WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈
Chapter 56: I Offer It.
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I couldn't turn back after coming this far.
That would hurt my dignity as the crew's leader.
This swamp was home not only to monsters, but also to ordinary animals and insects.
Still, disguising myself as one of them wouldn't be easy because my scales shone like beautiful crystal.
With no other choice, I rolled around wildly in the mud.
The mud would hide the shine of my scales.
I hoped I could use Black Scales freely someday. It would make things much easier.
After coating myself in sticky mud, I rolled over half-rotten leaves next.
Once the leaves clung to my body, I became so well-hidden that I was practically invisible when I stayed still.
My natural ghillie suit was complete.
I crawled forward carefully.
Of course, I couldn't relax just because of that.
*「You use Stealth Lv. 7.」
I erased my presence.
I brushed past the grass without making a sound.
I hid among the shadows without letting even my eyes show.
*「The proficiency of Stealth increases.」
I entered deeper into the swamp.
Perhaps because I was moving so stealthily, grass insects even crawled over my body.
They weren't monsters from the Insect Legion.
Those creatures gathered deeper inside the swamp instead of wandering around here.
That was because I was crawling toward the area where the primates had gathered.
Boom!
The sounds of the Insect King and the monkey leader fighting were deafening.
I was humbled.
I had ruled like a king among the monsters of the Indoor Zoo.
Even when I had been surrounded in the monkeys' forest, I hadn't been this frightened.
The pressure felt like the first time I encountered a Cockatrice.
I examined the insect king that had crawled out of the swamp first.
The monster was called Insect King Grand Riokk.
For an insect king, Riokk had to be huge.
Riokk looked over fifteen meters long. To put it another way, the insect king was as large as a decent-sized apartment building.
How much did Riokk weigh? At least several dozen tons, probably.
I knew the species called Riokk.
It was an insect resembling a katydid that lived in tropical regions.
As was common for insects from hot climates, they were naturally large.
They had hard brown carapaces and sturdy legs.
Their leg strength and jaw strength were extraordinary, and they were famous for their vicious nature.
Apparently, they had won countless times in those maniacal competitions where people made insects fight each other.
Still, it was impossible to compare an Earth insect the size of a human palm to that monster.
Riokk's body was soaked, likely because the insect king normally supported that massive weight while submerged in the swamp.
As Riokk thrashed, the scattered spray painted a rainbow across the sky.
The monster bit the silver chimpanzee with pointed teeth.
Clang!
Yet the insect king caught only an afterimage.
Before I knew it, the monkey was on Riokk's back.
Then the silver chimpanzee dropped as if falling and chopped down on Riokk's front leg joint with the edge of a hand.
Crack!
The silver chimpanzee was incredible too.
The silver chimpanzee wasn't some martial arts master, so how could the chimpanzee move like that?
In the end, one of Riokk's front legs was torn off.
From what I could see, I would probably have worse compatibility against that chimpanzee than Riokk.
The silver chimpanzee was too quick for me to land Poison Fang.
On the other hand, a massive creature like Riokk might be more manageable.
If I could get past the hard carapace, I could burrow into Riokk's body.
Could I crawl inside Riokk like I had with the Chimera and eat the insect king's heart?
An insect's organs would be structured very differently from a mammal's, but Riokk probably had something like a heart.
That was only my fantasy.
That fantasy fell apart the moment writhing, tentacle-like things burst from Riokk's severed body.
Sshurururuk.
The tentacles stretched out and grabbed the leg that had been torn away.
Each one looked like a living creature...
Then I realized.
'Ugh.'
The things I thought were tentacles were all parasites.
The parasites seemed to have a symbiotic relationship with Riokk, and they reattached the insect king's severed leg.
There was no way I could crawl inside Riokk and eat the insect king's heart.
Each parasite was about the same size as me.
-Stop!
I immediately went limp.
The monkeys stomped past me.
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【Giant Mandrill Lv. 59】
【Traits】
[Cruelty], [Loyalty]
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They were large monkeys carrying weapons similar to spears.
Their faces were colorful, as if they were wearing masks.
They looked quite strong. Were they something like Silver Monkey's personal guard?
The monkeys weren't fighting the insects.
They were quietly watching their leader's battle.
