Aaaah! Master!
⚔ KILL CONFIRMED ⚔Relic Sand Spider lv22 defeated⚔ KILL CONFIRMED ⚔Relic Little Sand Spider lv11 defeatedThe burning sword pierced and slashed through the spiders. It's common knowledge that insect-type monsters are weak to fire attacks. As my elemental magic leveled up to intermediate, the flames I could store in talismans grew even more powerful.
Chop off a few legs, and the rest shrivel up in the fire.
⚔ KILL CONFIRMED ⚔Relic Sand Spider lv12 defeated⚔ KILL CONFIRMED ⚔Relic Sand Spider lv24 defeated⚔ KILL CONFIRMED ⚔Relic Little Sand Spider lv11 defeatedAs desert-dwelling spider monsters, they seemed even drier. Meaning, extra crispy. Hmm, wonder what they taste like. But if I chomped down on these spiders right here, the students would scream their heads off, so I'll hold back.
Just moments ago, the students—first-years and third-years alike—had been shrieking in terror. Aside from a few exceptions, none of them had ever properly faced a monster before. But now? Dead silent.
The students huddled around me—or rather, around Obern—were even murmuring in awe.
"Whoa..."
"Incredible."
Low-intelligence insect monsters have a tendency not to retreat once they charge. They leap viciously, baring their fangs, but not a single one touched me or the students. They just fluttered into the flames like moths and died pointless deaths.
🌟 LEVEL UP! 🌟Your level has increased!I'd killed so many that even with the level gap, I still leveled up. Nice! Looks like I've cleared out most of the spiders around here. Seems only the smaller, lighter ones crawled this far.
'This summoning magic circle sure is impressive—calling out this many.'
-Usually, for efficiency, they only summon a few strong ones... hmm.
Pellelian said something ominous.
-There might be a queen specimen inside. That would explain a lot.
The little ones are her swarm. Probably ordered to catch the prey that wandered in or drive out intruders. In that case, time to get Amaen and the kids out.
Hmm, but that queen's got me curious. A queen-level monster might have an inner core. But no time for such lucky thoughts.
Damon Richmond the professor returned with the kids. The second prince, the knight captain's puffy-faced daughter, the witch's daughter. And Lania... that's it.
...Wait, where's Amaen and the third prince?
Damon's face didn't look good. He seemed flustered, at a loss.
"Th-the spiders."
Why's his lip twitching like that? Not laughing. It was the expression of someone utterly panicked, forcing a smile.
"The spiders dragged away His Highness the Third Prince."
And Amaen?
"Couldn't be helped. The commoner boy followed to save His Highness."
So you just left them and came back?
"His Highness the Second Prince was injured..."
Obern glared at Damon without a word. Maybe Damon felt guilty under that stare, even if he was panicked too. Nah, doesn't seem like it.
"First, let's retreat outside and call for backup to rescue them!"
"...Might be too late by then."
"We have to prioritize escape! I heard a weird screech earlier. His Highness the Second Prince has been poisoned!"
The second prince was clutching his arm. Swollen from a spider bite, probably. But he wasn't dying right that second.
Lania cried out through tears.
"We have to save Amaen and Philly! The spiders wrapped them in webs and dragged them away!"
Guilt was plain on her face. Totally different from Damon, who was just rolling his eyes.
Some people, in a crisis, obsess over assigning blame above all else. Damon Richmond seemed like one of those.
"You. You're responsible for this situation."
"...What're you talking about?"
"You threw a tantrum and forced the first-years and His Highness the Third Prince inside! I'll report it all to the headmaster."
His twisted lips trembled.
"If anything happens to His Highness, it'll go all the way to His Majesty the King..."
I wasn't even listening to Damon's yapping anymore. Unintentionally.
Tssstssst—
My scales turned pitch black on their own.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡Black Scale lv3
The staff Obern held. Everyone must've seen me turn black atop it. Damon, oblivious, was spitting as he ranted.
"His Highness Leon is injured, and Philbert too..."
Aaah, no one's even thinking about Amaen. Except Lania, that is.
Poor Amaen. If Royle finds out, how much will he resent me?
"I told them not to go in so many times..."
I gained Dignity upon evolving. But even before that, from leading hundreds of monsters. From marching to war with the goblins.
I'd developed this thing called Presence. An intangible aura that bursts out involuntarily with intense emotions.
The air grew chillingly heavy. Sensitive students started trembling without knowing why.
And Professor Damon, who wouldn't shut up, finally clamped his mouth.
He rolled his eyes between me and Obern.
I gave Obern some instructions. He looked a bit flustered but read the mood and nodded silently. Then extended the staff.
Damon flinched back, but...
I leaped from the staff and flew at him.
Couldn't hold back anymore. Time for a beating.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡Acceleration lv7
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡Tail Strike lv3
I swung my tail without mercy.
Whack!
My crystal scales-covered tail smacked Damon's cheek. A few teeth clattered out.
"Gaaah!"
