Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

Chapter 17: The serpent's lair raid (4)

'Bonk!'

"No, we're not going to rush in!" I bonked general Zhang's head with a dead alligator's leg.

"Ow, little cub, calm down! Don't resort to violence!" He rubbed his head and waved his other arm in front of him.

"Said the man who killed this guy." I pointed to the dead alligator's leg in my hand.

"I agree. We shouldn't be careless. It's better to regroup first, and think about our next move." Jeanne chimed in.

"All soldiers, gather around!" Owen commanded right on time.

Everyone except for those watching the perimeter gathered around Owen, including us.

"Give me a report."

"Yes, sir! Out of 57 people, 14 are confirmed dead, around 28 people are badly hurt. The 15 remaining are able to walk." The soldier reported. He himself was bleeding from his head and legs, but was still able to stand up straight and salute.

"How many healers do we have left?" Owen asked.

"Only 5 left out of 12 healers, sir. Two of them are badly injured." He replied.

"Alright. What about the horses and our supply?" Owen inquired again.

"Unfortunately, lots of our horses and donkeys got caught up in the fight, sir. We only have a few left, and our supply carts are in a bad state..." He reported.

"Understood. For now, distribute the supplies from the badly-destroyed cart to our soldiers. Gather the remainder and load everything into one cart with the best condition, and wait for further command. Dismissed." Owen concluded.

"Understood, sir!" The man saluted and left to carry out what he was tasked to do.

I sat down on the ground with Jeanne and general Zhang while we listened to Owen. Honestly, I was glad that someone as reliable as Owen was here with us. He took care to check on everything, even the supplies, and the animals.

"General Zhang." Owen's voice startled us.

"Yes~?" He tilted his head.

"I'm afraid there's been a change of plan. It's too dangerous for you three to go inside the lair while being injured." Owen crossed his arms.

"Oh? But I love challenges~"

"I'll be direct. I need you to head into the serpent's lair and stall some time for us," Owen started explaining, "our soldiers are not in a condition to continue the mission. They also can't go back without my watch. It's too dangerous."

"Wait, can't we just rest here and wait for you guys?" I asked.

"No. You must stall for time, and prevent the soul from being stolen." Owen straight up denied my request.

"I'm going to escort them back, and then return with another army for backup. Can I trust you for that?" Owen sharply glared at general Zhang.

Instead of answering, a chuckle came out from general Zhang's lips.

"Are you kidding me?" General Zhang grinned, "of course you can! You don't even have to come back!"

Suddenly, the air around me got heavier and I got chills.

"I'll finish that serpent off before you even reach Alistair," his eyes widened, "and I'll bring you its head. I'll even bring you its guts if you want me to."

He burst out laughing eerily, and for a second there I genuinely feared for my life.

"...Just do what you're told. Don't do reckless things," general Owen's gaze shifted towards us, "this time you're not raiding alone."

General Zhang took a glance at us. His eyes felt dangerous, as if he could devour me at any time. I gripped Jeanne's sleeve in an attempt to feel safer.

"They can look out for themselves... Right?" General Zhang asked us. It felt more like a command rather than a question.

"...We will be fine. Don't worry about us, general Owen. Please escort them safely." Jeanne assured Owen, even though I could see the nervousness on her expression.

"Are you sure?" Owen raised an eyebrow and turned towards me, "what about you?"

"Well, I have a gun and I would not hesitate to shoot myself." I replied.

"If you're still able to joke around, I assume you're in a good condition." Owen frowned at me.

He turned around and left us to prepare the soldiers for a return journey. The soldiers were well-coordinated. They hauled the wounded and the dead inside the cart alongside the remaining supplies. And instead of riding the injured horses, the rest of them chose to travel by foot.

Suddenly, I felt someone poked me on my shoulder.

"What is i-- OH MY GOD!?"

I stumbled backward when I saw a huge earth golem standing behind me. Upon closer inspection, he didn't seem threatening. Instead, he was offering me a box.

"...Is this for me?" I carefully asked.

The golem said nothing and just nodded slowly with his hand extended, waiting for me to take the box.

"Thank you." I smiled awkwardly and took the box from him.

"That's our first-aid kit. I guess Owen left some for us, just in case." Jeanne explained to me.

The golem nodded at Jeanne's words, and pointed towards himself, and then to us.

"What? What does he mean?" I asked, totally confused.

Jeanne also seemed to have no clue on what he was talking about, either. The golem tried explaining again, this time he made a walking gesture and pointed at us once more.

"Are you saying that you'll come with us?" I questioned.

This time he nodded happily. I guess I was right? Well, another personnel would be a great addition to our barely-functioning team...

--------

After Owen and his soldiers had left, we continued our journey to the serpent's lair. General Zhang had calmed down after he saw the golem, because he said the golem was 'cute'. Well, I mean... He wasn't exactly wrong.

Jeanne and I sat on top of Timmy, while general Zhang insisted on sitting on the golem's shoulder.

"Hey, how far ahead is the serpent's lair?" I asked while I finished up bandaging Jeanne's arm. We didn't get healed by the healers, because they were mostly busy caring for the heavily wounded.

"We're almost there~" General Zhang hummed.

