Although there were some mishaps, Ye Chui made a timely move and still managed to deal with these guards from the Joleis family who were watching over the hot springs without making any loud noises. Green and Jacob walked over to Ye Chui’s side and dealt with the corpses of those earth dragon beasts. The girls, however, refused to come anywhere near this place no matter what. Whether they were truly that concerned about those men wrapped in scarves or not, they were utterly reserved at this moment in a way that defied description.
Those guards were not dead. Ye Chui was not particularly bloodthirsty. He used elven magic to condense vines that firmly bound them. After confirming that they had no ability to move, he led Green and Jacob over to Debby and the others.
Now, in the vast hot spring villa, there was no one left besides them, and lurking within the villa was a terrifying blood serpent beast.
There was a massive hot spring lake inside the hot spring villa. This place had originally been developed because a hot spring eye had been discovered that formed a warm water lake. Later, it was taken over by the Anduin family, who built it into a villa, and small tributaries were drawn from that hot spring lake to form several small hot spring pools. But if the blood serpent beast was still lurking in the hot spring villa, it could only be hiding in that large hot spring lake.
Led by Denny, they soon arrived in front of that misty lake. The surroundings were deathly silent and dimly lit. Apart from the sound of their footsteps, no other noises could be heard.
Everyone grew somewhat tense. What they were about to face, after all, was a sixth-rank magical beast. Such a terrifying existence already possessed human-level intelligence, and its combat abilities were absolutely no worse than those of an advanced magical mentor or swordsman, and not the kind that had been hastily advanced either.
“Ye Chui, how about it? Can you detect its figure?” Debby asked Ye Chui softly. She knew that Ye Chui had the ability to probe for enemies within a certain range.
“It is indeed in the lake water!” Ye Chui confirmed. On the map of the iPad magical tome, there was a red dot in the hot spring lake ahead that was constantly flickering and swimming about. The hot spring lake was not particularly large and was only about five or six metres deep, enough for the magical tome’s map to explore it fully. That red dot was undoubtedly the blood serpent beast. Whether it had already become aware of Ye Chui and his group’s arrival and was emanating intense hostility towards them was unknown.
Of course, it was also possible that this kind of magical beast regarded any strangers as enemies.
“How are we going to force it out?” Gilga asked Ye Chui. She had just let out a girlish shriek from being startled by those naked men, which left Gilga inwardly brooding over it. She was determined to perform well again to regain her dignity. “I can enter the water to fight, but there would be a rather serious problem with that.”
“What problem?” Debby asked her curiously.
Gilga lowered her head and said, “I cannot swim.”
The others: “…”
“You do not need to fight underwater. Just stay on the shore.” Ye Chui understood Gilga’s current eagerness to show off. He comforted her verbally while walking over to the edge of the lake. “I will force it out.”
“What do you plan to do?” Denny asked.
“This lake water is indeed warm, but I wonder what would happen if the lake water were to fully boil?” Ye Chui said with a cold laugh. He tapped the magical tome, and Long Bao’s massive, ferocious body was summoned forth. As soon as he appeared, he opened his large mouth to let out his signature resounding cry. Ye Chui hurriedly wrapped his arms around his mouth. “Quiet down! How many times have I told you? We are on a secret mission lately. Do not make a sound when I summon you. It is easy to expose our position!”
“Mmm mmm mmm mmm,” Long Bao let out a muffled low call from his mouth. His dragon head shook vigorously to indicate agreement. Only then did Ye Chui release his mouth. He explained the current situation and pointed to the hot spring lake. “You know what to do, right?”
“Understood!”
Long Bao immediately spread his wings, his body rising into the air and flying to the centre of the hot spring lake. Then his dragon head reared up high, his massive mouth cracked open, and he plunged towards the lake surface. “Boom,” terrifying black-gold flames erupted from his mouth, like a city engulfed in flames or a volcanic eruption. The rolling flames instantly surged towards the calm, rippling lake surface, the scorching aura sweeping through the surroundings.
