WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 49: White Is Beautiful

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049.

It's well known that I'm an orphan who lost both parents.

That doesn't mean I'd be stupid enough to accept a gorilla's adoption offer.

I'm not that starved for affection.

Of course, there were times when I wanted to meet the father I'd never even seen.

Seeing that Dashnan's journal contained information about him only made me want it more.

-A Serpent of a very special species. If I get the chance, I'd like to see him too. Unlike the Medusa Serpent, he's supposedly gentle, so it should be fine.

Even Pelerian said so.

But if I became part of the gorilla's family, what would our relationship be?

‘Are you female or male?’

I asked her that.

Naturally, since I couldn't speak, finding a way to ask the gorilla was quite the ordeal.

Only after drawing all sorts of bizarre and obscene pictures did the gorilla answer me.

She was female. Did that make her my older sister?

I thought she was a male gorilla because of her massive build, so it came as a shock.

"Would it... be nice... if I became... your mom? Then... will you let me go?"

No, you idiot!

Anyway, after thinking it over for a long time, I made my decision.

"Thank you... thank you so much..."

I let the talking gorilla out of her cage.

Up close, she was quite skinny.

Several monster corpses had dried up inside the cage where she'd been held. They had been imprisoned with her, but there were no signs she'd eaten them.

"I eat fruit... like fruit. Bugs too..."

From what I heard, the gorilla's diet was milder than expected.

How did she get such bulging muscles eating only that stuff?

I lightly squeezed the back of her neck.

It wasn't an affectionate gesture. It was a threat.

A cold warning that I'd kill her if she had lied.

"I keep promise... I've seen a big, cool snake. Sage knows... where he is. Sage knows everything..."

That was reason number one for letting the gorilla out.

She had seen my father, and she was certain that one of her kind knew where he was.

"I'll also tell you... how to pick fruit during the Festival... if it's on the way..."

She also said she'd tell me about the Festival that took place here.

-I know that “Fruit Week” is sometimes held in the Great Forest. Flowers bloom from the World Tree's branches, and fruit forms on the roots exposed above the ground. Monsters grow stronger each time, and Named Monsters are born.

Even PelerianWiki didn't know everything.

-However, it's difficult to know exactly how the monsters gathered around the roots behave. Entry is restricted wherever Fruit Week begins.

Dashnan's knowledge seemed more detailed when it came to how monsters behaved and their ecology.

Still, even after searching Dashnan's room, all I found about the Festival was vague nonsense.

"For fruit... monsters join together. Us too... bugs too..."

It's rare for monsters of different species to form a group.

Even monsters of the same species often fight each other to the death.

That was the instinct of a race born with the categorical imperative that they had to grow stronger.

Yet the monsters of this Shadow Forest had formed groups.

According to Dashnan's records, there were currently two groups.

One was made up of monsters with hands, probably primates.

The other was an army of insect-type monsters.

Could Centipede Mom, whom I'd parted with, have joined the insect-type monster army?

‘Why are monsters forming groups?’

With that question in mind, I tapped the gorilla's forehead twice.

It meant she should spill everything she knew.

The gorilla was smarter than I'd expected.

According to Pelerian, only a few high-ranking monster species could speak.

This gorilla wasn't a monster of that caliber.

She could probably speak, however clumsily, because she was an intelligent primate.

If the secret of speech had been a skill, I could've borrowed it with Billy's Horn.

Surprisingly, the gorilla's language resembled human speech.

The accent and vocabulary differed quite a bit, but it was similar enough that even Pelerian could understand it.

Pelerian explained that the gorilla's language, in other words human language, was the common tongue.

It had supposedly existed since ancient times. Pelerian said that monsters who had learned language on their own, and even dragons that could no longer be seen, used it.

"Eat fruit, grow strong... but eat fruit, stop. Someone must... protect..."

They stopped?

Did that mean their bodies stiffened?

Well, if so, I'd need trustworthy companions to protect me.

I glanced back at Spot, who was following behind.

When our eyes met, Spot wagged their tail wildly.

Relying only on Spot before eating something called “fruit” did seem dangerous.

That didn't mean I intended to become the gorilla's family.

Centipede Mom would be more reliable.

Still, shouldn't I at least find out what the gorilla's group was like?

It looked like I'd be staying here for a while.

Come to think of it, did that mean my father didn't belong to any group either?

"There used to be... one more group. Not now. Leader... died."

So that was what happened.

Each group had a leader.

"Our chief... Silver Monkey... very strong..."

Was the leader of the primates some Monkey King Sun Wukong or something?

