The Full Serpent (1)
The day after resting in the shelter, I jolted awake without warning. ‘Ah, I fell asleep in the shelter.’
Chaos says it’s fine, so relax.
The first floor was filled with trash, the second with transcendents. Nothing ever passed by normally, so my nerves had been wound far too tight. Feeling awkward, I scratched my cheek.
“Haah. I slept well.”
“Ugh… It really is reassuring that the shelter is a place where no monsters spawn.”
Yeriel was the first to wake, sitting there dazedly with an adorable yawn, while Lumia stretched like a cat, her expression languid. I loosened my stiff neck and spoke.
“Everyone sleep okay? Alright, let’s get our heads straight. From today on, we should pick up the pace a little.”
I judged it best to leave this place quickly. The third floor was an open forest terrain with no shelters, and after experiencing the second floor—especially the swamp zone—for any length of time, it was clear it wasn’t a good place to linger. Everyone agreed without complaint and began packing up their bedrolls and pulling out preserved rations with swift efficiency.
I handed the torches to the two of them and took out the compass and map.
“Nothing left behind? Let’s get moving.”
Hoping for an uneventful day, I stepped out of the shelter.
For the first few days after leaving the shelter, everything went suspiciously smoothly as we traveled. We only encountered monsters like bouncy slimes or small groups of mermen on the way. No traps, no other adventurers. ‘A labyrinth wouldn’t just let us reach the next floor this easily.’
The lack of any incident that should have happened by now only made me more anxious. Had the time I spent in the labyrinth been far more intense than what other adventurers experienced? ‘Maybe this is normal. I might finally get to wander the labyrinth like everyone else.’
That hopeful thought had barely crossed my mind when—
Shhhk—
“Kieeeek!”
Another group of mermen. How tiresome. A pale chill gathered in my hand. Frost of the Bitter Cold, my newly acquired trait. Since it let me handle a faint cold, I had been using it whenever monsters appeared to get used to it. The mana cost meant nothing to me, so I focused on testing its applications and power.
‘It said it was weak, and even though I just got it, it really is weak.’ The direct damage was too low. For now, it seemed better suited for crowd control or support rather than offense. Still, the fact that it could grow and had none of the penalties like the violet lightning’s post-use headache was worth focusing on.
I tried wrapping the cold around my weapon, freezing the ground beneath my feet, and slowing monsters by shooting it at their legs. Watching me experiment with the new trait, Yeriel spoke up brightly.
“Aren, you’re a swordsman, but you can use elemental abilities too? Watching you summon lightning and spread cold is amazing, even when I already know about it!”
Yeriel giggled, joking that the mages from the Magic Tower would definitely find me interesting and want to study me. Lumia nodded in agreement and added that I should be careful not to draw the attention of any eccentric high-ranking mages from the tower.
I nodded silently. ‘It’s true that people who aren’t mages but can handle multiple elements are rare, according to the books.’ The Magic Tower was supposedly located near the border between the 2nd and 3rd districts. As an adventurer, I’d probably have to visit it someday… but I wasn’t eager. Hearing the word “mage” immediately brought Scarlet to mind—her appearance on the third floor—and left me uneasy. It wasn’t guilt, just… discomfort.
‘Ugh, no point dwelling on it… Forget it, forget it.’
I closed my eyes and shook my head hard, pushing the useless thoughts away. Staying alert, I pressed onward—walking, hunting, eating, sleeping. The days blurred together until, checking the map, I realized we had reached the area near the portal.
“Just a little farther and we’ll round the last corner to the portal.”
Their expressions brightened.
“Whew, the tiresome second floor is finally ending… No matter how long the next floor takes, it has to be at least ten times better than this swamp zone.”
Yeriel let out a sigh of relief; the stuffy, oppressive environment had clearly bothered her most. Lumia felt the same.
“The third floor is all forest and plains, right? Ugh, I can’t wait to get out of here.”
