WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

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◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 12: Interception Confirmed

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012.

It couldn't see me, right?

I wagged my tail, tilted my head, and even tried dancing.

"There could be scum trespassing without permission. Tomb raiders, adventurers, hunters, people like that."

Pelerian's illusion spoke as if it were having a conversation.

It didn't seem like it could actually see me.

He must have recorded this long ago, or something.

They said he looked eccentric from the start, and apparently his personality was too.

"Sorry if I startled you. Security was important, so it couldn't be helped."

He'd fired a spear at me, yet he had the nerve to say that.

Come to think of it, he was supposed to be a mage, so why had he only prepared such analog traps?

Was he a spear enthusiast or something?

"I have created such dungeons throughout the continent, including the Great Forest. This is Dungeon Number 008."

That must've cost quite a bit to build.

A wealthy racist.

"Because of that, I exhausted all the wealth I had gathered. It cleaned me out completely. I'm dirt poor, dirt poor! Ahahaha!"

Hahaha. Hilarious.

This elf named Pelerian was completely different from the image of elves I had in mind in every way.

Aside from his long ears, wasn't he just a nasty old man?

Why had he built such a secret laboratory, and what was this place for?

"This Achan Basin in the Great Forest was formed long ago when a meteorite struck. I began an experiment here that required the power of time. At least three hundred years were necessary."

A little more of the basin's secret had been revealed.

I'd thought it was a strange landscape, since it was surrounded by cliffs on every side.

Pelerian said he needed three hundred years.

"If you are seeing my illusion, then three hundred years must have passed. If you had tried to enter before then, you would have burned to death, kin or not. Hehehe."

......It seemed three hundred years had passed.

I almost burned to death.

Still, this place was in terrible condition.

I looked around the crystal ball.

It was dark enough that I couldn't have seen anything without night vision.

Would a mage capable of using magic that showed an illusion like that really have made his dungeon this dark?

There were also signs of things being shattered and collapsed everywhere.

At first, I wondered if tomb raiders had already looted the place, but it was too chaotic for that.

It really did seem like there had been an earthquake.

"My kin. I have a request."

Pelerian suddenly spoke seriously.

"The elders were divided over the experiment I had envisioned. There were many foolish ones who opposed it, even though the future of our race was at stake. In the end, they could not accept that only extinction remained for the elves."

A gloomy anger seeped into his voice.

"If we cannot uncover the secret of evolution, it is over. You know as well as I do that 'people' cannot evolve. The same is true for us elves, the dwarves, and humans."

Oh, right. That made sense, based on what I knew.

It wasn't as if Great Humans existed.

"Short-lived races do not need to worry. But long-lived races like us elves stagnate as time passes. You can see that from the fact that a human mage stronger than me has appeared."

Pelerian looked deeply offended as he said it.

Old man, even I was working hard after being reincarnated as a snake. Don't take that stuff so seriously.

"The only answer is evolution. We elves must be reborn as High Elves. That is why I began research to uncover the evolution of monsters. I sought to discover the conditions for evolution and determine its principles. ......At last, I achieved results."

Pelerian swept up a hand and pointed deeper inside.

A corridor continued onward.

"I created a monster."

What?

"I used the blue blood of a high-ranking monster, a Lesser Dragon, the Grey Tarantula of this Great Forest, and an underground Blood Mole to create a chimera. I studied its evolutionary process and obtained results."

I'd thought he was just a racist, but he was also a mad scientist.

Was he like some national alchemist who created chimeras for research results?

Pelerian... Dad...

"There was a problem, though."

Pelerian smiled bitterly.

"It required three hundred years to fulfill the final evolution condition. So I put the chimera I created into hibernation. So that it could evolve after three hundred years had passed. That is what I want to ask of you."

Pelerian raised a fist as he spoke.

"Go inside and wake the chimera from hibernation. That is all you must do."

Yeah, no thanks~

"Yes, you may not want to. But there is no need to worry too much."

