Chapter 53 : The Eye of the Serpent

The reason Yuseong and Tamyun chose the Seventh Island was not simply because they hoped a Serpent would arrive by chance.

Based on thorough preliminary research and analysis, they had discovered that the creature’s path crossed this island.

Moreover, they predicted the Serpent would begin its activity around the day after tomorrow.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The body detection buoy installed nearby emitted a signal, instantly disproving their prediction.

It wasn’t the day after tomorrow—it was happening right now.

Rumble rumble.

The sky darkened.

Although the abyss levels have high ceilings, it is rare for clouds to form in the Abyss.

Especially rare was the formation of cumulonimbus clouds thick enough to block the light.

“Sn… snow is falling.”

“Is the Serpent really…?”

The temperature wasn’t that low, yet snowflakes drifted down.

This was a well-known phenomenon on the 10th level.

All signs pointed to the arrival of the Serpent.

The explorers, who had been feasting on Yuseong’s explosives, hurriedly drew their weapons.

But how could they catch a Serpent swimming in the sea with just arrows or crossbows?

The plan was to use the Taegong Net as originally intended.

“Lower the cage!”

Following Assistant Park’s command, the cage connected by cable to the Taegong Net slowly descended into the water.

Inside the cage were fishing lines as well as the carcasses of dead Metal Pigs.

Metal Pigs were highly nutritious terrestrial creatures living near the shoreline, making them the Serpent’s favorite prey.

The Serpent’s paralytic venom and blood would spread through the water, emitting a strong scent.

The Serpent’s keen sense of smell would quickly detect the delicious bait.

While the paralytic toxin could kill humans with too much exposure, to the Serpent it was nothing more than a pungent seasoning.

The vanguard!

As the cage sank, the water surface instantly turned red with blood and venom.

Yet, like waves washing away footprints, the blood quickly dispersed.

“Yuseong, will the Serpent bite the bait?”

Assistant Park’s expression was anxious.

“The Serpent’s keen sense of smell is well known. Since it likes Metal Pigs, it will definitely bite.”

“Cheonghwa is incredible. They even got information like this.”

“You heard it from the Americans who captured the Serpent.”

Yuseong glanced around, scanning the water surface with sharp eyes.

Splat!

Something suddenly jumped above the waves.

It rolled over the rocky floor with a thud—it was a fish head.

The flesh beneath the head had been stripped clean.

“It’s here.”

It was no trace of the Serpent.

That creature would swallow a fish of this size whole.

“They’re coming up!”

The hatchlings trailing the Serpent, scavenging leftovers.

The Serpent had only one boss among them.

It reproduced asexually.

Among countless offspring hatched from eggs, only one grew properly.

The rest developed into legged lizards called Gekkos.

These Gekkos had crawled up to the surface.

“Kill them!”

“Ugh, disgusting things.”

The child-sized Gekkos swiped their tongues coated in neurotoxin, attacking the explorers like sharp blades.

The explorers, especially the Guards, each drew their weapons in opposition.

Yuseong approached Assistant Park.

His Gift was the ability to sense the surroundings with magical waves, like how bats use ultrasound.

He was focusing, his hand fixed on the ground.

“The Serpent, is it visible?”

“There’s definitely something in that quiet area of the sea…”

“Hmm.”

Although the Gekkos were annoying, they weren’t the main threat.

The real concern was that the Serpent hadn’t yet bitten the bait in the Taegong Net.

“Why isn’t it biting the bait it likes?”

Yuseong frowned.

Something was going strangely.

He couldn’t say for sure yet, but variables were beginning to appear.

It was a gut feeling born from countless real combat experiences.

He fidgeted with a Whisky Bonbon in his pocket.

Having practiced a few times, using this Whisky Bonbon could put him in a trance-like state for several seconds.

And there was the newly discovered effect of explosives on detection dyes.

He hadn’t used either yet.

So, when would the time come to use these powers?

That moment seemed to be approaching.

Then, the Guards who were fighting the Gekkos shouted.

“Th-these guys are just retreating?”

“They’re heading into the island!”

Yuseong looked that way.

It was true.

The Gekkos attacking the explorers weren’t aggressive.

Rather than returning to the sea, they were fleeing and jumping deeper into the island.

