Ghoul Evolution

Chapter 12: A snake’s bad luck

As soon as Oliver saw what was behind Goldie, he immediately understood why the little squirrel had been running for its life.

A giant snake was chasing it.

The creature’s scales were purplish-brown in color, and although it wasn’t particularly huge compared to some of the monsters he had seen in the forest, it was incredibly thick for a snake. Also, if it were to raise itself upright, it would probably stand around the same height as Oliver.

The snake seemed to be very angry at Goldie for some reason but the moment the snake noticed Oliver, it seemed to lose all interest in it.

Its cold eyes locked onto him and then it attacked him.

"What the—"

Oliver immediately turned to run as he complained, "You said this place was safe!"

Goldie, meanwhile, landed beside him and let out what sounded suspiciously like a relieved sigh.

The squirrel then made several chirping noises while looking at the snake and then at Oliver, it almost seemed to be telling him to ’deal with it’.

"What do you mean ’deal with it’?!"

"You little—"

The snake, however, didn’t seem to want to give them to time to deal with each other, as it lunged with it’s jaws wide open towards Oliver’s shoulder. freёwebnovel.com

Oliver instantly decided to dodge left, but the problem was his body apparently disagreed.

For some reason, instead of moving left, he stumbled right. As he himself was not really ready to do so, his weight shifted awkwardly and he practically threw himself in the opposite direction.

The snake too seemed to have thought that he was going to dodge to left and so he had lunged at that direction.

When it saw Oliver dodge right, it was already in air, and it’s mouth was already wide open. It couldn’t really control itself and ended up smashing directly into a large rock.

Crack!

A sharp sound echoed through the cave and as the snake immediately recoiled, it was clear why that crack sound had came. One of the snake’s fangs had snapped clean off.

For a moment, silence filled the cave as Oliver and the snake both stared at the broken fang.

Nearby, Goldie froze for a second and then the squirrel began making strange noises that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

"Khekhekhekhe!"

The little beast rolled onto its back and continued making the noises while pointing at the snake, it apparently found the whole situation very hilarious.

The snake didn’t seem to appreciate Goldie’s laughter though as it let out a loud furious hiss and immediately attacked again, launching itself toward Oliver in another powerful leap.

"Hey! I wasn’t the one laughing."

Still, Oliver wasn’t too surprised at the snake’s attack. After seeing the creature attack, he had figured out how it liked to attack.

’It jumps whenever it wants to attack.’

As the snake flew toward him, Oliver quickly prepared himself. His plan was simple, dodge first and then stab it with the spear while it was recovering from the attack.

He quickly decided to dodge backwards so that he could attack it’s head, directly killing it.

Unfortunately, just like before, his body seemed to have other ideas as instead of moving backwards, he suddenly shifted to the left.

"What the—"

Before he could finish speaking, the snake’s tail swept through the exact space where he had intended to move. Apparently, the beast had anticipated him retreating and had already prepared a follow-up attack. It’s tail came crashing down from above in a vicious 360 degree arc.

Boom!

The cave floor cracked beneath the impact, fragments of stone scattering everywhere.

Oliver stared at the shattered ground in shock. Had he actually moved backwards like he intended to, he would’ve been crushed beneath that attack.

For a brief moment both he and the snake looked equally confused.

The snake because its attack had somehow missed even with its planning, and Oliver because he had absolutely no idea why his body kept moving differently from what he intended.

Still, confusion could wait, the snake had left itself open.

Without wasting the opportunity, Oliver rushed forward and thrust his spear at the snake in it’s side. The fang-spear pierced through the snake’s scales with surprising ease as compared to the hide of the Canopy Strider, the creature’s defenses were almost nonexistent.

The spear sank deeper into its side as he used more force and the snake let out a painful screech.

"SSSSSSSS!"

Unfortunately, the wound was neither deep enough nor in the correct location to actually kill it.

The snake violently twisted its body and immediately turned toward Oliver with its jaws opened wide before it lunged once more.

Seeing the incoming bite, Oliver hurriedly pulled the spear free and instinctively thrust it forward again and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect as the snake practically impaled itself.

The spear entered through its open mouth and continued straight into its head.

The beast immediately began thrashing, the sudden force making Oliver lose his grip on the spear.

The moment the weapon left his hands, the snake crashed into the ground and thanks to the crash, the spear had pierced straight through its head, the tip emerging from the other side.

Its body slammed against the cave floor, and repeatedly crashed into the cave walls in a desperate attempt to save itself.

But after a few moments, the struggle gradually weakened and then it stopped altogether as silence returned to the cave.

[Aether Beast: Ebon Viper slain]

[Grade: Tarnished | Rank: Feral]

[Inheritance Acquired: Weapon]

Oliver stood there breathing heavily as he stared at the dead snake before finally turning toward Goldie.

"You almost got me killed...little fucker!"

The squirrel stared at him for a second before immediately breaking into those little laughing noises again.

"Khekhekhekhe!"

Oliver’s eye twitched as he wanted to squeeze the life out of it.

"You little traitor."

Oliver immediately rushed toward Goldie and grabbed the squirrel with both hands.

"Hey!"

The little beast began squirming at once, trying to free itself. Then, for some reason, it puffed up its cheeks and widened its golden eyes. Oliver suddenly saw little sparkling stars had appeared in them as it looked at him.

"...What the hell? How did you do that?"

Goldie blinked innocently.

"What the hell are you doing...i know that you are not all that innocent."

The squirrel tilted its head even further and somehow managed to look even cuter.

Oliver stared at it for a few seconds and then flicked his finger at it’s forehead.

"Stop that."

The squirrel froze, then it pouted.

Apparently, realizing that its overwhelming cuteness wasn’t going to save it this time, Goldie suddenly pointed one tiny paw deeper into the cave.

Oliver looked where it was pointing, then turned back to it.

"What?"

Goldie pointed again.

"Don’t tell me you want me to go deeper."

The squirrel immediately nodded and pointed again.

"No way."

Goldie nodded even more enthusiastically.

"No."

The squirrel jumped up and down while repeatedly pointing deeper inside.

Oliver narrowed his eyes, while the little beast seemed determined to convince him that there was something important further ahead or perhaps something valuable.

Eventually, Goldie slipped free from Oliver’s grip and landed on the ground; and before Oliver could stop it, the squirrel turned around and ran deeper into the cave once again.

"Hey!"

Goldie didn’t even look back as Oliver called for it again and again. Meanwhile, Oliver stood there for a few moments before sighing.

"Since it’s going in by itself, it can’t be that dangerous, right?"

Even as he said those words, he wasn’t convinced.

Still, after a brief hesitation, he tightened his grip on the spear and followed after the squirrel.