I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse - Chapter 53

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 53: Like Father, Like Son

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Making potions without the goblins' help was an enormous hassle.

Even now that I could command monsters, it was still the same. I keenly felt the absence of Nanaruk, who always understood what I meant and handled everything neatly, efficiently, and with good sense.

By now, Nanaruk was probably conquering the goblin tribes of the Great Forest.

Bravely, like Alexander the Great.

Still, I hadn't heard that Urooros's Epithet rank had risen. Then again, it hadn't even been a month since we parted, so that was only natural.

Anyway, I used a fair amount of precious potion on the gorilla without holding back.

"Kuoooh, family... uoooh! They... tore off my arm...!"

Madam Gorilla seemed more shocked by being cast out of her group than by the pain in her arm.

Considering she had said she would accept me as family and give me love, it made sense that she felt betrayed.

I also felt a little guilty.

Of course, it wasn't my fault that this happened to the gorilla. It was because that savage leader was a crazy monkey. Still, during the fight in the monkey forest, I had lost track of the gorilla at some point.

"Uoooh."

'Stop crying.'

I gestured for her to close her mouth.

At least I needed to stay calm.

Whenever I had to act cold and composed, I just had to imitate Gunter.

'You can stay here. If you want, I'll even give you an arm.'

Truthfully, I had needed Madam Gorilla anyway.

This gorilla could speak.

She also seemed far brighter than other monsters.

Sorry, Spot, but I needed intelligent subordinates.

*「You use Taming Lv. 7.」

If she became my subordinate!

Madam Gorilla looked at me in surprise.

"Will you... accept me as family...?"

'Not family, you're my subordinate.'

For the moment, I nodded.

"Thank you..."

*「You have succeeded in taming Strong-Arm Gorilla Lv. 40!」

*「The proficiency of Taming Lv. 7 increases sharply.」

*「Taming Lv. 7 has become Taming Lv. 8.」

My skill leveled up.

Apparently, she had been a fairly difficult monster to tame.

"Do I... become your older sister...?"

'No.'

When she called herself my mom last time, I smacked her with my tail. This time, she was calling herself my older sister.

"Ah... not that either..."

'Right. You're my subordinate. And my Advisor.'

"Mm-hm..."

'Hm...'

I realized it a little late.

The gorilla was responding as though she understood what I was saying.

'Advisor.'

*「You have named Strong-Arm Gorilla Lv. 40 ‘Advisor.’」

'Gasp, I was just calling you that.'

"My... name...?"

*「Strong-Arm Gorilla Advisor Lv. 40 likes her name.」

*「Your bond with a tamed monster deepens.」

Well, if she liked it.

'Can you understand my thoughts?'

"More... or less..."

Was that the effect of Taming?

Come to think of it, Spot had seemed to understand my orders well lately.

Maybe it was the skill's effect.

Most monsters couldn't even begin to grasp what I was thinking, though. Perhaps Advisor could do it because she was intelligent, or because she had a high affinity for it.

'At this level, you're 0.7 Nanaruk.'

Unfortunately, she couldn't understand me with Nanaruk's near-supernatural precision.

Still, I had gained a smart Advisor who had no arms.

'You need an arm, right?'

It was time to give my armless Advisor an arm.

"Mm-hm...!"

I brought over the prosthetic arm lying in a display case.

It was an enormous prosthetic arm that no ordinary human could possibly use.

At last, this junk seemed to have found its owner.

'It might hurt, but bear with it.'

"G-gasp!"

To attach the prosthetic arm, I had to drive fifteen-centimeter-long needles into her severed shoulder.

That day, I learned for the first time that a gorilla's face could turn pale.

* * *

It happened suddenly.

The message rang out.

*「A nearby root has borne unripe fruit.」

Every message I had heard until now concerned either me or something directly in front of me.

Yet it even told me that fruit had grown on a World Tree root somewhere nearby.

The monsters around me all raised their heads at once, so they seemed to have sensed it too.

Drool began to run from their mouths by reflex.

They had already tasted the fruit before.

There was a saying: a white tiger to the left, a blue dragon to the right.

If I rewrote it to suit my current situation, it would be left gorilla, right hyena.

Strong-Arm Gorilla Advisor Lv. 40 had become a monster truly deserving of the modifier "Strong-Arm."

'Let's go!'

The moment I shouted, they understood and roared.

"Leeeet's gooo-!"

