WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
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◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 10: Special Chicken Skewers
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010.
What the hell was that thing?
Its head was very familiar. It was a rooster's head.
A bright red comb fluttered on top, and its eyes were the emotionless eyes of a chicken.
Its torso was strange.
Sparse feathers had fallen out, exposing rough gray skin beneath. It reminded me of a reptile, more precisely, a dinosaur.
They said chickens were descended from dinosaurs, so perhaps that body suited it.
Then there was its tail, which was simply ridiculous.
It was unmistakably a snake's tail.
Long and writhing as if it belonged to an entirely separate creature.
It looked as though several animals had been stitched together.
I could have accepted it if it were the size of a chicken, but it was much larger than a person.
Its bulk rivaled that of a Horn Jaguar.
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【Cockatrice Lv. 12】
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More importantly, there was its status window.
Level 12. A high level did not always mean a monster was strong, but this one was definitely powerful.
After all, I could not use Insight to see anything beyond its name.
Strong monsters like the Horn Jaguar were like that.
Running was the best choice when facing a monster like that.
Yet the centipede husband did not run.
Instead, he charged at the Cockatrice, which was much larger than him.
His hundred or so legs propelled him forward at incredible speed. He climbed up the Cockatrice's body and drove his Poison Fang into it.
His fighting spirit was remarkable.
There could only be one reason he was willing to show such courage.
His wife was behind him.
His bride had been petrified into stone.
I immediately did what I could.
I was sorry, but I had no choice but to bite someone else's wife. It was an emergency.
My fangs did not pierce her, but venom flowed out in a steady stream. It was certainly thicker and more plentiful than before my evolution.
It worked. It was effective!
I had tried it based on my previous experience, and it worked well enough.
Starting from where the venom had touched her, the centipede bride's color slowly began to return.
Perhaps the principles behind the petrification attacks of the Cockatrice and Medusa Mom were similar.
Crunch.
A dangerous sound made me turn my head.
I could only stare in horror.
The centipede husband's body had been torn in two.
The Cockatrice had ripped him apart with its claws.
Even so, the centipede husband was still alive.
He chased after the Cockatrice as if trying to stop it, but the Cockatrice's charge was incredibly fast.
It was heading toward the petrified centipede bride.
The centipede husband's Poison Fang could not have been weak, yet the Cockatrice had not slowed at all.
It clearly had Venom Resistance.
I would die if those legs stepped on me.
Our eyes met.
Right. In moments like this, doing the opposite of my instinct to run away had worked before.
I rushed straight at it.
My Quick Crawling level had risen, so I was fairly fast now.
The Cockatrice let out a shriek.
Its vigorous roar, no less imposing than a Horn Jaguar's, shook the ground.
What are you, some dawn herald? Are you a Rekon?
Just as its sharp claws were about to crush me, I tensed my entire body and launched myself into the air.
I was still borrowing Leap.
*「Leap proficiency rises sharply. Leap Lv. 1 has become Leap Lv. 2.」
*「You have fully acquired the skill, ‘Leap.’」
Borrowed skills could evolve too?
And now it was completely mine.
Still, this was hardly a moment to celebrate something so trivial.
The bastard pulled one more move worthy of a Rekon.
It tried to peck me out of the air with that huge beak.
As though dancing in midair, I moved once again.
I avoided the beak.
Then my gaze met the Cockatrice's golden eyes.
Ah!
A jolt of danger ran through my entire body.
Medusa Mom could turn opponents to stone just by meeting their eyes.
The Cockatrice had petrified the centipede bride too.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Closing my eyes in the middle of a fight was insane, but I had no choice.
Then came a sharp sting.
I opened my eyes again.
I saw its tail passing over my body.
A sharp barb protruded from its tip.
That cowardly bastard... Snakes did not have tail stingers like that.
I dropped to the ground with a thud.
My body began to stiffen.
The Cockatrice did not petrify things with its gaze.
Only Mom could use such an advanced technique.
The Cockatrice, which had been charging forward, collided directly with the centipede bride.
Crash!
No traffic accident could have been more horrific.
The centipede bride had not fully recovered from her petrification, and she was literally shattered into pieces.
She had such a warm heart, offering the frog she had caught as a return gift for the moving-in rice cake.
