“Was that… Was that supposed to be one of those snakes you were talking about?” Red asked, trying to catch his breath.

Reinhart shook his head. “Never seen anything that big. I heard about snakes of this size in tales before, but last I heard they all lived near the center of the canyon.”

“… Do you know what realm that was in?”

The knight scoffed. “No idea. But it doesn’t really matter, does it? Anything above the first realm could crush us like ants.”

Red agreed with his assessment. The duo was already hard pressed to deal with monsters in the Lesser Ring Realm, so anything more powerful than that could kill them with ease.

“If the snake is already that strong, does it mean the person who created this inheritance ground is even stronger?” the boy asked.

The knight shrugged. “They had to be pretty strong to create a place like this - with or without any giant snakes.”

“That lightning shower appeared alongside the snake.” this was something Red had noticed. “It might have the ability to manipulate or stimulate the lightning in the sky.”

“How’s any of that relevant, kid?” Reinhart frowned.

Red shrugged, finally regaining his composure. "I just find it interesting. Besides, information like that might still be helpful in the future if we have to deal with that monster.”

The man laughed. “If we have to do anything related to that snake in this trial, then you might as well say come to terms with your own death.”

Red was already prepared for that, but he didn’t agree with Reinhart’s assessment. The hawk had said that although strength was important for this trial, it wasn’t the only thing that mattered. That being the case, would there be a monster so powerful in this place as to make sure no one managed to succeed?

The boy didn’t believe that, but he had no way to be sure.

“Let’s just move on before any other giant monsters pop out of the ground.” Reinhart said.

Red nodded, and the two of them made their way through the trenches.

…

The next few hours were fairly uneventful.

They came across no giant monsters in the narrow gorge path. In fact, they didn’t come across many monsters at all, and those that they found were almost always hiding in their dens.

Red assumed this was because of the colossal snake, which had made the entire monster population in the trenches hide in fear. This benefited them, though, much more so with their improved vision. They made a lot of progress during this time period, and they were even able to corner and kill a few groups of monsters.

They found four more Spirit Stones in the dens of those creatures, and now they had four stones each.

Reinhart couldn’t be more happy with the situation. “We are rich, kid! Do you know how much these stones are worth on the outside?”

Red shook his head.

The knight continued to explain. “Look, even a cultivator at the Lesser Ring Realm might not have more than a few dozen spiritual stones in their possession. We already have four of them, and we have barely been in this trial for more than a few hours!”

“Don’t you find it weird we keep finding them in these monster dens?” Red asked. “What are they even doing there?”

"Who knows?” Reinhart shrugged. “More importantly, who cares? It might just be our reward for killing the monsters.”

The boy thought the man’s words sounded reasonable. However, Red couldn’t shake a certain feeling of unease off of his mind.

‘This is all just too easy.’

This was what concerned him. The labyrinth had been far more challenging to pass through, and the rewards were much less valuable than what they had gained thus far. It made no sense in Red’s mind, and he couldn’t help but wonder about what might wait ahead of them.

Soon enough, his concerns were justified.

“Stop!” the boy called out to Reinhart.

The knight froze in his steps and looked back at Red. “What is it? Did you notice something?”

Red frowned and looked towards the gorge wall on their right, a few meters above the ground. He sensed the fluctuation of a monster in there, but when he examined that spot, all he saw was the bare rock wall, with no signs of holes or other spots a monster could hide in.

“There’s a monster there.” he said.

Reinhart followed his gaze with a frown. “Are you sure about it?”

Red nodded. “I’m sure.”

If there was something he felt he could trust in with almost certainty, it was his crimson sense.

The knight didn’t question him any longer. Instead, he picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it towards the spot Red pointed out. As soon as the pebble crashed into the wall, something in the stone surface shimmered.

The shape of a creature started to become clear, moving around while gripping onto the wall with its body. Its grey scaly skin camouflaged almost perfectly amidst the rocks, and Red could only notice it after it started moving.

It was a snake.

The creature defied gravity as it stuck to the wall with no limbs. It was curled up, but the boy could tell it must be at least ten meters long from head to tail, and thicker than a human torso at its widest section.

The snake reared its head up, a large horn protruding from its nose. It stared directly at Red and Reinhart, its greenish eyes reflected the lightning above.

“… Motherfuck.” Reinhart cursed out loud.

There was an impasse between the two parties, as neither the snake nor the humans made the first move. A few seconds later, though, the snake let out a loud hiss.

Red and Reinhart drew their weapons, getting ready for battle. However, to their surprise, the snake didn’t charge at them. It instead turned around and slithered up the wall, disappearing into a crevice not too far from its initial position.

The duo didn’t lower their guards, though, half-expecting the snake to come out of its hiding place with a dozen more of its companions. A minute passed, though, and the monster didn’t reappear.

Reinhart snorted in contempt. “Never knew snakes were cowards.”

"Isn’t it actually pretty smart for running away from us when it knew it was outmatched?” Red asked.

The knight frowned. “I suppose you have a point there.” his frown turned into a smile in a flash. “Either way, thank the gods for you, kid. I would never have seen that thing on my own.”

Red, who had no interest in the man’s praise, shifted topics. “Have you heard of camouflaging snakes before?”

“Not really, but it doesn’t surprise me. There’s pretty much every kind of snake you can think of in the Great Serpent Canyon.”

