Chapter 112 The Strange Bird
‘What a cute little snake.’
She had black hair and red eyes.
That was the first human the Snake Queen had ever seen.
‘Is that your little brother behind you? Oh, why are you puffing up your body like that?’
‘You have such a peculiar cry. And your body is so plump; you’re different from the snakes I’ve seen before.’
The human had spoken to her without hesitation, even though she was a snake.
‘Alright. I’ve decided. I’ll stay here for a while. Hm? Oh, you’re asking where the little dragon has gone? I brought some luggage, and it was heavy. She’s probably carrying it.’
At first, the Snake Queen and Gaechar-goa-dal were wary of the human.
But as they spent time with the Little Dragon and the woman, the Snake Queen’s wariness gradually faded.
‘Family? Well, I may look young, but I’m actually quite old. Hm, maybe I should catch myself a decent man and get married.’
‘Two children would be nice, I think. I’d like a cute daughter who looks like me. What? You don’t think she’d be cute if she looked like me? You little thing, you’ve grown cheeky.’
Sometimes she received teachings from the woman, and sometimes she received human items the woman brought.
‘Here, try this. Hm? What is it? It’s a rice cake made with the honey of Okbong. Just eat it already.’
‘How is it? I knew you’d like it. This isn’t just any ordinary honey from flowers.’
She even received rice cakes made with the honey of Okbong.
‘What kind of flowers? Well… Should I tell you or not?’
‘Hehehe. Alright, I’ll tell you. White lotus. And snowflowers.’
‘What? You’re saying snowflowers aren’t real flowers?’
‘This is why I don’t like perceptive snakes.’
They grew close enough to share awkward jokes and spend time together.
‘They’re my favorite flowers. White lotus, and snowflowers that can only be seen in the depths of winter.’
Red eyes.
Black hair.
Despite her great power, she didn’t use it recklessly.
The woman was the Snake Queen’s idol.
The reason the Snake Queen took on a human form was partly out of a desire to resemble her.
‘…Are you there?’
Just as their meeting was sudden, so too was their farewell.
‘…From now on, you are the queen of this place.’
The Snake Queen had been a coward.
She hadn’t been able to stop the woman from leaving.
She hadn’t had the courage to refuse the throne that was offered to her.
That was her last memory of the woman, and even after all these years, that memory remained vivid.
So, when she thought she had encountered the woman again, it had a huge impact on her.
Even though the face was different, except for the hair and eye color, she still thought of her.
Her body trembled.
Her mind told her it wasn’t possible, but her body wouldn’t listen.
It must be a trap.
It had to be a trap.
But what if… by some chance, it really was her?
What if she could reunite with the one she could call “Mother”?
The Snake Queen hesitated.
Even though she knew she shouldn’t.
Because she believed that only this woman could save her.
“Gegegek!”
The familiar cry reached her ears.
And it was then that the Snake Queen finally realized.
The one who would save her wasn’t found in some illusion.
A blue beam of light shot out from the black lizard’s mouth.
—
**Scene Break**
—
“Kyaaaaa!”
With a scream, the Nacha Bird was sent flying.
I immediately checked on the Snake Queen.
She still had a confused expression on her face.
It didn’t look like she’d recover anytime soon.
“Geckgeck!”
In that case, I needed to focus on the Nacha Bird.
The creature hadn’t gone down with a single hit.
It was on the same level as Argentavis, after all.
Now that I had turned its strategy against it, I needed to follow up with another attack.
Whoosh!
I leaped after it.
“You crazy lizard!”
The enraged Nacha Bird.
Despite being drenched in blood, it still looked fine.
But I could see the panic in its eyes.
I was just about to close the distance and unleash my Dragon Claw on it when—
Crrrack!
A pair of black wings sprouted from the Nacha Bird’s shoulders.
Swish!
Using its wings, the creature put some distance between us.
“You’re so rude!”
Shuuu.
