Free Web NovelChapter 81: Chapter 81: Venom Scale Python
The Venom Scale Python rose from the clear lotus pool like a dark green mountain uncoiling from beneath the water.
For a moment, the entire swamp seemed to hold its breath.
Poison mist gathered around its body in thick rings. The python’s scales were not smooth like ordinary serpent scales; each one looked like a curved blade coated in venom. Yellow lines pulsed beneath them, flowing toward two swollen poison sacs beneath its jaw. Its eyes were cold, vertical, and intelligent enough to recognize that the four climbers before it were not ordinary prey.
Qin Yuheng’s grip tightened around the Black Thunder Pattern Sword.
The boss was Level 23.
Higher than the Flame Horn Rhino.
Higher than the Blood Moon Alpha.
Higher than any enemy they had directly defeated so far.
But unlike the Flame Horn Rhino, this boss did not rely only on physical power. The environment was its weapon. The swamp water, poison mist, lotus pool, hidden mud pits, and venom vapor all favored it.
The panel flashed again.
[Venom Scale Python]
[Level: 23]
[Status: Floor Boss]
[Abilities: Venom Mist Domain, Tail Crush, Poison Fang Strike, Scale Shedding, Swamp Bind]
[Weakness: Poison sacs beneath jaw, eyes, inner mouth, exposed spine joints during coil movement]
[Warning: Prolonged exposure will increase poison accumulation rapidly.]
Qin Mo stared at the final line.
"Prolonged exposure," he said, voice muffled behind his mask. "That means we should not prolong this."
Qin Yuheng did not look away from the python.
"Correct."
Qin Yuchen stepped slightly to the right, his Iron Blood Thread Sword angled low. Qin Lian vanished into the shadow of a twisted root, her Silent Moon Shadow Cloak reducing her presence until even Qin Yuheng had to pay attention to track her position. Qin Mo crouched behind a moss-covered stone and unfolded three formation needles from his Iron Pulse Formation Belt.
The python hissed.
No sound came from its throat at first. Instead, the green mist around it rippled outward.
Qin Yuheng immediately felt a prickling sensation across his skin.
[Poison Accumulation rising.]
Qin Yuheng: 12%
Qin Yuchen: 15%
Qin Lian: 15%
Qin Mo: 18%
Qin Mo’s eyes widened.
"It rose before we even fought."
"Qin Mo," Qin Yuheng said, "suppression field."
"Already preparing!"
Qin Mo crushed a B Grade Hundred Toxin Cleansing Pill into powder and mixed it with three Poison Cores they had collected earlier. Then he placed a Silent Water Resonance Core at the center of a triangular formation. It was not a true poison purification formation, but it could create a temporary clean zone by disrupting the poison mist’s movement.
A pale-blue circle opened around them.
The poison pressure weakened slightly.
[Temporary Poison Suppression Field established.]
[Poison accumulation speed reduced.]
The python moved.
Its head shot forward faster than something that large should have been able to move.
Qin Yuheng activated Thunder Shadow Flash and shifted diagonally. The python’s jaws snapped shut where he had stood, crushing a root thick as a man’s torso. Green venom splashed across the wood, melting through the surface with a soft hiss.
Qin Yuheng’s eyes sharpened.
A direct bite would be disastrous.
He counterattacked with a thunder-charged slash toward the poison sac beneath its jaw.
The python twisted.
The blade scraped across scales, leaving a shallow cut but failing to pierce the sac. The scales were tougher than expected and coated in slippery venom.
Qin Yuchen attacked from the side, aiming for the lower spine joint as the python recoiled. His sword entered half an inch, then slid off as the python’s body flexed.
"Difficult to penetrate," Qin Yuchen said.
Qin Lian appeared above the python’s left eye, dropping from a hanging root.
Her dagger flashed.
The python’s eyelid closed.
Clang!
Her dagger struck hardened scale instead of flesh.
The python whipped its head upward. Qin Lian used the cloak’s shadow effect and her enhanced agility to twist away, but the force of the movement still threw her toward the swamp water.
Qin Yuheng moved instantly.
War Thunder Advance stabilized his footing across a root bridge, then Thunder Shadow Flash carried him to her side. He caught her wrist and pulled her back onto solid ground just as the water beneath her erupted with small poisonous leeches.
