Gacha Harem System-Chapter 33: Acidic Anaconda

In an interesting turn of events, the anaconda swung towards Melody.

Its body moved in a wide, sweeping arc, the sheer mass of it displacing the air as it came around.

Melody leapt back, but the snake was already adjusting, its head dropping low and tracking her movement, as if it didn’t need to hurry.

It was already confident that it had secured dinner, even if the dinner was the same rank as it was.

It spat again. Melody threw up a [Hex Shield], the venom splashing across the surface and running down in thin, smoking lines.

Lukas stepped out from behind the tree at the sight. This was largely his battle to fight.

"Hey!"

The anaconda’s head swiveled. Its eyes found him, staring unblinking at him as if it was processing what it saw purely in terms of what it could eat and what it couldn’t.

Then it redirected entirely, its body following the head in a long, rippling motion.

Lukas ran.

He hit the first tree and kicked off it, the venom splashing into the bark a half second behind him.

He was already pushing off the second tree before the first impact had fully registered, changing his angle and keeping his movement unpredictable.

The snake tracked him, spitting at each point he committed to, the acid eating into wood and soil wherever it landed.

He let it follow him. And most importantly, let it believe it was close.

He dashed towards a wide tree near the center of the clearing, circled it once at full speed, then again, moving tighter.

The anaconda came after him, its body laying down in the turns, wrapping around the base of the trunk as it tried to cut the angle short.

Lukas stopped.

The snake was coiled. Its body had wound twice around the tree in the pursuit, the trunk pinning its lower half in place.

It took a moment for the anaconda to register what had happened.

Lukas didn’t give it more than that.

He went in fast, his sword working in short, powerful strokes, opening the body wherever it was exposed.

The snake thrashed, its tail whipping against the ground hard enough to shake the soil, but the tree kept it anchored in place.

He moved around it methodically, cutting deep, and didn’t stop until the movement slowed.

Then stopped entirely.

[You have killed a B-rank Acidic Anaconda.]

He stepped back, chest heaving, and looked at what was left wrapped around the tree.

Melody jogged over, eyes scanning the coiled corpse. "That was faster."

"Significantly," Lukas agreed. "I actually—"

He heard the displacement of air behind him and jumped straight up before his brain could even fully process what he heard. He was taking no chances.

A second anaconda came out of the undergrowth at full speed, its head driving forward like a battering ram straight at where Lukas had been standing.

It missed entirely, the momentum carrying it into the trunk of the tree the snake corpse was coiled around with a loud crack.

The impact shuddered through the snake’s entire body, its head pressing motionless against the bark for a full second as it sat there, stunned.

Lukas came down with both hands on the hilt of his sword.

The blade bit halfway through the neck on the first stroke. The anaconda woke up immediately, thrashing hard, but he kept his footing and swung again.

The head separated cleanly, and the body dropped.

[You have killed a B-rank Acidic Anaconda.]

Lukas looked up, turning to Melody with a grin.

She returned it, but only for a moment. Then her eyes moved past him, and the smile dropped.

"We have company," she said. "The noise brought them in."

He turned.

From the left, a Strong Boar pushed through the undergrowth, its tusks catching the dim light filtering through the canopy.

From the right, another anaconda moved between the trees, its body sliding across the forest floor in long, silent waves.

Both were moving towards them from different angles, converging on the same point.

"Step back," Lukas said.

Melody took several steps back without argument. "Be careful."

He rolled his neck and moved forward to meet them before they could reach her.

He moved to stand between the two beasts, watching for who would make the first move. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The anaconda spat first. He sidestepped the attack, and just like he’d planned, the spit sailed through the air, heading directly to the boar, putting the animal directly in the line of the spray.

The thick liquid splattered across the boar’s left shoulder and flank.

The boar squealed in pain, a short, furious sound, and turned towards the anaconda.

Lukas stepped out of the way and let them find each other.

The boar charged the snake with the full force of its temper, tusks driving forward.

The anaconda reacted on instinct, its body coiling out to wrap around the boar’s neck and shoulders before the charge could connect cleanly.

The two animals locked together, the boar driving forward while the snake constricted, each one too committed to its own attack to disengage.

Lukas moved around the outside of the struggle, watching for his opening.

The anaconda spat again from within the coil, trying to hit him, but it would have a better chance of hitting a stationary target.

Its head was pinned partially against the boar’s body, and the venom caught the boar across the face instead. The boar screamed and thrashed harder, which tightened the coiled anaconda around it further.

It’s tusk finally caught a piece of the snake, tearing a gash in its skin. The snake hissed at the injury but pulled its body tighter, and out of the way.

They were doing his work for him.

He waited until the anaconda had fully committed its body into the constriction, then moved in fast.

His sword speared through the injury the boar had kindly opened for him, tearing through it and severing the snake’s head and neck from the rest of the body.

The anaconda went rigid. The coils loosened slowly, the body losing its tension as life left it, and then it slumped, still wrapped around the boar but no longer squeezing.

[You have killed a B-rank Acidic Anaconda.]

The boar was still alive, but the dead snake was heavy and wrapped tight enough around its body that it couldn’t move properly.

It staggered, twisting against the weight, its legs struggling to find stable footing.

Lukas moved to the left side, the flank where the venom had splattered first, and the thick hide had been thinned and softened by the acid.

He could see the damage clearly. The skin was raw and uneven, the acid exposing the mass of muscles beneath the hide.

He drove his sword into the weakened section with both hands behind it.

The boar lurched forward once, dragging the dead snake with it, then went down.

[You have killed a B-rank Strong Boar.]

Lukas straightened and looked at Melody.

"And that makes it four," he said.