abcnovels
Chapter 103
Chapter 103
Chapter 103: Pharaoh (6)
12.
“You caught all the monsters?”
Pir wasn’t surprised by El Pam’s words.
There was no reason to be surprised.
“Let’s check it out.”
It wouldn’t be too late to be surprised after confirming everything.
And it didn’t take long to confirm.
They had a rough idea of the number of monsters here.
More importantly, the evidence was clear.
“Pir, I haven’t checked everything, but there are mountains of monster corpses everywhere.”
The evidence of corpses.
Only after confirming everything was Pir truly surprised.
‘How?’
He knew El Pam’s abilities.
Thanks to him, Pir had survived and been able to enter Phantom’s secret warehouse.
He had never underestimated El Pam’s abilities.
Rather, he had evaluated El Pam’s abilities even higher than what he had seen back then. He thought El Pam had gotten stronger.
That’s why he was surprised.
‘It wasn’t to this extent…’
Even with El Pam’s abilities, which he had estimated so highly, it would have been impossible to wipe out the monsters here in just five days.
Moreover, El Pam hadn’t just hunted monsters.
‘How did he do it so quietly?’
El Pam’s party hadn’t caused any commotion while hunting monsters.
This was quite important.
The most effective way to quickly kill monsters was to unleash powerful area-of-effect attacks.
However, not many adventurers hunted monsters while causing such a commotion.
Naturally so.
Other monsters wouldn’t just sit back and watch while they caused a ruckus.
The situation here was even worse.
Most of the monsters had become mummies, zombies protecting the Pharaoh Snake, due to its venom.
And if there was a commotion?
All the monsters would flock to it.
That’s why.
They divided into parties and fought quietly, extremely quietly.
Of course, the quieter they were, the slower the hunting speed.
El Pam knew this too.
‘Catching them all in five days is impossible.’
That’s why he had originally planned for ten days.
But there was an exception.
‘Lightning magic is different.’
One of the advantages of lightning magic was that it was quiet.
For example, the fire-attribute area-of-effect magic, Explosion, was very powerful, but once used, it would wreak havoc on the surroundings.
Monsters several kilometers away, those with good senses, could feel it even from 10 kilometers away.
But Thunderbolt was different.
‘It’s targetable.’
When hundreds of monsters gathered, it could accurately target only the monsters.
‘The moment they’re hit, they’re paralyzed by electrocution.’
And the monsters hit by it usually couldn’t even scream properly.
It was perfect for quiet hunting.
That’s why, before returning to the past, one of Rick, the Lightning God’s other nickname was the Silent Slaughterer.
He killed tens of thousands without making a fuss.
‘There are comrades who can gather the monsters.’
Crucially, El Pam had the best comrades to help him.
That was the secret to finishing all the preparations in five days.
“Now all that’s left is the Pharaoh Snake.”
Now that the preparations were complete, it was time to get to the main point.
Pir also came to his senses at El Pam’s words.
He was right.
It didn’t matter how El Pam did it. That was something they could find out later.
“Yes, we need to catch the Pharaoh Snake.”
The immediate task at hand was to catch the boss of this place!
Therefore, Pir said,
“The results of the investigation on the Pharaoh Snake’s venom are as follows.”
He focused on hunting the Pharaoh Snake.
“The venom is very potent.”
Pir’s expression hardened as he spoke.
“Even when exposed to the air, it doesn’t disappear, but rather evaporates and spreads around in the form of fog. The longer the exposure time, the higher the chance of poisoning.”
It was reasonable.
“And the Pharaoh Snake’s venom has no discernible color or smell.”
The venom itself was effective even in fog form, which was crazy enough, but it was also colorless and odorless.
This was beyond what Pir had expected.
He knew the symptoms of being poisoned by the Pharaoh Snake’s venom, but he didn’t know it would be this potent.
“There’s no antidote.”
That was the problem.
“All that’s left is to drink a potion that increases resistance to the venom and then approach and fight.”
In this situation, the only way to catch the Pharaoh Snake was to accept sacrifices.
“The time we can endure is roughly 10 minutes.”
Moreover, it wasn’t just any sacrifice.
This case was different from monsters with other venoms.
The moment they were poisoned, they didn’t die; instead, they became mummies of the Pharaoh Snake.
“If it goes over 10 minutes, commit suicide. With poison.”
Pir’s solution to this was to put a venom sac in their mouth and bite it when 10 minutes passed.
It was a desperate method, but there was no other way.
“The Pharaoh Snake is very fast. It’s impossible to hit it with ranged attacks unless someone gets close and holds it down.”
No matter how powerful the attack, it was useless if it didn’t hit.
“Its detection range is 1 kilometer. Unless you attack from outside that range…”
After finishing his explanation, Pir asked,
“Any other opinions?”
There was hope in his question.
The hope that El Pam might suggest a different method.
“My judgment is the same.”
El Pam’s words dashed Pir’s small glimmer of hope.
He didn’t despair at this fact.
“Then I guess our hunting method will be the same as yours.”
Everything was clear now, so there was nothing more to be surprised about.
“Attacking the Pharaoh Snake while the tanks buy time.”
El Pam said to Pir,
“No, they’ll just get in the way. We don’t need them.”
“What?”
“Our party will do the hunting alone.”
13.
Pharaoh Snake.
The head of this giant creature, measuring 40 meters in length, resembled a pharaoh, as its name suggested.
Moreover, its golden scales exuded a majesty worthy of a pharaoh king.
Hiss!
The Pharaoh Snake was in a very bad mood right now.
Hiss!
Because insignificant beings dared to invade the territory of the king.
