The lizard opened its mouth, revealing the butterfly inside. It moved its tongue slowly, moving the butterfly to its mouth and swallowing it.

"Creepy," was the thought Blanco felt when he looked at the lizard. Its eyes were abnormally large compared to its body, and they were staring in two different directions, making it hard to pinpoint exactly where it was looking.

Blanco turned around. It was the first time he had seen a creature like this, and he prepared to leave.

Thuk!

But in the next moment, he felt a stinging pain in his back.

He looked back quickly and saw a thin, elongated object stuck to his back. It easily passed through his fur and even the pain resistance skill he had showed no resistance against it. Blanco felt the thing had pierced his skin.

"What the..." he quickly jumped away, pulling out the tongue. The tongue retracted back to its owner, the lizard creature perched at the top of the tree.

After retrieving its tongue, the two eyes of the lizard that were aimed in different directions suddenly moved as they both focused in one direction—towards Blanco.

"This is new. Instead of hunting others, this is the first time I've felt like prey. Ah right, that snake totally saw me as prey too.

But if that lizard thinks it can defeat me with just that long tongue of its, haha, it's laughable,"

As Blaco was thinking, the lizard once again stretched out its tongue, shooting it through the air towards Blanco.

Blanco quickly dodged away, and the marks of teeth around his neck glowed.

Chuzz! Chuzz!

A few spit balls shot through the air, although most of them missed their target. One ball collided with the tongue of the lizard.

Keewk!

The lizard screamed and quickly retracted its tongue, but other than its scream, it showed no painful expression.

"Hmm, that's surprising. I thought it would run away after getting hit. Is it because it has some hidden trump card against me or is it just stupidity?" Blanco pondered to himself.

While Blanco was lost in thought, he heard a few sounds emerging through the trees around the area, all of which sounded like creatures running through them.

Swish!

From a nearby tree, through the thick leaves, a few tongues shot out, all of which arrived swiftly, and Blanco failed to dodge some of them.

The gills around Blanco's neck twitched a bit. Suddenly, Blanco began to feel the surroundings more sensitively.

Before the long and sharp tongues could touch Blanco's skin, he swiftly moved, avoiding them.

Having missed their original target, the few tongues landed on the ground and even pierced the earth a bit. The sharpness they possessed was clearly visible.

"I have no knowledge of this creature, but from what I'm seeing, they hunt in groups and use a long range for hunting with the help of their tongues. Unless I get closer to them or manage to get rid of their tongues, this battle is in their favor."

Blanco looked toward the trees from which the tongues shot out. Through their thick leaves, lizards stepped out, gathered in groups. Not just one or two, but at least a hundred surrounded Blanco , positioned in the trees around him.

They stayed upon tree branches, looking at him mercilessly.

Looking at all of them, Blanco soon realized that the battle was not something he could win. Without further thinking, he quickly dashed away, trying to flee from the area.

Swish!

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

All the lizards on top of the trees reacted instantly, their clutching sharp tongues arriving through the spaces, aiming toward Blanco.

The gills around Blanco's neck twitched. Blanco moved swiftly, avoiding the sharp tongues, but no matter how fast he perceived their swift arrivals, he couldn't keep up with all of them. In the end, a few of them pierced through his skin, causing intense pain.

"It hurts," Blanco exclaimed as he jumped away, pulling out the tongue that had pierced him. He looked back at his body. Even though the shell-like marks on his body glowed, the pain was still powerful.

"Can their attacks bypass my pain resistance skill?"

Blanco glanced at the tree branches where the lizards were preparing to launch their tongues once again.

Swish!

They shot out, and the straight-line marks on Blanco's hand glowed as he swiftly dashed away. At the end of his dash, he turned toward a direction where most of the lizards were gathered. His mouth formed a bubble, full of poison that he had stored in it.

In the next moment, he shot them out, a giant deep green poison dart through the air toward the tree branch where the lizards were.

It moved swiftly, and seeing lizards slow reaction, a smile appeared on the corner of Blanco's mouth.

"Gotcha!"

Pizz!

