Roman shut his eyes, awaiting his end in regret.
*Ding!*
Just then, the system sounded.
[New Sub-Mission unlocked.] The system sounded out in Roman's head.
The system could clearly observe the situation Roman was in and sent him another mission, forcefully flashing the sub-missions tab in Roman's mind.
—-
Sub-Mission 1:
The life of a Tamer is rigorous. Taming is merely the first road one embarks upon before exploring the horizons of the universe. The host must begin his taming journey somehow. This sub-mission is to facilitate the genesis of a tamer.
Objective(s): Attain an Egg.
Deadline: The End of the Egg Hunt.
Reward: Basic Beast Evolution Token
Failure: Host will lose the system and memories will be wiped about anything pertaining to the system. Additionally, the host will lose the ability to recall memories from host's previous life on Earth.
Note from System: If you fail here, don't even bother contacting me ever again.
Sub-Mission 3 *NEW*:
Life and death experiences are an integral part of becoming stronger as a tamer. The host is currently facing the threat of death. Only through facing such threats head on can the host grow. Hope is never lost until the last breath leaves the body.
Objective(s): Dodge the Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent's next attack.
Deadline: None.
Reward: Basic Health Potion.
Failure: Host inevitably die from the next attack. There isn't any specific punishments necessary since the result it obvious in this situation.
—-
Roman's senses were shocked as he could rapidly read the contents of the new submission as they flashed before him in his mind. This process took merely a fraction of the time it would take Roman to even blink his eyes.
The system wanted him to live, of course. It attempted to motivate him to fight for his life despite the odds not only because Roman's main mission hadn't even been close to being fulfilled, but because Roman statistically stood a shot at a come back. But how?
Logically speaking, Roman did stand a chance. The mud sheet that was produced by the Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent had already dissipated after one round of attacks. Elemental attacks either stopped after a certain period of time, after the attack value was established, or was designed as a one-time attack regardless of the success or failure of an attack.
The attack that the Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent had launched as based on the latter concept. After the sheet struck the bird, it had ceased.
Roman really only had to stand up to the snake itself which, at this point, was incredibly handicapped due to its sight.
Roman understood what the system was getting at. It was definitely hinting at the possibilities of survival.
However, Roman's ankle was injured and did not retain the ability to prop him up nor propel him forward. He could only rely on his left leg that was functioning.
Even that would not have been sufficient to dodge the attack of the serpent. Roman would need to push himself away with a larger amount of force due to the sheer size of the serpent and the width of its attack.
Roman opened his eyes and frantically searched the surroundings. He had inculcated the habit of paying attention to his environment after the fight with the Red Ash Fox. Naturally, his first response to any crisis was to catch on to the advantages of terrain.
First, he noticed that he was on a slope. Next, he noticed that there were ample loose fixtures around him due to the shaking of the cave as the water had parted multiple times over the course of who knows how many years. Pebbles had fallen onto the ground and littered it.
Roman quickly came up with a plan.
First, he would pick up a few pebbles to scatter in the distance, in order to give the serpent the impression that the bird that was occupied with recovery behind him was ready to launch an attack, resulting in movement in the distance.
Second, Roman planned to take advantage of the terrain to roll forwards with his good leg, and the downwards momentum of the slope would propel him further just in case the Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent decided to choose him over the decoy.
Roman quickly grabbed at the pebbles and launched it to the right, just close enough to seem like it was the bird, and just far enough to make sure that the radius of the Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent's attack would not impact him nor the bird.
After throwing the pebbles, Roman didn't even bother to check the progress of the decoy as he threw himself forwards rolling in the opposite direction after his leg had launched him.
In response, the snake noticed two noises threw its sensory tongue but decided that the decoy bird was a greater threat than Roman since Roman hadn't even successfully cultivated to the first level. No amount of attacks would be able to harm the serpent more than it had already been. In addition, Roman was injured and would not perform to his usual ability.
The bird on the other hand was a silver ranked beast with the ability to launch elemental attacks. It couldn't let the bird have its way.
The plan succeeded as Roman distanced himself from the serpent.
To the serpent's surprise, it crashed head first into the ground, completely missing both Roman and the bird that still had not moved from its original position.
Because of its conviction with impacting the bird with all its might, the serpent's head contacted the ground, blasting a large hole into it.
Since the bird wasn't present in that spot to cushion the blow, the serpent's head began to bleed slowly. The wound was not shallow.
Roman, on the other hand, was busy checking his inventory for the sub-mission rewards. He had successfully dodged the blow.
Roman quickly chugged half the potion and visibly saw his swollen ankle repair itself. The cuts and bruises he got from the ten minute brawl with the snake partially healed.
Noticing that he gained his mobility back, Roman quickly tossed the remainder of the potion to the bird.
The bird was quick to catch on. Despite its state of recovery, the bird was actually paying plenty of attention to the situation. It could see that Roman's wounds healed rapidly after drinking the potion even though not completely.
The bird figured that the last half of the potion would at least give it a shot a fighting alongside Roman to taking out the Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent. It quickly lifted its body towards the potion and began drinking.
After realizing that it had been tricked, the serpent's rage hit sky high. It was already annoyed by the two little creatures that opposed it. This time, not only had it been crippled, it had been toyed with by two insignificant figures.
It recollected itself and turned in Roman's direction. It realized that although Roman was physically weak, Roman was scheming and those schemes were a great threat to the Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent.
The Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent slithered back towards Roman's position, but just as it approached him, the bird had completed its healing cycle and repaired half of its injures. It mustered enough strength to claw at the wounds of the snake, keeping it at bay.
In full cooperation, Roman launched his attacks to help the bird. However, due to the overwhelming strength fueled by the serpent's rage, the serpent sent forth its tail swipe towards the bird.
Just as the tail was about to hit the bird, the bird disappeared and appeared behind the serpent.
Roman noticed this change. He thought that the bird would get hit, but somehow dodged the attack in time.
This repeated itself multiple times as the bird attacked the serpent. Roman was bewildered but managed to keep his calm, running with the tide.
The serpent on the other hand was losing a tremendous amount of energy and was on its last leg.
Instinctively, the serpent realized that it could not hold on much longer and decided on a last ditch effort.
It charged forward towards Roman since it could not hit the bird and decided that it would take Roman out as it fell. The serpent quickly wrapped its tail around Roman, holding him in place. It had learned its lesson from the bouts of attacks that Roman and the bird had missed simply because they retained their mobility.
The Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent decided that its best strategy would be to hold Roman down while attacking him. Roman struggled against the binding of the serpent as the serpent's head rose above that of Roman.
It quickly opened its jaws to take a bite, but just then the bird rushed into the mouth of the serpent, blowing it backwards just as the serpent was closing its mouth.
The bird had sacrificed itself for Roman and was trapped in the mouth of the serpent. There was no turning back.
However, instead of turning its attention back to Roman, the Greedy-eyed Mud Serpent struggled while writhing in pain on the ground.
Before Roman knew it, the serpent's head blew to shreds.