Guidance in a weird form

"Where are we going now, Gran?" May spun towards Gran who was walking at the back, with her hands behind her back, as she started walking backward.

"Well, I don't know, I was expecting the apocalypse to be more... Interesting, but so far there's only zombies and those annoying mutated rats." Gran sighed at the lack of content for his research as he walked towards a new area of the city.

They had just covered the north of the city, from the apartment blocks in the center, they headed north towards the megamall, and now they were heading west towards the biggest hotel in the city. The Grand X Hotel.

"There are a few hours left until the reset of the gacha and the special shops too." May sighed as well, adding to the mood.

She spun back towards the front and continue to walk forward.

But as she was just about to walk past an alleyway, she caught sight of something from the corner of her eyes and froze.

Fear gripped her as a pair of dull-looking reptilian eyes that had lost their luster stared at her.

Although she was capable of turning zombies into pulps and treating buildings as mere obstacles to smash through, she couldn't overcome the instinctive fear that was once humankind's natural predator, the serpent.

It was said that went our ancestors were foragers millions of years ago, what brought fear to and hunted down the homos the most were large serpents hiding amongst the tall bushes, lurking as they silently waited for the moment to strike.

With a lightning-quick pounce, it was said that a serpent could gobble up a baby in an instant, and if given enough time, a fully grown adult.

It was because of this that some religions in the past named the serpent the devil, and rightfully so.

The serpent in front of May was even more terrifying than what our ancestors had faced.

Its head, from the bottom of its jaw to its scaly top, was at least a meter in length! There was no saying what it was capable of the jaws were fully opened.

Although the serpent did not seem to notice May even with its eyes wide open, May was careful not to make a sound until...

*Tap tap*

Two taps on her shoulder shocked her from her trance as she turned to see her teacher standing next to her with a calm face.

"Are you still scared of rats after facing so many of them?"

"Rats?" May was visibly confused.

Gran sighed and picked up a rock on the street, with a casual toss, it landed on one of the snake's opened eyes.

With a rumble, the huge creature stirred into motion as a large body could be seen rising from behind the snake's head.

A rat's torso and head could be seen.

The rat rose to a 5-meter height, turning its body to meet the intruders. Its appearance was gruesome as half of its body was made of bones with burned marks on its flesh. In addition to that, it had two huge claws for hands, looking ever more dreadful.

However, the crux of the matter lay in the fact that the lower half of the rat's torso was connected to the snake's neck as it propped itself up as if the rat was the real snake, baring its fangs.

"What the fuck is that!" May couldn't help but curse.

It was too bizarre, a rat with a snake as its tail? What was it? How do you classify this creature?

A snake-rat or a rat-snake? Or perhaps a snaketail-rat?

"I think the snake that was now its tail was in the middle of digesting this rat when they were altered by mana, in the end, it became this. I guess the rat won the fight for control over its new body. Hehe." Gran chuckled at the ironic reversal that resulted in this creature, not carrying about the absurdity of the issue.

"May, you've got a job to do now, congrats," Gran said as he disappeared, leaving May to face off against the snaketail-rat.

...

Gran sat on the roof of a two-story house that was in fairly good shape. His legs were hanging from the edge of the roof and he had a glass of wine in his hands.

The wine gave off a fragrance that was out of this world which left Gran feeling slightly intoxicated. He had bought this wine from the shop and he was now glad he did.

As a cultivator, mundane wine did not have any effect on him anymore, thus he only drank wine for the psychological effect it brought him rather than physical.

But now, he could finally watch his favorite show as he drank some fine wine. The apocalypse was the best!

In the distance, May could be seen dodging the claw swipes of the creature, showing her proficiency in the Space Style. From time to time, Gran will mutter words of praise which he wouldn't have done normally, if not for being slightly intoxicated.

May had suffered quite a few close shaves as another brush passed her in the form of a sharp claw, nailing the edge of her sleeves.

The creature was surprisingly agile as it slithered between cracks in the broken buildings surrounding them, trying to catch her off guard.

*Squeak*

A fierce squeak sounded out as the creature pounced at her once again, the sharp claws taking a part of the already worn down building with it as it sailed unhindered towards May. She had just regained her bearing after repositioning herself when she found two sharp claws inching towards her neck.

