Emmanuel_Capricorn
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TLK : Chapter 107
🕑 Added 2025-08-18 20:03:37 +0000 UTC[1st POV]
(1 month later)
(3 years, 6 months old)
It was my first dry season as a king.
And I knew beforehand that this was going to be the moment where I showed how better I was compared to the previous kings. After all, my pride was not going to starve during the dry season.
Instead, we would thrive by preying on the bigger animals like the buffalo. The gigantic herd had already splintered into smaller groups, which made hunting them much easier than before.
The lionesses were capable of hunting down a buffalo even without my help at this point.
The first month of the dry season passed by very quickly, and for a moment, everything went well. But disasters began by the second month.
A disaster that only plagued me. I never knew being a lion king would feel like having an office job.
For a lion king, the scarcity of food was not the only problem during the dry season. Heck, it was not even the main issue because usually, the females do the hunting.
For a king, the challengers were the real issue. At this point, I am starting to believe that challengers just spawned randomly during the dry season.
They were endless in every sense of the word.
The dry season not only affected the Serengeti but also everyone around it. This time of the year, all rogue lions came to better lands in search of food. And all worthy challengers wanted to take advantage of the harsh season to steal my throne.
My kingdom was the size of four or five lion pride territories combined. So you could imagine how many more challengers I would have compared to other lion kings.
The Mbali brothers had each other, and they occupied only a portion of their kingdom, so the challengers were much more bearable. But due to my dumbass strategy of being a nomadic pride, I was exposed to all possible challengers.
Heck, I would argue that the challengers increased solely because I was a single ruler, so more thought they stood a chance.
In short, my life during the past month has been nothing but constant fighting. I could not train, and I could not hunt. I barely had time to eat and mate with my lioness every once in a while.
It was all hellish work.
And the longer this went on, the more ruthless I became. I was so done with all these arrogant young lions that I aimed to kill them in every encounter I had.
If I didn't finish them off, they healed for a couple of weeks, formed a coalition and challenged me again. It was the same formula over and over again, so I tried to kill them without going through all the hassle.
Some may call me a monster because my kill count would already surpass the hundred mark. But I was just a tired soul who couldn't really give a shit anymore.
*RAARGH!!*
The defiant scream of the lion brought me back to reality. I blinked and realised I was in the middle of a fight. My jaw was clamped tightly at the back of the challenger's neck while my frame and weight pinned him helplessly on the ground.
'Right, I was just about to finish him,' I thought in my mind.
The challenger was very young and did not have a full mane yet. He was in his teenage arrogant phase and thought he and his brother would stand a chance against me.
By the way, his brother lay dead a few meters to the right. A vulture was pecking at the left eye, whereas the right was already hollow.
Due to his lack of a complete mane, I was able to have a very tight hold on him. He shook his head and struggled fiercely, but he couldn't escape. I was biting as hard as a crocodile while still retaining my lethal teeth.
I waited until the lion tired himself out before I moved for the finish. I tightened my jaw, and my shoulders and neck muscles popped with raw strength.
I ragdolled him. He no longer had the strength to resist as I beat him with the earth. I heard bones cracking, but I was not able to do enough damage to kill him.
So I dragged the lion a few meters away. I stopped in front of a boulder and then smashed his head on the stone. The dry earth had been too soft to land a killing blow.
One brutal smash on the boulder knocked him out. Two probably killed him. But I still doubled down and smashed his head four times on the rock to make sure.
I released my jaw, and his body fell limply on the ground.
I felt nothing but the relief of no longer carrying weight. The euphoria and excitement of killing or defeating a lion were gone. The ease with which I was able to kill the average lion erased all sense of accomplishment.
Now, it felt like a chore. It felt like work
"That's breakfast," I said while panting lightly. I was able to kill three challengers in the morning patrol, and that earned me a breakfast in my mind.
I stayed there to catch my breath while looking at the morning sky. The morning air was just enough to cool me when a breeze came. But the clear sky and rising sun promised cruel heat later in the day.
The ground was dry with sparse grass growing here and there. But they were dull green and brittle. The land still had some trees, but due to shedding their leaves, the plain looked emptier than during the wet season.
My ears flickered as I listened for sound. Most herd animals had migrated further north into the Masai Mara, so the land was very quiet. I could vividly hear the sound of insects and the vultures flying in the sky.
