Chapter 273: Fat, Pink and Wiggly

Sitting in the damp grass, completely stranded at the edge of the swamp, Ren finally broke.

The tears started as a frustrating, hot prickle behind her eyes and rapidly escalated into full-blown, ugly, shoulder-heaving sobs. She pulled her knees to her chest, burying her face in her hands as she cried. She honestly had absolutely no idea why she felt so incredibly, overwhelmingly emotional all of a sudden, but the floodgates were open.

Was it the exhaustion? Her missing contraceptive implant wreaking absolute havoc on her hormone levels? Whatever it was, it was too much.

“Why?!” Ren cried out to the dark sky, her voice cracking pitifully. “Why couldn’t I just head to the swamp with no problems?! Why does the universe hate me so much?!”

Standing a few feet away, Viper was entirely out of his depth. The snake guard shifted his weight awkwardly, watching the female weep. In his mind, there was only one logical reason why she would be crying so hard: she was utterly devastated because Vex stealing boat had delayed her from seeing his King.

“Do not cry,” Viper offered tentatively, stepping closer. “We could swim across.”

Ren slowly lifted her head from her knees. She looked up at him with red, puffy eyes, a stray tear sliding down her cheek.

“Are you insane?” Ren whispered in horror. She completely covered her face with her hands again as she wept louder. “Swim?! In there?! The leeches alone in that swamp are probably big enough to suck my entire body dry like a juice box!”

Viper fell silent, his brows furrowing in deep contemplation. He desperately needed to secure a new boat for her, but he simply didn’t know how to build a boat. They were complex structures made long, long ago by the strange creatures his King had told him about called ’humans’.

He had absolutely no idea how to build one from scratch.

Viper turned his eyes back to the dark, glassy water.

Not too far from the muddy shoreline, he spotted a massive, dark wading log slowly drifting through the reeds.

Without a word, Viper marched toward the water’s edge. To move easier and far more efficiently through the thick, murky water of the swamp, he shifted his lower body, transforming it into a scaly snake tail.

He slithered silently into the freezing water, his powerful tail propelling him smoothly toward the drifting log.

Back on the shore, Ren heard a sudden, violent eruption of splashing.

SPLASH! THRASH!

She sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, and wondered what in the world Viper was doing now. When she looked up through her tear-blurred vision, her jaw dropped completely open.

There was a large swamp crocodile. And Viper was currently wrestling it bare-handed!

The dark water churned into a violent froth of white foam and mud. The giant crocodile snapped its terrifying, razor-sharp jaws, attempting to latch onto Viper’s torso and initiate a lethal death roll. But Viper was an elite guard of the Snake King for a reason. His muscular snake half instantly coiled tightly around the crocodile’s thick midsection.

With a terrifying display of raw strength, Viper lunged forward. He gripped the crocodile’s upper and lower jaws with his bare hands, his biceps bulging under the strain. He forcefully clamped the monster’s mouth shut, denying it the ability to bite. The crocodile thrashed wildly, its heavy tail whipping the water into a frenzy, but Viper simply flexed his thick serpentine coils tighter and tighter around its ribs.

CRACK.

A wet crunch echoed across the swamp as the crocodile’s spine completely gave out under the immense, crushing pressure. The giant beast instantly went limp.

Panting slightly, Viper casually dragged the massive, lifeless reptile through the murky water back toward the shallows. He hauled it up right to the edge of the muddy banking and looked up at Ren with absolute pride.

“This is your boat,” Viper presented the dead crocodile to her, gesturing to its broad, scaly back. “You will sit on top, and I will push it.”

Ren stared at the dead crocodile. Then, she stared at Viper’s completely serious, expecting face.

She burst into fresh, hysterical tears, crying loudly at Viper’s effort.

Viper’s eyes widened in pure panic. He was completely confused. Why was she crying again?! Was the crocodile too small?!

“I apologize!” Viper hastily announced, immediately turning his scaly tail back toward the murky depths. “I will go back in! I am going to find a much bigger crocodile!”

“No, no, wait!” Ren frantically stopped him, waving her hands as she desperately tried to collect herself. She wiped her puffy eyes, hiccuping softly. “The crocodile is fine, Viper. It’s perfectly fine. I’m sorry for all the crying and shouting at you so much before. I just… I got a bit overwhelmed by the situation.”

Viper let out a silent breath of relief, keeping his tight grip on the dead reptile’s snout.

Ren finally pushed herself up from the grassy shore. She took a tentative step forward and looked down at the muddy banking leading to the water’s edge.

Her face instantly twisted into a mask of pure disgust.

She had completely forgotten about the swamp worms.

Because of the damp night air, they were out in their absolute numbers. The thick, black mud of the shoreline was completely covered in thousands of pink, fat, wiggling worms. They squirmed and writhed over each other in a pulsing carpet of grossness.

Ren felt her stomach violently churn. She felt like she was going to throw up just looking at them.

“I am definitely not going to step in that,” Ren declared, taking a massive step backward into the safe grass.

“They are completely harmless,” Viper tried to convince her, looking down at the squirming mud. “They do not bite.”

“Viper, I am telling you right now,” Ren said, pointing a trembling finger at the mud, “if even one of those fat, pink things touches my skin or especially my toes, my soul will literally leave my body. I cannot walk there.”

Viper looked at the mud, and then up at the human female. He could easily carry her over the squirming mud, but…

He was currently holding onto the corpse of the crocodile so the current wouldn’t cause it to drift away. If he let go to carry her, the ’boat’ would be lost. If he held the boat, she couldn’t cross.

What should he do?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep