32 ch 6 the giant snake

my swords only served to piss off the snake. I would compare it to be a bit worse than being pierced by a needle.

the snake covered that small distance in an instant, attempting a tail sweep. it did almost touch, with me jumping back at the last minute to dodge its strike.

if it had hit, I would have broken a couple of ribs. the snake did not let me rest as it quickly tried to get a bite out of me. I couldn't dodge it in time as I enter the snakes mouth.

luckily its fangs don't touch me. those things would be crazy poisonous, ( or not, you can't really tell with them.). the snake can't really close its mouth. my staff, which is almost broken holds the mouth of the snake, for a few seconds before, before getting shattered. the fact that it survived for so long was something I was not expecting.

clearly, the snake also was not expecting it. it did not make a move against me as I retreated from my position. it also helps that the snake is gagging at the taste of the solidified blood.

we are on a plain area, with no kind of complex terrain.

I am at a disadvantage in this zone. the snake's weight is enough to crush me and I can barely keep up with the enemy.

for the next few minutes I control the sword, trying to attack it in a sensitive place while I escape from the snake, that snake is very agile for something so big.

I do have the exploding dagger, which I hope can cause some significant damage. I have only four of them and when I am not even sure of the damage they can cause, I don't want to waste them.

if possible, I want to escape. I don't really want to use my ace after all.

the thought breaker can not be used, because simply put, this is not the source of mind control of all these snakes. using a thought breaker would be simply wasteful, after all, I do still have my ace.

finally, the snake revealed its ability, which seems to be some kind of an earth manipulation.

it had created small shards made of rock in the air and was hurtling them at a breakneck speed. I barely managed to escape from them.

one of them has already managed to pierce my skin. I finally have to use my reserve supplies of blood energy.

the patterns all over my body are something known as runes. they are used to store, manipulate, and use mana to do many wonderful things.

my blood runes are very similar. they absorb both mana and life force and once the runes that are on my body are activated, they will constantly supply life force to me from every iota of blood energy I have.

during that state I am a literal vampire, feeding on the life force of any on whom my blood energy is present. my sword has been constantly shifting my blood mana into the snake. it has yet to notice it though ( it has not made any attempt to remove my swords )

until now I have partially activated this using its life force absorbing capabilities in a way that runes itself face no damage. running them at full power means that they will begin to consume themselves.

it is kind of like using an engine made of fuel. overusing them means consuming the machine.

now all I have to do is kill whatever is in front of me as soon as possible. I can't keep myself in this state for long.

I can already feel the energy flowing in my body, like an electric shock. suddenly the world seemed to have changed.

suddenly I feel this sense of lightness in my body. concentrated life force can temporarily boost the strength of your bod.

anyway, I charge towards the snake, which had become very slow in my view. a giant snake is not very threatening, a snake is more effective the smaller it is, especially now that it seemed so slow.

I will have to take care of it now. I go to it as close as I can get without it making me fly away with a single move.

I forcefully summon my swords. the best way to get rid of something larger than you are to get onto it. imagine a mosquito so durable that you would need a sword to get rid of it.

now would you dare to attack it when it is on your body?

if yes, then you are masochistic in nature.

anyway, that snake is a skilled fighter and naturally would not like a person climbing on it.it is already covering its body with rock, making it smooth with no grip anyway, unlike other beasts, there is nothing to climb. all the snake needs to do is roll once, even if I somehow did manage to get on it's back.(I can't really call it a back though.)

right now my mind is a blank on what to do. every path that is available to me is dangerous.

right now, I need to get to its head which is its weakness, both literally and figuratively. the snake is careful, leaving me with no opportunity to figure out a move to get onto it.

right now all I can do is keep dodging, escaping it. all I can do is wait for it to come and take a bite, wait a second, that's it. it would work.

my plan is simple, it is to chuck all my exposing daggers into its mouth. as for how I will do that, I will let it eat me. not the smartest of plans, but I did not exactly have the time for any more planning.

that snake is fast, the few moments that I paused, thinking. it has reached for me, towering over me.

from up there it is looking at me, not exactly sure of what I was doing. it seemed hesitant to take a bite, most likely due to my earlier staff. solidified blood does not have a very good taste. ( believe me when I say I have tasted it )

there are other ways it can take care of me too, but for now, it is staring at me. I am also staring at it, looking at its sleek body. it had no scales, something very rare among the snakes. it is white in color, though it has the colour of the earth below us now, courtesy of its earthern armour

we stare at each other, trying to find that chink in the armour, from where I manage to take it out.