Ye Chui and the others standing by the lake all felt a wave of heat assail them. Lessa hurriedly used [Mum’s Got Your Back] to firmly protect everyone within it, blocking the heat’s invasion. In just a moment, they saw that the lake water, which had previously only been steaming with wisps of heat, began to boil. Soon, some dead fish floated to the surface.
Those were hot spring fish, earthy brown on the outside as if wrapped in a layer of rock. They lived in the hot springs, and some mineral substances produced in their bodies could enhance the therapeutic effects of the spring water. The presence of hot spring fish was originally a standard for gauging the value of the hot springs. Now, as they bobbed belly-up on the surface one by one, Ye Chui and the others instinctively thought, “I wonder what this tastes like?”
“My family’s hot spring fish…” Denny let out a wail.
“Ye Chui, look over there!” Debby spotted something and hurriedly shouted.
“I have already seen it.” Ye Chui nodded and said. As the lake water boiled, a serpentine shadow emerged from beneath the surface. It was a blood-red snake, as thick as a person’s arm, with the exposed portion over a metre long. Its head was triangular, covered in blood-red, horn-like fleshy tumours, and it had a pair of pale blue, eerie eyes that were emitting a faint glow.
“Long Bao!” Ye Chui called out, pointing remotely at the serpentine shadow.
Long Bao immediately ceased spewing dragonflame. His wings flapped, and his body swiftly descended. His sharp dragon claws seized the snake head in one grasp, and his body quickly flew upwards.
“Gilga, it has another snake head. Get ready to attack!” Ye Chui hurriedly said to Gilga.
“I understand!” Gilga’s sword stance was already poised, ready to strike the other snake head.
But soon, a trace of shock appeared on her otherwise cold face, and her body stiffened slightly at that moment.
As Long Bao pulled that arm-thick snake head out of the water, the rest of the blood serpent’s body followed. Its head was clearly only arm-thick, yet its body was enormously large, as thick as a person’s waist or even thicker, making one marvel inwardly that this was truly a snake. What shocked them even more was that as the massive body was nearly fully dragged out, Gilga had been on full alert, yet she had not spotted any bifurcation on that long, serpentine form, nor had she seen where the second snake head was.
“Could the information be wrong?” Ye Chui could not help but think at that moment. But in the next instant, Ye Chui let out an exclamation of “Bloody hell” and revealed an expression of utter shock at the scene before him. They had finally seen the blood serpent beast’s second head, but that head… was on the other end of the snake’s body. When Long Bao fully pulled the snake’s body out of the water, what should have been the tail suddenly gaped open, transforming into a massive mouth full of fangs!
It was a huge snake head not unlike the small one in appearance. As its giant mouth opened, a foul wind swept through the surroundings. Its body coiled, and the giant mouth lunged fiercely towards Long Bao.
Gilga reacted swiftly enough, sending several golden sword qi slashing out, but unusually, they missed the snake body. The giant snake head had coiled with incredible speed. In the next moment, a wail from Long Bao was heard. He had actually been bitten on the neck by the giant snake head!
This was a sight none of Ye Chui’s group had anticipated. Who could have imagined that the blood serpent beast had such a structure? The two heads of the double-headed snake were at opposite ends of the body, one large and one small. The small snake head was, at best, the snake’s tail in the entire blood serpent’s body. Its overall form was simply that of a terrifying beast large enough to swallow an elephant.
It was truly cunning as well. It had likely sensed the power of Long Bao’s dragonflame from underwater, so it bit Long Bao on the neck, rendering his dragonflame useless. Its massive body rapidly coiled around Long Bao. Long Bao’s wings flapped constantly, his body rising and falling, as if being swiftly constricted by the blood serpent. In such a situation, neither Gilga nor Ye Chui and the others could launch attacks, lest they injure Long Bao in the process!
“A sixth-rank magical beast is indeed not something that can be taken down casually…” Ye Chui sighed aloud and decisively began playing a BGM, one he had used before: [Crimson Lotus Arrow].
As the rousing anime song played, a red blood mist rapidly enveloped Ye Chui’s body, then condensed around him into a terrifying giant’s form. The giant had only an upper body, with Ye Chui’s body integrated into it, as if the giant’s form were armour driven by Ye Chui. Its two massive arms shot skyward, palms clasping together to envelop Long Bao and the blood serpent within.
