Chapter 100 – A Giant Snake and a Giant Cobra

Third person POV

  Then, Peter became the first to finish eating his meal, and he stand up and decided to tell them a campfire story. The story is all about three travelers from Saheda who got lost at the corridor valley and had to spend the night in the open. As they warm at the campfire they made, the three of them suddenly heard a hissing noise coming from the trees. They then looked at that direction, only to see a giant snake glaring at them. The three travelers, though armed with swords and daggers, trembled at its size and ferociousness. Then, the giant snake charged at them and killed and ate them alive, leaving their weapons and possessions behind.

  At the end of the story, Robert and the rest, except for Sol, got scared by that story.

  "That's scary, Peter-kun."

  "Poor travelers."

  "Is that for real?"

  "According to that rumor," Peter responded in concluding his campfire story, "no one has found their bodies. All that remains are their possessions and vast wealth."

But then, Sol commented, "I don't believe that."

  "But, don't blame me if that happens, headmaster," Peter responded with a warning. "Because in this very corridor valley, many giant snakes and cobras resided."

But then, a giant snake appeared behind Peter, and Robert and the rest got scared and terrified.

Seeing the terrified look on their faces, Peter asked, "What? What's wrong?"

In response to that, Harold pointed at the giant snake behind Peter, saying, "Behind you, Peter-kun."

Peter then turned around, only to see the giant snake glaring at him while hissing scarily.

Robert and the others then turned around and ran away in fear while screaming. Peter then got terrified, and he started running away while exclaiming, "Wait for me, guys!"

Then, halfway through, Robert stopped running and looked back, only to see Sol standing in front of the giant snake.

  "Headmaster Sol, what are you doing?" he asked. "Run!"

But then, the giant snake fell its face on the ground and apologized to Sol, "I'm sorry for scaring your students away!"

Robert was shocked to hear that, asking, "What?"

The rest of the group, who were hiding behind the bushes, then looked at them.

  "Woah, what happened to that giant snake?" William asked.

  "Is it apologizing to Sol-san?" Blaise added.

Then, Sol said to the giant snake, "It's okay, spirit, they're not that scared."

With that, the giant snake get up, and Sol gently stroked its scales.

  "What in the world?" Robert commented while still being shocked. "What are you doing?"

Sol then glanced at him and the others, and answered back, "Calm down, everyone, this is just a spirit in the form of a snake."

  "A spirit?!" the rest responded back.

  Shortly thereafter, once everyone, including the giant snake, gathered around the campfire, Sol explained to them about his relationship with spirits and animals like giant snakes. Robert and the others are listening to him very attentively.

"Oh, so spirits like this is your friends, right?" Robert asked for clarification.

"Yes, and the animals are my pets," answered Sol back.

The rest, except for the giant snake, then get what Sol had said.

Then, suddenly, a giant snake, the actual one, appeared from the trees and bowed before Sol.

"Hello there, my pet," Sol greeted back, before standing up and going towards it to give it a pat-pat.

Robert and the others are delighted to see this.

Then, the spirit commented to Blaise, "Hey, you looked beautiful with your hair."

Upon hearing that, Blaise turned around. "Oh, why thanks."

Then, Robert came forward and said to the spirit, "Nice to meet you, spirit, my name is Robert Lightningheart, of the Lightningheart and Windheart clans."

"Wow, a hybrid," the spirit responded back. "That's unique of you."

Robert then smiled in response for a couple of seconds, before glancing at his friends.

"So what are you doing here?" Zarah asked the spirit.

"Well, someone is telling a bad story about me eating humans," the spirit retorted back while glaring at Peter.

In response to that, Robert and the rest looked at Peter for painting the spirit's nature in a bad way.

Peter then nervously chuckled saying, "Sorry?"

Sol heard this, and he walked to Peter with a serious look on his face. "Peter?"

"Look, headmaster, it's just a rumor told by the travelers, that's all," Peter tried to reason his way out of this mess.

But Sol didn't buy it, and he just punched him in the head for telling such a demoralizing story.

"Ow!" Peter exclaimed in pain.

"Really, Peter-kun?" Robert commented while being disappointed.

"Now, apologize to the spirit," Sol told Peter.

Peter did so, and he bowed his head to the spirit and apologized for his foolish stupidity.

"That's okay," the spirit replied back in accepting his apology. "Don't do such a stupid thing, okay?"

"Okay, thank you," Peter replied back, before getting up from bowing.

Then, Emma commented to Peter, "Big brother, you're so weak."

