[Vol. 8] Chapter 202: Echoes of Myth
Violet didn’t directly ask her question. Instead, she tried to subtly probe for more information.
“Earlier, you mentioned the [Serpent’s Blood]. That should be one of the five items you talked about, right? What kind of power does it represent? And if you already have this thing, why didn’t you turn into the World-Devouring Serpent? Why did you end up like this instead?”
Ashnard heard the hidden question behind her words, but he wasn’t offended. He simply shook his head with a calm smile.
“Miss Violet, first you need to understand something. Inheriting a legacy is a two-way choice. Even if someone obtains one of the Serpent’s items, that doesn’t mean they’re forced to become the World-Devouring Serpent. These powers don’t come with their own will. How to use them is completely up to the person holding them.”
“Also, to be honest, I’m not the one who got the [Serpent’s Blood], Tartanos did. I just happened to tamper with him a little and stole a part of its power for myself.”
“To tell you the truth, Tartanos also holds the Serpent’s Heart. These two items are like a sword and a swordsman. It was because of the Heart that Bevis and I were able to find a way to break out of a desperate situation long ago and force Tartanos into a deep sleep until now.”
“This power… this legacy… The connections between the five Serpent items are way more complicated than you think. Even now, I’ve only barely begun to understand a small part of it. The Serpent’s repeated rebirths aren’t meaningless. I don’t think its existence is just about destruction. But until someone fully becomes the World-Devouring Serpent, there’s no way to know the whole truth.”
Ashnard gave a helpless laugh.
“I probably never will understand it all. Even if I had the chance, I’m not planning to become some world-ending disaster…”
“...?”
The black-haired girl didn’t say anything. She just frowned at him, deep in thought. Ashnard didn’t mind, he kept speaking.
“Anyway, back to the main point. Honestly, my history with Bevis isn’t some grand or heroic tale. Our father used to be on good terms with the leader of the dragon race. His Majesty, the Holy White Dragon King. Because of that, when our father died, the White Dragon King personally came to find us. He took us in and raised us, teaching us some of the dragon race’s techniques for survival and combat.”
“That was around 300 years ago, during a very chaotic time, right before the Serpent’s Remains resurfaced and the Mythical Species War began. My brother and I traveled the world for years with the White Dragon King, learning a lot and growing stronger. But as the war between the two sides fighting over the Serpent’s remains got worse, the White King got busy with the fighting. He realized we were no longer safe staying by his side, so he told us to leave and explore the world on our own.”
“After that, Bevis and I kept training for a few more years. Life became more stable, and we made a bit of a name for ourselves. But then, we suddenly got a message from the White Dragon King.”
“He said that the two sides in the war were about to have their final battle at the ruins in the Theo Province of the Holy Empire. That this battle would decide everything. He also told us a few strange things… We could hear the sadness in his words, like he was ready to die. That made us really worried, so we ended our travels right away and rushed to the Holy Empire to check on things.”
“But we never made it. On the way there, right as we passed through the valley near the ruins, something completely unexpected happened...”
Ashnard paused, as if thinking carefully about how to explain things clearly.
“The return of the Serpent to the world isn’t something that happens all at once. Its influence builds up slowly over time. For example, the [Serpent’s Blood] doesn’t act directly. Instead, it quietly seeps into the land, affecting the plants that grow in the soil. Then, those plants pass the effect on to animals that eat them, and step by step, layer by layer, the contamination spreads. It’s a strange and twisted process, but the result is always the same: the host gets stronger and stronger.”
“When we were traveling with the White Dragon King, we saw a few living beings that were accidentally affected by the [Serpent’s Blood]. His Majesty is kind by nature, so whenever we came across such cases, he would always try to help. That’s why both my brother and I became very familiar with the signs and symptoms of this contamination.”
“When we first arrived near this valley all those years ago, we immediately noticed that many of the plants and animals here showed signs of being infected by the [Serpent’s Blood]. And not just a few, far too many, and the contamination was much worse than anything we had ever seen before.”
“Since this involved the Serpent, the root cause of the Mythical Species War, Bevis and I didn’t dare ignore it. Once we noticed something was wrong, we began an investigation nearby. But what we found… was far beyond what we expected.”
“You discovered traces of the Serpent’s Heart and [Serpent’s Blood] here?”
Violet actually took the initiative to ask this time, something rare.
Ashnard’s lingering soul, however, shook his head.
“No. At the time, we didn’t know anything about the five items tied to the Serpent. What we found was a traitor to the dragon race, a dragon named Tartanos, from the Rock-Earth Dragon clan.”
“He had stolen one of the Serpent’s relics from its remains and was being hunted down. He fled to this valley and hid underground, where he began performing a strange ritual using a method we had never seen before. He was trying to absorb and fuse with the Serpent’s authority. That’s the real reason why so many creatures outside the valley were infected by the [Serpent’s Blood] and mutated.”
“Once we found out, Bevis and I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. So we teamed up to try and take him down. Thanks to the White Dragon King’s teachings, even though we weren’t strong enough to face a true mythical being, this particular dragon was already badly wounded, and he was focused on maintaining his ritual, so he couldn’t really fight back. That gave us a chance.”
“During the battle, I used everything I had, along with Bevis’s support and some secret dragon techniques, to break through and get close. I was just about to deliver the final blow… but at that moment, a terrifying burst of power exploded out of his ritual circle.”
“The [Serpent’s Blood]… had gone out of control.”
“The force of that blast was so terrifying, I still feel chills just thinking about it. The sky seemed to collapse, and the entire cave structure changed shape and collapsed deeper into the earth. Even after using the life-saving treasure given to us by the White Dragon King, something said to be able to block even an attack from a high-level demigod. We were still badly injured on the spot. Especially me, since I was closest to the blast. This sword and my arm were both broken right then and there.”
“Later, I learned that what we saw was just the tip of the iceberg of the World-Devouring Serpent’s power. And that traitor dragon who had been performing the ritual, he didn’t benefit from it either.”
“The [Serpent’s Blood], because of the failed fusion, ended up twisting him into something that had no mind or reason.”
“It became a monster… called the [Magic-Devouring Flying Serpent].”