I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse - Chapter 108

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 108: An Unexpected Journey

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If there were an organization in this world called the Dungeon Construction Lovers Association, or Dunsa-mo for short, Pelerian would definitely have been an outstanding member.

Maybe even a founding member.

Dungeon builders had a certain spirit, something they learned through experience and inherited from masters.

“There is no new Dungeon under the sky,” or “Imitation is the mother of Dungeon creation.”

Over the tens of thousands of years during which civilizations rose and fell, how many Dungeons had been built across this continent?

By later ages, all those magnificent Dungeons had been broadly labeled “ruins.”

Naturally, Pelerian knew plenty about ruins as well. They had personally explored countless sites while studying architecture and trap mechanisms.

That was why they knew about this Dungeon called Wyvern’s Altar.

Their body resembled a translucent spirit. They were not fast, but they could still float through the air.

While chaos unfolded beside them, they busied themselves examining the ruins. Dust covered the carvings on the walls, making them difficult to see. Pelerian blew a puff of air, then frowned when they realized they no longer had a body capable of even blowing breath.

With no other choice, they studied the broken carvings and pieced them together.

Drawing on their excellent powers of deduction, they figured out the altar’s purpose and how it worked.

-It’s an altar of seven. Seven, yes. The number seven has mystical significance. It must have been the same in the Oboe Civilization.

It was the first time in a while that they had shown their scholarly side.

-Place seven captured prisoners on the altar, and it activates. The most important offering goes inside the iron cage at the center...

Ah-ha! So that was why that human had been locked up.

When the adventurers first entered the ruins, there had only been five of them. That was probably why the altar’s mechanisms had not activated.

Once Pandan and Jericho came in, bringing the total to seven, this mess began.

The mystery was solved!

The altar floor rose, the exit sealed shut, and the ceiling opened.

Then the wyverns waiting for prey would fly in and hold a bloody feast.

-That’s how it works!

‘Old man, isn’t that beside the point right now?’

I rebuked the excited Pelerian.

Right. How the altar worked was not important. Dozens of wyverns perched atop stone pillars were staring down at us.

-What do you mean? At the very least, we can tell these ruins haven’t been used for a long time, probably thousands of years.

‘So what?’

-So perhaps those wyverns don’t understand what’s happening either and are hesitating.

Hmm. Looking closer, that did seem possible.

It must have been like the ground suddenly opening and a feeding bowl full of humans appearing before them. Since it was something they had never experienced, they seemed wary and did not immediately fly down.

The adventurers, on the other hand, were already in a complete panic.

“Argh! We’re screwed. We’re screwed!”

“We’re all going to die!”

A-rank or S-rank, it did not matter. They were all terrified.

It was understandable. The situation was that frightening.

The adventurers frantically searched for a way out. The exit had disappeared completely.

There was nowhere to hide, so the only way to escape was to climb the walls. They tried, but it was impossible to scale the slick stone walls with bare hands.

I could probably do it with Giantification, but that would make me stand out to the wyverns, wouldn’t it?

Everyone was panicking. The wyverns, who had been quietly watching, slowly began to show curiosity.

I thought the wyverns would immediately punish the egg thieves.

That was not the case.

They did not even seem to know there was an egg here in the first place.

The enormous wyvern who was probably the egg’s owner descended below the clouds and landed on a stone pillar.

Then she stared at us as if inspecting us.

-Wyverns don’t have particularly good eyesight or intelligence.

Still, a wyvern’s maternal instincts were anything but weak.

-A wyvern whose egg has been stolen never gives up. Those adventurers must have forgotten how frightening wyverns are. Or perhaps they expected a reward worth the risk.

What were they even planning to do with a wyvern egg?

-They clearly intended to tame it. Perhaps they wanted to create a wyvern knight order.

‘Ah!’

I understood immediately.

A wyvern knight order. Wasn’t that the height of romance?

Wyvern riders soaring through the sky and charging through the air with long lances. A wyvern egg would be worth more than its weight in gold.

Still, honestly, the risk seemed far too great.

That enormous wyvern was obviously on another level.

It had been a long time since I had encountered a monster whose status window was so difficult to see through. Since I had grown stronger, I could make out some of it by concentrating harder.

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【Oblivion Wyvern Queen Seleta Lv. 151】

【Epithet】 Black Queen

【Traits】

[Queen], [Ruler of Southern Delphram], [Avenger]

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No way.

Level 151?

Of course, strength could not be judged by level alone. Paimon’s Fire Lizard, which I had beaten not long ago, had been around Level 140. There was not a huge difference in levels between it and the Wyvern Queen.

But the gap in their actual strength could not possibly have been only ten levels.

‘That one’s definitely stronger than the giant Insect King Riokk or that white monkey.’

I could feel it.

Her skills told me so.

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【Skills】

······[Eye of the Typhoon Lv. 20], [Superhigh-Speed Flight Lv. 10], [Destruction Beam Lv. 10], [Wyvern Fear Lv. 20]······

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I could not see all of them, but even the skills I could see were extraordinary.

‘Destruction Beam!’

I wanted a proper Destruction Beam too, not just Beam.

Damn it. If only I could make Giantification mine sooner, I could borrow it.

Thunk!

Just then, the iron cage holding Umberto sank back into the floor.

Umberto had been prepared as the wyverns’ final course. Thousands of years ago, this was probably when the wyverns would have finished their meal and moved on to dessert.

Umberto and the adventurers had been fighting each other until just moments ago.

Yet now that Umberto was free from the cage, the fighting stopped instead.

Umberto collapsed onto the ground, not looking much like an S-rank adventurer.

