As a venomous snake, I evolved into a god through devouring.

Grace and Flint ventured deep into the forest and quickly located the source of the bloody smell.

The two pushed aside the dense branches and bushes and looked ahead, where pairs of green eyes gleamed in the darkness.

Wolf pack?

Flint's gaze swept over the brownish-green corpses on the ground, which had been gnawed beyond recognition.

Based on its size and color, it's undoubtedly a goblin.

"No wonder we didn't see any goblins attacking the village. So they had an encounter with a pack of wolves and lost to them?"

Flint couldn't help but mutter curses.

"What a disappointment."

The wolves, who had been gnawing on the corpses nearby, gradually gathered together and converged on Flint and Grace, their eyes gleaming with ferocity.

These two ungrateful humans trespassed into their hunting grounds, and the wolf pack didn't mind having a little more food.

One of the stronger wolves lunged at Flint, but was cleanly cut in half at the waist in mid-air by his greatsword!

Broken in two, it howled and struggled on the ground for a few moments before dying. Seeing this, the remaining forest wolves wisely chose to retreat and disappeared from the two men's sight in no time.

"You ignorant beast."

Flint flicked the blood off his greatsword and sheathed it, only to find Grace still squatting on the ground, examining the goblin corpses.

"What are you thinking? Are you planning to cut off a piece and take it back as proof of completing the commission? That won't work."

To prevent such behavior, the guild has a lie detector-like device, so trying to get away with it is wishful thinking.

"No, I'm checking their wounds."

Grace crouched down and pointed at the corpse.

"Although these corpses were eaten by wolves, some of them still retained a relatively intact appearance. I found that most of them died not from biting, but from poison."

"poison?"

Upon hearing this, Flint immediately stepped forward, came to Grace's side, took a feather from his pocket, and hung it above the goblin corpse.

The originally white feathers turned black rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"It really is poison!"

Adventurers often have some strange and unusual survival tools when they are out in the world, and this feather that can detect whether an item is poisonous is one of them.

"They died before the wolves ate them; were they killed by something else?"

"That's right."

Seeing that Flint had followed her train of thought, Grace put on gloves, lifted the goblin's corpse, and exposed its festering throat.

"There are obvious signs of redness, swelling and necrosis here, as well as two teeth marks. It is clear that he died from a venomous snake bite."

But this position, Flint, do you think is normal?

Flint was taken aback.

Venomous snakes usually lurk in dark corners where other creatures cannot see them, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. For goblins, which are similar to humans in that they walk upright, the most vulnerable areas to attack are their calves and ankles.

How could a venomous snake bite a part of the body like the neck, which is in a high position?

"Perhaps it's just a coincidence."

After thinking for a while, Flint suddenly shrugged, looking bored.

"The goblins, attacked by the wolf pack, rushed to fight back but were defeated. One of them managed to break free after being tackled and tried to escape, but was killed by a poisonous snake lurking in the shadows."

"This coincidence doesn't matter. Honestly, Grace. Even if you could find out the reason behind it, what then?"

"There are no traces of magic or arcane arts used here, proving that everything that happened here was just a battle between ordinary creatures."

Similar things happen every day in the forest: lowly lives are born and die, short and meaningless.

The important thing is that we need to get back to the village quickly and get our deposit back from those villagers, lest those troublemakers deny it. If we can't pay the hotel bill, we'll have to sleep on the streets of Broken Blade Town.

Grace glanced at the indifferent Flint, but ultimately couldn't bring herself to voice the rest of her deductions.

Because she knew the other person was right.

That was at best a venomous snake with a rather peculiar attack pattern; it wasn't worth their effort.

"Let's go."

She got up, brushed the blood and dirt off her gloves, and went back with Flint.

However, before leaving, Grace couldn't help but turn her head away.

Riverwood Village?

I've got it.

……

"This battle was also quite dangerous."

While recuperating in a tree hollow, Casper continued his good habit of reviewing his performance.

But the more he reviewed the events, the more terrified he became.

The reason he was able to defeat the goblin tribe was largely due to his ability to time things.

If he were to fight head-on and finish the battle quickly, he could at most take away one goblin soldier before being hacked to death and made into snake soup.

If you play defensively and focus on developing your resources, you'll have enough food after the enemy attacks your village, and then you'll start breeding like crazy.

The overwhelming tactical advantage, the superior physical attributes compared to ordinary snakes, and the newly acquired venomous spraying ability are all indispensable factors.

Kasper slowly got up and licked his back with his tongue.

That was the spot where the goblin leader had sliced ​​off its flesh and scales with a single blow.

How strong is the goblin leader? Kasper doesn't know for sure without a reference point, but it's certain that he's no match for a human melee-type adventurer.

There are human villages not far away, and it's only a matter of time before he encounters adventurers. Before that, he needs to strengthen his scales so that they can withstand ordinary sword attacks.

"I don't know if it's because of the increased energy level, but I feel like my wounds are healing much faster."

The injuries I sustained from crab claws and Wong Tai Sin's sharp claws before were not as severe as this one, yet they still took about two days to heal, even while I was eating voraciously.

Now, just one day later, new granulation tissue has begun to grow from the wound.

Simply strengthening bones and muscles cannot achieve this effect.

In conclusion, everything is moving in a positive direction.

But there was something else on Kasper's mind.

Those are family members.

How can something that's been so hard to get be left to gather dust in a corner?

"I use any new terms that come up; that's my youth."

That's what they say, but the real reason is that Kasper is too inefficient at hunting.

His digestive abilities are now almost indistinguishable from those of a human. To avoid hunger, he needs a lot of food, and to fill his stomach, Casper even has to spend an entire day hunting.

Even then, there's a high chance of going hungry one day and having a full meal the next.

To improve efficiency, he had to begin recruiting subordinates and expanding his territory.

Kasper fell into thought, his snake tail rising and falling gently, repeating this motion over and over.

While there's no mandatory soul contract for obedience, it doesn't have to be so rigid. Just select followers from among highly socialized animals.