Snake

"Go all out. I'll watch your rear."

Clovis and Jay smiled. Jay stabbed the dying guy to ensure his death before moving toward the other two. 

Clovis also moved accordingly, causing the enemies to be flanked from two directions.

It started with a few shots from Clovis. 

*Bang!*

*Bang!*

*Bang!* 

The bullets pierced through the beast's body, almost hitting them. Both of them couldn't help but panic, realizing that the bullets in that pistol were not normal.

When they were occupied by Clovis, Jay made a swift turn and launched a sneak attack. 

"!!!' The one with the pistol noticed Jay and pointed his gun at him. Knowing that it was the most dangerous weapon to them, Jay waved his blade, cutting his hand. The enemy waved his sword while the shield user looped around to help.

However, Clovis appeared from behind them and cut down the shield user. Jay stomped the ground to gain more strength from his lower body to pin the sword user down. The sword user had no other option. 

On one side, there was a giant corpse that acted as a wall. On the other side was the dying shield user who was trying to help him earlier. In addition, Jay stopped him in the front, leaving only one escape path. 

And that escape path was where Clovis was. Without wasting a single second, Clovis slashed the last person, killing him. 

"Ha… Ha…" Clovis panted a few times. While there weren't a lot of movements, this ambush took a toll on his body. Although he had known this, this incident just reinforced the idea that humans were sometimes more dangerous than beasts. 

"Are you alright, Clovis?" Jay asked, looking at the wound.

"Yeah. I was lucky that it was only my arm." Clovis sighed before asking through the radio. "Kanaria. How is the situation on your side?"

"I am retreating right now. Hurry up and extract the essence from those beasts. While you're at it, find anything useful from those corpses. After that, head straight to the west. The terrain over there is safer for snipers, and I'm currently moving toward it to secure the area."

Clovis and Jay looked at each other in amusement. Both of them were thinking the same thing. What a reliable teammate she was. Not only did she manage to take down the hidden danger, but she was also moving toward the next step without waiting for Clovis's command.

"Got it. Inform us if something happens." Clovis and Jay nodded, knowing that they had to be fast.

However, Clovis suddenly dropped to the ground, his body was shaking.

"Clovis?" Jay was startled, wondering if there was a hidden wound. 

"I am fine. Let me catch some breath." Clovis looked at his shaking hands. "Although I have prepared myself for this, I guess what I have in mind and what actually happens are vastly different."

Clovis had maintained his composure the whole time, but killing humans was different from killing beasts. After all, they were his kin.

At the same time, Clovis knew that if he continued this way, he would be taken advantage of by humans, which would eventually lead to his death. So, he just asked for a moment to regain his composure.

Jay and Kanaria didn't seem to have a different expression as if they had gotten used to this. 

"Looking at you like this somehow makes you more humane…" Jay made a wry smile. "Because I'm from a big family, my father used his connection to buy a death row criminal, whom he forced me to kill. My reaction was even worse than yours, but eventually, this indeed allowed me to survive. Kanaria probably experienced the same thing in the past."

Clovis made a wry smile. "Sorry for troubling you."

"Don't worry. Leave this to me." Jay smiled and began to move around, searching for everything in the corpses. 

Clovis was watching him closely, swearing that he wouldn't show this weakness again in the future. 

"By the way, Clovis…" Jay suddenly walked back to him, in his arms was a huge white egg.

"What's that?" Clovis widened his eyes in shock. "Egg?" 

"Yeah. But…" Jay turned it around, showing that there was a hole in the egg and that there was a translucent yellow liquid that flowed out of it. 

Clovis let out a long sigh before rising from the ground, trying to take a look at the egg. He could see a small embryo inside the egg.

"What egg is this? It looks like a…tadpole? No, it's different." Clovis frowned. "Either way, it doesn't seem that it's alive. So, why don't we just drop it here? There is no point in keeping this egg, right?" 

"Yeah. That's true. But to think that they would steal an egg." Jay shook his head helplessly.

"Does the egg crack because of us?" 

"I'm afraid so. After dying, the body fell down, and the egg must have cracked from the impact. I found it in one of their bags."

Clovis looked down, falling into deep thought. "This is weird." 

"What do you mean?" Jay tilted his head in confusion. 

"I mean. Even if they are trying to kill us, they won't bring this egg. No, should I say that they will definitely let their sniper take care of it? Just imagining the intensity of the movement during the fight is enough to ensure the egg will get destroyed in one way or another."

"That's true." Jay couldn't deny that possibility. 

"Is there a reason why these guys bring such a fragile battle into the battle?" Clovis couldn't find any reasons. 

"Are they going to bring back the egg so that they could hatch it themselves? Training the beast from its infancy will definitely allow you to tame it."

"Even so, they're going with the intention of destroying it. It's just weird." Clovis shook his head. 

Kanaria once again shocked them with a report. "You two. Get out of there right now."

"What's wrong, Kanaria?" Clovis frowned, thinking there was another ambush.

"There is a giant snake coming to your location."

"Huh?" Clovis and Jay widened their eyes in shock. Clovis took another look at the egg and remembered what was inside. "It wasn't a tadpole. It was a snake."

"Don't tell me…" 

"Where is the snake? How big is it? Is it a Tier 1 snake?" Clovis asked Kanaria for confirmation. While he was indeed injured, it wouldn't lower his performance. So, they should be able to kill this snake. 

But Kanaria kept shouting, "Hurry up and leave. Do you want to die? Just believe me and run for your lives!"

This was the first time that Kanaria spoke this way. Even Clovis and Jay couldn't deny it any longer and had to follow what Kanaria said. Although they didn't know what she was talking about, they should regroup with Kanaria first before questioning anything. 

Jay and Clovis hurriedly grabbed their bags and simply ran toward Kanaria's direction.

At the same time, Clovis checked the radar he dropped earlier, wondering what Kanaria was talking about. 

He couldn't help but blink a few times, not believing what he found on the radar. Instead of a normal dot, he actually found a giant line that took up a large portion of the screen. 

"Oi, Jay. Look—!" Clovis tried to show Jay, but the latter was already shocked when looking at the real thing. Even Clovis had to raise his head, finding a giant snake head rising to the sky. 

"What…" Jay and Clovis couldn't believe what they were seeing. With just a glance, it was clear that the snake had a length of at least fifteen meters. The size of its head was more than three meters. Even without stretching the head, it looked like the snake could swallow the elasmotheriums easily. 

'Tier 0 Snake? No, I don't think it's that simple. Then Tier 1 Snake? What kind of Tier 1 snake has this size? Even the short-faced bear can't be compared to this. Then, Tier 2 snake? But if that's the case, how is it even entering this place? Shouldn't the soldiers protect this area from outside beasts?' 

Clovis tried to think of a few possibilities, but he simply couldn't imagine what kind of event could actually lead to having this snake here. 

"Run!" Clovis and Jay sped up to the limit.

It seemed that the snake noticed them and started following them. 

Clovis pointed his pistol at the snake and shot it in the face. 

*Bang!*

Instead of blood, what Clovis got was a clicking sound of metal as his pistol failed to penetrate its skin.

Because of that shot, the snake sped up. 

"Oi, Clovis. What the heck are you doing? It's completely angry at us now!" 

"I know, but we have to try this." Clovis gritted his teeth. He had one more special bullet that he had conserved this whole time, but he wondered if this was the correct time to use it.

Kanaria was already aiming for the snake with her high-caliber sniper rifle. She aimed at the giant head. If Clovis failed, she might be able to do something with her sniper rifle. 

*Bang!*