me and injected her venom in me once. But, who's gonna care for her babies now? Looking at her nest, there were at least a dozen eggs inside, but most of them were smashed by the rock they threw earlier. I don't know how many there are left, but I'd guess around a few of them, I think.

Wait, why am I getting sympathetic over a snake? I should help those men get rid of them instead. I must've wanted company really bad if I'm going so far as to think about sympathy for mere snakes. Oh man, I miss being able to talk.

The man with the sack gets closer and just when he was within range, he stepped on her tail, breaking the mother cobra from her trance. Fully aware of her actions now, she hissed and bit at the man's feet, sinking her fangs deep into his skin and injecting her venom. The man stumbles as he tries to get away. He picks up his spear and impales the snake's head with it. He continues stabbing her head over and over again, desperately trying to break loose. Blood splat around the grass and the water. Eventually, her grip loosened and when the man pulled her off his leg, the mother cobra fell dead on the ground, her head still bleeding.

W-what did I just witness...... That was brutal to watch. The man with the flute picks up the sack and goes to the cobra's nest. He starts placing the eggs from the nest inside the sack. Wait, is this considered poaching? Or, maybe it isn't. But, regardless of what they're actually doing, they're still kidnapping babies. Well, unborn babies, that is. The other man who was bit by the mother cobra ripped a part of his skirt and bandaged his leg tightly with it. That's not gonna stop the venom from coursing through his body though.

The man with the flute finished filling the sack with eggs and goes to the bandaged man. He puts the sack down and helps him stand up by wrapping his arm around his shoulder. Are they both leaving already? Now I feel empty...... no, really. My stomach feels empty. All the vomit I barfed out last night might have emptied my stomach. I'm really... really hungry. That bandaged man is pretty much dead meat from the cobra's venom... maybe it won't make a difference even if I were to eat him myself instead of having him die suffering from the venom.

I slowly resurface out of the water and swim towards the two men. The man with the flute probably noticed something and looked this way, so I submerged back underwater again. Hopefully, he thinks it was just his imagination or something and brushes it off. Meanwhile, I try to position myself at an angle where I assume might be their blind spot. Hopefully, they won't notice me immediately. I get near them. Closer. And, closer. Right when they were within range, I lunge out of the water and snap my jaws at the bandaged man. The man with the flute lets go of the bandaged man in surprise at my sudden ambush.

Without giving them time to spare, I hastily drag the man into the water. I didn't wait for him to drown, so after I sunk him deep enough, I let go of his leg and swiftly bite his head off. Having a strong bite force has its perks. The man squirmed no more. Blood filled the river and this only made my inner beast thirst for more. But, I held it in. One adult man is enough for now. It should last me a week without food if I slow down my metabolism. Though, doing that makes me less active instead. I swallowed the head and went back to the surface. I'll just leave his headless body underwater for a while and go back for it later. It's oozing out a lot of blood though.

By the time I went back to the surface, it seems like the other man had already ran away, leaving the sack of eggs behind. I guess I can't blame him. Having to deal with a crocodile attack after that whole snake skirmish is gonna leave a mark in their memories for sure. Since he's gone, I drag the headless man back to the surface and leave him bleeding there so he doesn't drift off along the current. I go to the mother cobra's corpse while having mixed feelings.

I don't like you, but I also don't hate you. Your venom did a number on me and I went through a hellish night because of that, but now I understand why you'd go so far as to hold your ground against foes bigger than you. Unfortunately, your death was for naught. All your eggs are probably shattered by now since the man who ran away dropped them on a sharp rock. At least, you didn't die without a fight. You're the second one who has earned my respect.

After I finished gobbling up the snake, I crawl to the sack of eggs and check its contents. As I thought, shattered egg shells everywhere. I think it's safe to assume that they're all crushe-.... wait a minute. At the edge of the sack, underneath all the other egg shells and mushy yokes... something's moving. I-I don't believe it. This... this is a miracle. One of the eggs survived! No, "survived" is an understatement. This one actually lived through AND HATCHED!!! The cobra hatchling crawls out of the sack and slithers over my feet. It... it won't bite me or anything, will it? I know that baby snake venom is as potent as adults.