"Lucas? What is it?"
Amelia also came to an abrupt stop beside me, while Nero and Anastasia continued forward.
They were conversing about something among themselves, paying us no attention. Meanwhile, a frown wrinkled Amelia's doll-like face.
"Lucas, is something wrong?" she asked, sounding a bit more concerned this time.
However, I didn't reply.
My mind was elsewhere, making it difficult for me to give her a clear answer. Instead, I vaguely pointed in the direction of the serpent and said:
"It wasn't his whole body."
Amelia couldn't understand my words. She slightly tilted her head in confusion as the frown on her face deepened. "What?"
Without responding, I took a few steps toward the deep crater and squinted my eyes to inspect the cyan serpent's carcass.
Yeah, just as I suspected.
I didn't notice this detail amidst the raging storm, but now that the dust had settled and the sharp gales had subsided, I could clearly see it. The tail of the cyan serpent was buried deep underground.
No, in fact, considering its body proportions, it was right to say that at least half of its body was still deep underground.
Perhaps more than half? I don't know.
What puzzled me was the question of why it didn't completely come to the surface to hunt us down.
Its size was one of its biggest advantages. Even small movements of 08:35
its body were more than enough to send most of us flying.
I could only imagine the scale of destruction it would've caused if it had fully emerged on the surface.
Come to think of it, how did such a huge mana beast mask its presence not only from the other cadets on this island but also from the academy?
The academy must've scouted this place long before the commencement of our practical exam.
The fact that the academy still sent us here meant only one of two things:
Either this attack was planned and the scouts were compromised, or this serpent hid its presence well enough from the scouts.
But how? It was a wind serpent. Its affinity for wind shouldn't grant it that level of concealment skill.
To my knowledge, only creatures with an affinity toward darkness could hide themselves so well.
In the next second, a soft touch on my shoulder shook me out of my thoughts. A gentle voice reached my ears, calming down my worries.
"Lucas, you're worrying me now. Did you hit your head or something? Should we call a medic here?"
I turned to look at Amelia and offered her a reassuring smile after a bit of pause. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something. By the way, Amelia, you have an affinity for darkness, right?"
Amelia frowned and lingered for a split second. "Yes, that's right. Though, I don't know many spells."
"It's fine. Just tell me this one thing. Can someone with an affinity for darkness hide their presence underground?"
The black-haired beauty shrugged. "Sure. I mean, the underground would all be full of darkness and shadows, which would be their element."
Hmm. Is it possible that the cyan serpent had not one but two affinities? But then… Why did it not use dark magic against us?
Something was clearly amiss.
At that moment, Amelia grabbed my hand and started pulling me toward the shore. "Stop standing here. Think whatever you are thinking about once we get back."
I blinked a couple of times then looked at the way her small hand was holding mine. For some reason, seeing her grabbing my hand stirred an inexplicable feeling inside my heart.
I… almost felt… emotional? Huh… why?
Maybe that was why I was a split second too late to notice a primal bloodlust aimed at us. Something was watching us again.
Only this time, it wasn't just one but six pairs of eyes locked on us!
I shivered, and even Amelia frowned. She sensed it too. And it was only then that it struck me!
Maybe it wasn't the cyan serpent who had an affinity for darkness but some other creature - another serpent!
Maybe that other serpent was joined with the body of the cyan serpent – acting as a part of its body!
Yes, instead of different creatures, it could be one single colossal organism with many different heads! All with different affinities!
Maybe that's why most of its body was underground! Maybe… maybe.. maybe it wasn't a serpent at all… but a hydra!
As if waiting for that realization to dawn upon me, a pair of deep scarlet reptilian eyes rose from under the ground a few meters away from us.
As those scarlet eyes flashed with a murderous glint, my pupils constricted. I was right! God, when will the day come when I'm proven wrong about these things?!
Before I could continue to ridicule myself in my head, the scarlet eyes shimmered brightly, and a giant, crimson-scaled serpent shot out from under the ground, lunging in our direction.
Amelia could only gasp as the crimson serpent reached us, opening its gaping jaws in hopes of eating us up and finishing what its cyan head had started.
Fuck!
My body moved before I could even understand what I did myself. I activated Enigma Sightstone and looked into the serpent's eyes, ensnaring it in an illusion.
I managed to slow it down, but only for a split second. After all, I didn't have enough time to cast an intricate illusion. A split second was already good enough.
Using that slim moment of opportunity, I kicked Amelia, pushing her aside, and sacrificing myself. n//1n
The jaws of the crimson serpent snapped shut. All I could remember was being cut in half, and the colossal serpent devouring my upper body before darkness claimed me.
I was dead.
†
Or was I?
When I came to my senses, I found myself standing in the middle of a metal chamber.
Aside from a small circle of light in the middle, most of the room was engulfed in darkness, making it impossible to even see the walls.
The only way I knew it was a metal chamber and that it even had walls was because when I tapped my foot on the ground, I sensed the ground was made of reinforced metal. And when I looked around, I saw that the ceiling was made of the same stuff.
If there was a ceiling, there were bound to be walls. Now the question was, where was I?
"So, you are Lucas Morningstar."
At that instance, a feminine voice resounded from the darkness in front of me, making me flinch and instinctively take a step back.
That voice… It was weird. It was chillingly perfect, devoid of any flaw, making it all the more eerie and the most unsettling sound I had ever heard.
"Wh-Who are you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from breaking.
There was silence for a while before an answer came from the darkness. This time, two eyes with vertical pupils like that of a snake, emitting a faint aqua glow, appeared in front of me.
"I'm Kiara."
