Book 18, Highgod – Chapter 21, Green Snakes
That red-haired beauty had warned Linley about the ‘snakes’ and the ‘trees’, and so Linley and Bebe had been on their guard the entire time. But only now did Linley realize that the so-called ‘snakes’ referred to that extremely slender green snake.
“Crunch!” Linley and Bebe walked forward, stepping on thick layers of fallen leaves and branches as they walked towards the corpse. Linley and Bebe both carefully inspected the golden-haired man’s corpse. Linley first inspected the corpse’s chest, from whence the green serpent had entered the man’s body.
“As I thought!” Linley realized that there was a tiny hole in the man’s chest, identical to the hole in the man’s skull.
“And I had originally believed that the green serpent had truly merged into his body. So the snake actually bit a hole into the body, then entered it. Only, the green snake really was quite fast, and its burrowing abilities are very powerful!” Linley said with a sigh. “That man was a Highgod, but his divine power defense wasn’t able to block the snake at all.”
The divine power that had surrounded and protected the Highgod had been as weak as paper in front of the green snake.
“That green snake’s fangs really are sharp.” Bebe laughed.
“Don’t be careless.” Linley looked at the corpse in a weighing manner. “That green snake was extremely fast, and it was able to easily change direction in midair.”
“Right.” Bebe had seen the earlier scene as well.
“Boss, that green snake killed that man, but why didn’t it continue to attack us next? Instead, it fled.” Bebe asked.
“The green snake most likely wants to rely on ambushes.” Linley said. “We were already on guard against it, and so it gave up attacking us. Be careful...perhaps that green snake might return to attack us again.”
“Don’t worry. If it comes back, I’ll just squeeze it to death!” Bebe said confidently.
“Let’s keep moving.” Linley laughed. At this point, Linley and Bebe both felt slightly relieved. Before this, they didn’t know how the ‘snakes’ and the ‘trees’ would attack, and so were extremely nervous. The more mysterious something was, the more frightening it was. But now they knew that the ‘snakes’ referred to that sort of small green snake.
Even though the small green snakes were dangerous, Linley and Bebe now at least knew what they were up against.
On the path forward, Linley and Bebe paid careful attention to whether or not there were any little green snakes in the surrounding areas. But of course, Linley and Bebe were very careful when they saw those short dwarf trees as well.
“Whoosh, whoosh!”
Linley and Bebe moved as fast as lightning as they passed through the white fog. On a green leaf of a nearby dwarf tree, a strange green energy suddenly emerged from the leaf, transforming into a green serpent. This little green serpent was currently staring at Linley and Bebe’s backs.
Suddenly...
The green serpent once more merged into the leaf, disappearing. A few hundred meters away, on the leaf of a large tree close to Linley and Bebe, a green energy once more appeared, forming into a green serpent. The green serpent stared towards Linley and Bebe. Its stealth abilities really were quite impressive.
Although it didn’t immediately attack, it continued to stare, ready to attack at any moment.
It quietly, stealthily followed them. Linley and Bebe didn’t notice it at all. In fact, Linley and Bebe didn’t even sense that there were any energy signatures near them.
“Eh?” Linley turned to look up ahead.
A human figure appeared. It was that silver-haired, effeminate youth. That effeminate youth gave Linley and Bebe a cold look, then continued to advance, disappearing into the white fog.
“Hey, that fellow always looks so cocky, but he’s not able to make it out either, eh?” Bebe snickered. “I’m irritated just looking at him. He always has that ugly look on his face, as though someone owes him something...if he gets close to me, I really want to teach him a lesson. How dare he be so arrogant without the power to back it up?”
At this moment, on a leaf of a tree that was ten meters or so behind Linley, the green serpent was staring at the grumbling Bebe. A light suddenly flashed through its oily green eyes.
“Don’t get distracted. Focus on the road.” Linley growled.
“What’s there to be afra...” Bebe was in mid-sentence, but suddenly...
“Swish!”
The green serpent shot out from behind at high speed towards Bebe, its speed so fast that it left behind only a green blur in the air. The animatedly talking Bebe only noticed the green blur when it had already drawn close to him, and Linley noticed it now as well, but...it was too late!
Bebe sent a backhand slap directly towards the green blur.
The green blur strangely twisted in mid-air, easily dodging past the blow, then biting straight towards Bebe’s waist..
