A gigantic Velobra roared in the distance, shaking their eardrum and disrupting the rhythm of their heart. Unlike the smaller Velobra, this one had bigger neck and head, making it a menace as it rammed through the undead formation and bit onto the undead.
Milet confronted the beast. He leaped forward, spinning his spear and stabbed at the eye with great precision. The snake retracted its head quick enough to miss the spear and then it snapped forward, biting onto Milet's chest. Suddenly, the Gold Rank undead shook and then fell to the ground.
Aldred was shocked. His undead were usually immune to wound and would never stop fighting no matter what. But Milet, his strongest undead, lay on the ground, unable to move.
The snake snapped its gaze towards the sky, and spat out a sizzling acid. It was too fast for Aldred to react, and it struck his leg which made him flew uncontrollably before crashing onto the ground.
"Aldred!" Mary dashed out of the carriage and came to his aid.
Mira raised her staff from the distance and fired out a golden stream of water that healed his wound. Sophia, Mareona, and Bartrem ran up to him.
Bacon and his group also exited their carriage.
"That's a Gold Rank Giant Velobra," Bacon said. "If my eyes are correct, it's strength is on the upper rank."
The giant velobra wrecked havoc upon the undead, clawing, and slapping them, throwing them onto the sky.
"We have to work together," Bacon said.
Bartrem nodded. "The undead won't hold out for long. Men, take arms!"
Bacon frowned. "That's a Gold Rank monster. Are you sure you want to let your men fight it?"
"They are soldiers. They are not afraid to die," Bartrem said.
The soldiers went out of their carriage with their full gear; armor, shields, spears, and swords.
"Aldred, we will distract the snake for you. Use your ability to weaken it." Bartrem then shouted for his men and charged towards the monster.
Pongo was running towards the beast as well, with a baguette in hand. Unlike before, something changed on the baguette.
Now it was decorated with powdered sugar.
Bacon was surprised by Bartrem's attitude. There was no hesitation, there was no fear, only bravery and determination. That made him and his friend moved immediately.
Mareona and Mary rushed forward while Sophia stayed on the back and raised her staff. The top of her staff glowed.
"Confusion!"
The giant velobra's eyes contracted and its sight became blurry. It roared and swiped at the enemy, but it missed.
"This is our chance! Attack it!"
Aldred flew to the sky and rained down fire arrows upon the weird snake creature. The arrows clanged and ricocheted against its scales. He grimaced.
"If arrows cannot penetrate your scales then what about this. System upgrade fire javelin to level 4."
[Consuming 14 skill points]
He aimed with his palm. "Fire javelin!"
Three javelin, 3 meter in length (9 feet) bolted out of his palm and stabbed the back of the beast.
The beast roared, trembling the air around it. Aldred did not plan to give the beast mercy. He dove down like an eagle and kept on releasing javelin after javelin at his target. The snake tried to dodge, but Bartrem and the others held it still, circling him from all direction.
The javelin penetrated deeper as Aldred got closer and closer. The closer he was, the more damage he dealt to the beast. The distance between the beast and him shortened. Aldred fired a javelin at the head for the killing blo—
Suddenly, the giant velobra's back spread like a wing, and then it leaped onto the sky. Aldred widened his eyes as its claws reached out for his face.
Mary watched the scene unfold in worry.
Jleb!
They both fell with a loud thud. Aldred stood on top of the monster. Its right claw was destroyed with steam came out of the wound. He had blasted it with flame jet earlier, and stabbed its head with fire javelin in point blank range.
"Good job, Aldred," Bartrem said. He was more and more impressed by his power.
Bacon on the other hand was exceptionally amazed. The boy released dozens of powerful fire javelins like it was nothing. Each of those fire javelin could deal a fatal damage to Gold Rank, so the cost to use them must be high. Yet the boy threw it around like it was cheap cabbages.
Sophia and Mira stared at the boy like he was some kind of alien. Both of them were magicians, so they knew more than anyone that those spell cost a huge amount of mana to cast. It was impossible for Aldred to cast it so many times unless he had a large mana capacity.
As they were thinking in their head, Aldred was staring at the floating panel in front of him.
[Your Strength has increased by 5 points]
[Your Vitality has increased by 5 points]
[Your Dexterity has increased by 12 points]
[+3,500 EXP]
[EXP: 3,500/610,000]
'Damnit. The cost of leveling is way too high. If I counts correctly, I need at least to kill 175 of these monsters to level up.'
Hopefully, he would see more Gold Rank monsters so he could level up even faster. He also had to find a Silver Rank dungeon to unlock it.
Aldred looked at the monster. He was sad that he didn't get any amazing items after killing a monster, but at least he could turn it into an undead.
[If user wanted to shape shift into this creature, user has to eat it]
He almost forgot about that. 'So if I want to transform into a specific creature, I have to eat them?'
[Yes]
'Do I have to eat them whole?'
[Just a little is fine]
'Do I have to cook them first? Dry age? Or maybe season it with Mareona's flowers?'
[…..User, please just eat the monster]
'Alright, alright.'
Under the staring gaze of Bartrem and the others, Aldred walked to the corpses and bit onto its meat.
"Aldred, what are you doing?" Mary asked.
"Nothing, I just want to know how it would taste."
"You're weird, Aldred," Mareona said.
Aldred rolled his eyes. 'At least I am not the one who hid flowers inside my own underwear.'
[Analyzing… success. You have obtain the gene for Giant Velobra. From now on, you can transform into this beast and use its racial attributes]
[Gene: Giant Velobra]
-Water and air-breathing
-Keen smell
-Quick feet
-Poison fangs
-Acid spit
-Hard Scales
-Scaly wings
'Nice. Now I can turn into snakes and eat people.'
