Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 59 All the way north

Bearing the entrustment of the second Akakage, the young guard embarked on his journey home.

Despite calling it his hometown, this young guard didn't really know much about the city of Ignis or the Holy Mountain. He was born after the Ignis people migrated south, and he only heard about the past glories and the legendary serpent god from the occasional casual conversations of the older generation.

According to the older generation, the king of the Ignis was a tyrannical and incompetent ruler who not only disrespected the serpent god but also, after his defeat, allowed the giants of the frozen earth to invade the city—and now, the land that originally belonged to them is occupied by the giants of the frozen earth.

"Although the first Crimson Shadow had temporarily made a ceasefire agreement with those giants before the tribesmen went south, so much time has passed now that those giants may not necessarily keep their original oath."

He still remembered the Second Akakage giving him these instructions before he left.

However, this was not a big deal for him. As the bodyguard of the second Akakage, his combat ability and magic were quite outstanding. Even without using magic, he could kill a crocodile dragon with his bare hands. If the power of magic were taken into account, he was confident that he could kill even a small group of giants.

However, the young guard wasn't foolish enough to actually go and challenge those giants. He clearly remembered the important mission he carried.

“Before you were born, when I was still young, on the day the first Akakage died, I saw someone… He must have been an Ignis, even someone from the same era as my mentor Akakage, but he seemed so young, so full of energy…”

Before leaving, the Second Akakage talked to him for a long time, but in short, he wanted him to go back to his hometown and think of a way, whether it was to maintain his youth forever or to make him young again, to bring back that secret technique.

In other words, the Second Akakage did not want to pass away at this time; this leader of Ignivas wanted to serve for a few more years.

Although the young guard was somewhat disappointed that he couldn't take over the leadership, he could understand the Second Akakage's thoughts—after all, the Ignivas' new city had only just been laid down and everything was just getting on track, so changing leaders at this time would cause all sorts of trouble.

Therefore, even for the sake of his people's well-being, he was prepared to complete this task well.

"After all, if I can accomplish this, it will be a great contribution to my people. Then when the Second Akakage retires, I will be qualified to become the Third Akakage."

With this in mind, the young guard gradually approached his former homeland.

According to the older generation, this former homeland was incredibly rich, with abundant resources, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was flowing with milk and honey. But the further north the young guard went, the more desolate it felt. The vegetation became sparser, and there were hardly any animals to hunt.

"Why is it different from what the elders said?"

The young guard was somewhat confused; he even thought for a moment that he had gone the wrong way.

But he immediately realized that he had not gone the wrong way.

Simply because a giant appeared in his line of sight.

There were five giants in sight, each wielding an equally enormous war club. Their towering figures were as tall as two Ignivas. Even more terrifying was the fact that their eyes glowed faintly green, and the way they scanned their surroundings made it seem as if they were about to devour anyone in sight.

At this point, "choosing to devour" was no longer just an adjective, but the literal meaning. When the young guard saw the giants' eyes, the giants naturally noticed him as well. Judging from the way they charged and slaughtered their way through, it seemed they intended to devour him alive!
"These giants... they eat people?"

The young guard was terrified.

Despite his surprise, he remained calm as he worked – with a clap of his hands, a fireball was unleashed, instantly blowing the head off the giant in the front row.

Surprisingly, the giant's head was not shattered by the fireball; the intense fireball merely blasted the giant's face into a bloody mess.

"They can't be killed by explosions... is it because their skin and flesh are too thick?"

The young guard frowned, then simply pulled out two bone daggers from his waist.

The giant with a blood-covered face fell behind, but two other giants rushed up—just like the giant before them, two more fireballs slammed into their heads.

This time, however, they were not so lucky. Although the fireball itself failed to shatter their skulls, the daggers embedded in their faces exploded, blowing their skulls off.

This is the new fighting style that the Ignivas have mastered after migrating to the miasma swamp. Even the thickest-skinned crocodiles cannot withstand the explosive throwing knives hidden in fireballs.

Using this technique, the young guard easily killed five giants, which was nothing to him as Akakage's personal bodyguard.

Then he was chased by hundreds of giants for seven days and seven nights, and he didn't even get to eat much.

It was at this moment that the young guard realized what being in enemy territory really meant—he might be able to easily kill a squad of giants, but the screams of those giants before they died would attract all the giants, and after discovering the bodies of their comrades, the giants would form large groups, giving him no chance to defeat them one by one.

"Really are……"

The young guard began to have a headache.

Things seemed to have gone wrong from the very beginning. Rather than finding the secret to immortality, he first needed to escape alive from the giants' encirclement—but that was the most troublesome part. He had been chased for seven days and seven nights without getting a proper meal.

There was no prey, no berries, and not even much grass or tree bark to be found. In the words of the previous generation, this should be a land flowing with milk and honey. What happened?
Fortunately, the young guard was lucky. Just when he thought he would be found by the giants, a antelope suddenly appeared. The giants' attention was then drawn to the antelope, and no one cared about chasing him anymore.

But that wasn't all good luck. What surprised the young guard the most was that when he escaped, he actually saw his own kind.

Unlike his fellow tribesmen who had left for distant lands, the people who appeared before him were the Ignivas who had chosen to stay on this land.

It was from these fellow clansmen that the young guard gradually learned what had happened on this land over the past few decades.

(End of this chapter)