Chapter 17 & 18: A Family By Circumstance (Part I & Ii) (2/2)
(No it's just hives are usually bigger, there should be more than a few thousand but this nest barely has a few hundred. Mother told me these things) -Mitra
Mitra proudly spoke, Sol pondered who Mitra's mother was. Judging by the way he spoke of her Sol determined she was quite powerful. Sol quickly shook off the useless thoughts and begun placing the powdered bags quietly, the Wasps were busy tending to their captured beasts and were not minding the entrance. Naturally they would never suspect a human to be in here and ma.s.sacring them, and not to mention they didn't have the IQ to even think otherwise.
Sol after carefully placing the bags at the entrance, doused them in some medicinal wine and lit it up without a second thought. He took out his Water Orb and doused the cloth around his face once more.
(I have to make sure and get all these variants and make sure they can never be re-produced) -Sol
*FSSSHHH*
The purple gaseous clouds instantly flooded the chamber and the Wasps sensing the change immediately choose to vacate the pocket rus.h.i.+ng towards the entrance.
However, the ones that made it close were shot through their wings with arrows. Shortly afterward they succ.u.mbed to the poison and were paralyzed to the floor. Sol quickly drew two swords from his runic ring and begun crippling them. Afterward he used a staff and pushed them together in a corner and placed an Explosive Fire Orb directly in front of them.
Sol didn't linger and immediately left towards the lower levels.
**
As he pa.s.sed down the corridors, the same thing happened, the Wasps were caught by the drifting smoke and collapsed onto the floors. Following the same logic, he crippled the Bloodmana Wasps as well as the Variant Bloodmana Wasps and killed the Guardians. This time he came across more variants than anything else and was quite disgusted. Sol couldn't help but think about that other Wasp hive as he thought of the variants and the thought of whether it was more advanced than this hive scared him to stop thinking about it.
Sol arrived at the 4th pocket and peered inward, to his surprise it was incredibly enlarged and seemed unreal and very much like the entrance of the hive.
(Wait a minute....the entrance to this part is exactly the same size as the rest of the tunnel and the entrance....could it be? This is where the S-Rank beast came?) -Sol
Sol thought about it and felt a bit of dread, he then came to a realization and pulled out the thief's journal from his runic ring.
(.....It's exactly as I remembered, indeed he did roll the egg down in the hive. Judging from the entrance of this pocket, the egg would most certainly roll in here rather than further down the hive...I should check it out. There is no way the beast can still be in here when the Wasps are here) -Sol
Sol quickly entered and noticed there were no Wasps in this pocket and also this pocket had been badly damaged as if a great fight took place. The earth was overturned and had dried venom splashed all over the walls.
(MASTER!! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!! MASTER!!!) -Mitra
Suddenly Mitra's voice sounded out filled with panic, fear and incredible madness.
Then Sol saw it....Two huge red eyes staring at him from the darkest depths of the pocket. When Sol saw those eyes, he froze in complete shock and his head went slightly dizzy. The incredible killing intent flooded the chamber and sweat beads appeared like never before all over his skin.
*HISSSS*
The bloodthirsty and sinister cold hiss filled the entire room, It was filled with hatred and Sol could feel as though the killing intent was crus.h.i.+ng his lungs and preventing him from breathing. He subconsciously took a step backward, the pair of red eyes stared at him unmoving. Sol grit his teeth and stared back and tried his best to issue out a command to his body.
[Enhanced vision!] -Sol
With the help of his enhanced vision he saw it, a dreadful Incredibly huge serpent like body that possessed spikes throughout it's face looking more like a dragon than anything else. It's hood also possessed a pattern that looked like eyes. The strange thing about the snake was it's color, It was white, gold and red mixed giving it a divine feel, but anyone who knew anything would tell you the more beautiful a snake looked the more poisonous it was.
It's scales looked as though it was made of steel and bound together with the purest fire. It also had stubs a bit lower than it's hood and it seemed to be wings that were broken. When Sol looked at the lower body of the snake, he was shocked as he noticed another silhouette laying half eaten and half decomposed near the snake. It was a Wasp much much much bigger than the rest, too big to be even called a Wasp.
