I woke up to the sensation of movement around me.

Hushed hissing sounds, the occasional rustling noise of bodies moving over the ground, and the sound of something getting dragged away.

I calmly activated heat sense to scan my surroundings for enemies.

It revealed the heat traces of several snake figures around me.

Some in the act of taking away the wolf corpse and others gathered around my sleeping form, watching me warily.

I opened my eyes just as a pair of fangs swiped towards me. I immediately twist away and the snake's fangs stab the ground. Getting up, I look at the offending nestlings surrounding me.

For a moment, I was blinded by rage as I realised what they were attempting in my sleep. I propelled my head forward, immediately attacking the nearest snake with my horns.

In my haste I did not control my strength and it left a deep gash in the snake's body.

The nestling fell back, bleeding and hissing in pain.

The others saw this and came after me, the rest of them attacking together. I looked around me, counting about twelve of them.

'Why were they so few, where were the rest?'

Heat sense revealed more snakes further down in the cave, unmoving. I could hear their deep breathing, they must be asleep.

I was glad.

At least I wouldn't have to face a horde of thirty angry snake babies at once! Twelve was easy.

To think I would be plotted against by my own nest mates. I expected something like this to happen but not so soon.

Perhaps when the training got tougher, but not after the first day!

Ah, these lazy children.

I appraised the three nearest snakes and saw their dangerously low stamina levels and barely half bars of HP.

___________________

Nameless LV1 [Small Hatchling Snake]

Specie: Ailith Cerastes

HP: 13/30 Defence: 15

MP: 06/08 Intellect: 9

SP: 07/26 Magic: 8

Attack: 20 Agility: 25

Skills:

[Bite: LV1] [Poison Fang: LV1]

[Scent: LV1] [Heat Sense: LV1]

Resistances:

[Pain Resistance: LV2]

[Impact Resistance: LV1]

___________________

As I thought, they were weak.

I went to sleep peacefully because the wall climbing left so many in a damaged state. It was impossible for them to have recovered so soon.

Their movements were slow and clumsy. I was able to easily evade their bites, using their momentum against them. My side horns slashed each snake just as they passed by me.

This would be quick.

From their diminished HP, I could tell these were the nestlings that failed to climb the walls properly.

They had received less food compared to those that succeeded. It seemed they had come to steal what was left of the wolf corpse while I slept.

To band together and retaliate by relying on numbers.

Their efforts were amusing.

It showed they were thinking, at least.

There was some hope for them yet.

From their earlier meek behaviour, I thought I had beaten down all of their courage but it seemed their intense hunger had given them some unexpected strength.

I should have been more vigilant.

I was glad they were thinking, but coming after me was the wrong use of their brain.

I only created shallow cuts on each snake as I moved through their midst, sticking close to the ground, to stay out of the range of their fangs.

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The cave was filled with the sounds of their furious hissing.

I did not bite because I didn't want to seriously harm them. Aside from the first snake that I accidentally slashed too deeply, I controlled my attacks thus far.

I didn't want to unintentionally kill any of them, that would only please Sensei.

Their movements were slow compared to mine, I could sense every snake coming with my heat sense, and their vibrations told me which direction a bite was coming from.

I was able to easily evade their combined attacks because I was more familiar with my skills than they were, and most importantly, all my stats were full and I was not hungry.

They came to attack me as a group, but their hunger did them no favours. They had the element of surprise before, but now that I was awake, their plans fell apart.

Their attacks were simple, easy to read and lacked any strength behind them. They did not cooperate between themselves during their attacks. When they moved to strike, their intention was always revealed in their eyes.

They should have used heat sense, then they wouldn't have to look at all!

Their dependence on their eyes, made weaving through their messy attacks simple.

The hungry snakes could barely follow my movements, their bodies simply failed to keep up with my agility.

Their attacks only grew weaker with time and more of them got wounded.

After a while, some of the snakes began to retreat, while only a few remained to fight even when their attacks had grown dull.

Haven't they lost their confidence yet?

I appraised the remaining snakes and found a surprising new skill.

___________________

Nameless LV1 [Small Hatchling Snake]

Specie: Ailith Cerastes

HP: 09/30 Defence: 15

MP: 03/08 Intellect: 9

SP: 05/26 Magic: 8

Attack: 20 Agility: 25

Skills:

[Bite: LV1] [Poison Fang: LV1]

[Scent: LV1] [Heat Sense: LV1]

Resistances:

[Pain Resistance: LV2]

[Impact Resistance: LV1]

[Fear Resistance LV1]

___________________

So they were resisting their fear. I wanted to laugh at the irony.

