The Alligator Snapping Turtle, which was acting like a total badass five seconds ago, had shrinked. Its head and limbs were tucked so deep into its shell they practically didn't exist, leaving only that thick, armored tail whipping around outside like a frustrated windshield wiper.
With those jagged, pyramid-shaped plates on its back, the thing looked like a giant, angry durian. Any other predator would have taken one look at this spiky mess and walked away with a sore mouth.
"You think you're safe in there, Grandpa?" I thought, a predatory grin tugging at my whiskers. "You clearly don't know who you're dealing with. I have the one thing no other cat on this continent has: a human wisdom."
I didn't waste time trying to bite through the shell. I turned around and trotted over to a nearby rock pile.
Tools. Even monkeys know how to use a rock to crack a nut. I wasn't going to be the idiot who broke a tooth trying to unpeel a turtle with my bare paws.
The turtle, seeing me walk away, actually peeked its head out, probably thinking it had won the psychological war. It started scuttling back toward the water. But then it saw me coming back, pushing a rock the size of a washbasin.
It popped back into its shell faster than a jack-in-the-box.
I reached the turtle, flipped it over with nearby stick and my paws like I was opening a manhole cover, and exposed its belly. The underside—the plastron—was much thinner and softer than the jagged dome on top.Then I start pushing him toward the bottom of the mound then I also bring the stone to the top of the mound by pushing it slowly and adjust it's position so it will land on him .
"Relax. This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you. Actually, no, that's a lie. This is going to be terrible for you."
I gave the stone a gentle push and.
SLAM!!
The first hit left a massive dent and so s blood coming out of it .I repeat the process again .
SLAM!!
The second hit make his the impenetrable shell was a pile of broken shingles and exposed meat.
I tossed the bloody rock aside and let my claws and teeth do the rest. A few minutes later, the turtle—the former king of the pond—Left this cruel world .
I looked at the absolute mess I'd made and felt a little bit of a mad scientist vibe. I'm pretty sure I'm the first Sabertooth in history to use a kinetic bombardment strategy on a turtle. Most predators avoid these things because the meat-to-effort ratio is terrible. But I needed points, and I wasn't picky.
[Ding! Host hunted an Alligator Snapping Turtle. Gene Points +20.]
Twenty points! That was more than four rabbits combined.
"Finally. Time to upgrade the bite force."
I pulled up the menu I'd been eyeing for weeks.
---
[Hunting Hyena Gene: Bite Force Enhancement – 35 Gene Points]
[Ding! Spending 35 Gene Points. Commencing Gene Replication!]
---
Immediately, a localized forest fire ignited in my mouth. The heat seeped into my jawbones, the muscles in my cheeks, and even the roots of my teeth. It felt like I'd swallowed a magma.
I could feel the change. My zygomatic arches—the bone loops that hold the jaw muscles—expanded and thickened. My sagittal crest, the ridge on top of the skull where the biting muscles attach, began to grow, providing a massive new anchor point for raw power.
Hyenas are "bone-crushers" for a reason. They have massive masseter muscles for sustained clamping and powerful temporal muscles for explosive snapping force. Combine those, and you get a biological hydraulic press.
Then came the teeth. Great biting force is useless if your teeth shatter like glass the first time you use them. The system started weaving a second layer of enamel prisms into my teeth, cross-locked like a bulletproof vest. Now, I could crunch through a femur without worrying about a trip to the prehistoric dentist.
I bit back a scream, my body shivering as the transformation finished. After a few agonizing minutes, the heat faded.
I opened my eyes, feeling like a new cat. My jaw felt heavier, wider, and incredibly solid. I wasn't just a stabber anymore; I had some serious crushing power in my arsenal.
System, show me the stats.
---
[Host]: James
[Species]: Smilodon Fatalis (Sub-adult)
[Age]: 1 Year
[Strength]: 61 (+)
[Agility]: 55 (+)
[Constitution]: 57 (+)
[Gene Points]: 15
[Fused Genes]: Honey Badger, Clouded Leopard, Hunting Hyena
[Reinforcements]: Skin hardening (Lv1), Tail (Lv1), Bite Force (Lv1)
---
I looked down at the turtle's thick, armored tail. I wanted to see exactly what Level 1 Bite Force looked like. I opened my jaws—feeling that new, wider range of motion—and clamped down on the tail bone .
CRUNCH
The sound of the tail vertebrae turning into powder was the most satisfying thing I'd heard all day.
"Hell yeah," I thought, feeling the raw pressure in my jaw. "The next time a hyena tries to bite my third leg, I'm going to turn his leg into a smoothie."