WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: HidingTurtle

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◈ I Became the Ophidian of the Apocalypse ◈

Chapter 7: Billy Is a Horn

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007.

Squirm.

My body changed.

Squirm, squirm.

I grew bigger, and my forehead tingled.

Squirm, squirm, squirm, squirm.

That was how my body moved.

It felt as though something alive was writhing inside me.

My scaled skin repeatedly bulged out, then sank back in.

Ah, it hurt.

I felt like I was going to burst.

I was a tiny, insignificant creature.

I couldn't walk anymore, watch TV, or use a computer.

I couldn't get beaten by my father or cursed at by my mother.

Most of all, I couldn't drink an ice-cold beer.

I had become nothing more than a snake, squirming inside a rotten tree.

I wanted ramen, even though I had been sick of it and barely ate it before.

I didn't want to eat rats, rotten meat, or bugs anymore.

The scales on my back bulged out.

At last, the skin that could no longer withstand the pressure from within began to tear.

Rip.

The flesh split apart, and a white hand pushed out.

Another bloodied hand emerged, cut through my stomach, and crawled out of my body.

They were unmistakably human hands.

Ten fingers twitched.

Was I human now?

Had I returned to a human body?

Cock-a-doodle-doo...

I heard the alarm I had set.

Right, had everything so far been a dream?

...What a shame.

Cock-a-doodle-doo...

I must've set it myself, but that alarm sounded damn refreshing.

It was so vivid, just like a real rooster crowing.

...Huh?

* * *

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

I opened my eyes.

I was inside a dark knot hole.

No, there really was a rooster crowing somewhere.

Pale dawn light poured in.

Wouldn't other monsters hear a rooster crowing that loudly and eat it?

What a spirited bastard. I should find it and eat it someday.

I'd had a nightmare.

The me in that dream had been so weak that the current me, with Mental Strength 20, couldn't even imagine it.

I miss Mom~ I want to watch TV~

I want ramen, sniff sniff.

Get a grip!!!

What's so bad about eating rats or fighting bugs?

What a pathetic version of me that dream had been.

Those who could yearn for freedom were the real people.

At least compared to who I had been in my previous life, I was freer now, even in a snake's body.

Besides, snakes and bugs tasted better than I had expected.

...But why was it so cramped?

The knot hole where I slept had been narrow, but manageable.

That was no longer the case.

The space was unbearably tight.

It seemed my body had grown during evolution.

The moment I tried to leave the knot hole, I felt that fact for certain.

I can't get out.

The hole had been just large enough for me to squeeze through.

Now that I was bigger, it was clearly impossible.

The circumference of my body was probably at least as thick as a pink sausage from Jinju Ham.

If I wasn't careful, this knot hole might become my grave.

That couldn't happen, so I tried to widen the cramped hole.

By biting away at its edges.

Crunch, crack!

Huh!

My jaws seemed stronger too.

Before, I would have had to gnaw away bit by bit, but now I could chew right through it.

I shouldn't make the entrance too wide.

The centipede couple might decide to pay a housewarming visit.

Even if they were my neighbors, we weren't close enough for that yet.

After leaving the knot hole, I slithered down the rough grain of the tree.

My body had grown heavier, but I was much stronger, so it wasn't difficult.

Come to think of it, all those animal videos I watched on YouTube in my past life were actually helping me.

Normally, it was extremely difficult for a legless snake to climb a tree.

But if I looped my tail like a lasso, I could climb up and down trees like this.

I landed on the ground with a thud.

I felt rather majestic.

Then, shall I see what changed after evolving?

──────────────

【White Horn Snake lv1】

【Traits】

[Indomitable], [Relentless Growth], [Horn]

······

──────────────

Bwahahaha!

There was no longer a pathetic modifier like "Little" attached to my name.

I wasn't small.

Honestly, I wasn't exactly big, but no one could call me that small either.

I had expected my level to return to 1.

Was Medusa Mom level 89?

Then just how strong had Mom been?

