09 - WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY

Two days later.

There was a tiny light deep in the valley, in one of the dark rifts.

“I haven’t come across any weapons or dead bodies with rings, or creatures other than worms. What’s going on? Where are the vipers?” As Edgar traveled through a narrow rift between two rocky structures, a python slithered its way through desperately, seemingly looking to eat him. Thanks to that glowing stone he wore as a necklace, he was able to see it coming pretty comfortably. He was no longer holding any food items, and the bronze plate was half stuck in his underwear on the back.

“Mm? That doesn’t look like a viper? Is it a python? Looking at its speed, it's taking me for an easy kill…” he readied the sword, but to his surprise, a bigger snake came from behind and swallowed the python bit by bit until it was fully gone. This newly-arrived brown beast slurped the python away like noodles before eyeing Edgar.

Judging by its fangs and scales, there was no doubt that it was a viper, though it was not a fully grown one.

“This thing’s trouble,” Edgar raised his sword. “Fighting it here will put me at more disadvantage. I’ll have to intimidate it before it thinks of me as a threat. But it’s too far for my attack to reach it. I’m not yet good with long-range attacks. Still, I can only hope that it works.” Red aura covered the wooden sword, and he vertically slashed the sword. A gust of wind cut through the air, and though it seemed like nothing happened, a second later, the big viper felt a faint but sharp breeze tickle its nose. It hissed a bit, and then came straight at him at full speed.

“Ah, crap,” Edgar frowned but then that frown faded away as fast as it appeared, and he took a breath before charging. “I didn’t get to taste the strength of the last viper I met. Let’s see how strong you vipers really are.” As the snake closed in, he jumped ahead. “Seven Petal—”

Before he unleashed his double-handed sword attack, the snake’s sudden burst in speed made it close the distance right away. (So fast!) With its wide open mouth, it tried to swallow him alive, but he blocked its fangs with the blade, and the pure force behind that impact pushed him away. “Ngh!” Veins popped out all over his body. (What’s with its monstrous strength.) Its bite force could easily crush a tiger’s skull as though it were a rice cake. Had Edgar not covered his wooden sword with aura, it would have shattered to pieces. Still, it was suffering cracks, already.

Moreover, the steam given off by its mouth made Edgar shiver a bit. Just then he realized that if not for the aura shrouding the wooden sword, it would have long melted from the acidic venom in its mouth.

Though he managed to avoid getting caught by the mouth, the tail was still right before him. The moment he landed on the ground, he jumped onto the back of the snake and scuttled toward its tail. “Let me chop you up, bit by bit!”

The space in that rift wasn’t enough for the snake to turn on the ground level, so it could only curl its body to turn its head so that it’d face the human again.

Seeing that it was attacked using both the tail and the head, Edgar frowned, “Tch, this thing’s just had dinner, but it wants more. I’m not the exotic dessert you think I am.” He raised the sword and thrust it down onto the snake, but to his surprise, even with the Drive boosting the blade, he could only cause a teeny dent in its scales. “How sturdy. No wonder this thing saw me as an easy target.”

Edgar got into a calm standing pose and waited for both the tail and the head to get to him. Just when they both got close enough, he suddenly turned into a blur and vanished from the spot. The snake ended up chewing on its own tail, and before it realized, it had already chewed the end of the tail and then hissed in pain. If it could cry, it surely could have.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the rift, Edgar was observing the snake, though he couldn’t see it clearly anymore because the glowing stone worked well in a narrow space like a rift unlike in a broad space where his view was much shorter but broader.

Edgar was a bit out of breath as well. (Master said that Red Drive gets its power from one’s blood, so the more I use it, the more my stamina gets drained. And in the fight just now, I ended up using a lot more energy than I thought to defend myself. Is it because I’m feeling anxious? Or is it because of the lack of vital air in this place? Either way, I still clearly have a long way to go. But…)

Edgar clenched his fists, not pleased with the result. (To think I was already forced to use Flying Flash Arts… and this viper doesn’t even have proper horns or any core on its head. It’s clearly not fully grown.) His master told him that among these vipers, the Black Asps with horns were the most dangerous. The one Edgar was currently fighting was a Black Asp, but it wasn’t an adult. Its eyes are not glowing, either. He clenched his fists. (This thing doesn’t have a core. I don’t need to risk my life for no reward. He hurriedly ran away from that place. This valley lives up to its name.)

As he was carefully moving through the tunnels and whatever gaps available, he couldn’t help but wonder about what the old man had said. (Every blue thing that moves, huh. Come to think of it, these glowing stones are also blue in color. Did he purposely choose the blue color, so that I’d myself look like a moving-blue creature? But that python and the viper didn’t seem to be intimidated by me at all.) Even after pondering about it, he got nowhere. (Anyway, the Master should know what he’s talking about. Hopefully, he isn’t deceiving me. I don’t see what he’d gain from doing such a thing, either.)

He always kept climbing up the climbable walls whenever he could, but still, this almost always proved to be a terrible idea, for the giant worms came out of nowhere, drilling their way through even rough soil. Fighting while climbing the walls was too much, so the more time he spent, the more careful he got. He also understood why his master told him to not hurry and climb but instead find a proper and safe way. The only good thing that came out of fighting worms was their crappy meat and distasteful blood, which still kept him going. Snakes were too dangerous to eat, but the worms were not a problem at all, except not considering the raw taste.

After a few days of restless roaming, he was tired of it. 

“I haven’t come across any human bones yet.

“Master told me to avoid caves only if they don’t have multiple escape routes. I’ve avoided the caves till now, but what if people died in there? Maybe the weapons are lying in there in some of those caves?”

After coming to a decision, he chose not to go because it still felt too risky. He wanted to roam for some more time and take things slow, but then his opinion changed when he entered a narrow street and found a cluster of the smaller caves, which were being frequented by worms. Thanks to that narrow region, he was able to see quite a distance around him.

“Why are so many worms coming in and going out of those caves? Did a powerful beast die nearby?” his eyes lit up. “If I can get its core…”

The caves were tall enough for him to easily fit in, but the problem was that they were high up in the walls. He wouldn’t be able to go up there without attracting attention as the worms were extremely sensitive to vibrations. However, the possibility of a rare reward was too enticing, especially given that he had been looking to find better weapons all this while. If he couldn’t get weapons, he wanted to make sure to at least get a good core.

“These things are much easier to kill compared to the pythons and vipers,” he thought, even though he never actually managed to kill either pythons or the vipers, “but these damned fellows can sense me even when I use ‘flash’ steps. And if many of them come at me at once, then it’d be nothing but trouble in that closed space. However, I really want to see for myself just where those caves lead. What’s on the other end?” He turned into a blur and bounced off the walls as he climbed up, and as he expected, the worms got alerted as he got closer.