Chapter 29: The Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake (3)
“Ugh…… I really almost died.”
Grant knelt on the ground, gasping for air.
He already lacked strength from starving for so long, and after being chased, his legs had completely given out.
“I told you to be careful. What on earth did you do to get chased by that thing?”
“I just went to check the traps and ran into it on the way back, that’s all. Hehehe…… but at least I brought this back safely.”
Grant grinned, holding up a mountain rabbit in one hand.
With his sunken cheeks, he looked so pitiful that Mitchell couldn't bring himself to scold him further.
“Just hurry up and go eat.”
Grant nodded, drooling constantly, and headed toward the campfire.
Left alone, Mitchell turned his head to look at the Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake outside the formation.
The creature was currently laying waste to the surroundings in a fit of rage.
“It seems exceptionally angry today.”
[It has no choice. Look at its body.]
Following Kalia’s words, Mitchell inspected the snake’s body and found something different from before.
“It has quite a few wounds.”
There were gashes all over the snake's body.
Furthermore, black smoke was seen rising from those wounds.
[Those are wounds made by a Nightmare Horse. They are currently eating away at its life force. Well, it won't be enough to kill it, though. Anyway, if the snake is in that state, the Nightmare Horse must have suffered even greater injuries.]
“Oh! That’s good news!”
Mitchell hoped the Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake would quickly catch the Nightmare Horse and return to the deep parts of the Demonic Realm.
However, Mitchell’s wish did not come true.
After rampaging for a long while, the snake suddenly settled down near the formation and coiled its body.
“What? Why is it doing that?”
[This is maddening. It intends to recover its body here.]
“……I guess I’ll have to live with my heart racing for a while.”
Even if its presence was nerve-wracking, as long as the formation held, it wouldn't be able to enter.
Mitchell didn't think much of it.
[You shouldn't take it so lightly. A formation maintains its shape using the energy of Mother Nature. However, that creature recovers its body by absorbing the surrounding energy.]
“Uh…… then does that mean the formation could break?”
[If too much energy is sucked into that creature, it might.]
“Then what do we do?”
[We can temporarily block it by infusing Dark Aura into the axis of the formation, so let’s just watch for now.]
Damn it…….
He felt like things were starting to get complicated.
‘I need to prepare.’
The situation was unpredictable.
Just then, Grant, who had finished his meal and approached, gaped at the coiled snake.
“Why did that thing settle down here……?”
“Because of you.”
“Sorry……”
Grant shut his mouth.
After all, it was true that the creature had chased him.
Mitchell let out a small smirk while looking at Grant.
“It’s fine. Starving to death or being eaten to death—it’s all the same. Just save as much strength as you can. We don't know when we'll have to run.”
“Got it.”
At Mitchell’s words, Grant immediately began his meditation.
Mitchell did the same.
Both strove to get their bodies into the best possible condition.
By the time a day had passed.
[Quickly, go to the axis of the formation!]
Things finally took a turn for the worse.
The formation began to tremble.
Mitchell approached the axis as Kalia instructed.
As time had passed, the Blood Wolf's carcass was considerably decomposed.
[Infuse Dark Aura into the axis.]
When Mitchell placed his hand on the rotting carcass and infused it with Dark Aura, the trembling formation became quite stable.
But it was only for a moment.
He had merely slowed down the rate of collapse.
Mitchell glared at the Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake right in front of him.
‘The black smoke isn't rising anymore.’
Although he felt its energy had weakened, the wounds on its exterior had all healed.
That meant it was steadily recovering.
He did not want to face such a creature.
Mitchell infused even more Dark Aura to prevent the creature from breaking the formation.
However, the stable formation soon began to collapse again.
[It’s no use. Head to the opposite side before the formation breaks.]
Mitchell hurriedly stood up.
Standing behind him, Grant’s eyes were wavering.
One could tell at a glance that the formation was in a bad state, yet Mitchell had just stood up.
“Did we fail?”
“Yeah.”
With that short answer, Mitchell ran with Grant toward the side opposite the snake.
Just before they exited the formation.
