The Gods are Always Wtaching

The Great Snake

They advanced towards the tunnel.

While on their way Adam asked Salma what her Mana Stat was.

She answered that thanks to this stat, she had Health Points, Endurance Points and now Mana Points.

She wasn't sure what it was about other than that, so she asked the System.

"Kayla what's the Mana Stat? Adam and Layla want to know too."

Previously, when the Systen answered questions vocally, only the user could hear them. But the user gave permission here, just like how they gave permission to the others to see their stats.

[ The Mana Stat controls the quantity of Mana Points the user has. Mana Points are used when Magic Skills are used. Once Mana Points are used up, Endurance Points will start to be used, once those are used too, Health Points will start draining.]

"What's the relationship between Mana and Magic Affinity?" Salma asked.

[ Mana Points control the amount of Mana that can be consumed. Magic Affinity deals with the control of the user over his Magic Skills. The higher the Mana, the more Mana Points one has.The higher the Magic Affinity, the higher control the user has over those spells. It becomes easier to control the strength of the Magic Skill, therefore controling how much Mana Points are used for the spell.]

"I didn't understand much, but I hope that answered your question." Salma said with a smile.

"Yes haha, it did." Adam chuckled.

"Hey" Layla called out while looking at Adam.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a weapom except the greatsword?"

"Yes, I have a dagger that I use a lot." He showed her the purple dagger. While the blade was purple, it's hilt was black. The blade was slightly curved.

"Is that it?" Layla asked a bit disapointed.

"Yep, why?"

"Well the Iron Mace is too heavy for me to use comfortably." She took it out of her Storage and started swinging it around. " As you can see, I've gotten strong enough to use it, but it's very uncomfortable. On the other hand, I also have the Iron Dagger, but it's reach is small so it's more dangerous to use. Since my Agility is my strong point, I'll have to use the Iron Dagger I guess."

"Mmm, that's true." He had an idea. "Store." He said.

A voice that only he could hear answered.

[Please choose what you are looking for:

{Potions} {Weapons & Armor} {Skills} {Magic Scrolls} {Miscellaneous} ]

"Weapons."

[ (None.) ]

'Not yet huh?'

He looked at Layla and said "Sorry, couldn't find anything."

Salma looked at the two of them and started pounting.

"Hey. This isn't the time to be talking. Let's go into the tunnel so that we can come back out and play Peak-a-boo." Salma scolded them.

"What? We're not doing that anymore." Adam looked at her with a suprised look.

"Huh? Why nooot?" Salma shook Adam's arm around as she said that.

"Well your Sense stat is super high. So if anything you should train in Agility or Magic Affinity until you learn a Magic Skill."

"What? I don't want to." She looked away.

Her sister Layla got on her knees in front of her.

"Come on, it'll be fun. We'll play tag." Layla said while smiling.

"I guess we can do that." Salma still wasn't happy about it.

"Alright, we'll play in the dark so that you have an advantage, since your Agility is the lowest." Adam said.

"Yes! Let's go into that tunnel then. What are we waiting for?" Salma was happy once again.

The three of them were in front of the tunnel.

It was high enough for everyone to get in by bending their backs. Salma could get in with no problem. It was also wide enough for the three of them to enter at once.

"Alright the burnt smell is gone." Layla said.

"Should we go in with me between the two of you?" Adam asked.

"Sure let's do that." Layla answered.

"What? No I want to be in the middle." Salma exclaimed.

"Maybe next time." Layla said kindly while patting her sister's head.

The three of them got in.

After taking about 20 steps inside the tunnel, the way out was just in front of them.

No one dared to talk, they were all focused on reacting as fast as possible at what they will find on that side of the tunnel.

As they peeked their heads outside of the tunnel, many screens appeared in front of them. As they were in a group, one big screen appeared at a time.

[ You have discovered a Hidden Location inside "The Spider Queen".]

[ For two of you, this is their first time entering a dungeon.]

[You have been awarded the title "The First Pioneer's Accolytes". Check your status window for more information.]

[Additionnal rewards will be added to the dungeon clearance rewards.]

[The Hidden Location you have discovered is "The Great Snake's Den"[D]. Will you enter?]

