Chapter 16 It’s a Trap!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The golden ball midair continued to shine and started to beat faster as if a ferocious beast was awakening. Everyone started to get nervous, after a minute, the light dimmed.
The melted gold stopped flowing and the lake started to churn. It began to rotate and formed a whirlpool. At the same time, the golden ball floating midair also started to rotate. At the middle of the whirlpool, the golden liquid gathered together and formed the shape of a vine climbing up a tree.
The golden vine became thicker and longer until every drop of the golden lake was absorbed then coiled around the rotating ball.
A buzzing sound sounded out and another blinding light exploded but it lasted only for a few seconds. Everyone’s eyes were a bit blurry, the huge golden ball disappeared and was replaced by a golden light shaped like a coiled enormous serpent.
A golden stream was still rotating around the serpent then it opened its enormous mouth and sucked every drop of it. The light faded and a jaw-dropping scene astounded everyone.
A coiled giant golden serpent was floating midair with its head standing, staring at everyone with hostility and coldness with its golden eyes. Everybody estimated that the snake must be at least a hundred meters long. Every part of the giant serpent was cast in gold, it was like a golden snake statue that came alive.
Wilky was shocked and could not believe his eyes and pointed his sword at the giant serpent.
“It’s, it’s the go- golden serpent!”
He stuttered while speaking, he was really in shock, the legends were true. Everyone looked at him with confusion, it was their first time seeing a magical beast like this.
“Damnable humans!”
The magical beast shouted with its consciousness startling everyone then flicked his golden tongue.
Ssssss!
An ear-shattering hiss was produced followed by a shockwave that pushed everyone backward by a couple of meters. Before anyone could stabilize, a heavy pressure descended that even affected their souls.
“Argg!”
The group moaned and rotated their energy at full power, those who were weaker vomited blood and had a hard time stabilizing, even starting to lose consciousness.
“Blerrgg!”
But before anyone could fall, the giant serpent suddenly vomited a big mouthful of golden blood and started to shrink and decrease its size by a half. With that happening, the pressure disappeared and everyone could see that the serpents energy was unstable.
Judging by the events, this was their only chance to kill the giant serpent.
“Attack!”
Both sides simultaneously ordered the attack and everyone started to cast their own battle techniques.
Wilky stabbed his sword and a sword intent shot out from his sword aiming for the serpent.
Wilfred summoned his wind energy and shot an arrow that looked like a drill made of wind element.
Winston tapped his staff and a ripple flowed out, pointy rock spikes suddenly came out below the giant serpent aiming for its belly.
Everyone attacked at the same with different techniques using different elements.
.....
Looking at the incoming onslaught of battle techniques, the giant serpent could only form a defensive golden barrier around its body.
He was furious, if it was any other day he could just kill this humans with pressure alone but because he had to rush his breakthrough, he was unstable right now. Rushing a breakthrough was dangerous but he had no choice, it was better than letting the humans attack him while attempting it.
He succeeded but was extremely unstable right now and had to escape to recuperate.
Crack! Bang!
The various skills collided with the defensive barrier but could not withstand it and exploded. Golden blood flowed from the serpents mouth and wounds of different sizes were visible on his large body.
Hisss!
He produced another shockwave that disrupted everyone and at the same time summoned four golden balls that turned into javelins and willed it to attack each group.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two golden streaks of light attacked each group and the four people who could not react fast were skewered and turned into golden human statues, their facial expressions before dying were preserved.
“Shit! Attack at your own will, don’t let it get away. I’m telling you, the whole worth of the mine is nothing compared to this serpent!”
Wilky tried to encourage the others after observing that they were shaken after the serpent’s attack. If they were to succeed in this mission, one could only imagine the price they could fetch.
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The serpent continued to fire golden javelins, four was his limit and could not even maintain it properly. He could only repel his enemy’s skills but there were just too many of them and his wounds were increasing, some were even bone deep.
Boom! Boom!
Skills collided that produced shockwaves, it was like fireworks producing different colors. Dust accumulated and rocks flew everywhere, golden and red blood splashed and smeared the cavern.
A total of nine people already died and some were injured, four from Wilky’s group and five from the other. They did not bother to inspect thoroughly who was on the other side as long as they did not attack them. Their primary goal was the serpent, although the number of casualties was out of their expectations, the serpent was already on his last breath.
“Despicable humans! You’ll pay for this!”
Madness filled the giant serpent and sacrificed his vitality for a boost making his wound worsen, he had no other choice. His energy rose, rotated it to maximum then shrank himself to only ten meters long. This was his only chance to escape now that his enemies decreased.
After shrinking and gathering momentum, he turned into a streak of golden light and headed towards Wilky’s group.
“Not good!”
Their hearts tightened and everyone could only dodge, death was the only thing waiting for them if they collided with the serpent. The light was too fast giving them no time at all to cast any skill.
Taking this chance, the serpent went straight to the tunnel from where Wilky’s group came from and headed outside.
“Chase! He’s not gonna last that long.”
Wilky commanded in a hurried tone and turned into a blur going after the serpent. The others hesitated for a second but followed suit. Wilfred on the other hand purposely slowed down and was at the tail of the group. After re-entering the tunnel, he sneered and shot an arrow towards the ceiling of the tunnel entrance.
