Infinite Evolution: Rise of the God of Metamorphosis

Chapter 11: Dethroning Chief

The Giant Spider fainted.

“…” Eliot was put at a crossroads.

‘Damn! I can’t leave it behind…’

‘I mean, this is a goddamn evolved beast!’

‘If I manage to kill it now, I have no doubt that I’ll get enough XP to level up to the climax to be able to use my single species evolution orb, but…,’ He grimaced. ‘Are evolved beasts really that weak?’

‘I managed to make it faint only because I caught it off-guard with my fart’.

‘I have no doubt that he’ll curse my full generation on waking up’.

‘Despite him being vulnerable now though, this guy’s skin is hella thick…, I doubt my juvenile teeth has what it takes to punch through this’.

‘Besides, what if biting it wakes it up…?’

That was the cue that Eliot needed to not spend a second longer here.

[You have activated skill: Dash!]

Whoosh!

Eliot disappeared.

…

Huff! Huff! Huff!

At a corner of the Thunder Reef, a big Salmon hid as his gills worked on overdrive, working on liquefied oxygen even as he kept on observing everywhere alertly, he was still scared.

“Phew…, I seemed to have lost it”.

A few seconds later, he heard the familiar sound of swimming and looking ahead, he saw the panicking Salmon fish charging towards him.

Seeing them, he smiled; he started counting.

“1,2,3,4…,37…,” His smile widened. “Phew! No one died but w-wait, who’s that? 38?”

Chief swam closer to observe the newcomer.

After the encounter against the sea snake a few days ago mixed with their losses over the previous week, the school of Chinook Salmon holding almost 60 fish that Eliot met the first time was now down to a measly 38.

Seeing the newcomer though, making the 39 in total with chief added, chief could not help his curiosity as he swam closer. “Who are you?”

“It’s me chief, bonkers! Brother…”

“Oh…,” Chief’s eyes widened in realization. “You survived?”

“Yes! Bonkers!”

“Big bro Eliot saved me!” Brother was over the moon at this moment as after what felt like a lifetime, he could finally see chief again.

“Big bro Eliot, who’s that?”

“He’s…”

“Anyways…,” Chief cut him off. “All fish must die someday!”

“Rejoice brother! I guess it’s not your day yet!”

Brother smiled happily. “Chief!” He hailed.

Acknowledging the praise haughtily, this Salmon swam to the front of the school again even as he wondered how none of them died this time despite meeting another evolved beast.

The Salmon fish that died the first time to the Spider was a stray Salmon.

“Follow me”. Chief called as he led the way forward again.

This was the life of this school under chief.

Swim randomly in search of food, if found, eat; if discovered by predator, run. Such a simple but dangerous lifestyle.

Like usual, all the fish without thinking about much blindly followed chief but this time a certain fish did not, he stayed put.

Chief was surprised as he stopped. “Follow me”.

Brother hesitated.

“No”. He finally spoke up. “Bonkers! Big bro Eliot will come”.

“Big bro Eliot?” Chief’s face turned weird. “Oh! That fish!”

“He should be dead already”.

“Afterall, all fish must die someday!”

“Bonkers! Not Big bro Eliot…!”

“…” Chief was shocked.

This was the first time that a fish in the school was speaking up to him.

He was not used to it, he was stunned.

He took a few seconds to recover and after he did, he wanted to lecture the fish that was slowly straying out of the school way but he was surprised when he heard the familiar sound of another Chinook Salmon swimming this way.

“Huh?” He looked there only to see another Salmon.

“Finally…, I made it!” Eliot was ecstatic.

“Big bro Eliot! Bonkers!” Brother was excited.

All the 30+ fish remaining in this school looked at him.

After coming to terms with his ecstasy of finally reuniting with his family, memories instantly flashed back in Eliot’s head as he glared at the fish at the very front of this school…, chief!

Flapping his tail fin once, he slowly swam towards this fish.

As he swam closer, the atmosphere of the water turned oppressive, a feeling that the fish were not used to as they looked on, confused.

Finally floating before this fish, Eliot looked into his eyes.

Silence reigned for 2 seconds, then…

“You f*cker!”

“How dare you be so irresponsible?!”

“How dare you call yourself the chief when you don’t even have a basic retreat strategy to safeguard our lives when in the face of danger?!”

“You have no f*cking sense of responsibility!”

“All you know is to shout danger and run!”

“You don’t even care how the others fare; all you care about is your f*cking stinking life! You’re a disgrace!”

“A f*cking disgrace!”

“…!” Chief was stunned.

“…!” All the Salmon fish in this school were stunned.

This was unprecedented.

No one had ever confronted chief before.

Afterall, he was chief, who dared?

But here he was, challenging chief without a care of the world.

Chief took a few seconds to react but the next moment, the eyes of this Salmon Fish narrowed. “You little brat!”

“Which day where you born?”

“How dare you berate…!”

“Shut up!” Eliot shut him off.

“…!” For the umpteenth time today, chief was stunned.

‘Is the world coming to an end?’ This old Chinook Salmon lamented in his mind as he looked down at this smaller Salmon.

“The day I was born does not matter, what matters is what is in our heads”.

“…!”

Emotional damage…, chief felt that.

“Step down!” Eliot roared at his face.

“You don’t have what it takes to lead a school of fish”.

“You don’t have what it takes to be the chief”.

“You are irresponsible”.

“You are dumb”.

“All you know is all fish must die”.

“But all fish must die someday”. Chief said in a lower voice now.

Eliot glared at him. “Step down!”

“I can’t and I won’t!” Chief glared back at him. “Since inception, it’s the eldest that’s always the chief and leads the school”.

“Yes!” Some fish concurred.

Eliot looked at them before looking back at chief. “Well, that’s inception, now’s now”.

“We can’t hold ourselves back by the rules of old”.

“If we want to survive, we need changes”.

“If we don’t want to go extinct in a month from now, we need changes”.

Eliot turned to look at the other fishes. “Wake up!”

“Do you want to die?”

“Are you not scared of dying?”

“Do you truly expect this guy to lead you to real life as a Salmon Fish?”

“He’s a coward, a wimp, that’s who he is!”

“He can’t even protect himself, all he knows is to run!”

“Who saved you when the Giant Spider attacked?”

“Me!” He glared at them

“Chief ran like usual but I stayed behind and saved you all,” He looked at all of them round. “I should be the chief!”

The fishes hesitated, one of them spoke. “But since inception…”

“F*ck inception!” Eliot glared at that fish.

“If you guys can’t get over it, then let’s do a test”. He glared at chief. “Any test that you guys want to determine who the real chief is”.

“A test between me and chief”.

“Let’s challenge and see who wins, that’s the best way to determine the chief!” He looked at all the fishes and none of them spoke this time, they concurred and Eliot finally looked at chief again.

“…!” He glared at chief.

“…!” Chief glared back at him.

But 5 seconds later, their staring contest ended.

Chief sighed. “I give up”.

“…”

“…”

“…..!” Eliot was speechless.