Six-Armed Serpent Demon

Page 13

But it was all in vain.

She vaguely remembered that she seemed to be meditating before she lost consciousness.

But this shouldn't be her mental world.

Previously, whenever she entered meditation and closed her eyes, she could see countless sparse, dim points of light floating around, as well as a dark gray celestial body that was slowly rotating nearby.

This celestial body in the spiritual world somewhat resembled the moon I had seen in my previous life, but it was much dimmer. Its surface was covered with countless deep cracks, each powerful enough to cleave the celestial body in two. It seemed as if a single touch could shatter it into countless pieces. Red light shone from within the cracks, flashing rhythmically like a powerful heartbeat.

But now, there are no more sparse, dim points of light, nor any celestial bodies riddled with cracks. There is nothing left but an endless expanse of darkness.

All that's left is the annoying roar.

She suddenly wanted to break free from the noise surrounding her ears and push the nearby roar far away.

With this thought, the noise seemed to fade into the distance.

It wasn't just the noise that seemed to recede into the distance; it also seemed to extend into the seemingly boundless darkness.

She trembled.

As the noise faded away, she was astonished to find that her field of vision was rapidly expanding, and gradually, the edge of darkness appeared at the limit of her vision.

It was a ring of bright, pale purple light.

The field of vision continues to expand.

She finally saw the true nature of darkness.

The darkness turned out to be a huge circle, just like the cracked, gray-black "satellite" from before, only much larger.

The edge of darkness emitted a pale purple light, a halo composed of countless bright points of light.

Surrounding the circular darkness was a huge, bright blue-purple disc, much thicker than the pale purple halo around the edge of the darkness.

The disc slowly rotated, seemingly cutting the circular darkness in two.

Countless points of light on the outside of the disc flew away as it rotated, while countless points of light on the inside were sucked into the darkness and disappeared without a trace.

The reborn almost developed a delusion.

The light and darkness seem to be one, possessing their own unique life.

That roar is its breath.

With each breath, it inhales and exhales countless stars, as dazzling as a myriad of galaxies.

She vaguely sensed that the original gray-black celestial body still existed, only as tiny as countless points of light sucked into the darkness inside a disc.

She was looking for it, but unexpectedly found a unique point of light in the pale purple halo at the edge of darkness.

Compared to the overall dim, pale purple halo, this point of light was dark red, exceptionally bright and dazzling, and was slowly moving along the halo, like a circular, dark "satellite".

She couldn't help but want to touch it.

As the thought crossed her mind, she saw her vision rapidly closing in on the dark red dot of light.

In the blink of an eye, they collided.

The six-armed serpent demon felt a sharp pain in his temples as a flood of knowledge poured into his brain, like a river pouring into the sea.

She was stunned when she fully accepted the indoctrination.

This dim red light is actually the professional legacy of a mortal hunter.

So, is this strange phenomenon her current mental world?

What does the circular darkness represent? And what does the pale purple halo that outlines the darkness represent? Was my career inheritance ceremony successful?

Her gaze fell upon the countless points of light surrounding the bright disc.

So what do the huge CD and other light spots represent?

Perhaps I could choose a spot of light, move closer to it, and take a closer look?

As soon as the idea came to mind, sure enough, my vision quickly zoomed in on another point of light once again.

She watched with great curiosity, wondering what might happen when they collided.

However, before she could even touch the light, she suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion wash over her, and her mind went completely blank.

The illusion of light and darkness faded away rapidly.

The cool water dripped onto my face and body.

The buzzing sound had somehow turned into a rustling sound, the sound of dense raindrops hitting countless leaves.

—Is it raining?

The six-armed snake demon was dazed and confused, his eyes blurry.

Visibility returned to normal.

Countless lush trees and piles of blood ape corpses reappeared before their eyes.

Dark clouds filled the sky above the forest clearing, accompanied by flashes of lightning and thunder.

She strained to turn her eyes and saw again the cloaked flying monkey hanging upside down on the vines, the vulture-headed servant with its talons and arms encircling two baby owls, and in the distance, an alien cockroach with four insect-like eyes poking out of a hole in the ground…

—Everything seems to be fine.

She thought, feeling dizzy and disoriented.

—But why… is everything horizontal?

The earth, however, turned upright.

Its emerald green vertical pupils blinked gently, then refocused.

She then realized that she had been lying on her side in the mud under the tree without her noticing.

Supporting herself with her six arms, she laboriously sat up straight under the big tree and coiled her thick snake tail back up.

I feel like something about me is different from before, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

His mind moved.

The six-armed serpent demon raised its lowest left arm, spread its left hand in front of it, and stared intently.

Her long, slender, snow-white fingers moved gently and skillfully.

As the gesture neared completion, a dark and elusive arcane energy appeared at her fingertips. At the same time, six or seven different spells automatically surfaced in her mind.

A slight smile appeared on her exquisite face.

This is the spellcasting ability of a mortal hunter. Mortal hunters have a very limited grasp of arcane magic, but their advantage lies in their automatic mastery of all class spells. As long as they have enough mana, they can cast spells at will without prior preparation.

With his current magical power, he could probably cast two, no, three spells.

Without a doubt, she has successfully become a mortal hunter.

The six-armed serpent demon's confidence soared.

