WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
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◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 123: The Best Roller
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Let’s first organize the Chimeras here.
Pelerian Dungeon Chimera Records.
There were nine Chimeras in total, numbered from No. 1 to No. 9.
The nine tanks had been numbered in order.
‘Test Subject No. 1: Meatball’ was the first Chimera ever made.
There was no need to think too deeply about Meatball.
It had already burned to death.
It had no legs, so it could not escape Isil’s Hellfire attack.
I had wanted to take a bite, but it had become a complete lump of charcoal, so I never got to taste it.
The second Chimera was...
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〔Test Subject No. 02〕: One-Leg
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It only had one leg.
It looked like some creature from a folktale, or perhaps a dokkaebi.
It did not have a proper torso with a leg attached. It looked more like a rugby ball with a single leg sticking out of it.
Eyes grew all around its body, so it seemed capable of seeing in every direction.
For something with only one leg, it was fairly fast. It hopped away on one foot and vanished in an instant.
The third was Three-Eyes.
It had three eyes and three legs.
Maybe it had three legs because Pelerian regretted giving the second Chimera only one.
Perhaps he had tried to attach another leg, then added too many.
Anyway, it was swallowed by flames and became my experience.
Let’s skip the fourth Chimera for now and analyze the fifth.
‘Test Subject No. 5, Big Belly.’
Just as its name suggested, its belly bulged out while its arms and legs were thin.
Its skin was pale. A yellow tank top would have suited it.
Instead of hands, it had tentacle-like things on its arms. Those tentacles were clearly reproductive organs.
Baby tentacles had grown from the body of the human it had killed by piercing their stomach.
It was fortunate that it had burned to death.
I hoped there were no worse Chimeras than that.
Right, and now, back to No. 4.
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〔Test Subject No. 04〕: Bloodscale
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Pelerian’s original body had given it the nickname Bloodscale.
I understood why.
Scales covered its body.
But unlike mine, they had none of that beauty.
They did not grow densely together. They looked as though they had forced their way through its flesh.
Some had not even emerged from the skin, like ingrown hairs.
That was why they remained blood-red. Bloodscale.
But if it were me, I would have named it differently.
A more accurate nickname would probably be...
‘Rotten gimbap.’
That was what I would have called it.
Its body was a long cylinder.
The part that should have been its head had hair and tentacle-like things sticking out of it, like the end of a gimbap roll.
Its legs were short and weak too, like the end of a gimbap roll.
Red scales grew over its skin, while pale flesh covered it, making it look like moldy gimbap.
Could there be a more fitting name than Rotten Gimbap?
If gimbap existed in this world, Pelerian would have named it that too.
Judging by its body structure, Chimera No. 4 did not seem capable of walking or running properly.
That was why I had thought of it when I saw something unable to pass through the stairwell.
Sure enough.
My guess proved correct.
-Shh.
‘Shh.’
Bob, bob.
We hid some distance away and watched.
Bloodscale, or Rotten Gimbap, was over there.
-It is not just unable to climb stairs. It cannot even walk.
Pelerian muttered.
Just as its appearance suggested, Bloodscale could not walk properly.
Instead, it rolled around.
It was actually pretty good at rolling.
It might even have been faster than I was while crawling.
But stairs were a problem.
It could not roll upward.
Then Blood Gimbap, no, Bloodscale, put on an astonishing performance.
Like a fish leaping from the water, it sprang upward.
That was how it climbed the stairs.
So far, so good. But then came the problem.
Since it had not supported itself with its limbs to climb, it struggled to keep its balance.
Even if it made it up a steep step, momentum carried it onward, and it rolled back down.
Thud!
That had to hurt.
Its body trembled, so it probably did.
It stayed still for a moment, then repeated the same attempt.
To climb the entire staircase, it would need to succeed at that leap ten times in a row.
‘What a pathetic Chimera.’
Its intelligence clearly was not very high.
-Pathetic... Hngh.
Pelerian looked like he wanted to object, but then he grimaced, perhaps because objecting would have been even stranger.
I kept watching and focused my eyes.
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【Test Subject No. 4 Bloodscale Lv. 70】
【Traits】
[Hard Worker], [Single-Minded]
.........
