Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

The enormous problems gradually became apparent. The royal family's once-mountainous warehouses had long been emptied by him, forcing him to send out magicians to collect even more offerings under the guise of the harvest festival.

“It’s all worth it. We Ignis people no longer need any serpent god… Once we’ve accomplished all this, we will have our own god.”

This is what David Day said to those magicians.

After witnessing David Day's enormous body, comparable to that of a god, these magicians who were loyal to him began to carry out this unreasonable order.

They could see the absurdity of the order, and even foresee its consequences, but none of that mattered anymore, because their king, the rising sun, had proven that this path was absolutely viable.

"It's just a temporary price to pay... As long as we can make the king a god, our living god, and defeat that giant serpent in the mountain, everything will be alright."

Yes, only by defeating the giant serpent in the mountain can they possibly recover. Otherwise, given their involvement in David Day's plan, the serpent god would never let these blasphemous people go.

Therefore, their king must win, and he absolutely has to win.

"Only if our king wins can we continue to live."

In a corner of the main hall, Instructor Sadok patted Crimson Shadow on the shoulder, looking on with emotion.

“But it is obvious that our king will win. You have seen it yourself. He… no, He, our present god, He is already so enormous, He will surely defeat that serpent.”

"Of course, in order to give Him a better chance of winning, we must continue to offer Him more food."

As he said this, Instructor Sadok looked at Crimson Shadow.

"How did the harvest go for the offerings at the harvest festival thirty years later?"

"This……"

Chi Ying stammered, unable to utter a word for a long time.

"me……"

"What do you mean 'you'? Get to the point."

Seeing that Chi Ying was speechless for a long time, Instructor Sadok frowned.

But immediately, the large-bodied high-ranking mage suddenly raised his voice.

"What did you say? People in the city are all running away?"

They've not only been running away, they've actually been running for quite some time now. After all, the orders they received were simply to collect the offerings, and there was no mention of stopping these Ignis people.

But what really caught Sadok's attention were the directions people were fleeing in.

Instead of scattering and fleeing, the Ignis people all headed towards the Holy Mountain.

It was as if the sacred mountain was welcoming them.

"This must never happen again..."

"Then let them go!"

Just as Instructor Sadok was about to issue the order, the enormous giant, as massive as a palace, suddenly spoke.

That was the leader of Ignivas, the king of the Ignis, the one known as the First Dawn, David Day.

"Since they want to go, let them go... but if they want to leave Ignis City, they must leave all the food behind."

"But……"

Sadok turned around in confusion.

"Isn't this just handing food to that snake for free? What if that snake really eats all of these people... wait a minute?"

"If that snake really swallows the Ignis, then no one will go there anymore."

David Day squinted.

"Once we devour the Ignis, the so-called serpent god will become an evil god, and we can use the pretext of fighting the evil god to unite all the forces that can be united."

"We can also collect another batch of tribute along the way."

Instructor Sadok immediately lowered his head, feeling that the king before him was incredibly wise.

Only in Akakage's heart did a sudden, inexplicable jolt occur.

Although he knew in his heart that the serpent god probably wouldn't do as the newborn dawn wanted, things actually became more complicated precisely because the serpent god wouldn't devour these Ignis people.

Even if the serpent god doesn't eat these Ignis people, these Ignis people still need to eat.

Before the previous attack, all the wild animals in the sacred mountain that could be considered prey had been captured, and not even a pheasant was left behind.

Now, a group of starving people, lacking both food and clothing, have poured into the already food-scarce sacred mountain.

Chapter 29 An Unprecedented Abundance

It was a disaster.

The young Ignis, who lived in seclusion on the holy mountain, walked aimlessly through the mountains.

Previously, he had lamented that after going into seclusion, he seemed to have nothing to do. Apart from eating some berries to keep himself from getting hungry, he could only sit on the rocks and watch the sunrise and sunset, quietly waiting for life to pass by. But now, he had no mind to think about these things at all, because just finding berries was enough to take up his whole day.

If he were the only one living in the Holy Mountain, it would actually be fine. Although there is no more prey in the Holy Mountain, it still has abundant resources. He could not starve to death by eating berries and finding honey.

But now, after a large number of Ignis people poured into the Holy Mountain, in just three to five days, there was nothing left to eat around where he had gone into seclusion.

Berries, while they can provide some temporary relief from hunger, are not very filling – which means that starving people have no choice but to stuff more berries into their mouths if they want to fill their stomachs.

The nearby berries have all been eaten, and everything edible has been consumed. To find more food, we must venture deep into the mountains.

Just like him right now.

Deep in the mountains lies the place of the Snake God. Although the Snake God did not explicitly say that he could not come, he had hinted that it was best not to come.

But right now, he really has no other choice.

When hunger began to torment his stomach, thinking became a luxury. At this moment, he was controlled by his survival instinct; he only wanted to fill his stomach and survive.

Just as he was about to faint from hunger, he suddenly smelled a strange odor.

He found it hard to describe the smell. It had the sweet scent of berries, but it was inexplicably mixed with a strange stench—especially after smelling that stench, he even instinctively wanted to escape.

However, the survival instinct brought about by extreme hunger still controlled him, leading him step by step towards the source of the smell, and step by step into the hidden depths of the mountains.

Then he understood.

Why has the serpent god always been reluctant to let him venture deep into the sacred mountain?