“Crunch...”
The green snake had used this technique to chew through the bodies of countless people, burrowing through their organs and killing them. It had felt certain that the same would happen to this handsome-looking youngster, but when it bit down, it discovered...that this youngster’s skin was so tough that it made his fangs go numb.
It knew that the situation was bad, but before it had a chance to escape...
“WHAP!” A large hand descended, seizing it!
“Your mother...you bit me?!” Bebe stared with furious wide eyes. “I’ll squeeze you to death!” As he spoke, he suddenly applied force with his hands, and darkness-type divine power coalesced. With an explosive ‘bang’ sound, the little green snake blew apart from the force of the squeeze, and a strange violet blood flowed out.
With a toss of his hand, Bebe pushed out some more divine power and got rid of the vestiges of blood on his palm.
“Hmph. It dared to bite me. It really wanted to die!” As he spoke, he gave the shattered remnants of the serpent’s corpse on the ground a few stomps for good measure.
Seeing this, Linley couldn’t help but start to laugh. “Enough, Bebe. You already killed the green snake.” Linley sighed in praise as well. Bebe’s physical toughness was indeed astonishing. Since the green serpent lived on the Abyssal Mountain, it was capable of threatening many Highgods and so its attack power was certainly tremendous...but in front of Bebe, it wasn’t even able to break his skin.”
“Hey, green snakes, little green snakes...I’m right here. If you have the ability to bite me, come bite me! Bite me!” Bebe intentionally shouted to the surrounding area.
“Hurry up. Let’s leave.” Linley couldn’t help but urge.
Bebe chortled, then followed Linley from behind. Clearly, Bebe was very self-delighted at how easily he had squeezed the green snake to death.
On their fourth trip...they still ended up returning to the base of the mountain!
“I have a premonition that we’ll succeed on the fifth try for sure.” Bebe gritted his teeth as he spoke. Ending up at the base of the mountain four times in a row had clearly caused Bebe to become rather unhappy.
“Be patient! We spent thirty-plus years just travelling to this Abyssal Mountain. What’s a little bit of extra time?” Linley had an excellent attitude regarding this situation. Not flustered and not in any haste, he continued to advance forward while carefully inspecting his surroundings, giving it yet another attempt...within the Abyssal Mountain, although not many green snakes attacked, quite a few bolts of lightning descended.
“Boom!” Occasionally, the sound of a thunderbolt could be heard from afar.
“Fortunately, the Abyssal Mountain is so large that the chances of being struck are very low.” Linley laughed as he spoke.
“If we get hit, we get hit. But Boss, tell me, how do you think the lightning bolts of these Heaven-Earth Chains are formed? How can they be so powerful?” Bebe asked, not understanding.
Linley laughed calmly, “This is the number one tall mountain of the Netherworld, the residence of a Sovereign. It’d be strange if there was nothing special about it.”
While chatting, Linley and Bebe continued to advance forward.
On the leaf of a dwarf tree a few dozen meters behind Linley, a green mass of energy appeared, then formed into a small green snake. The green snake stared fixedly at Linley and Bebe’s backs, and then merged into the leaf once more.
As Linley and Bebe advanced at high speed, the little green snake constantly moved forward as well, as though it was following Linley and Bebe.
Only, the green snake was choosing to wait for an opportunity.
“Boss, this...” Just as Bebe was speaking, he suddenly sent mentally in astonishment, “Boss, careful!”
“BANG!” From high up above, a bolt of lightning came crashing down towards Linley. The speed of the lightning bolt was simply too astonishing, but since Linley had been vigilant this entire time, as soon as he noticed it, without hesitating at all, he launched off from the ground, his body dodging away to one side at high speed.
“BOOM!” The lightning bolt hit the ground, and the branches and leaves on the ground instantly turned into dust, and a large hole in the ground appeared.
Right at this moment...
“Swish!” The green serpent that had been following them the entire time suddenly shot out, and a green blur appeared in midair, charging straight towards Linley.
Linley was in mid-dodge, having just avoided the dangerous lightning bolt. His attention was all on the lightning bolt as well, and so the amount of attention he was paying to rest of his surroundings had lowered. When the green snake reached a distance of five meters from Linley, its speed suddenly lessened dramatically, and only now did Linley suddenly turn to look at it.
