Chapter Seventy-One: Deprivation (3)

When Buck saw that mass of milky venom spewing from the mouth of the King Cobra, it felt as if his heart had stopped beating. His mind was wiped utterly blank, and he closed his eyes in despair, awaiting the searing pain he was certain would come as the corrosive poison fell upon him.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds...

More than ten seconds passed, and yet Buck stood there untouched, as if nothing had happened. Puzzled, he opened his eyes, only to be struck dumb by the scene before him.

Heavens, what was this he beheld?

A massive energy shield blocked every last drop of the King Cobra’s venom, not a single droplet breaking through. The milky poison slid down the shield in rivulets but failed to corrode its surface. As the snake took in this unexpected turn, its eyes suddenly blazed with a fierce red light. With a hiss, it lashed its tail like a whip, striking the top of Viel’s energy barrier with tremendous force.

A resounding crack rang out.

Viel had not anticipated just how powerful this poisonous serpent would be. With a single blow, the snake’s tail spiderwebbed his energy shield with cracks, and slender threads of milky venom began to seep through the fissures. This forced Viel to take the serpent far more seriously. Meanwhile, Buck, shaking off his daze at last, hurriedly warned Viel, “Be careful! This kind of viper, while an ordinary beast, can be as destructive as a low-tier magical creature!”

“Get back!” Viel barked at Buck, reinforcing his barrier with another wave of wind magic. Buck, seasoned by years as a bandit, managed to keep his composure in such peril, nodding quickly and retreating to safety. He knew his own limitations—remaining would only hinder Viel, or worse, cause trouble.

Once Buck had reached a safe distance, Viel no longer had to hold back. He cast a spell of Lightness upon himself and nimbly dodged aside, wand sweeping through the air. His wind barrier instantly dissolved into countless blades of wind, each a streak of pale light racing toward the King Cobra. Just as the wind blades were about to strike, Viel’s vision blurred. In the next instant, the serpent had vanished, reappearing elsewhere with jaws agape, spitting another jet of corrosive venom at him.

Thanks to the Lightness spell, Viel’s agility was doubled, yet avoiding the snake’s poison still demanded all his concentration. The milky venom, upon striking a tree trunk, began to eat through the wood with a harsh sizzle, releasing a foul, acrid stench as it bored a gaping hole through the tangled branches.

This terrifying venom, combined with the snake’s speed and ruthless attacks, made the King Cobra far more formidable than Viel had anticipated.

The serpent flicked its slender tongue slowly, its crimson eyes shining with an eerie light, as if locking onto Viel no matter where he fled. Wherever Viel dodged, the King Cobra tracked him, launching its deadly attacks with unerring aim.

“Blazing Flame Blades!”

Twisting aside to evade another poisonous strike, Viel swung his arm and unleashed a barrage of flaming blades. Countless scarlet arcs erupted, dense as a meteor shower, raining down upon the King Cobra. To pin down the serpent’s movement, Viel did not hesitate to expend a large amount of magical energy on this spell. As a reward, he finally discerned the secret behind the King Cobra’s evasions.

The serpent did not simply vanish. As before, at the final moment, it would twist its body into an unnatural arc, compressing itself completely, then with a violent flick of its tail, launch itself like a missile to safety. The sheer force of its tail allowed it to hurl its entire body clear of danger—an ingenious method of escape.

But now that Viel had deciphered its trajectory...

“So, it ends here,” he murmured. Leaping high, he unleashed a flurry of razor-thin wind blades, hemming the serpent in. As expected, the King Cobra again used its tail to spring away, but just as it coiled to leap, Viel cast another spell.

“Ice Mirror!”

A blinding white light erupted from the ground. The serpent, caught mid-leap, could not change direction or gain purchase, and desperately twisted its body, slamming its tail against the glimmering white light.

A sharp crack sounded, and the white light shattered under the force, revealing its true form.

“It’s over,” Viel said softly.

The shattered ice fragments in the air converged in an instant, encasing the King Cobra, while four more slabs of ice morphed into long, deadly spears. With a hiss that rent the air, the spears pierced the frozen serpent, ending its threat.

...

Taking a deep breath, Viel conjured another slender ice spear and stepped carefully toward the now-motionless King Cobra.

Only now did Viel see the creature clearly. The serpent’s body was easily over ten meters long, as thick as a large wooden wine cask. Its weak points—seven inches behind the head, the tail, and another vital spot—were all pierced through by ice spears. Sealed in the ice, not a drop of its blood could escape.

With a heavy blow, Viel raised his spear and drove it down into the snake’s skull, shattering it.

“There was no need,” said Buck, who had approached from behind, his face pale from lingering fright.

“I couldn't be sure it was finished,” Viel replied coolly, giving Buck a sidelong glance. With a flick of his wrist, the ice spear disintegrated into harmless shards.

Buck’s expression turned odd. He realized, with a start, that this youth before him handled people and matters with a composure far beyond his years. Such poise did not belong to an ordinary sixteen-year-old.

“Um, sir...” Buck hesitated, as if to speak, but found himself flustered—astonishingly, flustered before a boy half his age! When Viel raised his eyes, Buck couldn’t even meet his gaze.

“What did you want to say?” Viel asked.

“I—just now, you—”

“It was a test,” Viel interrupted him. “And you passed.”

“You’re a devil,” Buck muttered, yet he felt not a trace of anger—only a faint annoyance.

“Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment,” Viel replied with a faint smile. He strode to the dead serpent, crushing its frozen skull beneath his heel, and carefully extracted its venom gland.

“What are you planning to do with that, sir?” Buck asked, puzzled. To most, the poison of a King Cobra was a deadly hazard, yet Viel was taking pains to extract it?

“You should know, as the one who swore loyalty to me, I’d rather you called me ‘boss.’ Now then, let’s get formally acquainted. My name is Viel Sualor. And you are?”

“Buck,” the man answered, his slit-like eyes narrowing. In that moment, the bond was sealed—Buck’s heart had chosen to follow the one who, despite being a decade his junior, was now his master... or rather, his boss.