A Snake's Path (A Snake's Life Book 2)

by Kenneth Arant

  *Ding*Ding*

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Due to acquiring the title known as The Unwavering One a trait has evolved. The Strong Willed trait has evolved into the Indomitable trait.

  Indomitable: Your will is the stuff of legends.

  Illusions no longer affect you, and pain will not stop you.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have unlocked a hidden evolution!

  Due to eating massive quantities of Yggdrasil’s flesh, your body has mutated into a variant of the normal species.

  Dark Draconic Naga —> Dark Star Naga

  A Naga whose body became so large, and so full of divine energy, they began to grow their own star.

  You are the first of your kind. As such, you have received bonuses to your stats.

  You have been granted the Gravity Manipulator skill as a sign of your new race.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Name: Torga

  Race: Gluttonous Dark Star Naga

  Classification: Tier 8

  Level: 89

  Experience: 476,912/ 4,000,000

  Titles: Destroyer of Asgard, The Dark Serpent, The Unwavering One

  Stats:

  Physical Strength: 73,912

  Endurance: 73,912

  Dexterity: 1,030

  Speed: 1,163

  Mental Intelligence: 54

  Wisdom: 38

  Charisma: 20

  Resistances Elements: 60%

  Divinity: 80%

  Mental: 20%

  Immunities Mind Control

  Illusions

  Skills: Major Stealth, Heat Detection, Supreme Gluttony, Supreme Growth, Greater Petrifying Gaze, Greater Acid Venom, Detect Concealment, Energy Breath, Fly, Magic Enhancement, Elemental Manipulation, Gravity Manipulation

  Traits: Divine Gluttonous Aura +25, Growth +50, Venomous, Aquatic, Winged, Forever Growing, Indomitable

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  I dismissed the pop-ups with a sigh and closed my eyes. I was actually looking forward to sleep for once.

  Chapter 16

  I WOKE UP THE NEXT morning to a sight I’d only dreamed about: a multicolored school of fish swimming above my head, as the light from the twin stars was filtered through the surface of the water, turning it in a living sapphire.

  Unfortunately, this sight would not last another night if my aura continued to devour the ocean at its current pace. When I’d first landed yesterday, I was able to easily submerge my entire body. However, after only a single night of sleeping, the water level had dropped some four-hundred feet.

  I sat up, the motion causing several millions of gallons of water to be displaced, and surveyed my surroundings: Nothing but ocean and clear violet sky as far as the eye could see. However, something in the water caught my attention. It was my reflection.

  I brushed my obscenely long hair to the side and studied my face first. My eyes were as red as ever, though they glowed so brightly I was having trouble seeing my own pupils. They were sunken into a face with high cheek bones and a wide forehead, from which a pair of thick horns extended and curled around to the back of my head, and a slightly crooked nose. I had visible ears, which was weird but not unexpected. I’d known they were there ages ago; I just couldn’t see what they looked like. Turns out, they looked like human ears—I think. I was having trouble remembering what humans looked like for some reason.

  My scales were the same color they always were: dark green with a gray line that ran from my jaw to the tip of my tail. Though, what was truly interesting about my naga form was the “armor” my scales had evolved into. They were thick as plate mail on my chest, shoulders, forearms, and back. Thin gaps existed in between the various plates to allow ease of movement. Every few feet along my tail you could see a mass of armor plating as well.

  Though I was sitting on the ocean floor, my shoulders were approximately two or three thousand feet high and yet my hands were digging into the sand behind me. I could barely see the ball at this distance, and that’s only because it produced its own light, creating a beacon effect on the horizon.

  I shivered at the realization that I was this big at only ten percent of my full size. I curled up and went back to sleep. I wasn’t ready to deal with this crap yet.

  *Ding*

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You’ve eaten the following race for the first time

  Water Titan Boa: Tier 3

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Hmm? I looked away from the pop-up and found a group of blue snakes swimming around my head. They must’ve already lost a couple of their number because they were doing well to avoid entering my aura. I envy you, little ones.