That startled me.

I thought he'd heard what I said.

"Once it wakes from hibernation, it will evolve immediately. The evolutionary process will be recorded automatically and sent to the World Tree. When the evolution is complete, pull the lever and incinerate the chimera. A simple task."

Why would I do that?

"Brave deeds are rewarded. Once you have completed everything, a tremendous reward will follow."

Pelerian boomed as he pointed to the right this time.

"That vault will open once the chimera has been incinerated. It contains various magical tools and artifacts that I possessed, so it should be sufficient compensation."

Oh, I see.

"Then, for the eternal victory of the elves."

Pelerian's illusion vanished.

He went on and on about elves until the end, but as a snake, I couldn't relate at all.

I was curious about the reward, but that didn't mean I intended to follow that old man's orders.

A chimera. Just thinking about it was terrifying!

And more than anything else...

The vault was already open.

It seemed there really had been an earthquake.

The sturdy iron door had twisted, leaving a gap.

It was too narrow for a person to squeeze through even if they tried, but that didn't matter to a snake like me.

He was a mage, so why hadn't he made some sort of magical vault?

Instead, he'd just installed an iron door. Thank you very much.

I slithered through the gap.

And inside, there really was a reward.

Wow! Shiny full plate armor!

A gorgeous sword that looked like an elf might have used it!

Gold, silver, and jewels!

He was a better old man than I'd expected.

Of course, the problem was that none of it was useful to me.

What a waste.

Especially this small sword.

──────────────

【Elven Broadsword】

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It was really beautiful.

And it looked incredibly, incredibly sharp.

It was small too, so maybe I could hold it with my tail.

I wrapped my tail around the hilt and lifted it. I really could hold it.

I didn't know what it was made of, but it was light.

Should I become the world's first sword snake?

I swung the sword around a few times.

Then it slipped from my tail and nearly cut it off.

Never mind. I should probably not carry a sword.

I really didn't like that.

Just as I was about to leave the vault in disappointment, something caught my eye.

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【Pelerian's Signet Ring (Sealed)】

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What was that?

Unlike the other shining magical tools, the ring looked ordinary.

It sat on a shelf, and it even had signs of use, as if Pelerian had actually worn it.

It had a cross-shaped ornament. It seemed to be made of gold, but unknown metals formed an intricate decoration around it.

The thing that bothered me most was the word sealed.

A sealed magic ring. For some reason, that made my heart race.

I tried slipping it onto my tail.

The ring was actually too small to fit around it.

Then it stretched out.

Wow! Size-adjustment magic.

The ring grew large enough to fit three fingers and settled perfectly around the middle of my tail.

I could pull it off if I tried, but it wouldn't come off just from shaking.

This was pretty.

But the ring was more than a simple accessory.

The moment I put it on, I understood its function.

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【Pelerian's Signet Ring (Sealed)】

-Spatial storage magic.

-All other functions are sealed.

──────────────

I was captivated by the word magic.

A snake that could use magic.

Come to think of it, that was obvious. I'd read Harry Potter too.

It was common sense that snakes could use magic, wasn't it?

And the meaning of spatial storage magic was intuitive.

Even a snake like me, who couldn't wear a backpack, could use it to carry things.

Was this how it worked?

I sent magic power into the ring like I did when using a skill.

Whoosh! Gold coins were sucked into the ring.

Good. Obtaining this ring alone had made coming here worthwhile.

There seemed to be a limit to how much it could store in its spatial storage.

I took some gold coins and the broadsword.

I hadn't completely abandoned my dream of becoming a swordsman.

Feeling secure, I slipped out of the vault.

Now I just had to go back the way I'd come.

......

Hmm. Pelerian, you terrifying old man.

I'd traveled quite a while and reached the stone door, but it was tightly shut.

There was no way to open it from inside.

With no other choice, I returned to the cavern with the crystal ball.

There was only one path forward, the room where the chimera was hibernating.

