Chapter 193: The Swamp (2)
The snake that was struck by Zankus’ arrow vanished into the swampy forest, leaving behind only a trail of its red blood. Crockta and his companions stared at the spot where the snake crawled away from, then looked up at each other. On top of the eeriness of the swampy forest, the air was as humid as it could be, provoking a sense of discomfort.
"Are we going or what?" Tiyo asked.
"... Do we really have to?"
"Maybe we should call the Thunderbird again..."
“Squaaaawk...”
“...”
With a hesitant cough, Crockta stepped forward. He took a step to test the ground, and his boots sank slightly into the mushy, slippery mud but it was still passable.
"I think we should be able to walk over this ground," he said to his group.
Crockta and his companions put their full weight onto their feet and walked into the forest.
“It doesn’t feel very nice, but...”
The air was damp. It was so damp that it felt like toxic insects could emerge at any moment. Crockta swatted away at the air as they advanced.
They inspected the area where the snake had been. Its blood was still visible, along with the corroded bark and foliage it had touched. It was a nasty venom.
"It’s a venomous snake," Crockta noted, looking back at his companions.
"We have to pass through anyway, so let's make it quick. Be careful."
Their faces, however, showed alarm rather than reassurance. Tiyo, in particular, pointed at Crockta, his mouth agape.
"What's wrong? Are you guys scared or something? By this..."
Drip.
As Crockta was joking, something dropped onto his shoulder.
Crockta looked up.
“Ssssss...”
A massive snake had its mouth wide open and faced straight toward Crockta. Its venom dripped down from the sharp fangs.
Caught off guard, Crockta couldn’t even scream as the snake’s jaws came closer, with more venom forming a droplet at the tip of its venomous fangs.
Crockta expressed the utter shock that he was feeling with a slash of his sword.
"Woaaaah!"
In a flash, Crockta had his sword, God Slayer, out and swung at the snake.
"Ssssss!"
The frightened snake twisted its body, but it was thrashing wildly with its head partially severed. Crockta dodged back, but he was unable to avoid the splattered blood and venom. Where the venom touched, pain flared up.
Crockta quickly moved out of the snake's thrashing range. He checked his shoulder where the venom had made contact. The skin was dissolving away. The pain intensified from the venom that was digging further into his flesh, distorting his face with agony.
"Keugh, that damned snake..."
After escaping immediate danger, rage intertwined with pain throughout his body. He struck the snake repeatedly with God Slayer until it was in pieces.
The snake, chopped into several segments, died.
“Huff, huff,” Crockta caught his breath. Tiyo cautiously approached him.
"A-are you... okay?"
"The venom... it burns where it touched."
"Venom? I don’t know much about venom and poison," Tiyo replied with concern in his voice.
Zankus stepped forward.
He seemed to have some knowledge of snakes, as a hunter would. After inspecting the snake's remains and Crockta's wounded shoulder, he rummaged through his belongings.
"Oooh! Do you have an antidote or something?" Tiyo asked.
"Not an antidote, but something every experienced hunter carries..."
He made a potion.
"Potions are the best."
* * *
Zankus sprinkled his potion on Crockta's shoulder, easing the pain. Indeed, potions proved to be the best remedy for poison, venom, or anything else.
"Amazing. Potions really are the best."
"It's wise to stock up when they're on sale."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Crockta applied the potion to the sore areas all over his body and recovered quickly.
"Clearly, this place is not easy," Zankus observed, looking beyond the forest.
From the outset, they encountered two giant snakes with deadly venom. One wrong step could be dangerous.
Yet, nobody suggested turning back.
"Straight ahead. That's our way," Tiyo declared. He advanced cautiously with the General ready, followed by Crockta, Zankus, and Anor.
As they entered the swamp, the ecosystem changed drastically. Familiar beasts vanished, and they were replaced by strange insects and plants that none of them had seen before.
"This place seems more dangerous than the ogre-filled Great Sea."