Once they looked inside, the space they found was huge. The walls were very far from where they were.

The space was circular, and the walls were 50 meters away from the center of the room.

The roof was about 25 meters high and it was full of holes, allowing plenty of light to enter.

They could see clearly inside.

As their heads were turnt from right to left, they scanned the place.

At their right, a number of things that looked like giant eggs were lying there. The eggs were as big as Adam.(1.55m)

In front of them, there was a treasure chest. It looked like a wooden chest.

Once they noticed it,

[Many Evil Spirits encourage you to run for the treasure before the others.]

Fortunately, none of them was the greedy type. And they soon knew why that chest was lying there in the open.

When they looked at their left, they saw a massive snake.

Massive was not enough to describe just how big it was.

It's scales were of a deep dark green. And it had two small horns on it's head. Small compared to it's body. Just it's head was as big a two bears.

It was in lying in a deep slumber.

To the three, waking it up was basically suicide.

'It's length must be at least 30 meters.' Layla thought.

'What the hell is this? How can I protect them against this?' Adam could not even think in that situation.

'Mom..' Salma was doing her best not to break down and start crying.

None of them could move a single muscle in their body.

Adam snapped out of it first, he very slowly raised his hands towards Layla and Salma.

He grabbed both their elbows and slowly pulled them backwards.

They all walked the whole way backwards.

They did not want to give their back to such a creature.

Even if the tunnel was way too small for it, they thought it would spit fire or something.

Once they were out of the tunnel, they all ran towards the starting point of the Dungeon, away from this creature.

'What the hell were we thinking? Get stronger to fight? How can we fight something like this by running around here?' Layla cursed her naivety.

'Such a big jump from E to D. Was the Goblin Chief even stronger than I thought? Or maybe it's because that's the only enemy. Yes, that makes sense. But what the hell? That wooden chest tempted me for a second too! We shouldn't have openned that damn tunnel. Now who knows what is going to happen.' Adam was bewildered by the unexpected strength of the enemy.

Salma did her best to run away and not scream at the top of her lungs.' I can't...I can't...wake the monster up.'

The fear they felt was above any they felt before in their lives. It was the primal fear of the sneaky predator. A fear ancient and ingrained in their DNA.

The relatives of humans, chimpanzees have an innate fear of snakes. So obviously, humans would too know this fear.

Some scientists even believe that the reason why humans evolved to have colored vision was to stay away from snakes.

They went to the entrance of the cave that was full of light and all sat very close to each other.

The three of them were shaking.

The thought that they might be able to get out of here seemed more and more like a far, far dream.

Their body and mind did not know how to deal with such a fear, so they fell asleep.

....

Layla woke up 6 hours later.

The light from the sky was still coming through, and it was still sunny outside.

'Does it not get dark here?' Layla rubbed her eyes. She felt something pressed against her thighs.

She looked down and found her sister peacefully sleeping on her legs.

Layla brushed Salma's hair with the back of her hand.

When she raised her head, she saw Adam about 15 meters away from them.

He was swinging his greatsword.

He swung vertically, then horizontally, then veritcally again. His face was full of sweat and he looked very tired.

She could faintly hear him counting to himself with each swing.

"27....28...29....And that's 30." He muttered to himself.

Just when she was about to say something to him, he put his greatsword into his Storage and started running. He ran away from the cave's entrance and towards the wall made of spider webs.

Once he was out of sight, Layla looked at the sky through the holes in the roof.

'Isn't he dedicated?' She thought.

Layla decided to wake up her sister. She shook her shoulder gently.

Salma openned her eyes and started talking.

"Layla... I had the worst nightmare. We were stuck in a cave, and there was a big snake...."

The big sister brushed her younger sister's cheek with the back of her hand.

And with a big smile, she said "Yup, that was yesterday."

Salma shot up from her place and looked around.

"Nooo!!!"

"There there" Layla said as she patted Salma's head. "I'm sorry since this is all my fault, but I'll work extra hard so this will only feel like a short holiday."

"Where is Adam?" Salma asked after she looked around.

"I just saw him running that way. Let's follow him."

"Yes.. Let's!" Salma said.

They both started running at the same speed.