Jjeong—!
The formation shattered.
Turning his head back, Mitchell felt goosebumps.
The Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake was looking right at them.
The blinking corneal scales.
The flickering tongue.
The creature’s upper body slowly rising.
“Run!”
Mitchell and Grant began to run for their lives.
Not hearing any sound, Mitchell looked back just in case, only to find the snake was right on their heels.
It was moving its massive body without making a single loud noise.
Only the sound of fallen branches snapping under its weight could be heard occasionally.
“Damn it!”
Even though they were using their light-footwork to the fullest, the distance wouldn't widen.
After running for a long while, Kalia suddenly shouted.
[Stop!]
Stop when the snake is chasing right behind us?
Though puzzled, Mitchell grabbed the back of Grant’s neck and brought him to a halt.
“Ack!”
Grant, choked by his collar, tumbled over.
Without a moment to worry about Grant, Mitchell stood tall and quickly turned around, thrusting his sword forward.
He was certain the pursuing snake would attack…….
‘Huh?’
The snake had stopped a short distance away, its tongue flickering repeatedly.
Just as he wondered why, Grant, who had stood up clutching his throat, tapped Mitchell.
“Mitchell……”
Mitchell glanced back to see what was wrong and gasped.
There stood a Nightmare Horse.
With black smoke scattering instead of a mane and glowing red eyes, it was a massive creature standing 3 meters tall at the shoulder.
The Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake in front, the Nightmare Horse behind.
‘What a mess.’
Biting his lip, Mitchell activated the Incarnation Art along with Spirit Ingestion.
Then, both the snake and the horse began to emit their energy simultaneously.
[You must find an opportunity to run. Don't get caught in the fight between the two.]
Nodding his head, Mitchell looked at the Nightmare Horse.
As Kalia said, the horse's condition didn't look very good either.
Because it was halfway to being a spiritual entity, it had no physical wounds, but the energy felt from it was considerably unstable.
‘It would be great if we could slip away while they fight…….’
Realistically, it didn't seem easy.
Caught between them, they were in a position to be hit first if an attack was launched.
Sure enough, the Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake began to approach slowly.
Because it was scattering such overwhelming energy, even the Incarnation began to waver.
‘Damn it!’
At a glance, it looked like it intended to deal with the humans in the middle first.
Closing the distance, the snake pulled back its raised upper body and then lunged forward like a projectile.
Just as Mitchell and Grant were about to move to dodge.
Kwang—!
A black barrier appeared before them, blocking the snake.
Mitchell turned his head toward the owner of the energy felt from that spot.
The Nightmare Horse was still looking at Mitchell.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
The snake repeatedly struck the black barrier.
Each time, the horse's body shook. Mitchell could see the spiritual body forming the creature taking damage.
The Nightmare Horse was also not in great shape.
“Wha— What……”
“The Nightmare Horse is helping us.”
“What? Why on earth? No, what does it matter. Let’s run while we can.”
“Are you an idiot? If we do that, the Nightmare Horse will just release that barrier immediately.”
“Ugh.”
Mitchell made eye contact with the Nightmare Horse.
It seemed as if the creature was requesting something from Mitchell with its eyes.
“Are you asking for help?”
Nod—
‘As I thought, it understands speech.’
Mitchell thought it was actually for the better.
The Nightmare Horse was better than the Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake, which attacked like a madman the moment it saw them.
Hadn't it left last time without any particular attack?
[A monster asking humans for help……. This is an unheard-of situation. Still, it is not bad. For now, the snake comes first.]
Mitchell nodded and said the same to Grant.
Grant lifted his sword with a reluctant expression.
He knew all too well that there was no other way at this point.
When Mitchell nodded back at the Nightmare Horse, the creature lunged toward the snake.
The moment he realized it had moved.
Kwaaaaang—!
The snake’s body faltered.
It was a speed so fast that its movement was missed for a second.
Being such a massive creature, it wasn't blown away, but its constant writhing suggested it had taken significant impact.
But it was only for a moment.
The snake also began its counterattack.
