Sol finishes his latest kill with relative ease, his strength has increased a lot since he starts hunting creature for shards.
"I can behead then in one swing now, but if my intuition isn't wrong then most of the shards are absorbed by my knife"
From the feeling and movement of his body, Sol concludes that his strength, endurance, and agility is barely better than an athlete's body. His saving grace is his body's healing speed is considerably faster than normal, it barely enough to counteract the snake grip on his left hand.
Other than his body, Sol can feel from his connection with his knife that it becomes so sharp that it can chop a big tree all the way through in one swing.
"if I can't hit an enemy then even the sharpest sword will be useless" Sol lament his situation.
"that is for later, now I need to get rid of this snake before it gets even stronger" Sol runs to the edge of the mountain.
Even if he gets stronger, he is just a little stronger human and he doesn't know if any other creatures have a special ability like this snake.
Even without an ability, any mountain predator will have more strength and agility than him. The difference in the starting line between a human and predator is so huge that even with all the shards he has, he can't close this gap.
Sol doesn't want to be trapped in the mountain without the snake ability as a weapon, so Sol decides to get out of the mountain first before he deals with it.
Sol can feel it's grip is getting stronger, so he runs as fast as he can before it's power surpasses his own power once more.
As soon as he gets out of the mountain into a clearing, Sol quickly pulls his knife and swings it at the snake's neck.
Ding Ding Ding
The curtain gets shredded into pieces in the process, the Snake's head is out in the open and Sol can see that he is starting to make shallow scratches on its scales.
The Snake's hissing is getting louder and its grip is getting stronger, it understands that if this goes on, it will be killed.
"Stop!!" A feminine voice can be heard. It obviously comes from the snake.
"the fuck??" Sol can't help but mutter. "it can talk? Well, other creatures can talk so there is little to no reason that it can't but it has been hissing all this time."
"listen, human, I am being merciful here. If you let me go and I will let you live." It said.
"why would I do that? Given more time I can kill you"
"don't give yourself too much credit, I'm currently weakened and as time goes my strength will return. At this rate, you won't even draw a single drop of my blood before I overpower you"
Sol thinks that way too, the snake strength growth rate is getting faster and faster by the second. What he doesn't know is the snake can feel that the damage it takes from his knife is getting bigger and bigger as well with each strike it takes.
"Why should I believe you? If I let you go, you can just use your magical eye thingy then kill me with ease"
"you are questioning my integrity?" it sounds offended.
Of course, he would, Snakes are identical to devils and trickery. Some religions said that snakes trick the first human to commit sins.
Even if Sol isn't religious he has his suspicion about the snake, even if the one offering the deal is human he will still be suspicious.
"Why would someone that clearly at advantage makes compromise?" Sol muse.
"Yes, I don't trust you" Sol state the fact.
While they talk Sol continues to swing his knife at the snake.
"fine let's make a pack in the name of God. I'm being benevolent here so you better stop hitting me with that thing"
"how do I know if this pact has a binding on us?" Sol questions it.
"You can feel that something bad will happen to you if you bridge the pact. Now stop hitting me and I will say my vow first, you can just copy my vow"
Sol reluctantly stops his swinging knife and wait for it to begin.
"I, Nerodia the bloodline of great the basilisk, swear in the name of Jupiter, the King of Gods. I will not threaten this human's life or well being as long as he doesn't threaten mine."
"WTF?? How does this snake know all this thing? Wasn't it just a random snake a few days ago?" Sol muse to himself.
"what are you waiting for? It's your turn now"
"I, uhh... Sol Vestitor, swear in the name of Jupiter the King of Gods. I will not threaten this creature's life or well being as long as it doesn't threaten mine."
BOOM, a bolt of lightning struck a tree near them and Sol can feel that if he tries to swing his knife at this snake, then there will be another lightning, but this time it would strike his head.
"it's real then. After this snake leaves, I can finally be free to get back to the city" Sol think to himself.
"Now can you let my head go? It's uncomfortable" it says.
Sol doesn't say much, he just let the snake go. Out of his expectation, it doesn't get down from his arm but warp its body around his hand like a bracer. It's metallic blue scales make it looks like a relic on his hand.
"what are you doing?!" Sol can't help but raise his voice perplexed.
"I'm just hitching a ride, don't mind me. By the way, if you pull me by force it can be considered as you break your vow" it looks at him with eye closed, then it rests its head on his hand.
"FUCK!! I have been tricked by this devil incarnate!!!" Sol screams in his heart.