Chapter 25: Lamias Mark -Volume End (2/2)

Not to mention I've been probing this place ever since we got here and I know for a fact that we're surrounded by Serpent type beasts which means this is without a doubt most definitely their territory. Judging by the amount of them, this is surely Lamia territory and master, to be honest consider yourself in a place much worse than the Bloodmana Wasp Hive) -Mitra

(I see, what you say is true..except I'm more handsome than you. I've had the feeling for a while now that there's an excess amount of killing intent in all directions and I can taste a dense amount of blood in the air. It's coming from outside but I can tell my senses aren't wrong, there are quite a few predators outside. Ever since I woke up my back has been cold as ice) -Sol

Sol thought for a bit and decided killing her was not an option, he nodded inwardly and then spoke to the Lamia.

[Maiden, Can you please tell me your name?] -Sol

The Lamia didn't speak this time..She stared at Sol and she felt like she had already starting becoming subdued by the mark, even though it didn't emit any King's aura yet it had still drained her power and she was unable to fight back, which she obviously hated. She had heard stories about what happens when a human gains a King's mark, she knew for her race that could spell a calamity.

[Are you going to continue treating me like your enemy like this for no reason...? I only wish to know your name..You even chose me as your mate candidate but still you can't even tell me your name? That's not right at all is it? Or have I offended you in some way? Is there some part of your culture that I am ignorant of and have soiled?] -Sol

Though these sounded like normal questions, the Lamia understood his intentions. He was saying he had done nothing wrong to her at all, yet he's been threatened several times by her. The Lamia relaxed slightly, she wanted to understand Sol's intentions and answered after she noticed Sol's killing intent had long left. She didn't have any sketchy thoughts and spoke straightforwardly-

[Zeshala'sele Vashjara] -Lamia

Sol sighed and then said-

[I'll call you Zee then] -Sol

Sol could tell she wasn't too pleased about that name but still said nothing, he laughed and then removed his blades from her neck. He never had any intentions of killing her in the first place, this girl was very straight-forward and Sol didn't mind her animalistic nature because it was rather honest.

[It's like this Zee, I don't want to kill you because you saved my life once before. I know how to repay my debts? Tell me, what are the ways to return your blood essence? I will help you as much as I can to repay my debt, however.....should you betray me, you will learn that a Lamia's cruelty cannot surpa.s.s a Doctor's...I am certain I can surely develop a disgusting and wretched poison to cure my current circ.u.mstances] -Sol

As Sol said these words to her, the Lamia felt a cold sliver run down her back. She could tell when humans lied and she remembered when she bit Sol to inject the mark, a bit of his blood leaked into her lips and recalled the toxic feeling it had to it. She knew that Sol wasn't lying and had to be incredibly skilled with poisons. She remembered when she first found him his hands smelled strongly of medicine and terrifying poison. However, she didn't lose heart and spoke her true thoughts-

[...You know you can just kill me and be done with this right....You should know all I have to is send them a message mentally and they would be here within a few minutes, they are much stronger than me and killing you is something they can easily do..Not to mention you only bested me because I was weakened] -Zee

Zee spoke in a cold and detached voice towards Sol as if looking at an idiot.

[...Why are you only talking about ”kill” and ”kill”? What did I do to incur your wrath?] -Sol

Sol quizzed her and looked at her if she was weird, which made her stumped and she questioned herself but then she spoke what she truly had in mind.

[...You are a dangerous existence, I felt so since the first moment I met you and I don't know why but for some reason It's in my nature to want to kill you...can you understand that?] -Zee

[Well it's in my nature to sleep and eat, but do you see me doing it all the time?] -Sol

Zee suddenly had the urge to laugh but suppressed it and watched Sol cold;y as she spoke and got to the main topic.

[So...What do you plan to do now then?] -Zee

[Well, are you going to tell me how exactly I give this blood essence back to you?] -Sol

Zee seemed astonished, but nodded naturally because she wanted it back. How could she let some human own her? She wasn't going to question why this particular human was willing to give her back her freedom but was more than happy to give him the knowledge.

[One, we can kill you and I can absorb it...Two-] -Zee

Sol felt a chill from this woman, she could rightly be called a woman as she seemed to be about 20 years of age but Sol knew she was much, much older. Mitra estimated at least 500 years, that in itself was a terrifying thing to think about, who knows how many Lamias there were out there in the bodies of water.

