Walking up to it, Nova placed a hand on the serpent's wall-like scales—iridescent and shimmering in hues of blue, silver, and lavender. The surface was smooth to the touch, yet beneath lay a sharpness that no ordinary metal could rival.
He let out a mental sigh. ‘This serpent would’ve made a great legend on Earth.’
A faint tremor stirred beneath his palm. The scales shifted in response to his touch, and slowly, the creature began to rise from the lakebed. Nova stepped back, heart pounding, as the serpent's immense form unfolded before him.
A pair of wings, delicate yet grand, extended from its sides. They resembled those of a dragonfly—twice the length of the serpent's body—with a faint celestial glow that shimmered along their translucent surface. It was easy to imagine the creature slicing through the sky, gliding effortlessly on wind currents.
As the serpent lifted its head, Nova's breath caught. Its face was a sleek, angular fusion of dragon and serpent, with a narrow snout lined by rows of fine, needle-like teeth. Large, luminous eyes glowed an icy blue, cold and intelligent, as if they could pierce through his very soul.
Graceful, curved horns arched back from its brow, gleaming like polished crystal. Feather-like tendrils drifted from its jaw, swaying with an ethereal grace, while a slender crest of shimmering fins crowned its head, glowing softly like distant starlight. The serpent exuded an ancient majesty—a presence that seemed to belong to the heavens themselves.
‘Beautiful...’ The word formed unbidden in Nova's mind as he gazed at the apex predator before him. A wild urge stirred within him—the desire to tame it. But the thought was futile. He wouldn’t be able to bring it outside the portal. Sighing inwardly he pondered, If he couldn’t have this serpent, perhaps he could find another beast, not from the portals—one mighty enough to raze entire civilizations—and make it his pet.
Casting aside those thoughts, Nova met the serpent's gaze—two large, unblinking eyes locked onto him with eerie intensity. He smiled and gave a casual wave, curious to test the creature's intelligence. But the serpent merely stared back, cold and unmoving, as if it were studying the habits of its prey.
‘With all that wisdom, it should've understood,’ he mused, puzzled by its lack of reaction. Still, he didn’t let the thought distract him.
‘It’s probably faster than me in the water, but its reaction speed might be slower,’ Nova reasoned, the hint of a smile curling his lips. ‘Is the tactic I used against my old enemies about to be turned against me? I need to react, not act...’ Amusement flickered in his mind as he prepared to become a living target for the serpent.
His eyes gleamed, matching the serpent's icy brilliance. ‘I can train here,’ he thought, excitement coursing through his veins. ‘Finally, someone who can sharpen my Keen Reflexes.’ His grip on the spear tightened further as a grin spread across his face.
‘Five hours,’ he decided. ‘I’ll give myself that time to train—no more, no less.’ He knew he needed to set a limit. Without one, he might lose himself in the battle for days—and that, he sensed, would be a dangerous mistake.
The sky serpent, having finished assessing Nova, reached a conclusion: this prey would not be able to escape. Without warning, it lunged, its mouth gaping wide. The water around it surged as it moved with a speed rivaling Nova’s swiftness on land, turning the tranquil lake into a battlefield.
Nova had never faced the sensation of something larger than a skyscraper hurtling toward him. Despite knowing he possessed far greater strength than the sky serpent, the sheer enormity of its form gnawed at the edges of his confidence. The overwhelming difference in size twisted his instincts, whispering that his spear would be useless against such a colossal beast.
Yet his focus never wavered. Eyes locked on the serpent's every movement, he forced his mind into icy clarity. In a flash, he drove his foot into the lakebed with enough force to crack the ground beneath him. The shock rippled through the water as he propelled himself to the right, narrowly evading the serpent’s gaping maw. Its jaws snapped shut with a deep, resonant boom, giving him a reminder of the power he was up against.
[Keen Reflexes proficiency increased]
The sky serpent crashed into the lakebed with devastating force, shattering the ground and carving out a crater at least fifty meters wide. Feeling nothing but rocks and debris between its jaws, it reared back and let out a roar—not the deep, thunderous bellow one might expect, but a sonorous, otherworldly sound. It echoed through the water, a chilling blend of thunder and wind that sent tremors rippling across the lake.
Its luminous eyes swept the area, quickly locking onto Nova, who stood unscathed at the crater’s edge. He remained still, spear in hand, his posture calm—waiting, as if the serpent’s attack were nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
The serpent felt the weight of his gaze. There was no fear in those eyes—only a cold indifference, as though the creature's existence was a mere formality, destined to end when it had served its purpose. This ant dared to treat it as if it were already dead.
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Anger flared as, with a sudden burst of speed, it lunged again—faster this time. Not by much, but enough for Nova, with his high mental processing speed, to notice the difference.
He moved effortlessly, slipping past the serpent’s strike by the thinnest of margins.
Again and again, the serpent attacked, and each time Nova evaded by a hair’s breadth.
They fell into a deadly rhythm—a dance of predator and prey—though it was becoming less clear which was which.
