The rise of the pervert primordial-Chapter 773: The fourth day of the development trial (part 6)

Chapter 773: The fourth day of the development trial (part 6)

The reason behind the disdainful gaze of Aster was simple, anacondas have forward-looking eyes placed on top of their heads and nostrils in a similar position for a reason, they are adapted to hide their otherwise easy to spot large bodies underwater, with only their heads remaining at water surface level.

Now you might think that maybe there is not a deep enough spot in the vicinity of this wetland area for them, but no, that’s not the case, even from distance the group could see spots where the water reached as high as their waists, so that wasn’t the reason as to why those three anacondas were laying down at plain view.

They simply didn’t think that someone would come to their race’s territory looking for trouble, and even if that wasn’t the case, they thought themselves to be strong enough to not fear anyone besides certain specific beings like the kings.

That’s why Aster was looking down on them, while king cobras are also ambush predators, they are active chasing hunters as well and often track down their targets to then change to a sit and wait strategy, and yet they now waited inside bushes at all times while guarding their territory.

While these anacondas who are completely ambush predators didn’t bother to hide themselves even when their environment perfectly favored them.

’Heh, looks like these fellows have grown arrogant, well, time to knock them down a peg or two’, thought Aster as he looked in a specific direction where there was "nothing".

The little wyrm who had disappeared the moment the group stopped just a couple of seconds before the anacondas noticed them, became visible just as she lashed her tail at the face of the anaconda on the left.

A loud "thud" sound could be heard as Espi’s tail landed on the anaconda’s face, making his eyes roll backwards on the spot, the little wyrm knocked it with a single attack.

"Hisss!", then before the other two processed what just happened, Espi grabbed the anaconda in the center and smacked it against the one at the right forcing a pained scream out of both as she nearly forced both of them into the muddy ground of the wetland.

In a matter of seconds, the little wyrm had incapacitated three enemies nearly two times her size and many times her weight, it’s important to mention that incapacitating enemies is harder than just killing them.

For example, the old king cobra leader was sure he could kill those three with his venom in the same amount of time as Espi, his venom was that strong as he has long stopped being a normal member of his race though he is not a king, however that also meant that if he attacked, he had to kill them, since due to the difference in weight, it would take long for him to immobilize them just by biting wounds to make them lose blood, without injecting his venom.

"Smart little girl", said Aster complimenting Espi for her battle "plan", she didn’t attack the anaconda on the left on a whim, the areas deep enough for the anacondas to hide where at the left, so by standing between the anacondas and the left side, she essentially blocked the only way they could have aimed to make an escape.

The little wyrm couldn’t remain camouflaged when she entered in contact with other animals, so she of course made losing the surprise element count.

"Hisss~", naturally Espi was happy to be praised, though her cute attitude didn’t match how she dragged the three fainted large and heavy anacondas out of the muddy area, effortlessly to then throw them at Aster’s feet.

"Well, thanks to these three fools, we can now gain some easy intel on the current structure of the anaconda territory without risking to expose ourselves to the enemy", said Aster.

It’s been a long time since both Guardian and the old king cobra leader or any of his race’s members have been to the territory of the green anacondas, so it wouldn’t be strange if their disposition has changed in recent years, especially since the authority over the race has shifted from the leader to the royal guards.

"Wake them up Vivian...", just as Aster was about to ask the white-haired girl to make the three anacondas smell the invigorating medicine made by Mylene which should be enough to make them regain their consciousness, Alice interrupted him.

"Let me handle the interrogatory this time", she said which made Aster sigh to his insides, that wild dragon sister of his was simply bored, but as he was about to refuse since it was faster to just apply pressure on them with Vivian’s help, Alice clung onto Aster’s arm to then add.

"Pretty please, I promise it won’t take more than five minutes and it won’t be bloody at all~", she said, which ultimately convinced Aster, so long as she didn’t waste time, then it was fine.

Getting Aster’s green light, the wild dragon princess grabbed the fainted anacondas and... tied them up onto a tree and around each other using their own bodies.

"Now you can wake them up", said Alice to Vivian as she put on a pair of gloves which she had in her backpack.

"Hiss...", with the help of the invigorating medicine, the three anacondas though still confused, reacted only to see a strange tall "creature" with red eyes, smiling at them.

"Rise and shine bastards~", before the snakes could completely wake up, Alice started beating them up with her fists.

"Hisssss!", one would think that her little hands when compared to the size of the anacondas wouldn’t cause much damage and that was actually the case, the scales of the anacondas weren’t cracking nor were they bleeding however... they were feeling immense pain from the punches that were landing on their bodies.

Only now did the three anacondas realize that they were entangled with each other and also around a tree, so they couldn’t move as they wanted.

"Hissss!", the anacondas kept hissing, but Alice simply continued beating them up for the whole five minutes she told Aster it would take to make those three speak.

"They were asking what you wanted not even a minute through", mumbled Kana, to which Alice answered.

