Serpent

The hallway's environment was complete chaos. The earth shattered and caved in, while the Human Faced Door, was heard crying out in pain in the dark, as it came into contact with the destructive force.

In the end, Mister Pyg was about to hurl his giant fist in the corridor in a ferocious fashion, and destroying everything in its way. Yet, all of a sudden, the pressure coming from Bryan's direction abruptly dissipated, as if it were all just a dream.

Mister Pyg came to a halt, perplexed as to why that aura, which was allegedly slamming ferociously into his, had abruptly vanished.

All the time he was directing his aura into his eyes in order to see the darkness. Rather, the reason he was perplexed was that the small figure was seen kneeling down on the ground as if he was giving up, and the familiar aura that he had felt earlier had disappeared.

"It's you... Serpent..."

Mister Pyg murmured softly, but he didn't relax his guard for a second, despite the fact that the vile aura had dissipated.

Rather, he grasped the spinning ball of light and clutched it closely, absorbing it with his hand as he slowly approached Bryan.

Sophia on the other hand noticed that the aura crashing into one side had vanished, while the aura crashing into the other had gradually reduced to a bare minimum that she could tolerate. Alongside the previously chaotic air eventually calmed down.

Thankfully, she was at an extremely far distance to where they were having a standoff, so she was not caught in the middle of the crossfire.

Subsequently, Sophia was looking at where Bryan was previously at and was in a state of dismay.

"Is the battle over? I can't tell... The lights died out, and all I can see is total darkness. Hmmm? It seems that the pig seems to be heading in the direction of Bryan... I hope he's all right..."

All organisms have survival instincts; it is essentially the process by which an organism protects itself from harm or death and is considered a basic instinct in most organisms.

Mister Pyg's, on the other hand, is enhanced even further by his incredible physique as well as his incredible perception. So, even though it appears like it is over, he has gone over to Bryan with caution because he appears to be an irregularity.

"What is the meaning of this, brat?! Why do you have that serpent's aura just now? Speak now! " Mister Pyg roared furiously, poised to deliver a lethal blow.

Bryan was taken aback when he saw that all of the lights had gone out.

Since the last thing he remembered was the giant eye staring at him, and in an instant, he blacked out and when he woke up, he felt his chest tightening as he struggled to breathe, afterward, he heard the pig ahead of him yelling furiously.

Hearing that furious scream, it seems that something may have happened in that interim when he was blacked out, and it appears that it was connected to him and it was something serious.

However, he couldn't see in the dark, so he didn't see Mister Pyg, who was ready to deliver a lethal blow and wipe him off the face of the earth.

"Serpent? I don't understand what you mean..."

"Brat... You don't have to play games with me; I know when that serpent's aura is present like the back of my hand. What did you come across, brat? That snake seems to like you, as throwing a wisp of his presence within you indicates that you are in his sights."

"Who is t-"

All of a sudden, the air tightened and Bryan knelt down on the ground, under that terrifying pressure. He heard his bones made crackling noises, as his kneecaps began to bleed, and he laid his palms on the floor to keep his body from flattening in the ground.

Mister Pyg didn't want to believe that this was the same Bryan as before, as the serpent was infamous for being a trickster. so he increased the pressure at least two-fold.

Bryan on the other hand, upon feeling that the pressure seems to have risen to at least two-fold, instantly realized that he couldn't withstand it any longer, as he lay face down on the ground, and felt his face grazing at the gravel, causing it to bleed.

He felt like his body was a balloon about to burst from the pressure. Yet suddenly, it gradually died down, when the pig seems to have recognized that Bryan was not acting on purpose and that he truly was having difficulty withstanding his pressure.

So he withheld his pressure and lowered his guard. His body shrunk as his muscles slowly relaxed, the veins are rapidly receding and his hair fell and turned black.

"This brat must have gotten some kind of unusual fortune from the serpent; well, we'll meet again sooner or later, and when I do, I'll take it for myself." Mister Pyg pondered as he looked at Bryan.

After concluding his suspicion, while walking to his chair, the swirling ball of light vanished within his palm, and then he produced smaller chunks of light and waved it in the hallway, and upon which, the light was even better than before, as it now illuminated the whole area.

