I'm hungry.
Ridiculously, in that life-or-death moment, I felt an intense hunger.
I am not human.
Probably not an ordinary animal either, but a magical creature.
Whether a magical creature or a human, you die if you don't eat.
The only difference between humans and magical creatures is probably the degree of hunger they feel.
It was an intense hunger.
An instinct that makes you risk your life to hunt.
Looking at the snake in front of me, I felt such hunger.
I want to fight and bite it.
If I peel off those scales, there will be sweet blood and flesh inside.
If I eat and digest that, I will become stronger.
My other siblings are probably fighting because of such impulses too.
But I had reason.
Also, I had enough willpower to overcome such instincts.
There's nothing good about fighting that elder brother now.
I slithered past the elder brother who lunged at me with a "Saaak!"
Quick Crawling lv2! Indeed excellent.
But the problem was that the elder brother I was dealing with also had Quick Crawling lv2.
Fortunately, I succeeded in dodging, but the elder brother chased after me with a terrifying momentum.
He's faster than me.
Even if I hide in the cracks of rocks, the elder brother, being a snake too, will crawl after me.
Then should I fight and win?
For now, I crawled up onto the rock in front of me.
Then, the scene visible beyond it.
For a moment, I was dumbfounded seeing that, but soon a sharp pain brought me back to my senses.
The elder brother had bitten my bottom.
I've never had my bottom bitten by anyone before.
I writhed in pain and surprise.
My bottom became burning hot. Not just because of the wound, but it seemed poison had been injected.
Of course, the elder brother would have Venomous Fang too.
As I struggled, I bit the elder brother's side in return.
Something flows out from the venom glands in both of my cheeks.
Poison attack!
「The proficiency of Venomous Fang lv1 rises sharply. Venomous Fang lv1 has become Venomous Fang lv2.」
The effect was excellent.
The elder brother seemed to feel pain similar to mine.
The sensation in my bottom was slowly becoming dull.
Since I bit the elder brother's side, it should be a bit more advantageous.
Now I should be able to win soon.
Thud!
I was wrong.
I was sent flying by the elder brother bouncing his body and rolled over.
In a brawl, the difference in weight is this important.
The poison we both had wasn't anything special, so both the elder brother and I could move roughly.
But I didn't run away from the spot.
I just watched as the elder brother approached with his head held high.
Flutter, flutter.
As soon as I heard that sound, I looked up at the sky once, and quickly hid in a nearby crevice between rocks.
A situation similar to before occurred.
The elder brother had bitten my tail. Once again, I felt a burning pain.
However, thanks to the venom glands' venom not being infinite, it was bearable.
And instead of me, someone punished the elder brother.
It was a bat hanging from the ceiling.
The cave's resident, who originally didn't dare to act up for fear of Mother Medusa, had bitten the elder brother's body.
That was the scene I saw beyond the rock.
Bats were fluttering and snatching up snakes that were alone.
And a bat that was attracted by my white body approached and caught the elder brother instead of me hiding in the rock crevice.
Then, I felt an intense pain.
The elder brother was firmly biting my tail to avoid being dragged away by the bat.
I sank my teeth into the rock crevice to avoid being dragged along.
And.
Pop.
Damn.
My tail broke off.
Fortunately, my vital organs were safe, but about a finger's length of my tail was torn off.
Looking up, I could see the elder brother and the bat fighting in the air.
──────────────
[Sawtooth Bat lv4]
──────────────
True to its name, the bat had razor-sharp claws.
Indeed, my elder brother was Ferocious.
They fell entangled with each other.
The bat was wriggling, its wings seemingly broken, and the elder brother was about to breathe his last, reduced to a rag.
And I realized what I had to do at this moment.
Blood was continuously flowing from my severed tail, and I felt a terrible hunger in my stomach.
I needed to replenish my nutrients.
One advantage of being born a snake was that I didn't have to chew thoroughly.
Opening my mouth wide, I swallowed the bat first.
It was just about the size of a baby's fist.
I left only the claws behind, as they might tear my stomach due to their sharpness.
Then I tried to eat the elder brother too, but he was too big.
Sorry, brother, the other siblings will take care of the aftermath for me.
