DRAGONBORN SORCERER-Chapter 16: The Quest in the Dark Forest pt—3

"What am I even seeing." Skyler muttered in disbelief, "Isn’t this supposed to be the lair of the Black Serpent? Then why the hell is that massive white serpent there with it?"

Skyler stood near the swamp. He looked as the swamp stretched endlessly, with a disgusting smell of poisonous water. In the center, an island-like land rose from that filthy water. There, the two serpent— one white, one black, lay together, soaking their bodies in the faint ray of sun that barely managed to penetrate the dense trees.

The white one was immense, stretching over hundred feet long. Its golden stripes shimmered, from head to tail. Its fangs were much larger than those of the black one, and the tail bore a golden rattle-like structure. Its scales reflected off the faint sunlight, enhancing its ethereal and majestic appearance.

In contrast, the black serpent was slightly shorter but bulkier. Its entire body was covered in thick, jade-black scales, and its tail ended in a sharp, blade-like structure, resembling to scorpion’s sting.

Skyler frowned. Something about the situation felt off to him. According the quest flyer, the black serpent was supposed to live alone in the swamp. Yet, instead of lurking Beneath the filthy water, the serpents were sunbathing regardless of their surrounding situation.

’Now that I notice, the whole area is unusually quite.’ He thought, looking consciously at his surroundings, ’It seemed that the other creatures are keeping their distance. Is it a warning to stay away from them or what?’

He was having second thoughts whether he should attack them or not. However, leaving them as they were, wasn’t an option for him anyway. He needed to level up. Thus needed to take, at least, one of them down.

’But if I attack the black one, the white one won’t stand still, will it?’ The worry started to fade away from his face, ’Well, whatever. I don’t care if they both attack me. I’ll obliterate them both if I have to.’

"Inventory." He commanded, bracing himself up, "For now, I’ll avoid using mana more than sufficient." So, he chose the ’Flame orb’ from his inventory. "I’ll land a fatal blow on the black one. The other might fear me and.... Maybe just run away, I hope. But I’ll be ready for the worst."

He held the orb in his hand. The system interface appeared.

[Would you like to use the ’Flame Orb’]

[<Yes/No>]

"Yes." He confirmed. The orb shined and shattered away, unleashing a faint glow that enveloped his body. He could feel the small boost to his strength coursing through his body.

[Notice: Fire elemental spell is enhanced by 10%Effect: 1 time]

Rolling his shoulder with a satisfying cracking, Skyler crouched slightly, and focused all of energy putting on his legs. With explosive agility, he dashed across the swamp’s surface.

Cutting through wind like a butter-knife, he ran with almost speed of sound— much faster than normal. Each step he took, repelled the water surface, leaving a gust by the displaced wind on his way.

The serpents stirred, opening their crimson eyes. It was the black one that reacted first and aimed its sharp tail at Skyler. With a powerful thrust, it struck the water, sending a massive wave surging towards him.

Skyler, however, remained unfazed as he kept on running. Just as the wave was about to engulf him, he jumped high into the air. With precision, he aimed at the black serpent’s head.

"Inferno Shuriken!" he roared.

The crimson blaze burning around his hands formed a massive spinning Shuriken almost thrice oh his size. The five curved blade made out of the condensed fire, unleashed an intense heat. Their edges shined like a molten metal. Thanks to the enhancement from the orb, it shined even brighter.

[Notice: Inferno Shuriken has been used under the effect of ’Element Lord’. MP cost: 2000]

[Remaining MP: 2600/6100]

"That sure took a lot of mana." Chuckling behind the mask, Skyler finally unleased his attack at the Black Serpent.

Its scales were tough when the shuriken touched them. However, the massive force of the attack he unleashed, wasn’t an ordinary one.

Despite natural durability of the beast, it couldn’t withstand against such devastating attack. Within seconds, the shuriken cleaved the serpent into two halves. Its massive body shook the island-like place as it collapsed before the white serpent.

