Chapter 55: A Disgrace to Predators
A few hundred meters away on the opposite side, that scar-filled tiger he had seen earlier appeared, and just like him, it was staring at the dead crocodile greedily.
Arthur displayed a displeased expression, and despite his intense desire to obtain more prey, he decided to let it get the carcass, for it had reached it before him, and in addition to that, a mere F-Rank crocodile was not worth the trouble of fighting over.
’I have not fully recovered yet, and the Regeneration skill is still not working efficiently, it is better not to take risks.’
The spider woman had given him a two-day grace period to rest, and if he ended up in a worse condition, well, that would be a very difficult problem, for who knows how she would deal with him.
’As they say, it is wise for a person to know when to advance and when to retreat.’ He sighed in disappointment, and when he was about to leave, he noticed something interesting about the tiger, it was being far more cautious and hesitant than necessary.
’What is wrong with it? Wait, thinking about it, it acted the same way when it wanted to drink earlier.’ Arthur felt a little confused, so he decided to observe it a little longer.
The tiger approached the lake very slowly, examined the water several times, and when it confirmed with absolute certainty that it was free of crocodiles, it quickly rushed toward the carcass, bit it by the tail, then dragged it out.
Its movements were clumsy and hesitant, lacking that decisiveness that distinguishes other predators. This confirmed Arthur’s suspicions about it, for unlike what its fierce and imposing appearance implied, it was a coward.
’This is truly unexpected. Well, I cannot complain, for this works in my favor.’ His lips twisted into a wicked smile. He changed his mind, and decided to obtain that dead crocodile.
He activated the "King’s Dominion" skill, and in a moment his appearance grew more imposing, and an overwhelming aura emanated from him, then, without any hesitation, he ran toward the tiger growling loudly to announce his presence.
Suddenly his terrifying voice rang through the area like thunder, the tiger froze in its place from sheer fear, and it took a few fractions of a second before it regained a little of its composure.
It turned violently toward the source of the sound, and at that moment, it saw a savage wolf heading toward it, its pupils contracted, and it even gasped loudly.
Its survival instinct reacted, and without thinking about anything, it tightened its jaws around the crocodile carcass, then fled at its maximum possible speed while dragging it.
The carcass slammed into the trees in its path, which impeded its movement and made it stumble several times, slowing it down. It stole a quick glance back, and found Arthur had greatly closed the gap between them.
Panic overtook it, and it let out a muffled threatening growl, the thought of stopping and fighting crossed its mind, but it did not dare do that.
Its expression contorted in a very strange way that showed how much it hated this situation.
It growled again, and even though it did not want to give up its precious prey, its cowardice overcame it, it swung the carcass hard, and threw it at Arthur.
The moment it got rid of the extra burden, it shot forward at an astonishing speed.
Arthur jumped to the right dodging the crocodile carcass, stopped running, and with a small smile watched the tiger that left a cloud of dust behind it until it disappeared behind the trees.
"This fellow, truly a disgrace to predators." He could no longer hold himself back, and laughed very loudly, which caused the nearby birds to fly away in panic.
He continued laughing like a madman for several minutes, his eyes became wet with tears, and he barely prevented himself from falling and rolling in the dirt, it had been a very long time since the last time he had laughed like this, so he completely ignored the world around him, and enjoyed this amusing moment as much as possible. He badly needed it.
"Thank you, tiger, I started feeling a little guilty for taking your food." He breathed deeply, and vowed to repay this favor if they ever met, perhaps he would act generously and give it some meat, or at least not steal its food again.
In any case, even though this situation had greatly improved his mood, he was not going to ignore the tiger’s strange and confusing behavior, it was completely different from all the other monsters he had previously seen.
’It threw the crocodile carcass at me deliberately, it is intelligent, no, it is far too intelligent, something about it is not right. Perhaps it is of a semi-sapient species like the goblins, wait...’ Suddenly an unreasonable idea occurred to him.
His eyes widened to their fullest, the smile disappeared from his face, and he muttered: "Is it possible it is a creature like me? I mean, I was transferred to this world and turned into a wolf, it is not impossible for the same thing to happen to someone else."
Just thinking about it made him tremble from the intensity of excitement, and at the same time fear. ’No, I cannot jump to conclusions, there are many possibilities, this is a world full of mystery and supernatural things, so almost everything is possible.’
He calmed himself, and began thinking about the matter from a different and more logical angle by this world’s standards.
’Most likely, it is just a special monster with great intelligence, for some reason it developed a cowardly personality because of bad things that happened to it, the spider woman has a personality, and she is just a monster like it, yes, her Rank is different, but who knows, there are always exceptions.’
"Exceptions, hah?" His thoughts fell silent for a moment, he raised his head and looked at the clear sky, and muttered: "It is unreasonable that I am the only Earthling who was transferred to this strange world, right?"
A slight frown appeared on his face, and little by little his good mood began to sour.
’I have changed my mind. The next time I see this tiger, I will definitely steal its food.’ This was just sarcastic talk, but in truth, he had already decided what he would do, if the opportunity arose, he would try to communicate with it, and if he was in a position of strength, he would not hesitate to imprison it temporarily to learn the truth about it.
’And here I am thinking like that spider woman, life is truly strange.’ He shook his head in a kind of disappointment, and without giving the matter any more attention, he dragged the crocodile carcass, and returned to the place where he had hidden the buffalo carcasses.
Fortunately, no monster had touched his precious food, and given his hunger, he ate one of the buffaloes immediately. After that he directed his gaze at the remaining prey, and thought regretfully. ’Tsk, now, how will I explain to that spider why I cannot use my Storage skill?’
Last time, he had managed to steer the conversation that took place between them, so she had not broached the subject of the Storage skill, but he was certain that she, this time, would ask him about it.