Right. It wasn't a problem as long as I didn't wake the thing up, was it?

I cautiously passed the crystal ball and entered the corridor.

This corridor didn't look very long.

There was an open door beyond it. That was probably the room with the chimera.

Both sides of the corridor were lined with crumbling statues.

There really must have been an earthquake. One statue had no right arm, and another had no legs.

Vines also covered their bodies.

Poor things.

That was what I thought as I entered the corridor.

-Monster intrusion detected.

What?

Was there a speaker installed somewhere?

No, why did it suddenly notice that I'd entered now?

Was this the security zone because the chimera was here? Or perhaps it was meant to guard against the chimera coming out through this corridor.

Sure, but what were you going to do now that you'd detected a monster intrusion?

What could you possibly do?

-Activating interception golems.

So it could do something.

Interception golems. That sounded terrifying just by itself.

Where were they?

Crack, crack.

It was the sound of vines snapping.

The crumbling statues were the interception golems.

They looked incredibly terrifying.

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【Pelerian's Guard A】

【Traits】

[Guardian], [Golem]

【Skills】

[Smash Lv. 10], [Sturdiness Lv. 10], [Shockwave Lv. 10], [Magic Resistance Lv. 6], [Slash Resistance Lv. 10], [Heat Resistance Lv. 10], [Threat Detection Lv. 3], [Self-Repair Lv. 2], [Destruction Beam Lv. 6], [Intermediate Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 10], [Beginner Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 10]

【Status】

[Half-Destroyed], [Malfunctioning]

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This thing was fucking strong!

And what was Destruction Beam?

The golem looked strong enough to play with a Cockatrice by itself.

The golem beside it, called Pelerian's Guard B, looked similarly strong.

Its elemental magic was earth-based instead.

Crack!

At last, the vines covering them were torn away.

A crimson glow burst from their single eyes.

They seemed completely determined to intercept me.

Then, at that moment, the legless golem flopped forward onto the ground.

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【Pelerian's Guard A】

【Traits】

[Guardian], [Golem]

【Skills】

[Beginner Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 10], [Heat Resistance Lv. 10]

※Unavailable due to 'Half-Destroyed'

[Smash Lv. 10], [Sturdiness Lv. 10], [Shockwave Lv. 10], [Magic Resistance Lv. 6], [Slash Resistance Lv. 10], [Threat Detection Lv. 3], [Self-Repair Lv. 2], [Destruction Beam Lv. 6], [Intermediate Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 10]

【Status】

[Half-Destroyed], [Malfunctioning], [Prone.]

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Hehe.

The mighty interception golem instantly became a pathetic golem with only one usable skill left.

Then flames burst from the mouth of the pathetic golem as it pitifully raised its head.

Fwoooosh!

Ah! My scales almost burned off.

I hurriedly dodged and barely survived.

Huh? The floor was rippling.

I used Leap to jump away.

Boom!

The stone slabs of the floor slammed together like clapping hands right where I'd been.

I looked to the side. It was the golem friend with no arms.

Dangerous.

I retreated first.

The moment I moved outside the corridor's boundary...

-Interception confirmed.

With a whirring sound, the glow in the golems' eyes turned gentle.

They returned to where they had originally been standing.

No, the interception hadn't been confirmed yet.

After thinking for a moment, I cautiously poked my head inside.

-Monster intrusion detected. Activating interception golems.

The golems sprang to their feet again.

I pulled myself back out of the corridor.

-Interception confirmed.

I poked my head in.

-Monster intrusion detected...

-Interception confirmed.

This was fun.

After making the golems stand and sit about ten times, I realized something important.

So I tried it immediately.

Hey, Guard B.

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【Pelerian's Guard B】

【Skills】

......[Beginner Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 10]

......

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Let me borrow that for a moment~

「Billy's Horn Lv. 2 borrows Beginner Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 10.」

「Success. You temporarily gain Beginner Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 1.」

If things went well, I might be able to learn real magic here.

Footnotes:

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