I would never see her lovely smile again.
Stone fragments rolled across the ground.
Having brutally murdered a centipede's wife, the Cockatrice paid no attention to it and pecked through the pieces with its beak.
It looked as though it were searching for something.
"Queeeeeeek!"
The husband who had lost his wife let out a heartrending roar.
Who said bugs had no emotions?
At the very least, that husband clearly loved his wife.
With half his body torn apart, he clung to the Cockatrice.
I wanted to stop him.
Hold back! If you charge in now, you'll die for nothing too!
But the Cockatrice did not seem inclined to spare him in the first place.
One could not defeat alone what two could not defeat together.
The Cockatrice easily subdued the centipede husband.
Once it pinned his body beneath its heavy foot, there was nothing the centipede could do.
The Cockatrice's beak came down on him like a falling hammer.
That chicken-headed thing seemed intelligent.
It could clearly think about something beyond just killing and eating.
Rather than pecking the centipede husband to death, it tore off every one of his legs.
It removed his most dangerous Poison Fang as well.
Then it grabbed the completely helpless centipede with its snake tail.
And me along with him.
Fuck, why are you taking me too?
Did it not know I was attached?
Compared to the Cockatrice's size, I was tiny.
As it wrapped its tail around the centipede husband, I got dragged along too.
If you were wondering why I had not run away, I was already petrified.
*「You have obtained Petrification Resistance Lv. 1.」
It sure took its time.
As the proper and rightful heir to Medusa Mom's bloodline, I had thought perhaps I would be immune to petrification.
I was not.
The instant the Cockatrice stung me, I turned to stone.
Not all the way to my head, though.
The petrification stopped at my neck.
Perhaps it was because of the venom gland in my head.
Even now, the back of my neck where the petrification had tried to spread felt itchy.
*「Petrification Resistance proficiency rises sharply.」
The petrification would probably wear off on its own with time.
Either way, I was being carried off right now.
The Cockatrice began running with the centipede as though it were a trophy.
It was incredibly fast. It ran as lightly as an ostrich.
Even so, its head and tail barely shook.
The ride was not bad.
I looked at the limp centipede husband.
Poor guy.
He was a complete wreck.
Yellow fluid dripped from his severed body and legs.
Foam bubbled from his mouth.
The red glow in his eyes was slowly fading.
No matter how tenacious a monster's life was, unavoidable death was approaching.
What kind of tragedy was this at the crack of dawn?
I felt sorry for the centipede husband facing death.
Maybe I was not in any position to feel that way. I could be eaten and killed at any moment too.
Still, there was something painfully sad in the centipede's eyes. He could not even avenge his dead wife.
Even a lowly creature seemed to have a heart.
Ah, dawn was breaking.
The sky began to brighten faintly.
The Cockatrice kept running.
The petrification on my body had almost worn off as well.
It seemed I could just drop down and run away now.
That was when it happened.
The centipede husband wriggled his antennae at me.
Then foam poured from his mouth.
Something flew out from inside.
...No way. Is that?
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【Inner Core: Redteeth Giant Centipede】
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It was the Inner Core the centipede couple had been making while doing those embarrassing things before.
Could the Cockatrice have hunted them from so far away because of that Inner Core?
I had no way of knowing the details.
But why was he spitting out the Inner Core now?
Are you giving it to me?
The centipede husband wiggled his antennae.
"Yeah, I'm giving it to you."
I imagined him saying that.
I could not know the truth.
But the centipede husband's body was steadily stiffening.
His antennae drooped, and his eyes lost their light.
Perhaps his jaws had lost their strength too.
Thud.
He dropped the Inner Core.
Instinctively, I caught it in my mouth.
It would be a waste to let it go.
Hmm, it tasted like centipede fluid.
Salty tears streamed from my eyes too.
No, that was not tears. Centipede fluid had gotten on my eyes as well.
*「You have consumed an Inner Core.」
I did not know what effect it would have.
But I had definitely received it.
A hot energy boiled up inside my stomach.
* * *
The sun timidly peeked over the cliff.
The darkness of dawn had completely lifted, and morning began.
The Cockatrice arrived at its nest.
Following its instincts, it roared.
"Cock-a-doodle-dooooo!"
