19 CHAPTER 19: THE SERPENT'S LAIR RAID (6)
[One hour before Owen's golem was destroyed]
We stood in the middle of the cave, looking around for any sign of enemies.
"Hey, you two," General Zhang called us, but his focus was on finding whatever was leaking its killing intent everywhere, "I won't babysit."
I nodded in silence. I already knew from the start that it was every man for themselves on the battlefield. Of course, I had no intention to die so easily.
I strapped my rifle to my back and held my dagger instead. A rifle might be ideal to use against a boss monster like this, because it was safer to attack from a distance. But that was only if we have the element of surprise. In this case, they had the element of surprise, so it was better to use a short-ranged weapon.
"...Shh." I put my finger in front of my lips, requesting silence.
'Drip.'
The sound of water droplets touching the lake's surface reverberated softly throughout the cave.
'Drip. Drip.'
There it was. The sound of another droplet, but softer. Only when we were in complete silence, it could be heard. I immediately looked around, and saw that there were multiple droplets falling onto the ground. They were just inaudible compared to the ones dropping on the lake. So that was why the ground was damp.
"...Hey," I said in a hushed voice, "crystals and rocks don't usually sweat, right? I mean, stalactites do, but not rocks..."
We swiftly looked up but found nothing weird in particular. It was still the same rocky ceiling we saw when we walked in, decorated with glowy blue crystals.
Suddenly, general Zhang threw his daggers upwards, towards a certain pair of crystals.
And then, the unexpected happened.
'KIIIIIEK!'
The ceiling moved. The whole rocky ceiling slowly unfurled itself into a spiral-shaped mass. General Zhang's daggers bounced off of the pair of crystals, which upon closer inspection, turned out to be a pair of crystal eyes.
"Is that--!"
'KIIIIEK!'
Before I could finish my sentence, I saw a huge jaw open among the rocks and crystals. Its fangs were huge, even a normal human pales in comparison. As the ceiling unfurled itself more and more, the clearer it was.
A huge serpent was on top of us this whole time, fooling our eyes with its body that was made of rocks and crystals, just like the cave walls.
"How can there be another serpent!?" I shouted as I and Jeanne leapt backwards to gain more distance between us and the angry danger noodle.
"Look out!" Jeanne cried out as the serpent launched itself to the ground towards us.
'BOOM!'
It targeted general Zhang straight away, with full force. It slammed its body on where he was standing, planning to kill the most threatening one.
I used my dagger to deflect the rocks that were flying around from the impact, and immediately took cover behind a huge rock. It wasn't the time to worry about him. He was a monster, he won't die.
"Jeanne! What's the plan!?" I shouted and readied my rifle. Do I shoot here? Which part to shoot? ...Well, no time to hesitate.
'Bang! Bang!'
I shot its eyes without delaying any longer. Whatever creature it was, if it can't see, it will be significantly weaker.
As I shot, sparks flew on top of the serpent. It was general Zhang. He had somehow got away unscathed and landed on the serpent's head. Being able to transform your body into water really was useful.
'BZZT! PANG!'
I saw white for a moment as general Zhang's lightning crashed against the crystal eyes of the serpent. I held my fire to not accidentally injure general Zhang.
'KIIIEK!'
Without pausing even for a moment, he pulled his daggers that he threw earlier with water strings, grabbed them, and stabbed them deep into its eyes. As I heard a crackling sound, general Zhang jumped down from the serpent's head to gain some distance.
"That's the serpent we're looking for." General Zhang said to us.
"So what was that thing inside the lake?" I asked.
"Don't know, doesn't matter. Right now our priority is taking that thing down." He answered me.
The serpent, now without eyes, slithered around while hissing at us. Its forked tongue was huge, I'd probably get hurt if I was to get slapped by it. I took this moment to look into its eyes, checking if my skill still worked.
[Enemy: Evolved Serpent, rank 5]
[Weakness: it has two hearts, one just behind its head, and the other in its tail]
I could see its weakness? Did that mean it could still see without its eyes?
"Hey, careful! That thing can still see us!" I alerted the others and climbed up a big rock to get to the higher ground.
"How come!? Its eyes were destroyed already!" Jeanne exclaimed while she summoned dozens of steel spears on top of the serpent and rained them down on the angry noodle.
'HISSSS!'
The spears failed to pierce its rock-hard body and bounced off, angering the serpent even more. It started to flick its tail repeatedly towards us.
General Zhang and Jeanne easily dodged all of its attacks. He then gathered his electricity and launched it against the serpent's crystals.
I noticed what he was doing, and immediately followed suit, raining down on the crystals with bullets. He had quickly grasped that we probably would be wasting time trying to pierce through its rocky body, and so he was trying other methods to injure the serpent.
'Crack!'
The crystals broke, and surprisingly, water started to flow slowly from where the crystals once were. So that was where the water drops came from. General Zhang's eyes widen upon seeing the water flow, as if he noticed something.