“Ah, we need to give the egg back.”

Jericho suddenly muttered.

“If we give the egg back, they might let us live.”

Jericho, you idiot.

Do you seriously think the wyvern will thank you and spare you if you return the egg?

Still, perhaps they sensed even a sliver of possibility in that idea.

Like drowning people grabbing a rope, the adventurers latched onto those words.

“G-Give us the egg.”

“No, you bastard.”

“Hand over the egg, you piece of shit!”

Jakob and the other adventurers approached Umberto.

Umberto held the egg in one hand and swung a rapier with the other.

“Don’t come any closer!”

Someone fired a crossbow.

A bolt lodged in Umberto’s side, and Umberto screamed as they doubled over.

At the same time, the adventurers rushed in.

“Aaagh!”

“H-Hey!”

Umberto showed the fighting spirit expected of an S-rank adventurer.

As if determined not to lose the egg, Umberto raised it high over their head.

Because of that, the egg slipped from Umberto’s hand.

“No!”

Someone screamed.

A hand reached out to catch the egg, but blood on the hand only made it slip away.

I rushed toward the egg’s path.

I could not let the poor egg shatter.

I was worried about catching it with Transparent Hand, so I leaped up myself.

First, I would catch it with my body in midair and cushion the impact...

Slip!

Huh? Why was it so slippery?

The egg was coated in a slick, oily substance.

Well, it was my fault for expecting it to feel like a clean, washed chicken egg.

Fortunately, though, the egg did not fall to the floor and shatter into pieces.

‘Isil!’

Isil sprang into action.

Just like when they had stretched out their vines and grabbed the hilt of a sword, they extended a vine through the air and caught the wyvern egg.

The egg was huge, several times larger than an ostrich egg, but Isil held it firmly.

They seemed stronger than I had thought.

‘Good job, that was really...’

But I praised them too soon.

Or maybe Isil thought we were playing catch.

Whoosh!

They threw the wyvern egg back where it had come from.

“Ah, no!”

‘You little...!’

This was not catch!

The wyvern egg spun through the air.

Jakob seemed to try to catch it. He grabbed the heavy egg with a hand that had been pierced by the rapier.

“Ow!”

It was no surprise that he screamed and let go.

Crack!

Perhaps because of its weight, the egg broke right away.

A large hole opened in it, and egg white and yolk spilled out in a rush.

If I had a frying pan, I could have made a fried egg right then.

“Aaaaargh!”

Jakob screamed.

It was like a signal flare that set the wyverns in motion.

They finally descended.

One wyvern pounced on Jakob, who was clutching his head and screaming.

Boom!

It pinned Jakob beneath its talons, then tore into him with its snake-like head.

“Aaagh!”

The other adventurers screamed.

One wyvern descended, then another.

Jericho drew his sword and fought back. He managed to cut a long wound across one wyvern’s face.

“Huff, huff.”

Jericho panted heavily.

Then a larger wyvern crushed him, starting with his head.

Craaaash!

Jericho was flattened in an instant.

The wyverns fought one another over Jericho’s mangled remains, each trying to eat them first.

It was total chaos.

In this hellscape, it seemed that being an S-rank or A-rank adventurer meant nothing.

I was in danger too.

‘Should I use Giantification? Giantification!’

-Are you planning to draw all their attention to yourself?

Was there anywhere to hide?

Maybe under a dead human body... no, the wyverns seemed intent on devouring every last human.

Should I cling to a wyvern’s foot and escape? It would be dangerous if a talon caught me, but that might be my only option.

“Mr. Snake.”

Pandan, trembling with fear, came over to me.

“I’m going to use a special medicine! It has a smell that drives monsters away... if you’re okay with it, hide near me!”

There was something like that?

Pandan really did seem to be the smartest of the adventurers.

He suddenly shoved a hand into his waistband.

Then he pulled out a brown ampoule from somewhere I could not identify.

Without hesitation, he snapped off the tip and poured it over himself.

I tried to move closer to Pandan.

“Sssaaaak!”

But the awful stench stabbed into my nose.

It was a smell that stirred up a deep, instinctive disgust within me.

I could not possibly get close. I felt like I was going to throw up.

Reeking of that vile odor, Pandan jumped into a pool of blood.

Then he displayed incredible acting skills and played dead.

Ah, there was no way I could hide there.

That was when Queen Seleta, the huge wyvern perched on the stone pillar, began to move.

I could not beat her even in a one-on-one fight.

What should I do? What was I supposed to do?

As I agonized over it...

-...The egg.

Pelerian came up with an idea.

-Hide inside the egg for now!

There did not seem to be anywhere to hide in this hellscape.

Even so, hiding inside the egg, right under their noses?

Wouldn’t I be discovered right away?

Still, trying something was better than doing nothing.

The wyvern egg was a little cramped, but it was more than large enough to hold me. It must have been fresh, because after the egg white and yolk spilled out, the inside was completely empty.

It was a bit sticky, but I could put up with that much.

There was one problem.

I had hidden inside the egg without trouble, but there was a huge hole in it. No matter how bad a wyvern’s eyesight was, it could not fail to notice a hole that obvious.

‘Maybe with Transparent Hand...’

Isil had broken the egg, but because it was broken, I could hide inside it.

‘...Ah, Isil!’

And they helped again.

They attached their vines to the broken eggshell and sealed it perfectly.

They used the sucker roots on their vines.

The broken part became completely smooth.

Huh.

Was that it?

Had it really been solved that easily?

I could not see what was happening outside from within the egg.

‘Old man!’