She had gone through every stage of evolution to become a Medusa Serpent, then raised her level all the way to 89.

Looking at that, it seemed level 10 wasn't always the point of evolution.

Had Medusa Mom evolved into something else when she reached level 100, or even higher?

Either way, I didn't want to become an ugly monster like Mom.

I looked at the new trait, Horn.

What did it mean for a trait to be Horn?

Indomitable and Relentless Growth were bonuses I had gained by setting my Mental Strength and Potential stats to 20.

They had to be something incredible, even though I still didn't know exactly how to use them...

Could Horn be just as important?

It did seem like a horn had grown on my head.

Too bad I didn't have a mirror to see it properly.

I felt around my head with my tail.

Then I gasped in admiration.

Wow, what a huge and magnificent horn.

...That was sarcasm.

The horn on my head was more like a tiny bump, too embarrassing to even call a horn.

There really were snakes called horned vipers.

They were desert-dwelling sand snakes, and their horns were practically just decorations.

Mine was the same.

I didn't think I could carry out my grand plan with this.

I had wanted to combine it with Quick Crawling and become some insane, nation-level horned snake that skewered enemies.

Still, I had evolved after meeting a special condition, so there had to be something else.

Let's look through my skills.

──────────────

【Skills】

[Billy's Horn lv1](new!),

[Poison Fang lv3], [Quick Crawling lv3], [Breath Holding lv4], [Predation lv3], [Tear Apart lv4], [Venom Resistance lv3], [Bleeding Resistance lv2], [Pain Resistance lv4], [Heat Resistance lv2], [Survival Instinct lv3]

【Status】

-

──────────────

There it is!

I had gained a new skill.

The other skills hadn't leveled much and had barely changed, but there was a skill with a name whose meaning I couldn't understand at all.

What was Billy's Horn?

Who the hell was Billy?

...

I was so disappointed that I nearly lost my mind.

I had hoped it would be something like Horn Missile.

Just shouting a skill's name didn't activate it like in a game.

Like Quick Crawling, I had to concentrate and perform the action itself. So how was I supposed to activate Billy's Horn?

That was when it happened.

I sensed a presence and turned my head.

The wife of the giant centipede couple was there.

My senses had definitely sharpened after evolving.

Hello.

The centipede wife was holding something like a frog in her legs, apparently preparing breakfast.

As though flustered, she twitched her antennae and watched me warily.

Ah, I had grown a little. And I had a horn now.

Even if centipedes had poor eyesight, she had to be unsure whether I was the same snake.

Like when we first met, I bowed my head and wagged my tail in greeting.

The kindhearted centipede wife copied me, twitching her antennae.

She dropped the frog she had been holding with a plop.

Then she slowly backed away.

It seemed she was giving it to me.

I was touched beyond belief.

Was this a return gift for my housewarming rice cakes?

At my old studio apartment, I had never greeted the person next door even once in two years.

Centipedes were better than people!

I couldn't ignore such kindness, so I gratefully ate the frog.

It smelled like centipede, but the thought alone warmed my heart.

I swallowed the moist frog in one gulp.

*「Venom Resistance proficiency increases slightly.」

My stomach started to ache, so it must have been a poisonous frog.

Still, I had no intention of doubting the centipede wife's kindness.

I could tell just by looking at her. Yellow saliva dripped from her mouth, didn't it?

The frog was precious food.

This was the warmth of neighborly give-and-take.

I should share my prey with her someday too.

Watching the centipede wife, I suddenly became curious.

Who was stronger, me or the centipede?

──────────────

【Redteeth Giant Centipede lv7】

【Traits】

[Gentle]

【Skills】

[Poison Fang lv9], [Stealth lv3], [Quick Crawling lv2], [Carapace lv3], [Rend lv5]

【Status】

[Hungry], [Newlywed]

──────────────

Female giant centipedes were larger.

The same was true for monster giant centipedes. She wasn't just bigger, she seemed stronger than her husband too.