At first, Yuseong thought they might be targeting the personnel stationed in the rear, but that wasn’t the case.

Even Cheonghwa’s researchers guarding the Taegong Net passed by indifferently.

It was as if they were escaping from something.

The situation unfolded grimly.

Assistant Park sensed the Serpent’s movement with his Gift.

“Ah, it’s coming up.”

The Serpent, which had been hiding in the deep water, began moving upward—toward the surface.

“Ascending, rapidly ascending.”

“Taegong Net operation crew, prepare! Pullers, Stingers, Guards—all gather at the Taegong Net!”

Yuseong issued orders quickly.

If the Serpent swallowed the cage containing the Metal Pigs with its huge jaws, Cheonghwa’s researchers would press the button.

The 12th-tier sparkling magic stones used as bait would overload, short-circuit, and send electric shocks along the long, sturdy cables.

Once the massive Serpent was stunned, it would be dragged to the surface and killed.

Though the Abyss’s retribution would follow, more than 50 explorers—excluding a minimum number of Guards—could endure the shock by distributing it.

“Uh…”

But Assistant Park’s eyes suddenly widened.

He said faintly, “It’s passing by the bait?”

The first to grasp the situation was, of course, Yuseong.

“Damn it! Hands off the Taegong Net, evade!”

The sea surface appeared to bulge outward.

Then, what violently burst through the water was a massive white serpent.

A field message sounded.

[Special Boss, ‘Serpent’ has appeared.]

[The Special Boss’s strength currently exceeds the level of the explorers.]

[It is recommended for explorers to cooperate and resist.]

How considerate.

The massive Serpent slammed into the island with its weight.

Kaang!

Had Yuseong’s early warning not been there—

Many people might have been crushed into a bloody mess by this merciless strike.

Fortunately, only two Pullers died in the chaos.

The Serpent thrashed its head, finally biting another Puller.

“Gyaah!”

Nearby, Kang Taegun angrily swung his fists.

“You bastard!”

The gleam of his fists was intense, undoubtedly showing his rage.

Thwong!

However, Kang Taegun’s strike was ineffective.

The Serpent dismissed him with a movement shaking its head.

“Heh, feels like punching a lump of wood with bare hands.”

The Serpent dragged the bitten explorer back into the sea.

Within moments, three out of fifty explorers had died.

None among the fallen lacked ability.

After a chilling silence, lost fear and rage erupted.

“What is this!? You said it would bite the bait!”

“My friend’s dead, damn it!”

Although explorers often faced death, they were not used to disasters like this.

Their anger was directed toward Assistant Park of the Explorer Federation and Cheonghwa.

But even they had not foreseen this situation.

They hadn’t blindly adopted Yuseong’s proposed method.

They knew the Serpent had recently appeared on the Seventh Island, and they had even tested the bait using Metal Pigs.

During three trials, the Serpent had never once passed the bait.

Anger spread like a plague.

Had Yuseong not spoken up, the disorganized anger might have further unraveled.

“Keep fighting. If you want to all die together.”

“So, what? You have a responsibility too!”

“It’s not over yet.”

Yuseong raised his hand, pointing at the water’s surface.

The Serpent had not been satisfied with dragging off only one person.

The water surface was dotted with pieces of the explorer’s body it had bitten apart earlier.

“It’s not trying to eat us.”

Whether it wasn’t hungry or for some other reason.

The Serpent paid no attention to the Metal Pigs or even the explorers’ corpses.

“It’s just trying to kill and clean up.”

Its murderous intent was clear.

“Retreat using the Taegong Net. Cut the cables!”

The explorers hastily pulled the Taegong Net back.

But Assistant Park hesitated to cut the cables.

“Without bait, there’s no way to catch the Serpent…”

“I’ll take responsibility.”

As she spoke, Yuseong drew his Rose Knife.

And when his Rose Knife gleamed, with just a few cuts, the cable snapped.

Yuseong grabbed the cut cable’s end and pulled Assistant Park as he ran toward the island’s interior.

Clack clack clack.

Sure enough, the Serpent rose again to the shoreline.

It seemed to be targeting Yuseong and Assistant Park.

“Stop right there!”

Seong Jihoo came running to support Yuseong.