Qin Lian landed lightly.
"Thank you."
"Do not attack eyes while the lids are ready," Qin Yuheng said. "Wait for poison spray or bite recovery."
She nodded once and disappeared again.
The python’s body coiled around the lotus field.
The clear water darkened.
Then several thick swamp vines rose from beneath the surface, wrapping toward Qin Yuchen and Qin Mo.
[Swamp Bind detected.]
Qin Yuchen cut two vines apart, but the severed ends released green vapor. Qin Mo activated a Defensive Talisman as one vine snapped toward his chest, then pinned it with a formation needle.
"This swamp is cheating!" he shouted.
Qin Yuheng did not answer.
The boss had too many environmental advantages.
They needed to force it out of the pool.
He looked at the lotus field.
The Clear Spring Lotuses pushed back poison mist naturally. If the python remained in the pool, the lotuses might reduce some poison, but the water also allowed it to move freely. If they lured it toward the root-covered bank, its size would become less flexible.
"Pull it toward the north root bank," Qin Yuheng said. "Qin Mo, prepare ground restraint. Yuchen, cut vines. Lian, wait for poison spray." freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Qin Mo looked toward the north bank.
"The ground there is half-mud."
"Can you stabilize it?"
"With enough spikes."
Qin Yuheng threw him a bundle of Reinforcement Spikes.
Qin Mo caught it, glanced at the number, and sighed.
"One day I will ask how many of these you carry."
"Not today."
The python opened its mouth.
Green light gathered.
Qin Yuheng felt danger.
"Spray!"
A cone of venom mist burst outward.
Qin Yuheng used Thunder Shadow Flash to escape the center, but he did not move too far. Qin Lian acted at the exact moment the python’s eyes opened during the spray. Her shadowy figure appeared near the left side, and one dagger shot forward.
This time, it struck.
The dagger pierced beneath the eye ridge.
The python thrashed violently.
Qin Yuheng seized the opening.
He stepped in with War Thunder Advance, resisting the poison wind, and struck the wounded poison sac beneath the jaw.
The Black Thunder Pattern Sword flashed.
Crack.
The sac did not burst, but a deep wound opened.
Green venom sprayed from it.
Qin Yuheng retreated instantly.
The venom splashed across the ground, burning holes into the mud.
The python roared.
Sound returned to the swamp in the form of anger.
Its tail swept across the lotus pool.
Water exploded outward.
Qin Yuchen was forced back.
Qin Mo’s formation circle flickered.
Poison accumulation rose.
[Poison Accumulation]
Qin Yuheng: 19%
Qin Yuchen: 24%
Qin Lian: 23%
Qin Mo: 29%
Qin Mo looked at his number.
"I am approaching the kind of percentage I dislike."
"Use another pill," Qin Yuheng said.
Everyone consumed a Hundred Toxin Cleansing Pill.
The numbers stabilized but did not drop much. The boss’s venom was too strong for B-grade pills to fully cleanse during combat.
Qin Mo completed the north bank restraint.
"Ready!"
Qin Yuheng stepped into the open.
He cut another shallow wound across the python’s jaw and released a controlled thunder burst.
The python focused on him completely.
Good.
He retreated toward the north bank.
The python followed.
It surged from the pool, half its massive body sliding over mud and roots. The moment its weight entered the prepared zone, Qin Mo activated the formation.
Reinforcement Spikes locked into the ground. Formation lines tightened around the python’s lower body. The mud hardened briefly.
The python slowed.
"Now!"
Qin Yuchen attacked the exposed spine joint.
Qin Lian struck the wounded eye ridge again.
Qin Yuheng aimed at the damaged poison sac.
The python sensed the danger and activated Scale Shedding.
Several outer scales cracked apart and burst outward like poisoned blades.
Qin Yuheng raised a Defensive Talisman.
Qin Yuchen blocked with his sword.
Qin Lian vanished beneath her cloak, but one scale cut her sleeve.
Qin Mo hid behind a stone and activated three barriers, shouting, "I hate scales!"
The shed scales created a poison cloud.
Their accumulation rose again.
Qin Yuheng’s eyes cooled.
They had limited time.
The restraint formation was already cracking.