"Awooooo!"

Spot howled as if refusing to be outdone.

The twenty monsters under my command charged down the hill.

A root had sprouted at its foot, and three fruits hung from it.

Their orange color showed they were still unripe.

Even so, their sweet fragrance drifted all the way up the hill.

I hopped onto Advisor's back.

I intended to see just how strong she had become.

It seemed this gorilla was a stronger monster than I had thought.

She launched herself into the air in a single leap.

Her jumping power was so immense that it almost felt like flight.

After rising so high, she spent a long time descending.

With her immense weight and newly acquired arm, she slammed down on the monsters crawling across the ground.

Kwang!

A swarm of insects had gathered thickly across the ground.

They seemed to be monsters belonging to the Insect Legion.

They had rushed over as soon as the fruit appeared, yet the insects were already approaching the root.

Were they servants of the great centipede?

Still, one couldn't afford to worry about every such detail to survive in the wild.

Beyond the billowing cloud of dirt, katydids the size of cats sprang into the air.

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【Black Saw-Antlered Katydid Lv. 21】

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There were five of those creepy things.

No, seven.

I had considered stepping in, but Advisor seemed worth trusting for now.

She was a more romantic warrior than I expected.

In other words, she knew to shout the name of her move.

"Laaaariat!"

She spread both arms and spun around.

Was that really a lariat?

Still, the rotation of those chunks of metal was comparable to a storm.

Pupupupup!

The katydids burst apart, spraying purple juice.

Excellent. She had both strength and intelligence.

If I compared her to a Romance of the Three Kingdoms figure, she might unexpectedly be someone like Jiang Wei.

There were more insects gathered here than there were of us, but their quality was far inferior.

My crew, the Beasts of the Zoo, easily defeated the Insect Legion's swarm.

Honestly, I felt a little relieved.

There hadn't been any particularly strong enemies.

My subordinates had already crowded around the root.

Then Advisor leaped toward it.

A Seven-Legged Lizard Lv. 16, which had been climbing the root without hesitation, suddenly snatched one of the fruits in its mouth.

Advisor grabbed its tail.

"No...!"

Kwang!

Advisor slammed the lizard down while holding its tail.

Spot caught the fruit that flew out of its mouth.

Rather than chewing and swallowing it, Spot thoughtfully brought it to me.

Then Advisor turned to the lizard that had dared to drool on it first.

"Punishment...!"

Clang!

She gave its head a pat.

The lizard scurried away with a deep dent in its skull.

Was that thing really not dead?

Either way, Advisor seemed to be the type of Advisor who made rewards and punishments clear.

This was an excellent appointment.

The three fruits lay before me.

For reference, the Beasts of the Zoo crew was a dictatorship.

The leader held ownership of every fruit.

Of course, the Insect Legion and the Primate Family operated the same way.

Used to that system, Advisor didn't question me taking all the fruit for myself.

That suited me just fine.

I ate one fruit first.

My body stiffened for a moment, but nobody touched the fruits.

*「The World Tree's Unripe Root Fruit burns away the impurities in your body.」

The purification effect no longer helped me much.

*「Your inefficient bodily structure improves.」

This, on the other hand, had a definite effect.

*「Your venom glands become stronger, allowing you to secrete a greater amount of venom.」

The venom glands in my head twitched.

Hm, this fruit had the same effect as the one I ate before.

I put another one into Subspace.

'I'll make use of this one.'

Advisor nodded as though it was obvious.

What shocked her was what I did next.

I held out the remaining fruit.

Then I cleanly sliced it in half with my tail and tossed one half to Advisor.

'You eat half, and distribute the other half among the others according to their contributions...'

"Kuoooooooooh!"

Advisor cried out before I could even finish.

"Uoooh! Tha-ank you!"

'Is that really moving enough to make you cry?'

It was becoming clear that the monkey group had been family in name only, something much closer to labor exploitation.

"Really... thank... you!"

'Yeah, yeah.'

Spot looked disappointed, but Advisor had unquestionably done the most this time.

-You give away one out of three and act so generous after gobbling up two for yourself.

'One isn't for me to eat.'

I made that point clear to Pelerian.

Then I entrusted Advisor with commanding the other monsters.

'Wait here until I return.'

"The leader...?"

'I'm going to that rocky area.'

I raised my tail and pointed at the rocky area.

"Leader... you'll die there."