Next, I'll test my long-awaited "mortal body" ability. Then, I'll take a good day's rest, and whatever humanoid community I come into contact with, I'll infiltrate that community first, and then gradually try to move towards the northern port.

Just then, a warning scream came from overhead from the cloaked flying monkey.

She was slightly startled.

She turned her head and carefully observed the direction the cloaked flying monkey had pointed out.

Amidst the dense sound of rain, a few distinct, slight noises came from the direction she was on guard.

The six-armed serpent demon narrowed its eyes slightly.

Six hands slowly pulled six greatswords from the muddy ground and tucked them behind their backs, without making a sound the whole time.

The massive body carefully retreated back into the depths of the tree shadows.

She saw figures moving about in the rainforest all around her, and she didn't know how many enemies there were.

—Perhaps before testing the "mortal body", we can first test the lethality of "hunting mortals" against mortal creatures.

It rained harder and harder.

Rainwater streamed down the old man's face and bare back.

With a whistle in his mouth, the old man Guluk, hunched over, held his short spear upside down, and walked barefoot, skillfully and slowly, over the tangled roots and vines.

Rainwater flowed down the old man's arm to the shaft of the short wooden spear, finally gathering at the sharpened wooden tip and dripping down in strings.

The spearhead was covered with a thick layer of pitch-black, tar-like viscous liquid, a deadly poison that would kill instantly upon contact with blood.

Every few steps, the old man Guluk would glance to his left and right out of the corner of his eye, where there were more tribal warriors dressed exactly like him not far away.

Hundreds of indigenous hunters, spaced three or four meters apart, searched the area like a giant net spread out.

If any point in this network comes into contact with the enemy, the others will immediately be able to detect the enemy's presence.

As long as the enemy is that six-armed giant snake-man, once they've verified the identity, they'll whistle to notify their employer. They won't even need to hunt it down to get paid.

These are all the employer's requirements.

That wealthy man from the south didn't ask for much, and he was very generous.

There were a full twenty boars.

Twenty heads—that's the largest number you can count by adding your fingers and toes together. Even old man Guruk doesn't know how he could possibly count more than that.

Southerners have a knack for taming pigs and raising them to be fat and strong.

Those jungle people can't learn that.

These twenty boars are enough to feed the entire tribe for half a month, and pregnant women don't need to worry about not having enough food to produce enough milk.

So when the southerners came to their tribe to recruit hunters, everyone who could enter the forest was extremely excited, regardless of age or gender, they all wanted to participate.

Because the great nobleman from the south said that if the giant snake-man with six arms could not be found, then there would be no twenty-headed boars.

Old man Guruk secretly made up his mind: he must find it, no matter what.

But the giant snake-man with six arms…

Old man Guruk had heard of snake people, but even though he lived to be two fingers and toes old, he had never seen one.

When they followed the trail from the dilapidated mountain village to the village of the Green Poison Lizardmen, the people who had been so enthusiastic about the reward fell silent.

Old man Guruk also confirmed that there was indeed such a snake-man in front of them.

Old man Guruk repeatedly examined the numerous reptilian corpses.

The lizardmen are not short, but all their injuries are to their heads and chests, inflicted by enemies slashing down from above. Many lizardmen suffer horrific head wounds, with not only the flesh but also the skull split open.

This shows that the snake-man was extremely tall and incredibly strong.

Moreover, the weapons are incredibly sharp, and most likely they are made of the "metal" used by southerners, something the jungle people wouldn't make.

Moreover, many of the lizardmen were killed at the same time, their corpses lying in circles—the tall snake-man could wield several weapons simultaneously, indicating that it had multiple arms.

They didn't chase the wrong target.

Old man Guruk didn't think about how to deal with the snake man; he was too lazy to think about it.

Since their task is simply to find it, there's no need to worry about anything else.

Having seen the mountains of corpses piled up in the lizardman village, even the other southerners brought by that nobleman remained silent.

Old man Guruq had seen many of those Southerners.

They call themselves "adventurers" and often venture deep into the jungle to hunt rare plants and animals or explore ruins for wealthy merchants. Sometimes they also stay in the jungle people's territory.

They were all scoundrels, liars, and bad seeds, but also very powerful warriors, some of whom were even more skilled in magic than he, the shaman.

That afternoon he heard a heated argument taking place between the Southerners.

They refused to continue serving General Tancred—the name of that great Southern nobleman—because the enemy they faced was too dangerous, and demanded a higher daily wage, as well as additional heatstroke prevention allowance.

Old man Guruq still didn't understand the meaning of the two southern terms, "salary" and "subsidy."

General Tancred angrily rejected them.

“I don’t need you to deal with her, because I knew from the beginning that you were all weak cowards; nor do I need you to search for her, because those natives are far more professional than you!”

He yelled at them and spit on their faces.

"Your only task is to stay by my side and protect me! For example, if I get even a scratch, I'll deduct money from your pay! If I lose a single hair, I'll deduct money from your pay too! So listen up: raise your daily wage my ass, increase your allowance my ass! There's no room for negotiation, if you don't want to work here, terminate your contract and get out of here!"

General Tancred patted his waist lightly, his every move exuding arrogance. "Remember this, this is an operation arranged by King Samarachi. How to kill that demon is another matter for him."