Ranker Who Lives Twice

Chapter 41. Akasha’s Snake (8)

“Just a little more… Just a little…!”

In a place where the monster outbreak had swept over, where the forest and the earth had all turned to ruins, there was a player moving his tattered body with unsteady steps. It was Bain.

“Just a little more…”

Clutching onto his shoulder with his one remaining arm, Bain struggled to move forward. He was filled with a burning desire to complete his mission.

He had managed to survive the assault of the Goblin King, pretending to be dead and waiting until the monster outbreak passed by.

He once thought of giving up on the mission and heading back to their base. That was how hard the monster outbreak had struck him.

Team 1, Arangdan’s most prized group of players, had evaporated in a moment, leaving no trace behind. And the aura of the Goblin King had been so ferocious that he hadn’t been able to do anything but stay frozen in his spot.

Nevertheless, he chose to pursue his mission till the end with only one thought in his mind.

‘The monsters must be heading towards where Cain is. He must be up to something.’

As far as he knew, the monster outbreak was an event that had never happened in the entire history of the tutorial. And that meant there was definitely a player behind this whole event.

Bain intuitively knew that it had something to do with his target, Cain. Of course, he didn’t have any evidence to prove it, but he was a player that Arangdan constantly kept tabs on. He thought It was a reasonable suspicion that he was the cause of this mess.

‘It’s definitely a hidden piece, the biggest one, unparalleled to other ones in the entire tutorial…!’

Whatever Cain was up to did not matter. Bain was planning on ambushing him the moment he acquired the hidden piece.

He speculated there was a good chance of winning if his plan worked.

And adding the rewards for completing his mission, he could still chase after Phante and Edora.

‘Just you wait, Cain!’

The light of greed was glittering in Bain’s eyes.

*   *   *

It was when the war was reaching its climax when the Goblin King and the Orc King realized things were getting weird.

*Rumble*

With their innate keen senses, both of the kings had already noticed that at some point the ground started to shake weakly.

However, they both knew that their life could be very well forfeited were they to look away for even just a moment, therefore none of them opened their mouth.

And that carelessness brought about great disaster.

*Rumble*

The ground started to sink right in the middle of the battlefield and,

*Kwang*

Something suddenly shot up from the ground.

It was a giant snake.

With its ferocious jaws agape, the snake already had three or four monsters in its mouth. The nearly 10-meter-tall mass towered over the monsters, creating an enormous pressure.

“Wha, what kind of monster…! It’s horrible!”

“Chwik! Why is our god here!”

And the moment the monsters looked up at Akasha’s Snake in confusion,

*Stomp*

Akasha’s Snake swallowed the monsters in its mouth in one gulp, and jerked its head looking down on the monsters.

There was food all over the place right before its eyes. For it, this place was nothing more than an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Kaaah!

Akasha’s Snake soon buried its head in the nearest group of Kobolds.

No monster was able to react to its fast movement. As a result, the Kobold King, who had been standing in the vanguard and courageously leading his race suddenly disappeared into the snake’s belly.

“O, our king!”

“Our king is dead! We have to avenge him!”

The army of Kobolds rushed towards Akasha’s Snake, eyes burning with rage. They could never let the enemy who killed the king get away.

But their attacks couldn’t leave even a scratch in its scales. Their axes broke bouncing off into the air, and the arrows only slipped against the scales.

Akasha’s Snake, on the other hand, flapped its tail as if it found it to be annoying, and dozens of Kobolds were blasted away covered in blood.

Much to their dismay, their death only resulted in more life energy for the snake to fill its stomach and grow its size. And when they realized that, Akasha’s Snake had already grown much bigger. As its size grew, so too did its ferocity.

Regardless of their race, the monsters couldn’t help but drop their jaws. Its aura was so overwhelming it made them stand paralyzed.

A monster that steals life from dead monsters? None of them had ever heard of such a thing.

In all their lifetime, nothing stood above them in the forest. They were at the apex of the food chain. But here, they were faced against a new predator for the first time.

The fear of facing a predator was so alien to them. They hadn’t thought of what to do when such fear became reality.

And eventually,

*Kwakwang*

It gave birth to a disaster.