Higher level skills would bring them closer to levelling up. That was good for the quest, but not so much for me right now!

To think they would gain a skill that could be used against me.

I need to end this quickly before they gain more skills that could make this fight more difficult. And so, I decided to switch to a different offensive tactic.

I sank my body low to the ground, burying it in sand.

It would be harder to guard against something they couldn't see.

Once hidden, I immediately gave them a ferocious beat down.

I struck each snake in succession as I swam through the ground, opening up cuts all over their bodies and depleting their HP bars, but I made sure not to hit any vital parts and left them with single digits.

By only revealing myself when I was about to strike, I gave them no opportunity to retaliate.

I couldn't use any venom since they were already resistant, so the only option was to exhaust their remaining stamina by bleeding them.

To my annoyance, their fear resistance went up another level.

At the sound of the continuous fighting, the other nestlings were starting to wake up one by one.

I was running out of time.

If more came to join in the attack the fight will drag longer and I would definitely lose some HP.

I didn't look at the stirring snakes, I simply kept my heat sense on to alert me when any new snake slithered within striking distance.

I hastened the beat down, striking quickly until none of the twelve snakes were no longer able to move properly. They were all twitching in pain from multiple cuts on their bodies.

Hunger really was a terrible thing.

The more I hit them, the more they seemed to lose their sanity. They just kept coming at me even when the ones before them hadn't managed to hit me once.

If they kept up with these attacks I would have to stop going easy on them.

As one more poorly aimed bite came my way, I sensed a new snake approaching with heat sense.

Before I could turn to attack it, this new snake deflected the blow directed at me, by tackling the attacker with its own body.

And then another snake joined it and grasped one of the wounded snakes with a constriction hold, squeezing it hard.

The new snakes, rather than attacking me with the hungry group, have come to defend me.

What was happening? Was this a rescue?

As more snakes woke up, they rushed to join them, soon there were more than fifteen of my snake siblings in front of me, shielding me. And the wounded snakes no longer dared to attack again.

Huh? Were they trying to save me?

With two snakes standing fiercely on either side of me, the others arranged themselves like a shield wall. I felt like a real damsel in distress.

Eh? I would have been fine either way. That last attack was really slow too.

As I looked at the snakes surrounding me, I realised that these snakes were the ones that had successfully climbed the walls.

I recognised them because although their bodies bore signs of bruising, their stamina points were not depleted and their HP was full, meaning they had been fed.

They were much stronger than the snakes attacking me.

With their large numbers and better physical ability, they quickly overpowered them. After this, the hungry snakes who were now heavily injured, were left quivering in a corner.

Then I heard a ding and the emotionless voice of the system.

〚You have earned the title『Commander』Activating status effect. Success〛

Eeeeh!

I looked at all the nestlings in front of me, and directed a fierce gaze at the defeated snakes. If snake eyes could convey emotion, I could have sworn they looked angry.

What was going on here! Shouldn't they be helping their fellow nest mates?

«These group of snakes have acknowledged you as their leader. And so they have come to defend you.»

"Ah really? Still, to beat up those snakes so badly. Isn't that too mean."

Although I said this I couldn't help feeling pleased. All these little snakes were at lower levels than me, none higher than LV1, yet they came forward to defend me. I felt more than a little happy.

Ah, they were so adorable.

I didn't need a rescue but thank you so much!

I thought they would hate me because I made them climb the wall earlier, but it seemed that was not the case.

«Why is it suddenly so pink in here?»

"Quiet Sensei. You're ruining the mood."

«Are you that happy?»

"Yes and no. I'm just a little surprised. This is the first time anyone has ever defended me like this. Well, technically they are not people, but this is still great."

«You're a strange one. Of course they will jump to your defence when they see you winning. There's nothing great about that.»

Sensei was quick to dampen my mood but I didn't let him affect me.

"If I'm strange then what should I call you?" I retorted, as harshly as I could.

«Am I supposed to feel insulted?»

"Shh stop talking. This is a proud moment for me, stop ruining it! And more importantly, why didn't you wake me? You don't need to sleep as a system. If you knew they were coming to attack me, you should have done something!"

«You weren't in any danger.»

Ah, indeed I was never in any real danger. From the moment they attacked I could have killed them if I were truly serious. But still! It was the principle. The common courtesy of not waking up just as a blow was about to hit your head.

"If I was, would you?"

«Of course.»

Ah! Why didn't I believe him! He sounded sincere enough but would he really? This system was far too suspicious.

I looked around at the beaten up snakes and the nestlings that guarded me with triumphant looks on their faces.

Now, it's time to face the real problem.

I couldn't possibly let a threat to me remain in the nest. What was I to do with these nestlings now?