'It'll be fine.'

"Why go?"

'I'm going to meet my family.'

That was my answer.

It seemed to touch something within Madam Gorilla's heart.

She thumped her chest.

"Good... luck!"

I didn't expect her to say it so solemnly.

The monsters saw me off.

I headed toward the rocky area.

This time, unlike last time, the spider trackers did not follow me.

I took out a fruit from Subspace.

Right. Last time, Dad saw me and suddenly ran away.

I absolutely wanted to ride on Dad's back, so this time I prepared a fruit.

-This is exciting.

Even Pelerian was excited.

Polaris Serpent was a rare monster that excited even an Archmage.

A fruit that gave off a scent capable of bewitching monsters.

Could it hold my father too?

When I reached the rocky area, I searched for a long time, but Dad was nowhere to be found.

Just as I wondered whether he had left for good...

Kugugugugung!

Dad rose from within a pile of rocks and appeared.

Another dramatic entrance.

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【Polaris Serpent Lv. ???】

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As expected, I still couldn't see anything except his name.

"Saaak!"

I shouted at Dad.

Your son had returned!

And he brought delicious World Tree fruit!

But Dad didn't look at me.

He only looked around as though searching for someone again.

Only after confirming that nobody else was there did he look at me.

Then something surprising happened.

「Your mother... where is she...?」

Dad spoke.

No, was that even speech?

-It's a Thought Wave! Amazing! He's an upper species after all!

Our snakes' mouth structures made it difficult for us to speak properly.

Maybe it was something like the voice transmission techniques found in martial arts novels.

Since I couldn't imitate that trick, all I could do was explain through gestures.

With the most solemn expression I could manage, I raised my tail and drew it across the front of my neck.

'She passed away.'

I hadn't expected Dad to shed tears.

「Whew.」

Wait a second.

Wasn't that a sigh of relief?

Maybe he noticed me looking at him strangely, because Dad suddenly began staring up at the night sky.

The glimmer around his eyes was unmistakably tears.

Tap. Tap.

Chunks of ice fell onto the ground.

He was crying tears of ice.

Whether snakes had membranes over their eyes and couldn't cry was no longer something I could question.

「You are... my child?」

Dad looked down at me.

Yes, that's right.

I held up the fruit.

Dad slowly lowered his head toward me.

Dad's head came close enough to fill my vision.

Was he interested in the fruit?

An opening appeared.

The truth was, I had one plan I had been hesitating over.

Should I cast Taming Lv. 8?

He might get angry.

It probably wouldn't work.

So I only thought about it for a moment.

*「Polaris Serpent uses Taming Lv. 10.」

'...'

I never expected him to make the first move.

*「Due to the trait ‘Indomitable,’ you are immune to mental attacks.」

Naturally, it didn't work on me.

「Sorry...」

He was clearly flustered.

Ah, whatever!

*「You use Taming Lv. 8.」

*「You have failed to tame ‘Polaris Serpent.’」

Sorry.

I bowed my head.

Pelerian watched the situation and made a remark.

-Like father, like son.

An awkward silence hung in the air.

* * *

After the snake left for the rocky area, every monster in the Beasts of the Zoo waited endlessly for their master.

A leader who led monsters had to be strong.

They also had to be able to feed their members.

In that respect, the snake was an excellent leader.

The monsters respected and loved the snake because the snake always made sure they were well fed.

They feared the snake because, despite being so small, the snake had defeated every monster encountered so far.

But this time, the situation was different.

The snake had gone to meet the Big and Cool Snake.

"Woof, woof."

Spot barked at Advisor.

Advisor gave a bitter smile.

"Yes... it's no different... from suicide..."

To the monsters, it was no different from watching the snake go to die.

The Big and Cool Snake.

The Big and Cool Snake was weaker than Silverback Akims and the Swamp Monster, but even those two powerhouses did not dare challenge the great serpent recklessly.

The great serpent was larger than anything and possessed a terrifying Destruction Beam.

The snake had said they were going to meet family, but could they really return alive?

No, even Advisor didn't think so.

"Woof!"

"Go... save the leader?"

Advisor shook her head at Spot's suggestion.

"The leader said... they would return."

Advisor decided to wait.

"I believe... in a family's promise."

Their new family, their new leader, had promised to return.

Before long, night fell completely.

Everyone had grown exhausted from waiting and collapsed where they stood when...