Upon hearing Carlos's command, the group began retracing their steps. Snakes, being cold-blooded creatures, required an optimal temperature for survival. Therefore, the group primarily used fire and ice spells to clear the path and retreated in an orderly manner.
Meanwhile, Alois, Jason, and Evan chose different directions and started running to divert the snakes' attention. Alois had a daring plan in mind. While most of the snakes were busy trying to stop the group from leaving, he chose the nearest tree and immediately started to climb.
Alois, having grown up on the outskirts, had climbed many trees with his father when he was still a child and his parents were alive. Climbing the tree again brought back memories of those happy times.
He quickly shook off these memories and focused on his plan. He climbed the tree with incredible speed, like an agile monkey. Even then, it took him some time to reach a desired height as the tree was exceptionally tall. Once at the right height, he muttered, "This should be just right."
From his vantage point, he could see the entire clearing. He saw the group struggling to keep the snakes at bay. Jason was devoured whole by a snake, and Evan was running for his life, with snakes attacking him from all directions. More and more snakes were emerging from the holes.
But what particularly drew his attention were a pair of purple eyes in the largest hole in the hill, watching everything coldly. Alois's heart skipped a beat, and his blood ran cold at the sight. "I have to get out of here as soon as possible."
Noticing some snakes starting to make their way up the tree towards him, he said, "I don't have much time. I have to be quick."
He opened his inventory and found two items: a stack of stones and the snake corpses he had secretly collected while the group was fighting. He had a total of 18 snake corpses.
He took out a particularly long and thin snake. This snake almost seemed like a rope and, with its green color, easily blended with its environment. "This is the best one I have for my plan. It will have to do."
Seeing the snakes climbing up the tree, he hurriedly bent the snake corpse. "Luckily, it was just killed, so its body hasn't gone stiff yet. Moreover, the inventory seems to preserve these corpses in their fresh state."
In just two minutes, he crafted a rope trap out of the snake corpse. He then took out stones from his inventory and threw them at the snakes climbing the tree while shouting loudly.
He did this so everyone would think he was following orders and diverting the snakes' attention. Although the stones couldn't hurt the snakes, they did knock them to the ground. After a few minutes, Alois looked at the clearing below and saw that everyone was busy trying to survive, and no one was paying attention to him.
He immediately stopped throwing stones and jumped from one tree to another, taking cover among the leaves until he reached a tree near the path the group was supposed to take.
He threw the rope trap to the ground directly on the path. Then he plucked some leaves from his surroundings and dropped them on the trap. "I wanted to hide the trap better, but I can't go down the tree or I'd be dead before I know it. This will have to do. If it doesn't work, then I'm just unlucky."
He tied the other end of the trap to the main trunk of the tree. Then he returned to the same tree he climbed earlier and resumed acting, all the while keeping a close eye on the situation.
The group was fighting fiercely. Even then, they had already lost several new recruits. Jason and Evan were nowhere to be seen, likely devoured by the snakes. When Alois saw that David and Elara were still alive with minor injuries, he felt relieved. He didn't care about the others. They could go to hell for all he cared. Carlos was still alive, defending against the assault of many snakes. Alois snorted, "Hmph, the worst people seem to live the longest."
After several minutes of fighting and many losses, the group finally managed to clear a path and escape the clearing. Seeing this, Carlos started retreating towards the path that was cleared. He glanced at Alois, who was not only alive but also throwing stones at snakes while screaming. A flash of surprise crossed his eyes, but then he sneered in disdain, "You slaves can die. You're lucky you're immortal." He envied the so-called visitors for their immortality. He then stopped paying attention to Alois.
When Alois saw Carlos retreating and ignoring him, he immediately jumped from tree to tree and returned to the tree where the trap was set. He waited, hiding in the leaves. "Let's do some fishing," he said excitedly.
After some time, he saw Carlos rapidly approaching the area of the trap. Alois concentrated as he only had one chance at this. Just as Carlos was retreating beneath the tree, Alois pulled on the snake-rope with all his strength.
Since Carlos was busy defending against the snakes, he didn't pay much attention to the ground, especially not to a hidden trap. He paid for it dearly. Suddenly, his leg was caught in the snake-rope trap, and he was hoisted into the air in an inverted position.
Carlos was utterly shocked. He was so close to escaping the clearing. But he was still a veteran, and with years of experience, he calmed down and immediately pulled out a pocket knife to cut the rope. It was then he noticed that the rope was actually a long snake! "Fuck!" he cursed.
The pocket knife was unable to cut through the snake's skin, so Carlos decided to use the sword held tightly in his other hand. Unfortunately, Alois didn't give him a chance. He swung the rope, and Carlos was smashed into a tree trunk, causing him to lose his grip on the sword. Alois kept swinging the rope, smashing Carlos from one tree to another.
The snakes, excited by the new toy, started spitting corrosive acid at Carlos. Alois deliberately lowered Carlos so that small snakes could bite and poison him. Some corrosive acid splashed on Carlos, causing him to scream. Yet, he was helpless, continuously being smashed into the trees.
Carlos didn't know that this was Alois's doing, as Alois kept hidden in the leaves, out of the snakes' sight.
After a few minutes, Carlos was covered in corrosive acid and had been bitten too many times to count. Poison coursed through his system, and he was barely alive. Seeing his condition, Alois tiredly stopped swinging him and hurriedly pulled Carlos onto a branch.
He placed Carlos on the branch, allowing him to look at Alois. His eyes became bloodshot when he saw the one responsible for his condition. Carlos, shocked and barely able to speak, gritted his teeth, "It's... YOU! I will... fucking... kill you! NOO, I will... torture you... for eternity!"
Alois ignored his cursing. He was more worried about the snakes climbing the tree to find their toy. He searched through Carlos's bag and found a pocket knife.
Looking at the knife, Alois closed his eyes, then opened them with determination. He grabbed the knife with both hands and plunged it into Carlos's head with all his strength, "DIE, BITCH!!"
( Author's Note : I've also published this novel on RoyalRoad. If you wish to donate then you can do it on RoyalRoad. Cheers !! )