Chapter 24: Rot

Regrettably, Jimmy didn’t have strong survival instincts. His magical abilities have helped him survive, to some degree, but still, he wasn’t exactly known for his survival skills.

To add to his clumsiness, he did the one thing that he wasn’t supposed to do in front of a large, stalking predator. Rapid movements.

However, he was scared, so he jumped, and rolled backwards over the dead bug. He was hoping that the bug would behave like a barricade of sorts, against whatever was in the waters.

Within a second, he grabbed Anna and Nechi. He adjusted them over his shoulders as he started sprinting forwards, as fast as he could, away from the river! He wasn’t the strongest man in the tribe, not by a long shot, but he was powered by fear and adrenaline at the moment, which was a good, albeit a temporary replacement for actual strength.

The ladies didn’t know what was going on at first, but since they were on his shoulders, they were essentially facing towards the river. What could be three seconds later, they saw a large, scaly creature zig around the dead bug, and then gallop towards them!

“Jesus Christ!” Anna exclaimed. “A crocodile!”

Jimmy didn’t hear anything she said. He just kept running, hoping to outrun the crocodile, but even his adrenaline couldn’t help him out on this one.

The crocodile that was chasing after them, galloped much like a horse, at speeds that could outrun the average caveman. It was a fast creature, despite its estimated, three-ton body weight, and its length of ten meters, or thirty-three feet!

Anna almost shat herself when she noticed that the crocodile was catching up to them, and Jimmy was half-sure that he had shat himself already. They were certain that they were going to die today!

Nechi, however, kept her composure. Well, her few bits of fat were jerking up and down right now, because she was over Jimmy’s shoulder, but she was still calm. She was experienced.

“Rot,” She said, calmly, and stretched her arm outwards, aiming it at the crocodile.

As a stream of black essence shot out of her hands, an untrained eye might think that she was holding the secrets of the universe, but that was not the case. She unleashed her magical powers, the very magic that she hated talking about.

The black essence covered the crocodile, and for a second it was difficult to see the galloping beast, but then, she and Anna saw the crocodile rolling!

From the looks of it, it has tumbled over itself, as if it had tripped over its own feet. The crocodile rolled over a few times, and then regained its composure, as fast as it could.

However, it wasn’t looking to chase its prey anymore. It tried to run away, but it couldn’t run anymore, so it started crawling towards the river, dragging one of its front legs which was rendered useless after the tumble.

Jimmy wasn’t aware of this, so he kept running. Nechi asked him to stop running, but he couldn’t hear anything they said, because Anna and Nechi’s waists pressed against his ears.

However, the adrenaline rush died down eventually, so the weight of the girls slowly pushed him towards the ground. Right then and there, he was sure that he was about to die, so he covered his head in fear, oblivious of what had happened.

“We’re okay, Jimmy.” Anna tried to talk to him, as she pulled on his arm. “Snap out of it, you wimp.”

Nechi wanted to comfort Jimmy as well, and she would’ve done a better job too, considering how much she cared about him, but she had a job to finish.

Without thinking about it twice, she rushed towards the crawling crocodile, grabbed one of the dropped spears along the way, and got to the crocodile before it slipped back into the river. A fatty like this one would provide a couple-thousand pounds of meat, so despite her displeasure, she decided to use her powers to finish the job.

“Rot, creature.” She flung her hand forward.

Another stream of black essence shot out of her hand, and washed over the crocodile. This time, her attack was more efficient, and calculated, so she managed to cripple the crocodile’s three other legs.

Desperate but unyielding, the crocodile still wiggled its massive body, trying to get to the river, but Nechi put it out of its misery, and pushed her spear through its head.

“Curse you for making me do this,” She whispered.

Despite her anger, she kissed the dead crocodile on its head. In her tribe, it was tradition to kiss an animal once hunting it down, and killing it. She respected this tradition, even though there wasn’t anyone watching her.

Anna and Jimmy approached her eventually. Despite faint hints of how Nechi’s powers worked, they didn’t have the slightest clue regarding how she managed to kill this monster so quickly!

They were stunned, but also curious. Anna observed the carcass from a distance at first, but then she got closer, and instantly noticed that its legs were not only out of shape, but were also rotting amidst their broken bones!

“Spontaneous necrosis?” She whispered, as she touched one of its legs with a small stick. “This is amazing… she managed to not only age its legs beyond use, but also made the legs necrotic… No wonder she doesn’t want to talk about her powers.”

“What are you mumbling about, sister?” Nechi asked, with a serious tone, as her mood plummeted towards the worst. “Don’t talk about my magic, sister, ever. It’s not any better if you mumble about it.”

Under normal circumstances, Anna would be offended, but now, she started to understand why her sister didn’t want to talk about her powers. Spontaneous necrosis was straight up evil, if abused, and she could only wonder what else her sister was capable of. Nothing pretty, she reckoned.

With that said, she finally saw it logical to respect her sister’s wishes. She decided not to ask Nechi about her abilities anymore, well, at least, not unless she absolutely had to. So she smiled at Nechi, prompting her to relax.

Jimmy was just as amazed. He knew that Nechi’s powers leaned towards Necromancy, but even though what she did to this crocodile looked necromantic, he still wasn’t sure of what category to label this recent power with. Nechi’s powers may not be fully necromantic, but rather, a combination of a few branches, or sub-branches of dark magic.

It was confusing, but it also made more sense. That aside, he knew one thing for sure. He could not afford making her angry, or worse, an enemy, so he hugged Nechi gently, and tried to comfort her.

He stroked her hair, and said, “You saved our lives. Thank you.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep