Chapter 118: The King-level Brown Serpent has finally fallen!
Under the violent convulsions of the King-Level Brown Serpent...
The roots imprisoning her began to give way.
One after another.
Crack...
Crack...
CRAAASH!
With a deafening crash, all of the vegetal restraints exploded at the same time.
Fragments of roots flew throughout the entire cavern.
Lurdot fell to his knees.
He was panting violently.
Even though she had managed to break free...
The price the serpent had paid was obvious.
Her body was covered in deep wounds.
Some cut completely through her scales.
Blood flowed across the stone floor like rivers.
Even so...
She was still breathing.
That creature’s vitality was simply absurd.
I slowly raised my launcher.
The serpent slowly lifted her head.
Her eyes...
Or what remained of them...
Were completely flooded with blood.
An even deeper crimson than before.
Then...
She vanished.
I couldn’t even follow her movement.
The Biochip registered nothing but a blur.
By the time I realized what had happened...
Someone beside me had disappeared.
I glanced over quickly.
The werewolf.
The mysterious figure who had accompanied Probel throughout the entire expedition.
He was now completely wrapped within the serpent’s gigantic tail.
She slowly tightened her grip around him.
"No!"
"Save me!"
"Please!"
His voice was filled with desperation.
He struggled frantically to escape.
His claws tore at the serpent’s scales.
To no avail.
The pressure increased.
Probel remained lying in the distance.
His armor had been completely crushed out of shape.
There was no reaction from him whatsoever.
I couldn’t even tell if he was still breathing.
Then...
CRAAACK!
The sound of bones breaking echoed throughout the cavern.
The werewolf let out one final scream.
Then...
Silence.
His body completely lost its shape.
The tail finally loosened.
The mangled corpse fell heavily to the ground.
I watched the scene in silence.
But...
My attention remained fixed on the serpent.
She was also reaching her limit.
While analyzing her movements...
I discreetly pulled several potions from my belt.
I hurled them directly at her.
BANG!
At the very same instant...
The membrane of the Light Shield completely enveloped my body.
The next explosion came almost simultaneously.
The serpent lashed her tail once again.
The impact struck my shield.
I was hurled violently backward.
My body flew across several meters of the cavern.
Then...
BOOOOM!
I slammed into a massive granite boulder.
The rock cracked.
A huge crater was left where my back had struck it.
Dust and mud rained down over my head.
At the same time...
The potions I had thrown finally took effect.
Intense crimson flames completely engulfed the serpent’s tail.
Other alchemical reactions occurred simultaneously.
Green lights.
Blue.
Yellow.
Various substances began corroding and burning her wounds.
The serpent roared in pain.
My golden shield cracked.
Fractures spread across its entire surface.
A few seconds later...
It simply shattered into countless particles of light.
I slowly stood up.
I ran a hand over my armor.
Not a single scratch.
Just as I expected...
I looked at the fading motes of light disappearing into the air.
The greatest weakness of low-level acolytes... is their lack of defense.
It was a well-known problem.
Rank 0 defensive models were like any other spell, except they were more difficult to cast.
Moreover...
They consumed a significant amount of mana for relatively decent protection.
For that reason...
Almost no low-level mage learned that type of spell.
The result was simple.
Among acolytes...
Whoever was hit first...
Usually died.
Or completely lost the ability to fight.
Fortunately...
I would never rely solely on magic.
Besides my spells...
I possessed mechanical devices.
Potions.
Golems.
Of course, low-level acolytes could purchase defensive items, but they cost small fortunes.
They were difficult to manufacture.
Even more difficult to acquire.
Virtually no ordinary acolyte could afford them.
I quickly glanced at the bodies scattered around.
Lurdot.
The other acolytes.
The werewolf.
None of them possessed magical equipment.
They wore nothing but ordinary armor.
Against a creature of that caliber...
It was practically the same as wearing cloth.
A single blow...
And they were reduced to crushed flesh.
I immediately recalled the records from Arcangrove Tower.
Many acolytes had died fighting Great Knights.
On the other hand...
There had never been a single reliable record of an Official Mage being killed by a knight.
The gap between those levels remained enormous.
I took a slow breath.
I made a quick mental estimate.
Explosive crystals.
Potions.
Destroyed prototypes.
I’ve already spent well over a thousand magic crystals in this battle...
My gaze returned to the serpent.
It’s worth it.
That creature’s spiritual core...
Will be mine.
Even if...
To obtain it...
I have to eliminate anyone who tries to take it from me.
Even Lurdot.
—George!
I snapped back to reality.
Lurdot was staring at me in complete alarm.
—Y-You’re... alright?
I slowly nodded.
—I am.
I looked at the fragments of the shield fading away.
—Luckily...
—I learned a good defensive spell.
—If it weren’t for it... I think I’d already be dead.
My expression hardened.
I slowly clenched my fists.
I looked directly at the serpent.
—Damned creature...
—I’m going to finish you.
On the other side of the cavern...
The enormous King-Level Brown Serpent remained collapsed.
She was breathing with great difficulty.
Her neck had nearly been severed by Probel.
My series of explosions had destroyed a large portion of her head.
Lurdot’s vegetal restraints had torn through her scales all over her body.
The potions continued burning various parts of her body.
Even so...
She was still alive.
Her head rested on the ground.
Her enormous tongue hung limply from her mouth.
Blood continued to pour from both her neck and her partially destroyed skull.
After suffering damage of this magnitude...
Even a creature with such incredible vitality would not survive much longer.
Lurdot seemed to reach the same conclusion.
He gritted his teeth.
He raised his hand.
A greenish magical arrow formed before him.
Then he fired.
Fwoosh!
The spell passed straight through the opening in the serpent’s head.
Puchi!
Part of the serpent’s brain was pierced.
A thick mixture of reddish and yellowish fluid sprayed outward.
— Be optimistic, my old friend...
The words left my mouth without much conviction.
I looked at Lurdot. His face was worn with exhaustion.
His eyes, normally filled with academic curiosity, now held only fatigue and sorrow.
I wanted to find some words of comfort... but I simply couldn’t.
The truth was far too cruel.
Of the nearly fifty men who had departed from the City of Distant Wind, almost no one remained.
The Black Iron Guards had been completely wiped out.
Of the acolytes... only Lurdot had survived.
As for Viscount Probel...
His condition was uncertain.
All of this...
All because of that damned King-Level Brown Serpent.
Lurdot took a deep breath before slapping his own forehead.
— The City Lord! George! Quickly! Check on him!
— You only remembered him now?
He merely gave an awkward smile.
Without saying anything else, I carefully walked around the serpent’s gigantic corpse.
With every step, I remained on guard.
I finally found Probel.
The enormous knight still lay flat on his back.
His armor was completely deformed.
The breastplate had caved inward, as though it had been crushed by a battering ram.
Dried blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
I slowly approached.
— Biochip, analyze!
[Analyzing...]
[Diagnosis complete.]
[Fractures: three ribs.]
[Complete fracture: left arm.]
[Complete fracture: right leg.]
[Minor internal hemorrhaging.]
[High vitality detected.]
[Estimated survival probability: high.]
I nodded slowly.
— Three broken ribs... a fractured arm and leg...
I ran my hand over the dented breastplate.
— Everything else is stable.
I looked at Lurdot.
— With a knight’s vitality, he should regain consciousness within a few hours.
Lurdot let out a long sigh.
— Thank goodness...
He closed his eyes for a moment.
— That’s the only good news I’ve heard today.
We stood in silence for a few seconds.
Then we walked back toward the serpent’s gigantic corpse.
Lurdot looked at the dead monster as he spoke, almost like a professor giving a lecture.
— We were lucky...
I raised an eyebrow.
— Lucky?
— Yes.
He pointed at the body.
— This was still a young King-Level Brown Serpent.
— If it had been an adult...
— The water in our bodies would probably have been drained the moment we entered this cavern.
He paused briefly.
— Or worse...
He looked at the corpse.
— It would have captured us to form its reverse harem.
My expression became completely blank.
— These serpents are extremely depraved creatures...
Lurdot shook his head.
— Lazy... perverted... and absolutely obsessed with humans.
I looked at the gigantic head once more.
— It’s a good thing this one died before reaching full maturity.
— Even so...
— The materials from this creature alone should be worth thousands of magic crystals.
As I examined the scales...
Something...
Changed.
My Biochip gave no warning.
It was only an instinct.
A strange sensation.
The muscles in the serpent’s neck...
Contracted.
My pupils instantly narrowed.
The colossal head moved.
Its destroyed eyes were gone...
But it didn’t need to see.
Its neck shot straight toward Lurdot.
Its jaws opened completely.
Rows of enormous fangs lunged toward him.
It had been pretending to be dead.
Lurdot remained frozen.
His brain simply couldn’t keep up with the attack.
My body reacted before my mind.
— Watch out!
I immediately activated the hidden mechanism inside my armor.
A silver metallic chain shot outward.
Clang!
It wrapped around Lurdot’s waist.
I pulled with all my strength.
At the same time... I threw a potion at the serpent.
BOOOOOOM!!
The explosion completely blew open the upper half of the serpent’s head.
Fragments of bone.
Brain matter.
Blood.
Everything was blasted against the cavern ceiling.
The enormous creature convulsed violently.
Its tail slammed against the ground one last time.
— Biochip, is it dead?
[Analyzing...]
[Beep.]
[Target has completely lost all vital signs.]
Only then did I relax my shoulders.
Lurdot collapsed onto the ground, breathing as though he had just escaped death itself.
— Huff...
— Huff...
He looked up at me.
— George...
— You... saved my life...
I smiled faintly.
— It was nothing.
I extended my hand to help him up.
— You fought beside me too.
He grabbed my arm.
— Even so...
— I’ll never forget this.
Lurdot let out a small, weary laugh.
Then he blushed slightly when I asked,
— You really didn’t even try to dodge.
He scratched his beard, clearly embarrassed.
— After using Forest Shackles...
— My mana was practically exhausted.
— For a few minutes...
— I was just an ordinary old man.
I nodded slowly.
That made sense.
Spells of that magnitude consumed an absurd amount of mana.
I looked back at the corpse.
— Let’s finish this.
I leaped onto the serpent’s massive, split-open skull.
The circular saw mounted on my left arm began spinning.
VRRRRRRRRRR!!
Sparks flew as the blade cut down through the thick bones of the skull.
I kept cutting until I had completely opened the cranial cavity.
Bone fragments fell all around.
Then I gave the mental command:
— Biochip.
— Search for the spiritual core.
[Beep.]
[Spiritual core not detected.]
What?
That doesn’t make any sense... unless this serpent is an artificially created offspring.
I continued rummaging through the internal organs as though I were simply searching for valuable materials.
I collected several glands.
Several venom sacs.
I quickly examined the ruined brain.
Then I pretended to lose interest.
— The organs still have some value for alchemy.
I climbed down from the corpse.
I looked at Lurdot.
— The rest is yours.
As I said those words...
My mind continued working relentlessly.
That damned serpent was almost certainly some kind of artificial creature.
It must have escaped from an old laboratory hidden somewhere nearby.
...
1944 Words