I Am Not Goblin Slayer Chapter 424: Snake King

Everyone present almost heard that sound at the sa ti.

The next mont, Gauss quickly opened several Dinsion Doors and arrived in front of the cave.

But what he saw imdiately made his heart pound with fear.

The once rock-solid cave had already collapsed. When he and Serlandul originally chose this spot, they had deliberately picked a cave with extrely hard soil specifically to avoid any risk of collapse.

And an hour earlier, when he had co here, he had detected nothing unusual.

Yet now it had still caved in.

There was nothing to do about that though. Serlandul’s snake bloodline ant that, by nature, they loved cool, sheltered places like caves, so when attempting a breakthrough they would naturally seek out similar sites.

Gauss had no ti to regret.

Buzz!

He imdiately expanded his ntal Divine Sense.

As his rippling spiritual force spread outward, that intangible power instantly passed through the piled rubble and seeped into the interior of the cave.

The scene inside the cave unfurled before him like a rolled-out painting.

He saw a cave buried by huge fallen rocks.

Deep inside, he "saw" a cold figure curled on the ground, its surroundings already sealed by the rubble.

Thump! Thump!

What made Gauss breathe a sigh of relief was that Serlandul’s heart was still beating slowly.

As long as there were signs of life…

With Serlandul’s level-five professional rank and the natural constitution of a half-snake person, unless the wounds were especially severe or fatal, he could be saved.

The Red Dragon Guild now had plenty of talent; it wasn’t like the old days when Gauss’s original team had only Serlandul as the sole dical specialist.

And aside from Serlandul, there were no other living beings nearby, so the cave collapse looked like an accident.

Gauss exhaled.

He was about to begin the rescue when—

Clatter—

Stones inside the cave began to shift and crack.

Huh?

Gauss imdiately turned his attention toward the source of the sound. Serlandul was moving.

As his body shifted, the rocks pressing down on him were pushed aside.

“You’ve still got strength, huh…”

The heavy stone that had been pressing on Gauss’s chest dropped away completely.

In Gauss’s view, as long as life persisted, anything else could be dealt with later; breakthroughs and the like were important, but survival was priority.

Dai—dai—

But soon the rolling of those huge boulders grew more violent, and from Gauss’s sensing the aura coming from Serlandul only grew stronger.

Huh?

Bang!

Suddenly the rocks at the cave entrance exploded outward.

Amid rolling dust, a figure slowly slid out.

Now Gauss could finally see Serlandul’s appearance clearly, and his brows tightened without him noticing.

The scales on Serlandul’s lower body were split open, blood seeping from many wounds, but those were minor—after being nearly buried, it was no wonder he was wounded.

Yet Serlandul’s upper body was far more alarming—his eyes were completely wrong, making Gauss feel unfamiliar.

A crimson light poured from deep within his eyes, as if his usual reason had vanished.

Scales covered much of his cheeks.

While Gauss observed Serlandul, the latter—lost in an abnormal state—was scanning the outside world.

Naturally, he noticed the conspicuous floating figure in midair: Gauss.

Hiss!!!

Serlandul snapped his mouth open, his expression turning feral, and let out a snake-like, terrifying hiss aid at Gauss.

His instincts told him that a creature floating in the sky could be a lethal threat.

Seeing Serlandul hiss at him, Gauss confird that he truly had lost control of himself.

As Serlandul writhed his thick snake body and began to slither toward the deep forest, Gauss could not let him leave in that feral state.

Gauss imdiately activated Fly and burst forward at a speed faster than Serlandul.

As the distance closed, the maddened Serlandul seed to realize he couldn’t shake the creature in the sky. He snatched up a rock from the ground.

A dark green energy in his body instantly attached to the stone, corrupting it with magic.

Whoosh!

The rock was hurled like a cannonball toward Gauss.

Although the attack was sudden, Gauss had been watching him intently. He flicked his body to the side and evaded in an instant.

“Looks like I have to subdue you first.”

Gauss didn’t waste breath trying to call Serlandul back to his senses.

In a normal state Serlandul would never attack him. If he was now striking friend and foe alike, it only ant he truly could not control himself.