[Level up]

[Level up]

[Congratulations! You have defeated the black serpent. Your stats have been increased]

[Max HP increased from 4900 to 6700. Max MP increased from 6100 to 7100]

[Reward: Strength Stat + 20; Agility stat +20; Defense Stat +25. AP gain +3. EP gain +4]

Skyler hovered in middle air. Seeing the level-up notifications a triumphant grin started forming under his mask.

He got careless, leading him to lower his guard around the white one. But little did he know, the white one, staring at him with her cold-blooded eyes, was preparing. As he came to her range, its powerful tail whipped through the air, striking him directly on his head.

Before he could react or use a counter, he took the attack completely. From the mid-air, he fell on the swamp, and started drowning in the filthy water, nearly loosing his consciousness.

[Alert: Heavy damage sustained. HP reduced by 5000]

[HP: 1700/6700]

[MP: 3600/7100]

But he was at no condition to even look at the screen as his body drifted downwards and touched the bottom of the swamp.

*************************

Back at the Risers Clan.

"Sorcerer, you say?" The clan leader got stunned, staring surprisingly at Hellen, "Why didn’t you inform me about him earlier?"

"Well, considering the ongoing circumstances, we made a mistake." Helen replied, explaining all the things that happened to them while scouting previously.

She told how he saved them fighting off the scorching hobgoblins, how they instantly turned their weapons on him and how they got dominated by the very person. She even reported the abilities of Skyler.

The clan leader listened to her without questioning anything. He saw how frightened she had been when they took the wrong approach.

"You should have been more careful." He replied angrily, but held his composure, "But I guess it’s too late to blame you now. Thankfully, things haven’t got out of control yet."

"What do you mean by that, sir?" she asked, confused by his words.

"You seemed to have forgotten something important." He looked at her with piercing gaze, "Sorcerers are one of the legendary classes— stages beyond 10 and chosen by the ’Goddess of Creation’ herself. They aren’t random occurrences, not in the least."

"But didn’t all the sorcerer abandon humanity and joined forces with the Shadow realm?"

"No. Not all of them." He replied, correcting her misunderstandings, "Only a few who lost faith in our goddess, abandoned humanity. And they go by the name ’XIONS’ . As per my intelligence network, they had one thing in common— also a way to identify them quickly."

"And that is?"

"Their strength is immeasurable while appraising using ’Grace of Insight’." He continued, "They sacrificed all of their graces to get mastery over a single grace, making them incredibly powerful yet predictable. However their actual intentions remained unknown, or so as they informed."

"Then Skyler defiantly is not one of them." She replied happily, "When I appraised him, he had all the graces."

"So his name is Skyler, eh?" he chuckled, "He might be our prodigy if we’re going to fight the other sorcerers. Anyway, we must hurry to save him for that to happen."

"But why does he need to be saved when he can handle the Black Serpent effortlessly?"

"Hellen." The clan leader sighed, "It’s not the Black Serpent he needs to be worried of. It’s the white serpent, the female one. After all, it’s their breeding season. And you know, how much of threat that white one is."

Hellen drowned in darkness as realisation hit her, making her face pale. She couldn’t believe which situation she pushed Skyler into.

The white serpent was considered a legendary beast that showed up once a decade. During this time, a fearsome battle took place beneath the swamp. The one who held the most strength after the battle got the opportunity to participate in intercourse with the white one. However, before that, they both took rest as to get recovered from the injuries sustained from the battle.

However it was not the end. After their intercourse which usually takes lots of effort by the male one, the female one uses her tail, made out of the mythical crystal known as Sandrium, to paralyse the male, and ultimately eats him. This way she gains the necessary mana to lay thousands of eggs for continuous existence of the Serpent spices. And what she hates the most was to getting interrupted by a third party during her ritual.

This was the only reason why the clan leader was concerned. Hellen who read all of the stuffs in books, in her life, never anticipated the situation to be this dire.