He needed a decisive strike.
"Qin Mo," he said, "can you reverse the poison field for one breath?"
Qin Mo coughed behind his mask.
"With the python inside it? Are you trying to create a poison explosion?"
"Can you direct it upward?"
Qin Mo stared at him.
"That is not a no?"
"Then do it."
"You are terrible."
Still, Qin Mo moved.
He crushed another antidote pill, mixed it with the remaining Poison Core powder, and used the Silent Water Resonance Core to pull the surrounding poison mist into a spiral. For one breath, the poison cloud around the python’s jaw thinned.
Qin Yuheng moved.
Thunder Shadow Flash.
He appeared beneath the python’s head.
The wounded poison sac pulsed above him.
The python tried to bite downward.
Qin Yuheng stepped forward instead of retreating.
War Thunder Advance anchored his body.
His sword thrust upward.
Violet-gold thunder pierced the poison sac.
The sac ruptured.
Green venom exploded outward, but Qin Mo’s reversed field pulled most of it upward into a spinning column.
The python screamed.
Its head dropped.
Qin Yuchen drove his sword into the exposed spine joint.
Qin Lian’s dagger pierced the injured eye fully.
The python convulsed.
But it was not dead.
Its remaining eye turned blood-yellow, and its body began coiling around Qin Yuheng.
Swamp Bind.
Tail Crush.
A final desperate constriction.
Qin Yuheng felt the air compress.
His movement space vanished.
The python’s body formed a ring around him.
Qin Yuchen shouted, "Brother!"
Qin Lian tried to cut through the coil, but the scales were too thick.
Qin Mo’s formation had already shattered.
Qin Yuheng stood inside the closing coil, eyes calm.
He had one chance.
The inner mouth was a weakness.
The python, enraged and wounded, lowered its head to swallow him.
Qin Yuheng waited until the jaws opened.
Then he released a stronger thunder burst than before.
Not full power.
But enough.
Thunder Shadow Flash activated at point-blank range.
His body blurred into the python’s open mouth line, not away from it.
The Black Thunder Pattern Sword pierced upward through the inner mouth.
Thunder erupted inside the skull.
The python’s body froze.
Qin Yuheng twisted the blade.
The remaining eye dimmed.
The massive body collapsed, coils loosening around him and crashing into the mud.
A Tower message appeared.
[Venom Scale Python defeated.]
[Floor Boss slain.]
[Poison Mist Swamp toxicity reduced.]
[Achievement unlocked: Lotus Field Breaker.]
Qin Yuheng pulled his sword free and stepped out of the collapsing coils.
His clothes were stained with mud and venom burns.
Qin Mo stared at him.
"You walked into its mouth."
Qin Yuheng looked at the fallen boss.
"It was open."
"That is not an explanation normal people use."
Qin Lian silently offered him a cleansing cloth.
Qin Yuchen released a long breath.
The poison mist around the lotus field began to fade. The Clear Spring Lotuses glowed brighter, as if freed from suppression.
The drops appeared.
[Venom Scale Python Core x1]
[Venom Fang x2]
[Clear Spring Lotus Root x1]
[Poison Mist Boss Chest x1]
[Venom Scale Hide x1]
Qin Yuheng’s eyes stopped on the Clear Spring Lotus Root.
[A Grade Clear Spring Lotus Root]
[Type: Rare cleansing resource]
[Effect: Poison cleansing, spiritual purification, corrosion relief.]
[Eligible for Evolution.]
Corrosion relief.
Exactly what he needed.
The exit gate beyond the pool brightened.
Qin Mo pointed at it.
"We are leaving."
Qin Yuheng checked the team’s poison accumulation.
Qin Yuheng: 27%
Qin Yuchen: 31%
Qin Lian: 30%
Qin Mo: 36%
Still below forty.
But close enough.
"Yes," Qin Yuheng said. "We leave."
Qin Mo looked suspiciously grateful.
They crossed the lotus pool carefully, collected several additional petals without disturbing the roots, and stepped into the exit gate.
As green-white light swallowed them, Qin Yuheng looked once more at the cleared lotus field.
Poison had guarded purity.
Another floor had taught the same lesson in a different form.
The most useful treasures were often surrounded by the most dangerous corruption.
