Chapter 176: Snake Nest
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 176: Snake Nest
“Is everyone finished with their preparations?”
“We’re ready to head in immediately.”
“No issues here.”
“...”
“Aside from my back being a bit sore, I’m fine.”
“I’m thrilled at the thought of performing with some snakes!”
The Gladiator Brothers showed strong confidence as they finished checking their gear. Kairan the Hunter remained silent as usual, while the old shaman, Ulysses, complained of back pain.
And then there was Joshua, the mad bard, who seemed uniquely hyperactive among them.
“Are these people... reliable?”
“Yes. They might look like this, but they were all Platinum Badges.”
“I see... they certainly are eccentrics.”
Abram stroked his chin as he observed the party members.
This guy is an eccentric himself, yet he’s treating everyone else like one.
“Let’s head in for now.”
I decided not to bring Helena and Freya on this expedition.
Both of them were still in a weakened state, having not yet completed their growth. I judged it was better to leave them behind, as it would be dangerous if they were eaten by snake hatchlings.
Creeeeak.
“There’s a foul, gamey stench.”
“It’s likely the fishy smell unique to reptiles.”
The moment I opened the door with the key I received from Prodo, the area beyond connected to the Snake Nest.
Damp, humid, and somewhat lukewarm air flowed out from beyond the door. The gamey odor characteristic of snakes and the fishy scent found in reptile nests tickled my nose unpleasantly.
Furthermore, the stone walls were covered in a yellowish, pus-like substance that dripped down. It seemed that stuff played a major role in the air's foulness.
It was likely sludge formed from the hardened bodily fluids or secretions of the reptiles roaming the nest.
It was extremely disgusting and unpleasant, and I didn't want to touch it, but since the entire Snake Nest was covered in this green sludge, we had no choice but to come into contact with it if we wanted to move forward.
“It doesn’t seem to be the type that causes abnormalities upon skin contact. Having touched it... hmm. It’s closer to a clump of congealed grease.”
“Is it not toxic?”
“It’s slightly acidic, but not at a dangerous level. Anyone at the Gold Badge rank or higher shouldn't have any physical issues. Still, we should be careful with fire.”
Ulysses, the shaman, fiddled with the sludge on the wall with his fingers and instantly saw through its composition.
When I checked the sludge on the wall with the Demon Eye of Identification I received from Moira, no particularly dangerous information appeared.
Judging by the fact that it was filled with warnings to be careful if ingested, it seemed to be the type that wouldn't cause major problems even if it touched the skin, as long as it wasn't eaten.
“We’ll need a light source without using torches. I shall provide light with Holy Light.”
“Ah, Abram. It’s fine. I have this.”
Keeping Holy Light active constantly would consume a significant amount of divine power. It would be better to summon the Hypercube and use it as a portable flashlight.
It was much better than a torch since it automatically followed me while emitting light from above my head without me having to hold it. It was also quite bright.
“No biological reactions detected.”
As I summoned the Hypercube to illuminate the area, Kairan stared into the darkness beyond the corridor and reported that she felt no living creatures.
As expected of a hunter, Kairan seemed to possess various detection-type abilities, including presence sensing. She continued to look around before coming to a complete halt and shaking her head.
It seemed truly nothing was being detected.
“I guess there aren't any snake-heads waiting in ambush at the entrance.”
“It seems so.”
At the news that there was nothing there, Maximus took a step forward, gripping his newly acquired mace.
Originally, he was a warrior who primarily used sharp weapons like greatswords, but since we were entering a snake nest, I had provided him with a new blunt weapon.
Reptilian monsters are characterized by their tough skin, after all. It could be difficult to inflict fatal wounds with ordinary blades. Therefore, I judged it would be better to beat them to death by delivering impact with a blunt weapon.
Of course, if it didn't work, I could just pull out a new set of equipment from my inventory immediately.
“By the way, Sion, do you have a general idea of what kind of monsters will appear?”
“From what I’ve heard, I know that everything from common snakes to large pythons, water snakes, and venomous ones like vipers will appear.”
“What about the truly dangerous ones?”
“There are Nagas, Lamias, and primitive forms of Lizardmen, as well as Gorgons and Serpents. And in the deepest part, there’s a special individual called Medusa.”
This was information Olivia had recalled while organizing the Labyrinth Walkthrough after she woke up.
She said that the deeper we went into the Snake Nest, the level of the monsters appearing would increase exponentially.
Since she mentioned that the difficulty of the deepest part of the Snake Nest was equivalent to somewhere between the 6th and 7th floors, it made sense that a being like Medusa would crawl out.
In the first place, the monsters in this world were creatures that seemed like they could have come out of Earth's mythologies.
“Medusa... Isn't that something that should appear on the 7th floor?”
“Do you know about Medusa?”
“I do. They are quite troublesome foes to deal with. Especially since they possess a Demon Eye.”
According to Ulysses' explanation, the Medusa of this world also possessed the Petrifying Eye. It was treated as an extremely difficult enemy to face because it was the type that turned you to stone if your eyes met.
“It would have been nice if Paramel had come along.”
“Does this Paramel fellow know a thing or two about curse breaking?”
“He’s the best among the people I know.”
“Haha.”
Ulysses grinned at Abram’s words. If Paramel was the most skilled at curse breaking among those who handled Holy Incantations, Ulysses was the most skilled at it among shamans.
“It’ll be fine since I’m here.”
