Lucky

*Bam!*

*Bam!* 

*Bam!*

A series of trees fell to the ground. Clovis looked back while sweating. The snake had been closer than ever. If this continued, he would have been devoured before finding the perfect sacrifice. 

On the other hand, Jay used his beast soul to go first because he had to clear up the area in front of him.

In other words, Clovis was left alone to take care of this snake.

Since the pistol didn't work, he had a limited option to halt the snake. The trees around here were a bit too small to stop this snake. 

In fact, he had been going left and right to confuse the snake, but it was impossible to trick the snake. His short sword couldn't make a dent either.

Because nothing worked, the snake could finally reach him before they even arrived at Glyptodon's territory.

"Tsk." Clovis clicked his tongue when the snake lowered its head as if it were ready to launch its head at him.

The moment the snake's head moved forward, Clovis hurriedly turned around and jumped toward the head, striking the head before the snake could even open its mouth.

*Cling!* 

Clovis gritted his teeth because his sword couldn't even scratch this snake's skin. He wanted to utilize the springiness of his clothes, but he simply didn't have the time.

Clovis also positioned himself as high as possible so that the moment he stopped, he could see the snake's eye. 

He pointed at the eye and shot once, only to find the snake had reacted fast enough to use the eyelid to cover it. At the same time, the snake also launched him back with a little nudge, causing Clovis to fly in the air for a moment before rolling a few times on the ground.

Instead of looking back, Clovis continued running without caring about the snake. At least, he gained a bit of distance.

Realizing that it had been tricked, the snake continued, not letting Clovis escape. 

This time, the snake opened its mouth first so that Clovis couldn't trick it anymore.

Unfortunately for the snake, Clovis actually jumped behind the tree, forcing the snake to actually bite the tree instead. 

In just a second, the snake actually crushed the trunk with its jaws and continued moving. 

"Kh." Clovis was running out of ideas. The snake once again tried to harm Clovis by shooting its venom, but Clovis skillfully used the tree to block the venom, causing the tree to melt. 

'Grandfather should have experienced this kind of thing in the past. I wonder how he dealt with it. Did he run? Did he fight? But what if he wasn't strong enough?' 

There was one memory that stood out the most.

Back then, Clovis asked, "Grandfather. You must be so strong that you could defeat all your enemies!"

"Not at all. I still consider myself weak. However, I imagine myself to be the strongest."

"Huh?" Clovis tilted his head in confusion. "Aren't you contradicting yourself?" 

"Nope. I have told you about image training, right?"

"Un." Clovis nodded.

"That's it. If you can't imagine yourself as a strong person, then you are not capable of anything. Recognize that you are weak, but when you fight someone, you should imagine yourself as someone capable of defeating them. If you aren't capable of doing that, you won't win."

Clovis tilted his head in confusion. 

Even after becoming an explorer, he still didn't understand what Grandfather was talking about.

Compared to a Tier 2 snake, he was weak. However, he couldn't picture himself being able to kill this snake. In fact, he would be happy if he could just hurt this snake in one way or another.

"I still don't understand what you're talking about, Grandfather. How do you expect me to believe that I am capable of defeating this monster?" Clovis bit his lips, seeing the snake coming again. 

The snake was currently chasing after him, so its movement was a bit limited. If he had to fight the snake head-on, the snake would become even more ferocious since it was able to use its entire body and even its tail. 

"Kanaria. Have you found anything yet?" Clovis asked.

"Sorry, I still need another minute to reach Glyptodon's territory. I'm thinking about climbing up a hill to get a good grasp of everything around me."

"Jay. Are you alright?" 

"Better than you, Captain."

After making sure that his comrades were fine, he looked around, wondering what he could use next. 

There were nothing but trees around him. No humans were in sight, and there were no obstacles that could stop the snake. 

"Can my bullets actually hurt it?" Clovis thought for a moment. The outer skin was hard, but how about the inner skin?

If he could injure the snake with his special bullet, it could spread some poison that would at least weaken the snake. This would give him more time to fight this beast.

"It seems that I have no other choice. If I want to stop this snake for a bit, I have to make some sacrifices." Clovis had a plan in his mind, but he didn't know whether he could succeed or not.

He surprisingly slowed down his speed as if he were getting exhausted. 

The snake lowered its head again, ready to shoot it. The moment the distance was right, the snake moved its head forward.

This was also the time Clovis sped up so that the snake's head couldn't reach him.

Seeing that it was only two meters away from him, the snake suddenly shot out its long tongue. The tongue was extremely big for a human and it would surely cause some damage if Clovis got hit by it. 

But to the snake's surprise, Clovis actually turned around, jumped into the air, and struck the tongue with all his might. 

"!!!" The snake was startled, but it couldn't retract its tongue at this point. In the end, the sword and the tongue clashed. 

To Clovis's surprise, his plan actually worked. The blade was able to cut the softer tongue, but it was still extremely hard as the cut was only half a meter deep. On the other hand, the momentum of the tongue couldn't be stopped and it pushed back Clovis and overwhelmed his sword. 

Ultimately, the tongue actually hit Clovis's body. The impact was so strong that it actually felt like he was being hit by a bike. 

"Gah." Clovis gritted his teeth. Fortunately for him, the impact had been absorbed by the clothes he bought in the Another World Mall. If not, several of his ribs might crack from the impact. 

Still, Clovis hurriedly regained his composure and balance before pointing his pistol at the tongue.

*Bang!*

That one shot finally the snake's tongue and pierced through, leaving the second wound on the snake.

The snake opened its mouth, wailing in pain. The red tongue actually turned black at a rate visible to the naked eye. Even Clovis didn't expect that the poison on the bullet was actually this potent. Then again, seeing how the snake's poison was able to melt the ground, he knew that it wasn't as great as the snake's poison. 

It was only as good as a Tier 1 bullet, which was powerful against a Tier 1 beast, but not that potent to kill a Tier 2 beast.

The snake's tongue gradually withered, causing the snake to back up a little bit while wailing in pain. 

Clovis had two thoughts after seeing this. On the one hand, this might be a way to kill the snake. He still had seven bullets left, so they might still have a chance to kill this giant snake. On the other hand, it also meant that he had to shoot the inside of the snake. The only exposed area was the snake's mouth, so he didn't know if he could create an opening to destroy the other parts of the snake.

That was why, even though the chance was in front of him, he hesitated to take it.

Suddenly, he got the news he was waiting for. 

"Clovis. I've reached Glyptodon territory. It seems that we're pretty lucky since their party seems to be trying to get out of that territory and head to the easier elasmotherium territory."