The stinger of the Wasp was impaled into the snake and it was pinned against the wall. Several other Wasps were dead and decomposed on the ground.
(That....looks like it's the corpse of the Queen?) -Sol
(Indeed master, it is a Queen! That means the Queen below is young!!! That's great news master!! It means this S-Rank Dragon-Serpent killed the original Queen and the one below is young!! No wonder the nest seemed this small most likely this snake wiped out most of the Wasps when it came down here and killed the Queen.
The New Queen is weak and that's why she hasn't picked up on us yet and why the new Wasps are still deformed and not completely evolved! This is good master and this snake is pinned to the wall so we are safe!! Master without a doubt this is a S-Rank Winged Golden-blooded Basilisk Queen!!) -Mitra
Sol looked at the Serpent's eyes and could see nothing but pure blind hate for humans deep inside it's red bejeweled eyes but the for some reason the snake was looking at him vigilantly.
(By all rights this sort of beast shouldn't fear me even in it's current state....but why do I feel fear?...It's not fearing for itself....then why?.....Wait! The egg!!) -Sol
Sol vigilantly looked around and finally spotted the egg that was to the right hand side of the pocket. The Beast was pinned to the back-left side of the pocket and could clearly see Sol's line of sight!
[ROAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR]
The loud and b.e.s.t.i.a.l roar shook the entire hive causing the Wasps below to buzz furiously but they still never came up which was proof they knew the Beast was still in there alive and well! The Beast clearly wanted to scare Sol away from the egg and was enraged. It hated humans, because of humans it ended up in it's current predicament.
It lost one of it's children to humans because of human's greed and now another one had appeared to steal it's egg. How could it stand that? Sol looked at the S-Rank Basilisk Queen and felt extremely sad in his heart. This creature had suffered endless for it's children and the ultimate end was that it would die with it's egg in plain view unable to nourish it. Sol ignored the furious roars and picked up the egg.
The Beast wriggled ferociously on the stinger but was unable to free itself and it's eyes became even redder as it stared at Sol viciously! Sol raised one hand towards the Serpent indicating it to stop, holding the egg with the other he opened his mouth!
[STOOOOOP!!!!!!!!] -Sol
The beast quieted down as if it understood, naturally Sol knew it would understand as the thief's journal stated it was S-rank and was indeed intelligent. Sol didn't need a journal to tell him that though, he could feel it on his own.
Even though the S-Rank Beast quieted down it still looked coldly at Sol, it was surely expecting this nasty human to ridicule it now that it was helpless and trapped against the wall and held it's young hostage. A normal human would never give up this sort of reward, the S-Rank beast knew how much of a reward it would be for the humans to acquire one of it's egg. It even expected Sol to torture it from afar or perhaps make fun of it, however contrary to what it believed Sol begun speaking.
[I am not your enemy and the reason I came here was to find someone. Please calm your anger, I have no intention of stealing your child. My parents sacrificed everything to protect me, unfortunately they were not able to know if I lived or died or how I turned out. I'm sure you are the same and judging by your wounds you don't have much longer left. I know you would want to know whether your child survives or not and I will give you that opportunity. So please calm your anger proud Queen] -Sol
Hearing this the Beast calmed somewhat and it's expression lightened however it was still vigilant. This beast knew this human was probably the only shot it had at being able to nourish it's egg. The situation was dire, the egg had been without nourishment for quite a few years and only because of it's st.u.r.dy origins as a basilisk was it able to hold out this long and this made the Queen nervous.
Seeing the beast's expression calm down somewhat, Sol sighed and began walking towards it. He was still terrified and even Mitra warned him a few times not to be careless and he should just leave the egg here and go. However Sol didn't listen to him, Sol knew what parents would do for their children and couldn't help admire such parents. Even if it was a beast.
The S-Rank beast upon seeing Sol walking towards it actually had a look of surprise. It knew before the human could have taunted it and stayed away and would be completely safe but this human actually decided to trust it. Thoughts ran through it's head and it wondered if the human was planning to sneak attack it but when it scanned Sol it realized he did not have the power to kill it and if it only snorted venom on Sol it could kill him. The Queen was actually moved by this act and watched on quietly.
