WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 23: The Second Evolution
──────
Chomp!
I wasn't whining like a child.
That was the sound effect of me bravely biting into the Chimera's torso.
My venom glands tightened.
I'd injected every last drop of the Neurotoxin pooled inside them.
They were completely empty now.
"Kwaek!"
The Chimera sprayed blood everywhere.
Even so, it was still moving quickly.
Tough bastard.
Just looking at its size, it seemed bigger than an elephant.
It would easily weigh several tons.
Besides, I'd recently become convinced of something.
If there was a rabbit with Venom Resistance Lv. 3 and Medusa Mom with Venom Resistance Lv. 2, which one would be more resistant to poison?
The answer was obvious.
Medusa Mom was stronger, of course. Ordinary venom probably wouldn't even faze her.
Skills were clearly meaningful, but they weren't everything.
Physical size mattered.
It was only natural that a Zealot's Slash Lv. 1 would be stronger than a mantis's Slash Lv. 10.
Then there was constitution, or perhaps a monster's rank.
For example, even though I was pathetic, I was a venomous snake, so I'd always been fairly resistant to poison.
By that logic, I couldn't underestimate this Chimera either.
Didn't it have Dragon Bloodline?
Pelerian wouldn't have gone to the trouble of mixing dragon blood into it just to look cool.
There had to be some kind of effect.
Thud, thud, thud!
Its intact legs danced a deadly dance, trying to crush me.
A human body would be sliced apart like butcher-shop meat beneath those legs.
But I was small.
Even now, I was only as thick as a baby's arm.
No matter how hard it swung those enormous legs, they shouldn't be able to hit me.
Ack!
My tail got lightly pinched.
I was bleeding.
I'd already been focused, but I focused even harder.
Using Acceleration, I dodged the legs and slipped beneath its body.
If I did this...
Thud!
Just as expected.
Its own legs tangled up, and it fell over.
Under normal circumstances, maybe it wouldn't have, but I'd already cut off three of its legs.
Good. Now that it had fallen, I could pour fire over it.
Huh?
Things didn't go the way I wanted.
It had evolved Frenzy Lv. 20 into Berserker Lv. 1.
What was a berserker?
Someone who kept fighting even after being shot with arrows, even while their guts spilled from a torn-open stomach.
As it kept falling, the bastard did something insane.
It used its two sturdy front legs as supports and raised its body.
In other words...
'It stood up...! The bastard stood up!'
The sight was so absurd that I forgot I was fighting and blurted out my admiration.
Still, it wasn't that threatening.
Standing up, all it could do was flail its remaining legs around.
It looked like one of those flying squirrel characters charging forward while yelling, "Hug me!"
"Gweeeek!"
It spewed bloody vomit.
Ugh, it looked dangerous somehow, so I hurriedly dodged.
Sure enough, the moment it vomited, it threw its body at me.
Its wide-open mouth gaped, trying to swallow me whole.
*「You use Elementary Elemental Magic: Earth Lv. 4.」
I used the same magic I'd used on the golem.
I made the ground beneath its feet slippery.
In that position, it had no choice but to fall even more easily.
Instead of crushing me, it collapsed into the vomit it had spilled.
Splat!
Ugh, gross.
"Squeak, squeak!"
It couldn't even walk properly now.
It crawled toward me.
Its fighting spirit really was impressive.
Fine, I'll finish you now.
I couldn't sink my Poison Fang into it anymore.
If I kept my distance, the bastard I'd worked so hard to corner might escape again.
That meant I had to end this here and now.
Before I knew it, I was beside the Elven Broadsword that had been knocked away.
This light sword was actually easier to hold in my mouth than in my tail.
I'd held it in my tail until now so I could use Poison Fang, but that didn't matter anymore.
Crunch.
I bit down and lifted it.
Ah, this cool, weighty feeling.
It was time to become a swordsman again.
I unleashed the Hyeonmun Orthodox Sect's Daoist Sword Art.
In other words, I ran as hard as I could with a sword in my mouth.
It wasn't pointless. I'd seen swordsmen use swords like this in comics too.
Hup!
I poured all my mana into Slash.