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The Hard Worker trait did not seem strange, considering that it kept trying without giving up.
And level 70 was not low.
It was higher than mine, at least.
I could not tell much from its presence alone, so I needed to check its skills.
Judging by how it looked, I did not expect it to have particularly powerful skills.
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【Skills】
[Roll Lv. 20], [Spring Up Lv. 10], [Poison Scales Lv. 10], [Shock Resistance Lv. 10], [Slash Resistance Lv. 10], [Heat Resistance Lv. 10]...
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Huh!
The most noticeable one was Roll Lv. 20.
Reaching level 20 in any skill was not easy.
It was true whether it was a high-level skill or a lesser one. In fact, I did not have a skill I had refined to that point yet.
‘Roll’ did not seem like a particularly impressive skill.
But what if it was a Roll Lv. 20 pursued with all its heart...?
-It just rolls around.
But maybe it rolled around incredibly well.
‘We shouldn’t underestimate it.’
I remembered something.
Given the layout around the tanks, Bloodscale should have been the next closest to me after Big Belly.
Yet when Isil unleashed Hellfire, it had already left its spot.
Had there been time for that?
Bloodscale had escaped in that brief moment.
It could not have run on those weak legs, so it must have rolled. If so, its rolling speed could not be ordinary.
‘Should I borrow it?’
At some point, I had begun using Billy’s Horn only to borrow high-level skills.
Heavenly Thunder Decree and Giantification were prime examples.
But that had a downside. Fully mastering high-level skills took a lot of time and effort.
That was why, even when I saw tempting skills, all I could do was suck my finger, or rather, my tail.
‘Roll...!’
Now that I had fully mastered Giantification, I wanted to borrow Roll with Crown of Seizure, the evolved form of Billy’s Horn.
But it seemed that Crown of Seizure had an effect beyond my expectations.
「This skill can be seized.」
For a moment, I wondered what that meant.
Crown of Seizure was a skill evolved from Billy’s Horn.
There was clearly a difference between borrowing and seizing.
I had wondered why it had been given such a vicious modifier...
I could take the target’s Roll away.
「You seize ‘Roll Lv. 20.’」
「You temporarily acquire ‘Roll Lv. 10.’」
Up to this point, it was the same mechanism as Billy’s Horn.
No, even though it was a lesser skill, I had borrowed it at level 10 right away. Had its efficiency improved?
Anyway, the true value of Crown of Seizure came next.
「The target’s ‘Roll Lv. 20’ temporarily becomes ‘Roll Lv. 13.’」
Oh!
It truly was seizure.
Even if only temporarily, it was a skill that inflicted a powerful debuff on the target.
It was this good?
However, it seemed impossible to use Crown of Seizure secretly.
“Drruk.”
With that strange cry, it turned its head toward me.
That was when I realized it had been a head.
Several black eyes were embedded amid the tentacles and wild hair sticking out like filling from a gimbap roll.
“Drrururuk!”
It was clearly angry.
It began rolling toward me.
But that rolling was different from what I had expected.
It was not limited to rolling sideways.
It curled its body into a hoop and rolled forward like a wheel.
And it was faster than I had imagined.
A racing car was charging at me.
If I had not rolled aside, I would have had trouble avoiding it.
Bloodscale shot past me and struck the wall behind me.
Crash!
I shuddered as I felt my own speed.
‘It was incredibly fast!’
It was no less fast than Heart-Eating Leap.
Then again, spinning was a surprisingly useful technique for long creatures like me.
-Move!
Bloodscale flew at me using Spring Up.
But I had Heart-Eating Leap, a superior skill.
Avoiding it was easy.
However, it seemed to have expected even that.
This was an enclosed room, blocked off on every side.
By combining Roll and Spring Up, it ricocheted in unpredictable paths every time it struck a wall.
It would probably feel like throwing a rugby ball hard inside a room.
That massive body moved like mad.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump!
If it crushed me, I would be squashed to death at minimum.
And it had Poison Scales too.
It must have been a fairly efficient fighting style, poisoning its opponent every time it collided with them.
Even I, dodging quickly, was eventually grazed by it.
Sizzle...
Of course, I had Crystal Scales plus Black Scales.
Its half-formed scales could not compare to mine.