Peter then whimpered by that comment, before sitting down in a bit of regret.

"So, all of you are heading for Zanid?" the spirit asked them.

"Yes, to see its wonders and meet the Windheart clan," Harold responded back positively.

"I see," the spirit replied back. "Be careful, they're pretty strict on almost anything."

"Yeah, that's why I brought my proper clothes just in case," Robert responded.

"How did you know that?" Blaise asked back.

"I heard it from passing travelers who took this route," the spirit said.

"Oh, okay, that's why," William responded back.

Then, suddenly, they heard something is coming to their camp. And, out of nowhere, a giant brown cobra appeared before them, hissing and glaring at them.

"Woah, a giant cobra?" Robert responded to this.

"That's one of our enemies," the spirit replied back. "Watch out. Its venom can end your life in seconds."

Robert and the others are terrified by that fact while Sol was unfazed by it, remaining mentally and emotionally strong.

The spirit and the giant snake then blocked the giant cobra, and the spirit said to them, "We got this. Get out of here."

Robert then nodded, and he and the others ran away and hid behind the wagons.

But then, before the spirit and the giant snake would attack, the giant cobra easily overpowered them with its tail, sending them flying across the camp.

Robert and the others watched this in shock and horror.

Now, with them out of the way, the giant cobra looked at Robert and the others and approaches them with a glaring look on its face.

As Sol did his best to protect the others, Robert suddenly got an idea, and he immediately climbed into the wagon to get his katana.

"Robert-kun, what are you doing here?" William asked.

Robert then came out with his scabbard containing his katana.

"Woah, don't tell me you're going to slay that beast?" Blaise asked upon seeing what her younger brother is doing.

Then, as the spirit and giant snake gets up from the impact, Robert faces the giant cobra with bravery and serious determination.

The rest are shocked to see this standoff.

"Is he crazy?"

"No, don't do it!"

"You're going to be eaten alive!"

But those words didn't discourage the young man, so he drew his katana and aimed it at the giant cobra.

"You damn beast," Robert said to it seriously.

Then, the giant cobra lunges at him, but Robert dodged it by jumping high.

The rest, including Sol, then watched his skills in action.

Robert then fell to the ground while positioning his katana to slice the giant cobra's head.

Then, with one clean cut, Robert successfully beheaded the giant cobra, and he landed on the ground in action.

Both the severed head and body of the giant cobra then fell to the ground with medium-sounding thud.

Standing up, Robert looked at the dead, severed giant cobra. "This is what you get for hurting my friends."

He then looked at the others and said, "Hey, it's now safe here. You can come out now."

Blaise then ran towards him while asking, "Robert-kun! Are you okay?"

The rest then ran towards him while asking a similar question.

While Blaise was checking his body for any injuries, Robert answered back, "Yes, I'm fine, guys."

"Man, that was crazy of you, Robert-kun," Peter commented.

"Yeah, you are, Ro-kun," Harold added.

"Good thing you're safe," Tadashi added, too.

"Thanks, you guys," Robert happily responded.

After that, Peter and Sol walked up to the corpse of the giant cobra and observed its scales. The scales are almost as large as a human hand.

Peter then took one of them and inspected it to look for any usefulness of it.

He then remembered that a giant cobra's scales can be used as armor and can be sold at a high price at the market.

"These are valuable," Peter commented to Sol.

"Yeah, they can actually sell it at a high price," So agreed with him.

After that, they returned to the group and suggested that thing to them.

"Woah, we can sell its scales?" Robert asked.

Then, the spirit and the giant snake came forward, and the spirit responded with, "Yes, those are very valuable. They can be made as armor because they handle arrows very well."

"Oh," Robert get what the spirit said to him.

"How much it'll be per bag?" Emma asked for the price.

"Maybe around 100 to 200 gold coins per bag," Sol estimated the price.

This really shocked Robert and the others a lot, and they decided to skin the giant cobra for its scales and sell them at a high price.

"Okay, do you have your daggers with you?" Sol agreed with them with asking.

"Yes, I have some to burrow," William replied back.

"I want some scales, too!" Harold added.

And so, Robert and his group began skinning the dead giant cobra for its scales so they could sell most of them for money. Robert planned to give most of them to the Windheart clan as a gift to them, while the remaining one will be made as armor and memorabilia of that unforgettable trip.

But the task took longer than they anticipated due to the giant cobra's sheer size, meaning the number of scales is numerous. But luckily for them, they brought some cloth sacks just in case if there any trade or purchase along the way. They continued on doing it for a few hours into the night.