Free Web NovelChapter 197: Ch 197: Killing the Snake
Shelly looked determined to protect Rin from any harm, and he did think about stopping her, but ultimately decided that it was her decision to make.
He followed her inside and everyone else did as well.
It was too dark to tell where they were going, and Rin decided to take a torch out of his inventory.
He had bought it from the system market, and the surroundings lit up as soon as he shone the light around. The light floated above his palm, and the first thing he and the others noticed was the coiled scales surrounding them. free𝑤ebnovel.com
"Ahh! Is that a snake? I am afraid of snakes! Get them away from me!"
Amelia yelled as she ran to hide behind Rin and clutched his clothes. She was shaking badly enough that he felt sorry for her.
But other than Amelia, everyone else did not have a fear of snakes. In fact, they looked ready to take down the monster. But there seemed to be no beginning or end to that scaly body.
"Judging from the width of the snake’s scales and its size, I bet the snake is somewhere around 200 feet long. It would be bad if it decided that we were its prey. Rin, you better stick close to me. That way, I can make sure the snake comes after me before it goes after you."
Shelly told him with a sincere look on her face. She looked ready to give her life for him, which was noble of her, but Rin wanted her alive.
Before he could tell her not to give her life for his, the huge body in front of them shook before it started to move. A huge mouth moved toward them and opened wide to swallow them whole.
"Darn it! The snake wants to swallow us whole. Everyone, dodge!"
Albus grabbed Amelia and Teressa and tugged them to the side. Shelly grabbed Albus and dragged him to safety as well.
Serena was the only one who did not move, and Rin’s heart skipped a beat as he watched the monster heading toward her.
"Hey! Serena, move!"
He yelled, wanting her to get away. But Serena decided to use her powers instead.
She formed a huge chunk of ice large enough to get stuck in the snake’s mouth, and it struggled to swallow it.
Albus immediately took advantage of the situation and attacked the snake’s mouth from above.
The snake tried to move, which caused Albus to hit its eyes. It made the snake thrash as it tried to get Albus to let go of its eyes.
But Albus held on and moved his sword around to injure the snake even more.
Finally, he pulled back, but kept an eye on the monster the whole time.
"I injured the snake’s eyes. We can now attack it from its blind spot—"
Albus started celebrating a little too early.
If this had been a normal encounter, the monster would have lost mobility after this attack. But since it was a task and the snake was a boss, it started to heal the damage.
"What the hell? That’s cheating! Why can this boss heal like that?"
Albus questioned as he watched all his hard work being erased in a single second.
The monster let out a loud roar before it turned its eyes toward Albus and decided that the one who had injured it would become its next target.
"Darn it!"
Albus tried to dodge, but it was clear that the monster was getting more and more powerful by the second.
But just when Albus felt like he was going to die for real, the monster slowed down.
"Get out of the way. I don’t think I will be able to use my powers for much longer."
Teressa told Albus as she tried to hold the boss down, and Albus immediately got out of its way.
The boss crashed into a wall the second Teressa loosened her hold. But she felt light-headed and tired after using her powers. She had likely not recovered from her fainting spell earlier.
"We cannot keep fighting this monster like this. We will need to take it out in one shot."
Rin gritted his teeth as he thought of a plan that could work. Slowly, his mind began to form one, and he yelled at Serena.
"Serena, I have a plan. I need you to freeze the space in front of me as soon as I give the command, alright?"
Serena nodded at Rin’s request. She was not sure what he was planning, but she knew that questioning him was likely not a good idea.
"Are you thinking of doing something dangerous? I won’t allow it. Hmm, should I knock you out—"
"Shelly, I need your help as well. You are the only one I can count on to do this. So, will you help me?"
Rin placed his hand on Shelly’s shoulder and all her complaints flew out the window. Instead, she had a flushed but pleased expression.
"Of course I will help you out. Tell me what you need me to do."
Shelly asked with an enthusiastic expression. Rin had a feeling that he could have asked Shelly to give up her life and she would have done so happily.
Her devotion felt... a little burdensome at this point, but Rin decided to ignore that feeling and focus on Shelly instead.
"I need you to distract the monster and make it attack you. Serena and I will take care of the rest."
Rin told her, and Shelly’s expression went blank. Her displeasure was clear to Rin, but he did not take his words back.
He needed Shelly to do this because she was the only one who could successfully pull it off and still dodge if she was in danger. She had the highest skill ceiling here.
Rin waited for Shelly to react, and she sighed in the end before deciding to help him.
"It seems like I don’t have a choice but to help you. I trust you, Rin, so I will make sure to give you good results."
Shelly told him before she turned toward the boss and threw a knife accurately toward its eyes.
The boss immediately noticed and closed its eyes. This caused the knife to bounce off its scales, but the boss took notice of Shelly and decided that she was going to be its next target.
So far, things were going as planned.