"...But I don't see or feel any enemies. Is this normal?" I nervously looked around, and this time, I made sure to check on any mana around me. I didn't want to die getting mauled by a chameleon's tongue. I wouldn't be able to face my ancestors up in heaven out of shame.

"Well, we took out the serpent's guards already, but it doesn't make sense... Usually there would always be some who stayed behind to guard the serpent..." Jeanne brought her hand to her chin.

"Who cares, if there are some left, that just means more kills for us, tee-hee!" General Zhang exclaimed.

"I'll be on the lookout. You can rest, Chaerin." Jeanne told me.

"Thank you, Jeanne. I appreciate it." I smiled and turned away from her, pretending to fiddle with the first-aid kit.

I took this time to silently open my inventory. This would be a great time to power up.

I checked out my items, and I figured that I would need time to think about which skill to choose, so it'd be wiser to keep the skill book for later. Rather than a skill book, what I was aiming for were...

[Water Alligator's claw (material) x3]

[A water alligator's claw. Might be useful if grinded into dust]

[Water Alligator's gauntlet (equip: gauntlet)]

[A gauntlet made from a water alligator's scales. Very sturdy, but also a bit uncomfortable. +5 physique]

[Water Bat's wings (material) x1]

[A water bat's wings. Can't help you fly, but they might be useful to craft something]

[Water chameleon's cloak (equip: accessory)]

[A cloak made from a water chameleon's skin. Has an ability to change colors to make the wearer somewhat invisible to normal people]

Hey, what the hell? Did I just get a very useful item? No, wait... If I read it carefully, it only worked for normal people.

I sighed. It would be godly if it worked for monsters and trained people, too... Oh well, I'm sure it would still be useful one day.

[Would you like to equip the item 'Water Alligator's gauntlet'?]

I muttered a small 'yes', and the gauntlet materialized on my arm. It surprisingly fitted quite well. Now for the stat...

[Stat points: (Yoo Chaerin)]

[Strength: 17]

[Intelligence: 15 (+5)]

[Agility: 12]

[Physique: 17 (+5)]

[Stat points available: 4]

Oh, my stats have risen quite a bit since our fight with those murder machines. Great. I should save my available stat points for later, though. I wasn't sure about the serpent's ability and whatnot. I'll just raise my stat accordingly later.

"We are nearing the lair's entrance! Prepare yourselves!" Jeanne shouted.

I immediately turned around and saw the huge cave entrance not far from us. The entrance itself was small, but the cave stood roughly over 20 meters tall.

"Finally~! We'll have some fun!" General Zhang stood up, "toodles!"

Before we could even react, sparks of electricity formed around general Zhang's feet, and he leapt forward at an admirable speed.

"That slippery eel--! Timmy, after him!" I shouted.

'ROAR!' With an excited roar, Timmy picked up his pace and ran as fast as he could to catch up with general Zhang.

Meanwhile, the golem was walking peacefully, and picking up flowers.

--------

We reached the lair's entrance and got inside, except for Timmy, because he was too big. We stepped further in, and the first thing I noticed was...

"Urk! It reeks of blood!" I covered my nose.

"True... Was someone here before us?" Jeanne gripped her sword tightly.

Even though the cave has abstained from sunlight, the inside was full of crystals that somehow emanated glowing blue light. Thankfully, the vision was still on our side.

"No, not someone. They're these guys' blood." General Zhang picked up a chameleon's bloody leg.

"So the guards who stayed behind are dead..." Jeanne said.

"Look carefully, here," general Zhang pointed at the severed leg, "this isn't a wound made by sharp weapons. It looks more like a bite wound."

"...Did the serpent eat its own guards? But why? Or is there another beast?" I pondered.

"Maybe, maybe not," he put it back down, "either way, things just got more exciting~"

I gripped my rifle, with my finger on the trigger. I needed to be extra careful with this extra info.

We slowly traveled through the cave, which was surprisingly quite long and with many turns. The further we went, the wider the cave got.

"It's disturbingly calm..." I muttered to myself.

"Watch your steps." Jeanne warned me.

We kept going, until we heard the sound of water dripping further inside. Upon hearing this, all three of us stopped making noises, and began to use gestures to communicate. There may be enemies up ahead, and we wouldn't want to be discovered.

And it turned out that we were right. There were still some bats left around.

Surprisingly, Zhang took the lead to instruct us on when to advance and when to stop. Thanks to his leadership, we were able to eliminate all the bats without being spotted and without making a lot of noise. He can be quite reliable when needed.

After walking a bit more, the cave finally opened up to a... lake?

The lake reflected the bright blue glow from the crystals on the cave's wall, and the water was clear, with some drops of water coming from above, gently making a trickling sound, resulting in a scenery like the one in the movies.

"Wow... It's beautiful." Jeanne said, mesmerized by the sight.

"I think it's creepy." I said. I mean, it looked too good to not be a trap.

"Shh. Stay here." General Zhang slowly walked forward until he was just inches apart from the lake, while we stood there obediently.

Suddenly, he froze.

He stood there for what felt like a solid 5 minutes. God knows why.

Then, finally, he spoke.

"The serpent is dead."