Chapter 288: The Lord of the Lake

“A Serpent?”

“It would seem so.”

It is said that there are two main types of monsters in the water that look like dragons. They are the Serpent and the Leviathan. Serpents are S-ranked monsters found in rivers and lakes. For the same reason as the Sahagin, the Serpent has a slightly lower status than other monsters of the same rank.

The Leviathan, a monster similar to the Serpent, is SS+ ranked. This one is supposed to be in the sea. It is also said to be able to change the weather at will. To be honest, these are almost fairy tales. We don’t even know if they exist in reality.

I don’t feel SS+ rank high spirits from these monsters. That’s why I thought they were serpents. Of course, they could have been juvenile Leviathans or something. Thanks to Sophie’s evaluation, I was convinced that they were Serpents.

“Sophie, I’ll distract them and you take the lead.”

“I understand.”

The Serpent is highly ranked, so it’s a great way to gain experience. It should be pretty good, especially for the two of us who haven’t evolved yet.

“Zeal Spiritualization.”

I moved a little closer to the Serpent and performed a Spiritualization with Zeal. The Serpents’ eyes changed color, as they seemed to be very upset about the last lightning I dropped on them and they tried to attack me. They seemed to have realized that I was the culprit of the Lightningbolt.

“Shhhaaa!”

They both spat water spheres at me. It was magic, so I slashed them with my two swords.

“Here, over here!”

“Sssshhhhh!”

I dared to run normally to get the attention of the two monsters and gradually moved away from everyone.

“I’ll make a foothold for you, so go!”

“I’ll take care of the defense. So attack as you like.”

“Nn!”

“Yes!”

Shana and Carina approached the Serpent by running on the water scaffold created by Elira.

“Huh!”

“Hah!”

Clank!

The two attacked the Serpent. However, no damage was done. The Serpent’s defense seems to be quite high, and we thought we could defeat it with just two attacks, but that seems to be difficult.

“Lightning shrink!”

I moved to the Serpent. Then I swung my sword and peeled off what looked like hard scales. I also gave it an additional beating. This was to scorch the wound and make it harder to regenerate, even if it had regenerative skills. Also, it was an additional hate-monger for me.

“Kishaaaack!!!!!!!!?”

This must have hurt a lot, because the Serpent flailed around on the surface of the water.

“Lightning shrink.”

I hurried back to shore, taking advantage of the little aerial water foothold Elira had created. Incidentally, Shana and Carina were quicker to evacuate than I was.

“You two attack on the wounds I inflicted!”

“Roger that.”

“I understand!”

From there, the two of them repeatedly attacked the same spot. As the damage began to mount, the Serpent became increasingly unable to ignore them. However, I used my provocation skills and sometimes unleashed enough lightning to paralyze them so that they couldn’t move in order to keep them from attacking. I also unleashed the same lightning when they tried to escape into the water.

“We were able to win…”

“Good job.”

It took about four hours. We were able to defeat the Serpent with just two people. The three of us were supporting, but it was Shana and Carina who were doing the attacking, so let’s say it was just the two of them.

“It’s getting dark, let’s go back soon.”

It was already getting dark. If we don’t leave soon, the undead will appear in a few minutes. I really want to give them a break, but I have no choice. Maybe I should just let them rest without taking today’s watch. I have the title of Insomnia, so why don’t I just stay up all night today? That way I can be alone with Sophie for the first time in a while.

Having collected the Serpent, we were about to leave the lake and head back.

“Hey! Darling, I missed you! I haven’t seen you in weeks!”

“Nah!”

I suddenly heard someone talking to me from behind. I immediately recognized the voice.

“Lightn…”

I was approaching with lightning speed and was about to slash at her with my sword. But before I could, Im smiled and snapped her fingers.

“You sure this guy is Zeros!”

“Yeah, it fits.”

“That’s right, Nii-sama!”

“I see.”

In an instant, the scenery changed and I was separated from everyone else. And there in front of me were Im and three strangers, three demon tribe members.

“I want to destroy the humans safely and for that I need the cooperation of Ryu-sama. So I want you to be killed by us. No, you’re just dying a little earlier. I will kill all your people, so don’t worry.”

Are there really any of my people? No, I need to focus on the demon tribe in front of me now.

The first demon talking to me had a mane like a lion’s and a tail like a scorpion’s. Let’s say it was a manticore.

And the one the manticore called “big brother” was probably a Cadre. He had a bird-like beak on his face and large wings on his back. And his eyes are sharp like a hawk’s. Let’s call him a hawk.

The other one doesn’t speak, just stands still. This one is not very distinctive. He is just a humanoid demon. Because of this, I can’t even figure out what kind of demon he is.

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