Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 79: Snake

Of course, Liam had seen bigger, far bigger, actually. The Ancestral Snake had been too massive for mere measurements or human minds to conceive, but that meeting had happened in a dream-like location.

Instead, Liam was in reality now. The green snake with black patterns that had come out of the ceiling was puny in comparison with an Ancestral Beast, but the perceived danger was greater.

Liam’s uncertainty even deepened that perceived danger. He had sensed that the snake had to be above the first level, but his screaming survival instincts forced him to accept another despair-inducing guess.

Rather than to Joel and Cecilia, that huge green snake’s presence felt closer to the Elders’.

Nevertheless, Liam’s uncertainty didn’t lead to any confusion. He might be unable to gauge the magical beast’s strength, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt what had to come next.

Cultivators were indeed superhuman, but so was that giant snake. The latter’s species also had nothing to do with rats or bats, and its far superior amount of Qi placed Liam and the others among that inferiority.

Adjusted mindset or not, only one possible response existed in that situation. Liam’s group had to run.

The awareness of that necessity dawned upon the six cultivators simultaneously. Liam and the others only wasted a second dwelling on the huge snake’s sudden appearance before their gazes snapped at the hole where they had come from.

However, the rumblings suddenly returned with greater intensity. An earthquake took control of the underground hall, triggering consequences that forced the group to hesitate.

The cracks on the floor, walls, and ceiling expanded as more soil and pebbles fell everywhere, until proper rocks and boulders joined the fray.

The tunnel Liam and the others wanted to reach was no exception. Trails of soil had begun to rain down inside it, quickly expanding as cracks formed over its surfaces.

Liam couldn’t see much from his position, but it was clear that the way back wasn’t safe during the earthquake, and far worse could be happening to the many following twists and turns.

Chances were that some of those following tunnels would collapse, if they hadn’t already. Still, the risk of being buried alive could sound better than facing the huge snake, but the group lost the opportunity to make that decision in their brief hesitation.

The reason for that widespread rumbling manifested itself. A deep crack expanded from the hole in the ceiling where the snake had come from, stretching and widening until something massive broke through it.

The snake’s tail and the rest of its body fell through the wide crack alongside a rain of boulders, some flying in the direction of the group. Liam and the others had to step away to dodge the deadly debris, but that additional delay limited their options even further.

The snake was unfathomably long, and its heavy tail slammed into a spot above the group’s escape path, the impact intensifying the falling soil, which closed that tunnel.

The occlusion could be short, no more than a brittle curtain that a mere push could pierce, but something else was in the way now. The snake’s tail and part of its body stood between the group and their seemingly closed escape path, acting as a short but terrifying barrier.

There was no order, and nothing specific triggered a chain reaction. The six cultivators simultaneously darted toward the stone passage on the other side of the hall without exchanging any words but with the mutual awareness that they had to get out of there.

The snake’s triangular head had also fallen to the floor, but was on the cultivators’ side instead of directly on their path. Yet, that magical beast was long enough to remain ahead despite its partially coiled body, and it didn’t stand still at the sight of those running humans.

A huge body could be a hindrance. Snakes weren’t exactly known for their speed, but they could unleash incredible, sudden acceleration when attacking.

Just like with the bats, the magical beast lifted its head and opened its mouth, revealing its fangs and the crushed, bleeding animals its throat was pushing back before snapping ahead.

As luck would have it, Neil, Milo, and Jason had been a few steps closer to the stone passage, so their hurried escape let them slip past the attack’s trajectory.

The same didn’t go for Melissa. She was barely one step behind Jason, the last in the red trio, but that delay put her on a crash course with the closing reptilian maw from her left side.

The angle of the attack left Melissa unaware until she saw the incoming moist tissues with the corner of her eye. That deadly mouth was upon her, too fast to dodge or attempt to counter with her martial arts. She didn’t even have the time to stop running, but her head turned toward the threat nonetheless.

And, as Melissa looked at the literal jaws of death, something else caught her attention. Something violently slammed on the upper half of that reptilian mouth, pushing it forward and making it close on empty air.

Then, Melissa caught something else. She saw Liam right beside her, his palm still stretched as his bent legs dealt with the heavy whiplash of his blow.

There was no time for gratitude or shock. Melissa’s green eyes went wide, but also pointed ahead again. The snake’s closed mouth was on the floor right in front of her now, and she didn’t hesitate to jump over it.

’What is it made of?!’ Liam cursed in his mind as he poured all the strength he could summon into his legs.

The Seismic Palm had cracked some of the snake’s scales, carving a hand-shaped, bleeding injury, but the wound looked superficial at best. Also, Liam’s arm had gone partially numb after the clash, and the violent impact had even threatened to send him flying away despite being on the attacking side.

Still, once Randall stepped ahead and jumped over the reptilian head, Liam finally felt able to move again. Meanwhile, the snake began to rise, its yellow eyes pointed at Liam and showcasing pristine anger, only for his figure to disappear above it.

Liam’s long leap made him catch up with Randall, but a loud hiss resounded behind them, prompting them to accelerate even further. Slithering noises also followed, getting closer and closer, but the stone passage arrived first.

Entering the passage didn’t save Melissa, Randall, and Liam from the magical beast. Its slithering noises grew louder in that tunnel, echoing through the few holes in its otherwise intact surfaces, even filling the two branching paths ahead.

Yet, when the crossroads arrived, Melissa did the unthinkable. She stopped in her tracks, so abruptly that Randall almost slammed into her, only for her to turn left in the next second.

Despite the heated moment, Liam felt some confusion, which vanished upon arriving at the crossroads. Of the two paths, one had spikes growing from its surfaces, virtually blocking it.

Liam barely had the time to sense the Qi inside the spikes before being forced to turn left to follow after Melissa and Randall. However, he burned that scene into his memory, as well as three faces.