Chapter 6: Chapter 4
His gaze fixated on the goat head. More specifically, he was looking at where it was connected to the lion's back. The idea was nothing short of reckless, and one wrong move could end up killing him instead. But he couldn't think of anything else that he could do in this scenario, it was his only, most 'logical' choice at getting out of this alive.
"System, how low can my mana get?"
[Once it reaches -1000, all of your body parts will cease to function. However, at your current condition, reaching -500 is considered dangerous.]
"That's still plenty of spells." Theodore thought to himself before shifting his injured body into a more relaxed position. He took a deep breath before conjuring three magic circles.
[Ice Magic: Frost Spear]
<<MP: 170/440>>
Each of them costs fifty mana points to use, bringing him quite low on stock. He didn't care though and shot the three icicles towards the Chimera.
The beast roared and breathed fire again, the line of flame collided with the spears and melted them away in seconds. However, this was all within Theodore's calculations.
Another magic circle appeared behind the Chimera and a large pike propelled itself into the area connecting the goat's head and the lion's body. Blood seeped through the wounds as the spear embedded itself into the flesh.
The monster screamed in agony while all heads turned towards its wound, completely forgetting that Theodore was still on top of the tree. He watched as the snake and the lion tried to calm the panicking goat down as it was making it difficult for the lion to properly move.
Theodore didn't waste these precious seconds and immediately summoned another circle.
<<MP: 70/440>>
[Frost Spear]
A frozen bolt appeared on top of the Chimera and fell down, attempting to skewer the lion's head next. However, it immediately sensed the danger and pushed itself sideways even while struggling with the goat's head.
Even though the attack had missed its intended target, it continued falling and impaled into the left paw instead causing it to roar out in pain.
"That works."
Theodore mentally prepared himself for the pain that's to come. As he's conjuring up another spell, cool air radiated from his body while the surrounding area began to frost up. The Chimera was alarmed at the sudden drop of temperature but their injuries prevented them from fleeing.
"Great Lord of the Arctic." He started his incantation while staring at the beast below, seeing the horrified expression on the three head's faces. It was a rare sight to witness, since usually the monsters don't show fear to anything other than themselves, and Theo intended to savor every second of it.
He would've smirked if he could. "May your presence freeze all that is not yet your domain. Descend and cast this land of life into eternal winter." The wind howled as if responding to his incantation and the magic circle in front of him began to glow fiercely, The Chimera could only sit and watch as its body began to freeze and ice blocks formed on its limbs.
The snake was the first head affected by the spell, it hissed in pain, as if trying to ask the other two for help, however nothing could be done about it and it would eventually breathe its last breath after only thirty seconds of struggle.
While icicles and frost formed around the area, the rest of the Chimera stared up at Theodore with hatred in their gaze. Not long after, a freezing wind swept over the lion's body, accompanied by ice chains that rose from the ground around it. The beast didn't struggle and merely stood there, accepting its faith and letting the chains wrapped around it, freezing the skin and causing endless agony before it eventually went down as well.
[You killed a Greek Chimera. Gained 200,000 (x3) Exp.]
[Level Up! You're now Level 27!]
"Ah, that's unfortunate, I didn't reach level thirty."
Just as Theodore was about to open his status window, another notification rang out, this time with the System's voice.
[You've successfully cleared the Hidden Quest: "Levels Don't Matter". You'll be rewarded with a 3x Experience Points buff for the next 5 Days and a new skill.]
"Hidden quest?" Theodore's interest had piqued the moment he heard the word 'new skill'. "Killing the Chimera was the quest?"
[Negative. The quest's objective was to kill a gate creature with at least a 20 Level difference.]
After understanding the source of his rewards, he called his attribute window and almost immediately a screen appeared in front of him.
<<Name: Theodore Varon
Species: King Cobra (6 Meters) (Evolutions Available)
Lvl: 27
EXP: 3000/290,000
Skill Points: 4
HP: 2860/8400
MP: -570/440 (!)
Status Condition: Bleed. Frost.
Effects: 3x EXP Gain. (5 Days). Temporary Increase in Stats [Expandable.]
Attack: 19 > 39
Speed: 29 > 49
Defense: 8 > 28
Charm: 5
Intelligence: 12
Magic: 31
Personal Attributes: Gaze of Wisdom (Lvl.2). Thermal Vision (Lvl.MAX). Venom (Lvl.4). Agility (Lvl. 1). Tongue Receptor (Lvl.2). Will to Live (Lvl.1)
Skills: Ice Magic (Lvl.3). Ambitious Snake: Devour (Lvl.1). Master of Poison (Lvl.1). Persistence (Lvl.1) [NEW!]>>
"Show me the information about the new skill."