Dinsion Door!

Gauss blinked and reappeared beside Serlandul, hovering in midair.

Seizing Serlandul’s brief mont of confusion, he clenched his fist. His shoulder, wound up like a spring, drove his punch forward and struck the snake-man’s face with all his force.

Boom!

The heavy, powerful blow instantly dented Serlandul’s cheek. The scaly skin rippled in concentric waves.

The next second, he flew sideways as if struck by a giant hamr, unable to resist.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

His body rolled across the ground and finally ca to rest.

Fortunately, his body was far sturdier than Gauss had imagined. After tumbling dozens of ters he felt dizzy, but he had not sustained catastrophic injuries. Before long he pulled himself to his feet.

Though Gauss had held back so strength—after all, he was striking a teammate—the blow should have been enough to knock Serlandul senseless earlier.

He imdiately detected Serlandul’s power had increased.

So had the breakthrough succeeded? Or had it failed? Or was this so side effect of success?

Bloodlines remain a domain both powerful and dangerous for humans, like a double-edged sword.

On one hand, they grant greater innate talent and strength, letting adventurers surpass peers—as when Albenia awakened her giant strength. On the other hand, bloodline power is naturally unstable.

If mismanaged, the bloodline force can turn on its host, bringing great danger to themselves and those around them.

In that sense, an ordinary, pure human can sotis be an advantage, because such people can ultimately reach stable and pure strength.

Clutching his face in pain, Serlandul rose from the ground and looked at Gauss with a hint of fear.

Although he had instinctively sensed the threat Gauss represented earlier, that had been an abstract feeling. Now that they had actually exchanged blows, he finally felt that unstoppable terrifying power from that frail human.

More crucially, the thought of fighting the human before him triggered a subconscious resistance. An invisible force was holding him back, as if his beastly consciousness and so other deeper awareness were tugging at each other.

That was why he had first turned to flee when he saw Gauss—only when he realized he couldn’t get away did he resort to throwing rocks to obstruct Gauss’s approach.

Hiss! Argh!!!

As Gauss stepped closer, Serlandul suddenly clutched his head, his face contorted in pain.

His huge serpentine body writhed wildly on the ground.

Seeing this, Gauss guessed that Serlandul must have undergone so change after receiving the punch.

So he stayed a short distance away, keeping watch beside him.

“Serlandul, wake up.”

Perhaps the human portion of his mind heard Gauss’s voice and fought back for control.

Gradually, Serlandul’s rolling slowed. The dense scales on his face rapidly receded.

Finally he stopped moving and lay still, as if asleep.

Gauss finally exhaled.

At the Red Dragon Guild’s temporary camp, inside the dical tent.

Serlandul slowly propped himself up on the bed and touched his cheek and head; they throbbed painfully.

But as soon as he woke he felt hazy and disoriented, as if drunk and with his mind clouded.

What happened? Where am I—this is the infirmary?

He only rembered entering the chosen cave to undergo secluded cultivation, then he was here.

“You okay, Serlandul?”

Gauss and several teammates, along with the guild’s priest, stood nearby and watched him with concerned expressions.

“Yeah, Serlandul, you just attacked Lord Gauss,” Albenia said reproachfully to their half-snake companion.

She believed that even if she had lost consciousness, her love for the guild leader would never let her strike him.

Attack?

Just-woken Serlandul pointed at himself with a look of disbelief.

He didn’t rember attacking Gauss.

But seeing Albenia and the others nod emphatically—and knowing they had no reason to lie—he realized he probably had, indeed, struck the captain.

So that side of his face that felt like it had been hit by a cannonball was…?

He couldn’t help but touch his still-sore cheek.

Ahem!

Gauss, as if reading Serlandul’s thoughts, awkwardly cleared his throat twice.

“Serlandul also lost consciousness earlier, so don’t worry about those small things.”

Gauss quickly changed the topic and began explaining Serlandul’s earlier state and behavior. He even produced a mory Stone.

The mont he sensed Serlandul’s abnormality, he had imdiately started recording so he could review it later.

