Chapter 425 (2/2)

Hissing, it spat acid upwards in a fountain, which fell harmlessly to the ground.

The purple snake seemed to learn from its brother’s misfortune and twisted out of the way of the arrows, its tail lashing out, only to be slashed by Lucifer, cutting a good 4 meters of its body off.

But this left the ogre annoyed, but free. It spoke in a strange language, its hands moving through dozens of gestures, and the ground rumbled. Only due to his connection to nearby plant roots could Randidly sense the hundreds and thousands of… snakes, slithering up through the ground emerging from the ground.

With a manic gleam in his eye, Randidly threw back a Mana Potion. “Want to compete in numbers? Try me?”

His consciousness pressed to its limits, Randidly started using Spearing Roots as many times as he could at once. The roots shot upwards, spearing the snakes from below, burrowing through their softer bellies before driving up through their brains. Some struggled, feeling their compatriots dying, but Randidly’s eyes were glowing emerald, and in them was only the promise of murder.

As many as the Judgement tried to summon, that’s how many he would kill.

Clarissa smashed the Judgement with some sort of ice spell, causing the snakes to whimper, the green snake especially becoming very feeble in its struggles. As he noticed this, the Judgement raised his arms, his gestures becoming emphatic. Lucifer and Thea moved in rapidly, covering the distance to the Judgement.

The snakes’ bodies pulsed. Then they began to grow, Annie’s arrows snapping off, their wounds healing. Randidly’s eyes narrowed. Perhaps… the smaller snakes wouldn’t end up being the issue here. Because these two snakes were becoming big.

“The Spear Advances, Ash Trails,” Randidly whispered. Ignition. Flame. Desolation.

As he activated the Skill, he could feel some part of himself, some part of his Skill, recognizing this, encouraging him, strengthening him. The top of the hill was annihilated as Randidly shot down as if he was launched out of a cannon, arriving and driving his spear through the head of the green snake.

It had a mouthful of acid, so some of it splashed out onto his arm as he killed it, which burned, but Randidly simply hissed in annoyance. Pulling his weapon out, he turned and faced the purple snake, which seemed infuriated that its brother had been killed. It lashed out, biting towards him, moving so fast that even Randidly’s senses only had the faintest idea of when the attack would arrive.

“Ash to Ash…” Randidly said, closing his eyes.

He didn’t close his eyes so he wouldn’t see the world going grey, although that was perhaps part of it. No, he closed his eyes because at that moment he felt supremely connected to everything. There was a… base of energy between all things, the commonality of existence. Weirdly, that feeling stood out to Randidly then, as the snake bit into him…. and his body disintegrated into ash, and reformed a few meters above, bringing his spear down like a guillotine on the purple snake.

The purple head fell to the group, dead, just as Thea and Lucifer arrived, reaping into the ogre’s legs. It leapt to the side, but couldn’t dodge Lucifer’s long weapons, and it lost its right leg at the knee. When it landed, it stumbled, and Alana was there, burning as she activated her Solar Flare Skill, her spear taking the Ogre in the neck. It struggled, opening its mouth, but nothing came out.

Then, its expression unwilling, it expired, turning into energy and disintegrating.

Randidly looked around. Ptolemy had healed Ace, who was standing, and now hurried towards Alana to check her left arm, which hung useless at her side. Just the two injuries, then. That wasn’t bad, for pushing back the Judgement. It seemed like they struck at the right time. Had the snakes been allowed to grow… or the army of snakes from below to attack the group before Randidly had got there…

It was cutting it close, but it seemed like overwhelming the Judgments quickly was a viable strategy...

Rose’s voice drew his attention back the current situation. “How much distance do we have?”

Sighing, Randidly shook his head. “About half a kilometer. And I’m almost out of everything right now.”

“Us too,” Alana said stoically, while Ptolemy healed her arm.

Randidly grinned. He could keep fighting with his spear… but even he was beginning to feel a bit tired, and there was no point in forcing things. “Then let’s look for someplace to hole up for the last two days. Well, one day, now…”