From Moving Crates to Killing Gods-Chapter 78: Serpent Ambush

I was practicing the sense spell, now able to hold twelve spheres.

But then, out of nowhere, a silver serpent shot from the ground.

"I knew these holes weren’t natural." I murmured to myself as I grabbed a pebble off the ground and put the spell notebook in my pants. "Well, I can deal with you now."

Switch.

The serpent didn’t even had time to react. It was about to hiss and attack, but now its lifeless body just swayed and fell to the side, making a loud thud. A moment after that I threw the warm heart to the ground as well

No one had time to process what I’d done, they were still frozen from the serpent’s sudden appearance. But the silence and shock lasted a second because of a sudden, terrified scream.

"NO! WHAT!?" Finn yelled, his expression went from horror to anxious. "Guys... everyone, we need to... we need to hide, we are in trouble, we are..."

"What’s going on?" Kira said, tension in her voice probably because of the sudden commotion.

Finn was moving frantically, his head looking for something, until he locked his eyes on Phinyx, who was meditating at the top of the bunker.

"Guys, we need... we need to go where Phinyx is! I feel multiple serpents coming from below, a lot of them!" Finn said, sweat running through his face.

As he explained, another two serpents shot upward from different holes. I could end them one by one, but if there were many I needed a way to defend myself too.

I hoisted Kira and Finn onto my shoulders.

Quickstep.

We reached the bunker wall in a second and we got to the top as fast as we could.

"Where’s Coco?" I asked, worried.

"He’s over there, he was drinking juice!" Kira said with a tense expression.

"AAAA MULTIPLE SERPENTS!" Coco yelled.

I locked eyes in the direction where the yell came from, and I saw Coco somewhat close, but in that moment five more serpents appeared from the holes around us.

"RUN COCO, RUN!" I yelled to from the top of the silver bunker. "Just reach the bunker and grab my hand!"

"AAAA I DON’T WANT TO DIE!" Coco screamed as he ran toward the vine.

"Uninteresting vibes, stealth vibes, unimportant vibes!" Phinyx said as he moved his hands outward, using his ability on Coco.

As Coco ran, seven aggressive silver serpents, and a dead one were gathered around us.

Phinyx’s vibes made wonders, because Coco was able to reach the bunker wall unscathed. I quickly moved and grabbed him, trying to evade the serpents attention.

"You did it Coco!" I said with such a happy tone, that I forgot for a moment that we were surrounded my monsters that could destroy us in seconds.

Coco didn’t reply, he just laid on the cold silver of the bunker.

"Phinyx, hide our presences, I’ll try to end them as fast as possible." I said while grabbing my yo-yo.

I’d use switch as fast as possible, if any of the silver serpents decided to attack us despite Phinyx’s vibes it would be fatal.

"Hidden vibes, Stealth vibes..." Phinyx said multiple times.

For a moment it felt as if time had frozen, I was focused on where the seven serpent hearts would be. I was tracking their movement, and focusing on doing this as fast as possible.

Switch.

Switch.

Switch.

...

A serpent that was looking for us toppled with the bunker, making it sway a little

Switch.

Switch.

Serpents were falling, multiple thuds around us. The biggest serpent was about to fall directly on top of us.

"Move away!" Kira yelled, pushing me and Coco. As she did that, I could only see Phinyx also throwing himself towards Finn and falling to the other side.

A massive silver snake was about to fall onto Kira, and she wouldn’t survive that.

I had to think fast, some way to save her.

Time froze and the answer came to me. A pattern that I considered so simple that I stopped using it.

I didn’t knew how strong the spell had gotten, so I couldn’t use it on Kira. The only other option was to use it on the serpent that was falling towards her.

"Pulse." I murmured as I focused.

The serpent’s head got hit by a strong wave, the force was decent. It hit the side of its skull, and shot it barely enough to miss Kira.

We fell from the bunker, and as soon as my feet touched the ground I knew I still had to get rid of two serpents. Without Phinyx’s vibes, we were visible and in danger.

Quickstep.

In a blink I reached a serpent, I acted so fast that I didn’t grab anything to use switch with, so I decided to improvise.

I came close to the serpent that I’d hit with pulse, and jumped with enough strength to reach its middle section. My hand stretched and when I felt the silver in my fingers I focused on the middle section of the other serpent.

I created a two boxes in my mind the middle section of both serpents.

Switch.

The silver I was touching suddenly lost its resistance, it came loose, like the piece of a puzzle. I didn’t had time to look to the serpent eyes, but I was certain that their light was gone.

I had finished every serpent. I’d been so focused that my body had almost moved on its own, acting before I could even think.

But now... umm... I’d never jumped this high.

For a brief moment, there was nothing beneath me but open air. The ground looked much farther away than it should have, the wind rushed past my ears as gravity reclaimed me.

’Holy smokes, humans were not meant to be this high!’ I thought as worry started creeping into my skin. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

I was about to find out if my increased stats would be enough to survive this.

Thud.

My knees bent as I felt the impact. The force was there, I felt it, but instead of pain, it was like my body simply absorbed it.

I blinked.

No pain. No broken bones.

I straightened slowly, half expecting something to protest.

But... nothing did, my body felt perfectly fine...

Seems like my body could handle it, but my brain still held its survival instincts.

Two more loud impacts were heard, and a small dust cloud formed around the outpost.

Now that the ambush had finished and the air felt calm I realized that a couple of notification windows were cluttered around me, I dismissed them for the moment, and went to check on the others.

"If only this earned me any experience..." I murmured to myself.