I tailed the group of people for a little while - simply keeping myself off to the side inside of the trees. It was honestly becoming more and more sketchy by the minute as I trailed them - after al, it has been atleast half an hour or so since I began following them - and this whole time they have been just heading deeper and deeper into the forest.
Just where in the hell were they taking that child to? Well, whatever place it was - I am certain it most likely was NOT somewhere nice..
I mean, people dressed in deep red robes don't seem like the type of people to take a random hybrid child or something to somewhere nice.
Was 'hybrid' the correct way to describe the child-?
I mean, I didn't know what it was exactly... It looked like a human and snake combo with it's upper human and lower snake body.
I continued to follow them for a small bit longer, until they suddenly stopped.
I didn't get discovered - did I?-
Negative.
It is impossible to be detected unless a skill of a Higher Tier is being used.
I see..
So basically, unless they have Legendary Skill that allows them to detect stuff, they can never find me.
Makes sense.
A moment later, the group walked up to what seemed like a normal tree. One the humans simply tapped onto the wood a few times before activating some sort of magic spell in his palm.
In the moments that followed, they suddenly disappeared into thin air.
"HUH-?!"
Wh.. WHERE'D THEY GO?!
I quickly slithered out of the path I was on and to the location I watched them stop at.
How the hell did they just disappear like that?! Was that somekind of teleportation spell?!
Negative.
No teleportation spell use has been detected.
...So if they didn't teleport - what the hell happened.
I looked towards the tree that one of them had tapped and then activated the magic spell at.
Could it be.. that the tree is some sort of door?
I approached the strange tree, before examining it a bit closely. It didn't seem out of the ordinary... That is, for the naked eye.
However, even if I did not see anything - that didn't mean that [Sages' Wisdom] couldn't see anything.
'You are up Sages' Wisdom.'
Understood.
Performing analysis..
Analysis confirmed and completed.
Creating report..
After receiving the report, I understood the situation a bit more clearly. Apparently, this tree wasn't an ordinary tree at all - it was indeed, a door. A magical door, which was linked with a location that would be otherwise inaccessible.
Apparently, this kind of magic is called 'Space Warping'. The tree acts as the method of getting in - by inputting a certain 'code' into the tree, one may access and enter the location that it is linked to.
'Kinda sounds like something from a Sci-fi story..'
I thought before sighing.
So all I had to do to continue tailing the group, was to repeat what that dude did earlier? Seems easy enough-
Objection.
The Magic Spell required for the activation of the 'key' is very specific.
No mock-ups will work.
...Great. So I'm stuck now?
Negative.
Performing analysis on the Magic Traces left on the tree will allow me to calculate what spell to use.
Why couldn't you have said so earlier?!
I sighed, before touching the tree 'bark' with my tail. The moment I did, [Sages' Wisdom] began its calculation.
It wasn't a very short process, however I eventually managed to receive a report.
Aaand.. I was unable to get in. Yeah, the Magic Spell required for the 'door' to activate was something that could only be used through [Energy Magic]-
Which, I don't have.
Welp- back to square one. What else can I do?
Suggestion;
Since the Tree is acting as the link, it is possible to enter the space linked to it by destroying the tree - since it will reveal the linked location.
...Then what did I go through the trouble of analysing it for? Jesus - For a skill called
[Sages' Wisdom] - it can be quite... I don't know - dense? Is that the right description?
Well, it didn't matter.
In the following moment, I used [Venom Shocker] to completely desimate the tree. The moment I did, a sudden hole in the ground behind me appeared, which lead down to somekind of underground location.
'Is this the linked location?'
Positive.
Sweet.
Well, time to start moving. I smirked slightly, before leaping into the opening, slowly slithering down the stairs.
...
Inside, the stairs seemed to go on forever, as they just kept on going down and down. It was honestly beginning to remind me a lot of the ruins where I found Arabor.
Which I was not happy about..
Even if I am now much, much larger in size than I was back then, I still figured that getting up these stairs would be a nightmare afterwards.
Wait... I also could just use [Shadow Manipulation] to get out instantly...
It just clicked for me.
Well, I suppose getting out isn't a problem no more.
I sighed, as I continued to slither down the stairs - [Undetectable] remaining active the whole time. As I got deeper down the stairs, I noticed a strange and rather dim light at the bottom.
'Is that the end to these stairs?'
I thought, picking up my pace as I quickly slithered down the remaining stairs.
Once I reached the bottom of them, I was met with a long, bending hall, which led even deeper into this whole thing.