“Sorry boys, try to catch up.”
Boom!
The ceiling collapsed and the tunnel closed.
The other group was not fast enough and the tunnel collapsed before their eyes.
A man in his thirties with a long black hair wearing a military uniform was leading the group. A bald middle-aged man who was also an officer walked to his side,
“Floyd, what do you wanna do? Should we give chase?”
Floyd had an ugly look on his face.
“Fuck it, only the two of us will give chase. I’ll tell you the details on the way,”
He turned around and instructed the others,
“You three, collect the loot from the bodies and get as much gold as you can. We will meet at the campsite later and divide it all accordingly. Don’t even think about anything funny.”
A killing intent filled the area that made the others shiver and did not even answer and started to do as they were ordered.
The bald guy thrust his spear and produced a vertical tornado towards the collapsed tunnel making a hole.
“Let’s go!”
Floyd ordered and both of them disappeared in a flash.
.....
People were gathered outside the mines, most of them were mercenaries and a minority of miners. They were instructed to stand guard and stand by for further instructions.
Five minutes have already passed since the last miner came out, the ground and the mountain started to slightly vibrate. As time passed by it started to get stronger and pebbles on the ground started to shake. Everyone raised their guard and started to get nervous.
After a while, the trembling stopped and an eerie silence came after.
Swoosh!
A golden streak of light suddenly came out of the tunnel passing by the group in the blink of an eye. Before anybody could react, bodies started to fall on the ground. Some of them missing their head and others, a big hole on their chests. At least a dozen people died within that frame of time.
What the fuck?
Everybody’s mind was in chaos and cold sweats started to run down their backs. Others even stumbled down on their butt.
“The hell just happened?”
One of them cried out in terror with a pale face, he could not believe what was happening. In the blink of an eye, a dozen people died and nobody could even react.
Before anyone could answer, five shadows came out of entrance but did not stop and just passed by them pursuing the golden streak of light towards the forest.
.....
Woosh!
The golden serpent maintained his maximum speed and even killed humans on his way. Upon coming out of the tunnel he saw the greenery of the forest and immediately headed out there.
“Damn! Damn! Damn! Just you wait after I recover. I’ll make you pay for this,”
He was cursing while trying to find a place to hide, he was running out of juice. Once he will run out of power, death is already assured. He had yet to learn the ability to fly and could only float a few meters above the ground.
His kind was nearly extinct, he and his mother was hunted down and had been running ever since he was young. Left with no choice, she sacrificed herself to form a space tunnel for him to escape and ended up in that cavern. Coincidence or not, it was a good spot for him to cultivate but alas, he was still discovered.
They were a very rare variant of the ancient serpent clan, the golden serpent. They were not particularly strong but were not weak either. The only “curse” they carried was their unique golden core. Their core, if mixed with certain ingredients could repair broken dantians and fix it.
Once a the dantian is broken, it is nearly impossible to repair it, but for some reason, out of the countless cultivators in the universe, somebody discovered that the golden serpent’s core can be used as an ingredient to repair broken dantians.
Once that information was spread out, the hunting began and they got nearly extinct in a short period of time. Only a handful had survived and has been hiding ever since.
.....
A short while later, he discovered a cave in a rocky part of the forest. After scanning and making sure there was no danger, he immediately headed towards it.
Before he could reach the entrance he suddenly froze mid-air.
What?
His mind was a mess, he clearly did not sense anyone around. Then a circular formation with complicated patterns lit up below him.
“This is...”
Before he could finish his sentence, a voice sounded out of nowhere.
“You came late little snakey, I started to get worried.”
The space distorted at the cave entrance and an old man with a messy hair clad in a fur coat came out grinning showing his yellow dirty teeth.
An expert!
The snake already encountered people who could manipulate space and use complicated formations for trapping. They were top of the pack and could summon the wind and rain, such people were the one who hunted him and his mother.
“You humans are really despicable and shameless using any means to get what you want.”
His heart was filled with hate and coldly stared at the old man in front of him.
“Hmph! If I was in full power, I could easily squash you with my fingers.”
The old man walked towards serpent with a smug look on his face.
The serpent could only stare at the old man, he tried to struggle but could not even move an inch. Unwillingness and frustration filled his heart, he had still many things to do but in front of strong people, he could only resign to his fate.
The old man was already in front of him,
“If you want revenge, try it in your next life. I will be waiting, but you’ll die just the same. Let me end your suffering and depart from this world.”
Old man Dan did not want to prolong the serpent’s agony. He could feel the serpent’s frustration, he felt pity but such is the world.
It will continue moving on with or without you.
Heavenly energy formed on his hand, he stuck his finger together and stabbed on the serpent’s head.
I’m coming, Mother.
A quick death, the serpent closed his eyes and felt somewhat relieved. At last, his days of running and hiding has come to an end.
Old man Dan retracted his hand with a golden core in tow.
“At last, few more ingredients and i can start repairing my dantian.”
After looking for a golden serpent for so long, he finally found it. There was only an extremely small amount of chance that he could find one but he never gave up.