WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

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◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 50: The Star-Bearing Snake

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I'd always assumed monsters only looked out for themselves.

Most of the monsters I'd encountered so far had been like that.

Looks like that was a prejudice too.

At least the monsters here moved together in groups. Primates with hands gathered with other primates, finding common ground. The creepy insect friends gathered with their own kind.

From the looks of things, the insect army had attacked the hand-having crowd.

Thankfully, the gorilla had escaped amid the confusion.

This was a war.

And Centipede Mom seemed to hold an executive rank within the insect army.

“Kekekekeke!”

When she roared, the other bugs passed me without attacking.

Thanks to that, I got to enjoy a heartfelt reunion with Bowbow to my heart's content.

‘You evolved white! Pure white! I wonder who you take after!’

Affection bubbled up inside me.

Centipedes and snakes were different species, but Bowbow and I were the same color now.

Isn't it only natural for creatures of the same color to feel a bond in their hearts?

‘You shall be my son.’

-That color stands out far too much. You have no chance of surviving in the wild.

Pelerian made a nasty remark.

I tried to ignore Pelerian, but those words did make me worry for a moment.

White had plenty of disadvantages in the Great Forest. It didn't matter while Centipede Mom was beside Bowbow, but...

-One snake has ruined your life.

‘Come on, eat this and grow big and strong.’

I quickly pulled a small Magic Stone from Subspace and fed it to Bowbow.

Pelerian screamed.

‘Go back now.’

I didn't want the other two siblings to see me playing favorites.

Bowbow munched on the Magic Stone and returned to Centipede Mom's back.

Right then, tarsiers leaped onto my body.

They tried to claw and bite me.

*「You use Poison Scales Lv. 2.」

But it was pointless.

My crystal-hard scales injured the monkeys instead. And once the poison entered their bodies, it was over.

They dropped in heaps, and I finally joined the war in earnest.

I swung my sword and cut down monkeys.

I breathed fire and shook the earth.

I physically took the hearts of baboons that charged at me.

Then there was the Sage Orangutan who had ordered my death.

“Retreat, re-treat no-ow!”

The Elder Orangutan shouted that.

Anyone could tell that orangutan was the commander.

They carried a staff, wore ragged hides that could almost be called clothing, and had a spotted bundle-like bag slung around their waist.

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【Elder Orangutan Lv. 51】

【Epithet】 Sage

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Oh, wasn't that almost the highest level among all the monsters I'd seen?

They didn't even look that strong, yet they had an Epithet.

In other words, they looked like very tasty prey.

I stealthily slithered toward the orangutan.

Unaware of my approach, the orangutan just kept yelling.

“Ooh-ooh! I called the boss! Ooh-ooh! Retreat first!”

The boss.

They meant the Silver Monkey.

Come to think of it, that one belonged to the Whites too. It might really be strong.

“Kekeke.”

That was when Centipede Mom gave the retreat signal.

Even I could tell it was a retreat signal. The insects began withdrawing like the tide.

This wouldn't do.

The orangutan turned and ran too.

I wasn't letting them go.

*「You use Heart-Eating Leap Lv. 1.」

I flew like a beam of light.

Still, they weren't just an old orangutan.

“Eek!”

Maybe they sensed the killing intent behind them, because they curled up and dodged.

I hadn't been in a position to aim for their heart in the first place.

Instead of their back, I had no choice but to bite into their smelly leather bundle.

Riiip!

The leather bundle tore open.

Its contents came spilling out.

Why were they carrying around all this junk?

Pretty stones, bananas, tree fruit, all kinds of things poured out.

“N-no!”

The orangutan looked as though they'd lost their country.

There was a reason for that level of panic.

Among the scattered clutter, I immediately spotted the most valuable thing.

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【World Tree's Unripe Root Fruit】

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Two orange fruits, each the size of a fist.

For one brief instant, silence fell.

The orangutan, a small spider that had somehow appeared beside us, and I looked at one another.

I moved first.

In an instant, I put both fruits into Subspace.

To the orangutan, it must have looked as if the two fruits had vanished into thin air.

“Nooo!”

‘Yeees!’

I immediately turned and started running.

I fled alongside the other insects, then hopped onto Centipede Mom's back, where she had been waiting for me.

Bowbow and the other two siblings welcomed me.

“Uwaaaah!”

The orangutan's anguished scream echoed behind us.

* * *

The hyena pack had once roamed the plains freely.

Fang Hyenas feared no large monster when they were together, and they had had a leader.