In his line of sight, a mountain of excrement appeared.

It wasn't an exaggerated description, but a literal description of a mountain of excrement, a massive pile of feces so large that he had to look up to see the top.

"This……"

The overwhelming stench even brought the young Ignis, whose mind was controlled by hunger, to a more awake state. The strong smell was so nauseating that it actually lessened his hunger considerably.

Clearly, deep within the sacred mountain lies the place where the serpent god defecates.

That's definitely not a place for outsiders to come to.

Realizing something was wrong, he immediately tried to leave, since this place was far too secluded for the Serpent God—moreover, the stench was far too strong, permeating the entire mountainside. If he stayed here any longer, he even felt he might be suffocated on the spot.

But just as this young Ignis was about to turn and leave...

But he found berries.

Although he usually eats quite a few berries, this is the first time he has ever seen such a vigorous growth of rock berries—they can no longer be measured in "clumps," as the rock berries grow like giant trees.

It's not just rock berries; wild berries, bloodthorn berries, saber-toothed plums, giant sun plums, lichen apples... everywhere you look, there's a dazzling array of edible fruits. In fact, due to the abundance of fruit, many have even rotted on the branches.

"No wonder the food smells so good..."

The young Ignis took a deep breath.

He then quickly held his breath and focused his mind.

That one breath he just took almost choked him to death, and it was because of that that he realized why these fruits grew so abundantly.

Simply because all these fruits grow on that mountain of excrement.

"This……"

The young Ignis was caught in a dilemma.

However, after a moment's hesitation, the hunger in his stomach finally overcame the stench in front of him, so after holding his breath for a moment, he used an animal skin to carry a large pile of fruit and returned home with a full load.

Along with some excrement dug down from the cesspool.

Although bringing these things back was somewhat disgusting, the young Ignis had already realized that the reason why the fruits in the deep mountains could grow so well was definitely inextricably linked to the excrement of these serpent gods.

"Perhaps...we can give it a try."

With this in mind, the young Ignis began his practice.

The practical method is also very simple: find a cymbidium goeringii plant that has already had all its fruit picked, and then plant it on manure, just like in the deep mountains. Fortunately, although there are no berries nearby, there are plenty of cymbidium goeringii plants that have been picked bare.

After that, he achieved astonishing practical results.

Ten days and nights passed, and the rock berry, which normally only bears fruit once a year, had already produced new fruit.

"This, this is simply..."

After confirming that the rock berries tasted fine, he immediately gathered all the starving people together.

After that, a large amount of excrement was transported out of the deep mountains.

Just like herding wild animals, they planted all kinds of fruits neatly together, and buried large amounts of dung at the base of the plants, just as the young Ignis had demonstrated.

In just ten days and nights, they reaped a rich reward; there was so much fruit that they couldn't even finish eating it all, and it had to be left to rot on the trees.

The food supply for the starving people, who had previously had very little food, suddenly became more abundant than ever before.

"Perhaps we can get rid of these uneaten fruits..."

Recalling the peculiar aroma emanating from the rotting fruit he had smelled deep in the mountains, the young Ignis man gazed at the newly cultivated orchard and fell into deep thought.

However, what he didn't know was that while he was pondering, a figure wearing an animal skin cloak and with an exaggeratedly large belly was also surveying the orchard from a distant treetop.

"How is this possible?"

The high-ranking mage, with his exaggeratedly protruding belly, suddenly had his pupils contract upon seeing the vegetation laden with fruit trees.

"The Holy Mountain can actually accommodate this group of people... Oh no! The King's orders have gone wrong!"

Thinking of this, the high-ranking mage quickly leaped away, heading towards the city of Ignis.

Half a day later, in the depths of the royal palace, David Day, who was eating, also learned of everything that had happened in the distance.

The face of the newly risen radiance instantly darkened.

Chapter 30 Fight Again

Things didn't go as David Day had predicted.

In David Day's original assessment, this should have been an unsolvable situation. Those starving people who wanted to go to the Holy Mountain to seek a way to survive should have become a burden for the serpent. If the serpent left these starving people alone, a large number of them would soon devour the entire mountain, making the Holy Mountain, which already had little prey, even more barren.

If the serpent really did use the starving people as food to replenish its strength, that would be even better—although this is not something that can be said openly, if it really happened, then he could indeed brand this so-called serpent god as an evil god who harmed the Ignis people, and then, in the name of punishing the evil god, make all the Ignis people offer up everything they have.

That would make him taller, bigger, and stronger.

We will have a better chance of winning the battle against that serpent god.

But the current development was something David Day never expected. The snake, through some unknown means, actually managed to satisfy the food needs of these starving people in that barren holy mountain.

"Could it be... that snake really can bring abundance?"

David Day suddenly felt a little dazed, and even doubted himself for a moment whether he really shouldn't have gone against that snake.

But he quickly regained his composure.

Now that things have come to this, he has no room for wavering. Moreover, only by killing that snake can he truly be called a god, an eternal holy king.

Enduring the agony of being shattered to pieces again and again, filling one's stomach to bursting again and again, repeating the cycle of destruction and rebirth time and time again, growing stronger with each passing moment...

Having come this far, how could he possibly stop here!

However, it was at this very moment.

High-ranking mage Sardok suddenly barged in.

"The great dawn, the inhabitants of the city, those people, they... they are all fleeing!"

"hiss……"