"What do we do? It's coming closer." Andy asked with an anxious tone.
Wang GuiYing did not bother to answer the man as he smiled and pressed some buttons on his screen.
Aunt Su, "Did you call them?"
"Yeah!"
Andy looked at the two, not understanding what was going on, "Who are you calling."
However, the two pro-gamers did not bother answering the question, thinking that it was better if the man was left in anticipation of the unknown.
From Zhihao's side, the four players received a message from BBtrash pleading for help.
Li Ling was the first to react as he asked, "Could it be the last treasure?"
"Maybe." Zhou XinYi answered.
Zhihao sent a message as a response asking about the situation, but all he got in response was the location tag where the other three players were currently at.
"If he called us, it has to be something worth checking out." Zhou XinYi exclaimed in a worried tone like that of a mother whose daughter hadn't returned home from school yet.
Zhihao was doubtful, but he still decided to check it out. It was better to be safe than sorry.
Kaoru also nodded as he agreed, "Let's go."
When the four players reached the area where BBtrash had asked them to come, what greeted them was a gruesome fight between a 20-meter long snake that looked much like a Titanoboa, and facing against it were the helpless three players.
The fight could not even be considered as a full-fledged fight. One look and Zhihao was able to see how overpowered the snake was against this small group of three players.
Wang GuiYing tried to attack the snake with his hammer and Aunt Su tried to constantly cut it down with her axe. Andy stood by the side shooting at it with a gun but no matter how much it was attacked, none of the attacks could even manage to touch the snake, all of it passed right through it as if the snake was nothing but air.
Zhihao was suddenly delighted to see this. There was no doubt about it, this was the last treasure beast they were looking for.
Zhihao, "System, what is this beast?"
[Answering player's question: This beast is called the cursed snake.]
[New treasure beast found: Cursed snake]
[The cursed snake is a one-of-a-kind beast that is categorized as a treasure beast. This beast is larger than any other known beast and is more vicious than any beast in this region.]
[Warning: Do not approach!]
Zhihao was suddenly stunned to find that this treasure beast was somewhat different than the rest. The other five beasts, although seeming to be dangerous and full of tricks were rather docile and easy to deal with; They were, in fact, the ones to approach the players first and guide them to their respective caves. Compared to those treasure beasts—this beast was rather more aggressive and it seemed like it was not looking forward to guiding them anywhere except for—maybe—to their possible deaths.
Zhou XinYi looked at the scene and frowned, "What is happening?"
"Can't you see for yourself?" Li Ling sneered
Kaoru, "How come the beast can attack them, but they can't touch it?"
Zhihao shook his head, "I don't know, I guess we'll have to find out."
When Zhihao confidently said this, Shuang sprang forward and attacked the beast. Somehow, the sword was able to cut the beast, but the cut wasn't fatal, however, it was enough to catch the beast's attention.
The cursed snake glared at Zhihao when it suddenly noticed that this man's attacks were somehow able to touch him.
Kaoru, "I don't like that look."
Nobody liked that look.
The snake hissed as it stood tall, measuring its height to Zhihao; this was something snakes did. They would often compare their heights with their opponents and if they were taller, their opponent became their food and if they were shorter, they would walk away, avoiding a fight.
In this case, comparing height was utterly pointless as there was no way Zhihao would be able to beat this 20-meter tall snake in terms of height.
"Be careful." Li Ling warned out, but he was a split second late as the snake—with a proud expression and an aggressive posture, attacked Zhihao.
In the fragment of a second—a speed that Zhihao could not dodge, the snake sprang forth with an open mouth and devoured Zhihao.
"..."
"Darling?" Wang GuiYing called out in shock as he saw the man getting swallowed whole.
The snake, like the other treasure beasts, was nothing more than a spirit so it was only natural that it did not have a physical body—its body was translucent making it so that, Zhihao could be seen dangling upside-down inside its body.
The sight was somewhat funny, making it seem as if they were seeing an x-ray of the beast and Zhihao was its unborn child.
Zhihao who was dangling upside-down inside its stomach had enough of the humiliation and summoned Shuang to cut through this supposed mother's stomach.
The snake perhaps had felt the pain coming from inside its stomach, caused by Zhihao who cut through its skin from the inside with the help of Shuang. The beast cried out and puked—along with its disgusting sticky substance came Zhihao.
Zhihao fell on the ground with a pulp along with all the mucus. Zhihao wondered why did the snake have the mucus? Without a body of its own, how was it able to produce such a substance with the absence of physical organs that were in charge of doing such a task?
Li Ling looked at the man with an unreadable expression, "Are you okay?"
Zhihao wiped the mucus off of his face as he replied, "I'm okay. Never been better."
"Honey!" Wang GuiYing exclaimed as he moved forward to jump on the man but was stopped midway by Zhou XinYi who restricted him by clutching onto the man's collar.
The squad of seven reunited and when Andy saw the four players who had come to save them, he cried out in happiness, feeling somewhat relieved.
The more the merrier.
Aunt Su glared at Zhihao who was completely covered in mucus as she spat, "Are you this pathetic? Stand up!"