After catching my breath, I filled the silence with a couple of roars. The sound tore from my chest with no strain, loud and commanding, shaking the stillness like thunder rolling over the plains.
I didn’t need to force it, my size alone made the sound remarkable, deeper and heavier than most lions could ever manage. It was a declaration to everything that has ears. I won again, I remain king.
After that, I turned to go back home. My work was done, at least for the morning.
Now I just stay with the pride and beat a few punks again if they decide to show themselves and challenge me. And then I would have an afternoon patrol to end the day.
I winced slightly as I walked. My body was covered in small wounds that were not given time to heal due to the constant challenges. Although no lion could leave a fatal wound, the minor injuries piled up to make life uncomfortable.
My muscles also ached. Obviously, being in countless fights was like a harsh training in itself.
About half an hour of walking later, I reached the pride. They welcomed me like usual, and I took my place right in the middle of the pride where a buffalo carcass was waiting for me.
The carcass was half-eaten. But strangely enough, it still had all the organs and the parts of the meat which I liked. I grumbled in satisfaction when I saw that.
Since the lionesses could already hunt a buffalo on their own with the splintered herd, I no longer had to hunt. In fact, the pride never lacked food. There was always a carcass which the vultures ate when it began to decay.
Due to this, I was able to eat every day.
The pride hunted down one buffalo every two days on average. There were 17 lions who were separated into two groups, and they took turns hunting the giant beast. There were also other prey killed now and then but our main diet was buffalo.
The members of the pride were powerful. The lionesses were in prime shape and bigger than ever. But they had lean muscles like I did and not fat. This was because of the constant hunting and moving we did as a nomadic pride.
The cubs were also growing up nicely and all were bigger than their peers. I was extremely glad with the results of my plan.
It's been five months since I took over and everything could be said to be to my liking now.
"Perfect," I said while chewing at the heart of the buffalo. It released thick black blood that tasted divine after the fight this morning.
The lionesses rested and watched me eat. I felt like I was doing an ASMR for them. There were two lionesses sitting beside me while I ate, Eshe and Amara. They licked my surface wounds to prevent infection and cleaned my fur of the blood of the challengers.
"How many were there this morning?" Eshe asked while having some trouble cleaning my mane.
"Three. One was the lion that roared and woke us up last night. The other two were brothers who challenged me in my patrol," I replied between bites.
"Did any escape?" Amara asked in turn.
"Their spirit escaped from their body," I joked, but neither could appreciate my dark humour, so I laughed alone.
I guess it might be quite morbid for most lions that I casually took three lives this morning. Lions hunt their prey, but they view the lives of other lions as more precious. Similar to how a human values another human more than domestic animals like chickens.
I bit a huge chunk of liver. It was extremely juicy and made a squelching sound as I tore it from the stomach cavity. Delicious.
"My king, I think you should rest for a few days and give your body a chance to recover. We can stay in the same place for a week if we must," Eshe said after a while.
She added, "I think all these wounds piling up will do you no good in the future."
I hummed and considered her advice. I did not give an answer, but she did not push any further than that. She knew not to. After all, I was king and she was mine.
When I was done eating my fill, I walked towards the other lionesses and mounted the female that I desired.
I could've mated with Eshe or Amara, but that wouldn't be fair to the other lionesses if they get to groom and then mate with me afterwards. I was the only male that had to manage 17 females, so I had to be a little mindful and spread my affection equally.
The day rolled by like so as I rested.
When afternoon came, I left the pride to patrol like usual. Grim flew overhead in the sky as I followed behind him. He was my eyes, and he was leading me towards possible challengers.
That was one of the ways in which I differ from other lions. Other kings would not seek out challengers and would only fight them when challenged and absolutely necessary.
But I was out here, constantly hunting for my rivals instead of just waiting for them. This is because I knew that it was much more dangerous if I let them fight me on their terms.
That was how I won against the Mbali brothers after all. I made them fight on my terms. I was not going to do some stupid shit like that.
But as I wandered through the savannah, a funny smell caught my nose.
It was the scent of a lion, yes, but female and attractive.
It was a lioness
Wait a minute, what?
..
..
..
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Comments
Ozerist
Edging simulator
DarkApocalypse
Nalaaa is heree Leo finna flip & I wanna see how she deal with the other lionesses cause they gone check for Leo 😂