His hair had turned gray, and his physique looked weathered like the island’s cliffs.

Kkaka kakaka.

The sound of continuous sword strikes rang out.

The Serpent’s face was wounded as Seong Jihoo attacked.

But none of the injuries were serious.

“Kyaaek!”

The enraged creature recoiled sharply.

It shook its body violently.

Yuseong stopped Seong Jihoo, who was trying to charge the Serpent again.

“Come over here!”

Yuseong realized what the Serpent was trying to do.

He took a deep breath and warned the retreating explorers.

“Brace yourselves! Breath attack!”

The Serpent’s jaws expanded unrealistically.

As it opened its mouth, a blizzard-like blast shot out.

Kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa kwa.

The magical waves stung sharply.

The Breath attack struck the explorers who had moved away from the shoreline.

Within moments, a dozen or so explorers were frozen over.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

Assistant Park’s face turned pale.

“The Taegong Net—”

“It’s okay.”

Yuseong grabbed Assistant Park again and ran.

Smoke-like mist rose where the Taegong Net was.

Assistant Park thought it was smoke, but it was actually steam.

“That was close.”

Amanda Park, who controlled flames, had blocked the cold Breath attack.

She proudly told Yuseong as he arrived.

“Maybe because the explosives were tasty, I’m burning well today.”

Heat shimmered like a mirage around her.

Yuseong dropped Assistant Park as if throwing him down and asked.

“How many more times can you block the Breath?”

“Hm, maybe once, barely.”

Though she spoke casually, even she was surprised at the Breath’s power.

Had her flame ability not opposed the cold, she probably couldn’t have blocked it.

“What about casualties?”

“About twenty people are immobilized.”

“And the healers?”

“They’re all skilled, so over half can be saved. But I doubt there will be time. And why do you keep calling me ‘junior’?”

Yuseong ignored Amanda Park’s scolding and called Kang Taegun and Seong Jihoo.

They were the strongest in the Serpent Subjugation Party, commanding authority befitting their strength.

“This is going completely differently than we expected.”

“Dangerous…”

The expressions on their faces were dark.

Things were going very differently than Tamyun and Yuseong had planned.

And Yuseong knew the reason.

“I’ll briefly explain the key point.”

The reason the greedy Serpent showed such behavior in front of bait.

Yuseong had encountered deep-sea Abyss creatures before his regression.

From observing the habits of marine species that were by no means less terrifying than the Serpent, he noticed something strange.

Seeing the Serpent’s swollen belly as it rose out of the water, he became certain.

“That guy is in its spawning period.”

Coincidentally, the first Serpent they encountered up close was in spawning season.

Its swollen belly was filled with eggs.

No matter how huge a monster is, its eggs are fragile.

That’s why they lay eggs near the shoreline rather than deep in the sea.

And the Serpent patrols nearby aggressively, attacking any creature or explorer that threatens the eggs indiscriminately.

Experienced Kang Taegun quickly understood Yuseong’s explanation.

“That means…”

“Yes, it won’t retreat on its own.”

The Serpent had clearly chosen this shoreline as its spawning ground.

It was trying to ‘clean up’ the spawning site.

The reason it kills explorers instead of eating them, and why the Gekkos usually following the Serpent attack the explorers instead of the Serpent doing so directly, all made sense.

“That guy will take time, but it will completely clear this island.”

Even if they stayed, the Serpent would inevitably crawl onto the island.

And if they tried to escape by sea, they couldn’t hope to outrun the Serpent.

The explorers’ faces drained of color.

They realized they were cornered.

They had come to hunt the Serpent but had become the hunted themselves.

“But it looks like you have a solution.”

Kang Taegun quietly pointed out.

Seeing Yuseong’s calm attitude, he sensed there was a plan.

Expectant gazes fell on Yuseong.

Without a word, Yuseong listened to the stripped cable in his hand.

He then wrapped the tangled wire around someone’s spear lying on the ground.

“If the fish won’t bite the bait…”

Yuseong caressed the sharp spearhead.

“I’ll just have to hook the fishing line directly to its jaws.”

He was not a hunter in theory but still remained a hunter at heart.

“We’ll use the Taegong Net as planned.”

Sea creatures’ eggs taste delicious.

They wouldn’t give up on that.