[1st POV]
I remained on top of the eland, my jaw clamping down on his neck with the cruelty of a hungry beast. I felt his lungs collapsing, and his heart losing rhythm as life slowly drained from his body.
Once a proud animal that roamed the savannah, now it was like any other food underneath me.
It's funny, really, how one animal could drag another so low to what they were before.
Our struggle and the copious amount of blood that came out churned the ground into a fine mud. It was like the earth was bleeding too and not just my prey.
Vultures made their presence known in the sky, they made some kind of wheel formation above the fallen prey and they sang a song of death and victory.
The cries of the eland never stopped. Animals smart enough to talk meant that there was at least some kind of connection between them. The females and the calf had ran off, it was the six other males that were still in the area.
Their bellow was long and whining, kind of like cries but it was not only sadness or mourning, the sound gave anger and bitterness too.
All focused at me.
Finally, I released my jaw from its death grip. My cheek ached a little from the sheer strain of the bite. The eland had a very thick neck that was tough and hard to clamp down. I had to brute force through all the fats to choke the prey. It was no easy task.
I remained on top of my prey as I took greedy breaths. My tongue came out as I began panting rapidly.
It was still noon even though the sun was starting to fall a bit from the peak of the sky. The heat was still there and the evaporated sweat and blood caused the smell of iron to spread.
But as I rest there, looking extremely fatigued, the other males began gathering around me. They probably thought they could at least take revenge on their fallen comrade and kill the existing threat which was me.
I growled, the low vibration was sent through the ground and they felt it. They dispersed a bit, but never too long because they came again.
Minutes passed as I catch my breath but the remaining eland never bothered to leave. I glared at them, not knowing if I should be impressed at their persistence or be disappointed at their sheer stupidity.
One eland in particular came close, too close to my liking. He was much smaller than the one I took down, probably a few hundred kilograms smaller. He shared very similar scent to the dead prey so I assumed they had connection.
Seeing the eland was a mature male, I assumed the one approaching me was the son or something.
This particular eland continued to push its luck. It came close to me with his head low on the ground, ready to explode skywards and spear me from the underbelly.
It got to the point that he was getting into range. At that point, I no longer warned.
"If you insist, more is always better," I said and took my last and final breath before I exploded out.
The eland was already close to me so I was able to swipe my paws at him. He reacted fast, but his reaction was not to attack but move back. My paw found his face in a clean flush, a deep thudding sound of paw smashing skull could be heard.
That was not all, my claws raked him down the face when I hit. My curved claws were hooks made of keratin and I latched onto the skin of his face.
I raked down a line and then it got stuck on his sensitive nose. The eland bellowed loudly, and pulled even harder, causing my claws to split his nose in sections.
And then he ran. But at that point it was too late.
I followed after him. I was quite fatigued from my previous hunt but the adrenaline had not completely left my system. I chased him for a few metres before took him down similar to my first prey.
We crashed, we tumbled. His bellow turned into pure scream of horror. The sound and the scene finally destroyed all remaining bravery even for the other elands as they finally left the open plain.
"You should've run," I said and repositioned myself on top of him.
He was panicking and trying to escape. I noticed that he was much more of a coward than the previous one. I did not even have to fear for an attack much so I pressured him sideways and began tearing at his underbelly instead of biting at his neck and trying to control the horns.
His legs started thrashing and kicking wildly but I could tank those wild flailing. My mane shook as I tore and tore into his insides.
Raw violence was inflicted on the prey too young to understand danger. His hide was thick and layers of fat protected his vital organs. But my persistent tearing was able to get through them.
His mindless struggle also helped me in killing him. After I sank my teeth, his own movement caused him to tear himself in my fangs. I just had to bite down really hard and never let go. Bite force was everything in this hunt.
There was a release of gas when his inside got punctured and intestines started spilling. It was slow at first, like trying to squeeze something out from a small hole. But after that initial puncture, opening the wound was an easier task.
The smell was absolutely putrid even for me but I did what I had to do.
After ten minutes had passed, the eland was completely void of life. My face was completely covered in red blood and big intestines spilled halfway on the earth with thick dark blood.
I released a huge breath after I was done and I somewhat collapsed on my prey too. I was completely drained of energy.
Although the eland was not especially dangerous compared to the giants I've killed before, they still took quite a long time and effort to kill.
