“Sorry for disturbing you!”
Charles offered an awkward smile to the giant creature before him, quickly reeling in his fishing line. Then, he turned to Max with a scolding tone, “All you think about is eating, and now look—you’ve gone and disturbed someone’s rest!”
Without wasting another second, Charles grabbed Max and bolted toward the forest. As he ran, he glanced back at the monster’s status panel: frёewebηovel.cѳm
[Devouring Serpent]
[Attribute]: Water
[Level]: 60
[Quality]: Gold
[Emotion]: Agitated
[Health]: Healthy
[Description]: A recently ascended sixth-tier Mystical Beast with enough destructive power to shake mountains. You’ve disturbed its rest, and it is now extremely agitated.
After quickly scanning the system’s information, Charles inhaled sharply, feeling a thousand curses surge through his mind. “Of all the places, why do I keep running into this guy?”
A few days ago, when he crossed to the southern side of the Nine Hell River, he had nearly been crushed by this very Devouring Serpent’s tail. Now, he was just trying to fish, and here it was again.
Its wounds had long healed, and the eight heads that Emma had severed had all regrown. Even more terrifying was that it had now ascended to Level 60, making it even more formidable.
Charles didn’t even bother looking at its weaknesses or skills—there was no point. Just one swipe from this creature could turn him into a smear on the ground.
“Roar!!!”
Recognizing Charles as the one associated with the woman who had cut off its eight heads, the Devouring Serpent became even more enraged.
Nine blood-red eyes locked onto Charles, who was scrambling away like an ant. With a thunderous roar, it unleashed a massive blue water column straight at him.
Charles sprinted towards the forest, desperately searching for any shadows he could use to activate [Darkness Cloak].
But all around him was a pebbled riverbank—no trees, no large rocks, nothing that could cast a shadow for him to escape into.
The water column was closing in, the sound of it slicing through the air growing louder. If this sixth-tier ferocious beast’s attack hit him, there wouldn’t even be a bone fragment left.
“I’m done for!” Charles cried out in panic.
Just as the water cannon was about to strike, a shimmering blue light appeared behind him. The water energy in the air surged wildly, condensing into a massive blue shield.
Lightning Demon Ape!!!
The water column collided with the shield, producing a deafening explosion. Just as Charles wondered who had saved him, a graceful figure appeared in front of him.
Before he could react, the woman embraced him and leapt into the air.
The wind roared in his ears as her long, pale blue hair whipped against his face, carrying the pleasant scent of calming flowers.
“Emma, are you following me?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Emma’s cold voice cut through the wind. “You’d better keep quiet, or I’ll drop you right into the Devouring Serpent’s maw.”
Charles glanced over his shoulder and saw the Devouring Serpent soaring through the air behind them, its nine gaping jaws snapping ferociously, which sent a shiver down his spine.
But hey, she only said not to talk—she didn’t say anything about keeping his hands to himself, right?
He pulled her soft, delicate body closer, and even though Emma was slightly shorter and had a slim figure, she still gave him an overwhelming sense of security.
Charles never minded the idea of relying on someone stronger. Who wouldn’t want a beautiful, powerful girl who just happened to be the Vice Principal of one of the three major academies in the Imperial Capital?
Suddenly, the Devouring Serpent seemed to vanish from sight.
The two of them descended like a falling star, landing gently on a stone by the edge of the Nine Hell River.
“How long are you planning to keep holding me?” Emma shot him a sharp glare, noticing how he clung to her like a water snake.
“Cough, cough… My bad. We were flying so fast, I was afraid of falling,” Charles said, quickly releasing her and stepping back a few meters to give her space.
“Now that you’re safe, it’s time we part ways. You saved me twice, and I saved you twice. We’re even.” Emma turned away from Charles, her gaze fixed on the turbulent waters of the Nine Hell River.
Her words cut off whatever Charles was about to say, leaving him momentarily speechless.
As he looked at Emma’s graceful figure, Charles couldn’t help but notice that after what had happened between them, there was now an added layer of mature allure beneath her natural elegance.
The sunlight filtering through the clouds bathed her fair skin in a soft glow, making her appear almost divine, her ethereal beauty only enhanced by her serene, otherworldly aura.
But as the reality of their vastly different statuses sank in, Charles sighed in resignation. She was a Level 7 Beast Master, while he was just a brash young man. What had happened between them was an accident, nothing more.
“By the way, weren’t you planning to tame that Devouring Serpent as your Mystical Beast? After going through all the trouble to track it down, aren’t you worried it’ll get away again?” Charles asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Emma paused, a hint of sadness flickering across her face. “It’s already advanced to the sixth tier. I’ve missed the best chance to tame it. But…”
She suddenly lowered her voice, her tone icy. “What does that have to do with you?”