<<Skill: Persistence [Due to your current condition. It'd automatically activated.]
Lvl. 1
Requirement for Upgrade: 20 Skill Points.
Cooldown: 120 Minutes.
Description: When your Hit Points fall below 50% you'll have the option to activate this skill. When used, you'll be given the 'Tenacious' buff which will temporarily increase your Attack, Speed, and Defense by 20 Points while also allowing you to continuously use your mana even while it's already reached negative points. After ten minutes of usage, the skill will deactivate and you'll instead be given a 30% decrease to the three buffed stats for an hour.
Bonus Effect: [Locked]>>
Theodore didn't like the harsh drawbacks of the skill, but in the end he still had this skill to thank for considering that he felt fine despite his mana points being in the 'dangerous zone' the System was talking about.
"I'm still not nearly as strong enough…" He thought with disappointment, he was so confident earlier when he'd beaten the Lesser Hydra and the Drake, however this encounter with the Chimera was his wake-up-call that his current strength is still nothing compared to the rest of the gate monsters.
"In the end, I still relied on Ice Magic instead of my strength…What if I faced something that's immune to it next time?"
He shook his head and got rid of those thoughts before they could distract him any further. "Invest the four skill points into Defense." He'd learned his lessons now and he should get to work putting them to good use.
Theo slowly slithered down from the tree, careful not to hurt himself due to the injuries, he made his way towards the Chimera corpse before activating 'Ambitious Snake'. The large snake appeared once again from his form and swallowed the beast whole, causing his own stomach to slightly swollen up. The light silhouette would dispersed into smaller particles once the skill had ended.
.
.
.
He rested in between the bushes while he waited for the Chimera to digest. With the help of the System, his bleeding had stopped and his mana regenerated to a safe 0 points after only around a few hours of rest. Although the blood-soaked claw marks were still there spanning the entire length of his body. He would need to heal it the natural way or use a skill to do so.
Suddenly, the System's voice sounded in his mind.
[The Greek Chimera has been digested. Showing consumable skills.]
<<Greek Chimera Skills
-Flames of Pride [Skill]
A powerful attack of the Chimera, this ability allows the user to breathe fire while gaining strong resistance to heat, the strength of the flame depends on the user's willpower and confidence, its strength will temporarily weaken if your mentality wavers.
-Roar of Pride [Skill]
A shout from a great beast. It discourages weak-willed people and brings strength to the user's allies. Anyone who the user considered to be friends will gain a 10% Attack increase while the opponent will lose their courage to fight, decreasing their attack by 10% instead.
-Fangs of Pride [Attribute]
The inescapable fangs of the Chimera's serpent, once something gets close to its rear, this ferocious snake will attack. Its fangs are powerful enough to penetrate even steel while anything that's captured between them won't be able to escape. This strength can become yours too.>>
Theodore was a bit depressed that the Chimera didn't give him any healing skills, it would've solve the injuries situation immediately, but then again he didn't expect it to have any of those skills anyway since from his battle with it, the bite he'd delivered to its front leg didn't close at all throughout that fight.
He wouldn't pick the 'Roar of Pride' skill because it's meant to be a team support ability, it was useful for the Chimera that had two other friends it can assist, but for Theo, he wasn't lucky to have such friends.
This leaves only 'Fangs of Pride' and 'Flames of Pride', he would've chosen to strengthen his fangs—But only if he's an idiot. "I choose Flames of Pride." The letters of the skill's name were slowly being added to the 'Skills' list. Once it was finished, Theo could feel a slight burn at the back of his throat which quickly dissipated a few seconds after.
He didn't choose the 'Fangs of Pride' skill simply because he didn't think it would be needed, since if he evolves further, he'll naturally gain more biting power. Besides that, having a fire skill to counteract the backlash from his ice magic would mean he could continuously spam spells without needing to worry about his body suddenly giving up due to the cold.
"With the Persistence skill, I don't need to worry even if my mana reaches negative." He thought happily, this basically meant that his magic is about three times as strong as he was still human.
"System, show me the quest menu."
<<Main Quest #1
The second half of the first main quest has been unlocked.
-Evolve into a mythical creature. (Lvl.35)
Time Left: 18 Hours.
