Chapter 16

Opal looked at the Kobold leader’s body slumped against the boulder and tilted her head.

“That one was dangerous. Glad the big snake took him out. If he had won against it then it might have been better for us to just leave.”

Rain looked up from where he was shoving the last of a Kobold leg down his maw. His teeth crushed its claws and he swallowed and let out a belch. He wiped his mouth.

“Spicy. Oh, the leader? Yeah, he was pretty impressive. Fire breath is something I would like to avoid, because, you know, flammable fur.” He gestured vaguely at his body.

“Kobold’s don’t normally breathe fire, that’s only the second time I’ve seen it.”

“I guess he was just an unusual breed of Kobold then.”

The Goblin gave him a curious look. “Breed? I’m not sure what you mean, Kobolds are born all the same, that Kobold evolved.”

“Evolved? What is evolved?” said Rain, raising an eyebrow.

“Gods your old slave masters really taught you nothing about monsters huh. It’s simple, sometimes something happens that triggers a monster into evolving to a better form. You already met an evolved monster, the overgrown Gobbo that my old Chief castrated, he was a kind of HobGobbo which is a better Gobbo.”

“Oh? ... Wait, wait, hold on, does that mean you could evolve too!?”

“ ... Yes ... But I don’t know what would make that happen. I wouldn’t want to chase it either, we used to mock evolution chasers in the tribe, they would all without fail get themselves killed having gotten nothing.”

“Interesting. I wonder if it works like leveling, kill monsters, or maybe in a monster’s case kill levelers, and then evolve.”

Opal shrugged. “I don’t know. I knew of Gobbos who had done lots of that but nothing happened. Even My old tribe’s Chief, he killed tons of things, but he never evolved, which frustrated him, not even the Witch Gobbo knew why.”

“Well, maybe the chance to evolve is hereditary.”

“It’s never had any rhyme or reason that my tribe noticed. I just know that it’s rare and always makes a monster stronger.”

“Stronger hmm. That leader Kobold looked almost noble fighting that snake, that was more than strength,” said Rain picking a scale from his teeth.

“Eh, It’s not like he came here for good reasons, not that Kobolds ever do anything good if they can help it.” She pointed at the clutch of eggs that had been uncovered during the fight. “Kobolds love snake eggs and they take crazy risks to get at them. They must have stumbled upon the snake guarding its nest, and the leader wanted its eggs bad enough that he got himself and every Kobold with him killed for his greediness.”

Rain grinned at that. “He did, and now everything is mine.”

He turned back to the pile of stripped Kobold bodies and went back to eating. The delicious spice of the creatures made his mouth water and he eagerly tore into them, bones and all. If he were much larger he would have liked to have eaten them like the snake, but since he was not he contented himself with taking large bites at a time. Kobold was reaffirming its position near the top of his list. Still, he didn’t hesitate to leave a Kobold tail to the side, he knew Opal liked them.

He was pushing how much he could digest at once, filling his stomach and compressing it down. When he’d first eaten Kobold he’d only managed one at a time, now he was taking in one and a half or more before needing to digest. He liked to push it because more inside of him meant he would grow more in one go. He liked that feeling of growth more than he felt he could describe in words.

The pile of fourteen Kobolds quickly diminished beneath his slavering jaws and endless hunger and soon he was reaching for the last of them. He pushed himself and managed to stuff inside the last two Kobolds as one. Opal didn’t miss the opportunity and fell to her knees practically hugging him, her breath coming in little gasps. His toes curled and uncurled and he stretched his arms above his head as his stomach growled and began to shrink down. His body began to grow in mass and height, bones creaking and popping, skin stretching over swelling muscle. He groaned and Opal let out an accidental moan as his stomach vanished and his feet pushed against the sand, his legs growing in length shifting Opal with them.

He’d gained inches from eating the fourteen Kobolds, far better than any crappy mushrooms.

Opal clutched at the fur on his pecs and looked up at him.

“W-we’re not done y-yet.”

Her eyes tracked to the massive body of the snake.

“Eggs first, I’ve never had a snake egg before. Go and get them for me.”

“R-right.”

After a moment to prepare herself she slid from his body and climbed to her feet. She wiped a little drool from her lip with the back of her hand.

She busied herself digging out the white eggs from the sand one by one. There were a lot, more than expected, nearly twenty of the things. She pulled them free and slowly lined them up by Rain. Each was roughly the size of a melon and she had to roll them across the sand due to their surprising weight.

Rain pulled the first one over as she worked. White, with a hard shell with a little give. He held out a claw and poked a hole in the top then held it up and let the yellow yolk pour into his mouth.

“Hmm. Not awful. Slimy. Kinda tasteless.”

Rain made a face suddenly recalling the blandness of the mushroom monsters and put the shell down.

Opal rolled the last of the eggs over. “Let me try and cook one before you eat anymore.”

She swiftly pulled out a pan and dropped an egg into it. She then threw down a root thing she had taken from a mushroom monster as well as some twigs and branches from the bottom of her rucksack as well as fluffy tinder she had taken from a lake reed. She knocked together a flint and steel and the tinder caught and then with a whumpf so did the mushroom root as it burst into flame and began burning furiously.

Ten minutes later she hooked out the egg and rolled it over to Rain. He picked it up, bouncing it from paw to paw due to the heat and then tried to poke a hole in the top. He managed it, but nothing came out.

“It’s solidified you silly wolf.”

Rain grunted then dropped it back in the sand where he rapidly tore off the shell revealing the soft white interior. He scented the fresh steaming eggwhite, his eyes slowly widening at how enticing it smelled. He tore into it, devouring it to the yolk, then pausing as he took in the savoury eggy flavour. It didn’t take long to scarf the rest down and he was left licking the inside of the shell.

“It’s good. Rich. Normally I prefer food raw but this is better cooked.”

“I’ve seen Kobolds eat eggs raw but never snake eggs, I figured there must be a reason.”

She piled up a few more of the eggs over the fire and then rushed around the sandy clearing digging up bits of very dry and very old dead wood which she tossed on the pile. Quickly enough Rain had more eggs incoming and he happily ripped them apart and licked the shells clean.

He found he could manage a lot of the things before he had to wait and digest them so it only took a few rounds to entirely polish off the eggs. Each time Opal came up and lay on top of him, feeling his body grow beneath herself.

After a little time spent basking in the afterglow of a big meal, Rain sat up and shifted the Goblin off his chest.

“I’m still really really hungry, and having that snake so near is not helping.” He licked his lips as he eyed the great beast then getting his feet underneath him he stood.

“Yes! Eat the snake! You can grow so much from it, bigger and bigger!” said the Goblin, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at his new height, inches taller than before. She grabbed him by the paw and excitedly led him to the end of the snake.

Rain picked up the tail and put the tip in his mouth. Opal helped hold it up in the air and he pushed the thing into his maw and bit down and chewed. The scales of the snake had a shockingly lemon fresh crisp taste to them, and the interior a lush and juicy umami beef flavour, totally different from anything he had expected but a strangely brilliant combination that he instantly relished. He eagerly tore into it, two feet of snake, three feet, four. He shoved forward eager to fit more inside and rapidly reached six foot along its tail. The snake’s body was getting thicker by this point and Rain’s jaws had to spread wide to take it in, he didn’t stop though as his stomach expanded. Opal was trying her best to push the snake toward his mouth but it was becoming too much for her. Fortunately rain could rely on his own strength and helped haul more toward his teeth.