The others had only observed Gauss’s side from afar earlier; now, viewing the footage projected from the mory Stone, they too noticed Serlandul’s strangeness.

In that state, his body seed larger; his physical strength and energy had beco wildly violent, his consciousness uncontrolled—like a giant serpent monster.

They whispered guesses among themselves.

“Is it bestialization?”

“Not that severe, I think. Serlandul recovered so quickly; it could just be simple bloodline backlash.”

Unlike the others, Serlandul studied the projected image of himself. After a brief daze, a hidden mory, like a thunderclap, flashed through his mind.

Then a belated, bitter expression crossed his face.

“What is it? Do you know what’s wrong with you?” Gauss asked with concern, watching Serlandul’s expression, then politely shooed a few priests aside.

Serlandul nodded after the others had stepped away.

He didn’t intend to hide anything.

Those remaining here were teammates as close as family.

“Captain, do you know the origin of our snake people?”

Before he finished the question, Serlandul carried on explaining.

“Snake people were originally humans. Long ago, by chance, a group of people saw the magnificent form of a snake god. In their worship, they resolutely shed their humanity—which included their remaining reason.”

“They beca the first proto snake people.”

“Snakes in darkness hissed and prayed to the imitated snake god, and the god rewarded these greedy worshippers with great power.”

“With that divine power, the snake civilization expanded rapidly and soon established a formidable culture in the mortal world.”

“Cannibalism, human sacrifices, and breeding with the most powerful barbaric serpents occurred constantly within the temples of snake civilization.”

“They treated reason as a shackle on the flesh, yearning to shed what humanity remained like old skin. At the height of their civilization, a terrifying crisis was born.”

“Continuously discarding their humanity, the snake people created a dreadful monster—the Snake King.”

“Snake Kings were born from various city-states. These individuals possessed strength far beyond ordinary snake people and would slaughter any life they encountered, whether human, other sentient beings, or even fellow snake kin.”

“Combined with punitive campaigns from civilizations affected by the snake people’s atrocities, internal and external crises soon wiped out the once-great snake civilization.”

“To prevent the royal bloodline from spawning another civilization-ending ruler, the surviving snake people chose a completely opposite path: they embraced reason, began breeding with humans and other intelligent species, and over generations optimized themselves into the stable half-snake race of today.”

“However, a rumor persisted within the clan: the royal bloodline had not been eradicated. It remained hidden deep in each snake person’s lineage, and every so often it would awaken.”

Gauss and the others listened to Serlandul’s account.

“You an you awakened that tyrannical Snake King bloodline?” Gauss asked.

Serlandul nodded.

“I can feel a small but terrifying power hidden within my body. It has awakened.”

His face went extrely grim.

According to the legends passed down by snake people, awakening the royal blood is not a blessing.

On the contrary, one is quickly consud by that consciousness, loses control, becos a monstrous being devoid of humanity, and brings misfortune to those nearby.

Seeing Serlandul’s desperate, as-if-dood expression, Gauss scratched his head.

“Is there no cure?”

Serlandul shook his head.

“Captain, this isn’t an illness. It can’t be cured.”

“It can’t be that bad, right?” Gauss blinked. “After all, didn’t I just knock you awake with one punch?”

At Gauss’s words, Serlandul touched his still-aching cheek and felt puzzled.

In the footage his symptoms didn’t look as severe as the tales of a royal bloodline awakening.

Maybe because he had only just awakened?

Seeing Serlandul’s unsettled look, Gauss patted his shoulder in reassurance while balling his other hand into a fist.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility for waking you up.”

“It’s my duty as captain.”

Seeing Gauss take on that earnest expression, Serlandul could only smile wryly.

If the royal curse could be suppressed by brute force, it would never have caused the destruction of a civilization.

Before Serlandul could say anything more, Albenia beside the bed offered a warm smile.

“Yeah, yeah, if the captain is busy, I wouldn’t mind helping.”

“ too.” Aria curled her small white fist.

“I can help as well,” even the cool Shadow spoke up.

“Everyone…” Serlandul asked softly, “You’re not planning to use this as an excuse to beat up, are you?”

Just that little interruption eased his previously anxious mood considerably.