Battle among equals is very much dependant on luck. starting at the head of the snake I forget it has a tail.

suddenly the world became a kaleidoscope of colours as I flew through the air. the force behind the tail was so great that even after falling on the ground, I kept moving on the ground, being dragged on the ground. it brought back unpleasant memories.

I could feel a stinging pain all over my body. it is the kind of pain that annoys you more than hurts you.

my skin is already healing, with scabs forming all over my body. I won't be able to maintain that state for too long of a time. judging from the way the runes are fading, I have seconds at most before my rune fades out completely and I run out of power. I couldn't gather a lot of blood mana in the last few days.

the snake is coming at me with a confidently slow pace that only top-level predator would dare to have.

before I explain what happens further, I just need to tell you that on a battlefield, people like me don't tend to be calm. we have to face the fear of death, the pressure of fighting something that is clearly stronger than you.

at that time rational thinking is definitely not possible.

I modify the logs later so that they are more understandable. it is useful practice, knowing where you make a mistake in battle.

anyways, at that very instant, I suddenly became very calm, the fear that I was feeling disappeared. speaking now, it seems impossible that something like that happened to me. at that instant, I knew what was needed to be done.

I ran towards the snake, which is clearly not expecting its prey to be so daring as to charge at him. he is expecting me to run in the other direction.

seeing me charge at him, the snake does something that it does to terrify all prey.

it raises its head to tower above its victims and hisses in a very scary manner, trying to make itself look as large as possible. the powerful roaring of a lion or a tiger is not as scary as the insidious hissing of a snake.

I don't stop as I keep running towards it and throw my sword at the vertical parts of the snake's body. they are thrown in such a manner that they will act as footholds. the snake doesn't even stop hissing as I jump at the first sword and hold it in my hand. without stopping, I quickly swing myself upwards to the second sword and then swing myself up to the mouth of the snake. my arm is stinging, bleeding with the blades I have touched. the wounds are deep and will take a couple of days even with my accelerated healing.

the snake is closing its mouth, as I quickly remove all the explosive dagger in my hands and then throwing it into the snake's mouth as it closes its mouth.

by this time the runes on my body had faded completely and the last thing I remember is the feeling of scalding heat and that pain which seems to have gotten its own pulse.

(after a couple of hours. )

the sun is quite close to the horizon. it is going to be dark pretty soon. I have just regained my consciousness some time ago.

right, my body is properly screwed. I don't even know how I am alive. there are burn marks all over my body and I swear that I can see my bones on my arm and my body feels as if somebody has thrown me ina mixer grinder. though it wood more accurate saying somebody threw me in a fire. I had to face the concentrated explosion of four exploding daggers. those daggers are not meant to be used together. together, they will overload each other and cause a massive explosion.it was so powerful that even with the buffer of the head of the snake I almost died.I have lost the daggers by now which would be a molten liquid by now.

right now, I have to be dead, though I think I know the reason that I am alive. my blood armour spell has completely shattered, but my totem seems to have absorbed a massive amount of life force from the snake in front of me and was directing it into me. it had left my body after the spell deactivated.

it is called as proxy activation, when the totem absorbs life force automatically from its surrounding it if it crosses a certain limit.

though I don't know why it is shuffling this life force into me. it looks like I need to study that book more carefully.

I don't know what is happening but it is the reason that I am living. most of my skin has burnt off making me look like a monster right out of the fantasy book. there are deep cuts all over my body, most likely due to the snake's teeth which are not poisoned thankfully.

(after quite a while, during the night. )

my body is healing, but it is still very screwed up. for now I have to return to the city. I am barely strong enough to walk, let's hope nothing decides to ambush me during this time. right now, I can barely walk.

luckily even now my speed is pretty fast as I hurry down from the gate to the city. the city is arranged in a grid-like manner, pretty similar to a maze with it's twisting and turning routes. only a local would be able to tell the route.

the only reason I can tell the route is because the kid managed to imprint it in my head.

it was accompanied by a massive headache, which ended up screwing my fragile sleep. I will find overlord and throw him down a cliff or something.

before that, the would have killed me, but that is another matter meant for a much later time.

the place is giving me a creepy feel, like the cold sweat I feel when I face off against a predator.

this is different, though I am not exactly sure how. the closest thing I can think of is the feeling people get watching a ghost movie.it is a weird mixture of fear and calm. like you know that there is nothing out there, but you feel that something is there. something is following you, seeing every move you make.

somehow that feeling is worse than the fear I feel when facing something stronger than me.in this creepy fear, I make my way to the place where we have camped.