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Chapter 31: Slaying the Serpent and Taking the Gallbladder
🕑 Added 2025-06-11 09:41:22 +0000 UTCThe Ice Serpent's head was smashed askew by Marcus's relentless punches. But even a cornered rabbit will bite, let alone this sinister and insidious serpent. With a final, desperate hiss, it opened its mouth wide, and a breath of frigid, concentrated air came spitting out from its mouth. That breath of icy Aura was extremely cold. After it was sprayed out, it even caused the surrounding temperature to drop by several degrees, frost forming on the nearby leaves.
Marcus sensed the power of this icy breath and hurriedly dodged, but even so, one of his hands was still grazed by the icy wave. A thick layer of ice rapidly spread across his gauntlet, covering his entire left hand in a solid block. Luckily, he had the dual protection of the Bedrock Armor and his own psionic armor, so his hand was mostly fine. With a roar, he smashed the chunk of ice with his right hand, and it shattered into a thousand glittering pieces.
Ethan's voice, modulated by the spear he possessed, called out, "Seraphina, let's go help too!" "Let's go!" she replied, her voice firm.
This time, Ethan, as Upgrade, flowed from the spear and possessed Seraphina's combat saber. The long, elegant blade began to change rapidly in her hand. The originally smooth cutting edge grew many sharp, wicked serrations, and its entire appearance morphed, now looking full of a futuristic, high-tech feel, glowing with faint green lines. Seraphina, holding the transformed saber in one hand and her reinforced shield in the other, attacked the wounded Ice Serpent alongside Marcus.
Marcus and Seraphina cooperated with a new, tacit understanding. Marcus took the lead, charging in as the tank to draw its attention, while Seraphina provided swift, damaging cover with her serrated blade, forcing the Ice Serpent to retreat continuously. The Ice Serpent, seeing this, opened its mouth again to spit out another breath of cold, icy air. However, this time Seraphina was prepared. She raised her shield to block, and the icy air froze on its surface in a thick, crystalline layer. Although the ice was constantly eroding the shield's psionic integrity, with Ethan timely switching his possession target back to the shield and reinforcing its defense from within, the blow was successfully blocked.
At the same time, Marcus kicked up a large rock from the ground and sent it flying like a cannonball towards the Ice Serpent. The rock hit the Ice Serpent squarely on the head, causing it to be momentarily stunned, its long body twitching. Seizing this opportunity, Ethan re-possessed the combat saber. Seraphina lunged forward, wielding the vibrating saber, and slashed deeply at the Ice Serpent's abdomen. The Ice Serpent writhed in agony, twisting its body violently as it tried to escape.
But would Marcus and Seraphina give it a chance? Seraphina threw out her shield. Like a deadly Frisbee, the psionically charged shield spun through the air and just happened to hit the Ice Serpent on the head again. The Ice Serpent was stunned by this heavy blow. Marcus, seizing the final opportunity, kicked it hard in the body, knocking it off balance. Then came the familiar, brutal "Sun-character punches."
However, this time was different. After being worn down by the three of them working together, the Ice Serpent's condition was far worse than before. It had no power to break free at all. In no time at all, this serpent's head had already been beaten into a bloody, unrecognizable pulp. Blood and brains mixed together, emitting a pungent, coppery odor. Although its body was still twitching from residual nerve signals, it was clear that it was completely and thoroughly dead.
Marcus shook the gore from his hands, then cursed, "Damn it, this dead snake! A stupid thing that doesn't know its place!" He then turned his head to look at Seraphina and asked with genuine concern, "Seraphina, are you okay? Are you hurt?" It was obvious that he was still concerned about the Ice Serpent almost biting her through the spear's shaft earlier.
Seraphina shook her head, indicating that her minor cuts were already closing up. A trace of gratitude flashed in her eyes as she said, "Luckily we had Ethan." At this moment, a small, green-and-black hand emerged from the hilt of the combat saber. This hand made an "OK" gesture and said, its voice synthesized, "I'm here, so of course there will be no accidents." This unexpected sentence made the tense atmosphere a little lighter.
Ethan detached from the saber and reverted to his human form. His face was visibly pale. The fight just now, rapidly possessing multiple items and using their abilities, had directly consumed most of his psionic energy. And this was just him slightly modifying cold weapons. If it were changed to a complex firearm like an RPG, he estimated that he would be completely drained of Aura in one second.