[..How about we lead with the ways that doesn't involve me dying?] -Sol

The more Sol talked with Zee the more he realized that the coldness in her voice wasn't on purpose and was just how she was, but he didn't doubt for a second that she wasn't capable of killing him and decided to defuse the situation before things got too hot. After a while the coldness in her voice faded without her knowledge and she begun speaking in minor chilly tone.

Zee looked at Sol and then she circled around him and sniffed at him, her killing intent towards him had settled down when he spared her and decided that trying to kill him again would go against her nature, she herself decided to relax. Lamia's never ever forget debts, when they are owed and when they owe and would always act in accordance.

[.....You really are strange no matter how I look at it, you could have killed me and using that mark escape from here before I had the chance to call my sisters, that Sentient Weapon and your Soul Beasts are related, You have a body thats as hard as some beasts I know of with terrifying defense, or rather you possess the potential toughness of them.

You have golden hair and golden eyes...You are not a male descendant of a Lamia, yet our mark mutated on you. Your Dantian gives off weird waves that...it's especially that which drew me to you in the first place] -Zee

Sol had grown accustomed to the surprised exppresions and remained calm, although Zee's voice was still cold it was filled with curiosity. She ran her hand through his hair and the distance between the two was shortened and her scent brushed up on Sol. The scent of wild rain and sweet fruits a.s.saulted his nose, it was then Sol noticed she wore extremely tight-fitted top piece and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s had rubbed against him.

Sol turned his head to the side as his face became red and the Lamia seemed to be poking him all over his body not aware of Sol's current thoughts. Finally she stopped inspecting and resumed her investigation-

[....Where did you come from?..I know you said ”Outer s.p.a.ce” but how much is ”Outer” s.p.a.ce? How far is it? Do all the people where you come from look like you and have that type of hair and eye color? Why can you acquire our mark even though you aren't born from a Lamia? Why is it you have compatability with serpents like us?] -Lamia

Sol raised his hands and stopped her as he came to knew when this woman before him was curious about something she would talk non-stop.

[Zee, One question at a time and I may not have answers for all] -Sol

Zee quieted down and cleared her throat, her cold voice came back in full bloom as she realized she had left herself slip.

[...My apologies..] -Zee

[Really...We're back to that again now?] -Sol

Zee cleared her throat once more, and a slightly less colder voice came out but Sol could started to learn to distinguish the difference between her normal self and when she really was being frigid.

[Okay..my apologies] -Zee

Sol and Zee then spoke for a while longer and after satisfying her curiosity, she remained silent for a while.

[You....you will keep to your promise right? One year from now...and you must remain within here for a year..Do you agree?] -Zee

[Yes I will keep my word] -Sol

[Then at that time, I will see you. Keep your mark hidden and it won't be distinguishable from others. Know that I am placing my life on the line for you, no matter what you are to keep my mark hidden...that is my only request from you] -Zee

[I won't show it off..you have my word] -Sol

[This place, is called ”Serpent Falls” and is heavily surrounded by serpent-type beasts and Lamias. So long as you remain here, your life will only be in danger by any other type of beast that may wander in. There are a few serpent type beasts you should not provoke, you will know when you see them. So long as you don't disturb you, they won't risk offending me and attack you

Other Lamias will not approach you, but they may come to spy on you when they sense my mark out of curiosity. You absolutely must not let them see that mark...otherwise this entire place will turn against you and I won't be able to save you] -Zee

[Well then human from another world...I'll see if you really are different from them or just a different flavor. Let's see if you keep your word..] -Zee

As she was about to leave, Sol suddenly remembered something.

[I'm looking for a place called Earthernvale, I will return there afterward. Is it nearby?] -Sol

[Earthernvale?...I'm afraid I don't know the city...but...you entered a water way didn't you?] -Zee

[..Yeah, why what's wrong?] -Sol

[My guess is, you are very very far from there and you had best give up on returning until you're strong enough to get there] -Zee

[..You have no idea how long you were unconscious don't you?] -Zee

[No...]- Sol

[Your body traveled along the water way for at least a day, my guess is that your Soulbeasts supplied you with air and maintained your state and that's why you didnt drown. Judging from the particular area where your body exited the water way, you came from upstream and must have came from incredibly far.