They might be dangerous.

I headed toward the forest where the gorilla's people lived with her.

They called it Monkey Forest, and we had to cross a hilly area to reach it.

Something there caught my eye.

‘Is that a tree or what?’

-It's a root.

Something smooth and enormous, like a baobab tree, stood out.

A huge pillar rose from the middle of the hills.

-It's an exposed root of the World Tree.

What kind of root was that huge?

The smaller roots branching out from it looked just like tree branches. But there were no leaves, so it really must have been a root.

I saw several more roots on the way to the forest beyond the hills.

That was where fruit formed.

Although Fruit Week hadn't started in earnest yet, several unripe fruits had apparently already grown and fallen.

"There, there... our forest."

A dark forest lay ahead.

The forest ruled by primates.

‘Spot!’

I stopped the gorilla and had Spot wait here.

I'd ride Spot on the way back.

Spot's sprinting ability was incredible, enough that the primates would have a hard time chasing us.

Getting back here was the problem.

To prepare for that, I'd already borrowed a skill useful for escaping from a monster in the Indoor Zoo.

*「You use Magic: Transparent Hand Lv. 3.」

I drew my sword.

This was the secret behind the “adoption offer.”

It was transparent, but I clearly had a hand.

‘Try anything funny and I'll kill you. You and your kind.’

I raised my scales and made them rasp.

The monsters seemed to find the sound fairly threatening.

When I pointed my sword at her, the gorilla nodded as if she understood.

We entered the forest.

Sure enough, several monkeys climbed through the trees and watched us.

They looked so small and weak that I couldn't tell whether they were monsters or ordinary animals.

Were they guards? They chattered and hurried deep into the forest.

"They will... welcome us..."

There was joy in the gorilla's voice.

I tightened my body slightly around her neck.

Just try something.

Then someone appeared ahead of us.

Unlike the gorilla, this monkey walked on two legs.

More precisely...

‘A chimpanzee!’

It was definitely the chimpanzee I knew.

Still, it clearly wasn't an ordinary animal.

Its nails had grown long. They looked made for slashing.

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【Iron Claw Chimpanzee Lv. 28】

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"Ooh! Ooh!"

The chimpanzee jumped up and down in place as they greeted the gorilla.

They stayed back, apparently wary of me.

"Snake... saved me. Thank you. Want to meet... Sage."

The chimpanzee didn't seem particularly happy about the gorilla's return.

They spat on the ground.

What a rude bastard.

"Ooh! Ooh!"

The chimpanzee shouted, then went ahead as if telling us to follow.

All kinds of primates had already gathered where they led us.

Bonobos, gorillas, something like a tarsier, and a potbellied orangutan.

I'd seen a scene like this somewhere before.

Wasn't this completely Planet of the Apes?

No, it wasn't just primates gathered there.

There was something like a bear that walked on two legs, and I spotted an Owlbear too.

It seemed only monsters with hands had gathered here.

I immediately knew who the “Sage” was.

An old orangutan with a solid build held a staff that looked like something a shaman would use.

"Madam Gorilla..."

Madam Gorilla?

The gorilla I was riding lowered her head shyly.

"First. Welcome... back alive."

"Thank... you."

The orangutan seemed smarter than the gorilla.

They definitely spoke better.

The orangutan suddenly pointed their staff at me.

"Snake is evil... bad. Why together?"

"This snake has hand. Good snake... saved me."

I waved my sword to show that I had a hand.

Seeing several monkeys back away in fear, I wasn't sure that was the right choice.

But the orangutan recognized it.

"Transparent Hand... magic!"

"That's right... good snake."

The gorilla explained the situation earnestly in her clumsy voice.

She spoke well of me. She said I had saved her and was very strong.

"Make... new family."

It was an invitation to join them.

I still had no intention of accepting.

"Hmm..."

The orangutan didn't readily nod.

Then they suddenly spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"Madam Gorilla... captured by fairy. Weak."

"Fairy... strong. Dead now. This snake killed it..."

"Lie. And weak one. Not family."

I thought you were family. I thought you gave affection.

This was obviously a dysfunctional family.

The gorilla flew into a rage and struck the ground with her fist.

Kwang!

Despite starving for so long, dirt flew high into the air.

"I'm stro-ong! Kwoooar!"

When the gorilla roared in excitement, the chimpanzee who had first guided us growled.

They looked ready to fight.

Good job, gorilla.

"If you want... I'll prove it!"

The gorilla glared back and forth between the chimpanzee and the orangutan.

The situation turned ugly.

