This Clueless Hero

Though I poked the lizard king, it did not react.

For a moment, I was feeling its breath blow past me. Although it was only sleeping, the breath that came from it was enough to cause my clothes to flutter. That fact made me realize the enormity of the lizard king.

Somehow I forgot it was about fifty meters tall despite being right in front of me.

The plan in my mind was definitely not the most reserved one if that wasn't obvious from poking the snout of the lizard king. Yet, I'm pretty sure it's the only plan that has a real chance of success.

I was going to toss the peppers into the lizard king's mouth and immediately rush towards the entrance of the expanse. After all, the lizard king was unable to fit through there, so I should be safe.

Then, once it died, I could claim those special black fruits and claim the crown. From there, I imagine it would be easier to deal with any remaining black lizards.

And so, my first obstacle was finding some way to make the lizard king consume the peppers. The initial attempt didn't go so well, which meant it needed something more stimulating to wake up.

I looked at the lizard king's shut eye. It was relatively tiny considering its size, just slightly smaller than the palm of my hand.

...It would probably hurt to poke in the eye, right?

I slowly reached over with my index finger out, standing on the tip of my toes. I gradually brought it to the eye, just hovering over.

Then, with determination, I firmly poked it.

A thundering roar filled the cavernous expanse. I immediately pulled back, avoiding the lizard king's jaws that suddenly opened. I threw both the peppers inside the lizard king's mouth without hesitation, sending them down its gullet.

And then, I turned towards the entrance and teleported.

The moment I materialized, a massive crocodile-like lizard next to me had noticed me. It opened its jaws wide in a familiar way. I remembered that the lizard would let out some kind of special roar that would damage me if I was within the range.

Without hesitation, I acted. My eyes widened and my pupils constricted.

For a split second, I could feel the sound wave rushing towards me, but I teleported out of the way. After finishing the teleportation, I found myself around several massive lizards this time.

Although I wanted to pick a better spot, there was simply no time to deliberate over my decision. It was at this instant that I realized this was bound to fail me sooner or later. If I began teleporting without hesitation, I would be able to evade the lizard's shouts.

However, if the random destination I selected just so happened to be next to a massive lizard, that meant they could swipe at me with their tail and destroy me instantly.

The massive lizards' jaws opened, giving me little time to think. Once again, my eyes widened while my pupils constricted.

Except this time, I was looking up into the air.

I teleported upwards and found myself starting to fall down, feeling the wind brush by me. Then, I tilted my head upwards and started the teleportation process once more.

The space around me began to distort. Then suddenly, I teleported much farther ahead than usual and up in the air.

This was my new strategy, as the lizards would be helpless to attack me while I was in the air. Not to mention, I could use the time in the air to teleport freely.

A deafening roar rang out from behind me.

...Well, not all the lizards were helpless.

I snuck a glance over my shoulder, catching wind of the lizard king. Its skin had already been strangely deformed, bulging and contracting. There was a red color that appeared across the lizard king, almost like it had been bruised. However, the color shifted around its body, almost like raging seas of magma were right under its skin.

Though as bad as its condition was, the lizard king was very much alive, and very much angry at me. It was charging towards me at full speed.

The speed I was going at with my teleportation was not nearly enough to outrun the lizard king. In other words, if I teleported forwards, it would easily catch up and kill me.

And so, I teleported to the side.

The lizard king rushed past me, blowing strong gales in my direction. Several massive lizards were stepped on during its rampage. While the massive lizards were not weak by any means, they were helpless under the lizard king.

They let out unwilling cries as they breathed their last breath, unfortunate casualties caught in the crossfire.

Although adrenaline was already rushing through my veins, I got another sudden surge, almost like I was an impulsive addict.

Upon missing its target, the lizard king began slowing down and turned to me. It was in a wild rage, but knew what it wanted to vent its rage upon

The walls of the cavern began breaking apart and swirled in the air like there was a tornado. The eye of the tornado being the lizard king.

Those stones connected to the lizard king's body, but couldn't seem to stick that well considering all the bulging and contracting. However, that didn't seem to be enough to discourage it.

The lizard king continued to pull more and more stones, forcefully covering its body, resisting the distortions it was experiencing. Once the stones wrapped around its body, the bulging seemed to calm down. Unfortunately, this was a rather forceful solution. Although the lizard king was clearly trying to fix its situation, it didn't forget its other priority, me. The lizard king charged towards me.

I hesitated, but only for a fraction of a second. I decided to let my instincts fully take over. My eyes tilted upwards and quite far up for that matter.

Then, a tight feeling wrapped around me.

The lizard king charged towards me violently, opening its jaws wide in an attempt to crush me. However, before it could, I vanished.

Just a moment later, I materialized on top of the lizard king's back and began running across its rocky back. It was very unstable, especially because of the random rising and falling experienced. However, I remained determined and continued going on this rocky rollercoaster ride.

The lizard king seemed to notice me on its back, gathering more stones, but not with the intention of covering its skin, but bashing against me.

Upon seeing three large stones shoot towards me, I immediately realized that the situation wasn't the most favorable. I could no longer spend any more time on its back, as I would just be crushed.

My eyes widened and my pupils constricted. However, I didn't teleport immediately. The space around me distorted while the stones got closer and closer.

The space around me distorted even more while the stones were only a few meters away from me.

Then the space around me quickly became something that resembled a black hole.

As for the stones, they were right in front of my face.

Then, once I could feel the wind brush by my eyes, I teleported.

The distance this time was massive, instead of the common couple or so meters, this was nearly a few hundred. The entrance to this expanse was close. I was almost home free.

The reason I decided to do such a risky maneuver was because of the fact I wasn't confident in not teleporting into a stone. The stones around were chaotic, so if I didn't escape the range of the stones, I would simply be leaving my life to chance.

I didn't want to leave it to that, so I took matters into my own hands.

The furious roar of the lizard king rang out from behind me, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I wasn't home free yet.

Constant teleporting was making my senses muddled.

My vision already got blurry while my ears were ringing almost like a blaring megaphone was put up next to me. The world had essentially become a vague place, almost like it didn't exist. However, that wasn't enough for me to stop trying.

Although I couldn't really tell because of the lack of feedback from my senses, I knew my eyes were widening and my pupils constricted. The space around me distorted once more while thundering footsteps resounded from behind me.

The exact location of those footsteps was unclear to me. The uncertainty made me feel quite a bit of pressure. It was as though a shadow was gradually forming above me, pushing down on my shoulders.

My instincts told me to turn around and look. However, my eyes remained forward resolutely, right on the entrance to the cavern.

The booming footsteps got closer.

For a moment, I sensed a mountain behind me.

Yet, I still waited.

Then, the feeling of death approached.

And I teleported.