Mister Pyg once again re-created a small number of chairs, and sat at his previous location and spoke,

"Show me what the serpent gave you brat. You sure gave me a headache, don't you? Now that I've let you live, the least you can do is show me what you've got."

Meanwhile, Bryan's face was drenched with sweat as he wobbly stood up and sat back down in his seat.

"I'm not sure what you mean about that. I just blacked out and had no recollection of what happened. As a result, I can't help you."

"Stop deceiving me, brat! Tell me what you have, and I'll let you ask me another question in exchange. Surely, that serpent had to have brought you something. As I can sense that you've changed slightly..."

...

At that moment, Sophia is still curled into a ball, and after sensing that the tumultuous scene had ended and Mister Pyg and Bryan seemed to be chatting as she heard their voices.

She then opened her eyes and saw that the light was back, albeit different from before, as it was now a sparkling sphere floating silently.

All of a sudden, she felt a sudden burst of fatigue, so she slowly relaxed her body and opened up like a starfish before collapsing on the ground, drenched in sweat.

She shifted her head slightly when lying down, and focused on the events taking place as she thought.

"Phew... It seems to be over. And it seems that Bryan has gotten something good from a person known as the serpent? I have no idea who or what he is. But that's fantastic; if Bryan really did power up from this ordeal, then we'll definitely survive the upcoming test."

Meanwhile, Sophia was lost in her reverie, and Bryan still has that lost look on his face, as though he didn't understand what this pig was saying.

Mister Pyg stared fixedly at Bryan to see what his secrets were, yet he saw nothing; from his expression down to his actions, it's as if he's really not lying to him, and all the words he said were true.

"This Brat has surely got something, he just won't tell me about it, but that doesn't matter, I'll take it when the time comes, I don't want to have that serpent constantly on my back when he found out that I murdered his pet,"

While Mister Pyg was ruminating about something, Bryan is seen staring at Mister Pyg with a gullible expression on his face, at the same time getting several messages rining on his mind that refuse to end.

"I'm curious as to what these are." Bryan thought, subsequently waving to Sophia, assuring her that he was fine and that she should come over now.

When she saw Bryan waving at her, she hesitated at first, but when she saw that hearty grin on his face, she sighed in relief and returned her chair beside him.

Sophia immediately approached Bryan, taking her chair with her, and whispered to him. "Bryan... What did you get? Is it anything worthwhile?" At the same time, clinging into Bryan's sleeves like a lost puppy.

Bryan turned to face Sophia, who was currently making a pitiful expression and said, "I'm not sure why the two of you seemed to have assumed that I have something extraordinary, but I didn't, and this so-called serpent is just a mere hoax. He didn't get me anything at all. All I know is that he troubled me so much, seeing that burly pig almost murdered me when I was asleep." After finished speaking, Bryan sighed, as if he were an elderly man suffering from a headache caused by a failure of a son.

"Is that true? Can't you tell me?"

"I really don't have anything; I'm just as confused as you are, okay?"

Hearing his response, Sophia gave Bryan a big smile, as she wasn't convinced by his silly response.

Bryan then became silent when he saw Sophia still staring at him in curiosity. And when Sophia noticed that he didn't want to further discuss it, as she saw him looked away.

She then sulked over it for the entire duration of their stay, as she periodically glances at him from time to time.

Mister Pyg, on the other hand, kept his eyes closed but his ears perked open, listening in on their conversation the whole entire time.

Mister Pyg recognized this Brat's cautiousness and sighed inwardly, saying,

"This Brat is so brilliant at pretending that he wouldn't even inform his teammate about what he had received from that serpent. He seems to be also a very attentive person; as he's improved a lot more than he was in room 6 earlier. Nonetheless, he remains an ant in my eyes, and can be stepped on whenever I want."

Bryan just stared in front of him and appears to be lost in thought, but in fact, he willed his book without arousing suspicion, however, he couldn't contain his sweat, as his heart was beating nonstop and a bit of sweat rolled down his cheek.

After making the book appear in front of him. Bryan saw a blinking red light on one of the pages and willed it to turn to that particular page.