Parasites, Magic And Revenge

The snake slithered out of the massive cave entrance. It was a gigantic snake with white scales, and its teeth were as tall as a human. Raven, using his sword, slashed open his chest and removed the bone fragments that continued to dig into his body, throwing them aside. To stop the bleeding, he tore off a part of his shirt, wrapped it from his legs, over his shoulder, and tied it across the wound. He stood up, took a deep breath, and pushed his displaced ribs back into place by applying pressure with his lungs. Gripping his sword once more, he closed his eyes. But this time, instead of focusing solely on his instincts, he aimed to keep his consciousness intact as well.

He began to feel his body move, even though he hadn’t consciously decided to do so. His body had taken a perfect guard stance—no openings, not even a millimeter of vulnerability. He leapt towards the snake. He could finally see its tail now; the snake was at least 45 meters long. Its length was nearly the same as the cliff where the mountain stood. Seeing its tail, Raven understood that the thing that had struck him with such blinding speed was its tail. No matter how deadly a snake’s mouth was, catching a human of Raven’s size would be almost impossible. That’s why it had used its tail, being far more agile with it. Raven realized that this snake was much smarter than ordinary ones.

Raven had been subjected to many forms of torture in the dungeon, including being whipped. He knew why the snake’s tail moved so fast. The only man-made object capable of reaching the speed of sound without magic was a whip. The cracking sound at its tip was the result of a sonic boom. Raven was born with blessed reflexes, and during those whip tortures, he could always see the tip of the whip. His reflexes were faster than the speed of sound. But that wasn’t the case with the snake. At first, Raven thought it was because he couldn’t see it in the darkness, but during the snake’s initial attack, he had easily sensed its head coming. The only explanation for the tail's unpredictability was that the snake was moving much faster than the speed of sound. Even at his best, defeating this snake seemed impossible.

He began devising plans to improve his technique and escape while continuing to run toward the snake. His technique was indeed working; he could feel his instincts while keeping his mind clear. But he needed to make sure it worked in battle, too. He planned to tear into the snake’s skin and at least inflict some damage to even the odds. He leapt into the air, passing behind the snake. It was still watching him, and as Raven raised his sword to strike what could be considered its nape, the snake dodged at a speed imperceptible to the eye and struck with its tail once more. But this time, Raven saw it coming and raised his guard. Even though his sword blocked the blow, he was hurled several meters back, slamming into a boulder inside the cave. His sword had cracked, and his left wrist was broken.

He hadn’t fully mastered the technique yet, but was this where it would all end? Could everything truly end here? Despite using his technique up to a certain point, the snake didn’t even see him as a worthy opponent; it was breaking his bones and toying with him. His sword wouldn’t last more than a few more blows either. Grabbing his wrist, he snapped it back into place, tearing off a strip of cloth from his pants to wrap around the break. Standing up once more, he reminded himself that he needed to erase all adrenaline from his system and focus entirely on his technique and instincts. He closed his eyes and slowed his heartbeat. He had to become like water.

He visualized all the techniques he knew, replaying the entire battle in his mind, just like in the Wolf War. He mapped out every scenario, but in each one, he lost. Even if reinforcements arrived, he envisioned them being brutally slaughtered. All he wanted now was to make it out of here in one piece. No, that wasn’t it. He wanted to come out stronger. After remembering his goal and what he truly wanted, he opened his eyes. The snake was slithering toward him. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and his instincts had completed the image of his surroundings in his mind.

He had fallen onto a nesting area with a few eggs. After opening his eyes, he started running toward the snake, which attempted to bite him. He jumped into the air and spun, passing behind it. The snake, using its usual technique, swung its tail again. Every time the tail lashed out, a sonic boom followed. With each strike, the very foundations of the mountain seemed to shake. But now, the situation had become even more serious. The snake, despite knowing this human couldn’t defeat it, was now fighting at full strength. Why was it doing that? Everyone has something or someone to lose. Even the snake was here to protect its eggs. It feared losing its offspring. But this man, he fought without fear. No, he fought without any fear of death, and with no regrets for what he might leave behind.

This was not a person. In the eyes of the snake, Raven was no longer human. No, the snake was no longer the monster. The real monster was Raven himself. With his eyes glowing red with determination and power, Raven focused entirely on evading the snake’s tail strikes, which were slamming down with a force of at least 3000 kilometers per hour. If he took another hit, death was inevitable. Raven seemed to glide through the air like a leaf, avoiding all the damage, as though he had become one with the wind.

Finally, the snake began spinning around Raven with all its might. Despite its massive size, the snake moved so fast it was almost disappearing from Raven’s view. Trusting his instincts again, Raven jumped into the air, and from the spinning circle, the snake’s head suddenly shot out, slamming into the ground with such force that the cave trembled, and a few piles of rocks began to fall from above. The snake urgently pulled its teeth from the ground and slithered toward its nest. Luckily, none of the eggs were damaged. The strange human lay face down under a rock next to the eggs.

A few words escaped Raven’s lips: "Next time, be more careful." After saying that, he passed out on the spot.

Why had this human attacked the snake? And why had he protected its eggs from the tremor? He was the strongest human the snake had ever known—terrifying in battle, yet the most merciful. No, the only merciful human it had ever met.