The first thing Red did was to account for his resources. He had plenty of talismans with him, but he doubted any of them would be effective against the giant monster. Then there were the empowerment pills. Some of them had remained with him, and unlike Narcha, the boy planned on using them - but not until he was sure he needed them - since he wasn’t sure how long they lasted or what kind of side effects came with it.

The main issue, however, was still his crimson sense, and there was no solution for that. Reinhart’s analgesics could help, but the boy doubted they would completely eliminate the headache. He had no other ideas, though.

Rush through? Red doubted it would work as it did with Reinhart considering his weaker body.

Take your time like Narcha and Eiwin? That seemed to be an even worse idea, as it meant he would stay close to the beast’s fluctuation for longer.

In the end, he settled on a brisk pace - not quite running, but not quite walking either. This was because he knew the headaches would hit him as soon as he got within one hundred meters of the monster, and if it happened while he was running, he would probably stumble and the snake would kill him.

With his plan of action settled, Red didn’t hesitate to consume the analgesic powder Reinhart had given him. He also meditated using the Radiant Current technique, which came even more easily to him the second time around. With its help, he managed to relieve his body of tension and nervousness he had accumulated while thinking about his own likely demise, and achieved a feeling of serenity.

The effects of the meditation continued to impress him.

‘This is indeed a magical technique.’

Red also felt the presence of the crimson mist, but it didn’t respond to the prodding of his awareness. With no success on that front, the boy moved on. He put the empowerment pill in his mouth, but didn’t swallow it, instead holding it between his front teeth so he could consume it immediately in case he needed it.

All his preparations were done. Red looked over at the monster. He was suddenly reminded of the time when he had tried to cross the spiders’ nest. Back then, he also knew he was likely heading towards his own demise, but he needed to do it if he wanted to survive. Right now, the boy was also heading towards his own demise, but this time it was because he wanted to, and not because he needed to.

It was a foolish choice when Red put that into perspective, yet if he truly wanted to walk far in the path of a cultivator, this was the only choice he had to take. He had no more reservations.

The boy was about to take his first step forward when he felt something stir in his body. He recognized that feeling. It came from the same place as the foreign instinct that told him to stay away from the snake and caused his trembling, and yet now its message seemed to have changed. It was telling him to be confident, and almost like magic, Red felt certain of his own success.

‘So you can also help me when you want to?’

He knew this extra confidence wasn’t natural, but he wouldn’t complain about its help. Perhaps this was its way of telling him it was there for when he needed. With no more surprises, Red moved forward.

He counted the steps in his mind, continuing at an unwavering pace towards the snake. When there were only a handful of steps left before the one hundred meter mark, Red braced himself for impact.

The fluctuation surged within his crimson sense in an instant. A terrible headache came to him, the analgesics doing little to ease its impact. Yet, Red was prepared.

His steps didn’t falter. The only sign he was under any distress was his frown and the sweat dripping down his forehead. In reality, though, the pain was still as excruciating as before, and the only reason Red could endure it was because of his extensive preparation.

Yet, it didn’t last for long.

The mountainous snake stirred, opening its eyes and lifting its head to stare at the boy. Red felt the pressure on him increase, and his steps slowed down. This, coupled with the headache, threatened to make him collapse as he felt his muscles tremble.

‘I’m not even halfway through.’

After this grim realization, Red made a quick decision. He swallowed the empowerment pill he had been keeping in his mouth. It took a few seconds before the medicine took effect.

A ball of fire seemed to form in the pit of his stomach before spreading to the rest of his body. The reaction was almost instantaneous. Red felt strength surge into his muscles, and all of a sudden, the pressure he felt from the snake weakened by a noticeable degree.

His steps that had slowed down quickened again, and ten seconds later Red had crossed the fifty meter mark. There was a glimpse of hope in his task.

However, it once again didn’t last for long.