Maybe that was because of how desperate they tried to survive, instead of fighting back.
"Buffalo, Giraffe and now Eland," I said thoughtfully while propping myself up.
"That only leaves me with the big three to hunt down," I said. Said big three being hippos, rhinos, and elephants.
A rather impossible hitlist if I was being honest.
After getting some time to rest, Rafiki and Grim came up to me.
"Taking down one was within my expectation but two went beyond," Rafiki commented, "Your prowess is truly remarkable. I can confidently say that you've surpassed your father twofold in this regard,"
"Pff but of course my lord is superior to other lions even if said lion is his own father," Grim said from the side.
"Protect my kills for a moment Grim, I first need to return to the pride," I said and finally got off the Eland again.
"As you command," Grim said and I left it to him. The region was harsh with barely any animals. The lack of prey meant that there would even be less predators so I was not too worried.
Some jackals, foxes or wild dogs, the vultures could handle.
And so I returned to the pride. I had covered quite a bit distance in my hunt so it took me half an hour to return. While I was on the way, I even heard the roars of the lioness. It was not a roar of dominance but a call, almost a plea, for me.
It seemed they too had success in their hunt.
I was greeted by all the members of the pride, everyone had returned by then. There were also two carcasses that greeted me. One was a Kudu and the other a Hartebeest.
The pride gave small bows and parted to make way for me as I came before those two carcasses. I raised an eyebrow seeing their bountiful size.
"Both parties had success?" I asked the obvious.
"Yes. The hunting party led by Nydia and Nala were able to take down the Kudu whereas Zuri and her party were able to hunt the Hartebeest," Eshe gave an answered.
"Is that so," I said while looking at the hunting members. I gave a small nod of acknowledgment, "You did a splendid job,"
They gave pleased smiles in return.
And so, under their watchful gazes I dug into the food. I opened the carcass like a chairman opening an event. I ate the heart, lungs and the juicy bits of the animal before I moved to another one and did the same.
The pride gathered around me, all of them standing in attention because all were starving/ But no one intervened as I ate whatever parts I wanted.
After I ate those, I moved away from the kills and gave the signal for the rest of the pride to begin eating too.
And they did, with clear hunger and no manner might I add.
The two carcass would provide around 250 kilogram of pure edible meat, excluding the insides, bones etc. It was a lot of food but nowhere near close enough to feed more than 30 lions.
The food completely disappeared in under ten minutes. The cubs and the newcomers of the pride did not even get a bite in and yet even those who ate were not full.
They easily tore through everything.
Lucky for them, that was only the appetizer.
"I had a success of my own in the hunt," I told them when they were starting to lick the bones clean and were considering eating it.
"You did?" they asked collectively before looking around and searching for the scent of a new carcass in the end.
"I did not bring it with me because they were too big to carry," I said and finally got up from my seat.
"They?" Zuri asked while coming to my side.
"Just follow me," I said.
I led the pride towards the open plain where I had killed the eland. The pride was very excited to get more food, especially those that hadn't eaten. We reached the kill site sooner than expected.
When we reached there, vultures had made home in the open plain. They were everywhere, perching on every tree and ground. A group of thick black vultures stood atop the eland that I killed but there was not a single bite missing on the meat.
When they stayed on the ground like that, they looked even more intimidating than when they were in the sky. Suffice it to say, the kills were protected from any small predators and other scavengers. I was pretty sure even ants were not able to get a piece.
When I strode towards the carcasses, the vultures parted or flew up in the sky to make way. There, I did the same thing I did with the two animals that the hunting party got. I opened up the carcasses and ate the insides.
At that point, I was completely full.
So I let the rest of the pride enjoy the meal. By the end, there were actually some meat remaining. Scar's old pride were very greedy when they got their chance but even they were unable to finish everything.
It was funny to see the look on their faces when they were unable to eat anymore. It must've been a long time since they had their stomach full.
With my pride completely filled, I knew that the journey would be a bit easier.
"Rest for the rest of the afternoon, we will continue to move at night," I ordered and everyone made camp in that open plain.
When I was sitting peacefully, pleased females with full bellies began lining up to me. Although I knew I should rest, I kind of could not help it.
And this time, I released everything with no care for pregnancy.
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Author : Exam's over and I'm ready to return to normal schedule again.
Double chapter