Instead, it was the one that got hurt.
Boing!
It stopped in one corner.
It seemed to be planning to flatten me in a single strike.
It curled its body like an inchworm, likely gathering momentum.
I did not dodge. I just stared at it.
My accumulated experience told me exactly when it would spring.
...Right now.
Boing!
The moment it charged at me.
I did not move immediately.
I waited until just before it hit me, then sprang up.
So it could not bend its body.
So it would pierce itself on the longsword hidden behind me.
The Celestium longsword was sharp enough.
And Bloodscale’s speed was sufficient too.
Thwack!
It was pierced through the mouth.
Sunset’s blade sank so deeply that it could no longer be seen.
Flop, flop!
It thrashed a few times.
Then it died.
It had been an easy hunt, in a way.
But the Magical Essence the Chimera left behind exceeded my expectations.
「Your level has increased!」
「Your level has increased!」
Two level-ups at once.
Considering that the amount of Magical Essence needed to level up increased with every level, it was an exceedingly generous reward.
A thrilling rush filled me.
Let’s check my current status.
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【Crystal Crown Python Lv. 45】
【Epithets】 Urooros, Heart-Eating Snake
【Traits】
[Indomitable], [Relentless Growth], [Crown]
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CCP, level 45 achieved.
If level 50 was when I could evolve, the goal was truly close now.
Could I evolve into a Serpent soon?
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【Skills】
▸ Crown
[Seizure Lv. 4]: Roll Lv. 10, [Overcoming Lv. 2], [Domination Lv. 1]
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This time, I learned the potential of Crown of Seizure.
I had thought borrowing good skills was best, but I should learn even minor skills.
For now, I could probably make Roll mine easily enough.
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▸ Magic
[Beginner Elemental]: Fire Lv. 8, Earth Lv. 7, Water Lv. 5, Wind Lv. 6
[Transparent Hand Lv. 14], [Lightening Lv. 5]
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I had not neglected my training as a magic snake either...
My elemental magic skills had risen quite a bit lately, and Transparent Hand and Lightening had naturally improved because I had practiced swordsmanship so much.
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▸ Techniques
[Giantification Lv. 2], [Iron Lion Standard Swordsmanship Lv. 2], [Perran School Dagger Arts Lv. 4], [Beam Lv. 3], [Heavenly Thunder Decree Lv. 2], [Heart-Eating Leap Lv. 4], [Deadly Venom: Neurotoxin Lv. 5], [Poison Scales Lv. 2], [Tail Strike Lv. 3], [Slash Lv. 5], [Mana Detection Lv. 3], [Acceleration Lv. 7]
▸ Survival
[Resistance]: Poison Lv. 7, Bleeding Lv. 3, Pain Lv. 8, Heat Lv. 12, Cold Lv. 1, Petrification Lv. 1, Lightning Lv. 1, Shock Lv. 2
[Survival Instinct Lv. 7], [Black Scales Lv. 3], [Swimming Lv. 1], [Hold Breath Lv. 10], [Stealth Lv. 10]...
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I had quite a variety of other skills too.
But compared with the increased number of skills, it seemed that each of their levels had not risen much.
Something to reflect on.
Had I been too focused on rushing ahead?
Maybe I needed time to train steadily and grow stronger.
-I told you long ago. If you properly refined magic alone, the world would be yours.
Pelerian said that, but that was by elven standards.
Properly refining it would probably take about a hundred years.
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【Accomplishments】
[Guard Captain Slaying], [Friend of Centipedes], [Goblins’ True Friend], [Monster Leader],
[Monster Wave Suppressor], [Demon Slayer]...
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I had accumulated many dazzling accomplishments too.
Once I evolved into a Serpent, I would want for nothing more.
I stayed still, and Isil tapped me with a leaf.
Isil was shriveled and yellow.
Isil must have overexerted themself using Hellfire. They were probably hungry too.
‘All right! Let’s go back and eat!’
The menu is, drumroll.
Chimera gimbap.
I dragged the dead Chimera back to the control room.
Footnotes:
“Magic snake” preserves a Korean character pun that alters the word for “mage” by replacing its final character with “snake.” Gimbap is a Korean seaweed rice roll.
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