It swung a leg at me, trying to kill me as well.
Swoosh!
Its leg skimmed past my body.
I passed between its legs instead.
Naturally, I spun my body and cut through its torso as I went.
Snake Blade Style, Chimera Cut.
*「You use Slash Lv. 1.」
Slice!
It cut deep.
Something like a bright-red mass of organs spilled from its split-open body.
I'd been waiting for this moment.
Boldly, I used Leap.
I jumped into the gaping red wound and entered its body.
I'd done this once before, so I was used to it.
The Horn Jaguar had suffered the same fate.
Back then, I'd been a tiny thread snake, but it had worked remarkably well.
Come on, Chimera. You try enduring it too.
Like a loach in water, I burrowed through its insides.
Then I bit and tore at everything around me.
My body and bite strength were on a completely different level from before.
It shrieked and struggled desperately.
Of course, I wasn't safe either.
It was very difficult to breathe inside a body.
Good thing I had the Breath Holding skill.
I just had to kill it before I suffocated.
Or find its lungs first.
To do that, I thoroughly churned through its insides.
Ptooey, ptooey. Bitter. Was that its gallbladder?
Man, I'd really developed a strong stomach.
Then I felt myself slowly sinking downward.
It wasn't as if it had jumped off a cliff like the Horn Jaguar.
It was instinctively trying to escape into a burrow.
I'd better finish it quickly.
Then I finally found it.
Its heart, beating hotly.
Crunch.
No matter how much of a Berserker it was, there couldn't be a monster that kept fighting with its heart burst.
Even if you were a monster, Chimera, that had to be true.
Its movements stopped.
Thud.
Soon after, I felt a massive amount of experience being absorbed.
Or perhaps Magical Essence was a more fitting way to put it.
*「You absorb a massive amount of Magical Essence.」
*「Your level has reached its limit.」
*「Unabsorbed magical essence is being stored.」
Ah, what a waste.
Normally, I probably would've gained a ton of levels like when I defeated the Horn Jaguar.
The Chimera was clearly much stronger than the Horn Jaguar.
Sure, I could evolve skills with the accumulated Magical Essence, but it was still disappointing.
*「Accumulated Magical Essence is nearing its threshold.」
What? What threshold?
I checked my status window again.
──────────────
【White Horn Snake Lv. 10+++】
──────────────
There were now three plus signs beside my level.
Hmm.
First, I should collect the Magic Stone.
As always, the Chimera had a Magic Stone inside its heart.
The Chimera had been Level 20.
The Horn Jaguar had been over Level 30, so based on levels alone, the Horn Jaguar looked stronger.
But apparently, that wasn't the case.
The Chimera's Magic Stone was big and beautiful.
──────────────
【Pafnacha's Magic Stone: Grade 4】
──────────────
Thanks for the meal.
No!
The moment I ate Pafnacha's Magic Stone, I was shocked.
It tasted different.
The Cockatrice's Magic Stone had a wonderfully warm yet sharp flavor.
Pafnacha's Magic Stone, though, was much sweeter.
Maybe it was because Dragon Bloodline had been mixed into it, but it had a distinct sweetness, almost like dalgona candy.
In other words, it was delicious.
Excellent.
*「Magical Essence infuses your body.」
*「Your rank rises slightly.」
*「Accumulated Magical Essence is nearing its threshold.」
Once again, I heard that my Magical Essence was nearing its threshold.
What was a threshold, and what would happen once I reached it?
I was curious, but there was no way to find out.
Because I no longer wanted to delay my evolution.
I couldn't take it anymore!
I crawled out of the Chimera's body and looked around.
This was a pitch-black burrow.
It stank, and Pafnacha's corpse was beside me, but few places could be safer than this.
In other words, it was the perfect place to evolve.
All right, shall I do it?
To evolve, I had to sleep.
I settled down beside the Chimera's corpse.
In my previous life, it took me a long time to fall asleep.
Maybe it was because I'd developed a habit of lying down and using my smartphone.
Whenever I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, all kinds of thoughts came to me.
Anxious thoughts, the feeling that it was a waste to fall asleep.
I'd suffered from insomnia because of that, but things were different now.