"Back off!" General Zhang shouted, and immediately somersaulted backwards.
Jeanne summoned more spears and this time, targeted the crystals, too. The moment the crystals broke and the water touched Jeanne's spears, the spears melted away.
"That's not normal water. It's probably similar to acid, but only effective against things with mana." General Zhang informed us.
"So that means including us." I added.
"Yes. I'm still not sure, but seeing that it had no effect on the ground, but immediately melted Jean-jean's spears and my skin, it's better to not come in contact with it." He grinned.
His skin?
I glanced down and saw his left arm was bleeding a lot. This bastard got his arm melted off, and yet he grinned like a maniac. Thank god he was on our side.
"Haha! Yes! This is fun! Fight me more, you worm!" His grin widened as he lunged towards the top of its head and grabbed one of the rocks there.
He started to pull the rock off with both hands, while he pressed his legs against the serpent's body to maintain a stable position on top of its head.
I couldn't deny that his observation skill was indeed impressive. He may move recklessly, but his moves were calculated. He was able to react the fastest when we first discovered the serpent, and he was always the first one to devise a new strategy, like this one.
"Jeanne! Let's support him!" I fired rapidly at the serpent to prevent it from moving too much, so general Zhang can focus on peeling that damn noodle.
'Crack!'
"Got you, you worm!" The rock came off and the serpent let out a deafening shriek, before flailing even harder.
"General Zhang! Its hearts are located behind its head and in its tail! We'll go get the one in its tail!" I shouted as hard as I could, hoping that he would hear my voice.
"Okay, little cub~" He hummed and thrust his arm inside the hole he made from removing the rock, and electrocuted the insides of its body, effectively slowing down its movements.
'KIIIEK!'
I quickly jumped down from my high ground and ran towards its tail. I switched to my dagger and stabbed it as hard as I could into its rocky body until it was stuck, and stepped on that dagger to climb up its tail.
"Jeanne! Help me!" I shouted as I tried my best to not fall off from its flailing tail.
"I got you, Chaerin!"
I expected her to just stab the tail or whatever, but instead, she threw her weapons aside and used both of her hands to grab the rocks on its tail, hindering its movement.
"Wow, she sure is strong, as expected of a general..." I muttered to myself and grabbed a rock to pull it off.
"Ugh...!" I tugged at it, but it won't come off. General Zhang sure is scary to be able to pull this thing off that easily. Luckily, I had a trump card.
[Skill: 'Fighting dirty' is activated. Your stats are increased by 3 points each]
[Stat points: (Yoo Chaerin)]
[Strength: 20]
[Intelligence: 18 (+5)]
[Agility: 15]
[Physique: 20 (+5)]
[Stat points available: 4]
[4 Stat points have been used]
[Strength: 20 --> 24]
"Take this you danger noodle!" I finally plucked that rock off, revealing a translucent body beneath the rocky surface, enabling me to see its insides.
"Wrong place, I can't see the heart!" I told Jeanne.
"Go! I'll hold its movements!" She shouted back while she focused all of her strength on gripping the serpent.
I nodded and immediately went to look for another rock to pull. If I thought about it, the heart must be the most important part of its body. Wouldn't it be natural to have extra protection for it?
My eyes scanned the rocks surrounding me, and found a spot near the edge of its tail, where a lot of crystals were suspiciously gathered.
"Found it!"
It was impossible to pull off the rock since it was hidden beneath the crystals. But if I destroy the crystals, I would die from the acid. I immediately unstrapped my rifle from my back and aimed it towards the crystals.
"Jeanne, prepare to run!" I warned her.
She nodded, and released her grip as I shot.
'Bang! Bang!'
'KIIIEK!'
The crystals shattered, and as the serpent flailed around, drops of acids flew everywhere. I was unable to hold my balance because my hands were on my rifle, and as a result, I was thrown to the ground.
"Ugh!" I rolled on the ground, feeling the impact on my right shoulder. As I tried to stand up, I saw a blob of acid flying towards me.
I instinctively held up my left arm to guard my head, and threw my body to the side. I heard a faint sizzling sound as I felt a sudden sharp pain in my arm.
The acid had grazed the side of my arm, melting my skin, dyeing my arm red.
"Jeanne! Watch out for the acid!" I shouted towards her.
"Don't worry about me!" She used her wind to blow every drop of acid out of her way.
'SPLAT!'
What the hell was that noise?
"Hey, little cub, I got one~" General Zhang hummed and waved at me with a bloody hand, gripping a crushed serpent heart.
While I was busy pulling off one rock, this bastard had peeled the serpent's neck clean. He didn't bother to check where the heart was, he just pulled off every rock he saw.
'KIIEEEK!' The serpent writhed around in pain, and started to twist and slam his body on the ground.
"Argh--!" General Jeanne, who was near its tail, got slammed on the ground.
"Jeanne!" I immediately ran towards her, but the serpent swiftly lifted up its tail again, and slammed it down hard.
'BAM!'