  I used my arms to push myself out of the water and stood up. I stretched my body and performed a few light stretches to loosen up before I set out for the day—Or, that was the plan until I saw a mass of shadows that twisted and turned as it came over the horizon. It appeared to be several miles wide and was so long I couldn't see its end. Well, that sucks.

  The mass came within a hundred feet of me and two shadows split off and sped in my direction. They split apart and curved around to my backside before exploding out of the water.

  The shadows revealed themselves to be two of the largest creatures I’d ever seen. They were Leviathans, and the head of each was as high as my own, though they were much thicker than I was.

  The giant shadow exploded out of the water a few seconds later, revealing that it was composed of hundreds, possibly thousands of Leviathans equal in size to the first two.

  And they were all aiming for little old me.

  “I’m guessing you’re Unger?” I asked the swarm.

  They chuckled simultaneously, which was about the creepiest thing imaginable.

  The swarm split apart to reveal a pure white serpent at the center of them all. Its scales were the color of fresh snow, its eyes were milky white as if it'd long since lost the light in them, and It. Was. BIG! Its body was easily several thousand feet in diameter. I couldn’t see how long it was from where I was standing, but I assumed it was proportional, and to top it all off, its whiskers were as thick as the other Leviathans.

  "Surprised?" it asked with a musical lilt to its voice.

  "You're..." I struggled to find the right thing to say.

  "Beautiful? Gorgeous? How about perfect beyond measure?"

  "I was gonna say fat enough to be registered as your own country, but hey, to each their own." Unger's eyes narrowed and her lips pulled back to reveal obscenely large teeth. "You're a rude one, aren't you?"

  "Me, rude? Never." Suddenly, one of her whiskers slammed into my side and sent me crashing into the waves. I quickly pushed myself back up and answered with a haymaker to the face of the first thing I saw, which happened to be one of the Leviathans. Its head burst like an overly ripe fruit, then I turned back to Unger—only to see empty air.

  "Where'd she go?" I asked the swarm. They hissed simultaneously, and I took back what I said earlier. That was the creepiest thing ever.

  I ducked under the jaws of another serpent, then came back with a swing that hit the Leviathan just beneath its mouth. My fist passed through the serpent like it wasn’t there, cleaving it in two, and giving me enough time to reorient myself. Fine, you want to hide from me? We'll see how long you can hide once I start tearing this place apart.

  "Soo... dramatic!" Unger's voice came from behind my left ear. Before I could turn around, I was suddenly flying through the air. I crashed into the water and was immediately set upon by the swarm.

  Unfortunately for them, my aura didn’t care how many of them there were. They were food, and my aura would treat them as such.

  "Surprised?” Her voice came from behind my left ear. “Good. You should be."

  “Is this the moment when you start bragging about your power or does that come later?"

  "Now, why would I do that? Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

  "Honestly? The thought had crossed my mind."

  "Is
that so?" Unger laughed. "Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm far too old to fall for such paltry taunting."

  "Old? Please, old isn't what I'd use to describe you." I slapped a serpent out of the air when it tried to grab my head, then I went back to letting my aura devour anything stupid enough to come near me. "Now, FUBAR, that's more your speed."

  "I’m guessing that’s an insult of some kind? Did no one teach you to respect your elders?"

  "Yep," I said, as I grabbed two serpents out of the air and slammed their heads together. My aura dissolved them so quickly I ended up clapping instead. "Then again, my elders also had the sense to die before they became so old, they breathed dust instead of oxygen."

  "That's quite enough of that," she hissed angrily.

  Unger wrapped her whiskers around my waist and began to squeeze. "Be a good lad and die for me... Won't you?" she asked in an overly sweet tone.

  I was momentarily surprised my aura hadn’t torn through her whiskers but rationalized she was too powerful for it to work. I fake struggled for a bit, then sighed. "Alright, you win. I'll die for you."