The moment I closed my eyes, I could fall asleep right away.
Maybe insomnia was a Mental Strength issue too.
Living as a snake was more satisfying than I'd expected, after all.
Sleepiness washed over me quickly.
When I opened my eyes again, I would have evolved.
Goodbye, world.
I sank into a sleep as dark as night...
I didn't.
Wait.
My eyes flew open.
I'd remembered something.
Pafnacha's status window.
I couldn't check it again now that it was dead, but I remembered seeing this.
──────────────
【Two Hearts Lv. 1】
──────────────
It had a skill like that.
I wondered if it was some kind of Park Ji-sung thing, but what sort of skill was it?
Did it let you run around a field endlessly without getting tired?
Or perhaps...
I used Mana Detection.
The view before me changed.
The Chimera's blood seemed to contain mana.
Everything was glowing faintly red, but one part of its body held a particularly bright cluster of light.
Probably where the Magic Stone was.
I burrowed back into its body.
And it really was there.
Another heart.
The skill Two Hearts had meant exactly what it said.
But if it had two hearts, shouldn't it have survived after one of them burst?
No, come to think of it, it probably didn't work like a comic book.
──────────────
【Pafnacha's Magic Stone: Grade 4】
──────────────
This heart had a Magic Stone too.
Two Magic Stones.
I crunched this one down as well.
That sweet flavor spread through my mouth once again, followed by a voice even sweeter than the taste.
*「Accumulated Magical Essence has reached its threshold.」
*「The Magical Essence infused in your body accelerates evolution.」
*「Evolve.」
Yeah, I was going to evolve.
Had something changed?
I'd swallowed so much of Pafnacha's blood while defeating it that my belly was stuffed.
I wondered if my evolution tree had changed.
I hurriedly tried to sleep.
My heart was pounding, so it was strangely difficult to fall asleep...
──────────────
[You have reached Level 10 and can evolve.]
[Would you like to evolve?]
──────────────
Haha, I practically fell asleep the moment my head touched the ground.
Before I knew it, my status window was floating before my eyes.
There was something new too.
──────────────
[The accumulation of Magical Essence accelerates evolution.]
──────────────
Accelerates, huh.
Then the evolution options appeared.
──────────────
From 【White Horn Snake Lv. 10】
1. 【Green Horn Snake】
2. 【Poison White Snake】
3. 【Swamp White Horn Snake】
4. 【Trap Horn Snake】
5. 【Double Horn Snake】
6. 【White Horn Python】
──────────────
Every evolution option had a '+' sign beside it.
That must have been what evolution acceleration meant.
I didn't know exactly what would happen, though.
And then there was the newly added sixth option.
I couldn't stop trembling.
At last, an option that wasn't a Snake had appeared.
It was a Python.
In Korean, the word for python literally meant "silk snake."
It was similar in appearance to the boa constrictor from The Little Prince.
A python's defining traits were its patterns and its size.
As that Korean name implied, it had beautiful patterns. Depending on the species, it could grow large enough to eat a person.
Some could even grow to nearly the same size as an anaconda.
Just as Medusa Mom was a Serpent, this was clearly the next stage after Snake.
As expected of Dragon Bloodline!
──────────────
【White Horn Python】
A rare white python. It bears beautiful patterns formed by mana.
Its white body is disadvantageous for survival, but because of that color, its patterns possess unique mana.
──────────────
Even the description was beautiful beyond words.
Green, get lost!
Was the age of White finally here?
I considered it for the sake of courtesy, but only for a moment.
Yeah, what else was there to choose?
*「You have selected White Horn Python.」
*「Evolution begins.」
Special Evolution!
Only then did the meaning of "acceleration" become clear.
*「Evolution is accelerated by accumulated Magical Essence.」
*「Based on the conditions achieved by the target, the evolution process accelerates.」
Huh.
Was my hard work finally being properly recognized?
Was that it?
*「You have made the greatest use of Horn.」
That's right, Horn.
*「You evolve into White Double-Horn Python.」
Ooh.
My head itched, and another horn grew out.
My body grew larger, and beautiful apricot-colored patterns emerged across my white, smooth scales.
And so, I evolved.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