The insects were doing the same. They stood still as though watching a one-on-one duel between Lü Bu and Zhang Fei.
They snarled and watched each other warily, but the all-out war I had expected wasn't happening.
I noticed why.
'That's the fruit, right?'
The monkeys' elites and the insects' elites faced off over a tree root.
At the tip of that root hung a crimson fruit the size of an egg.
It was too far away, and the fruit was too small for me to tell what it did.
At this moment, the monkeys had occupied the area around the root.
They stood in a circle with their backs to the root, blocking the insects from approaching.
Still, they weren't trying to pick the fruit.
-Because the insects won't stay still if they do.
It seemed they were waiting for the leaders' duel to be decided first.
But from what I could see, neither side seemed to be fighting at full strength.
-Is that so?
'Yes.'
It takes the real thing to recognize the real thing.
Neither the monkey nor the insect was fighting with everything they had.
It looked more like a probing battle, as if they were gauging each other's strength.
Then, should I borrow something...?
The Billy's Horn skill I had cherished for so long was practically whining.
I had even stolen a lightning-calling skill from a Hero.
Of course, Heavenly Thunder Decree was still Level 0, so I could only use it together with Surpassing Horn.
I narrowed my eyes.
The one I wanted most was that white monkey.
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【Silverback Chimpanzee Akims Lv. 129】
【Epithet】 Silver King...
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Ugh, I could see bits and pieces now.
But it felt like my Mental Strength was being consumed in real time.
It was as difficult as when I examined Gunter.
Level 129 was terrifying. This was the first three-digit level I had ever seen.
Akims's skills were...
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【Skills】
...[Monkey Decapitation Lv. 10]...[Silver Fur Hide Lv. 20]...[Knifehand Strike Lv. 10]
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I ended up with a nosebleed.
Seeing through Akims wasn't easy.
Monkey Decapitation and Silver Fur Hide didn't sound like skills I wanted to borrow.
I didn't want to become a snake with fur.
Even if I borrowed Knifehand Strike, I didn't know whether I could use it without hands.
-Being able to see another's skills and traits is already absurd. Don't overdo it. Your mind will collapse.
Pelerian warned me seriously.
According to Pelerian, seeing someone else's information was something only truly extraordinary beings could normally do. Dragons, or something like apostles of the gods.
Even with 20 Mental Strength, I should stop for a while.
I left the monkey alone for now and examined that disgusting insect instead.
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【Insect King Grand Riokk Lv. 138】
【Epithet】 Insect King, Swamp Monster
【Traits】
[Ferocity], [Legion], [Parasites]...
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Ah, this one was a little easier to see.
Riokk was still difficult to inspect, but checking the insect king consumed less Mental Strength than checking the monkey.
Strength and the difficulty of peeking into someone's status window didn't seem to be perfectly proportional.
Could it be harder to see through targets with higher intelligence?
Hmm, if that was true, Gunter's intelligence would be about the same as a monkey's.
Probably not.
What mattered was whether Riokk had skills worth borrowing.
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【Skills】
[Bite and Tear Lv. 20]...[High Jump Lv. 20], [Putrid Bodily Fluids Lv. 10]
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Ugh, what was with these skills?
Maybe because Riokk was an insect, the monster didn't have many cool skills.
Even though Riokk's level was high, some of the insect king's skills didn't seem particularly advanced.
Wasn't High Jump basically the same thing as my Quick Crawling?
When I asked Pelerian, I got an answer.
-Inefficient evolution includes skills as well. You are looking at an individual that evolved recklessly instead of properly.
Riokk still looked far too strong for that.
Still, the insect king did not lack impressive skills entirely.
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[Symbiotic Parasites Lv. 30]...[Symbiotic Parasite Injection Lv. 10], [Symbiotic Recovery Lv. 10]
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Aah!
Riokk seemed to have grown stronger by raising parasites within their body.
They did look useful. Riokk could inject the parasites into enemies and seemed capable of sacrificing them to restore their body.
But no. I was never learning that.
Which meant I had to turn my attention back to the monkeys...
'Wait.'
A realization suddenly struck me.
Was skill really the only thing I could take from here?
My eyes fell on the bright red fruit in the distance.
The monkeys stood in a circle with their backs to the root, guarding it.