"Here a "lesson" from your big sister Alice, "Don’t thrust the words of an enemy with their limbs intact"~", she said to which Aria sighed as she added.

"Don’t teach little Kana weird things, also that was just you doing a mission wasn’t it?", said the ice princess as she narrowed her eyes at Alice who shrugged in response.

"Two birds one stone, the previous snakes I fought were too small and while the horses are ideal targets, I won’t be allowed to play around with them since I have a spear, on the other hand these guys pack quite a bit of muscle in their bodies so they can take a beating just fine, I might even bring back one as a punching bag", said Alice as she gazed at the three anacondas who started hissing.

"Hissss!", that meant something along the lines of "Please just ask us whatever you want to know!", normally an interrogation requires a question to be asked, then if there is now answer the interrogator is to force the answer out of the interrogated, but Alice didn’t ask anything, she just beat them up straight for five minutes, the anacondas were basically begging to answer, quite a strange situation.

’It must be due to that weird manual she chose...’, thought Aster, unlike basically everyone else in the group, the attack type manual Alice chose wasn’t weapon oriented, she went with something called "Crushing Martial Arts" manual, which meant that she was learning to use her body as a weapon.

The only others who were in a similar position were Felicia who uses clawed gauntlets, and Espi but the former exclusively focuses in fist and claw techniques while the little Wyrm actually went with a "Flexible Sword" manual type that was adapted for her to use her tail as a weapon since she couldn’t wield one as of current.

If you think about it carefully, Alice’s choice does make sense though, she originally learned sword intent from Lilia, but she never really clicked with the sword, and so, she modified her version of the armor of the paragon body to both cover her tail and have sharp areas on certain specific spots, to then dismantle her sword intent and apply it in said areas, in order to rip enemies to pieces, so in a sense, her fists, knees, elbows, tail, shoulders and the like were all her weapons.

And the manual she obtained, first focused in her hands which is why she was practicing "Woundless Fist", a technique to inflict huge pain on the enemy by targeting certain areas, without causing external wounds, she simply used the anacondas for a mission.

While Aster thought about the hassle that was going to be making customized equipment for Alice while in this place, the anacondas spilled the beans, every time they hesitated to answer a single glare from the wild dragon princess was enough to make them speak as if their lives depended on it.

"So, to resume, the royal guards dispatch only three adult anacondas to watch over basically a fourth part of the border, while the rest all remain in the more comfortable living area and there are no more guarding stations... fools", concluded Aster after listening to the anacondas.

It’s not a completely stupid distribution, the living area of the anacondas is basically a large hill surrounded by a stream and they believe themselves to be the master of water bodies, which they honestly are, there is no bigger creature than them in water, so in their minds if any danger comes they can just submerge into the water and the enemy won’t be able to do anything to them.

Needless to say, but this kind of thinking, obviously came to be because the royal guards wanted to imitate the anaconda, let’s not forget that she claimed her tittle as the king of "water beasts" not the king of reptiles, probably because in water there can never be any snake that is able to defeat her, besides another anaconda, but we now know that she kills any female that has the potential to grow into a rival.

Anyway, the difference is that the anaconda is quite cunning, but the royal guards are just outright dumb, probably they were chosen on purpose by the anaconda because they are that easy to manipulate, so that she can hold the power in the green anaconda race through them.

"It might be a problem since those guys are blindly loyal to the anaconda, unlike with the king cobras their leader can’t support the claim to a duel without the consent of the royal guards for the trial to be taken", said Kana to which Aster smiled at her as he said.

"Don’t worry, there is an easy way to make them comply whether they like it or not", he said to then give instructions to the group, the smile in Aster’s face made the energy constitution daughter, in other words Tiana start to feel bad for the enemies as she listened to the plan.

...

It was a day like any other in the life of the green anaconda royal guards, in fact today was a good day since they were granted a chance to visit the king of water beasts, so they were in an especially good mood this morning.

However, just as they were about to go out and hunt some preys to present as gifts for their king, a loud hissing sound echoed through the whole living area.

"Hisssss!", that meant something along the lines of "Pathetic toys of the corrupted king come out!".

Not recognizing to whom did that "voice" belonged and more importantly enraged by the words they heard, not because they were insulted but because their king was being insulted, the four royal guards came out from their "den" which was inside one of the many caves in the hill surrounded by water streams.

What welcomed them was the sight of a small white "snake" which was proudly standing in front of three fainted four-meter anacondas that were piled on top of each other.

One of the royal guards, recognized the three fainted anacondas as the subordinates that should be watching over the side of the border which is at his charge and he immediately yelled.

"Hissss!", that was the royal guard calling the guards that were coming out from their respective dens, only now by the way, to attack the little wyrm, however the ten four-meter sized anacondas that rushed towards Espi, stopped in cold when an imponent six-meter large figure suddenly appeared on top of the fainted anacondas.

The old king cobra leader didn’t hiss, he simply expanded his hood and the incoming guards shrank in fear, they could instantly tell that they were no match for the old cobra.