I held back from ripping his soul out physically. I coiled around the fallen fool's neck and squeezed.
"Guhk, kek!"
Revenge for Amaen and Philly!
The snake decorating Obern's staff strangling Professor Damon. The students screamed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇Cocoons wrapped tight in spider silk. The spiders carried them on their heads, scurrying deeper into the dungeon.
They'd been summoned here by coincidence. The mysterious ruin's magic circle perfectly replicated the original dungeon's traps, activating during formation.
The queen and her hundreds of offspring summoned at once. Two weeks later, the queen and her brood were starving.
"Keeek."
"Kek."
A few spiders eyed the prey hungrily. But the escort spiders bared fangs in threat.
"Kiiiiiek!"
Don't touch the queen's food.
Thanks to that, the two in the cocoons got a brief reprieve from death.
"Waaah."
A sob leaked from one cocoon. Philly's.
"Kueeng, pfuh."
Webs smeared his mouth, making weird sounds. Knowing spiders were everywhere, he couldn't wail freely.
"We're gonna die. Eaten by spiders. Waaah."
If alone, he might not have cried like this. But someone could hear, so Philly bawled.
"It's okay."
"Okay my ass, waaah."
The spiders ignored his crying. Happy to have prey for the queen, they just shook the cocoons rhythmically as they walked.
Amaen's voice reached Philly's ear through the sobs.
"It'll really be okay."
Amaen was trapped in the adjacent cocoon. Yet his voice was strangely calm. He really believed it.
How could he stay so composed? Scared out of his mind?
"Master will come save us."
"Professor Obern...?"
"Uh... yeah, something like that."
Professor Obern. Not as awful as first impressions, but could he really cut through all those spiders to save them? Maybe he had the skill, maybe not. He could call people, but their lives hung by a thread.
"We'll get our fluids sucked dry and die. Spiders eat other bugs like that."
Read it in a book. Tears flooded out again.
Then it happened. How long since the kidnapping? The spiders set the cocoons down.
"Kikik, kikkik."
Dozens of spiders chittered in unison. Like calling someone.
Soon, the escort spiders scattered away. Far from relieved, it felt ominous.
"No no no..."
Philly started praying madly. From the Church of Light to the Hearth Goddess, every god he knew. Even to Obern.
His terror was extreme. But no god answered.
The translucent silk cocoon showed a shadow approaching. Thud. Something long neared his face. A spider leg, probably. If just one leg that big, it had to be enormous.
His teeth chattered. No scream escaped.
Not even when the leg pierced the cocoon.
Shlick.
"Kyaaak!"
No, he did scream. His vision suddenly brightened.
Not teleported to heaven. What he'd thought was a spider leg was just a small white snake with a dopey face.
Ah, the crystal snake ornament on Obern's staff. Wait, not an ornament? A familiar?
In that split second, thoughts raced. Then the snake tapped Philly's shoulder with its tail.
Encouragement...?
Maybe. Philly soon saw how it freed him. A dagger materialized in midair, slashing the adjacent cocoon. Amaen burst out.
"Huck!"
Amaen looked dazed. Tears suddenly poured from his eyes.
"Master!"
And he hugged the snake tight. Calling a snake "master" and clinging? He must've been terrified, though he never showed it.
"Philly, we're saved now! Master's here!"
"Th-that's just a snake! Snap out of it!"
Philly was scared Amaen had lost it. They needed to run now that they were free.
"Spiders, the spiders are still..."
Spiders clung to walls everywhere. Dark shadows lurked deeper in.
Peering into the dark, Philly screamed.
"A, aaaah!"
Not darkness. A house-sized black spider crouched there. Glassy eyes gleamed in the shadows. One, two... three... eight.
Eight eyes. On the massive spider.
Clack, clack.
It unfolded log-like legs and approached.
Death closing in, nowhere to run.
But the snake stepped forward, blocking for Amaen and Philly. Tiny compared to the spider—barely Philly's knee height.
"Master will take it down!"
"Snap out of it, I said!"
Amaen seemed totally unhinged. He raised a fist at the snake and yelled.
"Master, Giantification!"
Did he awaken command magic? The snake grew instantly. From small to calf-sized, then man-sized. Finally matching the house-spider.
Mouth gaping wide.
Peeing—!
It fired a Ray, bursting the spider's eyes.
"Queeeeeek!"
The spider wailed deafeningly. The snake roared back.
"Sssaaak!"
Not backing down, it rocketed forward with a boom.
Boom!
That leap was ridiculously fast for its size. Crunch! It bit through the spider, punching a hole in its tough body. Fluids and guts spilled out.
Philly's jaw dropped.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇What? That all?
⚔ KILL CONFIRMED ⚔Relic Sand Queen Spider lv78 defeated🌟 LEVEL UP! 🌟Your level has increased!Now, let's check for an inner core. Come at me, you scraps.
Ah... they're fleeing. Meh.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Read 249 more chapters ahead on NovelDex!
https://noveldex.io/series/i-became-the-serpent-of-the-apocalypse
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━