Salma looked at her sister who was running next to her.

"You know you can't compare to someone half your age right?" Salma scolded her with a look that her mother used to always have.

"You sound just like mom." Layla said with an expressionless face.

"I like running like this with you." Salma said.

"Me too. It's been a while since we ran." The big sister answered.

"Oh shut up. You run all the time. That's probably why your Agility goes up so fast."

"That is true, but it's been a while since we ran together."

"Dad would have wanted us to. No matter how much he loved money, he loved running a lot too. You two had that in common. Remember when I was still very small and we all ran together in that forest?"

Layla looked at her sister with a suprised look. Tears were about to start flowing.

"You talk as if he was dead."

"Do you think once he saw the monsters for the first time...Do you think...Do you think we were his first thought? I mean... The moment I saw that snake, the first thing I thought about was that I didn't want to die. The second one was that I didn't want you to die." Salma slowed down until she came to a full stop. "Even though I selfishly thought about myself first, there's...there's a part of me that wishes dad and mom thought about us first, you know?"

"I know. I'd like that too. Well I am pretty sure one person thought of us the instant that person saw a scary monster." Layla directed her gaze towards darkness in front of them.

"Really? I doubt it." Salma said coldly.

"I'm not sure, but I would bet on it" Layla said with a big smile while still looking at the darkness.

Salma was suprised to see such a big smile. She followed her gaze.

A moment later, Adam got out of the darkness with a suprised smile.

"Hahahha, you really think he did?" Salma asked while chuckling.

"I'm not sure. But I think so."  She shook her head before continuing. "These damned...."

Layla was interrupted.

"Damned good people. Right?" Salma looked at her with a knowing smile.

Layla patted her sister's head while shedding a tear.

"Yup. They're the most annoying ones. I'd like to sleep some more, but for some reason, I feel like he's running for us. So, can't let him do that alone, right? Owing debts to good people is the worst. Since they never want you to repay them."

Salma focused on Layla's speech while looking at Adam.

The instant Adam stopped in front of them and was about to talk, Layla smiled and sprinted past him.

'Is she as fast as I am' Adam thought for a second

"Eum.... She's super motivated, huh?" He said, taken aback.

"She really is. Anyway when did you wake up?" Salma asked.

"About 3 hours ago... I think." Adam said as he took his greatsword out of his Storage.

"Have you been training since then?" Salma asked.

"Yes. Am training my Strength and Agility." He answered with a smile.

Salma stared at him for a bit.

"Thank you..for everything." Salma looked down.

"What do you mean? We're in this together you know. If I don't get stronger, even I can't get out of here." Adam explained.

Salma started crying silently, still looking at the floor. Her tears hit the floor.

"Hey...am sorry I didn't mean to sound so selfish I..." Adam tried to explain himself.

"Thank you... for following us here." Just as she said that, Salma started sprinting, following Layla. She wasn't nearly as fast, but she ran as fast as she could.

When she was about 10 meters away, she turned back and shouted at him "By the way, I got a super cool Skill!"

Adam was taken aback for a second. His right hand started shaking.

He stood there alone, looking at the ground for a bit.

When he raised his head, he had a determined face.

He started swinging his greatsword again.

'I'll protect them. For sure.'

Adam stopped right away.

He turned back.

'Wait a Skill?

....

Meanwhile, in "The Great Snake's Den", The Great Snake woke up.

It moved around a bit before looking at it's eggs.

At that moment, one of the eggs started cracking.

A baby snake was about to ger out of it's egg.

But it wasn't any baby snake.

It was the offspring of The Great Snake.

The Great Snake looked around, and saw a hole in the wall.

It went back to sleep, as it saw that it's babies had somewhere to go.

...

Salma was running, trying to catch up to her sister.

She saw a lit torch. Adam had put it there.

It was just in front of the tunnel they had gone in before.

When she was about 15 meters away  from the tunnel she stopped.

There was something there. Her newly acquired Skill helped her notice it.

At the same time, Layla was running back towards Salma.

When Salma noticed the sounds of her footsteps, she shouted

"LAYLA! THERE'S SOMETHING HERE!"

Layla found it weird that Salma had already noticed her, as she could only see the lit torch from that distance.

