After the eagle left, the corpse of the Anaconda king dropped down near the river.
The Black Caiman King did not hesitate, it knew if it consumed the corpse of the beast it would grow stronger.
Beasts generally grew stronger by consuming other beasts, herbs or by growing up.
Numerous Earth wall erupted, blocking the view of the humans. A straight path was formed to the corpse from the Black Caiman King, it decided to retreat upon getting the corpse.
It could deal with humans after consuming the corpse and getting stronger. It did not have the confidence to kill all of them yet.
The remnants of Bravo team and Gamma team fired numerous RPG'S on the walls, breaking though them clearing way for their team to go in and secure the corpse.
Heavy focused fire of uranium bullets, and grenades were used to slow down the advance of the Black Caiman King.
The moment erupted with savage precision.
Two soldier never saw the strike coming. The Black Caiman's tail - a weapon of pure muscle and razor-sharp scales - moved faster than human perception.
First solider crushed. Spine shattered instantaneously. No time to scream.
Second solider: bisected. A clean cut that separated torso from legs before nervous system could even register pain.
Blood mixed with seawater. A crimson ballet of violent efficiency.
The team's tactical response was immediate. Rocket launchers. High-caliber rifles. Precision targeting systems.
The Black Caiman's King body transformed mid-movement. Scales hardened. Membrane structures shifted. Gills emerged where lungs once existed. Not a gradual change. An instantaneous reconfiguration. Earth covered it.
{Fortification}
But then it saw something, a humongous piece of metal flying towards it, and it fired something towards it.
A small missile was launched from a fighter plan from above.
A big explosion occurred making the nearby trees catch fire, but surprisingly the Black Caiman King was still alive.
The creature was really Tanky, but it was seriously injured with its side tore off with its scales scorched with fire.
It started hissing in a loud voice.
Before one more missile could be fired it quickly took a part of anaconda king body, then retreated into the river.
It moved like it's life depended on it, it did.
One more missile was fired, it used numerous earth walls to block it, it was useless.
The missile still hit the target. One more explosion followed. But the Black Caiman King was still alive, as it body was scorched up, it looked like charcoal. and the seriously injured body fell into the river's deep water.
It swam away pretty fast, even in that condition.
The Black Caiman King swore to take revenge, it would not forget this humiliation.
It started using its self-heal skill to heal.
***
It has been a few days, since he was donated a core from the humans.
He was currently hunting at the outer edges of Amazon Rain forest, he had already fulfilled the amount of required Bioenergy.
Currently he was searching for a suitable place to evolve, a safe place because he didn't know how long his evolution would last.
He found a suitable place, but it seemed to have owners, so he decided to clean it up.
The bears never saw him coming.
Three inferior-rank creatures. Territorial. Aggressive. Completely outmatched.
Kaiser's approach was aggressive
First Bear: Alpha Male
Tracking was simple. Scent markers. Territorial piss lines. Broken branches. Ecological signatures that screamed "we're here" to anything with advanced sensory perception.
The alpha stood nearly three meters tall. Massive. Scarred from previous territorial battles. Thought himself the undisputed king of this particular forest segment.
Cute.
Kaiser's first strike was psychological. Not physical.
He captured and wounded a prey animal, deer. The smell of blood, from the surroundings likely triggered it.
The bear's predatory instincts triggered immediately. Charge first. Assess later.
Fatal mistake.
As the bear lunged, Kaiser's body transformed. Not fully. Just enough. Feathers hardened. Muscles condensed.
One precise strike. Targeting the throat's biological weak point.
The bear's massive body crashed. Didn't even understand it was dead.
Second Bear was a female
More cautious and Smarter.
She heard her mate's death. Watched from a distance. It decided in an instance, that it could not defeat him, thus retreated.
Kaiser respected that. Survival wasn't about size. It was about intelligence, but more importantly Power.
He used the forest itself. Mana threads manipulating branch positions. Creating false movement. Psychological warfare. Making it more alert and wary to nearby surroundings
Her approach was defensive, and she retreated more faster.
She was basically a coward.
The kill was quicker. Less dramatic. A precise mana-enhanced strike from his talons that severed critical neural pathways.
She dropped. Silent.
Third Bear was a Juvenile
The youngest. Most unpredictable.
It tried something unexpected. Retreat.
Intelligence.
Kaiser almost let it go. Almost.
Survival had no room for "almost."
It could try to get revenge on him a later date.
The juvenile's retreat became its death sentence. Mana-enhanced speed. A strike so fast the forest itself seemed to blur.
One moment running. Next moment, its head flew off.
Kaiser then went to the cave he previously discovered, it was the Bear's cave that he had killed previously.
It still had their scent, so it would ward off prey and predators alike, he had killed the group of bears away from the cave. So it was perfect.
He went deep into the cave, and then pressed his beak on the evolution option that popped up.
{Evolution options}
1) Haast Eagle King (Uncommon)
2) Magical Haast Eagle (Uncommon+)
3) Windstorm Eagle (Uncommon - Rare-)
4) Griffin (Uncommon - Rare+)
***
Dr. Dimitri Volkov and Professor Zhang Wei stared at the corpse. Not just a specimen. A puzzle.
The Anaconda King's body was being inspected inside and out, it's scales were harder than they expected. They had to use special equipment to perform the surgery.
"Are those... scales changing color?" whispered Dr. Chen's assistant, the youngest researcher.
Her name was Dr. Selena, no last name. She was an orphan. unfortunately Dr chen died, thus she was her replacement.
"If you're hallucinating, I'm joining," muttered Professor Zhang Wei
The plant. That was the real mystery.
Nestled within the creature's preserved stomach cavity - a botanical anomaly that defied every known scientific classification. Roots that seemed to pulse. Not with liquid. With energy.
Quantum researchers would lose their minds.
Botanical experts would have existential crises, it contradicted too many things they knew about.
Especially so, that a tiny plant could hold that much energy in.
The energy signature? Impossible. Fluctuating between matter and pure potential. Like watching reality's source code glitch.
They were close to finding out the truth.
Dr. Dimitri's hand reached out. Centimeters from understanding everything.
Then.
The screen appeared.
Floating. Translucent. Impossible.
[CHOOSE DIFFICULTY LEVEL]
EASY
NORMAL
HARD
NIGHTMARE
Timestamp: 00:59
00:58
00:57...
Researchers looked at each other.
"Is... is this a joke?" Selena stammered.
Dimitri's hand was still outstretched. Frozen.
The plant pulsed. Seemed to... laugh.