Looking at her delicate profile, Charles wiped away the teasing expression from his face and gave a nearly self-deprecating smile. “Emma, you don’t have to talk to me like that. I’ve already explained that the mix-up with the healing potion and the aphrodisiac was purely accidental. But don’t forget, if it weren’t for me, you would have already died from the poison!
So don’t look down on me as if I’m beneath you. I owe you nothing!”
Seeing the boy who had been all smiles just moments ago suddenly become serious, even lashing out at her, Emma was taken aback, unsure of how to respond.
Whether in her family, at Nova Academy, or even within the royal circles of Genosha, everyone treated her with the utmost respect. This was the first time someone had dared to speak to her so harshly!
A heavy silence settled over them. As she looked at the stern expression on Charles’s face, Emma finally spoke up, “You’re participating in the entrance trials for the three major academies of the Imperial Capital, right? Considering that you saved my life, I could recommend you for admission to Nova Academy as the Vice Principal. What do you think?”
Nova Academy was one of the three prestigious academies in the Imperial Capital—a chance like this, she thought, would surely tempt Charles.
Moreover, Charles possessed a rare and powerful soul force, allowing him to control three different elemental energies simultaneously. It was an extraordinary talent, and Emma was even considering taking him on as her personal disciple.
“No need. In a month, I’ll earn my place in one of the three academies on my own merit.” With that, Charles turned and walked away without looking back.
As she watched him leave, Emma’s beautiful face showed a flicker of surprise. She wondered if her words had somehow wounded the boy’s pride.
“Such a determined young man… I’ll be waiting for you at Nova Academy,” she thought to herself. But just as this thought crossed her mind, she heard the sound of water churning behind her.
“Roar, roar—”
Suddenly, the Devouring Serpent, which had previously been left behind, surged forward again, its ear-piercing roar echoing in the air. “Human woman, you ambushed me while I was advancing, nearly killing me! Today, I will tear you to pieces to avenge the loss of my heads!”
As the Devouring Serpent reappeared, Emma’s graceful form leaped into the air, transforming into a streak of cyan light as she soared into the sky.
Lightning Demon Ape!!!
The two beams of light collided in the sky, and the resulting shockwave was so intense that it even distorted the sunlight.
The intense battle in the sky sent shockwaves through the forest, causing flocks of birds and herds of beasts to flee in panic. The chaotic stampede of ferocious beasts converged into a beast tide, all desperately escaping toward the outskirts of the Ferocious Beast Mountain Range.
Standing on a hill near the Nine Hell River, Charles watched the two cyan light beams several kilometers away, constantly clashing and intertwining. Even though he had already witnessed a battle involving beings above Level 60, the scene before him was still profoundly awe-inspiring.
However, after observing for a while, Charles began to frown slightly.
Though Emma was a Level 7 Beast Master, she had yet to tame her seventh mystical beast, meaning her strength was at best equivalent to a peak Level 6. After the Devouring Serpent advanced to Level 60, it would be incredibly difficult for her to win.
Moreover, the Devouring Serpent had an extraordinarily terrifying regenerative ability—unless all nine of its heads were severed simultaneously, it wouldn’t die.
Charles secretly hoped that Emma would emerge victorious. After all, the Devouring Serpent was a sixth-tier mystical beast. If Emma didn’t want some of the materials, whatever she gifted him would fetch a hefty price once he brought it out of the Ferocious Beast Mountain Range.
The battle raged from noon to dusk and then continued into the night. The cyan light continued to flash in the sky, and a nearby mountain peak had already been flattened.
“Battles of this level are indeed not easily resolved,” Charles sighed. He had been watching for so long that he was starting to get drowsy.
The massive body of the Devouring Serpent was submerged in the Nine Hell River, continuously absorbing water attribute energy, making its endurance in battle incredibly formidable.
As Charles observed, he suddenly noticed something glowing at the bottom of the riverbed.
[Heart of the Ninefold Abyss] [Gold Quality]: A spiritual stone formed at the beginning of time, further refined by the constant flow of the Nine Hell River over millennia. It contains the purest water attribute energy, rivaling the value of a sixth-tier beast core.
“A gold-quality treasure!” The prompt flashed before Charles’s eyes, instantly waking him from his drowsiness, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
The Nine Hell River had once been a bustling waterway, and over the centuries, countless Beast Masters, adventurers, and smugglers had met their end in its depths, leaving behind untold treasures. However, no one dared to dive into the river to search for them, fearing the Devouring Serpent.
Now, with the Devouring Serpent occupied by Emma, Charles saw an opportunity.
Glancing up at the sky, he figured that the battle wasn’t going to end anytime soon.
After a moment of hesitation, he decided to put on his diving gear, then took a deep breath and dove headfirst into the waters of the Nine Hell River.