Seraphina went forward to check the Ice Serpent's condition. "It's a pity there's no Aura Core, but its venom sac and gallbladder are also quite valuable." Seraphina put on a pair of sterile rubber gloves from her med-kit and carefully, expertly, extracted the venom sac. Then she used a small, sharp knife to cut open its belly and deftly took out the gallbladder.
"The venom can not only be used to coat weapons to enhance their lethality, but some psionicists who have awakened poison-type abilities can also use it for their training. The gallbladder is a favorite of ice-type psionicists, as it can help them purify their Aura. These two things together can probably sell for thirty to forty thousand credits on The Undercurrent Market." Then, she took out two special sterile plastic bags to store these valuable monster parts, separated the serpent's gallbladder and venom sac properly, and put them safely into her backpack.
She looked at the screen on her wrist-mounted datapad and found that it was already past four in the afternoon. "It's getting late. Let's hurry back towards the city. The wilderness is fraught with far greater danger at night, and we are not yet suited for staying overnight out here."
Although they had already walked for a considerable distance, and the terrain of the wilderness was also quite complex, with XLR8 leading the way, they left the deep forest in no time at all.
Marcus stretched as they saw the first defense base in the distance. "The air in the forest is good, and it's certainly exciting enough, but I still much prefer city life."
Ethan nodded. "Yeah. No matter what happens out here, as soon as you get back to civilization, it feels like all your burdens are just lifted."
Seraphina added, "Humans, in the end, still need to be active in human settlements." After saying this, she suddenly sighed, a shadow crossing her face.
Marcus noticed immediately. "What's wrong, Seraphina?"
"A couple of days ago," she said quietly, "I saw on the news that another safe zone, a city called Serenity Point, was completely destroyed by a beast tide. That safe zone is the same level and size as our own New Veridia. Millions of people… died in the mouths of monstrous beasts. I just… I don't know when we will become like them." As she spoke of this, Seraphina's voice trembled, and her fists unconsciously clenched tightly at her sides.
Marcus gently took her hand. "Seraphina, don't worry. We definitely won't let that kind of thing happen to our home." Marcus's tone was gentle yet firm, imbued with a powerful conviction that made one unconsciously place their trust in him. Seraphina looked at him, met his determined gaze, and her own heart also calmed down. "Mm," she nodded, "I will also work hard to make sure of it."
Ethan, standing nearby, thought, I really want to burn them to death with fire! Watching the two people in front of him looking at each other so affectionately, Ethan forcibly suppressed his sudden, overwhelming urge to transform into Heatblast. He just waved his hand and bid them a hasty farewell. "Well then, you two lovebirds can chat. I'm going home first." He paid no more attention to this little couple and went home by himself.
The place he lived in wasn't exactly a villa district, but it was a relatively high-end apartment building, on the third floor. After taking out the key he carried with him and opening the door to his apartment, he suddenly saw an unexpected person sitting on the sofa in his living room. It was a girl in the prime of her youth, and she looked to be not much older than Ethan himself. A long lock of her green hair fell elegantly to her waist. The green here was not a descriptive term, but a literal noun; her hair was truly, vibrantly, green. This kind of hair color was very rare, but on her, it looked perfectly, almost supernaturally, natural.
Because of the summer heat, she was wearing stylish hot pants. Her long, incredibly fair legs were casually crossed, with her left leg resting lightly on her right. Although she wasn't wearing any stockings, one could still see how flawless her skin was. Her facial features were exquisite, and her face was fair and pure, full of that youthful collagen feel that made one almost want to reach out and pinch her cheek. Her whole body exuded the vibe of a cool, composed, mature beauty. This kind of woman was not someone an ordinary person could easily handle.
Looking at the beautiful, mysterious woman in front of him, Ethan was completely dumbfounded. His eyes were glued to her, unmoving. But this only lasted for five seconds. Five seconds later, he reacted.
"I'm so sorry, wrong house!"
Slam!
The door was forcefully shut. Ethan hurriedly ran back down the hallway, not even daring to look back. He circulated all the psionic energy in his body, jumped directly from the third-floor staircase landing to the second, then to the first, and ran at full speed towards the main entrance of the building. At this moment, he wished more than anything that he could just transform into XLR8 and vanish.
His heart suddenly gave rise to a different, deeply unsettling kind of premonition. He ran down the stairs to the main entrance, only to find that the very same beautiful woman was already there, leaning casually against the wall by the front door. Her left leg was on the ground, her right leg was propped elegantly against the wall, and her arms were crossed in a classic, confident pose. Then, she looked at Ethan, a smile playing on her lips, and said to him in a tone that carried a distinct hint of teasing and playful amusement, "Why are you hiding from me..."
