A Snake's Life Read online

  The puppet, after passing through the blades, stuck out its right arm and pressed it into the ground causing its forward momentum to cease and allowing it to move again. It kicked out with its left leg, hitting Siofs in the back, and causing it to flip over its arm to land back on its feet.

  Siofs stubbled forward, but then turned around and leaped at the puppet, swinging her sword through the air as she did. The puppet stepped out of the way, then swung its fist into her jaw. Her downward momentum only added to the force of his fist and she was instantly knocked out as a result. Then the puppet reached out with his other arm and caught the front of Siofs shirt before her head could slam into the ground, then it set her down.

  Holstig waited for it to put her down, then he charged with his shield raised. The puppet waited for him to get as close as possible before it jumped into the air and placed its right hand on Holstig’s head, then it pushed off and vaulted over him.

  It landed in a crouch, then spun around and attempted to sweep his legs out from under him… *Clang!* His metal skin bent the puppets legs in the wrong direction. Then he turned around and kicked the puppet in the face while stomping on its foot, causing the puppet’s neck to snap backward.

  Holstig bent down and grabbed the puppet by the shirt, then started bashing its face in with his shield… Three smashed later, and the puppet was rendered immobile.

  Holstig then stood up straight and said… “you lost again, Master.”

  I let out a sigh… “Yes Holstig, I’m aware…”

  I healed the puppet while Holstig woke up the other goblins and they sat down to wait for Findral to return from exploring the area… Two hours later, she returned and informed us that all was well and we could continue moving without issue, as the surrounding area was barren of civilized life. So, I took her word for it and continued to dig my way through a mountain…

  Three days later, I finally completed carving a tunnel through the several mile long mountain range. Which may have seemed like an incredibly long time to wast, but since it would have taken over a week to go around it and going over it would have been impossible due to the sheer cliff wall that prevented me from climbing up… So through the mountain, it was. And once I was through, I continued moving towards my goal of finding the other branch….

  * * *

  Two more weeks passed while I was traversing the land and I eventually arrived at the ocean that separated this continent from the rest of the world. So, I came to a stop and allowed the goblins to do whatever they pleased for one week, while I rested.

  Two of those days went by without much happening but on the third day…

  Findral

  Race Lower Flame Princess

  Classification Tier 4

  Class Spy: Rank 4

  Findral had finally eaten enough to evolve into her next race. No longer was she the short, bald goblin that I’d come to know. She grew to around six feet tall and short, orange, flame-like hair grew from her head and hung down to her chin and two small horns grew from her forehead.

  She celebrated her new form by shooting balls of fire into the air and jumping around. However, her celebration was cut short after Siofs smacked her head and pointed to the fire she’d started with her antics…

  While she was being berated by Siofs, Holstig and Hogunn were forced to put out the fire by filling the leather sacks up with water and dumping it on the fire… But even after her mishap, she wouldn’t be deterred from her celebration and she spent the next week with a smile on her face.

  The good news didn’t stop there, as she wasn’t the only one to evolve during this period of rest. On the fifth day, another goblin evolved, only they didn’t complete their evolution until the seventh day…

  Siofs Race Water Hobgoblin

  Classification Tier 4

  Class Warrior: Rank 3

  Siofs had apparently caught and eaten enough water creatures, that she could finally unlock her element. Her skin turned a bluish green color and gills grew on her neck, but otherwise, she didn’t change physically.

  The two of them evolving in such drastically different ways, caused me to finally ask Siofs about the goblin evolution tree.

  “Well… Goblins are… Adaptors. Unlike other creatures that require certain stones to evolve or are required to eat creatures that are saturated by the elements. Goblins have the inborn ability to draw out small amounts of elemental energy from everything we eat.

  Because of this, we don’t have a strict path to follow like most races do… For example, Holstig over there.” She motioned to Holstig who was fighting with Findral over the last fish… “He used to eat small bits of metal every day until he eventually evolved into a metal goblin.”

  She pointed to Hogunn. “Hogunn did the same, but with normal stones instead of metal… And Findral used to heat stones until they began to melt, then she would put them in her mouth and literally suck the fire energy out of it.”

  I looked over at the cheerfully fighting Findral and tried to picture her having the discipline required to torture herself in order to evolve…

  Siofs must have recognized the look on my face, as she quickly added… “Don’t let her appearance fool you, master. Findral is a lot tougher than she looks.”

  “… I’ll keep that in mind.” I shook my head, then refocused on Siofs. “Why does she look so different from the rest of you, though?”

  Siofs glanced over at Findral, then back to me. “Because of her fire element magic, she was given the opportunity to evolve beyond the goblin forms and she took it” she finished with a lazy shrug.

  “I see…” I turned away from her and called to the other goblins.

  “Let’s go, we’ve got a long way to go and I want to get there before I die of old age!”

