[1st POV]
I carved my rage on his body.
Again, and again, and again.
And again.
The hippo struggled with every line of gore I inflicted upon its body. Blood spilled out like ice on glass, bleeding, flowing. The parched earth drank greedily at the red liquid.
The hippo was thick. So thick that it was ridiculous. I couldn't even get to the organs, as after I peeled off the skin, condensed white fat blocked my way.
The hippo bellowed more and more submissively. It never lost volume but now it sounded more like screams of horror.
It tried to roll over, to move out of the way, to run. But it was easy to hold him down on the ground. His weight and mass were no longer against me, they were on my side. They were helping me keep him helpless.
After a long time, I didn't bother counting.
I stopped.
My rage already carved into his body.
I was done. Completely spent. My rage was gone and so was my stamina.
And yet...
"Harrgggg,,,,Harggggg..." the hippo still breathed.
What in the fuck was it made of. Could flesh truly be that durable. Was I so weak that I couldn't even kill a hippo.
There were no weaknesses in his body. No vitals upon his frame. I guess nature built it to endure anything.
Maybe if I was at full strength and fresh stamina, I would be able to kill it eventually from the loss of blood or too much injury. But as it stood, I could not kill the hippo.
I breathed hard and loud on top of the beast. My paw remained on his body which was full of red wounds. The surface of the injury covered his whole body but somehow, none of them were deep enough to be fatal.
"Do not forget this day and learn your lesson well," I said. "In the world where strength rules, you shall never harm my children or bully what is mine."
I didn't show that I couldn't kill him obviously. I acted like I showed him mercy instead. I was a merciful king indeed.
"Go," I said, finally moving away from the hippo.
The hippo moved fast, quickly rolling over so that its exposed underbelly was tucked under him. He didn't stand immediately and just sat there, waiting for strength to return.
There was no part of his body that was unharmed. When he tried to roll over from the other side, I simply switched my position to attack the newly exposed side. So his body was marred with claw wounds or bite wounds.
My calf came running to me. They were already near the vicinity, watching the fight unfold. Seeing that I was done, they came up to me in cuddles. Their huge weight and the force behind their slam was not really good for my current state but I welcomed them all the same.
"It's okay Jumbo, it's okay Mambo," I said, licking at them.
The vultures in the sky were slowly dispersing as well, realizing there would not be an easy meal today.
After a few minutes of laying there, the hippo eventually got up and ran back to the lake. I deadpanned seeing him run like the wounds were nothing and it was only the exhaustion that put him down.
"And you are going to grow into more powerful giants than that," I said, rubbing the hippos while nursing my broken arm.
"I can't wait. At that point you will be the ones to protect me instead," I said with a smile.
The day all my cubs and children eventually surpassed me.
Oh that would be a day to behold indeed.
"Let's go home now," I said, standing on three limbs and going back to the pride. Mambo was injured on the leg so it was Jumbo that helped support the side of my body as I walked.
We didn't even have to go all the way back to the pride before we encountered the researchers in the vicinity.
They immediately took care of us.
They took care of Mambo and the injury he sustained. The extent of my injury was not too severe but troublesome. I had not experienced broken bones in the arm before, the hippo was the first animal to push me to this extent.
With the incoming challengers that would arrive in the dry season, I had no doubt it would be difficult.
But not really.
I could kill the average challenger with one arm tied behind my back.
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I remember at that point, I thought the fight against the hippo couldn't be topped.
It was probably the worst thing that would happen to me in this dry season.
God was I wrong.
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[3rd POV]
The bull hippo returned to the lake in defeat.
His bulk pushed through the reeds with slow and deliberate force. Each of his steps sent small ripples through the shallow water before him.
Mud clung to his legs and belly. His hide, usually smooth and thick like living stone, was marked now by countless shallow wounds. There were long scrapes, torn patches, places where flesh was ripped off and darkened streaks where blood had dried and mixed with dust.
None of them was deep enough to kill him.
But that might as well be the cruelest thing.
Pain spread everywhere around his body, as if his own skin had turned against him.
