Chapter 50

The Star-Embracing Serpent

I used to think that monsters always acted alone.
Most of the ones I’d met so far had been like that.

But maybe that was just my prejudice.
At least here, the monsters moved in groups.

They found common ground—
primates gathered with other hand-using primates,
and the creepy bug-types gathered among themselves.

Judging by the current situation, it looked like the insect army had attacked the “hand-users.”
Fortunately, the gorilla escaped in the chaos.

This was war.

And Centipede Mom… seemed to be a high-ranking officer among the insect army.

“Kke-kke-kke-kke!”

At her roar, the other bugs passed me by without attacking.
Thanks to that, I could fully enjoy my emotional reunion with Kkubbaek.

‘You evolved into white—pure white! I wonder who you take after!’

Affection bubbled up inside me.
A centipede and a Serpent were different species, but now Kkubbaek and I shared the same color.
Isn’t it natural for those of the same color to feel a bond?

‘You’re my son now.’

—Hah. With a color that conspicuous, it’ll never survive in the wild.

Pelerian muttered pessimistically.
I tried to ignore it, but… it did worry me a little.

White wasn’t exactly advantageous in the Great Forest.
Though for now, it didn’t matter while Centipede Mom was around…

—Ruined its life just because of one Serpent.

‘Hey, eat this and grow strong.’

I quickly pulled out a small mana crystal from my subspace and fed it to Kkubbaek.
Pelerian screamed in protest.

‘Go back now.’

I didn’t want to show favoritism in front of the other two siblings.
Kkubbaek munched happily on the mana crystal and climbed back onto its mother’s back.

Right then, tarsiers leapt onto my body.
They clawed and bit at me desperately.

[Using Poison Scales Lv.2.]

But it was useless.
My scales, as hard as crystal, only injured them instead.
And once the poison entered their bodies, it was over.

They collapsed one after another,
and I threw myself fully into the battle.

I cut down monkeys with my blade.
I spat fire and shook the ground.
I “physically” stole the heart of a baboon that charged at me.

And then—
the Sage orangutan who had ordered my death.

“Fall back—retreat—!”

He shouted.
Just from a glance, it was clear he was the commander.

He carried a staff, wore ragged hide garments that could barely be called clothing,
and had a mottled leather pouch hanging from his waist.

【Elder Orangutan Lv.51】
【Title】 Sage

Oh—this might be one of the highest-level monsters I’ve seen so far.
He didn’t even look that strong, yet he had a title.

In other words—
he looked delicious.

I quietly slithered toward him.

The orangutan didn’t even notice my approach, too busy shouting orders.

“Uu—! I’ve called the leader—uu! Retreat for now!”

The leader.
That silver-furred monkey.

Come to think of it… that one also belongs to the “white lineage.”
Definitely dangerous.

“Kke-kke.”

That was when it happened.

Centipede Mom gave the signal to retreat.

I immediately understood.
The insects began to withdraw like a receding tide.

That’s not good.

The orangutan also turned and fled.
I wasn’t about to let him go.

[Using Devouring Leap Lv.1.]

I shot forward like a beam of light.
But he wasn’t just an old orangutan for nothing.

“Hi—ik!”

Sensing the killing intent from behind, he crouched and dodged.
It wasn’t a position where I could aim for his heart anyway.

Instead, I bit into the stinking leather pouch on his back.

Riiip!

The pouch tore open,
and its contents spilled out.

What kind of junk was he carrying?
Pretty stones, bananas, tree fruits—everything spilled out in a mess.

“N-no!”

The orangutan looked as if his entire nation had been stolen.

There was a reason for that reaction.

Among the spilled items, I immediately recognized the most valuable thing.

【Unripe Root Fruit of the World Tree】

Two fist-sized orange fruits.

For a moment, silence fell.

The orangutan, me—
and even a small spider that had somehow appeared beside us—
all stared at each other.

I moved first.

In an instant, I stuffed both fruits into my subspace.
To the orangutan, it must have looked like they vanished into thin air.

“No—!”
“Yes!”

I immediately turned and fled.

I ran alongside the retreating insects,
then leapt onto Centipede Mom’s back, who had been waiting for me.

Kkubbaek and its siblings welcomed me.

“Uooooo—!”

Behind us, the orangutan’s anguished scream echoed.

***

Once, there was a pack of hyenas that roamed the plains freely.
Even large monsters feared them when they moved together.

That pack had a leader.
They lived happily, running across the plains.

