A loud screech echoed inside the spacious cavern as the Rocky Bal-Boa lunged at the boy with the intention of swallowing him whole.
Thirteen hurriedly jumped to his right side and rolled on the ground to evade the Rock Snake's preemptive strike.
The ground shook when the snake's head slammed against the spot where the boy originally stood, blocking his only path of escape.
Thirteen took out his bow from his Dimensional Storage and nocked an arrow.
With one fluid motion, he sent his arrow flying toward the snake's head. However, the Rocky Bal-Boa tilted its head to the side, making the arrow bounce off its body.
The boy had targeted the snake's eyes. Unfortunately, his opponent was already an adult monster who'd had its fair share of fights in the wild.
This wasn't the first time that its eyes had been targeted by its opponents, so it already mastered the means of defending itself from such attacks.
Thirteen unleashed two more arrows in rapid succession, but just like what happened earlier, his attacks merely bounced off its head, unable to even pierce its rocky exterior.
Growing annoyed at the human boy's futile attempts to injure it, the snake raised its head in preparation to strike.
Seeing that he was in a tight spot, the seven-year-old decided to use his Trump Card, which he planned to use if he fought strong opponents who were nearly impossible for him to defeat.
'I guess I have no choice,' Thirteen gritted his teeth as he reached out to grab something from his dimensional storage.
The Rocky Snake screeched and once again lunged itself at the boy, this time, making sure that it wouldn't miss.
But before the Rocky Bal-Boa and Thirteen could clash for a second time, Tiona jumped between the two of them, and let out a shriek that made the Rocky Bal-Boa stop its attack midway.
Thirteen, who was holding a small wooden barrel in his hand, also stopped mid-throw because the Rocky Snake had stopped its attack and was looking at Tiona with a conflicted look on its face.
The Black Snake hissed repeatedly while lashing her tail on the ground as if she were berating the Rocky Snake for attacking her Master.
To Thirteen's surprise, the Rocky Bal-Boa cowered in the face of Tiona's angry hisses, making him blink in confusion.
As far as he knew, the Domini Mortis didn't have the ability to dominate other snakes.
In fact, snakes often hunted other snakes and would happily each other if given the opportunity.
Even the Domini Mortis should not be an exception to this rule.
They would often hunt other snakes as well as get eaten by other snakes.
Of course, if these snakes ate the Domini Mortis, they would find themselves dying from either the Black Snake's poison or in the hands of one Apollyon's minions who would come to avenge their Sacred Beast.
Tiona crawled toward the Rocky Bal-Boa while hissing angrily. The Rocky Snake, on the other hand, crawled toward the corner of the cavern and coiled itself, hiding its head.
The intimidating snake, who had originally planned to eat the human boy, now looked like a pitiful child that was being nagged at by their mom.
Only Tiona's angry hissing echoed on the walls of the cavern, making Thirteen scratch his head.
After making sure that the Rocky Snake wouldn't attack him anymore, the boy then looked at the other side of the room where an altar was located.
Curious about what it was, the seven-year-old approached it cautiously and made sure to not touch anything until he was sure that it was safe to touch.
A few minutes later, Thirteen's face turned grim when he realized what the mirror and the other tools on the altar were.
"It seems that my assessment is wrong," Thirteen muttered. "It's not Brigham communicating with the Third Party. It's Paven!"
The boy already knew who the Third Party was, which was also why he was tempted to escape toward the Mainland while he still had time.
However, he couldn't do that because, if he escaped, Cristopher, Rianna, and the rest of the Wanderers who appeared in the Valbarra Archipelago would be trapped in Solterra forever.
Even if they reached a city that had a Warp Gate that connected to Pangea, the Laws of Wanderers would not allow them to cross the two worlds because they still hadn't completed their mission to become a Rookie.
This was why Thirteen was thinking of a way that would allow the Wanderers to light the Beacon of Hope so that all of them could return to Pangea before the entire Valbarra Archipelago descended into chaos.
But after this discovery, he knew that his original plan needed to be revised, and it needed to be done quickly.
Thirteen's original goal was to loot Paven's treasury.
But if he touched even a single artifact laid out on the altar, something terrible was going to happen. Aside from that, he also didn't want to let the Third Party know that their plan had already been compromised.
"Tiona, can you tell this guy to keep everything that happened here a secret?" Thirteen asked.
Tiona nodded before using her tail to tap on the body of the coiled Rocky Bal-Boa, forcing it to look at the little snake who was hundreds of times smaller than it.
The Black Snake hissed softly as if it were a parent telling its child to listen to her words.
A moment later, the Rocky Bal-Boa nodded its head and hissed back at Tiona, telling her that it would keep everything that happened a secret.
After getting the Rocky Snake's promise, Thirteen left the City Lord's Residence as silently and as quickly as he could.
Fortunately, he didn't bump into the guard that was patrolling the estate as he made his way towards the forest.
'Good thing, I made a plan B,' Thirteen thought. 'There is still time. I can still make it.'
The seven-year-old then made hooting sounds, giving Vassago a command.
The Pocopoco hooted back before flying toward an Inn, which was a distance away from the Inn where they were staying.
When Poca had agreed to become one of Thirteen's helpers, he had asked Vassago to make a short trip to Karabor City to send a message to Rafiki.
Fortunately, the Shaman replied in a positive manner and agreed to his request.
Poca, who was left to watch over Thirteen, circled around the sky as she followed the boy who was running toward the East, where the granary was located.
He didn't even have time to ponder how Tiona managed to subdue the Rocky Bal-Boa earlier. But, he was certain that it was due to the Black Snake's hidden ability.
Perhaps Tiona had the ability to subjugate snakes and pythons. But with the situation on hand, he would have to wait before delving into this topic.
His goal was to go to where the City Lord was currently at and muster all the forces at his disposal to take action.
Thirteen no longer planned to settle for breadcrumbs.
He decided to catch the big fish and make sure that it wouldn't get away from his grasp.