Ah, my head is really dizzy.
I seemed to have lost too much blood.
I dragged my heavily loaded body and hid in a rock crevice.
I cover my body by scattering as much soil as possible.
Whatever the commotion, I needed to recover my body first.
「You have defeated Little Green Snake lv3 and Sawtooth Bat lv4.」
Oh, it counts as me defeating them?
「Level has increased.」
「Level has increased.」
Hehe, rapid leveling.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Soon, an unbearable drowsiness came over me.
==
Huh! I fell asleep.
How many opportunities have I lost because of sleep.
I actually overslept on the day of the college entrance exam and had to retake it.
Of course, I was beaten badly by my father, and that ranks about 5th among the ten actions I regret most in my life.
Have I made the same mistake now that I'm living a new life?
If someone asks if I just sprawled out and slept while the villagers were talking about eradicating the snake swarm, I have something to say.
It was a sleep I absolutely couldn't resist.
Probably because my body had taken a certain amount of damage and I had swallowed a whole bat.
Now I feel refreshed.
My dizzy mind has cleared and my body feels lighter.
Although my stomach is full, there's no problem moving.
Before leaving the rock crevice, I first checked the important things.
I definitely heard a voice saying my level had increased.
──────────
[Little White Snake lv3]
[Skills]
[Venomous Fang lv2], [Quick Crawling lv3], [Biting lv1], [Poison Resistance lv1], [Bleeding Resistance lv1]
──────────
Wow!
The empty skill window has grown miscellaneously.
Predation, Biting, Poison Resistance, Bleeding Resistance. Skills that didn't exist until now have appeared all at once.
Moreover, what's noticeable is that the levels of the skills have increased quite a bit.
I think Poison Resistance and Bleeding Resistance were probably acquired while I was sleeping. Because I didn't hear the voice announcing their acquisition.
It's not the strong who survive, but the survivors who are strong.
I was the smallest here, but I will survive until the end.
I have no intention of giving up at all.
Strengthening my resolve, I came out of the rock crevice.
Ah, I want to give up.
There are so many people outside that cave.
There were also soldiers holding torches. They looked ready to enter the cave at any moment.
Calming myself, I slowly approached the cave entrance.
The point where I'm superior to my other siblings, and even to the dead Mother Medusa, is that I can understand human language.
I could eavesdrop on the conversation between the soldiers.
"Wouldn't they all die if we just set fire and smoke them out?"
One soldier asked reluctantly.
The guard captain, wearing armor, pointed at the torch irritably.
The torch flickered to one side in the wind.
"How can that work when the wind is blowing from inside to outside right now? And even if you try to kill them with smoke, snakes stick to the ground so it won't work."
"Yes..."
"Don't be scared. It's just the mother that's scary, the babies are not even magical creatures, they're no different from ordinary snakes. Just wear your leggings well. Wear the gambeson."
The guard captain reassured his subordinates.
He and the soldiers were wearing a quilted armor called gambeson.
It's like a coat made with sturdy linen cloth, and at that level, venomous fangs won't penetrate.
Then, no matter how many of us siblings there are, we'll be quickly eradicated.
"We'll enter as soon as dawn breaks."
As I was about to go back inside the cave, I suddenly became curious.
Could I analyze human abilities too?
I tried to analyze the guard captain by focusing my eyes.
──────────────
[Guard Captain lv23]
──────────────
Is Guard Captain a species?
It wasn't even funny.
I confirmed only that and gave up on finding out more.
All I could know was the name and level.
It was exactly the same as when I tried to see mother's stats.
It seems I can't properly analyze opponents who are much stronger than me.
I stopped wasting time and went inside.
The inside of the cave was a mess.
The siblings who had filled their stomachs had now stopped the fratricide.
The bats, realizing that we snakes were not so easy, were only coveting the corpse pieces.
The siblings, obviously reduced to less than a thousand.
"Let's all escape together before those guys enter! Some lucky ones will surely survive. Let's meet again alive someday!"
It would be nice if I could make such a speech, but I can't.
I passed by the siblings who were looking at me and went deeper into the cave.
The cave mother chose as her dwelling was neither too big nor too deep.