The swamp's dangers surpassed the mere threats of ogres. It seemed like its threats surpassed physical ones as bizarre venomous insects and unknown ecologies unlike anything the group had encountered before could jump out at them at any given moment.
A single venomous snake striking their ankles was scarier than dozens of ogres.
"Everyone, be careful..."
The group advanced with Tiyo and Crockta leading, Anor in the middle, and Zankus at the rear.
They navigated the swamp as they kept their eyes open for any threats coming from the forest and its shadows with the swamp mud clinging to every step.
"Crockta, right side!"
Zankus shouted out of nowhere. At his warning, Crockta swiftly drew his greatsword and swung to the right.
"Roar!"
This time, it was a leopard, with its body covered in patterns. After failing its ambush, it landed and slinked away, eyeing Crockta.
"A leopard? A mere leopard dares to challenge me?"
Crockta smirked. He had already befriended Simba before, a tiger with the title “King of the Jungle”. A leopard was nothing to him.
"Scram, and I'll spare your life."
Perhaps sensing Crockta's formidable presence, the leopard began to retreat.
Then, suddenly, the ground beneath it, which seemed harmless at first, opened with a massive jaw, ensnaring the leopard. A long body coiled around the leopard, sealing its fate.
It was a snake.
Without a chance to resist, the leopard convulsed faintly and became the snake's prey. The snake, with the leopard in its jaws, eyed Crockta's group.
Crockta grimaced, aiming God Slayer at the snake, which, realizing it was outmatched, slithered away with its prey.
"This place is truly dangerous."
A realm where hidden foes lay in wait for their next meal. That was what that swamp was.
"Hold on," Anor interjected, having been silent until then.
"The direction that snake went..."
Before Anor could finish, the skeleton sparrow perched on his head flew off in the direction where the snake had slid off.
"What was that? Did you send it off?" Tiyo asked.
"No, it moved on its own."
"Huh?"
"Over there, where the snake disappeared. I feel something there," Anor said with a stern look.
“There’s something there, although I’m not sure what.”
"Perhaps it’s an artifact or a dungeon related to a necromancer—since a necromancer detected it," Zankus speculated and nodded.
"Great, let's head there then!" Tiyo exclaimed.
"I wonder what we'll find."
"Kekeke, a new adventure, perhaps."
Anor was taken aback.
"No, I meant it seems dangerous there..."
"We’re going, Anor! Lead the way!" Tiyo nudged.
"I was saying we should be cautious and avoid..."
"Lead on!"
* * *
Crockta and the group traversed the swamp for a while.
Zankus scanned the ground and the marks that were left by the snake. He was able to spot the snake’s tracks all over, as if he had an especially keen eye, being a hunter.
The snake's path aligned with the direction sensed by Anor.
"Are you sure there’s something there? Perhaps you’re just thinking things?" Tiyo suspected.
"No, there's definitely something ahead," Anor assured.
Crockta looked around. He actually felt it too. His belt of despair, the Demon's Mouth, was stirred.
His belt hadn’t activated for a while. Though it was still passive, Crockta felt like he was being pulled toward the same direction Anor indicated. He felt like something had to be there.
“There it is.”
And indeed, something was there.
A pyramid made of stone awaited them. Though it was partly concealed with vines and foliage, it was clearly a pyramid and it was larger than they had expected. The snake they followed was there, along with several others slithering around the pyramid in a circle.
"Something must be inside that pyramid."
Zankus, seemingly intrigued, had a faint smile across his face.
"That looks like the gate over there, is it closed?"
They spotted a gate-like door at the bottom of the pyramid, but it was firmly shut.
"It won't budge."
Crockta and his group exchanged glances and approached the gate together.
After noticing the trespassers, the snakes lifted their heads and hissed with their tongues slithering. They locked their eyes on Crockta’s group.
Crockta drew the God Slayer, and upon seeing the greatsword, the snakes turned their heads away. When he pointed the tip of the blade toward the gate, the snakes seemed to no longer approach them.
“They’re pretty clever.”
