WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 13: Shall I Show My 'True Power'?
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013.
The skill, ‘Billy's Horn.’
It was the most versatile skill I had.
It was an incredible skill that let a snake, which could normally do nothing but bite, even fly.
Of course, if another snake acquired this skill, its uses would probably be limited.
That was because there were restrictions on the skills Billy's Horn could borrow.
It could only borrow skills a snake could use, things like crawling quickly or hardening its scales.
But I had an overpowered bonus: the trait ‘Relentless Growth,’ which I had gained because my Potential stat was 20.
*「Due to the trait ‘Relentless Growth,’ your development is not restricted.」
This was my chance to become the world's worst magic-serpent, using the character for “snake.”
I could probably learn any skill.
Honestly, there was another skill I wanted to steal from the interception golems.
Why borrow beginner magic when there was such a tempting skill right there?
*「Billy's Horn Lv. 2 borrows Destruction Beam Lv. 6.」
Destruction Beam!
It was a move I'd coveted ever since playing Pokémon.
To think I would get to use the Destruction Beam that only Gyarados could use.
My heart pounded at the thought of reducing other monsters to dust.
Ah, but then there wouldn't be anything left to eat.
Still, that was a pointless concern.
*「Billy's Horn Lv. 2 lacks the proficiency required to borrow Destruction Beam Lv. 6.」
Gasp.
My skill was too low-level to borrow it.
It was only Lv. 2, so I guess there was nothing I could do.
It didn't seem like the deciding factor for whether I could borrow a skill was simply the target skill's level.
*「Billy's Horn Lv. 2 borrows Beginner Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 10.」
*「Success. You temporarily gain Beginner Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 1.」
I could borrow beginner elemental magic, after all.
There was something I needed to keep in mind, though.
Even though I borrowed a Lv. 10 skill, I could only use it at around Lv. 1.
Thinking back to how I had borrowed Leap Lv. 6 but only gained Leap Lv. 2, maybe basic magic was just a fairly high-level skill.
Then again, comparing magic to a skill that made me hop around was ridiculous.
So what could I do with earth magic?
Hup!
I could make the ground a little softer.
The golems had stomped around so much that the stone floor had cracked, exposing bare earth beneath it.
That ground became loose.
A snake like me could crawl over it without a problem, but when a golem stepped on it...
Slip.
It fell flat on its face.
Boom!
Even a ridiculous fall like that made an incredibly loud sound.
The one that had fallen was the earth golem with legs.
I decided to call the one that used fire magic the fire golem, and the one that used earth magic the earth golem.
The moment the earth golem fell was my chance.
I slithered up its head.
With Acceleration, I moved pretty fast.
The fallen earth golem swung its one remaining arm like it was swatting a fly, but...
Clang!
It only smacked itself in the head.
At last, I reached the top of the earth golem's head.
A shining Magic Stone was attached there.
That had to be its weak point. I opened my mouth wide and sank in my Poison Fang.
Crunch!
It wouldn't go in!
My teeth nearly broke.
Then, in that brief opening, the fire golem did what it always did.
Flames burst from its mouth.
Fwoooosh!
A wave of heat swept through the corridor.
It didn't seem to care whether its companion was caught in the fire.
In fact, the earth golem was fine even when struck by flames.
I didn't know whether that was because of Heat Resistance Lv. 10 or because it was a golem instead of a living creature.
Then what about me, with my impressive Heat Resistance Lv. 2?
Hot, hot, hot, hot!
I had no choice but to flee while flailing around like a sea eel thrown onto a grill.
Retreat!
Thank goodness the golems returned to their original positions as long as I stepped outside the corridor's boundary.
-Interception confirmed.
Only after seeing the golems return did I finally let out a sigh.
My back stung with heat.
My scales felt rough and raised, so I seemed to have been burned.
Well, it couldn't be helped. Still, I had made it back alive fairly safely this time.
On the fourth attempt, I had nearly died.
Right, this was already my fifth time brawling with the golems.
Maybe not even a day had passed.
I had eaten plenty of Cockatrice meat earlier, so I wasn't hungry yet.
I was a little thirsty, but I had a solution for that too.
Perhaps because of the earthquake, parts of the ceiling had been torn open.
One of the stalactites dripped water.
All I had to do was catch the falling water and drink it.
Ah, refreshing.
The burn on my back slowly healed. I really was a monster, after all.
I hadn't beaten the golems this time either.
Still, I had learned a few things.
First, I gave up on trying to Tear Apart the Magic Stone in their heads.
I had thought it would be their weak point, but it was protected by something like crystal.
My Tear Apart skill wasn't enough to break it.
Even so, using earth magic to make them slip worked wonderfully.
The golems had no ability to learn.
A strategy that had worked once could work again.
‘An effective attack.’
That was what I needed.
More than ninety percent of my offensive power came from Poison Fang.
With just one bite, most monsters would be poisoned.
The remaining ten percent came from Tear Apart.
Yet I couldn't use either of them against the golems.
If I bit a lump of rock, only my teeth would break.
It wasn't like I could strangle them to death, either. What a frustrating situation.
...
For some reason, though, I was enjoying myself.
This went beyond simple survival.
‘I am practicing how to fight golems stronger than me.’
Something like that.
Besides, I could gain an entertaining ability called magic.
If I used earth magic a little more, it felt like I could acquire it completely.
Then I could use strategies other than making them slip.
I wanted to challenge the golems again right away.
But I had to wait until my mana recovered.
There was something else I could do here besides sleep and rest.
I entered the vault.
Along with the rare treasures, there was a bookshelf filled with books.
There weren't many books, but there were plenty of interesting ones.
What should I read this time?
Right, this one.
[Named Monsters of the Great Forest]
I didn't know whether these letters were Elvish or some other language.
What was certain was that I could read them.
I understood people's language, as well as Pelerian's Elvish, so it seemed I had received some kind of reincarnation bonus.
I pulled the book out with my mouth.
Maybe because it was at least several hundred years old, it reeked of mold.
Still, the books inside the vault were in better condition.
The ones on the bookshelves outside had rotted so badly that they couldn't even be read.
I brought it before the crystal ball, which was still emitting a faint glow, and began to read.
These days, I only read web novels, but reading itself had been my hobby when I was young.
It felt like that hobby had come back to life.
I turned the pages with my tail and read mostly the parts that caught my interest.
Named monsters, huh? What kind of monsters were they?
Were they on Medusa Mom's level?
──────────────
【Shuemmura】
A land tortoise-type monster.
Estimated age: Over 1,200 years old.
According to observations from seven years ago, its size was comparable to a small castle.
It spends most of the year asleep, but there are records of it moving 10 km in a single night.
It has a gentle disposition.
──────────────
Haha, there was a limit to how much bullshit you could write.
If it was 1,200 years old then, wouldn't it be at least 1,500 by now?
...
Well, if it was true, there seemed to be some incredible monsters in the world.
Was my mom actually just some insignificant mob?
There was plenty of other interesting information.
Still, it seemed like half the book was a collection of legends. Even the book often said that the existence of its subjects had not been confirmed.
...
Ah.
I fell asleep while reading.
It reminded me of my exam-prep days.
When I opened my eyes, I could feel that my mana had recovered.
Good. Should I go hunt the golems again?
All right, hunting time.
* * *
Smack!
Urk.
I was struck by the golem's arm and sent flying.
At least that was fortunate. If I had been crushed beneath it, I would have become dried fish.
No, dried snake.
I rolled once more with the momentum that had sent me flying.
Survival Instinct had advised me to do that.
Fwoooosh!
Flames swept through the spot where I had been.
I had thought I had disabled the fire golem earlier, but I hadn't.
This was my seventh attempt.
I had tried knocking the golems backward and breaking their Magic Stones, but they were absurdly sturdy.
-Interception confirmed.
I retreated beyond the corridor's boundary again.
I gulped down water dripping from the stalactite.
Catching it one drop at a time was frustrating, so I brought over a helmet from the vault and used it as a water bowl.
I was starting to get hungry.
I needed to escape quickly.
Then I had to knock those bastards down.
* * *
Trying to pass through normally had failed!
I tried ignoring the golems and going straight through.
Then I realized that was impossible.
The earth golem blocked the path ahead of me.
Then the fire golem summoned and threw a fireball.
It was fortunate that I dodged with Leap. Otherwise, I would have been roasted whole.
Who would've thought close combat would be better?
It wasn't that I ran away because I couldn't beat them. I was just testing whether this was possible.
Of course I was.
-Interception confirmed.
I barely made it back to the crystal ball room.
I had to try again.
* * *
Ah, I really almost died that time.
My tail had nearly been severed.
The earth golem had stepped on it, so it had been destined to become flat.
There was only one reason I hadn't lost my tail.
I believed in you, magic ring!
The ring was damn sturdy.
Even though a golem stepped on it, the ring around my tail hadn't bent.
Thanks to that, my tail only ended up throbbing.
I approached the water bowl made with earth magic and gulped down water.
I had stopped using the helmet as a water bowl.
Hmm, should I make the bowl a little deeper?
The moment I used earth magic...
*「Beginner Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 1 has become Beginner Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 2.」
*「You have completely acquired the skill ‘Beginner Elemental Magic: Earth.’」
Ah.
It had finally happened.
I had waited for this moment.
After waiting for my mana to recover, I slowly raised myself.
Then, should I finally show them my true power?
Everything until now had been fake.
No joke, it really was.
If you didn't believe me, I'd show you.
I slowly entered the corridor.
How many attempts had this been?
After twenty, I stopped counting.
I was seriously starving to death now.
-Monster intrusion detected. Activating interception golems.
As if they weren't tired of it, the golems standing on both sides rose to their feet.
Ah, I was tired of this now.
I moved forward.
Boldly, as if I didn't care about the golems at all.
Then the earth golem stepped forward from the right.
I paused for a moment.
Boom!
The ground ahead folded over and struck the space right in front of me.
Ignoring the shockwave, I went around to the right and hid briefly.
Now it was the fire golem's turn.
Fwoooosh!
Flames swept across the ground.
It was hot, but I could endure it if I hid behind a rock wall created with earth magic.
*「Heat Resistance proficiency increases.」
*「Heat Resistance Lv. 7 has become Heat Resistance Lv. 8.」
Heh, this big brother can handle the heat now.
The golems weren't going to let me sit still.
The earth golem, whose legs were intact, tried to kick me.
This was where I used the earth magic I had become familiar with.
I softened the ground beneath the foot it was using to kick.
The earth golem fell backward.
This was the part where I needed my physical abilities.
I used Acceleration to quickly climb over its body.
It swung its one arm as if swatting a gnat, but I wasn't about to fail to dodge that.
I reached the shoulder of the golem that was trying to rise and swung my tail.
Ring, ring, give this golem friend a present.
Then the water bowl stored in my subspace, no, the helmet, dropped from the air with a thud.
The helmet landed perfectly over the golem's head.
It fell upside down, completely covering its eyes.
At that moment, the earth golem stopped moving.
I had confirmed that much on my twentieth attempt.
Without hesitating, I Leaped away.
Flames shot toward the earth golem's head.
The fire golem was the kind of bastard that didn't have any sense of camaraderie.
After firing its flames, it had a brief opening.
It was much easier to climb onto the head of the legless fire golem.
I swung the ring on my tail once more.
This time, it was the tattered robe from the vault.
That moldy garment covered the fire golem's head.
Putting a robe over its head was much easier than putting a helmet over it.
But if I put the robe over the earth golem's head first, there was a high chance the fire golem would burn it up.
The plan I had executed after so much hardship had worked, and my hypothesis was exactly right.
-Interception confirmed.
Both golems completely stopped.
A helmet and robe were pulled over their heads.
Yes!
There were no CCTV cameras here.
Well, there might have been some kind of magical device, but it seemed the golems' eyes had served as the CCTV cameras after all.
When I covered both of their eyes, it was treated as if I had disappeared from the corridor.
All right, should I kill the disabled golems now?
Ah.
I needed to take what I could first.
*「Billy's Horn Lv. 2 borrows Beginner Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 10.」
*「Success. You temporarily gain Beginner Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 1.」
I had completely acquired earth magic, so now I would become a fire-breathing snake.
*「Billy's Horn proficiency increases.」
*「Billy's Horn Lv. 2 has become Billy's Horn Lv. 3.」
Oh, a bonus too!
Footnotes:
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