After leaving the town, I went straight to the northern forest areas.
Right on the other side of that forest is the said hill, and on the left side of the hill is where the cliff is located.
My first guess is that this giant serpent lives in a small... no, big cave somewhere inside that cliff. This is a big hill, after all.
I went on top of the hill first. There might be something I could miss if I went straight down to the cliff area. The path to the top of the hill is nearly too steep for me to walk. But luckily, I have two swords.
I used the sword like a hiking pick. I stabbed the ground as I moved my feet. Thanks to this, I don't fall down, and I can slowly move the way I want to go.
Arriving at the top, the super cold wind got shoved to me. I can feel my skin getting colder, but my body wasn't freezing.
There's so many secrets to this body that even I don't know. Like, how was it able to withstand the hot sun and also the cold breezing air on top of the hill? And how is it able to work without getting tired at all?
So many questions to be answered, but I just threw them to the pile. Since I always have plenty of those, unanswerable questions.
If I had a penny for an unanswerable question about me and my life, I would be very rich.
Anyway, the top is clear. Nothing weird is going on, only a single weird tree up here. Wait, how is there a tree here? Did someone plant a tree on top of the hill?
The tree is only 3 meters high. The trunk is white coloured, with black spots. While the leaves are purple. This is such a weird tree, but it looks so god damn majestic.
I wonder what tree it is, but in the end I don't want to ruin its beauty. Although, there has to be a reason as to why this tree is here.
Perhaps... related to the serpent?
I went to the cliff's edge at the left side of the hill. It's a long way down, and I don't have a wyvern wing with me for this occasion. So, I have to go down in an old fashioned way.
I unsheathed both of my swords from my hips. Then, I jumped down.
FUUSHHH!!!
The air was shoved to my face while I'm falling down. I didn't fall too far from the walls, so that I can do this.
JJREEEKKKKKK!!!
I used both of my swords to stab the cliff's wall and slow my descent. Slowly, my descent stopped, I just hung on the cliff's wall. My sword is now stuck and deepened completely, holding me from falling down.
Now... comes the second part of the plan. I need to feel 'it'.
Right now, I should be exactly in the middle of this entire cliff. If I focus, I should be able to sense the serpent's location.
I closed down everything. My ears, nose, and my skin, as well as my energy, all for the search for a heavy pressure owned by the snake.
Then, I felt something, right behind the rocks.
"There you are."
60 meters to the right, and about 20 meters deep inside the stones. There is a very heavy pressure emitting far deep inside the walls, and I knew right away what it was.
It didn't even hide its aura presence. Although, it's not like such a thing can be detected by just anyone.
I loosened the sword's edge and started to fall down slowly again. When I reached the bottom, my feet landed on the ground and I looked to the wall. I have created two long lines around a hundred meters tall, and I quickly turned worried for my swords' wellbeing.
I looked at both of my swords... Yeah, they looked perfectly fine. Thank god, that's medieval forging quality for sure.
I continued my move to the serpent's location. If I remember correctly, all I had to do was to circle the cliff a little bit to get to where it is...
However, something else managed to catch my eye when I got closer.
"Huh?"
There's people here. Workers, and they all looked like they were digging around something nearby the cliff. They even mark out the trees that looked like they were destroyed by something, and I knew right away that this must be where the serpent was last sighted.
Are they... investigating? Then, are they from the knights corps?
This is still quite the distance from the serpent's location. It's close, but from the way they are searching, they might get there in about fifty years.
Knowing this, I decided to try approaching them.
"Hey! Who are you? You should get out of here."
A middle aged guy with a little moustache under his nose called me from where he was digging. He was shoving the dirt underneath his feet when he saw me. He wore a sun hat on top of his head, while his ID card was placed on the necktie wrapped around his neck.
"Adventurer, Rize. I'm here regarding the monster."
I said very quickly to get into business, and he immediately realized why I'm here.
"I thought they only sent one squad?"
"I am their back up."
"Hmm... Okay, you're good. They did say that there will be a backup for them. If you are wondering where those guys are, they went to the Office at the town."
"I see."
Those guys really are the squad. I wasn't really paying attention to their appearances, so I can't really tell which ones were them.
Although I do remember one of them had a unique light blue hair...
"So, what brings you here? Are you here to investigate as well? Trust me, those guys have been searching in this area for a long time, but they found nothing."
The worker said while folding his arms, and I only chuckled hearing that.
"Because they look using their eyes."
"... Excuse me?"
"This area is still far from the monster's location. I can show you where it is."
I said quite confidently, and the worker opened his eyes wide. Everyone who heard the conversation looked at me, and I can tell they are all quite curious about it as well.