The poison landed on the tree branch and emitted a sizzling sound.

"Eh," but the happy expression on Blanco's face turned to confused as he saw the lizards moving at unusual speed through the tree branches. Upon closer inspection, he saw they weren't actually running; they were gliding through the tree branches.

From the bottom of their feet, a wetter-like slippery substance was oozing out, making the surface of the tree extremely slippery for them. The lizards, having honed this skill throughout their whole lives, were extremely skilled when it came to gliding on these slippery trees.

"Tch, how unlucky, another disadvantage for me."

Frustrated by his failed attack, Blanco became even more displeased. He took a few steps back and eventually returned to the place where it all started, closer to the flower where the butterfly was before.

"My first time outside alone and I'm fighting an battle that I can't win. This is not a good sign, not at all."

"Since there's no hope of winning, my only option is running away. But they surely wouldn't let me do it as I please. Looks like I have to endure some pain in this."

With a plan in his mind, the straight lines on his hand shined again as Blanco dashed back, running away from the lizards.

They also chased through the trees, following behind Blaco.

"Haha, this is unexpected. Who would have thought they would follow me?" Blanco thought to himself, feeling a sting of pain. The plan he initially thought of was completely wasted now.

"Well, it's alright. No, this is perfect. Now there's only one way of winning. Since I already used my dash skill, I have to wait for a few minutes until I recover enough energy to use it again. I hope I'll be able to outrun them until then."

As Blanco was running, he jumped through the larger vines and rocks, which slowed his speed a bit. But he wasn't the only one facing disadvantages; even though the lizards could glide from tree branches when jumping from one tree to another, they also experienced a bit of a slowdown.

But because of their larger numbers, the slight slowdown in the lizerds speed could easily be overlooked.

The first group that closed in on Blanco shot out their tongues.

Blanco felt a sharp pain in his body as the tongues pierced his skin. Despite this, he continued to run, bearing the pain.

"Just a few more minutes," he hoped.

But the lizards behind him had no intention of giving him that time. They opened their mouths, shooting out their sharp tongues.

Blanco's gills twitched, giving him a sense of the arriving tongues.

But The previous tongues were already piercing his skin and restricting his movements a bit, preventing Blanco from dodging side to side to evade them.

"This is going to be painful," Blanco closed his eyes, preparing to endure the stinging pain once again. He also resigned himself to what would come after; the energy he needed to use his dash skill once again was almost fully replenished. If he could endure the pain, he would be able to outrun every one of them and escape from here.

The tongues arrived and pierced Blanco's skin.

"Ugh," it was painful, like sharp nails penetrating, and he felt something eating away at him from inside.

Chizzz!

But suddenly, Blanco felt a strange sensation throughout his body. The lizards that were following behind Blanco suddenly stopped, as did Blanco. They saw his fur and skin turning a deep dark green, and a little smoke emitted from his skin.

Chizzz!

As they pierced through the skin, the lizards suddenly felt an extreme pain in their tongues, and in the next moment, they felt nothing at all, realizing something was wrong. They hurriedly retracted them.

Opening his eyes, Blanco looked at the changes happening in his body. Seeing the deep green skin with smoke emitting from it, Blanco remembered the ability that the snake had.

"So this is the ability I got from him. What a fortunate way to figure this out."

At that moment, the tongues that pierced him retreated.

Blanco looked up at the tops of the trees. The lizards were in confusion. Some of the lizards that had retracted their tongues suddenly lost their balance and fell from the trees like dead bodies. They were paralyzed, and some of them appeared to be dead.

Seeing their comrades fall, the lizards became frightened. First a few of them began to retreat, and then hastily all of them ran back, never looking back in Blanco's direction.

"Cowards... Well, even if they didn't run, I wouldn't hunt them anyway. It's pretty hard to aim when they glide," Blaco thought to himself. He looked at the few lizards that had fallen from above. Despite recently getting his stomach full because of the battle, he felt exhausted again. So, he didn't hesitate to take the food that lay in front of him. And it's not becus he want to fulfill his anger toward them by eating them, not at all.