  The goblins quickly packed up their stuff with some help from the puppet, then they all climbed on and I slid into the water…

  *Sigh* It’s good to be back in the water… I hope there’s plenty of fish in this ocean because I’m starving…” I said aloud as I swam further out into the water…

  Chapter 32

  It only took a few days of swimming in the ocean for me to realize, that while there was plenty of fish, there was sadly a lack of anything higher than a tier one creature. Which meant I stayed perpetually hungry, even while surrounded by literal tons of food.

  Eventually, I just grew tired of constantly slowing down to catch the small fish, so I just focused on swimming and made the puppet go fishing for me. It dove into the water with the dagger in its mouth and swam along with me, while it caught any fish that happened to come near.

  Three hours into our trip, the goblins were thrown some fish for Findral to cook so they wouldn’t be too hungry to fight incase something happens…

  And when something did happen, I let out a sigh… “I’m glad I prepared for these instances, but why is my luck always so bad? It’s almost like every time I wish to be left alone, something decides to send trouble my way…”

  It was Findral who’d seen them first and she’d been all too eager to yell out her discovery to the rest of us… Thirty ships, all of various makes and sizes were floating on the horizon and between them flew three flags: A red flag, with a golden lion’s head insignia. A purple flag, with a silver bird insignia. And a black flag, with a white skull insignia.

  The red flags were flown on ships that appeared to have been created for combat: massive in size and scope. They were easily over three hundred feet long and one hundred feet wide, and lined with enough cannons to pulverize a mountain… With an especially large cannon mounted on the front of the ship. They easily had the most firepower, but they also had the least amount of ships, numbering at only four ships total.

  The purple flags were flown on ships that appeared to be defenseless: They were small in size, being about the size of the ship Fenris and his family used. They had no cannons to speak of, but each ship had multiple sails and ores sticking out of the lower part of the ships… So I assumed they w
ere meant for speed. There were eight ships baring the purple flag.

  Lastly, the black flags were the most numerous… And also the most diverse. The black flags were flown on an amalgamation of ships that ranged from the combat ships of the red flags to the travel ships of the purple flags… Their numbers were even further padded out by many different types of ships, with the largest ship being tens of stories high and it looked almost like a floating city. Ships of any size imaginable were used as supports for the three ‘castles’, that rested atop them…. To further emphasize their ‘majesty’, as if the ‘castles’ weren’t enough. The owners of the floating city had each ‘castle’ lined with cannons and on the roof of each sat a wooden, high backed chair….

  I let out a deep sigh. “What’s with that overly grandiose display?…. It’s almost like they want someone to aim for the chairs at the top.”

  Siofs, who’d heard my words, voiced out her agreement… “I agree, master. Truly a foolish move to put yourself on display, as such an easy target-”

  A cannon fired at the top of a castle in an attempt to destroy the chair… But a golden shield manifested before the cannonball could get near it and sent the ball flying off into the distance.

  “Well… It seems I was mistaken.” I said in a quieter voice.

  That first cannon shot led to an all-out war between the ships. The red flags versus the black flags, while the purple flags tried to flee.

  However, this action led to an idea… I still needed to gain the leviathan evolution and as the ships with cannons were currently distracted… Well, let’s just say I had no intention of allowing this opportunity to pass me by.

  “Findral, can you survive underwater?” I asked while staring at the fleeing ships.

  “You underestimate me, master… You’re underestimating all of us it would seem.” She replied with a giggle.

  I turned my head around to look at her and when I did, she proved that I had indeed been underestimating them. The flames on her body turned from a bright orange and yellow flame to a blue and purple flame. The heat coming off of her body was enough to evaporate the nearby ocean water almost instantly.

  “We’re adaptors, master… There’s not a climate in existence where we cannot thrive.” She said with a mad grin. An action the others quickly copied as they each moved.

  Siofs jumped off my back and landed in the water, she stayed submerged for ten seconds before she rose to the surface and stepped out of the water to stand on top of the water.

  Hogunn and Holstig both jumped towards Siofs, who caught them and began to pull them out of the water where they joined her on the surface.

  “You see, master. Though we are not the physically strongest race, we make up for it by being the most adaptable.” Findral said before she jumped into the air… And a second before she touched the water, a micro explosion beneath her feet sent her flying into the air.

  She would cause one of these explosions every time she would begin to drop towards the water and this allowed her to, for all intents and purposes, run across the water as if it were dry land.

  “I must say… I’ve never been more happy to be wrong.” I said, then I ordered the puppet to follow Siofs orders for the time being. “Your target is one of the purple flag ships. Clear out the people aboard, then get out of the area.”

  “What will you be doing master?” Holstig asked.

  The puppet gave them a toothy grin in my place. “It’s lunchtime, Holstig… So I’m going to eat my fill.” I replied, then I dove under the water and swam as fast as I could towards the ships.

  * * *

  Varok Grukag wasn’t your average bandit boss, He was also the current king of the unresting ocean. A place known for its constantly shifting alliances, kings, and queens. In fact, he currently holds the record for the longest rule this ocean had ever seen… At one year, six months, and twelve days.