His hide was shield and protection all his life, but now it seemed to be torturing him. The old bull kind of wished he could strip off all his protective layers.
He lowered himself into the water with a tired grunt, the lake rising to swallow his future scars. The coolness that wrapped around his body somewhat eased the fire beneath his skin.
He released grunts of pain as he felt his wounds being washed. The murky water around him took a red hue as he moved deeper into the lake.
Although ashamed, he headed toward the rest of the hippos living in the lake.
There were hundreds of hippos living in this lake. The lifestyle and social process of the hippos were a bit different from other animals.
They lived in pods. Hundreds of hippos living in one watering source.
And here, the dominant males would claim sections of the lake or river. They would ward off other males and allow only females to swing in their territory. But in return, the females would often mate with the dominant owner of whatever section of the lake they decided to graze on.
The other hippos immediately turned their attention to him as he swam into the lake.
He was considered one of the most dominant males in the whole lake. He was a giant bull in his prime, claiming one of the largest territories in the whole pod.
But now, he was weak. He couldn't even feel prideful at the moment.
He did not raise his head high as he usually did. Instead, he remained half-submerged, eyes just above the surface.
"You are hurt, Gruth," a female hippo with a calf behind her was the first to respond to him.
She was one of his females and the calf was his. She had been almost a permanent resident of his territory, and a female that could almost be considered his wife from a human standard.
Although she too mated with other males when she wandered in their territory. But hippos were not too possessive of their females like that. They were instead very possessive and territorial of their territory.
"Barely," Gruth replied, trying to sound strong.
"How did a mere lion inflict such wounds on you," the female hippo asked, moving around his injured body. She could smell his blood not only on him but in the water.
Although lions considered themselves king, the hippos or any of the other giants did not consider them as such. From a hippo's perspective, lions were just small cats that couldn't leave a dent on their thick hide even if they wanted to.
"He was not just any lion," Gruth replied.
"He was king."
"A king?" the female hippo scoffed.
"Yes. And I think we need to acknowledge that. Or else some other idiot would try their luck and they wouldn't be strong enough to resist him," Gruth said before moving deeper into the lake and submerging himself.
He would need to heal and recover fast.
By the time the evening rolled and the sun was about to set, his fear had come true as a challenger came up to him, knowing full well his moment of weakness.
But Gruth was not too weakened by the battle. More like irritated. And that was exactly why the few lines of challenge did not have the luxury of simply walking away in defeat.
That night, the water exploded on multiple occasions. More hippos came, sensing the weakness in the dominant male. But Gruth simply sent them away, sinking a few of them even.
He was taking out his anger and frustration on the younger bulls that thought they had a chance.
The whole pod was reminded that even bleeding, Gruth was still a powerful and dominant male. A beast that weighed four tons and was currently full of rage.
Eventually, the challengers gave up and Gruth continued to be the dominant male of his territory. Although he did lose some area to the other dominant males. But he'd take that back as soon as he recovered.
And in the light of seeing his strength and being reminded that his injury from the lion was not sustained out of weakness,
The other hippos in the lake couldn't help but acknowledge the lion that managed to bring him down.
The scars that Gruth had from the battle became a reminder and a warning to all the hippos living in the lake.
Of a lion that could take them down.
It wasn't so much fear, but more of wariness.
Whenever they saw Gruth wandering unchallengeed int he lake, his scar and twisted apperance alwasy made them think of the lion.
The ruler of the Serengeti, the lion king Leo. This was the first time the group of the third-largest beast in the world remembered the name of the king who ruled their land.
And after a few days, when the baby rhinos eventually returned to graze on the plants growing near the lake, the hippos did not attack.
Gruth watched from the shallow waters as the calves grazed with no fear in their bodies.
Although every instinct in him screamed to chase them away, Gruth did nothing.
He remembered the lion well.
And he turned tail and slowly went deeper into the lake instead.
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[IMAGE]
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Author : Told you I was not dropping. Turns out, it wasn't just a cold but a whole ass Pneumonia. Had to be hospitalized for a few days because of the sever fever and breathing issues.
Nevertheless I'll try consistent update this week.
Thank you all for your endless patience