She ran even faster.

Once Layla arrived in front of her sister, Salma pointed towards the tunnel.

"Something...is coming." She said.

Layla immidiately pushed her sister back and turned to face the tunnel. She took her Iron Dagger and was ready to jump at whatever would come out of there.

A couple of seconds later, a snake came out of the tunnel.

It's head was a big bigger than than a fist. It's body was 2 meters long .

"Is that...from those eggs? We messed up. We messed up big time."Salma said. She immidiately thought that soon, the tunnel would be full of these.

"Gotta get rid of it." Layla said.

"How?"

"Shouldn't be too hard. You heard the monsters Adam fought. A snake shouldn't be much."

The snake was advancing aimlessly until it noticed the lit torch. After that, it made it's way towards it.

"They're cold blooded. They don't see. They just react to heat." Salma said without realizing it.

"See? I knew your knowledge of animals would help. Alright so, hypothetically if this was a normal snake, could I go behind it and smash it's head with my mace easily?"Layla asked.

"Yes, if it doesn't notice you. But this isn't a normal snake you know. Who knows what it might do."

"If you feel something weird tell me alright?"

"Sure, be cautious."

Layla took her Iron Mace out. She very slowly and carefully placed herself behind the snake, focusing on making as little sound as possible.

The next instant, she raised her mace with two hands. A feat that would have been impossible for her before.

She then slammed it with all her strength on the snake's head.

"Layla!" Salma shouted.

The snake's head was deformed and it's whole body started twisting around the mace.

Layla, thanks to her high Agility, let go of the mace in time. Otherwise, her arms would have been trapped too.

The mace was on the ground, with the snake's body twisted around it.

"Salma, give me your mace."

Salma quickly took it out and did her best to hand over the heavy mace to her sister.

Layla aimed once again her attack at the monster's head.

After that, the snake stopped moving.

[1 Great Snake Baby has been defeated. Congratulations! You have gained 60Gold and 100 Experience Points.]

[ You have levelled up!]

Layla put her hand on her forehead.

"God that was nerve wrecking." She handed Salma her mace and took hers back.

"We should tell Adam right?" Salma asked as she struggled to put her mace back inside her storage.

"Yes let's. Am bringing this too." She grabbed the snake's corpse. It was a heavier than the Iron Mace. Layla decided to put it on here neck and shoulders.

They made their way back and found Adam resting with his back against the wall.

They told him everything.

"Let's eat it." Adam said after hearing them.

"That's your reaction?" Salma found it too weird.

Layla laughed at his reaction.

"I think we should eat it. System. Can we eat it?" Layla asked.

A voice they all heard answered as the question was can WE eat it.

[ A Great Snake Baby's corpse is not harmeful. But it must be eaten at the lastest 4 hours after it's death. Otherwise, it could cause harmful negative effects.]

"All right. It's decided then. A 2 meters snake should be enough for the three of us which is great."

Adam took the snake's corpse and started taking it's skin and scales off with his dagger. It penetrated them easily. He had skinned a rabbit once when he was younger, so he got the role of preparing the food.

It was nowhere near beautiful or clean work, but he got the job done.

He removed the skin, the internal organs and the monster's head.

He then took his Greatsword out of his Storage and put it on the ground horiwontally.

After that, it was the sisters' job.

They both lifted the snake's corpse and put it on the greatsword.

Layla bought a torch in the Store and used it to cook one side of the snake.

After that side was completely cooked, they let it cool down for a bit before turning it on the other side and cooking it too.

They all sat around their meal, holding their daggers.

They initially weren't sure about eating the cooked snake, but the smell was quite appealing.

Plus, it had been a while since they last ate.

All of them cut a small piece of the cooked snake and tasted it.

Their eyes became shiny in an instant.

They looked at each other in astonishment.

"It tastes AMAZING!" Salma shouted.

"It really does." Layla said while cutting another piece.

"Should we eat it all or save some for later?" Adam asked.

"Let's think about that later. Plenty of snakes are gonna come anyway." Salma told him as she ate some more.

From now on, seeing a snake like this one would be a happy occurrence.

Adam smiled and cut himself another piece.