This whole thing was beginning to feel like a dungeon.. Hopefully it wasn't.
'Sages' Wisdom - stay alert. Warn me of every little movement that may be suspicious.'
Understood.
Yeah, I was NOT taking any risks.
Even if I most likely could easily take care of anything that I didn't know was approaching me, I liked to be aware of potential threats beforehand.
After all - you never know who is actually kinda strong and who is a pushover.
I traversed the long tunnel for a little bit.
It was beginning to become a lot more dim, however thankfully that wasn't an issue for me - since thankfully, snakes had naturally better vision in the dark than humans.
Well, sort of- I don't really know snake biology all that well, but I had this really cool 'ability' to sense infrared light around me up to around 5 meters away.
I did remember that usually snakes could only see up to 1 meter away using this infrared sensor or whatever - so perhaps my greater range is due to my evolutions?
Could make sense.
Well, either way - vision wasn't a problem. If anything, it was currently my strongest sense.
Attention;
Multiple life signatures have been picked up ahead by [Overworld Detection].
....Although, one may also argue that my skill [Overworld Detection] could count as my strongest sense as well..
'Multiple life signatures huh? Must be those cloaked people I saw on the surface.'
I thought, picking up my pace even more.
Eventually, I reached the end of the tunnel - a large, open 'room'.
This 'room' had walls lined with strange, black stone or something, it's lighting was also rather dim and there were some... Interesting decorations.
But the biggest thing that stood out, was a huge version of the strange marking on the wall in the back. This marking was the same one that all the cloaked people had on their clothes..
Could it be a symbol of something?
More importantly - the cloaked people were all inside the room, plus a couple extra people were present as well - all gathered around a strange pedestal.
'The hell are they doing down here..'
I thought, slithering into the room, and quickly moving to the side to observe. The gathered people whispered among themselves in the same, mysterious and strange language as I heard on the surface.
It still didn't make any sense to me - which I didn't get. How come [Language Mastery] wasn't able to translate this language?
Answer;
Analysis suggests that in order for this language to be translated, a copy of its name must be found and analysed first.
Well that's a weird restriction..
By that logic, I shouldn't be able to understand the language the humans and other folk in town were speaking before learning its name as well.
...
No answer. I expected as much.
For a small bit, it continued on without anything major happening, until another cloaked person appeared from thin air - forming from what looked like... Blood.
However, the one thing that made me pay attention to this one the most, was what he or she was carrying in their arms.
It was the same, half-human, half-snake child as I saw on the surface.
'Bingo. Found you folk.'
I thought, smirking a bit.
I remained still and continued to observe for a small bit, mainly to see what on earth they were doing here anyway.
The newly appeared cloaked person approached the altar, as all other gathered people bowed lightly around the altar.
The seemingly higher up of the people placed the child onto the altar, before signalling their comrades to raise their heads.
Then, the person broke out into what sounded like an announcement.
'Really wish I could understand them by now..'
I thought, shedding a slight sweat. This language barrier was quite annoying, as it stopped me from finding out exactly what they were doing by hearing them speak.
All I really could do is watch and guess.
The seeming announcement continued on for a couple minutes, before he went silent and looked down a bit, lifting his arms up above the child that laid on the altar as all other cloaked people, began to chant something.
Were they commencing a spell or something? But if so - what kind of spell-
My eyes then widened, as crimson red arms began to suddenly rise from the ground, slowly beginning to grab a hold of the sleeping child.
'What the-!?'
Attention;
It is suspected that this is a Ritual to summon a something, using the child as an offer.
Then why didn't you say so sooner?!
Ain' no way I am letting them to anything to that child - even if I have no idea who the child is, there was a possibility that they were of the same species as me, so it would only be natural that I helped the child, right?
I quickly leaped into a shadow using
[Shadow Manipulation] before moving right up to the altar. Once there, I decided to use my newly acquired skill - [Crimson Lightning].
As soon as I did, a 'barrier' of red lightning shot from the shadow I was inside of, knocking some of the cloaked people back while also forcing the rest to back up.
Luckily, it also forced the strange red arms back into the ground.
As soon as it finished, I leaped out of the shadow, before curling around the altar with my body, glaring at the group of people as they stared at me in either horror or fascination.
Or even, perhaps both.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, Unstable here.
I just wanted to thank anyone that has read my story up until now - it does mean quite a lot to me that people enjoy reading what I write.
I promise to make this story even more interesting as time goes on!
Anyways- See you next time.