Still, she seemed to have almost no resistance skills... I definitely had more kinds of skills.

The reason that came to mind was, of course, Potential.

Even so, the Redteeth Giant Centipede had skills I didn't.

Stealth, Carapace, Rend.

All three looked useful. I especially envied Carapace.

Centipedes had hard exoskeletons.

If I had that, Mosquito Rats probably wouldn't be able to suck my blood either.

The instant I wished I had a skill called Carapace too, my horn heated up for some reason.

Urgh.

*「Would you like to borrow 'Carapace'?」

Huh? Yes!

My horn became hot, and strength drained from my body.

*「You have borrowed Carapace lv3. You temporarily gain Carapace lv1.」

Billy's Horn.

It seemed to be a skill that literally let me borrow skills.

There was a reason a trait called Horn had appeared beside Indomitable and Relentless Growth.

It was incredible.

In an instant, my scales hardened.

It felt as if I were wearing scale armor.

When I tapped my body with my tail, it made a clink, clink sound.

It was called Carapace, but it definitely felt different.

I got tougher.

I'm tough now!

It was fortunate that I couldn't speak.

If I had shouted that in front of the centipede wife next door, the police would have dragged me away immediately.

Delighted by my new skill, I danced for joy.

The centipede stared blankly as she watched me.

Oops, was that a little rude?

A skill that let me borrow another creature's skill.

Its uses would be limitless.

But there had to be limits. I couldn't use it however I wanted without restrictions.

I would need trial and error to understand the skill's limits and potential.

Growl.

And there was nothing better than hunting to find out.

Goodbye.

I set out to hunt.

* * *

This place's natural environment couldn't be compared to Earth's.

It wasn't easy to encounter wild animals in Korea's mountains.

At most, you might see raccoon dogs, wild boars, or water deer, and even that was rare.

This place was different.

This basin in particular was practically an ecological zoo.

It had everything from small, weak animals to large, powerful monsters.

I had worried whether a weak, little snake like me would starve to death, but thankfully that wasn't a problem.

Cricket-like bugs were nice and crunchy, while Mosquito Rats boldly scurried around nearby.

I could survive, but leveling up was the problem.

No matter how many cricket-like bugs and Mosquito Rats I devoured, my level didn't rise.

In other words, I had to hunt monsters worthy of my standing.

The difficulty rose sharply from here.

First, I had to choose an opponent I could actually take on.

No matter how much I trained Quick Crawling, I was slower than a Mosquito Rat running at full speed.

Once I started a fight, I had to see it through to the end.

After wandering around diligently, I finally encountered an opponent worth risking my life against.

It was a horned monster too.

Sharp, protruding front teeth.

Soft fur.

Two adorably long ears.

That dangerous animal chewing grass.

──────────────

【Horn Rabbit lv3】

【Traits】

[Cowardly]

【Skills】

[Leap lv5], [Dig lv3]

【Status】

[On Guard]

──────────────

It was a rabbit.

Despite having a horn, it didn't have the Horn trait like me, nor a skill like Billy's Horn.

It would be easy to mistake it for an unremarkable rookie, but its traits and status alone showed how impressive it was.

It was incredibly fast.

If I got even a little closer, it would dart away and hide underground.

That was why I had been hiding in the bushes for over an hour.

Waiting for it to come close enough.

Nibble, nibble.

The moment it turned its back to me and chewed on grass, my chance came.

*「You have borrowed Leap lv5.」

*「You temporarily gain Leap lv1.」

It was common sense that snakes could jump!

When I leaped, the rabbit jerked its head up and jumped too.

But it was already too late.

I bit its butt.

Startled, the rabbit fled while scattering black bean-like droppings behind it.

Someone watching might have thought it had escaped.

"Keeng."

The rabbit digging into the ground collapsed with a thump.

For all that, I was a venomous snake.

The hunt was a success.

*「Billy's Horn lv1 has become Billy's Horn lv2.」

Yes!

Footnotes:

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