The pack that ran happily across the plains had surely been happy.

But one day, the happiness of the former Fang Hyena leader, now called Spot, shattered into pieces.

A Shadow Fairy appeared and captured the entire pack.

Spot remembered every horrible thing that had happened inside that cramped iron cage.

The pack's hyenas that had died miserably.

In the end, Spot alone survived and waited for the day of her death.

Then the White Snake appeared.

All in all, Spot liked her life now.

The White Snake fed her well and let her run around outside.

Of course, the snake showed no mercy to monsters that refused to listen, but that was only a natural quality for a leader to have.

The snake had ordered Spot to wait in this field.

Spot waited obediently, digging through the dirt with long fangs and picking out plump bugs to eat.

Dududu-

The ground shook as something approached.

For a moment, Spot thought her new master, the snake, had returned.

But it wasn't.

An insect army was coming.

A giant centipede led all kinds of insects out of the forest.

“Whine, squeee!”

Spot whimpered in fear.

The White Snake had entered the forest earlier.

Those terrifying bugs must have eaten the snake. Spot wailed sadly and tried to run away.

Then the White Snake sprang up from the centipede's back.

The snake landed squarely on Spot's back.

Before Spot could even welcome them, the snake tapped their tail three times.

It meant run.

Spot ran with all her strength.

Centipede Mom ran alongside her.

Once the monkeys' forest was far behind them and the wetlands came into view, the snake made Spot stop.

The centipede that seemed to lead the insects stopped as well.

The snake stood before Centipede Mom and appeared to speak to her confidently.

At that moment, Spot realized something.

‘Ah, Master has finally made even those insects serve them.’

Spot clearly remembered that the White Snake had been riding Centipede Mom when they reappeared.

Considering how powerful the insect army was here, and how Centipede Mom was clearly an executive within that army, it was an incredible feat.

A deeper loyalty began to settle in Spot's heart.

* * *

*「Your bond with Fang Hyena Spot Lv. 31 deepens.」

*「Spot becomes more loyal to you.」

Huh? What was that?

I was deeply thanking Centipede Mom and fluttering my tail when those messages suddenly appeared.

I could sort of guess why.

Spot must have been moved by the fact that I was close friends with the strong and magnificent Centipede Mom.

I'd probably feel the same way.

My opinion of Centipede Mom rose another level today.

I'd already known she was strong, gentle, and a wonderful mother to the three siblings.

But she had leadership too.

She seemed to serve as an executive even in the insect army that opposed the primate monsters.

Centipede Mom didn't offer to recruit me, though.

It couldn't be helped. I wasn't an insect. I was a Crystal Double-Horn Python.

“Keke, ke.”

I asked Centipede Mom what I hadn't gotten the chance to ask because the conversation with the monkeys had ended too quickly.

A complicated drawing covered the dirt before me.

Doodling had been my hobby since my human days, so it was probably easy enough to understand.

I drew a snake with a distinctive appearance.

It wasn't me, but a depiction of the snake written about in Dashnan's journal.

The smaller snake beside it was me.

I pointed back and forth between the small snake and the large snake.

Then I pointed back and forth between Centipede Mom and the three centipede siblings.

‘This snake is my father. Have you ever seen him?’

-How could she possibly understand that?

Then Centipede Mom understood.

-She understood that!

The centipede suddenly drew back. Her venom claws clicked together as though she were frightened.

She stared at me for a moment, then nodded.

She looked east, where the sun rose.

There was a rocky region that looked dangerous even from here.

‘He's there?’

Centipede Mom nodded again.

Excitement sparked through my mind.

I'd finally found a clue to my father's whereabouts.

Mother was a vicious Medusa Serpent who turned disobedient children into bloody pulp, but Father was different.

Right, Father wasn't a Medusa Serpent.

Realizing that obvious fact had actually been rather shocking.

They're called Medusas because of the countless little snakes attached like hair.

But when I thought about it, those little snakes were all children she had laid herself. Medusa Serpents also had women's faces.

Naturally, Medusa Serpents were all female.

My biological father was a Serpent, but not a Medusa Serpent.

His name was much cooler.

Part of why I wanted to meet Father was because of that special species name.

-I had never heard of an individual like that either. A Unique Species.

That was how Pelerian explained it.

A Unique Species was a monster that had strayed from a normal monster's evolution tree.

It wasn't merely a rare breed. It meant a creature that had evolved and been reborn as an entirely new species.

-Don't get your hopes up too much. Not every Unique Species is powerful or exceptional.