Without a second thought, mana gathered in the circuits within the sole of her feet as she leaped up in the air, barely dodging the blow.

The wind from the impact flew wildly, taking dust and other smaller debris with it. Unfortunately, this had blocked her vision as a snakehead appeared from within the cloud of dust.

It hadn't used this move before! How cunning.

The creature sent its snakehead tail towards may, opening its jaws like it was an actual snake ready to chomp down on her flesh.

Just as it was about the reach her, she finally unsheathed the sword belt that she had inherited from her teacher, letting out a barrage of sword strikes backed by her enormous strength.

The snakehead was immediately torn apart, leaving behind a mess of broken bone pieces from what was left of the snake skull.

The rat let out a high-pitched screech this time, filled with uncontrollable rage with a tinge of pain as its remaining small black, beady eye suddenly morphed into reptilian eyes with a black vertical slit.

The sudden change elicit a small gasp from the spectator who was watching from afar with his mana sense observing everything. Perhaps, the fusion of the original two distinct mana presence had given him some sort of epiphany.

The creature in front of May was now one being, unlike before when it was in a half-baked fused state.

The snakehead that was originally its tail shedded from the main body, revealing a new, curled up tail that was long and slender and was covered in snake bile.

The disintegrated half of its torso grew new scaly flesh that was a contrast to the rough fur that the rat originally had. The bloody injuries on its body also healed, as they were replaced with scales.

A true monster had been born!

*Hisseakkk*

A strange mixture of a hiss and a squeak escaped the monster's mouth as it reveled in its newfound strength and body.

Without further delay, it slithered towards May with malice in its eyes before letting loose its whip-like tail. The tail left behind afterimages as the air was sliced apart.

May, who was not unprepared as she also let loose her mana bolt towards the incoming tail.

The collision of the two attacks sent May flying backward as the air pressure was too great. Suddenly she entered the embrace of a male figure, with the wine fragrance lingering on his clothing.

"Rest well you have done enough, look."

May turn her head at what he was looking at and found the rat totally unscathed from the previous bout.

"I will take it from here. I shall reward it with a quick death, as gratitude for the great gift it has given me."

Putting May down, Gran took the sword in her grasp as he stepped forward.

...

"Time to end this. Go to hell."

[Enhanced Water Style: Rivers]

The basic form of the Water Style: Rapid, which was a quick succession of sword strikes had transformed.

The sword in Gran's hand had become slow, unlike its original form.

It twists and turns, like a flood dragon riling up the waters, threatening to devour everything in its way.

Finally, he thrust the sword forward, as if giving a command.

The mana in the surroundings became torrents as they intertwined and surged forward.

May saw the image of raging rivers overlapping the mana torrents, coming from all directions as they crashed towards the target.

The monster was torn apart by the sheer might of the move, leaving nothing behind as the crushing mana continued forth towards the nearby buildings, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake.

...

Gran was standing still even though the battle had ended a few minutes ago.

He was currently thinking of all the insights he had gained and was trying to merge them together.

Without disturbing him, May went searching for the white core that would've dropped from the death of the monster.

After searching high and low, and complaining under her breath about how Gran's moves always leave behind a mess, she finally found it with bits of flesh still stuck on it on the ground.

She started admiring the core as previously it was Gran who kept the white core.

Now, she could examine it closely and found that it made surprisingly good jewelry if someone could string together a few cores.

The pearl-looking core, but was even more luxurious would definitely be a hit if it was made into something like a necklace.

'What is it made of anyways.' May thought to herself as she casually filled it with her mana sense, trying to figure it out.

Suddenly, she saw an array of circuit patterns as her mana pour into the core. Without controlling the output, mana filled the patterns and something strange happened.

A part of the pattern glowed brighter than the rest and it suddenly disappeared from the rest of the circuit. At the same time, within the mana circuit in her brain, a pattern that was identical to the one that had disappeared from the core glowed with the same radiance.

The core in May's hands crumbled and disappeared as new information entered her brain.

Cores were still valuable as only monsters above a certain strength threshold had them. In addition, they had to be monsters transformed from a medium and not spawned by mana.

May knew that.

She also knew that Gran needed the core to test his theory about the gacha and special items.

"Oh shit." Her voice quivered.

She had done it now!