What infuriated it even more was that it had tried to punish them several times, but failed to do so properly.
Hiss!
Whenever it tried to chase the intruders, they disappeared like rats, no, faster than rats.
So it had spread its venom everywhere, but not many were actually poisoned by it.
Hiss!
Due to its rage, there was no trace of reason in the Pharaoh Snake’s eyes.
They were burning with fury.
It was a terrifying sight.
Even a seasoned adventurer would likely faint at the sight of its eyes.
It was impossible to face it.
“Hey.”
An adventurer appeared before the enraged snake.
“Snake bastard. Look here.”
Not only did he not avoid its gaze, but he spoke in a provocative tone.
That’s why.
Hiss?
The Pharaoh Snake was surprised instead of spewing anger at the adventurer’s appearance.
The appearance of the adventurer, Divo, was beyond its expectations.
‘Huh?’
And the Pharaoh Snake’s reaction was unexpected for Divo as well.
Naturally.
‘Why isn’t it attacking?’
Divo’s role was to attract the Pharaoh Snake’s aggro.
But Divo’s confusion didn’t last long.
“Bastard, are you out of your mind? Hey, snap out of it.”
Divo picked up a stone lying nearby and threw it at the Pharaoh Snake’s head.
Thud!
The stone hit the Pharaoh Snake’s head.
There was no damage.
Not even a small mark was left on its golden scales.
However, for the Pharaoh Snake, it was more powerful than any attack it had suffered so far.
In an instant.
Hiss!
The Pharaoh Snake, spewing even fiercer rage, lunged at Divo.
The sight was utterly terrifying.
Especially the size of the Pharaoh Snake’s mouth, opened wide with fury, was large enough to swallow Divo in one gulp.
Flash!
And the fangs in that giant mouth were as monstrous as the polearm Divo was holding.
It was an overwhelming sight.
A sight that required immense courage even to run away from.
But instead of running away, Divo ran towards the Pharaoh Snake.
Because he knew.
That it was far more effective to confuse an elephant by dodging under its feet than for a mouse to run away.
Besides, running away wouldn’t accomplish anything.
Attracting aggro wasn’t just about becoming the monster’s target.
It was about creating a situation where the damage dealers could attack.
‘If I get bitten, it’s death.’
Of course, if he made a mistake, he could end up like a mouse trampled by an elephant, but Divo wasn’t worried at all.
‘That won’t happen.’
He had confidence.
And that confidence immediately translated into results.
Hiss!
The Pharaoh Snake, startled by Divo suddenly diving into its chest, turned its head.
Then it saw.
“Charge!”
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Divo’s polearm, swung with the Charge skill, scraped against the Pharaoh Snake’s golden scales, making a chilling sound.
Sparks flew as it scraped.
Surprisingly, the Pharaoh Snake’s scales were scarred.
It wasn’t strange.
The Charge skill Divo used was a 4th circle skill, literally increasing its power as he charged.
And Divo was currently equipped with a considerable amount of unique items.
The power of his polearm was undoubtedly exceptional, even among the current 4th circle warriors.
Of course, it wasn’t a deep wound.
In human terms, it was just like scratching the surface of the skin with a sharp fingernail.
The problem was that Divo wasn’t alone.
“Solar Slash!”
Kiri!
While the Pharaoh Snake was distracted by Divo, she, who had been hiding, swung her red-hot sword.
Swish!
And the sword sliced through the Pharaoh Snake’s scales, this time drawing blood.
Hiss!
The Pharaoh Snake turned its head in surprise, and as it did, it saw.
“Headshot.”
Bang!
From 1 kilometer away, Golden Eye Minerv fired her bullet.
Clang!
Her bullet collided with the Pharaoh Snake’s eye, making a harsh sound.
Like metal clashing against metal.
It meant the Pharaoh Snake’s eyes were hard.
But there was a clear wound on the eye.
Seeing this, Minerv smiled.
“Magnum Shot.”
Bang, bang, bang!
With a laugh, her musket began to spew all the bullets it held, and the bullets aimed at the Pharaoh Snake’s eyes with surprising accuracy.
As the attacks concentrated, cracks began to appear in the Pharaoh Snake’s eyes.
Hiss!
The Pharaoh Snake squeezed its eyes shut.
Of course, the Pharaoh Snake didn’t just take the hits.
Screech!
It opened its mouth wide and began to spew its venom everywhere.
At that moment, the Pharaoh Snake was certain.
Time was on its side.
The onslaught of these rats was intense, but if it could endure for 10 minutes, victory would be its.
It was a reasonable thought.
There were plenty of mummies here, ready to sacrifice themselves to protect the Pharaoh Snake.
Screech!
The mummies would hear the Pharaoh Snake’s call and come rushing in.
Also, the Pharaoh Snake knew.
The venom it exhaled would turn into smoke and make all the rats here its mummies.
The Pharaoh Snake’s thoughts weren’t wrong.
It just didn’t know.
Screech!
No matter how much it screamed, the mummies couldn’t come to its aid.
Screech!
The Pharaoh Snake was bewildered by this fact.
Why?
Why weren’t its loyal mummies coming?
But even in its bewilderment, the Pharaoh Snake was still confident of victory.
As mentioned earlier, time was on its side.
10 minutes!
If it could endure for 10 minutes, the rats that were bothering it now would become its loyal mummies.
In reality, that wasn’t wrong.
If it could endure for 10 minutes, the Pharaoh Snake would win.
“Fire Arrow.”
El Pam. If it could endure the magic he was about to unleash for 10 minutes.
Of course, that didn’t happen.
7 minutes.
Screech!
The Pharaoh Snake let out a death throe.