──────────────
[Chimera Fafnir lv20+++]
[Traits]
[Chimera], [Underground Monster], [Dragon’s Lineage], [Molting]
[Skills]
…[Frenzy lv20], [Carapace lv10], [Burrowing lv9], [Heat Resistance lv6], [Self-Healing lv3], [Magic Detection lv4], [Sense of Smell lv7], [Cutting lv10], [Doppelganger lv3]…
…
──────────────
The Chimera had several notable traits and skills.
‘Dragon’s Lineage’ was probably because dragon’s blood was used in creating it.
Even though it wasn’t a real dragon but mixed with lesser dragon’s blood, it still had the Dragon’s Lineage trait.
If so, it might satisfy one of my special evolution conditions: ‘Consume dragon blood.’
The next trait that caught my eye was none other than ‘Molting.’
I felt a huge shock there.
‘Why don’t I molt?’
Come to think of it, snakes are reptiles.
And of course, they’re a species that molts.
So why haven’t I molted even once yet?
After pondering for a moment, I could reach a reasonable conclusion.
I was still a baby.
Because of the evolution that made me bigger, I had forgotten, but I was barely over a month old.
I might molt after some time passes.
Still, the Chimera proudly had ‘Molting’ written in its traits.
It was similar to how ‘Horn’ was written in my traits.
That’s because it also had a unique skill related to molting.
And among the skills, ‘Frenzy lv20’.
What is this?
It’s actually ‘Frenzy’.
That’s the ‘frenzy’ in going berserk.
It was a skill with a level as high as 20. It seems that skill levels don’t always end at 10.
There were many other interesting points, but it would take quite a while to go through them all.
I returned to my dwelling.
After living in the swamp for a few days, I came back to the place with the old tree today.
There were two cross-shaped tombstones made of branches stuck in the clearing.
I made them.
For the kind-hearted newlywed couple who once made their honeymoon home here.
Plop.
A bird sitting on the tree defecated on it.
That bird bastard.
It seems I’m destined to keep having bad relationships with birds.
I’ll definitely take revenge for the bird poop.
With that resolve, I entered the knothole of the old tree.
I need to sleep anyway….
It’s not like I have wings, so catching birds is still a high-difficulty task.
Sleep is essential.
Especially for me, sleep was like a new window of opportunity.
Not in terms of rest, but literally a status window of opportunity.
As I fell asleep, a status message appeared before my eyes.
──────────────
[You have reached level 10 and can evolve.]
[Do you want to evolve?]
──────────────
I still vividly remember the thrill I felt when I first saw this message.
Back then, I remember saying “Yes, of course, you fool! Keukeuk.” to the status message asking if I wanted to evolve.
But now I’ve become more cautious.
──────────────
[※You must meet the conditions for evolution.]
Get some sleep. Consume a 2nd-grade magic stone Reach Level 10.
──────────────
There were three conditions for evolution.
I had already met those conditions long ago.
I met the evolution conditions as soon as I reached level 10, but the conditions were harsher than I thought.
Without the cheat-level skill ‘Billy’s Horn’ and the sacrifice of the centipede couple, I wouldn’t have been able to catch the Cockatrice.
No, even with those two, I wouldn’t have been able to catch the Cockatrice with a head-on approach.
If it weren’t for the spear trap.
How could a snake like me fight and win against that dinosaur-like monster?
The magic stone that Cockatrice had was a 2nd-grade one.
Originally, even if I had reached level 10, meeting the evolution conditions would have been far-fetched.
Hmm, I wonder what the evolution conditions for the Chimera are.
Considering the + marks next to its level, it seems like it hasn’t been able to evolve for quite a while.
Probably, monsters that can evolve as easily as me are rare.
Well, that’s the fact, and I’ve met all the conditions.
Last time I evolved, I couldn’t see the evolution options at this point.
Here, I benefited once again from the centipede couple.
Having eaten their Inner Dan, I could see it.
The evolution options!
──────────────
From [White Horn Snake lv10], you can evolve into:
1.[Green Horn Snake]
2.[Poison White Snake]
…
──────────────
Not only that, but this time I could also see information about the evolution options.
But is this really because of the Inner Dan?
Even if I ate the Inner Dan, it’s a bit strange that it changed this much.
Anyway, it can’t hurt to be grateful.
──────────────
[Green Horn Snake]
The adult form of the Green Snake.
The body grows larger and becomes more robust.
──────────────
Please get rid of that green!
I like white, okay? This is definitely excluded.
In that sense, ‘Poison White Snake’ is out too.
As the modifier ‘Poison’ suggests, choosing this would enhance toxicity, it says.
It would be useful, but to give up the horn for that?
If I lose my horn, I’m no different from just a venomous snake.
The horn is my identity and pride!
Besides, I’ve already shown foresight by strengthening my Venomous Fang into Deadly Poison.
In fact, the really tempting options were below that.
──────────────
[※You have unlocked new evolution trees by meeting special evolution conditions.]
1.[Swamp White Horn Snake]
2.[Trap Horn Snake]
3.[Double Horn Snake]
──────────────
Hurrah for special evolution!
In Pelerian’s dungeon, I learned about several special evolution conditions.
The third option, the swamp something, was obtained after meeting the special evolution condition of living in a swamp.
