Reincarnated as a Land Shark???

Chapter 28: The Squatch

Before I was reincarnated, if someone asked me whether or not I believed in Bigfoot I'd have probably laughed in their face. I always thought of it as nothing more than a farce. Now?

Well if it's real enough to hit me with the force of a truck I'd say it has a pretty strong grip in the realm of existence.

I leap away from its next swinging strike with an internal curse. If it takes off 60 hp with one hit, that means that in the best-case scenario I can afford to take two more hits. The third will kill me.

I dodge another hit, mainly focusing on keeping my distance. It's fast though; I'm not sure trying to run from this battle is a good idea. The chance it'll catch up to me is too high and if it catches me with my back turned I'm done.

Worst-case scenario, that wasn't even his full strength and the next hit breaks something. If that happens I'm dead meat.

So far in all of the fights I've fought, I've had the advantage of more Hp and the highest attack power. Not only could I afford to take hits, one bite was usually enough to settle matters. The croc was the only battle where I lost the advantage of Hp and bite force, but in the end I won it with sprinting speed, fast turning, and knowledge of my prior life about a croc's weakness.

That thing is faster than me, and since it's an obligatory bipedal organism it can turn in place on a dime. Getting behind it to deal damage will be nigh impossible with this body.

I duck low, the club swiping over my head and nearly clipping my fin, and then spring backwards again.

What do I do?

I look it over with status inspection again, looking for a title or skill that might give me a hint. Nothing - all I know is that it's strong and good with that club!

I go in for a bite when it overreaches, managing to sink my teeth into its leg. It hardly kicks at me and swings the club down, forcing me to let go and hastily leap out of the way.

My biggest problem is that club. Before I can do anything else I need to get rid of it.

If I can bite it, I may be able to wrestle it away from the Sasquatch. At the same time if it grapples me there's no getting away from it. It's bigger than me so I don't think I can drag it around like I did with those ahuizotl. The level of its grapple is also high - I don't think that my level one 'Usurp' skill will let me break out.

If I don't get rid of that club, this fight is over before it even begins.

I continue evading the strikes, observing his movements carefully. If I mistime my bite, it'll mean taking the full strength of the hit in my mouth. Taking damage will be the least of my problems, I'll get my teeth either knocked out of or further into my skull and a broken jaw... maybe it'd even break my upper jaw too. If that happens it means certain death even if I can escape this battle alive. I won't be able to hunt for food or EXP, so I'll eventually starve or die of infection.

My only chance is to latch on once a swing misses me, but before it runs out of momentum. The sudden weight might be enough to make him drop it, and I can always attack with my claws if he doesn't.

Gained the skill Dodge lv 1.

I evade another hit, noticing the sudden ease that comes with the timing of my evasion.

Good, that'll make things much easier!

The Sasquatch roars, seemingly enraged by the fact he's been unable to hit me since the first strike, and charges. He unleashes a flurry of strikes, and if I'd gained that skill so much as one second later I'd be a pancake on the ground... or the side of a tree... or maybe I'd have been flung up high into the atmosphere.