  He got to this position due to three things: His brutality, and allies… And a young wizard that specialized in barrier magic. With the help of this wizard, he and his two siblings created the floating castles that would go on to rule this ocean and over thirty percent of the continent of Odresh.

  But… as with all rulers before him, something was about to happen that would end his tenuous rule… A very hungry opportunist.

  * * *

  I swam until I was directly underneath one of the purple ships, then I launched myself out of the water and barreled into three of the ships, turning them into splinters.

  Suddenly, everything went quiet as if the entire world had turned off the sound… I stared down at the humanoids on the ships and they stared at me in turn.

  “I’m truly sorry about this, but I’m starving over here.” I said with a polite bow of my head.

  “……….” The humanoids were silent for ten more seconds, then… “M…Monster!!” one of them yelled, causing the active cannons to cease fire on the black flags and focus on me…

  “Oh well, let’s get this over with.” I sighed, as I opened my ‘eyes’ and activated my ‘petrification’ skill.

  Almost instantly, forty percent of the humanoids were turned to stone. But the ones who weren’t, were either too powerful to be petrified or had looked away at the right time. I left my ‘eyes’ open, while I charged up my next attack… And it finished charging, right after the red and black flags had fired a volley at me.

  “Twenty percent power should suffice….” I shot out a consistent beam of energy and quickly twisted my head, causing the beam to turn ten ships to dust and killing who knows how many people.

  A pop-up appeared almost immediately after….

  You have unlocked the following evolutionary path. Elemental Leviathan Would you like to evolve?

  Before I could respond, multiple cannonballs impacted my scales, causing severe pain and a few cracked scales… But otherwise, it just pissed me off.

  “No.” I growled out, causing the pop-up to disappear and a new one to take its place.

  Very well, you have passed up the ‘Elemental Leviathan’ path. As a result, this path has forever been locked to you.

  Please select your reward for unlocking it.

  Superior Strength Acidic Blood

  “Superior strength!” I quickly said, while ducking under the water again to prevent them from firing another volley at me.

  However, despite my quick answer, I’d actually thought about this choice for a long time. And I’d come to the decision that ‘Superior Strength’ was the more useful of the two for one reason… Superior strength is transferable to my possessed bodies, while acidic blood most likely was not.

  Just like I’d lost my wings while I was inside the goblin body, I guessed that I would also lose the acid blood if I possessed a body…. Could I be wrong?… Sure I could, but I would rather take a certain bet over a gamble, anyday.

  Another pop-up immediately followed my choice.

  You have been granted the ‘Supreme Strength’ skill, due to unlocking and rejecting the ‘Elemental Leviathan’ path.

  *Note: The Leviathan Superior strength combined with your already increased strength to unlock its current level.*

  *Note: Your growth trait has been increased by 7, bringing it to Growth +10*

  “That’s… Going to be a problem in the future…” I said with a sigh as I launched myself out of the water and slammed into the barrier around the bottom of the floating castles. My massive size and weight caused the castle to be launched out of the water and sent flying into the air. It flew over one hundred feet away, then it crashed into the water causing two of the castles to collapse under their own weight and the ship as a whole to fall onto its side.

  Then I turned my attention to the red flags… I snapped my head out and bit one of the ships completely in two, with the back half of the ship becoming my meal.

  Another volley of cannonballs came flying my way, but I picked up a red flag by its mast and used it to take the brunt of the volley. Then I tilted my head back and use
d my tongue to pull the ship into my mouth, where I quickly chewed it up…

  The black flags decided to use this opportunity to flee… But I cut them off by thrusting my head into the water behind them causing a massive wave to capsize over half of them, while the rest were destroyed by another charged shot.

  This left only one red flag and the four remaining purple flags, with the goblins having successfully taken over one of the purple ships and leaving the immediate area, only they remained as witnesses…. When suddenly, a loud roar echoed from the castles.

  I and the remaining twenty humanoids turned to look at the now glowing castle…

  “That’s going to be a problem…” Before whatever was about to happen, actually happened. I quickly scooped up two of the purple flags and ate them, then I blasted the red flag with an energy beam. And finally, I picked the last purple flag out of the water and slammed it into the remaining ship. Leaving only me and whatever was about to burst out of the now swelling barrier…

  *ROOAARR!!* A large black tentacle came out of the barrier that easily stretched over a mile into the sky… Before it came crashing down causing massive waves to knock me about for a few seconds. The tentacle was then followed by a truly massive octopus, that was attempting to pull its body out of the barrier….

  “As if I’m going to allow that.” I scoffed as I swam as fast as I could towards the creature…. Then I launched myself out of the water and bodyslammed it back into the barrier. My quick response stopped it before it could get more than two tentacles and part of its head out of the barrier… Its glowing yellow eye glared at me as it drew back one of the free tentacles, then it came flying at me… And right into my waiting mouth.