But the happiness of the former fang hyena leader—now called Spotted—was shattered one day.

A shadow fairy appeared and captured the entire pack.

Inside cramped iron cages, unspeakable horrors unfolded.
Spotted remembered every single one.

The hyenas of the pack died gruesome deaths one by one.
In the end, only Spotted survived, waiting for its own death—

Until the white Serpent appeared.

Now, Spotted liked its current life.
The white Serpent fed it well and let it run freely outside.

Of course, it was merciless to monsters that disobeyed—
but that was only natural for a leader.

Ordered to wait here on the plains,
Spotted obediently stayed put,
occasionally digging up plump insects with its long fangs and eating them.

Thud thud thud—

The ground shook as something approached.

Spotted thought its new master, the Serpent, had returned—
but it was wrong.

What came charging out of the forest
was the insect army.

At the front was a giant centipede,
followed by countless insects.

“Whine—kkiiing!”

Terrified, Spotted whimpered.
The white Serpent had gone into that forest earlier.

It must have been eaten by those terrifying insects.

Just as Spotted was about to run away in sorrow—

A white Serpent leapt from the centipede’s back.

It landed squarely on Spotted’s back.

Before it could even celebrate,
the Serpent tapped its tail three times.

Run.

Spotted ran with all its strength.
Beside it, the giant centipede ran as well.

Once the monkey forest faded behind them
and the swamp came into view,
the Serpent made Spotted stop.

The centipede also halted.

The Serpent stood before the giant centipede,
as if confidently holding a conversation.

At that moment, Spotted realized—

‘Ah… Master has made even those insects submit.’

When it had reappeared earlier,
it had been riding on the giant centipede.

Considering how powerful the insect army was here,
and how the giant centipede was clearly one of its leaders…

That was incredible.

Spotted’s loyalty deepened even further.

[Your bond with Fang Hyena Spotted Lv.31 has deepened.]
[Spotted has become more loyal to you.]

Huh? What’s this?

While I was mentally expressing my deep gratitude to Centipede Mom and wagging my tail happily,
that message suddenly appeared.

Well, I think I get it.

Spotted must’ve been impressed that I’m close with the great and mighty Centipede Mom.
Honestly, I would’ve felt the same.

My evaluation of Centipede Mom rose even higher.
She was already strong, gentle, and a great mother to her three children—
but now she had proven she also possessed leadership.

She seemed to act as an officer even within the insect army opposing the primates.

However, she didn’t try to recruit me.
Well, that couldn’t be helped—
I’m not a bug. I’m a Crystal Doublehorn Python.

“Kke, kke.”

I asked Centipede Mom the questions I hadn’t been able to ask earlier among the monkeys.

On the ground in front of me, a complicated drawing was sketched.
Doodling had been my hobby even when I was human, so it was fairly easy to understand.

I drew a Serpent with a unique appearance.
This wasn’t me—it was the Serpent described in Deshnan’s journal.

And the small Serpent drawn next to it—

That was me.

I pointed back and forth between the small Serpent and the large Serpent I had drawn.
Then I alternated between the three centipede siblings and Centipede Mom.

‘This Serpent is my father. Have you ever seen him?’

—Yeah, like she’d understand that.

…But she did.

—She understood that?!

The centipede suddenly shrank back.
For some reason, she seemed frightened, clacking her venomous claws.
She stared at me for a moment… then nodded.

Then she turned her gaze eastward, toward where the sun rose.
There was a rugged-looking rocky region there.

‘He’s there?’

Centipede Mom nodded again.

A spark seemed to ignite in my mind.
I had finally found my father’s whereabouts.

My mother was a ruthless Medusa Serpent who turned disobedient children into pulp…
But my father was different.

Yes—he wasn’t a Medusa Serpent.

Realizing such an obvious fact was strangely shocking.

The reason they’re called “Medusa” is because of the countless small Serpents attached like hair.
But those Serpents are all offspring she personally laid.
They even resemble female faces.

Naturally, Medusa Serpents are all female.

My biological father was still a serpent—but not a Medusa Serpent.
He had a far cooler name.

One of the reasons I wanted to meet him…
was that special species name.

—It’s a type even I’ve never heard of. A unique species.

That’s how Pelerian explained it.

A unique species—
a monster that has evolved outside the normal evolutionary tree.
Not just rare, but something that has become an entirely new species.

—Don’t get your hopes up. Not all unique species are powerful or superior.

Even so, I at least wanted to see him.