No matter how good my natural ghillie suit was or how well I used Stealth, sneaking all the way over there would be impossible.
I would be discovered before I got there, and chaos would break out.
Still, their guard would be less strict than the insects'.
At least there wouldn't be any monkeys that burrowed through the ground.
One of my underlings had a useful skill.
A Pointy-Nosed Burrowing Mole Lv. 10 that could do nothing but dig holes and run away.
And the Digging Lv. 3 I had borrowed from the mole.
Thanks to that, I had felt confident that I could escape from the monkeys' forest.
*「With Surpassing Horn Lv. 2, you surpass the limits of the skill ‘Digging Lv. 3.’」
*「‘Digging Lv. 3’ temporarily becomes ‘Digging Lv. 10.’」
For a moment, I gained digging ability on par with Chimera Pafnacha.
Thanks, Burrowing Mole!
Pabababak!
* * *
“Kek...”
The Crimson Teeth Giant Centipede looked at her king.
Insect King Grand Riokk.
She had no bond with him at all.
But she had no choice.
If she had been alone, it would have been different, but she still had young children.
With no other option, she had joined the Insect Legion.
Riokk and Silverback Akims were both incredibly powerful monsters.
If she could evolve someday, would she be able to compete with them then?
She didn't know.
“Kekekek.”
Bowbow acted cute on her back.
She could only think about evolving after these children had grown into fine giant centipedes.
Centipedes normally had poor eyesight.
But monster giant centipedes did not.
They were born with eyesight as sharp as that of a bird of prey.
Something suspicious entered her field of vision.
'Kek?'
The tree root temporarily occupied by the monkeys.
The ground right next to it was bulging upward.
Could an insect have tunneled through the ground?
No.
Someone familiar poked their face out.
The newcomer was a small white snake.
That friend revealed only their eyes and looked upward.
The monkeys still knew nothing.
Then the crimson fruit hanging at the top began to sway.
‘Kekekek! (Transparent Hand!)’
The white snake friend used a strange spell.
The small snake was clearly trying to pluck the fruit with the spell.
As a member of the Insect Legion, should she announce what was happening and cry out?
No, she had no desire to do that at all.
The fruit dropped.
The small snake caught the falling fruit in their mouth.
Then the small snake vanished from the spot with a pop.
As the giant centipede stood there dumbfounded, a voice suddenly called out.
“The Swamp Monster and Silver Monkey... neither seems to intend to settle this.”
The centipede nearly convulsed in surprise.
The one who had spoken was a spider she didn't get along with.
“The fruit will probably... go to the monkeys.”
The face on the Human-Faced Spider's abdomen grinned.
The spider was asking for the centipede's opinion.
The giant centipede answered coldly.
“Kek.”
“...!”
The Human-Faced Spider's expression stiffened.
‘How rude. How long did that centipede think she could keep acting like that?’
At that moment, one of the young ones on the giant centipede's back tried to say something.
“Kek...”
“Kek!”
The giant centipede shouted, and the young one flinched and lowered their head.
The Human-Faced Spider disliked the sight.
'Keep acting so arrogant. Soon, I'll wipe out every last one of you.'
The Human-Faced Spider harbored dark intentions.
Before long, the Human-Faced Spider would sweep away every insect except spiders.
There were far too many members in the Insect Legion.
It was disadvantageous for both the distribution of experience points and the division of fruits.
Then the Human-Faced Spider stole a glance at the fruit that had appeared this time.
“...Huh, it's gone?”
It had disappeared.
The fruit that the monkeys had been guarding until just moments ago was gone.
Had the monkeys finally taken the fruit? When?
“Catch them! The fruit's been stolen!”
The Human-Faced Spider's eyes turned bright red.
The battle between Riokk and Akims stopped as well.
“Take it back...!”
The monkeys and insects erupted in shouts.
* * *
I'm a genius!
I pulled it off.
*「You use Emergency Return Lv. 20.」
I returned to the top of the cliff.
With the bright red fruit in my mouth.
My bewildered underlings opened their eyes and welcomed their leader's return.
I had successfully stolen the fruit.
An unusually small, bright red fruit.
Its name was...
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【Overlord's Root Fruit】
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It was a fruit that made me feel like I had to offer up something precious right away.
Footnotes:
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