“R, run!”

“This is god’s retribution! Chwik! We have to run away, chwiiik!”

The monsters began to escape from the battlefield in order to run from Akasha’s Snake.

Some brave ones gathered up and tried to fight against the snake. But no matter what choices they made, they all came to the same end.

Being prey.

For those who ran away, the snake snatched them up and swallowed them. For those who fought back, it crushed them with its massive body and again, swallowed them. One way or another, all the monsters were going to end up being inside of the snake’s belly.

The more the monsters died, the bigger Akasha’s Snake became. As the time went by, Akasha’s Snake rampage became more and more overwhelming.

The scene was a complete pandemonium. It seemed like the gates of hell had opened up in here.

Even if they wanted to run away, with tens of thousands of them tangled together in this battlefield, it was near impossible.

“Damn it!”

Not being able to hold himself back, the Goblin King pushed away the Orc King and turned towards Akasha’s Snake.

“Kranum! Where are you going, chwik! This is a duel of warriors, you must finish!”

“Shut up, Farak! I care about the safety of our race more than mere honor!”

The Goblin King left the Orc King behind and darted forward towards the other monsters.

The Orc King frowned as he stared at the back of the Goblin King.

He and the Goblin King were the top warriors who had been each guarding the east and west sides of the forest.

Of course, he had been waiting for an opportunity to break the tie between them. So, there he was, thinking that today was finally the day. But as it turned out, it wasn’t.

However before the Goblin King left, he left the words saying that the safety of his race was more important than honor. And although he was an enemy, those words had dug deep down into his heart.

Eventually, the Orc King shouted out.

“Orcs, Listen! We will also fight back against our god! Chwik!”

He couldn’t bear to tell them to kill their god. But since their god could be resurrected, he ordered them to attack.

Overflowing with fighting spirit, all the monsters united under the two kings’ leadership. Their enemy was now Akasha’s Snake.

But Akasha’s Snake had almost already recovered its original size.

The snake inflated its head. These impudent little creatures were launching their puny attacks on it. They needed to be punished.

Akasha’s Snake opened its jaws wide and sprayed its venomous saliva all over the monsters.

The monsters in the front were swept away by the deadly poison. Those who were drenched in the saliva melted away in an instant, and the monsters sprinkled with even small bits of saliva screamed in pain.

Just then, the Goblin King jumped above the head of the snake.

“Die!”

The Goblin King lifted his halberd up high and swung it down onto the head of Akasha’s Snake.

Kaaah!

Akasha’s Snake cried out in pain as it struggled to make him fall, but the Goblin King pushed his halberd deeper in.

In the meantime, from the ground, the Orc King slashed deep into the snake’s body with his sword.

*Splash*

Blood splattered out from the wound.

Akasha’s Snake opened its mouth again getting ready for another shower of poisonous saliva. And this time, it was aiming for the two kings.

*    *    *

‘What a mess.’

Yeon-woo clicked his tongue as he looked at the chaotic battlefield.

Provoking all the monsters in Section E, he did expect the effect to be great but,

‘This is far worse than I expected.’

There was only a tenth of monsters left fighting Akasha’s Snake. As a result, Akasha’s snake was now 1.5 times bigger than its original size.

Its body was as grand as a great mountain and was as long as a river. It seemed almost impossible to kill such horrific monster.

There were still two monster kings pouring out their attacks on Akasha’s Snake, and some other monsters steadily damaging the snake with what little power they had.

Well?

‘It won’t last long.’

It was very obvious.

The Goblin King and the Orc King, they both were as strong as Taragan, but it seemed they were running out of energy.

They were desperately trying for the sake of their races, but their health wasn’t infinite.

The Goblin King had already lost an arm, and had half of his face melted by the venomous saliva, making Yeon-woo wonder if he could see properly with his eyes.

The Orc King was in much worse shape. As he had been hit by the snake’s tail, his whole body was full of bruises. Several parts of his body were swollen up, he had fractures all the way from ribs to the end of his spine.

They were holding out due to being the kings of their races, but they were on the verge of collapse.

And,

The same was true for Akasha’s Snake.

‘It’s because it ate too much food. You should have known that overeating is bad.’