After all, I had the special skill Borrowed Horn.
According to Deshnan’s records, my father—being a special monster—must possess a special ability.

If I got lucky… maybe I could borrow it.

I was about to say goodbye to the insect army and leave—

—What is that? Disgusting.

From the swamp, more bugs began crawling out.

A welcoming party for Centipede Mom and her group after the battle?

Something felt off.

‘They’re all spiders.’

The bugs were small in shape and size, but every single one of them was a spider.
Especially the large one leading them—

Its abdomen had something that looked like a human face.

【Demon Face Tarantula Lv.63】

…That one looked dangerous.

It felt like the face on its abdomen locked eyes with me.

“Kke-kke-phek!”

Centipede Mom made a threatening sound and shoved me.
As if telling me to leave—now.

“Spotted!”

I called for Spotted and quickly climbed onto its back.
Then I had it head toward the rocky region.

“Woof!”

Spotted barked sharply and began to run.
We quickly put distance between ourselves and the insect army.

I glanced back.

Centipede Mom and the human-faced spider were facing each other,
locked in a tense standoff.

…They clearly didn’t get along.

Huh—
It’s looking at me again.

The face on the spider’s abdomen was staring directly at me.
It wore a grotesque grin, its eyes fixed on me.

I’ve never had a good experience with spiders.

I shook off that gaze and kept running with Spotted.

***

I noticed something strange as we entered the rocky region.

—There are a lot of spiders around.

Pelerian warned.

This wasn’t an environment suitable for spiders.
Sharp rocks jutted out everywhere.

And yet, fist-sized spiders were circling me.

There was some damp moss growing between the rocks,
but nowhere near enough to support this many spiders.

We had long since moved far enough away that neither the centipedes nor the human-faced spider were visible.

‘This isn’t a coincidence, right?’

—What do you think?

‘They couldn’t have followed us all the way from the swamp…’

The spiders kept their distance—about ten steps away—
circling as if monitoring me.

I stayed on guard and searched for my father,
but in the vast rocky terrain, there wasn’t a single Serpent in sight besides me.

A serpent of that size wouldn’t go unnoticed.

—Instead of searching for your father, you should find shelter first.

Night had fallen.

Trying to escape on Spotted was difficult—
even it couldn’t gain speed on this rocky terrain.

Worse, the spiders began to block our path, slowly tightening their encirclement.

At some point, spiders as large as wild dogs appeared.

【Poison Huntsman Spider Lv.17】

One-on-one, they wouldn’t dare challenge me.

But they clung to the rocks, slowly advancing.
Eight eyes each—

Hundreds of red eyes glowed in the darkness.

All of them were staring at me.
Like a coordinated hunting pack closing in on prey.

They’re underestimating me.

“Kyaaang!”

Suddenly, Spotted cried out.

A fist-sized spider had leapt at it, trying to bite.
I quickly lunged and bit it instead.

As I crushed it with a crunch, Spotted growled and stayed alert.

—This is dangerous.

It really was.

A thought crossed my mind—
could this be the work of that human-faced spider I locked eyes with earlier?

Did it somehow notice I took the orangutan’s fruit?

No point overthinking it.

Then there’s only one answer.

Show them strength.

If they wanted to deal with me—Uroboros—
that human-faced spider should’ve come itself.

I drew my sword.

Then I breathed fire, sending water spraying into the air.
I even shook the ground with earth magic.

Back when I did this, the goblins of Runga trembled in fear.

Rumble—

The effect was immediate.
The spiders approaching me began to hesitate and retreat.

Rumble rumble rumble—

Were basic elemental spells always this powerful?
It was practically like an earthquake.

Then—

Something blocked the moonlight, casting a massive shadow.

A huge silhouette covered me—
and kept growing, swallowing even the spiders in darkness.

Only then did I realize—

There was something behind me.

…They weren’t retreating because of me?

I turned around.

Ah.

So that’s where he was.

Sleeping beneath the rocks from the very beginning.

The reason the spiders and I had been circling each other like in “Red Light, Green Light”…
might have been because we were standing on top of his body the whole time.

That’s how massive he was.

Thud… boom.

The rocks covering his body fell away with a thunderous crash.

He revealed himself.

A shiver ran down my spine.

His scales were the same white as mine—

No…

They shimmered like starlight.

A serpent bearing stars in its scales
looked down at me with eyes like the North Star.

Carefully, I spoke the word.

“…Dad?”

Or… Father.

Our eyes met.