It tried to coil its massive body around the horse, while the horse moved at high speed to escape, repeatedly stomping with its front hooves and kicking with its back.
Kang! Kang! Kang!
Clearly, hooves were hitting scales, but the sound of metal clashing echoed out.
It attacked repeatedly, but there was no major damage other than causing pain. Eventually, the snake took the opportunity to coil around the Nightmare Horse.
Ppadeudeuk—
A chilling sound was heard due to the intense pressure.
However, the horse did not go down easily.
Black flames erupted from its body and covered the snake's body.
The snake writhed in pain, but it did not let go of the horse.
“Let’s go!”
Mitchell and Grant lunged toward the entangled pair.
Stepping with the Ghost Soul Step to amplify his energy, Mitchell prepared the Heavenly Destruction Flash.
Kyiaaaaaa—
He decomposed his remaining souls to endlessly fill his Aura Hole.
Soon, Dark Aura gathered on his sword, creating a deep gray sword qi.
He swung his sword toward the snake’s body.
Ka-ang—!
Instead, Mitchell’s sword was bounced back.
It was the same for Grant. The two did not give up and continued to attempt attacks.
Kang-kang-kang-kang!
At least Grant, a 5th Class Aura user, managed to dent the scales with his sword qi, but Mitchell couldn't even manage that.
As if the two were a nuisance, the snake swung its massive tail.
Puck—!
Grant, who was just about to attack, was hit directly and sent flying.
The creature’s tail didn't stop there and headed toward Mitchell.
However, having already seen Grant get hit, Mitchell was able to dodge the tail.
Worried, Mitchell looked at the limp Grant.
[He’s not dead, so focus on the Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake!]
Following Kalia’s words, Mitchell raised his sword to attack again.
His Aura Hole was rapidly emptying, and he had used up all the souls to fill it.
At least Spirit Ingestion was barely preventing his Aura Hole from running dry.
Hwooooosh—
Mitchell, having dodged the tail, swung his sword again.
Ka-aaang—!
As expected, he couldn't even penetrate a scale, let alone leave a wound.
The Nightmare Horse was putting all its strength into trying to break free.
The only reason Mitchell could attack like this was that the snake was focused on the horse.
Thinking that he would be next after the horse, he became desperate.
Just then, Kalia told him a method.
[I don't know if you can do it at your current level…… but try concentrating Spirit Ingestion into one spot.]
Spirit Ingestion was already active.
Even now, it was constantly drawing in surrounding life force to refill his stamina.
‘Let’s just try it.’
If Kalia said it, it meant it was a way to solve this crisis.
Mitchell narrowed the range of Spirit Ingestion.
He reduced the range until it could only absorb the life force of the snake.
But what Kalia meant was more than this.
[Narrow it further. You must focus on just a single scale of the Azure-Scaled Ghost Snake. I cannot help you with this like I did with the formation, so you must do it yourself!]
Nodding his head, Mitchell gritted his teeth and focused.
While dodging the occasional tail swipes, he poured all his concentration into Spirit Ingestion.
Eventually, the area affected by Spirit Ingestion was reduced to half the snake’s body.
But it was still a long way from narrowing it to a single scale.
‘More! More! More!’
Mitchell shouted inwardly as he steadily reduced the range of Spirit Ingestion.
Having finally reduced the range to the size of a single scale, Mitchell placed his hand on a scale that was in disarray from the Nightmare Horse’s attacks and sucked out the life force.
Eventually, he drove his reverse-gripped sword toward the scale that had lost its luster.
However…….
Kang!
‘Damn it! This isn't enough!’
There were no souls left in his body.
Despite absorbing a considerable amount of life force, it was difficult to even pierce a single one of its scales.
It might be possible if he continued to absorb energy with Spirit Ingestion, but the Nightmare Horse falling first was more likely.
Mitchell looked at the constricted Nightmare Horse.
While it twitched its body to somehow escape, it attacked the snake using black flames.
Then, the horse suddenly looked at Mitchell. It grasped what he was doing.
And at that moment.
The Nightmare Horse’s energy surged toward Mitchell like a tidal wave.