“You two are really motivated. Good! Let’s hurry.”
With renewed energy, I quickened my steps and turned the final corner toward the portal. Or rather, I tried to.
Thud!
Lumia’s ears perked up and she yanked my sleeve sharply.
“We should stop. From here, I can faintly hear monster cries. There’s definitely a battle happening up ahead.”
…If it were just a normal fight against monsters, she wouldn’t have looked so tense.
“Who’s fighting and how many?”
“A party of adventurers is battling monsters. Four or five people. More importantly, the monster they’re facing seems to be a single entity, and it’s quite large.”
Chaos worries we might get dragged into another headache.
Haah, damn it. Had I gotten too excited about the easy days we’d had? Nothing ever stayed simple till the end. The party itself was probably fine, but a large monster? Slimes, blind cave mermen, cave snakes—none of those matched what Lumia described. If those were the common monsters in the swamp zone, what else could it be? A special variant? Rare species? Or worse, an upper species?
Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be an easy fight. If that party ahead could handle it on their own, approaching might cause trouble. They could mistake us for stealers waiting for an opportunity. But if they were struggling or in mortal danger, the situation changed.
What should we do?
“Don’t approach recklessly. Let’s circle around slowly and observe the fight first.”
She nodded. Good. We’d watch from a distance. If they looked like they were about to die, we’d intervene. If they could handle it themselves, we’d wait until they finished and took the portal, even if it took time. The third floor was right in front of us—I didn’t want to stir up unnecessary conflict.
I signaled behind me and led the way carefully.
—Shaaaa!!!
A savage, ear-splitting roar echoed from afar, tearing through the air. The moment we rounded the corner, we saw it.
“Robert, I’ll draw its attention! Fall back and recover!”
“Kgh… Sorry!”
In the distance, a five-person party was clearly struggling, and before them loomed a massive, elongated monster with the form of a sea serpent. The moment I laid eyes on it, I recognized it from the library’s monster encyclopedia.
That was… an upper species Full Serpent.
Full Serpent. An upper species of the second floor listed in the monster compendium I’d found among the labyrinth’s vast collection of books. It used various water-attribute attacks, had a tough outer shell, was extremely ferocious, and measured between five and ten meters in length. With an extremely low spawn rate, it was rarely seen on the second floor unless one had truly terrible luck. Its horns and scales were valuable, and it could drop random items worth hoping for—if you could kill it, that is.
“Shaaaak!”
Kwaaang!
“Kuhk.”
With a roar, water gathered into a sphere around the Full Serpent and exploded like a bomb. The spearman who had stepped forward to draw aggro so the fallen tank could recover was sent flying after a single misstep, taking a direct hit from the water bomb.
“Gail!! Kh…!”
Robert casts “I’ll Protect You.”
The tank, who had been receiving healing from the priest, returned to the front line before his wounds had fully closed. ‘This is just going to create a vicious cycle. Did they underestimate an upper species?’
Even from the fragmentary information I knew, upper species weren’t just stronger than the floor they appeared on—they each possessed special abilities that made them far more dangerous and troublesome than regular monsters.
‘They’re going to get wiped out at this rate. I can’t just watch anymore. I have to join in.’
After all, to use the portal, we had to deal with the creature blocking the way. I figured I could handle it. And while I wasn’t a pushover, there was no reason to stand by and watch five people get torn apart when I could help. I’d assist in killing the Full Serpent, accept their thanks, and move on. If, after the fight, they started complaining that they could have done it without us and that we’d butted in for the loot, I could deal with them then.
“Let’s go. We have to fight it anyway to reach the third floor, whether it’s just us three or eight people. Yeriel, buffs!”
“Okay! May light dwell in his sword and wind in his body!”
Divine Weapon: Strength increased by one stage for one hour.
Haste: Agility increased by one stage for one hour.
I told them I’d go first and for them to follow and provide support from a safe position. Paang! I burst the mana gathered at my feet and charged forward.