“Fortunately, I kept up my Blackstone Space this entire time.” Linley, upon seeing it, was badly startled.
After Bebe had suffered that last attack, Linley had immediately set up his Blackstone Space within a range of five meters. Although the green serpent had seen that earthen yellow glow, it thought that it was the ordinary divine power protection which normal Highgods used, and so it hadn’t paid it any heed...but that earthen yellow aura had caused it to suffer a major disadvantage now!
Blackstone Space – Repulsive Force!
This repulsive force was proportional to an object’s size. The little green snake’s speed slowed down dramatically when affected by the repulsive force, but it was still able to fly forward towards Linley at high speed. From this, one could imagine how astonishing its original speed had been.
“Die.” A calm look on his face, Linley swept out with his godspark sword, ‘Mirage’.
His divine power filled Mirage, when instantly turned completely translucent as it swung towards the serpent, and wherever it passed by, a clear tear in space appeared. The green snake, its speed lessened, was unable to dodge easily. It strove to turn its body, but Linley’s ‘Mirage’ sword still chopped down towards it.
One sword blow. Two pieces!
“Swoosh!” The remaining half of the green serpent, its speed not lessening in the slightest, charged directly towards Linley.
“Oh? It’s fine?” Linley was shocked.
They were too close, and Linley wasn’t able to use his sword to block. He immediately swept out with a draconic claw, clawing down towards it.
The green serpent delightedly charged straight towards Linley’s draconic claw, and then ‘bit down’ towards the ‘palm’ of Linley’s claw. With a ‘crunch’ sound, Linley’s draconic scales in the palm of his hand split apart, but at the same time, Linley squeezed down with his claws. A terrifying energy pressed down, instantly reducing the green serpent into mush.
Violet blood flowed everywhere.
“Not good.” Linley’s face changed.
Linley felt a strange, numb sensation that instantly passed through his entire body. The strange energy poured directly towards his head.
“Hmph.” Linley’s spiritual power in his mind flowed out like repeated waves, completely obliterating that strange energy.
“Boss, are you alright?” Bebe asked hurriedly.
“I’m fine. Fortunately, it was just a little bit of serpent’s venom that entered my body. If this green serpent had entered my body, however, it would have been troublesome.” Linley was still very nervous. That strange energy had indeed been quite powerful. The only reason why he had been able to defeat it so easily was because after becoming a Highgod, he had been absorbing amethysts for centuries and strengthened his soul tens of times over, compared to when he was a God.
But if the entire snake had entered his body...
Even Linley felt rather apprehensive.
“His fangs really are sharp.” Linley lowered his head to look at his palm.
A small patch of draconic scales in the palm of his hand had been split apart, revealing two very small ‘spots’.
The defensive power of Linley’s draconic scales was simply too powerful. When the green serpent had bitten down upon them, although its fangs had broken through at those two points, it hadn’t been able to completely bite out a hole which it could burrow through. Naturally, the green snake was then crushed to death. Only...as the fangs of the serpent had pierced the draconic scales, its venom had passed into Linley’s blood and flesh.
“And this is the white fog region, the ‘safest’ region! What of the gray fog region, or the highest violet fog region?” Linley couldn’t help but feel a sense of pressure. “No wonder anyone who acquires the Abyssal Fruit will become a Sovereign’s Emissary! Given the danger level of the Abyssal Mountain, anyone capable of acquiring the Abyssal Fruit should be at an impressive level of power already. With the help of the Abyssal Fruit, the victor would indeed have enough power to become a Sovereign’s Emissary.”
Linley and Bebe continued to advance.
Moments later...the white fog grew sparse.
“We returned to the borders again. Hopefully, we reached the base of the mountain.” Bebe no longer was calling out in celebration as he had previously.
But then, Linley and Bebe’s eyes both lit up. As they walked out of the white fog region, they saw that up ahead, there was an empty area of no fog. And further up ahead...was a dark, gloomy region of gray fog.
“We made it out?” Bebe said in delight.
“Haha...” Linley couldn’t help but start to laugh. “Bebe, your premonition was an accurate one, it seems. We really did succeed on our fifth try.”
Just as Linley and Bebe were celebrating, a series of angry bellows rang out from the gray fog region.
“Eh?” Linley and Bebe couldn’t help but feel puzzled, and they looked towards the gray fog region. What was within this gray fog region?