"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
His body rolled a few times on the ground.
Fortunately, his body is now stronger than imagined, having rolled dozens of meters without severe damage, feeling dizzy but soon got up from the ground.
Though Gauss restrained his strength considering the attack was on a teammate, this attack should have been enough for Serdur to suffer.
He immediately noticed Serdur had become stronger.
So, is this a successful breakthrough, or a failure?
Or perhaps some sort of aftereffect of a successful breakthrough?
Bloodlines are still a powerful yet dangerous domain for present-day humans, akin to a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, they offer stronger talent and power, allowing adventurers to stand out, much like Albena awakening the power of Giantification. On the other hand, the power within bloodlines inherently holds a degree of instability.
If not properly controlled, the power of the bloodline can turn against its possessor, posing great dangers to themselves and those around them.
From this perspective, plain pure-blood humans may actually hold an advantage, as the outstanding individuals among them can achieve a stable and pure strength.
Serdur got up from the ground in pain, a hint of fear in his eyes as he looked at Gauss.
Despite sensing the threat Gauss posed before, it was just an intangible feeling. Now, while actually fighting, he truly felt the unstoppable terrifying force from that frail human.
The key issue is, the thought of fighting the human in front instinctively made him resistant, an invisible force was holding him back, as if his beastly instincts were battling some subconscious force.
This is why upon seeing Gauss, he turned to flee, only considering throwing stones to stop Gauss from getting closer when he couldn’t shake him off.
"Hiss! Ah!!!"
Watching Gauss step closer, Serdur suddenly clutched his head, his face showing extreme pain.
The massive snake body rolled on the ground frantically as well.
Observing this, Gauss immediately guessed that some change occurred within Serdur due to his punch.
So he just stayed not far away beside Serdur.
"Serdur, wake up."
Possibly, the struggling conscious heard his voice, and the human part took over.
Soon, Serdur’s rolling lessened, and the scales on his face quickly retracted.
Finally, he stopped moving, lying quietly as if asleep.
Gauss finally breathed a sigh of relief.
...
Red Dragon Team temporary camp, in the medical tent.
Serdur slowly sat up on the bed, touching his cheek and head, feeling intense pain there.
Just awakened, he felt dizzy as if drunk, his mind muddled.
What happened? Is this the medical spot?
He only remembered retreating to a preselected cave for cultivation, then appearing here.
"Are you alright, Serdur?"
Gauss and several teammates, along with the team’s Priest stood aside, casting concerned looks at him.
"Yes, Serdur, you even attacked Lord Gauss just now." Albena looked somewhat reproachfully at the half-snake man companion.
She felt that even if she lost consciousness, her love for the team leader would prevent her from attacking him.
"Me?"
Just awakened Serdur pointed to himself, appearing incredulous.
He definitely didn’t remember attacking Gauss.
But seeing Albena and others nod firmly, thinking they had no reason to deceive him, so he might have, indeed, possibly attacked the captain.
Therefore, this side of his face like hit by a cannonball is...?
He couldn’t help but touch his cheek, still aching.
"Cough, cough!"
Gauss seemed to guess what Serdur was thinking and coughed awkwardly.
"Serdur also lost consciousness earlier, let’s not dwell on these minor matters."
Gauss quickly shifted the topic, explaining Serdur’s lost consciousness state and appearance, even bringing out a recording stone.
Upon noticing Serdur’s anomaly, he immediately started recording to view multiple times later.
Other teammates had only observed Gauss’s situation from afar, now, through the recording stone’s projection, they noticed Serdur’s anomaly.
In that state, Serdur’s size seemed larger, his physical power and energy more violent, uncontrolled and unconscious, like a giant snake demon.
Others whispered guesses to each other.
"Is it beastial transformation?"
"Not that severe right? Serdur recovered so quickly, it might just be simple bloodline counter-effect."
Unlike others, Serdur watched his projection intently, after brief confusion, a deep-seated piece of information struck his mind like lightning.
His face showed a trace of belatedly bitter expression.
"What’s wrong? You figured out the issue with yourself?" Gauss asked concernedly seeing Serdur’s expression, dismissing a few Priests.
With outsiders gone, Serdur nodded.
He didn’t intend to hide.
Everyone left was close as family-like teammates.
"Captain, do you know our snake-man origins?"
Serdur barely finished speaking before continuing.
"Originally, snake-men were humans, but long ago, some witnessed the serpent god’s magnificent form by chance, discarded their humanity out of worship, including accompanying rationality."
"They transformed into the original lineage snake-men."
"In darkness, they hissed, praying to emulate the serpent god, who rewarded these zealous followers with formidable power."
"With divine power, snake-man civilization rapidly expanded, quickly establishing a mighty worldly civilization."
"Cannibalism, living sacrifices, breeding with strongest brutal snakes regularly occurred in snake-man temple."
"Viewing rationality as flesh’s shackles, they longed to shed leftover humanity like shedding dead skin, and at some point, as civilization peaked, a dreadful crisis arose."
"Abandoning humanity, snake-men created horrific monsters, the Snake Kings."
"These snake kings born across city-states, from birth, they slaughtered all seen life, human or other sapient beings, even fellow snake-men."
"Plus, other civilizations affected by snake-men’s atrocious invasions retaliated, under external and internal strife, once mighty snake-man civilization soon perished."
"To avoid reemerging the royal blood causing civilization’s downfall, surviving snake-men chose an opposite path, began plundering humans and life, embraced rationality, eventually refining into today’s stable half-snake race."
"However, rumors persist among clans about royal blood not extinct, but lurking within every snake-man bloodline, awaiting awakening."
Gauss and others finished listening to Serdur’s tale.
"You mean, you awakened that brutal Snake King heritage?"
Serdur nodded.
"I feel a weak but terrifying force hidden within my body, it has awakened."
His complexion turned extremely grim.
In snake men’s passed-down lore, awakening alleged royal power isn’t fortunate.
Conversely, oneself will quickly be devoured by that consciousness, ultimately becoming a dehumanized monster.