It has the vague ability to become very strong in swamps, so this is a pass.
Interestingly, the special conditions I read weren’t all of them.
The fourth and fifth were like that.
──────────────
[Trap Horn Snake]
A snake that has conquered a dungeon alone has learned the charm of traps.
Someday, you might be able to create and rule your own dungeon.
──────────────
The tone of the attached description is different from the start. For some reason, it seems kind.
‘Pelerian’s Temporary Residence’ was clearly a dungeon.
Conquering it seems to be the evolution condition.
──────────────
[Double Horn Snake]
You get two horns. The power contained in the new horn will come from the heart.
──────────────
Two horns, you say~
‘Billy’s Horn’ was the best skill I had.
If I could get another skill similar to that, nothing would be better.
Maybe the special condition was met because I used Billy’s Horn well.
Both the fourth and fifth options were attractive.
My dilemma stemmed from there.
‘I think I could just evolve now?’
That was the conclusion I came to.
Do I really need to meet the evolution condition of consuming dragon blood and whatnot?
But I didn’t know if I could evolve into something better than the Double Horn Snake.
With my current level of strength, it seems difficult to catch the Chimera.
Rather, I could evolve first, get stronger, and then catch the Chimera.
That seems more stable.
Hmm.
After pondering for a moment, I decided.
Alright.
Let’s observe for a few more days.
I’ll look for an opportunity to hunt the Chimera, and if I don’t see any chance at all, I can evolve then, can’t I?
I was a snake who was the embodiment of rationality.
I made up my mind firmly.
Now.
So what result did this decision yield?
To cut to the chase, my decision to postpone was correct.
There’s such a thing as ‘timing’ in this world.
The parallel universes branch into countless numbers due to my choices.
To progress down a certain path, you must make the right choice at that branching point.
It’s not for nothing that wealthy couples spend hundreds a month to send their kids to English kindergartens.
When the brain is still soft, that’s when you need to cram in English to get a multilingual child who greets you with “Hello Daddy, hang in there today too.”
Of course, I’m not good at English. I think my TOEIC score was similar to my shoe size when I took it reluctantly.
Anyway, my evolution was similar.
The more you evolve, the harder it becomes to meet the conditions.
There was an evolution tree that needed to be stepped on while still weak.
==
Yawn. I’m sleepy.
The deadline I set while postponing evolution was three days.
Observe the Chimera for 3 days, and if I don’t see a way to deal with it, evolve first.
That’s what I decided.
It’s now the third day since then.
The conclusion I came to was disappointing.
I don’t see a way.
It seems I can’t catch the Chimera alone.
Maybe if I had a companion.
Me, perched on a tree.
Down below, there was the corpse of a monster bleeding out.
Wild boar is the best bait, but I couldn’t get one this time.
Today’s prey was a deer.
When you say deer, you might think of Bambi with sparkling eyes, but this creature is not such a cute animal.
It’s a carnivorous deer with a forked tongue and sharp teeth.
Anyway, it’s now dead, spewing blood from the hole in its neck.
Drrrrr-
Ah, the Chimera is coming from afar.
It seems to have noticed that food is prepared here every day.
It’s no different from me running a free meal service.
I wonder how surprised it will be when there’s no food from tomorrow.
I’m not even nervous anymore, so I hissed a laugh while imagining that.
It was probably by chance that I looked up at the sky.
No, maybe there was a glint of light reflected off armor.
Yes, there were people on top of the cliff.
About six of them.
They seemed to be discussing how to get down, looking down the cliff.
Although the distance was quite far, I could recognize them at once.
That’s because my nemesis was mixed in among them.
‘Guard captain!’
How many of my brothers and sisters were turned into grilled eel because of that guy!
I had vowed to take revenge someday, but I didn’t expect to reunite so soon.
Of all the vast cliffs, the fact that they appeared from this direction must be heaven’s help.
No, come to think of it, if you run straight from Medusa’s cave, this direction is natural.
My head started spinning.
This might be a variable.
A variable might have come to me, who was about to give up on hunting the Chimera.
==
“Can we go down this way?”
Zain asked so.
The guard captain stroked his mustache and answered.
“Yes, this is certainly the place where the pillar of light was said to have risen.”
“…This is the third time you’ve said that.”
“Ahem.”
The guard captain cleared his throat.
He was certainly a capable soldier, but it took more than ten days to find this Arkan Basin.
“It wasn’t easy for me either to judge the direction based on vague statements.”
“Well, yeah.”
It couldn’t be helped.
The pillar of light that was clearly visible in the night sky disappeared in less than a minute.
It was already impressive that they found this place after receiving orders to investigate that area.
“Can you climb down the cliff using ropes?”
“We’ve been trained for it. Of course.”
Knight Zain, the guard captain, and four elite soldiers experienced in the great forest.
Though few in number, the investigation team was certainly elite.
While the soldiers were lowering ropes down the cliff, the guard captain looked down.
For some reason, there was a dead monster.
And….
“Hmm?”
The guard captain furrowed his brows.
Zain saw this and approached.
“There’s a bizarrely shaped deer dead down there. There might be monsters nearby.”
“No… that’s not it.”
I think I saw something white wriggling in the tree.
The guard captain swallowed those words.
It seemed to have been his imagination after all.