The snake hissed and Aunt Su screamed—stunned by the sudden sound.
Li Ling offered him a hand and pulled Zhihao up to stand, "What do we do about that?"
"...." as Zhihao stood up, he glared at the beast, "I'm gonna kill it."
"We can't be impulsive." Kaoru reminded awkwardly.
Li Ling nodded to Zhihao in agreement, "How do you want to kill it?"
"..."
In Andy's mind, he felt conflicted.
Wasn't that still a treasure beast? Weren't these two the ones who ordered not to attack or catch any treasure beasts?
"Don't overestimate yourself. How do you hope to kill it?" Unlike Andy, Aunt Su was much more verbal with her thoughts.
Zhihao looked at the beast that stood tall—seeming to look like an impenetrable roadblock.
Zhou XinYi, "Mastermo, I think your sword is the only thing that can attack it."
Zhihao shook his head, "Not really. I think it's because Shuang is a spiritual sword."
Li Ling nodded as he swiped through his inventory and equipped his own spiritual sword; Huo.
Huo was a sword with a much deeper crimson-colored glint. When Huo slashed forward at the giant snake, it managed to cause somewhat of a reaction as the snake, after having sensed danger, moved aside.
Zhihao also stepped forward as he exclaimed, "Let's attack together."
Huo and Shuang attacked the beast together from both left and right. When the cursed snake saw that it had nowhere left to dodge, it retreated back into the forest and disappeared from sight.
Kaoru took a few steps forward—contemplating whether to follow after it or not but was stopped by Zhihao's voice.
"We can't catch it."
"Huh?" Zhou XinYi looked at him in confusion, "What if it's leading us into its cave?"
"Nope." Zhihao answered confidently, "It's definitely not leading us to the last seal. It's doing the exact opposite."
"What do you mean?" Kaoru asked in confusion.
The players collectively looked at Zhihao, waiting for the man to continue his explanation but the one who spoke was Li Ling, "The caves follow a pattern."
"What pattern?" Zhou XinYi asked cautiously.
Zhihao replied to Li Ling, "I noticed it too."
Li Ling, "Above the stone plates. At first, I thought it was some sort of constellations but when I looked carefully, it was a pattern."
Zhihao, "The pattern in which these caves were placed in the region."
Kaoru, "So like a map to help lead the players?"
"Yeah." Zhihao nodded, "Since we have already broken all the five seals, only one remains and if we follow the map, the only seal left is located somewhere on the south side of the forest."
"Ah! The snake is headed towards the north." Wang GuiYing exclaimed.
"Exactly. It is trying to lead us away from the seal."
"But... Why would it want to do that?" Zhou XinYi asked.
"Because it doesn't want us to break the barrier."
Aunt Su mocked Zhihao as she responded, " Why would it not want to get it's body back?"
Li Ling glared at the woman, not liking the woman's attitude at all.
Zhihao, "We can't be sure of the reason."
Kaoru questioned further, "But you do have some guesses right?"
"I do." Zhihao replied, "The beast was named 'the cursed snake'. If I remember correctly, no other treasure beast had such an ominous name with it. They were all given special powers and named something in accordance with the blessings they had. Why would this beast be solely named as such?"
Li Ling, "I think it's safe to presume that this beast has something to lose if it were to be reunited with its body."
Zhihao nodded, "That's not the only weird thing."
Kaoru also seemed to have suddenly thought up of something as he spoke up, "This beast is rather weirder than the rest. It attacked us with the intent to kill us and unlike the other ones it was actually able to touch us."
"Nice observation." Zhihao smiled and Kaoru suddenly felt embarrassed, "When we met RoRo, we could not touch the fox spirit nor could it touch us but this snake can openly touch us and attack us whereas unless we have spiritual equipment, it is impossible for our attacks to land on it."
Aunt Su suddenly screamed out, "Isn't that more reason why we should've followed it? Why did you let it run away?"
"Why do you want to go after it? We clearly cannot beat the creature without a plan." Zhihao retorted with irritation.
Andy nodded, he had been the first one to fight face-to-face with this snake. When the beast suddenly appeared out of the blue and attacked them, Aunt Su screamed in horror as she saw the huge size of it and BBtrash took a few steps back—getting ready to run away and abandon the other two players. By the time, Andy had recovered from the initial shock, he was already the one facing the beast head-on. The two pro-gamers whom he expected to have helped him—pushed him forward with the excuse of "we'll let you take this one. Enjoy."
Andy would have really died in the game if he had been completely abandoned like that, but it seemed that the two pro-gamers did not have the heart to leave him all alone, so after seeing him struggle with the beast for a while, they too joined in the fight and futilely attacked the beast. This was the scene where Zhihao and the group who had received BBtrash's message arrived as their backups.
Andy suddenly felt so elated to see all the seven members together—so much so that he wondered if he could actually convince the other two teams to permanently merge together with his team. Sadly his ambitions would remain unfulfilled as there was no way, Zhihao or Zhou XinYi would agree to merge with Aunt Su's team.