The orangutan pointed at me.

"Magic hand. Not a real hand...!"

That was true.

Guess that's why they're the Sage.

"Can't accept. And weak gorilla too!"

"Kwoooar!"

"If want to come back, kill that snake...!"

I'd felt it since my bad history with the Long-Legged Monkey, but maybe primates and I just didn't get along.

The orangutan told the gorilla that she had to kill me before they'd accept her into the group.

That was when it happened.

-Attack first.

The Heaven-Defier mage whispered through the starlight.

-My disciple... no, my companion... no, my traveling companion wouldn't be afraid of monkeys, right?

Pelerian corrected the way they addressed me several times before settling on the awkward word “traveling companion.”

‘Of course not.’

The companion of an evil mage was already prepared to become a bad snake.

My sword was already humming, zing-zing.

I looked around.

There was no one strong enough that I couldn't see their status window.

The Silver Monkey, their leader, wasn't here either.

Besides, I'd borrowed a special skill from a monster in the Indoor Zoo.

This was doable.

First, I could put a hole through the gorilla's neck, then take down the orangutan right away...

"I can't do that."

The gorilla spoke firmly.

"Snake... saved me. I'm good gorilla... won't betray."

No way. Weren't centipedes and goblins the only good monsters in the world?

I gently stroked the gorilla's head.

The orangutan sneered.

They shouted loudly, as though proclaiming someone a public enemy of the martial world.

"Then, dieee!"

The first to react was the chimpanzee who had been glaring at us.

They leaped into the air and swung nails as sharp as blades.

A vicious strike that even targeted the gorilla.

Swoosh!

I knew that from martial arts novels.

Wasn't that the forbidden martial art, Nine Yin White Bone Claw?

I responded with nothing more than a basic Three Talents Sword Technique.

Kagak!

The fairy-made blade cut off the chimpanzee's nails. It had been worth maintaining it beforehand.

The chimpanzee stared blankly at their hand.

I didn't miss that opening.

*「You use Heart-Eating Leap Lv. 1.」

The Tear Apart-Leap-Acceleration combo had already been fast.

Now it was practically a streak of light.

"Kwoooack!"

The chimpanzee screamed and collapsed.

There was a large hole in their chest.

The monsters stared in shock at me as I held their bright red heart in my mouth.

"Ki-i-ll!"

The orangutan shouted again.

I swallowed what was in my mouth and prepared to fight.

*「Your level has increased.」

This was a good start.

Just as I was about to cut loose and use that skill I'd borrowed...

"Ooh, Sa-age!"

A large bonobo came running over, panting.

"Bugs, bugs are atta-cking... ack!"

The last sound was a scream.

A spider the size of a fist clung to their neck.

Then a loud vibration rang out.

Whaaaang!

It was the kind of chilling sound you'd hear if a giant hornet were flying beside your ear.

Several bees actually appeared.

One bee, as large as a decent wild boar, snatched up a tarsier trying to run away.

Then it clamped down on the monkey with its powerful jaws and chewed.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

The severed monkey's head dropped to the ground.

"An invasion! An invasion!"

The orangutan roared furiously.

This wasn't what I'd expected.

"Kekekekeke!"

A familiar cry rang out from somewhere.

A huge centipede appeared, crushing the monkeys under her body.

Our eyes met.

"Keke?"

I didn't expect to reunite with Centipede Mom so soon.

"Keke."

"Kek."

"Kek!!"

Only a few days had passed, but Bowbow, Big Eyes, and Big Head had grown quite a bit. They were all riding on their mother's back.

Good to see you, kids.

I killed a Long-Legged Monkey that charged at me and wagged my tail.

Bowbow, excited to see me, jumped down and hugged me.

If Bowbow had a tail like a puppy's, it would have been spinning wildly like a propeller.

I petted Bowbow all over.

‘It's dangerous right now, so go back to your mom... huh?!’

I was stunned.

The centipede siblings had all grown larger.

Maybe because they were larvae, they had evolved in that time.

The second and third children riding on Centipede Mom were now:

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【Little King Centipede Big Eyes Lv. 1】

【Little King Centipede Big Head Lv. 1】

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They had evolved into such forms.

They were magnificent centipedes with the reddish-brown color of true centipedes.

But the child hugging me.

The eldest, whose bond with me had deepened and who had begun to grow under my influence.

Bowbow alone was different.

Bowbow had become a pure white centipede.

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【Little White King Centipede Bowbow Lv. 1】

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The lineage of White.

The will of W carries on here.

Footnotes:

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