Not to mention from start to finish the beast had not detected any lies in Sol's words. It began to think, from beginning to end Sol never looked at it in hatred or anger. It did sense the initial fear but it knew how powerful it was and certainly startled him, but it had truly never felt any ill intent from Sol like it would from a regular human and it's huge eyes locked on Sol curiously.
The Queen truly couldn't believe what this human was doing and started wondering if this human was insane, yet while it thought these things it did not reject the advancing Sol. Naturally Sol was a bit terrified but he didn't want to see this Queen mother die without having it see it's children survive and he marched forward. Before long he had already pa.s.sed the Queen Wasp and stood directly in front of the huge S-Rank Beast.
*Whish*
The beast instantly appeared in front of Sol's face and placed it's face right in front of him letting out a low hiss. Sol's pupils contracted and stared warily at the S-Rank beast. The S-Rank beast then licked his face playfully and turned towards it's egg. It rubbed it's head against the egg gently and gradually an expression of fear emerged in it's eyes. It let out tiny low growls and then looked at Sol with a weird and pleading expression.
*s.h.i.+NG*
It brought out it's fangs which terrified Sol even more but then he realized the beast was up to something and wasn't planning anything with ill intent. It seemed to want Sol to do something and brought it's fangs near him. Sol followed it's movements as if he understood and lifted his free hand near the egg. The S-Rank beast then lightly placed one of it's fangs in the egg and the other in Sol's hand.
All of a sudden Sol started feeling blood being drained from his body at a rapid pace, he could see the blood going towards the egg and was quite surprised. The egg seemed to spring to life as it absorbed the blood greedily and seemed to love the contents. The Queen showed an astonished expression as it tasted the blood of Sol and seemed to look at him weirdly. It continued draining blood while paying careful attention to how much it was extracting.
Sol started feeling lightheaded when a rush of blood entered back into his body from the fangs, the blood he received was filled with anti-venom and it seemed to be the blood of the S-Rank beast and some tissue from the egg. Sol fainted as his face became pale and the egg landed gently on his stomach....The egg glowed continuously as it sucked mana from Sol's body at the same time Sol's body initiated it's absorption effect and begun absorbing mana from the surroundings at a terrifying pace.
The S-rank beast looked even more astonished upon seeing this and had signs of excitement and happiness. It had begun to grow worried that Sol wouldn't be able to last the blood contract but upon seeing Sol's weird bodily physique it grew happier by the minute. Sol had no idea what he was currently going through, if he were awake he'd know that he was currently attaining his Soul Beast
There were two ways for one to attain a Soul Beast, One was through summoning which most people did. The other was a circ.u.mstance of great luck when one made a personal connection with a beast, which was currently happening.
The blood from the S-Rank beast immediately fired up Sol's evolving nature and begun integrating itself into his body, Sol immediately broke through to the Second Order Warrior as the excess mana absorbed into his body condensed into his new muscles which had become strengthened by the S-Rank beast's blood. Impurities were being forced out of his body by the S-Rank Queen and it acted as a filter to Sol's body after realizing he had no Dantian.
The S-Rank beast knew that having Sol and her child becoming Soul Partners was the only way to save her child. The beast when it thought of Sol's nature, it didn't think twice and immediately decided to initiate the contract. Gradually Sol's complexion started regaining it's original color and the mana absorption effect slowed down as the egg reached it's climax glowing at fast intervals!
*Crack* *Crack* *Crack*
Sol had woken up just in time to see the egg on his stomach cracking, the light blinded his eyes for a moment and when it settled down. He saw a tiny golden head peering over the broken sh.e.l.l and staring at him intently with a hint of fatigue in it's tiny eyes. Surprisingly enough as Sol was focused on this tiny little head, another similar head poked out higher above the first tiny head and begun looking at him with the same baby-like eyes.
Sol had to admit when these baby Basilisks are young they were incredibly cute. Red jewel like eyes, A slender golden white body with tiny hints of red streaks, the scales looked so soft as if one gripped too hard it would break. Their tiny hoods weren't as fierce as their mother's and was more flappy giving them a playful like appearance.
Sol was completely dumbfounded as he stared at the two tiny cute golden-white heads that looked at him intently as if asking for a hug. The two tiny serpents crawled on his chest and begun rubbing their heads on Sol's chin. The S-rank Beast upon seeing these twins had it's excitement climax. One child was good enough, to have two of it's off-spring from one egg was simply a dream.
