Chapter 110: The Snake Queen's Story
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 110: The Snake Queen's Story
“Gek… gek….”
What was she talking about?
Telling me to get out of the jungle?
“The exit to the jungle is not far from here. If you wish to leave, you can do so immediately.”
This place had few of the massive trees characteristic of the jungle. It was likely what you’d call the outskirts. A place where you could truly step outside the jungle with just a little effort.
And this was where the Snake Queen had brought me.
“Could you take the princess and leave this place?”
All to get me out of the jungle.
I couldn’t understand why.
I asked her, my voice unusually serious.
“Gek….”
She stared intently at my face.
“You ask for a reason? Isn’t it obvious? Capturing the King of Birds is now a foregone conclusion. There is no longer any reason to borrow the hand of an outsider.”
An outsider.
Normally, I would have thought, Well, I’m a lizard, so I’m not really an outsider.
But I couldn’t think that way now.
At a glance, her words seemed reasonable. She had a point. It wasn’t as if we’d had some deep, binding relationship from the start.
But this wasn’t right.
The Snake Queen was speaking words she didn’t mean.
I knew the face she made when she laughed like a fool over a single dango. That’s how I knew this expressionless face was just an act.
This was the same Snake Queen who had given me Hwari and the Snow Ginseng Wine. To give me such precious things, only to try and kick me out now?
It was impossible.
“Gek.”
I met the Snake Queen’s gaze.
“…Ha.”
The Snake Queen gave a smile that made it hard to tell if she was laughing or crying.
“I can’t win against you.”
She reached out and pulled me toward her.
We were in shallow water. Getting onto the bank required little effort. After climbing up to the nest where Swish-Swish was sleeping, I shook my body dry.
The Snake Queen watched me silently for a moment before speaking.
“This battle is dangerous. I believe in my victory, but there is always a ‘what if’.”
Finally, the Snake Queen was telling me the real reason.
It was a ridiculous thing to say.
What battle wasn’t dangerous? Besides, I had crossed the line between life and death countless times.
The Snake Queen gazed for a long time at Swish-Swish, who was sleeping soundly with a soft purr. Her true intention was to send me to a safe place, and to have Swish-Swish go with me.
I agreed that Swish-Swish needed to be somewhere safe. But excluding me from the battle was unacceptable.
She stroked Swish-Swish’s head, then leaned her body against the grassy ground. In human terms, it would be like plopping down on the spot.
“…I am a coward.”
A coward.
It was a word I never expected to hear from her lips.
“A foolish coward who, despite her greed, cannot bear to lose what is hers.”
Who would dare belittle her as a coward? She was the Queen of Snakes, who ruled this jungle alongside the King of Birds.
The Snake Queen’s yellow eyes looked at me. They weren’t the usual dry, emotionless eyes, but the round ones I had seen before.
“…I have never told you about the relationship between myself and the King of Birds.”
I plopped down in front of her. A sign that I was ready to listen.
“When I was still a small snake, Honhwi raised me.”
A small snake. The Snake Queen must have had such a time, too. I could guess as much from Old Man Compy’s behavior.
“And I was not the only one he raised.”
Old Man Compy lived with countless small creatures. She must have been one of them.
“Gaechalgoatal. He grew up with me.”
The King of Birds grew up with the Snake Queen?
“Yes. As you may have guessed by now, he was originally a snake.”
The Snake Queen wore a sad expression.
“A timid, pathetically weak snake who couldn’t do anything without me.”
Gaechalgoatal. I knew his name was similar to Quetzalcoatl.
“We were like siblings. We ate the food Honhwi brought us and continued to grow larger.”
And Quetzalcoatl was a feathered serpent.
“Then, one day, a human appeared before us.”
A human. This was probably the person who brought the Snake Queen divine artifacts and other such items.
“I had thought humans were inherently weak and wicked. But I was wrong. That person was different.”
For the Snake Queen to speak of them like this, just how strong were they?
“Untainted and pure. Yet their strength was something I could not dare to fathom.”
The Snake Queen closed her eyes as if reminiscing.
“She told me. That even if born a snake, through continuous training, one could become a being known as a dragon.”
The Snake Queen and the King of Birds. Both had shown an obsession with dragons. The reason was that it had been the driving force for their growth.
“We trained endlessly. Our bodies grew larger, and our strength grew considerably.”
“Gek.”
“I thought that by continuing to train like that, Gaechalgoatal and I could become dragons together.”
But as she was now, she was a snake, not a dragon. Although basilisks are sometimes considered a type of dragon, she perceived herself as a snake.
In other words, she had failed to become a dragon.
“As time passed, he grew stranger. He sought teachings from someone other than Little Dragon and gradually distanced himself from us. Still, I didn’t pay it much mind. Honhwi, myself, and Gaechalgoatal were family, after all.”
“Gek gek.”
“But his deviance grew worse and worse. To the point where he would torment the small creatures under Little Dragon’s protection.”
The small creatures. Just as she and the King of Birds were raised, other small animals must have been there too. If they were from the same generation, they would have become formidable beings by now.
…But when I met Old Man Compy last time, I hadn’t seen any animals of that caliber. At most, there were just some high-level lizards.
“He continued down that path, until a certain incident occurred.”
The Snake Queen grabbed her arm and curled into herself. As if recalling the incident, she continued with a sorrowful expression.
“That bastard killed all of Honhwi’s disciples.”
Now I understood why there were no particularly strong beings in Little Dragon’s territory.
The King of Birds had killed them all.