But there was a fairly large cavity in the innermost part.
It was where mother slept. It could be called the main room.
Haa, coming back here, memories of my deceased mother... don't come to mind.
There's only the disgusting smell of filth scattered everywhere. It's the trace of Mother Medusa.
But in my opinion, these were the key to surviving here.
I'm not sure if it will go according to plan... Ah, there it is.
What I found were statues of animals.
Of course, mother didn't have a hobby of collecting artworks, these were her lunchboxes that she petrified and stored.
Mother Medusa had a bad habit of storing food near her bed and eating it while lying down.
Petrification was an amazing ability.
Even a jaguar with formidable molars, or a wild boar with an extremely long nose, would freeze and harden just by looking at mother's eyes.
It didn't rot and was maintained, and if you just undid the petrification, it would return to being fresh live food, so mother displayed various magical beasts like this.
I focused my eyes to check their names.
──────────────
[Horn Jaguar lv33 (Petrified)]
[Geiger Hog lv29 (Petrified)]
──────────────
Among these, these two looked the strongest.
Even without looking at their levels or names, it was certainly so. Because I had seen mother hunt them.
If these guys are released, even the guard captain or soldiers outside will have a hard time handling them. It would be good to escape in the confusion when that happens.
I had seen and remembered how to undo the petrification of these magical beasts.
Like this, was it?
I climbed on top of the heads of the two magical beasts and squeezed out as much venom as possible.
It seemed I could spew plenty of venom with my Venomous Fang about twice.
I can't pierce the rock with my teeth, so smearing it is all I can do.
But this should be enough. Mother just licked the statue once with her venom-coated tongue.
Yet, the color quickly returned and the petrification was undone.
Ah, I guess I really was a child of Mother Medusa.
As I sprayed the venom, the petrification of the magical beasts seemed to be slowly undoing, just as it did for mother.
Their complexion was slowly returning.
The magical beasts, once they regain consciousness, will immediately try to escape the cave. I just need to aim for that moment of confusion to get out...!
"Let's go in!"
At that moment, a shout came from the direction of the cave entrance.
Has dawn already broken? The entrance was very noisy.
The petrification?
It's not undone yet!
The color of the two magical beasts was slowly returning, but they weren't even twitching yet.
I looked towards the entrance to see what was happening.
The soldiers were entering.
They're standing in two lines, holding torches.
"Check the rock crevices carefully! One stab with a spear is enough!"
As expected, the guard captain was the dangerous one.
I had thought about hiding in rock crevices and then escaping, but I'm glad I gave up on that idea.
The soldiers meticulously stabbed and killed the siblings hiding in the crevices.
"Let the ones that escape go! We're on standby outside anyway!"
One or two managed to break through the encirclement and escape, but they seemed to have prepared for that too.
How can soldiers from such a rural area be so thorough?
Most of the siblings acted instinctively.
That is, they started fleeing deeper into the cave to avoid the soldiers.
The soldiers entered the inner part slowly, without rushing.
Mother's bedroom was certainly not small.
But when nearly a thousand snakes occupied the floor, it looked so cramped there was no room to step.
Even the soldiers who arrived here didn't dare to enter further.
"What should we do?"
"It's a bit... to go in there..."
The soldiers had uncertain expressions.
I felt relieved.
They didn't seem to have noticed the existence of the petrified magical beasts hidden here in the corner yet.
It was an opportunity for me, who needed time until the magical beasts were released.
"Hmm."
However, the guard captain was indeed tenacious.
He looked at the direction the torch flame was flickering.
"As I thought, there was an air hole. The wind direction has changed with dawn."
"Then..."
"Take out the oil bottles!"
The soldiers gleefully took out brown glass bottles that were tied to their waists.
My siblings didn't understand the situation, but I immediately grasped it.
"Retreat as soon as you light the fire. Throw!"
Dozens of brown bottles flew through the air at once.
They fell with a loud clatter, spilling foul-smelling oil everywhere.
The snakes were terrified by the smell, but what they should truly fear was not the smell.
"Light it!"
Several soldiers threw their torches.
The flames started to blaze up.
The house is on fire.