Though Long Bao and the blood serpent were both enormously sized, they were still grasped in Ye Chui’s two huge palms.
The first time he had used this BGM, Ye Chui could only briefly condense massive arms, and the power had not been ideal. But now, with his strength greatly enhanced, he could fully unleash the BGM’s power. If he wished, he could even condense a complete giant body, but in this scenario, a full body was unnecessary.
The giant did not possess power on the level of the Hulk, but it was certainly not weak. Wrapped in the half-giant’s body, Ye Chui was entwined with layers of flesh-coloured material, allowing him to control this half-giant perfectly. Hmm, it felt just like piloting a Gundam.
He grabbed Long Bao in one hand and forcefully pried apart the snake head biting Long Bao with the other.
Gilga seized the moment, leaping onto Ye Chui’s arm and sliding along it. Her golden longsword slashed out, golden sword qi sweeping over the position below the large snake head, severing it cleanly in a spray of blood rain.
“Hiss hiss,” a low, piercing serpentine hiss rang out. The small snake head, previously clutched in Long Bao’s claws, had already escaped his control. Dragging its remaining body, it swiftly climbed up Ye Chui’s massive arm. The snake head gaped open and lunged to bite Gilga.
Gilga blocked with her sword, but her body thereby left Ye Chui’s arm and began falling uncontrollably.
When she saw the still-boiling hot spring bubbling below her, she could not help but let out another shriek: “Ah!”
Tonight was absolutely Gilga’s night of shame…
Ye Chui hurriedly freed one hand, reaching down swiftly to catch the falling Gilga in his grasp. Gilga lightly leaped from Ye Chui’s palm, landing on the shore. Ye Chui’s palm then swung back, whistling through the air with a crack as it slapped against the other arm, directly smashing onto the blood serpent coiled around it.
Blood sprayed everywhere. It looked as if the entire blood serpent had been instantly reduced to a puddle of muck. Strands of blood water flowed down Ye Chui’s arm.
But soon, through the broader vision granted by the giant’s head, Ye Chui spotted something unusual. Though the massive blood serpent had been smashed into blood water, a living creature was still rapidly crawling along his arm. It was… a red snake two or three metres long and arm-thick!
The head was precisely the previous small snake head, and now its body was like that of an ordinary snake. At the tail end, there was no sign of breakage or another snake head. It circled Ye Chui’s arm once, then plopped into the warm lake.
“Roar roar,” Long Bao let out a low roar, circling in the air before landing on Ye Chui’s shoulder. (Yes, he was now perched on Ye Chui’s giant shoulder!) He quickly said, “I remember now. This little beast has extremely powerful water control abilities. It can even turn blood water into its own body. That large snake head just now was fake, condensed from blood water. Its true body is that small snake head!”
“Bloody hell, that is so advanced!?” Ye Chui exclaimed in surprise.
“The large snake head it condenses can digest prey directly into blood water to become part of itself. In the age of the gods, there were many of these little beasts. I have fought them a few times. They are exceptionally cunning. Once, it even used blood water to form the image of a mother dragon to seduce me…” Long Bao continued from Ye Chui’s shoulder.
Ye Chui: “Er…”
“Ye Chui, that thing does not seem dead yet. Gilga just saw the small snake head dive back into the lake!” Debby shouted from below. Gilga had also seen the escaping small snake.
“Got it.” Ye Chui responded. Through the giant’s mouth, his voice boomed grandly. Immediately, Ye Chui’s arms plunged into the massive lake water. The water was scalding, but it could not harm Ye Chui’s giant body. To the giant Ye Chui, the warm water puddle was like a mere basin.
His hands thrashed about wildly, trying to fish out the blood serpent.
However, as he did so, Debby and the others by the lake grew flustered.
“It is so hot!”
“Guild leader, stop quickly, ow ow…”
“Stop it now!”
Hmm, the water droplets splashing from the lake were like a rain of boiling water to Debby and the rest…
