What’s attacking me right now is a large snake that could eat swallow several humans in one gulp.
When I searched back in my mind through the information I prepared for this trip, I could only find one entry corresponding to this magical beast.
“Undead Snake, A Rank.” [Ryouma]
There’s more than one kind of snake in the Great Forest of Shurus, but considering its size, this is most likely the undead snake.
The undead snake is a magical beast that lives in the centermost area of the Great Forest of Shurus. The area we’re in right now, however, is a long distance away from that. About a one-week’s distance of walking.
“Well… it is a magical beast that lives within the Great Forest of Shurus, so it’s not like there’s no chance of it coming out. I guess I could just blame this to my bad luck.” [Ryouma]
As I muttered that to myself, the undead snake crawled toward me, and attacked. It raised its sickle-shaped neck, and as soon as I entered its range, it reached out for my neck like a bullet, biting for my neck. Its speed was a league faster than any magical beast I’ve fought yet.
As I dodged its attack, I struck up with my katana toward its body. But when my katana touched its flesh, a resistance stronger than any other met my blade, and I could only leave a shallow wound on its body.
Shallow as it may be, there’s still plenty of blood coming out of that open wound. But the undead snake only ignored that wound as it tried to wine itself around me. In response, I reinforced my legs with ki, and sprung up, jumping over the undead snake. I struck downward toward the snake as I reached the other side. Then when I landed behind it, I took some distance.
While I more than able to fight A Rank magical beasts, I can’t let my guard down. As I thought that to myself, I cut a nearby tree with my katana, carving an arrow that pointed toward the direction I came from. I could lose my way in this forest if I keep fighting like this, so I’ve been paying attention not to forget. With this, I’ll be able to focus on the fight.
At that moment, the undead snake–––
“As expected of something named undead…” [Ryouma]
The wounds on the sudden snake suddenly recovered in the blink of an eye.
The undead snake’s special characteristic is its abnormal vitality and its fast regeneration. The speed of its recovery is so fearsome, it’s almost like an undead. That’s the story behind why a magical beast that’s not undead has undead in its name.
Moreover, because the undead snake isn’t an undead-type magical beast, light magic has no effect on it. Despite that, its recovery speed is far greater than that of ghouls. Knowing that, I could imagine fighting with it to be a pain.
“Fortunately, it’s at least not venomous. Still though… this is the sort of magical beast that requires several people to cast magic on it to stop its movements. At which point, it then needs to be beaten repeatedly until it dies…” [Ryouma]
I’ve come up with a plan to deal with it, but for now, let’s try fighting it normally. If it gets dangerous, I’ll go ahead and use my trump card. I have a trump card, but it’s not really something I should use for various reasons.
“Shaa!!” [Undead Snake]
The healed snake came attacking at me as it sounded out a hoarse sound. Its way of attacking was the same as before: ja sort of jumping attack. Dodging that, I clad my blade in cold using magic battle technique and the water-attribute magic power. This time, my cut went in deeper.
“Kishaaaa!!” [Undead Snake]
The wound this time didn’t bleed like before, and instead the wound closed up frozen. The undead snake’s voice was also much more pained this time compared to before, but…
“Shaaa!” [Undead Snake]
The undead snake jumped again. My attack just now had some effect, but it wasn’t enough to kill it.
“If anything it just pissed it off.” [Ryouma]
The undead snake ferociously bit and twirled about. It even climbed up the surrounding trees, and started attacking from all directions as it pleased. It could do that because it lived here. The home court’s advantage so to speak.
I continued to dodge its attacks while I slashed back at it with my chill-clad blade, but no matter how many times I cut, I couldn’t inflict a fatal wound on it. At most, I could only slow down its recovery.
Looks like cutting it just isn’t sufficient…
As I thought that, I dodged the undead snake that just tried to twirl itself around me, and took an overhead stance with my katana. I held the sword out toward the snake as I reinforced my whole body and my katana with ki.