Either way, I wanted to see him at least once.

I had a special skill called Billy's Horn.

According to Dashnan's record, Father would have a special skill befitting a special monster.

If I was lucky, maybe I could borrow it.

I was just about to say goodbye to the insect army and leave.

-What's that? Disgusting.

Insects were crawling out from the direction of the wetlands.

Was it something like a welcome party for Centipede Mom and her group after their battle?

I sensed something strange.

‘They're all spiders.’

The bugs varied in shape and size, but every single one was a spider.

Especially the large spider leading them.

Something like a human face was attached to its abdomen.

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【Demon Face Tarantula Lv. 63】

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...That one looked dangerous.

It felt as though I met the eyes of the face attached to its abdomen.

“Kekekek!”

Centipede Mom made a threatening sound and shoved me away.

It seemed she was telling me to leave quickly.

“Hiss!”

I called Spot over and quickly climbed onto her back.

Then I set off for the rocky region.

“Woof!”

Spot barked cheerfully and began to run.

She ran fast, putting distance between us and the insect army.

Around then, I glanced back.

Centipede Mom and the human-faced spider were facing each other in a contest of intimidation.

The atmosphere was ugly, as though they didn't get along.

Huh? It's looking at me again.

The face attached to the human-faced spider's body seemed to be watching me.

What a disgusting face.

It wore a grotesque smile, and its eyes were definitely pointed at me.

I'd never had a good relationship with spiders.

I shook off that gaze and ran hard with Spot.

I noticed something strange around the time we entered the rocky region.

-There are many spiders around us.

Pelerian warned me.

The rocky region wasn't an environment suitable for spiders.

Sharp rocks rose everywhere.

Yet fist-sized spiders were lingering around me.

Damp moss grew between the rocks, but it wasn't the sort of place where this many spiders could live.

We'd gotten far enough away that Centipede Mom and the human-faced spider were no longer visible.

‘This isn't a coincidence, is it?’

-What do you think?

‘They couldn't have followed us from the wetlands, could they?’

The spiders lingered about ten paces away, watching me.

I searched for Father while keeping my guard up, but there were no snakes besides me in the vast rocky region.

A Serpent that large couldn't possibly go unnoticed.

-Forget finding your father. You should find a hiding place first.

Night fell.

I tried to flee on Spot's back, but Spot couldn't pick up proper speed in the rocky region.

The spiders blocked our path and slowly tightened their encirclement.

At some point, spiders the size of wild dogs appeared.

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【Poison Huntsman Spider Lv. 17】

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One-on-one, they wouldn't dare challenge me.

But they clung to the rocks and began creeping closer.

Eight eyes per spider.

Hundreds of red eyes floated in the darkness.

Every one of them was staring at me.

They looked ready to hunt me down like prey.

They're underestimating me.

“Yelp!”

Then Spot screamed.

A fist-sized spider had leaped in, trying to bite her.

I quickly leaped over and caught the spider in my jaws.

When I crunched it up in revenge, Spot growled and watched the surroundings.

-This is dangerous.

It was pretty dangerous.

I suspected the human-faced spider I had made eye contact with was behind this.

Could it have noticed me taking the orangutan's fruit?

There was no point racking my brain. I had no way to know.

Then I'd just have to show them what I could do.

If they wanted to do something to Ululullulu, no, Urooros, the human-faced spider should have come personally.

I drew my sword.

Then I breathed fire, sent up sprays of water, and started shaking the ground.

Of course, I was using Earth Magic to make the earth tremble too.

The Goblins of Runga had trembled when they saw this.

Drrr-

The effect was excellent.

The spiders approaching me began to back away hesitantly.

Drrrrr-

Was Elementary Elemental Magic always this powerful?

It was almost like an earthquake.

Then something blocked the moonlight and cast a shadow.

A huge shadow covered me, then kept growing until it covered even the spiders.

Only then did I realize someone was behind me.

They hadn't run away because of me?

I turned around.

Ah.

So that's where he had been hiding.

Had he been sleeping beneath the rocks from the beginning?

Maybe the spiders and I had been playing Red Light, Green Light on top of a sleeping snake this whole time.

That snake was that enormous.

Boom, boom.

The rocks covering the snake's body fell away with a deafening roar.

He appeared.

A shiver ran through me.

His scales were the same white as mine.

No, were they the color of starlight?

The Serpent whose scales held stars looked down at me with two eyes like the North Star.

Carefully, I said the title aloud.

‘...Dad?’

Or Father.

Our eyes met.

Footnotes:

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