"Are you... Are you serious? We have been looking for hours, even getting smells and everything. How did you even find it?"
"I use my magic senses."
"Huh...? Those are a thing?"
The worker said so surprisedly, and I knew right away that this guy is not a knight. He must be a civilian, hired by either the Adventurer's Office or the kingdom to dig around.
Even a rookie knight would know what a magic sense is. And yet, this guy knows none of it.
"Tell me, then. When you stand near a very strong powerful person, what do you feel?"
"I... I would feel small. How does this help?"
"That 'feeling' is what you call magic sense. The only difference is that I am able to sense much sharper, detailed, and stronger than you can."
I tried explaining to him the basics regarding magic senses, but it seems like I made a mistake for explaining such things to an idiot.
"Huh? Just what are you talking about, lady??"
I put my hand on my head and quickly realized my mistake. This is getting slow.
"All of you, stop digging. Just follow me, if you want."
I started walking again after telling them, and everyone only turned widely confused. The guy I talked to turned his confused gaze to his friends before following behind me. A few others also came with him, but not all of them.
We kept on walking on the side of the cliff. And after walking for about a minute, we finally arrived.
I looked at the cliff's wall. There doesn't seem to be any holes here, but my senses are telling me that this is the spot.
If the entrance isn't here, then there must be another entrance located elsewhere. One thing for certain is that the snake is right behind this side of wall.
"Emm, lady? Why are we stopping?"
The worker with the short mustache asked me since I stopped abruptly, and I only started thinking about what needs to be done now.
"We are here."
"Huh??"
The guy started to get scared, and so is everyone else. However, that didn't wipe the confusion off his face.
Now, about the snake. It must be sleeping comfortably in there because I didn't sense it moving at all. The aura seemed powerful, but it's static. It's not doing anything, so it must be in a state of resting.
Okay... how do you call a snake out?
Perhaps I can try pissing it off?
I took out a metal shield from my ring. I remembered to have bought this in case I actually needed it. Can't believe I'll be using it for something like this, though...
I put the shield on the floor, with its back facing the ground. Then I took out my metal sword. I faced the blunt side of the blade to the shield, and I stared at it for a second.
Will this really be a good idea...?
"Emm, lady, what are you doing?"
"Calling it out."
"W-What?"
"Close your ears."
The people who followed me weren't paying attention. Then, when I started to swing my sword, they understood. They immediately closed their ears as I hit my knights sword to the shield as hard as I could.
TAAANGGGG!!!!
TAAANGGGG!!!!
TAAANGGGG!!!!
Oh... The shield is stuck on the ground now. Surely three times will wake him up.
I checked again using my senses. That heavy energy inside these walls wasn't moving before, and it is moving now.
Good morning to you. Had a nice dream?
"What the hell… What are you-"
"You guys might want to take a few steps back."
I said to the workers behind me, and they all knew that something was happening.
Rumbles from inside the hill can be heard. The guys understood what that meant, and immediately fell back.
"Lady, you are crazy. I'm calling the squad!"
"No need. This will be over soon."
The rumbling kept on getting louder and louder. I unsheathed my other sword, the orcish sword, and held the knights sword tightly on my main hand.
This should be fun.
BLARR!!!
"HIISSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!"
Now that's a huge snake.
A patch of the wall right in front of me was destroyed into pieces as a huge snake head came out of it. It saw me and immediately dived to attack, but I jumped before it could hit me.
BOOOOMMM!!!!!!!!
The ground was destroyed by the impact. The snake slowly lifted its heads up as it looked at me, who was hanging on a tree.
Why is this guy so big? The fangs alone are already taller than me. I hope this guy isn't venomous. Otherwise, that would be cheating.
This might be the biggest opponent I have ever faced. However, something tells me that I'm not in trouble at all.
The snake strikes towards me again, but I'm faster than he thought. As I flew in the air dodging him, I swung my sword and tried to cut his skin.
TANG!!
... I guess not?
Interesting. The size alone is a thousand times bigger than a normal snake, and even the skin is this strong? What is this, a wingless dragon?
This surely is a difficult enemy, but why am I smiling?
My sword doesn't cut the skin, but I still haven't tried the new technique. Not even a dragon can withstand it, so can this guy?
I tried using the same skill, the sword enhancement. But instead of doing an air sword slash, I will do a simple sword slash at close range.
This... should be a lot deadlier.
The snake turned around, and it was sure that this strike wouldn't miss. It stroke faster now, but I am still faster. I dodged to the left while it opened its jaws to eat me, and I lifted my glowing sword to swing it.
SLINGG!!
"HYYAAAKKK!!!"
The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground can be heard. The snake moved like a worm that has been given salt, and it moves like crazy.