  "Really?"

  "Of course not. What kind of person do you take me for?" I asked as I released the jewel's enchantment and quickly began to grow larger. "It'll take a few seconds for me to return to full size; would you mind waiting a moment?" Her whiskers tightened around my mid-section even further. “Eh, didn’t think so.” I flexed my arms and pushed the whiskers ever so slightly apart, then I shoved them off of me.

  Two arms grabbed each whisker, then I yanked. The whiskers tore but didn’t completely separate from Unger’s face. She yelped in pain and pulled her head out of my reach.

  Water exploded in every direction as the swarm attacked as one. They slammed into my body and pushed me away from Unger, while she ducked beneath the waves.

  I’m getting tired of this crap. I pulled back my right arms and threw out a haymaker my old boxing couch would’ve been proud of. My fists knocked into several Leviathans, stopping their forward momentum, and turning them into a shield against the swarm’s charge as they blocked me from view. The swarm fought against me the entire time, eventually pushing me back several hundred feet as I struggled to remain standing.

  Even at the rate my aura dissolved them, they were being replaced too quickly for me to keep this up for very long. Let’s try this. I reached inside myself and pulled out my new skill: Gravity manipulation should be similar to elemental manipulation, so I tried to activate it the same way.

  My left arms swung towards the sky and a wave of force pushed its way out of my fists. The center of the swarm was caught in an invisible wave of gravity and thrown back the way they’d come.

  I pulled my arms in to my chest, then shoved them out to my sides, pushing the left and right swarms away in a tidal wave of gravitational energy. Works better than I expected it to, I smirked.

  "You’re too confident for someone about to die," Unger said from behind me.

  I turned around and had to look up, and up... and up. “You're even bigger than I thought."

  "I am the largest serpent on Yggdrasil. Or at least, I was until someone took my title from me."

  "Hmm, that’s a shame. But ultimately not my problem."

  "You’re right. The dead have no worries." Unger lifted her massive head into the air; it was far larger than I was, and she seemed to still have most of her body beneath the waves.

  Unger pulled her body back then sprung at me. I met her charge with a gravity-infused double punch. I managed to deflect her strike to the side, then I dug my fingers into her hide and pushed her onto the ocean floor. While holding her there, I opened my mouth and launched four blasts of condensed mana into her neck.

  Unger roared in pain and ordered her swarm to attack. I tried to hold on, but I was forced to let go as the swarm slammed into me.

  I grit my teeth and braced my tail against the floor of the ocean. “Fuck. Off!” I yelled. Gravity exploded out of me in a wave that sent the swarm sliding off to either side and giving me the time I needed to attack again.

  I opened my mouth and charged a large ball of condensed mana. Before I could fire it, Unger’s whisker struck my side and knocked me into the water.

  I pushed myself out of the water and glared at her.

  "You think you're the only one who can use magic!?" Unger hissed. Her body began to glow and suddenly the swarm dissolved into bright white lights and fixed itself to her body, forming a clear "shell” of magic around her.

  I stood up and fired three weak mana balls at her body. They simply bounced off the shell.

  "Well... That's just not fair."

  Unger raised her head high into the sky, then shot towards me with that massive mouth of hers wide open.

  Thinking quickly, I twisted my tail around and slammed the ball into the ocean floor, then braced my body against it. I held out my arms and caught Unger’s mouth before she could close it on me.

  Not my best idea considering I didn’t even slow her down, but it probably saved my life. As it was, she carried me along the surface of the water until the ball got caught on an underwater mountain and forced me under the water. She passed overhead for several seconds before she realized I wasn’t in front of her anymore, then she dove after me.

  "Lunchtime!" she hissed.

  I grunted as she slammed into me, struggling to hold her mouth in place and keep those wicked-looking teeth where they could do the least amount of damage. Then a memory came unbidden to me of the last time I’d fought a Leviathan.