Seeing the old king cobra leader appear, the royal guards exchanged gazes before three of them descended from the hill to approach the old king cobra while sending the normal guards back since they were useless in front of the enemy they were facing.

"Hisss!", the three anaconda royal guards showed their large fangs at the old king cobra leader, asking him why he was here when there is still a couple of years left on the ban that the king of water beasts had imposed on their race.

Of course, they knew about the plan of the anaconda, so they were informed that the king cobra race would be attacked today, however there was nothing in that attack that could be traced back to the green anaconda race and the old king cobra leader came here "alone", as in there was only a small white snake with him.

So, in the minds of the anaconda royal guards, the old king cobra must have lost his mind after seeing one of the sole three five-meter large members of his race being killed, so in a fit of rage he came here to cause trouble without a proper reason, in other words the predictions of their king had become true as expected and the king cobra race was about to lose their last remaining pilar.

At least that’s what they believed, however, the smiles on their faces frost as the battle that they were expecting didn’t happen, instead, the old king cobra leader calmly looked at the three royal guards to then ignore them as he hissed at the hill where all the other anacondas lived.

"Hissss!!!", the voice of the old king cobra echoed through the vicinity, and while the average anaconda couldn’t understand him as he comes from another race, they still felt curious so a lot of heads peeked out from their respective homes.

Also, while the vast majority of anacondas couldn’t understand the old king cobra leader, there was another one besides the royal guards who could, the current leader of the green anaconda race.

Contrary to what one would expect, the leader of the green anaconda race who became visible after listening to the old cobra saying "The king cobra race is here with a champion to take on the trial of the green anaconda race!", is actually smaller when compared to the royal guards, by nearly half a meter, in part because he is younger than the royal guards, but it is also true that males are smaller in the anaconda races when compared to females, so the royal guards were actually not average anacondas at this point.

They still lacked a lot in comparison with the old king cobra leader, in a rough calculation they would be around the level of the black horse which Alice was using as mule each, if they fought together, they would be able to hold back the old king cobra though, but at least two of them should be ready to die due to his venom.

"Hisss!", as Aster said, the moment the notion of taking on the trial to gain their race’s support to claim a duel was mentioned, the royal guards got absolutely enraged, and directly denied the chance for that ever happening.

And this is where Aster’s plan came into action.

"Hisss", the little wyrm disdainfully glared at the three guards as she said "Is the green anaconda race afraid?".

The result was that all the present anacondas turned to see the royal guards with offended expressions on their faces, though they couldn’t understand Espi, the disdain in the little wyrm’s eyes was easy to notice.

What’s more, since she has forward looking eyes, like their race does, and is nearly three meters sized despite being a child, in their minds they were being insulted by a young member of a subrace related to their long-time rivals, the reticulated boas, perhaps an albino green emerald boa since Espi’s eyes are green.

And now the royal guards were between the sword and the wall, because while they obviously didn’t want to even humor the idea of allowing someone taking the trial of their race, they also had been instructed to keep their race under control.

So, if they rejected Espi despite the wishes of the spectators, their control over them would falter and that would be a chance for the current leader to regain some authority, something they couldn’t allow no matter what, just like Aster stated, they now had no option but to comply whether they want it or not.

"Hissss!", the young anaconda leader didn’t miss the chance to incite the public as well, since this was to his benefit and soon the three royal guards were rained down with petitions to show the challenger the greatness of their race and similar things.

After gritting their teeth and stealing a gaze in a certain direction, the three royal guards ultimately nodded.

"Hisss", they turned to see all the other anacondas, not without giving a death glare at the young leader which had poured oil into the fire as they gave their verdict, the little wyrm could partake in the trial of their race, however since the leader is still too young and inexperienced, the ones to test her will be them instead.

To which the old king cobra nodded accepting in Espi’s place to the conditions, with that and the young anaconda leader working behind the scenes, the other anacondas who were spread in the vicinity gathered as they moved towards the area that traditionally was used for the first trial of their race.

In front of Espi a crystal-clear pond around ten meters deep could be seen, the first trial was simple, despite green anacondas not being sea snakes they are among the land snakes which can remain underwater for long periods of time, reaching up to fifty minutes, if they remain still.

And that is for mortal anacondas, so as one would expect, the anacondas here can remain submerged past that, and the royal guards hold the record of being able to remain submerged for fifty minutes even when they had to move around.

"Hisss", the royal guard anacondas explained that the first trial is to surpass their underwater record, they obviously were looking down on Espi who lacked any visible trait of being adapted to water.

The little wyrm paid no mind to their ridicule and after taking a deep breath she simply jumped into the pond, calmly swimming until she had reached the bottom, this pond was special because it was the clearest in their territory so it allowed everyone to see the one taking on the trial at all times.

Originally, it was made like this so that if a stubborn participant was forcing itself to remain underwater while risking their life, it could be saved by the ones witnessing the trial, but that originally honorable tradition had transformed into using the clearness of the water so that the royal guards could mock and disqualify anyone who stopped moving even for a few seconds.