(After completing the second half of the main quest. You'll be greatly rewarded. Information is hidden by ■■)>>
He still has plenty of time before the deadline, however he didn't want to waste precious seconds lying around doing nothing, especially since he'd gotten the three times experience points buff from accidentally completing a hidden quest.
After some calculations, he couldn't help but feel like commiting mass genocide on the ants again since they could give him a maximum of 300,000 Exp if he were to get lucky. Which means if he finds at least three big colonies, he'll be able to level up around four or five times—From his observation, the amount of experience points he would need per level increases randomly, so if the god that'd reincarnated him could bless him with some good luck…
"Then I can probably evolve and kill two birds with one stone."
His eyes glanced at his wounds one last time before finalizing his decision, he flicked his tongue before turning left and slithering towards the nearest prey he'd detected.
.
.
.
<<Time Left: 20 Minutes>>
<<Name: Theodore Varon
Species: King Cobra (6 Meters) (Evolutions Available)
Lvl: 34
EXP: 450,000/480,000
Skill Points: 0
HP: 5230/124,000
MP: 530/530
Status Condition: Bleed.
Effects: 3x EXP Gain. (5 Days)
Rank: C
Attack: 26
Speed: 36
Defense: 20
Charm: 5
Intelligence: 12
Magic: 31
Personal Attributes: Gaze of Wisdom (Lvl.3). Thermal Vision (Lvl.MAX). Venom (Lvl.4). Agility (Lvl. 1). Tongue Receptor (Lvl.3). Will to Live (Lvl.1)
Skills: Ice Magic (Lvl.3). Ambitious Snake: Devour (Lvl.1). Master of Poison (Lvl.1). Persistence (Lvl.1). Flames of Pride (Lvl.1)>>
Theodore stared at his attribute window with an annoyed expression, he was specifically looking at the experience point bar. He'd been going around killing things non-stop despite the injuries and pain yet he couldn't reach the required threshold? It felt like he just got scammed out of his efforts despite having gained a level to both 'Gaze of Wisdom' and 'Tongue Receptor' when he reached level thirty.
"Damn~ I need one more ant colony and I can finally get rid of this stupid wound!"
He let out an irritated sigh and laid down on a rock that was overlooking a river while the sun directly hit his body. After 'Gaze of Wisdom' leveled up, the 'Rank' section appeared in everyone's status window, this allowed him to calculate the potential threat of a monster which in turn made it a lot safer for him to hunt while injured.
Despite playing it safe each time, he was still afraid that something could go wrong the moment he let his guard down, so he didn't want to push his luck by gambling with his life. He tried thinking of some alternative ways to gain experience points during this twenty minutes time limit, but so far he couldn't come up with anything worth trying.
But before he could begin to think of anything else, a loud explosion rang out from somewhere in front of him.
.
.
.
A booming roar echoed throughout the Delphi Forest as a small group of five men surrounded a wolf-like beast. The Direwolf was most likely separated from its group and was now being hunted down by these humans. It has a beautiful white coat and a piercing gaze, an amateur hunter would definitely be intimidated by its features.
A tanned bulky man stood at the front of the group while guarding himself with a large greatsword, its blade was soaked in blood from when it'd once struck the direwolf's injured left side. "Archer! Don't just stand there, shoot it!"
A man standing at the back was surprised by the sudden call. He swiftly knocked an arrow before sending it flying into the beast's head. But it didn't go down so easily as it howled in anger before charging towards the humans, not caring about the projectile sticking out of its forehead at all.
The direwolves are several times larger than their regular counterparts, they have great strength and very tough hides, even a mana-infused arrow to the head couldn't put it down.
The large man, seemingly the captain of the group, grunted with frustration before lifting his sword. "Damn it Merlin! You had one job!"
Merlin, the red haired archer flinched at the sudden reprimand from his boss. He lowered his head and muttered an apology before preparing to shoot another arrow, this time aiming to pierce the wolf's skull. However, the tanned man started attacking the beast, giving the archer very little room to shoot.
"You can't even combo with your boss? You're useless." Another man dressed in a fancy robe sneered before he conjured up a purple magic circle. It appeared directly on top of the direwolf and a second later lightning struck down onto it. A pained cry escaped its fanged mouth as it glared at the humans, but nonetheless it didn't make the mage stop casting his magic—He instead amplified it, causing a thunderous sound to burst from the magnitude of the spell. Not even the tough direwolf could survive being shocked by such a powerful lightning and it would eventually toppled forward, falling with enough force to slightly shake the ground.
"See? It's not that hard." The mage continued to act boastful, but it was understandable since that lightning magic was at least B-Tier.
