Tri-Colour Serpent [Part-2]

Without removing my eyes from the nest and the serpent, I picked up a stone that was the perfect weight and size for me and got the feel of it by twirling it in my hand a bit.

When I was ready, I pulled my arm back to its limit then swung it upward with all the momentum I had gathered.

—Swoosh!

The stone flew at a speed just a cut below where the professional athletes on earth could perform.

—Tak!

The stone flew straight to the branch and hit the nest, which caused it to fall and the snake to be flustered. However, its fluster didn't last long and it soon started slithering down the tree to reach the ground before the falling nest did. Its speed was truly staggering.

In just a few seconds, it reached the spot just below the nest, just a few metres in front of me.

Now that it was close to me, I could tell that it was half the size of the obsidian serpent I got Dia from. After seeing its size, it finally dawned on me that the nest was not an ordinary nest, as it spanned a diameter of a couple of feet.

—Thub!

As my thoughts paused there, the nest fell on top of the serpent. The nest was not sturdy enough to damage the serpent and it passed through the nest.

—Caw!

While the serpent started to feast upon what was in the nest, another player entered the battlefield.

It was a black crow with red eyes and a grey beak. Its wingspan alone was enough to overshadow the whole nest.

It shot down from the sky and caught one of the chicks with its talons, while the other one was being swallowed by the serpent, whose lower half of its body was still below the nest.

Since the chicks were newborn and defenceless against the serpent's attack, they could only rely on the crow, their mother, to protect them.

However, due to the crow not being fast enough, one of the chicks had already been welcomed into the serpent's hungry belly.

With the other chick in her talons, the crow flew into the tree and dropped the chick in her talons on the branch where the nest had been previously.

On seeing that it could no longer have a second serving of delicious crow chick, the serpent turned around and made its way into the forest, as if nothing had happened.

—Caw!

Enraged by the death of its child, the crow's high pitched scream forced me to cover my ears.

—Swoosh!

After announcing her anger, the crow locked onto the serpent and shot toward it like a homing missile. Just before the crow could chop the serpent in half with her sharp talons, the serpent drifted to the side.

—Thud!

The crow slammed into the ground, causing dirt to fly into the air with her impact. As the crow struggled to regain the footing she had lost, the serpent didn't waste this chance and lunged at her. It wrapped its tail around the crow's neck and lifted her up in the air, before it swung its tail in an arc, slamming the crow against the ground.

—Caw!—Thud!

Seeing that the battle was at its climax, I decided to make my appearance known. I reached my hand to the side of my waist where my knife was peacefully nestled in its scabbard.

With my other hand, I picked up another stone from the ground, this one being a bit bigger than the one I threw at the nest, and pocketed it.

As the skirmish was going on, I searched around me for sharp-ended twigs, and for that, I had to move around some, but I always made sure to maintain a low crouch and stay within 6-8 metres of the stage.

I twirled the knife in my hand, all the while having my eyes fixed on the fight in which the crow was on the losing end.

—Spulch!

The crow bit down on the neck of the serpent, drawing blood, while the serpent's tail remained tightly clenched around her neck. One of her talons had been disabled by the serpent.

With my arm stretched to the limit, I threw the stone, aiming for the serpent's head.

—Khrrr!

Although the stone hit its back instead of its head, it still created the desired effect of stunning the creature. The shock was enough to loosen the serpent's tail and allow the crow to break free from the serpent's grip and fly back to the tree where her chick lay.

Just as the crow took flight, I made my move and sprinted in the serpent's direction. It quickly recovered from the effect because its natural instinct indicated that its prey was escaping. Seeing the crow escape, it turned its head in the direction where a stone lay, unmoving.

That was when its sense of danger flared up and, without turning around, it drifted to the side to avoid any danger.

I'd already taken this move into account, since it had done this to escape the crow's initial attack. So I was able to change my direction and soon reached a one-metre distance from its tail. Then I jumped onto it as I held the knife with both my hands, over my head, and thrust down with all my might.

—Puchi!

My knife plunged deep into the tail of the serpent and blood spurted on my face. Without wasting a second, I took my knife out and stuck one of the branchlets I picked up in its place and jumped back in haste, as the serpent flailed in pain.

—Puchi! —Puchi!

While it turned around to find its assailant, I ran around and repeated the attack, this time on its back, which I also pinned with a stick just before I jumped back to avoid its counter-attack, despite the hindrances to its movement.

—Screech! —Puchi!

The serpent screeched in pain but I didn't relent and kept making holes in its body and filling them with sticks. Now I only had two sticks left and the serpent looked like a reptilian version of a porcupine. Its movements became lethargic due to all of the blood loss.

"Huff huff..."

Finally, after panting for a while, I punched the last nail in the coffin as I shoved my knife into its head. I ignored all the blood that was plastered to my face and clothes.

I removed my knife from the serpent's head and cut open its body to remove the pearl that had almost condensed completely.

'Does this count?'

[It does and it should be enough.]

'Can't you be certain for once?'

"Tch. Alright, Dia, come out"

Seeing that Codex wasn't in any mood to reply, I summoned Dia out, and a glowing ball of particles came out of my chest and landed on my head, as it materialised into the form of a cute, little, black snake.

[Finally some time with the Master!]

"But you are always with me, right?"

[...this is different, Master,] Dia replied in a meek, almost bashful, voice.

This time Instead of appearing as a palm-sized, cute, black snake, Dia appeared with a length of around half a metre but her width had only increased by a centimetre or so, and her scales had gained a bit more lustre.

'Eating a more evolved beast than herself boosted her growth, I guess,' I thought.

"So, Dia, can you eat that?" I asked Dia as I pointed toward the now deceased tri-color serpent with my eyes.

[Yup yup!] she said, eyeing the body, clearly hungry.

"Hang on, let me remove all the wood…," I said as I proceeded to remove all the sticks so that Dia wouldn't have any problem eating her fill.

While Dia had her fill, I glanced towards a branch where a bloodied crow stood, on guard against us. Then I turned around only to see a bloated Dia where the tri-colored serpent had just been.

"Can't you eat slowly...? You should enjoy your food, you know. You'll become ill if you continue to eat that fast," I reprimanded Dia as I scrutinised her now fat self.

[I eat slowly! And I enjoy my food! This just wasn't as tasty as the earlier one!]

"It wasn't tasty?"

As I was wondering why that would be the case, Codex answered with a very plausible reason.

[It might be because the serpent wasn't as evolved as the obsidian serpent.]

I nodded subconsciously before I glanced at all the bloodshed around me. I sighed.

"Huuu... It's been a mentally tiring day. Let's go back Dia, Mom will be waiting."

[Yes, Master!] she agreed as she wobbled her small head up and down cutely, then she turned into a glowing ball of particles and floated into my chest.

Once Dia was back inside my soul space, I made my way back to the tree, where I hid my spare clothes. When I reached the spot, I sighed in relief when I saw that they had not been disturbed.

While I changed my clothes, I made sure to keep the pouch with the pearls close to me, since some insect-type beast could sense the pearls and would try to snatch them while I was not looking.

After changing clothes, I threw my bloody clothes back into the tree hole and threw some dirt and pebbles on top of them as well, so that no one would find them anytime soon. Even if they did, they wouldn't be able to trace them back to me.

Soon after I was finished, I sprinted back home as I hummed a song from Earth.