Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

"Those bird worshippers... no, they're not even human anymore!"

Seeing their commander, who was also the strongest among them, finally return, the centurions and chiliarchs burst into tears, overwhelmed with grief.

Amidst the flurry of reports from his subordinates, Satek the Greatblade gradually came to understand what had happened.

Those bird-worshipping warriors, using some kind of evil magic, suddenly became exceptionally brave. Not only did their martial arts skills improve by leaps and bounds, but their aura was also incomparably fierce. According to the warriors who escaped from the battle, the way those bird-worshippers looked at them was no longer the way they looked at humans.

"They killed people like they were slaughtering pigs or dogs, without the slightest hesitation..."

The soldier who had escaped from the brink of death said this, his eyes filled with terror.

“We did try to organize a group to surround and kill them, but those damned bird-worshippers are as numerous as rats. Even if we take down one group, another one will come…”

"You mean, they never engage you in direct combat?"

Satek the Greatsword frowned.

He instinctively sensed a strange sense of danger.

However, this level of power shouldn't pose any danger to him. You should know that even if he were trapped in a deadly situation, this divinely bestowed greatsword would allow him to break through the encirclement.

"I gonna go see."

Sataik, the Greatsword Master, shouldered the Serpent Scale Blade.

Chapter 140 The Snake God Knows What to Do

Satyak the Greatsword, Satyak the Serpent Scales, the Master of the Battlefield.

Nothing could stop his blade.

Because it wasn't even a blade anymore; the broad, serpentine blade had simply swept across the air without making any contact whatsoever, yet the bronze shield and breastplate were cleanly severed.

Just like it is now.

"……That's it?"

Looking at the corpse on the ground, Satek the Greatsword frowned slightly.

Although he admitted that the five bird-worshipping warriors in front of him were indeed quite capable, with two swordsmen and shieldmen, one spearman, and two archers forming a formidable force, they were still only five people, and their combat strength was ultimately limited.

To kill these five people, Satek the Greatsword only needed to swing his blade once.

Of course, this is only true for him. If it were his soldiers, it would indeed take at least ten people to guarantee a victory against such a five-man squad.

"In a five-on-five match, it's a close contest with wins and losses... no, that's not right."

With his keen sense of combat, Satek the Greatsword decisively shook his head.

It wasn't even a matter of each side winning and losing; rather, the serpent god's warriors were destined to lose.

Just as the warriors who escaped said, these snake worshippers were extremely strange—even though he had already drawn his signature snake-scaled broadsword, these mere five people not only showed no intention of running away, but even dared to charge towards him.

Where did they get their courage?

Satek the Greatblade found it somewhat unbelievable, considering that even the well-trained priests of the sun god would now avoid him.

With their inexplicable courage and their somehow developed, albeit somewhat skilled, individual combat abilities, this strange squad could indeed cause quite a bit of trouble.

"However, this is not a big deal."

Satek the Greatsword thought to himself.

Even if a rat has some skills, it's still just a rat. Anyway, all we need to do is kill them all. It's not a big deal.

And so, Satyabrück the Greatsword began his slaughter.

Just like his name, just like his power, wherever he went, corpses fell to the ground.

But soon, Satek the Greatsword sensed that something was wrong.

"These rats..."

Spitting on the ground, Satek the Greatsword couldn't help but start cursing.

He had been fighting from noon until dark, and he had killed twenty such five-man squads. Although it sounded like a lot, killing only about two hundred people in an afternoon was undoubtedly the most frustrating battle he had ever fought.

What disgusted him most was that these squads weren't even clustered together like a battle formation, but scattered all over the place. Even if he could quickly catch these bird worshippers with his speed, chasing them one by one like catching mice was still extremely unpleasant for him.

"These beasts..."

When Satek returned to the camp that night, he was already furious.

Just as he was preparing to get a good night's sleep and think about how to deal with the rats the next day, the camp suddenly caught fire.

A five-man squad infiltrated the camp, setting fire to the supplies, provisions, and numerous tents.

"These beasts!"

Enraged, Sataik the Greatsword immediately grabbed his serpent-scale greatsword.

Almost immediately, he rushed to the crime scene, but amidst the flames, there was no trace of those bird-worshipping rats.

"...It's a tinderbox."

One of the men brought over a small package that had not yet caught fire.

Satek the Greatblade picked up the package and sniffed it; he smelled spices.

Those were incense sticks used to worship the gods, which could produce a rather pleasant smoke when burned. Obviously, the monkeys deliberately lit these incense sticks and then put them together with the oil-soaked hay. When the incense burned out, the embers would come into contact with the oil-soaked hay, and the smoldering embers would immediately turn into a flame.

This is a simple time-delay ignition device.

In other words, they couldn't even figure out when the rats had sneaked in.

"We must handle this with caution."

Satek the Greatsword's expression turned serious.

If at the beginning these bird worshippers could only be considered rats, then after they set fire to the camp, these rats had transformed into ferocious beasts that would devour anyone they chose.

Like the piranhas commonly found in rivers, although a single fish may only be the size of a palm, when such a school of fish swarms in, even a lion will be torn to pieces.

We need to think of something.

Satek the Greatsword thought to himself.