The tanned man strapped his sword to his back before turning around with a grumpy frown on his expression. "Stop it, at least no one died from this fight."
"Eh, I mean, it's just one direwolf." The mage shrugged.
The swordsman sighed. "Hey, you two! Get to work already!"
The remaining members of the group had been watching the battle from a safe distance, both men were wearing messy, dirty clothes while each carrying large luggages, it's not hard to guess that they were the porters for this hunting group. However, both of them had one more distinguishing feature: The metal collar wrapped tightly around their necks.
Merlin was also wearing the same thing.
The two porters put down the huge bags before taking out several tools used for flaying, they quickly got to skinning the direwolf's large body, which judging from their current speed, it would take around ten minutes to complete the job.
This number seemed to have satisfied the tanned swordsman as he walked up to a nearby tree before sitting down. "Next we need the fangs of a lesser hydra…" The man paused as if recalling something. "Ah, the client said if possible they want actual hydra fangs…"
"Damn, even if they were willing to pay us triple, it's not everyday you stumble across a hydra, even in Delphi." The mage joined in on the conversation. The both of them seemed to have forgotten about Merlin's presence, which was the preferable option for him.
The archer let out a soft, tired sigh as he turned his focus towards the porters. He didn't want to come back to the Delphi Forest, it was the place that'd continued to haunt him even in his dreams, he still couldn't forget the bloody scene on 'that day'.
"What would you have done, Theo?" Merlin often thinks about his best friend, who had lost his life in this very same forest on 'that day'. He blamed himself constantly for not being strong enough to protect everyone at that time.
He couldn't do anything but watch his teammates get slaughtered by Rhys Griffins, a truly evil man who doesn't care for other's well-being, a monster in human flesh, who was also the person who'd turned him and some others into 'slaves' using the special collar.
"Oh, they're already done." The swordsman's voice pulled Merlin out of his own thoughts and he shifted his attention to the two porters who were carrying beautiful sheets of white fur towards the bags. "Go pack up quickly, we're going to go find a lesser hydra."
"Hurry up you slowpokes!" The mage spoke with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice, but despite it being a joke, the porters didn't seem to think of it as such and they began to hurriedly pack up, in less than a minute, they were already on their feet while lifting the large backpacks.
The tanned man would lead the group deeper into the forest while the mage followed suit. Merlin stayed at the back while fidgeting with the tight collar around his neck. It's extremely uncomfortable and only water could at least abbreviate the itchiness.
They had just started walking for only five minutes when suddenly they stopped. The swordsman was narrowing his eyes at something in front of him, prompting the curious mage to poke his head out to see as well. "A cave?"
"There might be something inside of there." The larger man replied, gripping the handle of his greatsword, ready to take it out to battle at any given moment. "Rhodes, check it out with your magic."
Rhodes the mage nodded before he started chanting something under his breath. A ball of electricity appeared in his palms a second later, afterward he released his grip on the sphere and it slowly flew into the cave.
Silence…
But just as everyone thought there was nothing there, multiple series of screeches rang from within the cave. This caused the swordsman's eyes to spark with excitement. "Great! I hear at least three similar cries…It's definitely a lesser hydra."
"Nice. Let's go then." Rhodes summoned two magic circles on each of his palms and followed the team captain closer to the cave while the rest of them hurried along from behind.
Merlin already had an arrow in his grip and was ready to fire it at any time, though it seemed that the 'time' had come a lot sooner than anticipated. Without warning, multiple columns of flames shot forward from within the cave and hit the swordsman straight in the face, though he'd swiftly unsheathed his weapon and held his greatsword in a defensive stance. He was relatively unharmed apart from a few burned marks on his arms.
The archer took aim at the entrance of the cave before letting the arrow fly, it struck its target as hinted from a pained screech from the monster within. It would slowly move into the sunlight, revealing its identity.
"That's…" Rhodes sounded surprised, he counted the heads of the monster in front of him outloud and his eyes widened when he realized that he didn't count it wrong. "Eight…Eight heads."
Merlin along with the rest of the team took a step back nervously while staring at the behemoth in front of them. It stood at roughly around 12 meters tall while being over 20 meters long. It has armor-like grey scales that cover almost every inch of its body and cold menacing red eyes.
This monster had somehow managed to squeeze itself into the small cave entrance and tricked them into thinking that it was only a lesser hydra, luring them—the prey—close before coming out for a free meal.
Going by Greek Mythology, people had speculated that a nine-headed hydra is the strongest, so by that logic, the monster they were facing right now was close to being the most powerful of its kind.