Not a long time had passed since Akasha’s Snake resurrection ceremony. With its unstable body, the snake put tons of monsters into its belly, and now had a size much larger than it had prior to its death. He doubted its body could handle it.

Although Akasha’s Snake was half spiritual energy, the other half was still in the material world. This meant that it needed some time to digest and absorb the nutrients of the food it had eaten. But Akasha’s Snake took too much life energy at once skipping such process. It would be strange if it didn’t get sick.

Nevertheless, its instincts drove its body and continued to prey on monsters. In addition, the two monster kings had been steadily chipping away the snake’s health.

In the end, the monsters and Akasha’s Snake, they were all dancing in the palm of Yeon-woo’s hand.

And now was the time to wrap up the show.

Yeon-woo activated Mana Circuit, and brought it down to his feet.

[‘Mana Circuit’ skill proficiency has increased. 0.7%]

[‘Shunpo’ skill proficiency has increased. 12.4%]

*Kwang*

*Swish*

With the ground underneath his feet caving in, Yeon-woo sprang up in the air.

Above the head of Akasha’s Snake, the place where the Orcs had pulled its brains out from, and where the wound left by the helbard of the Goblin King was, there now was Yeon-woo getting ready to unleash his attack.

“Devour.”

He spread out his left hand and put it on the wound. Jaws full of saw teeth appeared from his hand and stuck into the snake’s head.

Kaaah!

Akasha’s Snake struggled in pain, feeling like its whole head was being pulled out. It twisted its tails sweeping away nearby monsters as its scream echoed around the forest.

The monsters were busy backing away from the sudden situation.

But despite its struggle, Yeon-woo clung to its head and pushed his hand deeper into the snake’s head.

‘Bathory’s Vampiric Sword won’t be enough to kill it. I’ll have to do something else!’

Fortunately, Yeon-woo was already aware of the biggest weakness of Akasha’s Snake.

The brain.

It was the part where its soul was contained.

Kaaaah!

The brain was sucked into the serrated jaws. Yeon-woo didn’t let go of his hand until the brain had completely disappeared.

[‘Bathory’s Vampiric Sword’ skill proficiency has increased. 6.4%]

[‘Bathory’s Vampiric Sword’ skill proficiency has increased. 8.2%]

···

[Your Strength has increased by 3 points.]

[Your Health has increased by 2 points.]

[Your Magic Power has increased by 5 points.]

···

After catching such a big prey, countless messages continued to pop up, filling his retina.

At some point, he felt something ‘weighty’ being absorbed through his hand.

A soul.

Or an essence.

It was the source of Akasha’s Snake.

And it was then when the light completely disappeared from its eyes.

*Kung*

The snake’s massive head collapsed helplessly onto the floor.

[You have slain the boss monster, ‘Akasha’s Snake’. Additional Karma will be provided.]

[You have acquired 5,000 Karma.]

[You have acquired 3,000 additional Karma.]

···

[Hidden Quest (Resurrection Ceremony) completed.]

[You have made an achievement that is not easily accomplished. Additional Karma will be provided.]

[You have acquired 3,000 Karma.]

[You have acquired 2,000 additional Karma.]

[Rewards….]

[Sudden quests (Monster Outbreak)…]

···

Being one of the hardest quests in the tutorial, Akasha’s Snake provided the largest amount of Karma ever given through a quest. It was enough to raise a few ranks.

Killing the snake also counted as clearing the Sudden Quest.

Plus Akasha’s Snake was the ultimate goal of the tutorial that Yeon-woo had in his mind even before entering this world. And that goal had finally been achieved after many complications.

Yeon-woo, however, drew Carshina’s Dagger with a blunt expression.

He could appreciate his victory now, but he was going to wait until the end of the tutorial.

*Shlickt*

As he sliced under the snake’s head, a golden orb about the size of a human head rolled out from the cut. It was the Akasha’s Snake’s Neidan.

The original Neidan was said to be the size of a fist, but it seemed to have expanded to its current size due to overeating.

*Grin*

Yeon-woo gave a content smile.

“Devour.”

And he pushed the orb into Bathory’s Vampiric Sword that was still screaming from hunger.

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