[Keen Reflexes proficiency increased]
[Keen Reflexes proficiency increased]
[Keen Reflexes proficiency increased]
The cracks in the lakebed spread ever wider, the battle reshaping the very land beneath them. Within just twenty minutes, the ground had sunk several meters, the relentless struggle leaving its mark on the environment.
An hour later, the lakebed had dropped another twenty meters, and Nova, with growing precision, began to wound the serpent each time it lunged, wearing it down while simultaneously fueling its fury.
His goal was clear: to provoke the beast into a ceaseless barrage, a strategy that would allow him to maximize his remaining four hours.
And it was working.
The Sky Serpent showed no sign of hesitation, only pausing for brief, ragged moments before launching itself at Nova once more. The earth itself seemed to tremble under the force of the serpent’s strikes, and soon, even the walls of the lake began to crumble.
Two hours into the battle, the ground outside the lake had begun to shake, the tremors growing louder and more violent with each passing second. Eiruk, standing a safe distance away, couldn't hide the unease in his expression as the quaking intensified. The tremors hadn’t ceased since they began—if anything, their frequency and power were escalating.
Meanwhile, Ordun stood frozen in place, his mind racing. After recovering enough to move, he'd returned to the spot where Nova and Eiruk had found him earlier.
He stood there, staring at the lake, his thoughts in disarray. “How is this possible?” he muttered, his voice laced with disbelief and frustration. “How can that kid still be going against the Sky Serpent? What’s happening down there?” The confusion gnawed at him, but what struck him more was the surge of anger—anger at himself for misjudging the situation, anger at the audacity of a mere child proving him wrong when he had already written him off as dead the moment he entered the lake.
The king was locked in an internal struggle, one that only he could face.
By the third hour, the tremors had grown so intense that Eiruk had no choice but to sit down, fear gripping him that he might lose his balance if he remained standing. Meanwhile, Ordun remained deep in thought, his face a shifting mask of conflicting emotions, each moment revealing a different feeling as the battle unfolded.
As the fourth hour approached, a subtle shift began to occur. The tremors, still more powerful than ever, were no longer constant. They came in waves—strong bursts followed by moments of eerie calm. The silence that filled the gaps between the tremors was unnerving.
Eiruk, heart pounding, stood frozen in place. He was afraid that if he moved, the situation would change unpredictably, so he remained utterly still, his breath shallow and almost silent, the only sound betraying his tense stillness.
At the center of the room, the giant king’s face was no longer a reflection of inner turmoil. His emotions had solidified into a single, grim determination. He clenched his teeth, and from the look of it, his internal battle was nearing its conclusion.
Beneath the lake, Nova stood firm, his breath steady, his gaze fixed on the Sky Serpent. The creature was a shadow of its former self—one of its wings was missing, and its body was riddled with countless wounds, bleeding profusely. Its breath was ragged, each intake as desperate as the last, its chest heaving as though it sought to inhale the very waters of the lake itself.
‘Five hours. It's time to end this’, Nova thought.
Without hesitation, he lunged forward, his spear aimed directly at the serpent. The beast, its eyes heavy with exhaustion, only watched him, seemingly too drained to move. Perhaps it had already accepted its fate.
Even as Nova’s spear neared its target, the Sky Serpent continued to stare, as if determined to burn Nova's image into its mind.
[Spear Thrust proficiency increased]
Blood erupted from the serpent’s wound, spilling into the lake as if trying to turn the waters crimson. The sheer volume was overwhelming—Nova had barely thrust his spear before he found himself drenched, the warm liquid soaking him to the bone. With a final, decisive push, his weapon tore through the beast completely, severing its massive body in half.
The Sky Serpent let out a deafening roar, its agonized cry echoing across the waters as it thrashed violently, churning the lake into a chaotic frenzy before going back silent.
Even in its death throes, the serpent remained alive, its sheer willpower defying the damage it had sustained. Nova couldn’t help but mentally commend the beast as he advanced toward its head. With a calm, deliberate movement, he thrust his spear once more, keeping his gaze locked with the serpent’s.
It didn’t scream. The creature was too weak, too battered, to even open its jaws. When the spear struck its head, it was an instant death—its brain turned to mush with the force of the blow. In the presence of such a legendary beast, Nova couldn’t suppress a weary internal sigh, his thoughts drifting. ‘It’s done. If only you could have come out with me…’
A fleeting sadness passed through him before he quickly redirected his focus. ‘At least I can finally collect something worthwhile.’
Up until now, Nova had never bothered with the bodies of his fallen enemies. There had been little point in collecting them—he couldn’t sell them, and they held no use for him. But this… this was different. This was the Sky Serpent, a creature who had a body with no useless parts.
He touched what remained of its head, carefully considering how to preserve it. His thoughts turned to the Inventory, and with a thought, the creature’s head vanished into it. ‘Easier than I thought,’ he mused.
He repeated the process for every intact part of the serpent’s body, gathering what he could. Once satisfied, he finally allowed his mind to drift toward the notifications he had missed.
[Spear Thrust proficiency increased]
[Received 51,260,000 Stat EXP]
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