Chapter 190: The Serpent and the Tree
While Benket's squad was busy holding off the spiders and trying to unearth the Golden Throne, Ronin's trio had reached the base of the Great Trees.
Close up, the scale of the flora was even more imposing. Behind the massive, gnarled roots lay a deep pit filled with the mangled remains of giant spiders.
It looked like a biological disposal unit—a meat grinder that systematically broke down the arachnids and recycled their nutrients.
Curiously, there were no living spiders in the immediate vicinity of the trees. It was as if the swarm possessed a hard-coded biological fear of the plants. Yet the trees weren't alive in the sentient sense; although they radiated enough life energy to feel like a physical pressure, they showed no signs of independent movement.
Just as Ronin was processing this, a sudden spike of danger made his hair stand on end.
He followed the sensation upward and found himself staring into a pair of massive, reptilian eyes.
Vertical pupils.
A giant serpent, its grey-brown scales blending perfectly with the bark of the ancient tree, was coiled among the high branches. It was nearly identical to the guardian serpent Ronin had pulverized earlier.
The creature was in a state of perfect Zetsu. No aura leaked from its body—the ultimate concealment for an ambush predator.
But the serpent didn't strike. It seemed to have made a noise on purpose just to alert them to its presence. It hung there, high above the forest floor, watching the three intruders with a cold, analytical intelligence.
Ronin scanned the creature's body. No Chimera Ant traits. No chitinous armor. No segmented limbs.
Is this snake not part of the colony?
Then he noticed the subtle differences between this creature and the one he had killed. The earlier serpent had been faster, its aura more jagged and aggressive. This one felt... heavier. Older.
Ronin turned his gaze to the second Great Tree nearby. It was empty.
"To the other tree," Ronin commanded.
Mashur and Vanessa didn't argue. Ronin had earned their trust through raw power, but they also recognized the logic. If there was one serpent, there should have been a pair.
One was likely the biological parent of the guardian. Its genes had been harvested by the Queen to create her elite defenders.
The serpent on the tree didn't move as they shifted. It simply rotated its massive head, keeping its vertical pupils locked on them.
"Does it have intelligence?" Mashur whispered, unsettled by the creature's lack of hostility.
"Unknown," Vanessa replied flatly. Her eyes were fixed on the trunk, noting several old scars in the bark. "But it's watching us. It's not hunting. It's guarding."
Ronin shared the sentiment. He wondered if the serpent and the tree shared a symbiotic bond. Was the snake a parasite, or was it the tree's immune system?
And more importantly—was it flammable like the raptors?
Ronin dismissed the thought. If the Queen had used its genes, the serpent was likely a true biological entity, not an alchemical construct.
As they climbed the second tree, the trio cleared the spider line.
But below them, the cavern was descending into a bloodbath. Thousands of spiders had now breached the hollow, surrounding the base of the Great Trees. They milled about, agitated and aggressive, yet none dared cross the invisible boundary of the trees' shadow.
Simultaneously, the trees reacted to the noise.
Pulsating pods began to ripen and drop from the branches like overripe fruit.
From each pod, a "Fire-Phobic" raptor-monster emerged. These newborns didn't share the spiders' hesitation. Driven by a primal, manufactured instinct, they lunged at the nearest arachnids.
An ecological war erupted at the roots.
The raptors were significantly stronger than their fragile surface counterparts. They tore into the spiders, ripping legs from sockets and gorging on the internal fluids.
But the spiders weren't helpless. Once their predatory rage was triggered, they swarmed the newborns. A lone raptor could kill three spiders, but it couldn't handle ten. Bodies piled up on both sides.
Whenever a raptor died, the nearby spiders went into a frenzy, tearing the plant-based meat apart as if it were a rare delicacy.
The ground was a slurry of green ichor and dark blood.
As the spiders grew bolder, encouraged by their numbers, several of them began to creep toward the trunk of the tree Ronin was on.
Suddenly, the serpent moved.
It didn't lunge. It simply flicked its tail.
The movement was so fast it was a blur to everyone but Ronin.
Every spider within five meters of the tree was bisected instantly. Neatly sliced in half as if by a high-frequency blade.
Ronin's Sharingan throbbed.
In that millisecond of movement, he had sensed the creature's true potential. Its aura had flared, revealing a POP (Potential Output Power) that was double Ronin's current capacity.
It was stronger than the Ant King he had just killed.
Wait. That doesn't make sense.
If the serpents were this powerful, how did the Queen ever manage to kill and consume one to get its genes?
Unless... this isn't the parent.
Ronin looked at the scars on the tree. Maybe the one we're on is the 'weak' one?
Regardles of the reason, the serpent's strike had provided a feast. The falling raptors and dead spiders were providing the survivors with a massive influx of nutrients. As they ate, the newborns began to grow at a visible, terrifying rate.
Suddenly, a scream erupted from the other side of the clearing.
Benket's squad was in trouble. The sheer volume of the spider swarm was finally overcoming their defensive line.
But they had succeeded. Through some unknown ability, the Golden Throne had been ripped from the earth. A single man was now holding the massive, solid-gold chair over his head with impossible strength.
Benket threw a series of smoke bombs to mask their retreat. The SUV led the charge, plowing a path through the spiders as the man with the throne sprinted behind it.
Colin and the combat unit performed a disciplined rearguard action, bleeding off the spider swarm as they retreated toward the exit. They looked like a professional unit, not a group of freelancers.
They were getting away with the prize.
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