The Hydra let out a blood curdling roar with all of its heads, Merlin could feel himself tensed up on reflex, he tried moving his hands but found that they were frozen in place, fear gripping every inch of his body.
"I know the Delphi Forest is dangerous…But this!" Rhodes managed to utter, it seemed that only he and the swordsman were able to move, although their movements were sluggish and shaky.
"Don't worry." The captain spoke, his voice cracking slightly as he took two more steps back, glancing behind him and looked to where the porters were standing. "We can just use the slaves as bait while we get out of here."
The two collared men wanted to protest, however they were still under the effects of the Hydra's roar and couldn't speak. Merlin concluded that it was a skill since anyone's first instinct when faced with danger would be to move through the fear, not freeze in place like this.
"What about Merlin?" Rhodes glanced towards him.
"Just let him—"
Crunch!
Merlin flinched when suddenly something wet started spraying everywhere, staining his face and clothes. It took him a few more seconds to realize that the swordsman was missing half of his upper body while one of the Hydra's heads was happily chewing something into a bloody meat paste.
Rhodes stared with disbelief at his boss's body that's now fallen onto the ground, causing more blood to spill out of the wound and dyeing the ground red.
The mage's legs were shaking uncontrollably along with the rest of his body. "Ah…Ah...Boss…" He muttered to himself as if he'd lost his mind to the fear. He suddenly let out a terrified scream and turned towards the Hydra with his palms extended. "Ah!!! Don't f*ck with me! I can't die like this!!" Bolts of lightning struck from the magic circles on his hands and went straight for the Hydra's body. It let out synchronized screeches as if it was feeling pain.
The mage laughed hysterically. "Ha! Haha! You can't beat me! I am Rhodes, the greatest magician of all! Not even the Winter Frost Mage can fair against me!"
Rhodes wasn't even there when the Winter Frost Mage was murdered, Merlin would've insulted his inteligence if it weren't for the fact that he was faced with a life or death situation right now. "I can move…!" He could feel his muscles slightly relaxed as if they had been released. He didn't immediately run away though since Rhodes was given temporary access to the slave collar he's wearing, he might just end up dead if he makes one wrong move.
"I'll wait until his mana runs out."
While lightning is a very powerful element, it consumes an ungodly amount of energy and physical stamina to cast, the electricity could also run through the caster instead of out if they're not proficient enough with their craft. For Rhodes, while he had the skill of a B rank mage, he still has that mana problem like any other lightning mage.
And Merlin was right, soon enough the lightning gradually became weaker and weaker until the once paralyzed Hydra could move freely again. It roared and glared at Rhodes whose chuckle was slowly dying down as well. "No…This can't be…I can still go on! No!" He extended his hands again but this time only the magic circle was cast, nothing came out of them and this only confirmed the mage's lack of mana. "No way…I ran out?"
The arrogant mage, now reduced to nothing but a scared and pathetic normal human turned towards Merlin and the porters with a look of pure terror on his face. "You…Merlin, you have to fight that thing while I escape, and…And you two. Go die for me. Go distract the Hydra. Die for—" The monster seemed to have gotten bored of listening to Rhodes and decided to shut him up by swallowing him in one go.
However, the effects of the slave collar was already activated. Though Merlin's order was to fight, meaning he could still move his body as he wanted, the porters weren't so lucky since their order was to die, their collar glowed a soft red as their legs moved on their own. "Ah, no! Why am I moving!?"
"I don't want to die! Please save me!"
"Save m—"
Crunch!
The Hydra killed both of the men, leaving only the large, bloody backpacks on where they used to stand. The monster turned its many heads to the last survivor and opened its mouths, preparing to breathe fire at him.
Merlin thought about running, but after seeing that all eight heads could simply stop him with this single attack, his legs grew weak and he fell on his knees, staring at death right in the eyes. He let out a chuckle, already accepting his fate. "It seems I'll get to meet you soon..."
"You're meeting who?"
A familiar voice spoke behind him while a blast of cold air brushed past his face, hitting the Hydra with enough force to knock it backwards.
Frost began to spread around its chest, causing it to roar in anger and glared at its attacker, seemingly in pain from getting frozen down to its skin.
Merlin immediately recognize the spell and voice of this person, his hope for survival was restored once again and he turned around to meet with his long lost—
'Friend?'
Instead of finding a face he could recognize, his gaze shifted downwards until it landed on a dark green king cobra that was staring at him with its piercing, green eyes.
"What the f*ck?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone