WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 14: A Clue to Special Evolution
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014.
You foolish golems.
Cover your eyes, and you become as docile as chickens.
How strong would these golems have been if they were in proper condition?
Their status windows listed “Half-Destroyed” and “Malfunctioning.”
One had no legs, while the other had only one arm.
Most of their skills were disabled, too.
A single golem was probably strong enough to take down several monsters like Cockatrices.
Of course, now they were shut down and sprawled on the ground.
Grrrrumble-
I was incredibly hungry.
For the past few days, all I had eaten were cave bugs and tiny lizards.
I hadn't even been resting. I kept wrestling with the golems, and now my stomach was practically stuck to my back.
Still, even I probably couldn't digest a pile of rocks like a golem.
Yet there was a reason I couldn't leave.
Those Magic Stones.
Just looking at the Magic Stones attached to the golems' heads made drool stream from my mouth.
Because I knew how good Magic Stones tasted.
The problem was how to eat them.
Their Magic Stones were located between the crowns and backs of their heads.
They seemed exposed, but a crystal-like material covered them, so my teeth couldn't get through.
I had no hammer, and no hands to swing one.
So how was I supposed to break that crystal and slurp down the Magic Stones?
There was a way.
First, I carefully nudged the helmet resting on the earth golem's head.
If the helmet slipped off completely, the golem would start moving again.
I had put the helmet on backward.
That meant if I lifted the faceplate that normally covered its face, the back of its head would be exposed.
A tempting Magic Stone gleamed there.
*「You use Beginner Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 1.」
I opened my mouth and shot flames.
This felt really good.
I felt like a dragon instead of a snake.
I didn't actually have to breathe fire from my mouth, but the feeling was important, wasn't it?
The flames I breathed weren't as powerful as the golem's.
If I had to compare them, they were like a broken lighter suddenly flaring up.
That didn't mean they were weak.
I kept breathing fire until my face felt hot.
Naturally, the crystal protecting the Magic Stone didn't melt.
These golems had incredibly high Heat Resistance.
Then why had I gone through all this trouble?
It was all thanks to YouTube.
All kinds of videos came up in the Shorts I watched while lying in bed.
A lot of them were science experiment videos.
I always slept through science class, but those videos were so entertaining that I kept watching them.
Sure, the target audience seemed to be elementary school kids, but... what was I supposed to do when they were fun?
And now that I was a snake, I was putting what I had seen to use.
I took out the water bottle I had stored in my subspace.
Calling it a water bottle was generous. It was a crude sphere made with earth magic.
I had collected water droplets falling from the stalactites in this clumsy bottle.
Then I shattered the bottle of cold water against the golem's heated nape.
Ssssss!
Thick white steam rose violently.
Then I heard the sound I had been waiting for.
Crack, crack.
It split!
It was the same principle as a cup shattering when it was heated up and then placed in ice water.
I had thought it couldn't be helped if this failed, but it actually worked.
Thank you, X-Pop Lab!
I carefully swept away the crystal fragments with my tail.
The still-warm Magic Stone was exposed to the air.
No way.
I had naturally assumed it would be hard, but it was soft like cream.
The smell was... hmm... moldy.
Let's call that part of the flavor, too.
I plunged my head in and ate every last bit of the soft Magic Stone.
It felt a little like scraping out the shell of soy sauce marinated crab.
The rich taste of mana filled my mouth.
It was enough to make me want a bowl of rice.
*「You consume a Refined Magic Stone.」
*「Magical essence takes root within you.」
*「Your body becomes sturdier, and your mana is filled.」
Fortunately, this still seemed to count as a Magic Stone.
A Refined Magic Stone, huh? Was there such a thing?
Then an unexpected reward followed.
*「You have defeated Pelerian's Guard B.」
*「Your level has increased!」
*「Your level has increased!」
*「Your level has increased!」
Oh!!
The golems weren't monsters.
So I thought I wouldn't gain levels from them, but I was wrong.
I gained three levels at once.
That just showed how strong the golems were.
I had gone through all this trouble to eat the Magic Stone, so I should probably take care of the fire golem's Magic Stone, too.
I repeated the same process.
In other words, I broke open Guard A's nape and slurped up its Magic Stone.
*「You have defeated Pelerian's Guard A.」
*「Your level has increased!」
*「Your level has increased!」
This time, I gained two levels.
Wait, didn't I have enough levels by now?
I checked my status window.
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【White Horn Snake Lv. 10】
【Traits】
[Indomitable], [Relentless Growth], [Horn]
【Skills】
[Billy's Horn Lv. 3]: Beginner Elemental Magic: Fire Lv. 1
[Poison Fang Lv. 4], [Breath Holding Lv. 4], [Stealth Lv. 4], [Predation Lv. 3], [Tear Apart Lv. 5], [Venom Resistance Lv. 4], [Bleeding Resistance Lv. 3], [Pain Resistance Lv. 5], [Petrification Resistance Lv. 1], [Heat Resistance Lv. 8], [Survival Instinct Lv. 5], [Leap Lv. 5], [Mana Detection Lv. 2], [Acceleration Lv. 3], [Elementary Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 2]
──────────────
I had become a wizard.
Putting aside how much fuller my skill list had become, I focused on the “Status” section below it.
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【Status】
[Can Evolve], [Malnourished]
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Level 10 was the level cap!
Once again, reaching Level 10 meant I could evolve.
My heart raced. The Malnourished status beside it bothered me a little.
Still, I didn't think I could evolve right here.
Before evolving or doing anything else, I had to fill my stomach.
What if I starved to death before evolving?
Something else was bothering me, too.
What could I evolve into this time?
The choices when I first became able to evolve had been disappointing.
If I hadn't received a special evolution, I would have become the same Little Green Snake as my brothers and sisters.
Thanks to meeting the special condition, I had gained the deadly skill Billy's Horn.
Eating the Horn Jaguar's Magic Stone had come back as a butterfly effect.
‘The answer is special evolution.’
I was certain.
If possible, I wanted to meet the special condition again and undergo another special evolution.
But I didn't know what the special condition was, or even whether special evolutions were always possible.
For now, I should head deeper inside.
That was the conclusion I came to.
There was nothing I could do by sitting here.
The corridor continued far into the distance.
From outside, this place had looked like a large hill, but it seemed the entire underground area was a dungeon.
A dark space appeared ahead.
Then Pelerian suddenly appeared.
-This is my laboratory.
Thankfully, it was an illusion.
He must have assumed an elf would be standing here, because his eye level was definitely high.
Mister, I'm down here.
-It's the latest model, powered by Magic Crystals. I made it by borrowing the Mage Tower's technology. Even the elders didn't approve of that... The power source is over there.
There were several things that looked like machines.
They weren't like the laboratories I had seen in science fiction movies.
They looked strangely crude and ancient, machines that definitely seemed to run on mana rather than electricity.
I pulled the power lever carved in the shape of an eagle.
Clank, hummmm-
The crystals attached to the walls began to shine.
The room brightened.
Various devices, which had gone without light for hundreds of years and even endured an earthquake, were revealed.
Most were broken.
I couldn't even guess what they had been used for.
-How is it? Overwhelming, isn't it? Of course it is. This is the pinnacle of my magical technology... I researched evolution here.
Despite being an illusion, Pelerian was acting smug.
-But don't worry, my kin. Your task is simple. The magical spirit I created will handle all the complicated work. Clap twice.
What an unreasonable demand.
Was this guy completely prejudiced against snakes? What was someone without hands like me supposed to do?
I had no choice.
I struck the floor twice with my tail.
Clap, clap-
It made something close to the sound of applause.
Then a crystal on the ceiling flashed, and a voice echoed through the room.
-Please give your command.
Whoa, that startled me.
It was the same voice that had said, “Monster intrusion detected.”
That gave me chills for a second.
Pelerian smiled with satisfaction.
-A chimera I created, Pafnacha, is in hibernation here. One of Pafnacha's special evolution conditions is enduring 300 years. I analyzed that using the machine on the right.
My eyes widened.
Was there a way to find out the conditions for special evolution?
And apparently, there were special conditions that required three hundred years to pass.
What if mine was something like that?
-It's trapped inside the tank ahead.
I looked in the direction Pelerian pointed.
Then I was left speechless.
-Wake it from hibernation and evolve it. Then record and transmit the process.
‘Excuse me, but.’
There was definitely something like a tank in the direction Pelerian's illusion indicated.
‘...There's nothing in there.’
It was completely smashed.
The crystal panels had shattered into pieces, probably because of the earthquake.
There was nothing inside it, either.
If there had been a corpse, that would have been one thing, but the tank was empty.
-Do not be afraid. Leave everything to me.
If a monster like that had been inside, even I wouldn't have woken it from hibernation.
But Pelerian said something strange.
He directly commanded the magical spirit.
-Spirit, seal the corridor.
-Yes. Activating the interception golems.
I had already destroyed all those interception golems.
Pelerian's expression was as sinister as could be.
-My apologies, my kin. One of the evolution conditions requires consuming elven blood, you see. Release hibernation.
-Releasing hibernation.
That racist elf, don't tell me...
-Your sacrifice will serve the advancement of the entire elven race.
-Releasing Pafnacha. Transmitting the experiment data.
-Then farewell.
Pelerian's illusion vanished in an instant.
The completely destroyed tank began flashing.
-Unable to release hibernation.
The voice only stated that calmly.
Of course it couldn't. The tank and everything else had been smashed to pieces.
And Pafnacha or Paprika, or whatever it was called, seemed to have already escaped.
The wall behind the tank had been destroyed.
I couldn't help but be impressed by the Fairy Mage named Pelerian.
It looked like the elves in this world weren't trustworthy after all.
That elderly elf supremacist had intended to offer even a member of his own race as a sacrifice for his research.
His cunning, sinister plan had been crushed by the monster called time.
If there hadn't been an earthquake, he might really have accomplished his goal.
Still, there was supposedly a way to learn evolution conditions.
I approached the machine on the right and looked around.
This one seemed broken, too. Would it still work?
There were things to pull and things to press.
The moment I pulled a bright red handle...
Click.
Something like a cover opened.
Inside was a cross-shaped groove that looked like it could hold something.
...This looked exactly like the shape of the seal on my ring.
I carefully brought the signet ring on my tail toward it.
A jolt ran through me.
"Lord Pelerian, please give your command."
A voice echoed out.
It was unfair that it mistook me for a racist, psychopathic old elf.
What should I make it do?
Footnotes:
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