“Hm? And what about you? Are you good at curse breaking?”
“No. It’s because I’m immune to curses. I can just draw their attention.”
“Eh? Wait a minute. Curse immunity? Is that even possible? An ability like curse immunity exists?”
“It’s less of an ability and more like using a curse to block other curses.”
“Could it be... Hah. Right. That’s how it was.”
Ulysses stared intently at my chest for a moment before nodding his head.
“If it’s the Curse of the Roas, there truly isn't any room for anything else to interfere.”
“Exactly.”
That meant even the petrification curse would be neutralized. Today, the grace of the Three Villainesses was protecting me once again.
“Something is approaching.”
While I was talking to Ulysses, Kairan, who was walking ahead, came to a stop.
“It seems they’re finally crawling out.”
“Coming from the right corridor.”
Kairan informed us of the enemy's exact location.
Immediately, Maximus and Chloe drew their weapons and moved toward the direction the monsters were approaching from.
Since we were still at the entrance of the Snake Nest, no particularly strong monsters would appear. However, since it was crawling with venomous snakes, it was better to be cautious.
No matter how good the performance of the antidote was, one could still die if things went wrong.
—Sssssss!
“It’s a snake.”
A venomous snake that had crawled along the ceiling lunged at the face of Chloe, who was in the vanguard.
Being a creature raised in the Labyrinth, it was quite large, but Chloe deflected the flying snake with his sword without difficulty.
It goes without saying, but for someone at the Platinum Badge rank, responding to such an ambush was nothing. In the first place, there was no room for a crisis to occur yet.
Everyone in this place was specialized in combat and had simultaneously been through hell in the Labyrinth. In fact, everyone except for Abram and me were people who had literally died and come back to life.
In terms of experience, they were on a completely different level from fledglings.
“Snake skin sells for a high price.”
“Indeed, finding snakes in the Labyrinth is a difficult task.”
Snakes don't often appear in the upper levels, which have been the backbone of the Labyrinth industry until now.
The same goes for the Underground City. There wasn't a suitable place to stably procure snake skin, but in the Snake Nest, getting snake skin was a very easy task.
“It took quite a hit, but it’s still twitching.”
“Snakes can live and move for quite a while even if their heads are cut off. Be careful. You’ll get bitten if you touch them wrong.”
“It would be better to crush it completely.”
Crunch.
Maximus crushed the severed snake's head with his foot. He had completely finished it off before I could pick it up.
Furthermore, perhaps because he crushed it, the skin on the head wasn't damaged. Since the value of the skin decreases the larger the wound, it was a good thing he crushed it with his foot instead of killing it with a blade or weapon.
“The head is burst, so it should be safe to pick up.”
“Oh, come on! I wanted to play it while it was still alive...!”
As I was picking up the snake corpse, Joshua expressed his disappointment from the side.
“Is it possible to play even a dying snake?”
“Oh, absolutely. If it’s a snake, you can play it like a wind instrument. What a shame. Make sure to give the next snake you catch to me. It’s only proper to play them while they’re alive!”
“Uh... won't you get bitten?”
“If it’s just one, I can control it with a whistle or a snap of my fingers even without an instrument. Once I catch one, I can just control all the others with that one.”
“I see.”
The basic combat style of Joshua, the bard and madman, was creating confusion through enchantment.
In particular, he was said to be able to easily control beings with low intelligence, which was supposedly almost at the level of hypnosis. I should try handing him a snake the next time we catch one.
“Another one is coming. This one is quite big.”
Just then, Kairan informed us of an enemy's presence once again.
“Kishaaaaa!!”
“A python!?”
“It’s huge! Huge!”
A python approached, racing at high speed along a groove carved into the wall.
Wait, is that really a python? It’s almost at the level of an anaconda.
As Kairan said, it was truly massive. Moreover, despite its large body, it was fast.
It’s damn fast, isn't it?
Now I could see the reason for the sludge covering the entire Snake Nest. That grease was drastically increasing the snakes' movement speed.
Calling it a Snake Nest was fitting; as expected of its name, this entire place was providing beneficial effects to reptilian monsters.
“Hiyah!”
Of course, no matter how fast it was, it couldn't surpass a Platinum Badge adventurer.
Boom!
Maximus let out a shout and struck down the head of the lunging python, killing it instantly.
It seemed he had controlled his strength considerably, fearing the skin might be damaged.
“I was nervous I might burst the snake’s head.”
“We’re going to get a pretty large skin from this.”
Maximus looked proud, saying he had controlled his strength perfectly, and Chloe patted Maximus on the shoulder as if impressed.
“Ho ho. With those two around, there’s no situation where I even need to step in.”
“I agree.”
The two in the vanguard were wiping out all the approaching monsters. It felt like there was no crisis in sight.
Perhaps because they were just simple snakes, the situation was being resolved immediately by the vanguard alone for now.
“Let’s keep moving forward.”
“By the way, what is our exact objective?”
“Since it’s a nest, they say there’s a place where the eggs are. Let’s set our primary goal as taking a few eggs. And they say that when you go to the room with the eggs, the nearby snakes will swarm in. It would be good to have a proper fight then.”
“Understood.”
There were two main objectives.
One was to obtain snake eggs to deliver to the Druid Club, and the other was to hunt as many monsters as possible for my level-up.
According to Olivia, the reptilian monsters appearing in the Snake Nest give double the experience points, so it seemed best to catch as many as possible.