This place is ”Serpent Falls”, it's where all Water Ways connect and where us Lamias live. The fact that you ended up here and didn't branch off somewhere else means the water way you entered was an old one and was directly connected to here as opposed to the new ones which are interlaced. It can be said it is impossible to directly end up here, unless you entered an old water way or are a Lamia with knowledge of the Water ways] -Zee

[Basically, where you came from is a direct route towards us and I am curious about such a water way....something like that shouldn't be possible without us knowing. Now if that's all, I'll be taking my leave. I'll go investigate that water way once I regain a portion of my strength] -Zee

Zee turned around and left without looking back, Sol noticed she had regained a bit of her power already and it was enough to threaten him yet she was as he predicted and she no longer possessed the desire to kill him. He had a good impression of this Lamia girl and thought she was quite interesting herself and stared at her back as she left.

**

As soon as Zee left, Sol immediately sat down and withdrew an empty vial from his runic ring. He picked up one of the Fanged Blades and placed the hollowed tip from it in front of the vial and a few drops of blood leaked out into the vial. This was Zee's blood, Sol had asked the Queen to extract a bit from her while he pressed the blades onto her neck and was the only reason he held the blades to her neck that long.  The Queen used a slight amount of force and withdrew a few drops that went unnoticeable to Zee.

Even though Sol had quite the favorable impression of her, he still did not trust her species on a whole. While Sol had been speaking to her, he began a.n.a.lyzing what type of habits her species possessed and came to the conclusion that Zee was the more tolerable of the species and it was probably because she was incredibly young to their standards. He had already built up a mental profile of a Lamia, and now that he had it's blood he could study it on a deeper level.

He didn't feel like making the poison right away and instead sat down and let out a sigh. He had only now gotten time to himself after all the events and only now did he get to sit down and reflect. He knew he was far from Earthenvale, and once again he was alone. The twin Basilisks finally completely came out of his arms after sensing his feelings and immediately came to be spoiled and rubbed their heads on him.

(That's right...how foolish to think I was alone) -Sol

Sol looked at them warmly and kissed their foreheads once only now did he get to see their changes and was quite surprised. Sol noticed they had gotten alot bigger, their heads were a bit bigger than the size of a humans and had ten meters in length. Their hoods started becoming more lean and fierce and lost it's wobbly cuteness and he realized they were both females like their mother.

The colors on their scales also became brighter and the most surprisinging change of all was that they both had different colored eyes now. One had a golden pupil like Sol in his right eye, and the other eye maintained it's original red jeweled eye color on the left . The other twin was the opposite, Sol decided to give them names and after thinking for a while came up with two he was satisified with.

He looked at the one who had a golden right eye and rubbed her head and told her that her name was ”Hydrian” which meant bright right eye. The other twin was named ”Hydrea” which meant ”Bright left eye”, The twins loved their names and were happy with it.

Sol noticed these twins started becoming much more lively now and were moving about on their own, he watched the two play for a while. At some point, Mitra changed his form back into his cute cuddly appearance and lay in Sol's lap which drew the attention of the twins who quickly approached him, scaring him half to death.

Seeing the two serpents bullying Mitra, Sol's heart felt warm as he watched this scene and let out a sincere laugh, which terrified Mitra even more. Sol noticed Hydrian was more lazy and calm as she came over to him and coiled herself around him ignoring the other two and fell half asleep, while Hydrias was more vicious and provocative. Poor Mitra learned this hard way as his tanned golden fur was covered in saliva . At some point Hydrias got fed up of bullying Mitra and brought him back over to Sol and placed him in Sol's lap covered in drool.

Sol sat down and sighed after he played around with them for a while, he understood they grew with him and were still babies. They had only grown to this size this quickly because of Sol's abnormal power increases, but were still very much children. Needless to say the Basilisk Queen soul inside the Fanged Blades were quite happy when she saw the absurd increase in strength.

Sol then decided he needed to become even more powerful, as to protect this little happiness he has. He began to wonder about his parents, subconsciously his hand reached toward his pendant as he thought for a moment. He walked out of the cave, with both Hydrian and Hydrias following at each of his sides...he was shocked to discover that he was currently in a cave on top of a waterfall.

The strangest part about it, was that the cliff reached as far as Sol could see and several different types of waterfalls connected giving birth to a huge waterfall that fell down into a vast and wide river below. Sol started noticing other beasts shortly afterward as he peered downward from the cave into the river and forests below from the only place within the waterfall that was able to see the huge and wide area without being obstructed by curtains of water.

Suddenly-

A shadow raised and separated the curtain of the waterfall on the opposite side of Sol, Sol could only look on as a t.i.tan-like, red and hideous serpent that was much much bigger than the S-Rank Basilisk Queen emerge from a waterfall, Sol upon seeing this creature had his blood run cold as he looked at it.

