Heaven's Snake 021: The Room Erupts
The Heaven's Snake chat room—though it held only ten people—had descended into utter chaos. Not that it was hard to understand. When you stumble into a place expecting nothing and suddenly find something extraordinary, excitement is inevitable.
Pop— The noisy chat window vanished. Along with the message that settlement was in progress, the items floating on the opponent's screen transformed into tokens. The defeated Rat Summoner's items were probably disappearing in real time.
"There was a clause about difficulty resetting upon defeat, wasn't there?" The more I thought about it, the more merciful it seemed. It revived dead troops and even reverted raised difficulty. In practice, the cheaters had nothing to lose. From that perspective, maybe they really had been a rescue team after all?
Death's Cat's cheer rang out beside me.
"Hmm, so they really were a rescue team…?" I'd only ever met one patron—Death's Cat—so I honestly couldn't say. "Crazy Bastard" didn't count, of course. He probably hadn't been a patron to begin with.
"That said… nine tokens…" Converted, that was on the level of Deep Well Boots. Since the boots were also a "summoning ticket," plenty of people would want them, but from my perspective it wasn't exactly pleasant. I asked Death's Cat on a whim.
"Can I collect tokens and claim them all at once?"
"What exactly does Death's Cat even know?" Community posts claimed that "patrons" possessed all sorts of abilities beyond mere sponsorship. The prevailing theory was that they were at least Stage 10 or higher. But nothing had been proven.
"What if I just ask?" I tried phrasing the question indirectly.
"By the way… what does it take to become a patron?"
Direct questions were clearly the way to go. Indirect ones only earned me completely off-topic answers from Death's Cat.
"So were you a summoner too?"
"Didn't hear a thing…" I decided not to ask. She might be an idiot, but Death's Cat was technically my direct superior. Since I'd hitched myself to her line, it was best to avoid situations where my superior—idiot or not—got disciplined.
"Tell me later."
The city suddenly dimmed slightly.
"Huh… what's going on?"
"What's happening?"
"Heaven's Snake? Who's that…"
This was definitely dangerous. A user picked by a patron who could see through to the essence of things. They had to be the real deal.
"Yeah, sure…" At that moment, another message cut in.
The world grew a little darker still.
A chilling hiss echoed from somewhere. My own mood wasn't great either. Death's Cat might be an idiot, but hearing someone else call her one left a distinctly unpleasant taste. I decided to say something after all. But I couldn't provoke the patron "Heaven's Snake" too much, so I chose my words carefully.
"Interesting. Cats and snakes are usually predator and prey, yet to defy the natural order… khk…?"
I never finished. Something was constricting my body with crushing force. Breathing became difficult.
Playful yet venom-laced messages split into dozens and flew about chaotically. My vision felt like it was twisting.
"Crazy… what is this…"
While my body was being squeezed, Death's Cat's message appeared.
In an instant, the pressure vanished. The wildly shaking world and messages returned to normal. When I looked up, hundreds of golden pupils floated in the sky, as if countless moons were gazing down upon the earth.
"Death's Cat…?"
I felt something off and looked down. A single white snake lay dead at my feet. That had been the source of the distortion. Heaven's Snake's message arrived immediately.
Her presence disappeared. I called out to Death's Cat to make sense of the situation.
"Death's Cat…?"
With a note that she had to go, Death's Cat's presence also vanished. The golden pupils that had adorned the sky disappeared as if they'd never been there. I was left alone with the white snake's corpse.
"So patrons… are high-stage summoners…" I could see why the community said such things. "Heaven's Snake" was likely a Snake Summoner, and "Death's Cat" a Cat Summoner—at least back when they were at lower stages. Two things were certain: "Heaven's Snake" was an existence I couldn't handle right now. And as long as Death's Cat was around, they couldn't touch me carelessly.
"Right… let's fight at our own level." So I'd beat the hell out of the snake hag's sponsored users who called her "darling." That was the price for daring to call our Death's Cat an idiot. They'd pay it in full.
Lizard Summoner Bak was inwardly flustered by the message from his patron, Maman. Maman was always gentle and soft-spoken, so receiving a message like this was a first.
Whatever had happened, the next opponent was clearly a nasty piece of work. Bak's surprise quickly turned into a delighted smile. The thought of punishing a villain and earning Maman's praise already sent waves of happiness through him.
"How dare they… make our Maman this angry!"
Bak immediately posted on the bulletin board as well.
Olivia was the female Lizardman Bak trusted and cherished most. When he'd lost all his forces except four lizards in 3-1, Bak had fallen into deep despair. Not being able to challenge further wasn't the problem. Losing his beloved lizards had been agonizing. While living quietly with the remaining four, he'd met his patron Maman. Through the various sponsorships Maman provided, he'd succeeded in creating the perfect Lizardman he'd always dreamed of. Olivia-chan was the joint creation of Maman and Bak.
Drawing on his experience running a reptile burial service on Earth, Bak had raised Olivia into the ultimate warrior. Food, bedding, humidity—he perfected everything for her and doted on her endlessly. Olivia-chan loved swallowing her meals in one gulp and slowly digesting them in her stomach. And Bak showcased that beautiful sight of Olivia-chan even in the tournament.
Naturally, countless male followers had gathered around Olivia-chan. All of them were completely smitten with her charm. Bak's community channel, which had eight subscribers, jumped to one hundred during the first round of the tournament. Clips of Olivia-chan's gulp show were copied and spread across the community by users.
"Ehehe." "I don't know what kind of trash it is, but the price for angering my Maman will be paid by my second bride, Olivia-chan! Don't worry! I love you, Maman!"
Bak hummed a tune, lost in fantasies of being lavishly praised by his imaginary first wife, Maman. If he won this time too, Maman would surely shower him with love. Maybe even a wedding as a reward…? Bak wriggled with happiness, nostrils flaring.
Slurp— Slurp— "Delicious. Delicious. Hehe."
Baengnae had returned briefly to the city before the next battle. For snake soup made from the white snake. There was leftover noodles from last time, so she'd turned it into kalguksu.
"Tasty?" "Madda!"
Thank goodness Baengnae's mood, which had been thoroughly soured by the rat meat, seemed to have improved a little. Truthfully, I had a small request for her this time anyway.
"Baengnae. There's something I need you to do in this battle." "Slurp. Ung…?"
I quietly explained the plan to Baengnae. Contrary to my expectations that she'd hate it, she nodded obediently. The effect of feeding her something delicious was showing. "Got it. Baengnae will do it."
Baengnae patted her chest with a reassuring expression. Then she held out her empty bowl to me. It meant she'd work hard, so give her another bowl.
"Right, eat up." There was something amusing. The user sponsored by "Heaven's Snake" was a notorious attention-seeker. Even now, they were posting all sorts of provocative content on the community. The problem was that some of those posts detailed the rewards they'd received from their "Maman," including what items they had, what skills they used, their habits, and weaknesses—all written in meticulous detail. It was a pathological obsession, like a pet observation diary.
"There really are all kinds of idiots in this world…" Baengnae had read those posts while eating snake soup. And as a side effect, she'd picked up some strange words.
"Baengnae will do it. Gulp too!" "No… you don't have to gulp." Was the word addictive? Baengnae seemed to like it a lot.
"Nom nom. Baengnae will gulp." Olivia's gulp show. Tickets available now. Admission is completely free.