The closer Red got to the beast, the stronger its pressure became, so much so that even under this empowered condition, he had begun struggling again. This wasn’t all, either. The fluctuations of the snake got stronger the closer he was to it, and his headache also worsened.

By the time he reached the thirty meter mark, he had slowed down to a crawl. Cold sweat poured down his back and his muscles spasmed under the effort. Then he heard the sound of static.

The boy looked up, seeing arcs of lightning form around the snake’s body.

He knew what came next. Yet, he didn’t give up.

One step after another, he continued, right until he was within ten meters of the monster. However, his body seemed to have reached its limit as he struggled to take even a single step further.

The lightning around the snake intensified.

Red was not resigned to his fate, and struggled right until the point he felt blood pouring out of his pores. It flowed down his entire body, even his face. Some of the blood got into his eyes, but he refused to close them even as they burned from the pain.

And that was when he felt it.

Something stirred beneath his skin. The blood, which had almost covered his entire body, started to detach itself from his skin out of its own volition, something Red had experienced before in the illusionary tunnels.

The dozens of small droplets merged, forming minute strands that stretched around him. Even the blood in his eyes joined them, and the boy felt his vision clear up.

It was only now that Red noticed in alarm he had stopped moving. When he looked back up at the snake, though, all he saw was the monster’s enormous pupils had narrowed, and the lightning around its coiled frame had intensified to where it covered almost its entire body.

It still didn’t attack, though.

Red was still trying to wrap his head around what was happening when suddenly, the floating strands of blood around his body exploded. Countless droplets of crimson floated out, but they didn’t move randomly. Instead, they began forming a fine aura around the boy, through which all images reaching Red’s were diluted in the color of blood.

An intense feeling of recognition came to him.

‘The aura.’

Almost as if to confirm his suspicions, strands of darkness also floated out from his body, fizzling out of existence as they reached the edge of this crimson aura. This was the same phenomenon that had scared the spiders in the underground - except now it seemed to be using Red as its core instead of the insectoid crystal.

Suddenly, the boy felt the ground around him tremble. He looked back at the monster, and noticed that its entire coiled up body had started to move. The lightning around the beast intensified to the point where you could barely see any of its actual skin other than its eyes and horn.

The trembling intensified, and Red felt as if he was at the center of an earthquake. He lost his balance and fell to the ground, trying to distance itself from the moving mountain in front of him. Even with its enormous body, though, the snake seemed to avoid coming close to him, glaring at the miniscule creature in front of it.

It reared up, its now extended body reaching far above the canyon walls. Lightning started to strike the monster without pause, the noise overwhelming Red’s hearing. Then the creature opened its mouth and let out a hiss directed at the boy that eclipsed even the sound of the thunder.

The whole canyon shook. Rocks collapsed, the water in the pond was blown away, and even more lightning struck within kilometers of their surroundings. It was as if the world was ending.

Yet Red, who was at the center of it all, was completely unaffected. Even the sound that reached him seemed to be muffled.

The boy continued to stare at the monster in awe and terror, though, oblivious to whatever else was happening around him. The snake, which seemed ready to let out more of its anger, stopped moving all of a sudden. It looked away from Red, staring in another direction.

The boy was confused and tried to follow its gaze, but he couldn’t see what the creature was looking at. To his surprise, though, the lightning surrounding the snake died down, and it lowered itself back onto the ground.

The monster continued to stare at him for what felt like an eternity before it began moving away. It slithered over the canyon walls, its unimaginably large body following behind it long after its head had disappeared from view.

Before Red had even gotten up from the ground, the creature was gone. The crimson mist around his body slowly dissipated too, until the valley returned to its peace.

The boy, who could barely raise his head, looked over at where the monster previously stood. The wide passage was now open - a natural ramp leading up towards whatever else waited for him ahead.

At the top of this inclination, Red saw the faint figure of his companions. He could barely see them, but he could tell that at that moment they were also looking back at him.