“In that case, we should be more careful moving forward…” Red hesitated. “… My ability has a limited detection range, and it’s not impossible I might miss one of them.”

“I understand.” Reinhart nodded. “I’ll also keep an eye out for suspicious shapes. Now that we know what we are looking for, it might be easier to spot them.”

Red didn’t know if what the knight said was true, but it was the best he could do at the moment.

The duo continued to walk until, sure enough, Red detected another fluctuation with his crimson sense a few minutes later. In fact, he felt two of them, all in very close proximity to each other. When he looked at the place the fluctuations were coming from, though, he saw nothing but the stone wall.

He warned Reinhart about it.

The knight frowned. “I can’t see them.”

This didn’t surprise Red. “Maybe we should sneak by them. They don’t seem very aggressive, and we can’t really search their dens for any Spirit Stones.”

Indeed, the passage the earlier snake had disappeared into was barely one meter tall.

“Sure.” Reinhart nodded. “But keep an eye on them. They might try to ambush us as we’re passing through.”

Red was going to do that even without his prompting.

They walked forward a few steps, with Reinhart leading the way. Red, however, suddenly froze.

“Reinhart, stop moving.” Red called out to him, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

The knight immediately stopped, detecting the strangeness in the boy’s voice.

“What is it?” the man asked in a soft tone, not even turning his head to look at Red.

“There are more of them.”

Reinhart frowned, his gaze wandering to the surroundings walls. He still failed to spot the creatures, though. “… How many?”

The boy counted the fluctuations he felt. “Thirteen.”

It took a few seconds for the knight to respond. “… Which side?”

“All around.” Red said. “They’re very close together… There might be more of them ahead too.”

“Are there any on the ground?”

“Not that I can tell.” the boy frowned. “What are you planning on doing?”

A quiet laugh came from the man. “We are working on limited time here, kid. The last branch in the path is over two hours back… I’m not backtracking all that.”

“… What are you planning on doing?” Red repeated his question.

“We try to sneak through.” Reinhart said. “If they spot us, we run through.”

“They’re definitely going to spot us.”

“Then be ready to run.”

Red sighed. “I’ll follow your lead.”

Another quiet laugh. Then the man walked ahead with soft steps.

Red followed in tow, and sure enough, he detected even more fluctuations. They numbered the dozens already and kept increasing to the point that the boy started to feel overwhelmed by the signals. His steps didn’t falter, though, and soon enough, they were passing right by the first few snakes in their path.

Red held his breath, afraid to make the slightest noise. It was to no avail.

The wall shimmered, and the shape of a snake became clear. It reared its head up, staring directly at the duo. Its forked tongue came out, and it let out a low hiss. Suddenly, dozens of other shapes moved in its surroundings, joining their brethren with their hiss.

“Run!” Reinhart screamed.

The two of them shot ahead. The low hissing of the snakes became a full, loud, and threatening chorus, echoing through the trenches, even over the constant sound of thunder. Dozens more snakes started to move around the wall as Red and Reinhart passed by, slithering their way to the ground and chasing behind them.

The count in the boy’s head had already reached the hundreds.

“Quick, kid, hurry!” Reinhart yelled at him.

Red knew the man was holding back, not going as fast as he could just so the boy could keep up. However, Red was already pushing himself to his limits, and there was not much he could do to speed up further.

The snakes chasing them from behind weren’t a problem - they were fast, but the duo could outpace them. The issue was that the serpents ahead of them were also stirring into movement after hearing the warning of their companions, and they would soon block the way.

In fact, this was already happening.

Reinhart drew his sword and swung at a few snakes that lunged at him, battering them out of his path. Some of those also attacked Red, but the boy managed to dodge their bites for now. They wouldn’t be able to keep their defenses up, though, as soon enough the snakes would definitely overwhelm the both of them if they just kept running ahead.

The boy grabbed his Chain Lightning Talisman tightly, in preparation for the worst.

“Ahead!” Reinhart called out. “There’s a hole!”

Red also spotted it. A few dozen meters ahead, there was a large hole in the wall, resembling the entrance to a cave. In fact, it looked human made, but the boy didn’t have the time to examine it.

“I’ll clear the way!” Reinhart said.

Red also took his cleaver out just in case, but the knight didn’t seem to need his assistance on the front. In a few swipes, he cut the heads of three serpents that lunged at him in quick succession, clearing the way ahead. The boy stuck close to his back, having to throw away his caution against the knight for the moment to survive the snakes.

Behind them, the rest of the monsters were closing in, and Red had to bat a few of them away with his cleaver. Two more joined for every one that failed its attack, though, and the boy was on the verge of being overwhelmed.

“Get ready!” Reinhart screamed. “We’ll hold them off at the entrance!”

They soon reached the cave opening and entered the dark, but bright to their eyes, tunnel. The knight swiveled around on his feet, turning around to face the hundreds of snakes swarming towards them. Red stayed at his side, cleaver and talisman in hand.

“Be ready to retreat if… If…” Reinhart trailed off.

The boy also didn’t know what to say. The hissing of the snakes had suddenly subsided, and the serpents were all standing by the cave entrance. None of them moved ahead to enter, though. A hundred giant snakes, all mounted on top of each other and staring at the duo, seemingly too scared or simply unable to move past this cave entrance.

“What the fuck...” Reinhart whispered to himself.