"Whoa, there buddy. That gotta hurt, doesn't it?"
The snake finally calmed down and glared down at me. The eyes no longer show any mercy, while the mouth is bleeding. It has lost one fang, while the right side of the jaw was sliced.
"Oh, Boohoo. You lost a tooth? Do you need a tooth fairy??"
"HYAAKKK!!!!"
It moves faster and crazier than before. The fight kept on going as I continued to cut his skin using my enhanced sword.
.
BRAKK!!
"Oi! Easy on the-"
"The monster! It showed up!"
The receptionist jumped when the front door slammed open. It was the investigator that was in the forest, and he came to report the situation.
"Where?"
Hod immediately stood up and approached the investigator who was still catching his breath.
"A-At the... The location site! An adventurer..."
"Calm down! Tell me!"
"A female adventurer with long red hair... is fighting the beast!!"
"Tch...!!"
Upon hearing that, Hod immediately burst into running.
"Hod!"
His teammate tried to call him, but he wouldn't listen. Hod realized how important it is for him to run, and the others can only leave it to him to deal with it.
"Huh? Red haired? Say, is this adventurer a female?"
"Yes. She wore gray clothes."
"Valey, that's the-"
"The girl we saw earlier, I know. Let's hope Hod could make it."
Hod speeds up his run. His long blue hair was flowing thanks to the wind as he ran, and his worried face was filled with sweat.
"Let me make it!"
And so, he speeds up some more.
"Aiyoo~... Are you tired already? Weren't you looking for this?"
I am such a bully. But, this guy deserves it for killing someone.
Right now, the snake's entire body is filled with long and open flesh wounds. It's looking at me with even deeper hatred, like its whole life goal has been turned dead set only to kill me.
After all, I am holding his fang.
With the fang on my left hand and the sword on my right, I've been taunting this guy endlessly. I sheathed my knight sword and used only the sword of the goblin king. The sword of the goblin king can cut through its skin just fine even without the magic enhancing, which makes my life annoying the snake even easier.
So to save my energy, I used the goblin king's sword. And with my left hand holding the broken tooth, the snake cannot want to kill me more than this.
I have been taunting him for 15 minutes already, but I don't want to kill him yet.
Because... this is fun. This guy murdered a guy, and after seeing how saddened the survivor was at the Office's branch, I realized that I shouldn't give this snake an easy death.
Right now, I am on a tree, laying my back on the wood while standing. The snake is just looking at me, and the pressure it is emitting is very heavy as well, along with the bloodlust and energy. However, it's far from enough to slow me down or even annoy me.
"Hey, do you want this or not?"
I raised the fang with my left hand, and the snake was taunted once more.
"HYAAAKKK!!!"
BLARRR!!!
The tree I was standing at is no more. It even struck very deep to the ground. However, it knew right away that its attack had missed.
I landed on the ground ten meters from the previous tree. I put the fang down and stabbed it to the ground. Seeing that it's only going to continue destroying the environment, I realized that I should kill it now before any more trees get destroyed.
The snake recovered from the attack and looked at me again. The wounds I did on him can be seen clearly from here, with lines of blood all over him.
Time to put him out of his misery.
"Look out!"
BSSTTT!!!
"HYRAAAAAAKKK-K--"
The snake turned to ice slowly from bottom to top. I looked at the ground, and I could see a trail of ice. The ice goes all the way to the tree behind me, where a guy with long light blue hair is catching his breath while placing his hand on the tree.
... What just happened?
"Are you... Okay...?"
The light blue haired guy asked me while catching his breath on a nearby tree, and I only stared at him quite annoyed.
Ah... it's him. The guy I'm supposed to 'Back Up'.
"I'm fine. What are you doing?"
"Huh?"
"I was about to kill that thing. I am asking you... What. Are. You. Doing?"
I lifted the fang and showed it to him to show him how annoyed I am. He actually stole my kill, and it was really annoying for me since I've spent so long taunting the snake.
I get that he is powerful, but shouldn't he at least see the situation better?
The guy immediately looked at the frozen snake, and he realized that it was already badly wounded. And... it lost a fang.
"Huhhh...???"
He slowly sat back down from being tired, and I guess he lost a lot of energy running here.
I threw the fang to the side and walked towards the snake. This ice is going to make the skin harder to cut, but I still want to take a closer look.
My prior knowledge regarding snakes... should be right. And if I'm right, then there is still a possibility.
I stabbed the snake through the ice and made a huge hole on the snake's tummy, enough for me to enter.
Blerghh... The blood... And it smells like shit.
I summoned a mouth cover to cover the smell and an eye protector to cover my eyes from the blood. I sheathed the sword, then I went inside the snake.