  I’d forgotten about her until now, but it couldn’t hurt to try. I planted my tail into the ground, then braced myself. I pried her mouth open, which she was only too eager to help with, as that was the only way she could eat me.

  I waited until I had a clear shot, then fired a beam of highly concentrated magic down her throat.

  Unger’s white eyes widened slightly a moment before the magic ripped through the back of her neck and punched through her magic shell.

  I held her mouth open for a few more seconds to ensure she was dead, then I tossed her now lifeless head to the side.

  I fell onto my back, my chest heaving as I sucked in huge mouthfuls of air and stared into the midafternoon sky.

  "I'm so hungry," I moaned.

  *Ding*Ding*

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Congratulations!

  You have successfully killed ''Primordial Leviathan Unger"

  You have been granted the ability to shift between your current form and that of a purely serpent form.

  Please proceed to the next Royal Serpent territory.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "Later,” I sighed.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Warning!!!

  Due to Unger's death, the core of this planet has become unstable.

  Total planetary collapse in 90 days, 20 hours, 37 minutes, and 15 seconds

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  I swiped away the pop-up. "Ninety days. That's plenty of time to eat my fill." I tore into the corpse with renewed energy.

  Interlude: Thor’s Anger & Amaar’s Game

  "GODS DAMN IT!" THOR raged. He grabbed a lamp from a nearby table and hurled it across the room and into the opposite wall. His mother and brother winced at the sound but didn't otherwise react.

  "Breaking our furniture won't change the past, Thor." Frigga said in a calm voice.

  "I know!" He paused for a moment, then let out a deep breath. "I know... I... I failed to protect her."

  "Jeez, you're acting like she died. So, she has a scar, what's the big deal?" Loki, his half-brother asked. Loki was a head shorter than Thor, with slicked back black hair and bright green eyes.

  "That's not the point. If Findral hadn't been there, Ayla would have died to that damn assassin." Even while saying so, his mind went back to the previous night when he heard the scream and the sounds of battle coming from inside her room.

  He almost broke down the door in his haste to enter and
what was the first thing he saw? Why, it was Findral standing over the would-be assassin in her "true” form; Her ebony skin had turned blood red, her hair appeared to be made of living flame, and a slender onyx-black tail ending in a dangerous looking point swayed just above the man's left eye.

  Occasionally, a wave of fire would encircle one of her limbs or her torso, then travel down her body and burn the man.

  "Thor?" His mother interrupted.

  "Yes? What is it?"

  "Have they made any progress in determining his allegiance?"

  "No, they have not," he replied.

  "Well then, what are you still doing here?" she asked.

  "What do you mean?"

  "It was your bride-to-be that was attacked, correct?"

  "Yes. What's your point?"

  She rolled her eyes at the question. "Why haven't you asked for my permission to interrogate him yourself? I'd think you'd be itching for a chance to question him, or was I mistaken?"

  "I... May I? And Dad won’t mind?" he asked.

  "I’ll handle your father. Just make sure you ask Fira to heal him, so he doesn't die before you get what you need," she replied with a tight smile.

  Thor’s mouth briefly hung open, then it snapped shut and he smiled grimly. "Thank you, Mom." He bowed low, then left the room with Loki on his heels.

  As he made his way down to the dungeon a cruel smile appeared on his lips. "Time to stop the goody-goody act. For a while, at least."

  “Oh, this is going to be so much fun,” Loki drawled.

  Thor wound his way through Gungnir and arrived at the brig where a guard stopped him.

  "Sorry sir, but the king has stated that no one is allowed to see the prisoner."

  "I've been given orders to interrogate the prisoner for information on his allegiances," Thor stated matter-of-factly.

  "I'll need you to wait here while I confirm this information—" The guard began but halted after seeing the look on Thor’s and Loki’s faces. "Uh. Go on in." the guard stammered, then stepped out of their way.