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

CH•14 - "Premonition"

Urgh, my head hurts. My body feels heavy. How long was I out? And, why did I suddenly feel groggy that night? I'm cold. Is it still nighttime? I can't feel my leg... My leg! That's right, I was bitten by a snake! And, it was a cobra too! Did its venom kill me? Wait, no, if I'm dead, I wouldn't be feeling any pain. Unless pain exists in the afterlife... but, if I'm still alive, then did I survive a snake bite without any anti-venom? Or, maybe that snake didn't eject any venom in its bite. I'm so confused now.

My eyes are stuck, I can't open them. It's like it got glued or something. I feel so weak. Maybe the venom is already kicking in and I just woke up at a bad time. Guess I went ahead of myself and completely looked down on the snake just because it was smaller than me. So, is this how it ends? Getting taken out in one bite by a creature not even half my size... and, I call myself an apex predator. This isn't good. My head feels wobbly. I've never felt this way before. Not even when I was still human.

No, I can't let myself fall here. Not in this place. I just survived getting washed away from Australia to Egypt, this can't be the end of me now. I force myself to move, no matter how heavy my body feels like. I try my best to open my eyes, but it's slammed shut. Then, I felt my heart beat. I felt a rush throughout my whole body, giving me energy. Yes, just like that. Keep beating. I won't let some venom get the best of me. But, I never felt another beat. What happened? Did my heart stop functioning or something? Thirty seconds passed and still nothing. Oh man, isn't this bad for me? My heart isn't beating anymore! Then, a full minute passed and finally there was a beat. Blood pumped through my veins again, rejuvenating me.

Whoa, did my heart rate just slow down? Though, it's slowly getting faster now. After a while, it was one or two beats per minute. Now, it's four to eight beats per minute. It's getting faster. And, I can feel warmth in my body again. I slowly open my eyes. Finally, I can see again. Though everything is somewhat blurry. And, my mouth tastes like roadkill... oh. I think I puked when I was unconscious or something, there's a puddle of vomit right in front of me, and my mouth is dripping saliva. What exactly happened to me?

I can barely move my limbs and I still can't feel the back of my leg where the snake bit me. I try to move it, but then all of a sudden, I just felt intense pain all over me and I fell down again, slowly losing consciousness...

It's dark. There's nothing in sight. I can't tell if my eyes are open or not. I don't feel anything. I don't even know if I'm lying onto something or just floating in this vast and empty void. I don't feel hot or cold. I'm not even sure if I'm still alive right now. I just... want to... rest...

【"Pathetic."】

...... ...... ...... What was that? Some kind of scary, intimidating voice just spoke. Then, I suddenly felt a chill down my spine, as if all my nerves are screaming at me to run and never look back. I felt something surrounding me. I don't know if it was cold air, but it made me even chillier. Then, a light glowed below me, and when I looked down... there was a gigantic eye staring right at me. It was a sharp reptilian eye like mine but more bigger and a lot more menacing. The eye glowed brighter and I could feel my chest being ripped apart. It was like I was getting crushed by some unseen force.

Moments later, the pressure in my chest subsided, but immediately after that, my head got ripped open and something came out of it. I don't really know what it was but it certainly felt like my brain was being pulled out of me. The excruciating pain jolted me awake.

I found myself back in the same place I woke up, in the same spot I slept after getting bit by the snake. Yeesh, I really outdid myself with sleeping on my own vomit, I'm disgusting. I better go wash myself, this place stinks. How did I manage to sleep here without being bothered by the stench? I'm gonna need to find a new place to stay in.

It didn't take me until I dipped my whole body in the water to realize that my leg is all healed up! H-how did this happen? WHEN did this happen? Did I puke the venom out of me? No way, that sounds stupid. But, I've heard of stupider miracles in online videos before, so maybe? Okay, so let's think about this... I was bitten, fell unconscious, I somehow puked during sleep, and I woke up in shock. Did I have a nightmare? I don't remember... Heh, I can already imagine how Tiny and the girl would react if I just suddenly burst awake in the middle of the night. Wait... the girl...... what was her name again?