Sol pointed towards the S-rank beast and whispered to the two tiny serpents and they immediately s.h.i.+fted their gaze toward the S-Rank beast. He knew they would understood though he didn't know why and so he shakily stood up with the twins in his hands and moved them closer towards their mother. The two serpents rubbed their heads towards their mother who did the same.
Sol felt his heart break a tiny bit as he looked at this scene and tears couldn't help but leak from his eyes. The beast noticed this and she seemed to understand Sol may have had a similar circ.u.mstance, one could see the gaze the beast looked at him with was 100 times warmer than when they had first met.
It wasn't a human who brought out these repressed feelings of Sol, but a beast. A beast regarded as one of the most vicious and cruel beasts, A Winged Golden-Blooded Basilisk. The S-Rank rubbed it's head against Sol and licked his tears, at the moment it looked as though she had three children. The tiny twin basilisks had become incredibly tired and wanted to sleep, they were quite sad when they noticed their mother's condition and it was the current situation that kept them up.
It seems they were intelligent enough to understand the circ.u.mstances at least, In their eyes they saw the S-rank as their mother and Sol as their father as he was naturally the first person they saw first and could feel the innate bond between them. They made little ”wuwu” sounds as they rubbed their heads together and a hint of sadness evident in their tiny jewel like red eyes.
The S-Rank beast once more rubbed it's head against her two children as if saying goodbye. Afterward the two tiny beasts crawled down Sol's arms and wrapped themselves around an arm each, a flash of light came and Sol felt a swift burning sensation in his arms.
The two basilisks had surprisingly merged into Sol's arm and what appeared were two golden snake tattoo's wrapped around his arms. Right before they became invisible and merged, their complexion had gotten better and it was evident they were replenis.h.i.+ng their energy through Sol.
The S-Rank beast watched the entire process and afterward once they had became settled in it finally looked as though it begun relaxing. It gave Sol a gentle look and it's mouth curled slightly as if giving a smile, little by little the light in it's eyes faded as if it were holding on to the last bit of strength it had just to make sure it's children survived.
Sol bowed toward the S-Rank Basilisk and dried his eyes, he felt a bit at a loss but was happy he was able to see this mother see the birth of her children. As he was just about to turn around and leave.
*CLING CLING*
Sol was surprised to see the two fangs of the S-Rank Basilisk Queen had been purposefully pushed out and fallen to the floor.
*ZZZZZZ*
Suddenly a powerful light blasted out from the S-Rank Basilisk Queen and enveloped the fangs. Sol saw a s.h.i.+ning phantom like white S-Rank Basilisk form leave the Queen's body and it looked completely beautiful and magnificent exactly like it's original form. It's golden colors flashed out and it rushed towards the Fangs and combined itself.
After a few minutes, the light started dimming and a warm and gentle voice sounded out toward Sol from the Fangs.
[Thank you human...I didn't think there were any like you...Because of you I was able to see my children born...Please accept this, I will stay with you and help you protect them. Below there is a mana well that was prepared for the new born Queen, make sure and get to it quickly! The one you want to find is probably down there near the Queen. Collect some of my venom and may it bring you good luck. Human might I ask what your name is?] -Queen Basilisk
[I am Sol, my lady Queen] -Sol
Sol bowed as he spoke and thought to himself this was a Queen worth respecting. The Queen seemed to be amused by this human bowing and gave out a warm laugh. Compared to what Sol thought her voice would sound like, it was quite different and instead very warm, gentle and filled with a strong sense of pride.
[Sol take my fangs, and may it pierce all your enemies. Unfortunately I'm not powerful enough to become an Intelligent Weapon like your friend there on your back, but I should be able to become a Sentient weapon and help you till you grow fangs of your own. Take care of my children well and in return I will take care of you] -Queen Basilisk
[....I have to say...I never thought the day would come when I would be saved by a human...It's not so bad] -Queen Basilisk
Sol knew he would never hear this warm voice again and shortly afterward the light faded from the fangs. Sol bowed once more before the Fang Blades and promised to them silently that he would protect them with his life.
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