It was a victorious crow.
It had hunted the centipede couple it had been chasing.
It had won, but it had not found what it wanted.
It must have felt both satisfied and disappointed.
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【Cockatrice Lv. 12】
【Traits】
[Treasure Hoarder], [Sharpness]
【Skills】
[Petrification Lv. 4], [Leap Lv. 6], [Acceleration Lv. 5], [Tail Swing Lv. 7], [Heat Detection Lv. 3], [Mana Detection Lv. 2], [Tracking Lv. 5], [Venom Resistance Lv. 9]
【Status】
[Satisfaction], [Disappointment]
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Its lair was a cave.
Making a cave its home was proof that it was a fairly strong monster.
But the Cockatrice's nest was even more unusual.
The entrance was ordinary, but as soon as we went inside, flat floors and walls appeared.
It was an artificially constructed space.
It seemed to have been abandoned for a very long time, though. It was damaged in many places.
As we passed through the corridor, we came upon an area with a tiled floor.
The Cockatrice's eyes glowed bluish.
It had the skill Mana Detection.
Although it had crossed this area countless times, it checked the locations of the brightly glowing red tiles once more.
Then it hopped across the corridor, avoiding them.
Who would dare call it a chicken brain?
The Cockatrice was an intelligent monster.
It even had a hobby of collecting precious things, anything shiny and glittering.
It stopped before a massive stone door.
It had no intention of going beyond it, nor did it know how.
Even this far in, it was the perfect hiding place where no intruder would dare enter.
"Cluck-kek-kek."
The Cockatrice hummed.
There were glittering stones here, armor and weapons it had picked up from somewhere, even gold ornaments.
It was practically that greedy bastard's treasure vault.
It was going to butcher and eat the centipede it had caught here.
If it was lucky, there might be an Inner Core inside it.
It had known centipedes made Inner Cores, which was why it had tracked that centipede couple for so long.
Thunk.
The Cockatrice began pecking apart the centipede corpse it had set down.
That was when it happened.
Something pale shot out quickly and passed between the Cockatrice's legs.
Naturally.
That pale thing was yours truly.
The worst white snake in history.
The Cockatrice did not seem to see me as a threat at all.
It tilted its chicken head as if wondering why I was there.
But I moved forward without hesitation.
After digesting the Inner Core, I had changed.
*「Your rank has risen after consuming an Inner Core.」
*「You can now see farther and in greater detail.」
At first, I thought the result was disappointingly plain.
But I was wrong.
The centipede couple's legacy had given me an incredible gift.
I could see it.
The Cockatrice's skills.
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【Cockatrice Lv. 12】
······
【Skills】
······[Mana Detection Lv. 2], [Tracking Lv. 5], [Venom Resistance Lv. 9]
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And I could see something else too.
This place was...
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【Dungeon: Fairy Mage Pelerian's Temporary Residence】
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What?!
There were things like dungeons in this world too?
Being able to see the Cockatrice's skills meant I could borrow them.
Seeing how strangely it hopped through the tiled area, I borrowed Mana Detection.
Even I thought that was a crazy decision.
Thanks to that, I confirmed that the Cockatrice avoided stepping on only the red-glowing tiles.
And now, there was the enormous stone door in front of me.
The stone door's handle was clearly glowing red.
I began racing straight toward it.
The Cockatrice panicked and chased after me.
It was certainly fast, but not fast enough to catch me.
I had Leap.
I sprang up and bit down on the stone door's handle.
Clank.
Something activated.
The Cockatrice had chased me right up to the stone door.
I had seen them.
The suspicious holes in the ceiling that anyone could tell were dangerous.
Spears began raining down from the ceiling.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Spears repeatedly pierced the Cockatrice's body as it tried to run away too late.
Feathers scattered everywhere, and its thrashing tail lashed the ground and walls.
But that only lasted a moment.
Impaled by several spears, it went limp.
That was one chicken skewer with a shocking visual.
If a shop sold something like that, it would be shut down immediately.
*「Your level has increased!」
*「Your level has increased!」
*「Your level has increased!」
*「Your level has increased!」
I released the handle in my mouth and dropped down.
Then I looked back at the centipede groom, who had already been shattered to pieces.
I avenged you!
Footnotes:
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