In the morning, we woke up feeling weak because no one had slept the night before after seeing all those creatures. With barely any energy left, we went about our usual tasks: gathering wood, cutting down trees with the swords we had brought with us, or meditating.
Everyone said we had to do it because if we had internal Qi without meridians to direct it, it could kill us like poison. And I especially don't want to die after everything we've been through, so I don't skip this part of the day. We usually do this near a river where we get water because it's a quiet place, even though it's a place where more creatures tend to gather.
On Anna's orders, I went to a nearby river with two other boys. When we went to the river, we expected to find the usual animals such as fish or bears, which are always nearby. We were all surprised when we arrived and saw the whole river stained with blood, as well as dozens of corpses nearby. We realized that there was no noise nearby.
"What the hell happened...?" asked Arthur, a boy whose most striking feature was his blond hair.
Fearfully, we began to approach the bodies of the dead animals. From a closer distance, we could see that most of the bodies were open or cut in half.
"Did that snake from earlier do this?" asked Della, who had come with us to heal us if we got hurt.
"It looks like it, but it didn't devour any of these animals," I said, moving closer and bending down to touch the dead bodies. Most of them were covered in flies that were already eating them, which was disgusting, but I touched them anyway. When I started touching them, I realized that they had only been bitten once, killed without the intention of eating them.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that part of its body seemed to have been erased, and when I touched it, I burned myself, which made me let out a cry of pain.
"That thing looks like acid, or something like that," I said, holding my hand, on which I could see the flesh that had been burned.
"Hey, why aren't you answering?" I asked, puzzled. Holding my hand, I looked back and saw that everyone had serious looks on their faces as they looked back. Curious, I decided to look where they were looking and saw large golden eyes staring at us from among the trees.
Everything froze at that moment. There was no noise except for our breathing, which was becoming heavier due to the fear that was running through us. Looking closely at the snake, I could see its black scales and what appeared to be a horn protruding from its head.
"Move!" Arthur shouted, pushing Della and me away. At that very moment, I saw the snake's head dart toward Arthur.
I fell to the ground next to Della, and looking ahead, we could see the snake crash into a rock, which shattered on impact. I could hear Della gasp, and staring ahead, I could see Arthur leaning against a tree, more than half of his body missing, his only arm now broken.
My breath caught in my throat when I saw his body, focusing only on his expression. His eyes were open, but there was no life or emotion in them. Without even reacting, a hand pulled me by the shoulder, snapping me out of my trance.
"Conan, run!" Della shouted, forcing me to run after her as the snake shook its head and looked behind it, searching for us.
I didn't hesitate and started running alongside Della, heading toward the cave with all our strength. From behind us, I could hear several trees beginning to break and the snake coming out of them, staring at us. When we emerged from among the trees and saw the cave clearly, we started screaming and waving our arms, trying to get the attention of those outside.
"What's wrong with those two?" Anna asked. She looked ahead, watching as the figures of the boy and the green-haired girl waved and seemed to be screaming.
"No idea, stop looking at them and start helping me with this," replied Oswin, who, along with other boys, was pulling up grass from around them and throwing it aside.
Just as Anna began to do what Oswin told her, there was a loud crash, followed by a tremor. Looking back toward where Conan and Della were, they could see a giant black snake emerging from among the trees, which instantly frightened them both.
"Get into the cave!" Della shouted, turning around and creating a stone projectile that was fired directly at the creature's eye. "That'll buy us some time!" With a strength that surprised me, Della lifted me up, running faster until we reached the cave, where everyone was no longer waiting.
"What the hell is that thing doing here?" asked Anna, who was already leading the children toward the cave tunnels so they could use them to hide.
"He set a trap for us!" replied Della, who was already creating a large hole in the ground alongside Oswin and Thomas, the last wizard of the trio.
In less than five seconds, the projectile was ready and fired at the snake's face, causing it to let out a scream of pain and shake violently.
"Quick, that won't kill it!" shouted Jumyeong, who grabbed Oswin and Della by the collars of their clothes before pushing them back to get them into the tunnels with the others.
Thomas was the last to enter, as he began to create a thin stone that could hide us from the snake's view. After the entrance was sealed, Ghislaine lit torches with Oswin's help and began to distribute them so that we would have light.
"Let's get as far away from the cave entrance as possible," Ghislaine ordered, leading the way and guiding us into the tunnels. As we ran, we could feel the tunnel shaking due to the snake's movements.
As we moved away, we reached the deepest part of the tunnels, arriving at the stone that had previously sealed the place we saw the night before. As we were thinking about where to go, we could feel the tunnel widening and hear the creature's screams again.
"Hey, destroy that rock," Ghislaine said, looking seriously at Della, Oswin, and Thomas.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)