At the same time, it fired its black feathers at me.
Each one was as tough and sharp as my scales, like throwing knives.
Pababababat!
But the attack didn’t reach me.
“Saaaaaaaak!”
The Snake Queen, who had resumed her gigantic serpent form, blocked the attack.
She had managed to regain her senses in that brief moment.
The reason for her confusion must have been the Nacha Bird’s face.
It must have taken the form of a human she knew.
And when the Nacha Bird revealed its wings, she must have realized that this was a monstrous bird pretending to be human.
“Wha-what’s going on? It should have taken longer….”
The Nacha Bird stammered in confusion.
It seemed its plan had gone completely off the rails.
“Saaaaaaaak!”
The Snake Queen let out a roar louder than any I’d ever heard before.
“Wait!”
Rumble.
An immense pressure filled the air.
“Sssssss.”
The Snake Queen took a deep breath.
She was about to unleash the devastating beam she had shown in Argentavis’s territory.
No matter how strong the Nacha Bird was, it would be completely obliterated by this attack.
“Eeeeeek!”
It must have been frustrating.
Its carefully crafted plan had been completely ruined.
To think a bird would try to ambush a snake and a lizard at night—it was too arrogant.
“Hurry up! Get out here, you fool!”
At the Nacha Bird’s shout, there was a tremendous noise.
“Wooooo!”
It was definitely still the dead of night.
Ordinary birds would have difficulty even moving at this hour.
But then—
Whoooosh!
A massive flame broke through the darkness.
A blazing fire that threatened to consume everything.
This was dangerous.
The Snake Queen’s attack and this fire would likely have similar casting times.
The Snake Queen’s attack would probably be stronger.
But it wasn’t just the Snake Queen here.
I was here, and so was Shikshik.
Even if I could endure it, Shikshik wouldn’t survive the aftermath.
“Gegegek!”
I rushed over to Shikshik as fast as I could.
“Hieeek….”
Shikshik was trembling with fear.
I immediately grabbed her and curled up around her.
The sky turned red.
This was going to hurt.
It was going to hurt a lot.
But there was no other choice.
I couldn’t just leave Shikshik defenseless.
Kwooooong!
The massive fireball collided with the ground.
“You poor thing. Always needing someone to protect you.”
The Snake Queen’s calm voice reached my ears.
My body was unharmed.
The Snake Queen had wrapped herself around me.
“Hieek!”
“Gegegek!”
The Snake Queen had shielded me as I shielded Shikshik.
Thanks to her, I was safe.
I wondered if the Snake Queen had managed to block that overwhelming attack without taking serious damage, but it seemed she hadn’t suffered much.
She must have neutralized it with the technique she had been gathering.
Ssssss….
The Snake Queen uncoiled and released me.
“You’re kidding. You’re still standing after taking that hit?”
The Nacha Bird shouted in disbelief.
And standing next to it was a massive bird.
—
**Scene Break**
—
【Fiery Phoenix lv80】
—
The Fiery Phoenix.
One of Gaechar-goa-dal’s subordinates, a one-legged crane that controlled fire.
Of course, Gaechar-goa-dal wouldn’t have sent the Nacha Bird alone.
Even if the plan had succeeded, the Nacha Bird alone wouldn’t have had enough firepower to kill the Snake Queen. If the attack failed, the Nacha Bird would have been killed on the spot.
There had to be another creature to make up for the Nacha Bird’s lack of power.
Gaechar-goa-dal had chosen the Fiery Phoenix for that role.
But I couldn’t assume these two were the only ones.
The Beihj Bird could be on its way, or the Bird King himself might show up.
For now, though, only two of them were in sight.
“It wouldn’t hurt to reduce their numbers ahead of time.”
In other words, this was a golden opportunity.
The Snake Queen put Shikshik in her mouth.
Given the wide range of the Fiery Phoenix’s attacks, there was a high chance Shikshik would get caught in the crossfire.