The group stood before the gate, still receiving the hostile gaze of the snakes.
Zankus pulled hard on the gate handle. It was locked.
“It won’t open.”
Tiyo and Anor both took a turn, but neither of them could pull the gate open. After their failed attempts, Zankus examined the door. It was firmly constructed with no visible gaps.
Crockta stepped forward.
“Let me try to open it.”
Tiyo shook his head.
“It’s locked solid. You can’t open...”
Srrrrr...
With Crockta’s touch, the gate opened with the grinding sound of metal.
Every one of them was left in shock as the gate seemed to have opened with ease.
“How...!”
“No way.”
Zankus simply nodded.
“It seems like this gate has a spell that grants entrance to only those who hold a specific qualification.”
"Qualification?"
"This pyramid could have something to do with Crockta."
Their eyes turned to Crockta. Although they forgot it at times, Crockta was a fearsome warrior and chief of the north who conquered the north and faced the imperial army all by himself. He was no ordinary being.
This pyramid seemed to have accepted him.
Crockta cleared his throat.
"Ehem, let’s just go in."
The astonishment and remarks of awe continued.
"Indeed, Crockta... my comrade!" Tiyo exclaimed.
"Amazing," Anor followed.
"Keke, to think that kiddo warrior has come this far..."
Crockta ignored them and walked ahead of them as he mumbled something.
"You were all pulling on a push door..."
* * *
The pyramid was standing tall in the heart of a humid swamp, but inside, against all odds, it felt quite dry.
What on earth was inside this pyramid?
The snakes seen outside the pyramid were circling the perimeter as if they were guarding the pyramid. Perhaps, they were the guardians.
"Do you still feel it?" Crockta asked Anor.
Anor nodded. He was busy scanning the inside of the pyramid, trying to pinpoint where the strange feeling was coming from.
Crockta also felt a stir from the Demon’s Mouth around his waist.
It appeared something connected to both the necromancer and the Demon's Mouth was inside this pyramid.
"I don’t think there’s anything dangerous here," Crockta noted, resettling the God Slayer on his back.
As they walked deeper into the pyramid, they didn’t spot any more snakes or other venomous creatures. The expected guardian monsters of such ancient ruins and dungeons were absent, leaving only the path that stretched before them.
"That’s odd." Zankus mused.
"What’s odd?" Tiyo asked.
"Haven’t we been walking for a while now?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Did the pyramid look that big?"
“...!”
They had been walking in a straight path ever since entering the pyramid.
The size of the pyramid they saw from the outside, though not small by any means, did not justify how long they had been walking within its walls. Yet, here they were, having walked a considerable distance.
Zankus placed his lamp on the ground and looked around.
"Could we have been walking downhill?" Crockta suggested.
According to his idea, if there was a gradual slope leading them downward, that path could well be the basement. That would make the length of their walk reasonable.
Zankus shook his head.
"I don’t think that’s it."
"Then, we're looking at..." Crockta trailed off.
"There must be a spell."
Crockta’s eyes were fixed at the end of the path. The Demon’s Mouth around his waist was persistently pulling him toward it.
Something awaited them at the end of this path.
"Let's press on, we have to see what it is."
“Let’s go!” Tiyo jumped in.
They continued to walk.
After a while, a cavity appeared at the end. The ceiling was high, and there, an unknown luminescent body was floating.
However, the luminescent body was not dazzling.
It illuminated the entire cavity enough for them to see clearly inside. But the actual source of light emitted a calm level of brightness that they could stare at with their eyes wide open.
Then, there was a voice.
"Who are you guys?"
Crockta's group turned toward the voice.
A man was looking at them. He was dressed in perfect formal attire, which did not seem to belong in such a pyramid.
"Two orcs, a gnome, and a dark elf..."
But Crockta could see through it all.
The man's tail was visible beneath his suit and cloak.
At the tip of the tail, which resembled a scorpion, a sharp stinger protruded.
"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Abaddon. Though you are uninvited guests, I shall welcome you for now."
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