“As if he felt no guilt, as if he were proud of the wings he’d obtained by sacrificing all that blood.”
Grind.
The Snake Queen clenched her teeth.
“With that detestable face…”
Ruuuumble….
The overwhelming aura I had felt when facing Argentavis began to radiate from her.
It must have been a horrific memory. So painful that even thinking about it was agony.
“Gek gek.”
I rested my head on what I presumed was her knee.
“…What is this? Don’t tell me you want me to feel better by touching these smooth, shiny scales.”
“Gek gek gek.”
“Truly, an act befitting of you.”
The aura emanating from the Snake Queen subsided. I didn’t know if she felt better, but it seemed she had regained control of her emotions.
“…That is the kind of being Gaechalgoatal is. To get what he wants, he will do anything.”
The Snake Queen continued, one hand slowly stroking my head.
“I have already received more than enough help. A tiresome, ill-fated connection must be severed by the parties involved.”
The preparations to capture the King of Birds were almost complete. She wouldn’t fight with defeat in mind. But the King of Birds had a twisted personality. Even if she won, it was clear there would be damages.
And there was a high chance he would target me, her official companion.
“I ask you once more. Will you take my daughter and leave this jungle?”
That was why she was trying to send me away.
There was only one thing I could say.
“Gek gek.”
This was the body of a lizard. I couldn’t do anything but make ‘gek’ sounds. That was why my conversations with her could only happen like this. The Snake Queen would speak, and I would answer. And that answer was too ambiguous to even be called a conversation.
She would probably understand my meaning. But what I wanted to convey was so much more than that.
For the first time, I resented this body that could do nothing but ‘gek’.
“Gek gek gek.”
No way.
Are you trying to eat Gaechalgoatal’s inner core without me? I can’t let that happen.
“Gek gek!”
As I cried out, the Snake Queen stared at me blankly for ten seconds. Then, she tilted her head for five seconds, trying to understand my words.
“Oohut…”
Another three seconds passed as she let out a small laugh, having seemingly understood.
“Really, I can’t win against you.”
“Gek gek!”
There was no need to overthink it. We just had to hide Swish-Swish somewhere safe and then launch an all-out attack. If she was really that worried, I could just carry Swish-Swish in my mouth.
“My companion.”
“Gek?”
“…You brought this upon yourself.”
Slither.
The Snake Queen’s tail wrapped around my body.
Why all of a sudden?!
“Gek-gek-gek-gek!”
“I certainly gave you a chance.”
What does that mean?
“Seeing as you’ve decided to stay, you must be prepared for this.”
“Geeeeeeek!”
I never agreed to this!
Swish-Swish. Wake up. I think I’m in big trouble.
The Snake Queen’s grip tightened. I was going to be eaten by her.
I closed my eyes.
Please, someone save me.
“E-excuse me!”
A human voice suddenly rang out.
The Snake Queen and I both froze.
“…Did you hear that?”
“Gek gek.”
The Snake Queen’s constriction loosened, and I nodded my head quickly. I didn’t know who it was, but someone had saved me.
“How strange. Why would a human be here? And to speak to us after seeing my companion’s form.”
There was a high probability this was no ordinary human. There was no way a normal person could witness a giant lizard over seven meters long about to be eaten by a woman with the lower body of a snake and still speak so calmly.
“But it is clearly a human’s voice. Hmmm… I suppose I must check.”
Was it just my imagination, or did that sound like she was going to punish the human for interrupting a good time?
Whoever it was, let’s pray for their soul.
“P-please help me….”
Maintaining a guarded stance, I approached the woman with the Snake Queen. I also picked up Swish-Swish, just in case.
She was a woman with black hair. Blood trickled from various places, and she was covered in minor cuts. They weren’t fatal, but judging by her limp, she seemed to have trouble moving.
“Hah, heok! Great Lizard-nim…! P-please help meeee….”
I turned my gaze to the Snake Queen, asking her what to do with this woman.
“It can’t be….”
The Snake Queen stammered. Her reaction was unusual.
“It’s impossible. I’m sure…”
“A-are you okay?”
The Snake Queen’s body trembled. And the mysterious woman looked at her with a worried expression.
What was this situation?
Something was strange. Why would the Snake Queen have such an extreme reaction? Could it be that she knew that face?
My mind raced. What were the chances that a human who could provoke such a reaction from the Snake Queen would be in this place, at this very moment?
If the Snake Queen knew her, it meant she had seen her and survived. That implied a certain level of martial prowess. And such a person was asking for our help with such minor injuries?
No, the fact that a human had suddenly appeared in this place was suspicious from the start. And it was also strange that the Snake Queen and I were approaching her with so little suspicion.
This feeling of incongruity. I had felt it before.
“Could you come a little closer?”
The woman was still on the verge of tears, just like before.
But the corners of her mouth were smiling.
I focused my eyes.
【Rakshasa Bird LV70】
I knew it.
The Rakshasa Bird could disguise itself as a human. The Snake Queen was reacting like this because it had transformed into someone connected to her. If it hadn’t taken that form, we would have seen through its identity immediately.
It must have planned to pull a trick on her while she was emotionally vulnerable.
It could be considered a good strategy.
But it made two mistakes.
[Activating 「Reverse Scale LV1」.]
First, it didn’t expect the Snake Queen’s kept man to possess the perk, ‘Eye of the Wild’.
[Temporarily acquiring 「Gaegaek Death Beam LV1」.]
“W-wait. What are you doing….”
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Second, it didn’t consider that said kept man was capable of firing a Gaegaek Death Beam without fully grasping the situation.