It had blood-colored scales that seemed like they were made of blood-stained metal, cruel and detached eyes and it had a hint of mischievousness within it's eyes. It's eyes were filled with viciousness and cruelty, the beasts who saw it awaken immediately scattered in different directions and went about hiding. The huge red serpent then cast it's gaze towards Sol's direction, Sol felt like his heart had stopped as he watched this huge mountain looking at him with those terrible red and green colored eyes that made his skin crawl and back cry cold buckets.

[Human...you smell tasty] -Huge Red Serpent

It suddenly spoke directly into his mind indifferently and then gave Sol a slight smile with it's fangs raised and s.h.i.+fted it's gaze elsewhere and submerged within the river. Sol felt his mind go blank, as he stared to realize more and more that he was indeed surrounded by frightening beasts. He spotted another huge black serpent on top of one of the falls, that looked just as powerful as the red one and it just looked at Sol quietly, after a while it looked as though it fell asleep and closed it's eyes.

Sol seeing these beasts, put his hand on his forehead and laughed.

[No wonder why people of Earthernvale live like that, How can they live amongst this?] -Sol

No matter how Sol looked at it, they were right to hide themselves away. He knew the King and Former King were powerful but could they kill this Red and Black gigantic serpents? Sol didn't think so. Even if there were 100 King Ironspines and 100 Former Kings, he didn't believe they could kill that thing.

As he thought these things he still kept his hands around his pendant, all of a sudden-

*Click* *Click*

He had subconsciously clenched the pendant and two unnatural indentations and immediately sunk in. Suddenly a hologram flew up and Sol saw the silhouettes of two people. The pendant was supposed to be automatically triggered by the machine Sol arrived in, but it was too badly damaged and lost power before it could do so.

Sol had only thought of it as a normal pendant and didn't know of this feature otherwise he would have long played it, because to him words from his parents were like words from his G.o.ds. He fell to his knees as he saw these images, tears welled up from inside and he focused on every second of the recording.

A male and female had appeared, he recognized them almost instantly from the hazy memories, they were his parents-

[This..] -Sol

Sol was overly joyful as he saw their appearances and then they began speaking-

[Arin, my love. I am your mother, I have no idea what your condition is and I hope you are safe. I love you my baby, I hope you've been growing into a strong and powerful young man, mommy made sure you were prepared no matter what you have to face] -female silhouette

[My son, always remember to think before you move! That is the first key to survival! Know your surroundings and know your enemy!] -male silhouette

After hearing a few warm words from his parents, Sol had become at peace and was filled with a good feeling in his heart. Then afterward it came-

[There's one thing you absolutely must do, this is something you must do at all costs if you're a man!] -Male silhouette

[You are not the only one on Earth, another should be near you. We sent your fiance along with you, the pods were designed to remain close to one another. You must absolutely find her no matter what Sol, she is your last family member] -female silhouette

[Here these are some of your memories, it's about you and her. This should help you remember her, you must absolutely find her at all costs, Arin] -male silhouette

Sol upon hearing this felt mind-blown! Why didn't he check his pendant and pod carefully before? He blamed his carelessness and a sudden intense urge sprouted from inside him.

[One year, In one year I will become powerful enough to scower these lands. No matter who the enemy is, I will kill and conquer. I will definitely find her, I can only hope she survives until then..hopefully she was the same as me and came out near a city. If these pods are as advanced as my parents said then most likely she would have ended up near a city of human life just like mine] -Sol

His parents taught him how to operate the pendant through the holograms and he quickly learned it's features. Although they used strange words, Sol understood them because his language stemmed from there and was able to understand these words.

He saw an arrow on the pendant pointing towards a direction, and he knew she was in that direction.

[One year...I will acquire the strength to leave this place. In one year, nothing will stop me. So endure....Claire...endure for as long as you can. I will find you for sure.] -Sol

What was this? Family? When he learned he had family here, things had changed. If before he didn't know where his home was, then now he had found it but didn't possess the strength to acquire it. As Sol made this declaration in his heart, the black serpent across the waterfalls seemed to have sensed his rouse in heart and though was quite surprised, only opened one eye to peep and see what Sol was doing. It saw the strange images of the hologram and was surprised to the point it opened both of it's red murky eyes and stared at Sol as it lifted it's head a bit higher. After a while it closed it's eyes and resumed it's sleep-like state, however it started paying attention to Sol more and now and then would glance at the cave. Very few things could catch this lazy serpent's attention and it seemed to have something amusing to watch now.

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