He knew he couldn't come up with a solution on his own, and Satek the Greatsword knew that his skills lay entirely in direct combat—but it didn't matter, there were three others as powerful as him, he just needed to capture a few alive and take them back, his companions would know what to do.

If that still doesn't work, then go and ask the snake god.

Although that would demonstrate his incompetence, Satek the Greatsword could sense that the Serpent God seemed surprisingly unconcerned about it.

This is another reason why he was willing to work under the Snake God. Once he got to know the Snake God's temperament, he would realize that the great Snake God was actually surprisingly easy to talk to in many situations—which might cause the Snake God to not act like a Snake God in front of outsiders.

But for these loyal subordinates, especially the priests who had once worshipped the sun god, this broad inclusiveness was enough to make them feel extremely at ease.

Just like now, even if the army suffers heavy casualties, he doesn't need to worry too much about the serpent god's blame. He only needs to do his job well, and the great serpent god will forgive and forget.

As for the matter at hand...

This was incredibly easy for him.

Killing five people was just a matter of one strike for him, and capturing five people was even easier. Considering that other situations might arise on the way, Satek the Great Blade only captured five people for the time being, and in order to ensure that these five people would not have any problems on the way, he even chose to escort them himself.

Under that large sword, the escort process naturally went smoothly, and even the anticipated prisoner hijacking did not occur. He returned to the foot of the Serpent God without any problems.

He then handed these five strange bird-worshipping men over to his companions.

“It’s the trace of divine magic; a priest cast a divine spell on them.”

The priest who wore a crown of snake fangs, now known as Ansagh the Crowned, or Ansagh the Snake-Fanged, reached a conclusion after a brief examination.

"But this kind of divine art... just by adding some words, how can it make someone unleash this level of combat power?"

Even Ansag of the Serpent Fangs was somewhat puzzled.

After a brief discussion, they decided to report to the Snake God.

Chapter 141 How to Deal with the Snake God

When the priests found Du Yi, he was still studying the ruby ​​amulet.

After a period of research, Du Yi had fully understood the working principle of the ruby ​​amulet—although its original use was probably not like this, at least for Du Yi, he knew how to use it to gather sunlight and how to project that laser-like thing.

It's usable, and that's enough.

Du Yi could finally proudly say that he had learned something that could be called magic.

"This is it! This is exactly what I want!"

Although this laser could only serve as a kindling stick for him at best, it was far from being true magic.

But in Du Yi's view, this was undoubtedly a big step forward.

Having magic means having infinite possibilities, which also means he will no longer be trapped by his enormous body—his size is too large, which reduces the amount of food he can eat. If he could shrink his body, his diet would become much more diverse.

"If only there were magic that could shrink the body."

Du Yi thought to himself.

At that moment, the four priests appeared before him, accompanied by five tightly bound men.

Du Yi knew that the four priests had been busy searching for rubies lately; he had heard about their fierce battles outside.

However, they even brought prisoners with them...

"I won't eat this."

Du Yi immediately refused, as this thing wasn't on his menu.

Fortunately, the four priests quickly explained, which allowed Du Yi to understand what had happened.

"You mean... their understanding is confused?"

Du Yi's long tail began to scratch its head.

Although he has recently begun to study magic, he has clearly not yet reached this level of depth. He obviously has no way of coming into contact with spells that confuse cognition like this.

"If I knew how to do that, I would first confuse my own perception and make myself feel that eating a chicken is the same as eating a mammoth..."

With that in mind, Du Yi decided to study this first, since he had already studied the ruby ​​amulet quite thoroughly.

However, before conducting the research...

"Let's have a good meal first."

Du Yi said this.

This can be considered one of Du Yi's perks for his employees. Regardless of how well they do their jobs, meals are always provided.

It was the familiar roast beef, and all four priests got some. Even the five prisoners weren't hungry; they got their share of beef too.

However, the five prisoners looked at the beef as if it were some kind of ferocious beast, struggling incessantly and refusing to eat even a single bite.

"Really not going to eat?"

The four priests had already finished eating, but the five prisoners hadn't made a move yet. Seeing that this excellent divine food was being wasted, the leader of the four priests, Ansag the Serpent Fang, frowned slightly.

"If you don't eat, you'll starve to death... huh?"

It was at this moment that Ansag suddenly vaguely sensed something.

Ansag could guess why the five prisoners wouldn't eat meat; it was simply that their perceptions were confused, and they regarded beef as some kind of evil thing that couldn't be touched—but that's precisely the problem.

Just like he casually mentioned, if you don't eat, you really will starve to death.

But these five prisoners did not starve to death; they were still alive and well. This means that there must have been some unconfused aspects to their understanding—or even if it was completely confused, it doesn't matter, because within that confused understanding, there must have been a way for them to survive.

"To survive, and even to live better... as long as they can do it again and again, they will repeat it!"

At that moment, a flash of inspiration struck Ansag.

He felt he had understood everything, even the principles behind how this divine art worked.

"There is a way!"

After finishing the meal, Ansagg called Sathek the Greatsword aside.

“I have fully understood the wisdom of the serpent god… The serpent god has given us a solution to the problem.”

"When?"

Sataik, who was carrying the snake-scaled sword, was stunned. He had gone to eat, so how come he didn't understand what kind of solution the snake god had given?