The safest place for her was in the Snake Queen’s mouth.
Of course, with Shikshik in her mouth, the Snake Queen wouldn’t be able to use her beam attack.
But that wasn’t a problem.
[「Reverse Scale lv1」 activated.]
[「Gecko Death Beam lv1」 temporarily acquired.]
Zzzzzzap!
I was standing right next to the Snake Queen.
Kaboom!
The beam, powered by the Gecko, pierced the Nacha Bird’s shoulder.
“Kyaaaak! You insane lizard!”
But the Snake Queen wasn’t crowned queen solely for her beam attack.
Her eyes glinted.
Crrrrack!
The areas
her gaze touched turned into solid stone.
The Fiery Phoenix and the Nacha Bird quickly flew to avoid the petrifying gaze.
They would have developed some resistance to the petrification, given that the Cockatrice had betrayed the Snake Queen.
But it wasn’t a complete immunity.
The Snake Queen’s ability was still a threat to them.
“Fiery Phoenix! Hit them with a big one!”
“Woooooo!”
Fwoosh.
Kwooooong!
The Fiery Phoenix soared into the sky and unleashed a massive burst of flames.
It wasn’t a targeted attack, so the flames were dispersed.
I could withstand it.
I already had some resistance to fire.
The Fiery Phoenix’s goal wasn’t to deal damage but to block the Snake Queen’s petrifying gaze.
If they got hit by the petrification, they would be vulnerable to the Snake Queen’s brutal physical attacks.
The battle continued in the same pattern.
The Nacha Bird and Fiery Phoenix dodged the Snake Queen’s gaze while attacking with fire and steel feathers.
It wasn’t their full power, but they hadn’t inflicted significant damage on the Snake Queen so far.
At this rate, we would undoubtedly win.
They couldn’t keep dodging the Snake Queen’s gaze forever.
Their best option was to admit that their first plan had failed and retreat.
But they didn’t.
There were plenty of opportunities to escape.
Did they think they could win?
If they stopped moving, they would die.
But those eyes—
The look of certainty in them.
They were waiting for something.
“Woooo!”
Another fireball was launched.
Mixed in with the flames was a steel feather.
And a single object was thrown.
Instinctively, I knew.
That object was their target.
Wooooong.
My entire body was on high alert.
Crisis Detection and Killing Intent Detection were both screaming that this object was extremely dangerous.
There was no way they could defeat the Snake Queen with just the two of them.
Despite that, they didn’t retreat and instead dragged out the fight because they had faith in this object.
On the other hand, if we could neutralize this object, we could completely turn the tide of the battle in our favor.
The flames and feathers were perfectly positioned to obscure the object from the Snake Queen’s view.
I didn’t have a technique that could intercept the object.
The casting time required meant it would be too late.
The only option left was to throw myself at the object and knock it away.
It was a perfectly rational decision.
Even if I got hurt, I could recover by leveling up.
And if the Snake Queen were to be taken down by that object, it would mean I’d have to face the two monstrous birds alone.
Even one of them was stronger than me; there was no way I could win.
The best I could do was prevent their plan, even at the cost of my safety.
“Gegegek!”
I launched myself at the object.
Just as I swung my forepaw to knock it away—
Wooooong.
The cloth covering the object unraveled.
Revealing a black flask.
“Aha!”
The Nacha Bird grinned a twisted smile.
“Did you think we were here to take down the Snake Queen?”
It was then that I realized.
Their target wasn’t the Snake Queen.
“You might as well give up now.”
The purpose of sending two monstrous birds was to separate me from the Snake Queen.
The Bird King was after my head.
Shwoooosh!
The flask began to pull me in.
I immediately understood what was happening.
In the blink of an eye, the background had changed.
From the lake where I had been fighting with the Snake Queen to a place filled with countless beasts that had gathered to kill me.
“Grrrr….”
“Grrrr….”
Every beast had bloodshot eyes, radiating pure malice.