Angor stayed where he was and watched the serpent swimming away. But soon, his hopes were dashed. The giant python swam for a while before turning its head to look at him. Although it didn't say anything, its cold eyes seemed to say a thousand words.
"Alright, lead the way. I'll go with you." Angor sighed. He was so unlucky. He thought he could protect himself with Nova of Defense, but he actually ran into a wizard-level monster. Did his prophecy come true?
"Toby, why don't you go ahead and scout for me?" Angor wanted to let Toby go alone, but Toby did not say anything. He just sat back on the top of his tall hat and did not move.
The serpent was also moving along the water. Angor was not stupid enough to believe that a monster would be kind to him, so he did not deactivate Nova of Defense along the way. He kept looking around, trying to find a way out.
However, the water was too wide and dark. It was easy to get lost. Even if he had Light, he could not illuminate far. He did not even know if there was a cliff or an empty space above the water.
After swimming for a few more minutes, Angor began to doubt if this was really the way the villagers left.
As for the black water passage in front of them, if they held their breath and swam faster, even an ordinary person would be able to pass through. But this water passage, or rather, this water passage … was it really possible for a normal person to leave this place?
But if it was not this way, why were there so many dead bodies along the way? Angor did not believe that it was the serpent that killed them. Leaving aside the fact that the serpent did not exist a thousand years ago, if it really did, there was no way the bones could be preserved so well.
Many questions popped up in his mind. Before he could finish his thoughts, the serpent suddenly swam up.
Angor had no choice but to go up.
Soon, he reached the water surface. Using Light, he saw that the space above the water was not big. It was like an upside-down bowl with a diameter of at most ten meters.
However, there was a hole in this "inverted bowl", and no one knew what was inside the hole. The serpent's giant head floated on the water surface and did not move.
Angor was only four or five meters away from the serpent, so he could feel its size even more clearly.
The serpent did not go ashore. It only stared at Angor with its golden eyes, which were clearly urging him to do something.
Angor did not know what to do either. He kept diving down to look for the exit, which was not realistic. He could not outrun the serpent, and he did not even know where the exit was. However, he felt that it was even more dangerous to go into a dark cave, and it was very likely to be the python's nest.
"What do you want me to do?"
The serpent stared at Angor in silence.
He decided to use his emotions to communicate with the serpent. But the giant python still didn't move, and its eyes were so cold that it made people shiver.
Angor's eyes were still darting around. He wondered if there were any other items in his bracelet that could help him out. He even considered letting Toby carry him forward for a while, then he could use Infinite Reticence to hide somewhere. However, the water current would easily expose him, and Infinite Reticence did not allow him to move into the void. He would be exposed as soon as the water current touched him.
He considered for a moment and decided to climb onto the bank. If he wanted to rely on Infinite Silence to hide, he definitely couldn't do it underwater.
When he reached the bank, the serpent slowly climbed up as well. Its enormous body was exposed to the air for the first time. The serpent wriggled its body and followed Angor into the cave. Along the way, Angor saw water droplets rolling down from the serpent's black scales and dripping onto the ground, creating a damp atmosphere.
Seeing this, Angor was even more certain that the serpent was the one who caused the damp marks on the ground.
Which meant the serpent had been watching them all this time? And it even opened a passage to the bottom of the lake to lure them in?
If the serpent really wanted to deal with them, why didn't it do it at the bottom of the lake? Or maybe the lake was too narrow for it to move freely? But that did not make sense either.
Angor decided not to do anything for now. He would follow the serpent to the end and see what it wanted.
…
The deeper they went, the wider the cave became. At the end, it was wide enough for hundreds of serpents to live in.
Angor was happy to see such a place. Once he decided to escape, he would use Infinite Silence to its fullest potential.
As they went deeper, Angor saw some illuminating plants. Unlike the ones in the underground world, which grew at the top of the cave and absorbed light from the sun and moon, these plants looked like dandelions. However, their fluffy, round bodies glowed green.
From afar, they looked like a group of green fireflies.
They were not very bright, but there were so many of them. Therefore, in the latter part of the journey, the glowing dandelions were enough to illuminate the entire underground cavern.
Soon, they arrived at their destination. Although there seems to be a path ahead, the giant serpent didn't go any deeper.
He looked deeper into the tunnel and wondered if the exit was at the end of the tunnel.
But now was not the time to think about it. He wanted to know what the serpent wanted to do.
He followed the giant python into another passage. This passage was truly sealed. Although it was very spacious inside, he could see the end at a glance with the help of the light from the glowing dandelions. This must be the serpent's nest, right?
The serpent slowly moved to a hole.
Angor joined them and looked down into the hole.
It was all dark. Angor could not see anything. Perhaps this was the serpent's nest.
The serpent slowly picked up a glowing dandelion with its beak and tossed it into the hole.
The glowing dandelion spun in the air and slowly floated down. Angor's eyes widened when he saw the light. This was not the nest of the serpent as he thought. Under the light, the bottom of the hole was full of white bones!
The light could only illuminate a small corner of the hole. But judging from the density of the bones, Angor could imagine how many skeletons there were at the bottom of the hole.
Hundreds, maybe even thousands of them!
Angor also noticed something else. The skeletons at the bottom of the hole were all intact, and most of them had … medical boxes beside them.
The familiar medical boxes confirmed Angor's suspicion. These skeletons belonged to the villagers of the abandoned village.
Could it be that the villagers he thought had escaped from the deserted village were all here?
None of them escaped. Did they all die here?
Who killed them? Was it the serpent? No. Angor thought about it. It should be easy for a serpent to crush them. But the skeletons here were in perfect condition.
He looked back at the serpent and saw a hint of sadness in its golden pupils.
Sadness? Why would a serpent feel sad for humans?
Was there some special connection between the serpent and these skeletons?
"… Special connection?" Angor suddenly remembered something. He took out the medical box he found at the bottom of the lake from his bracelet and took out a potion bottle from it. There was a strange symbol on the outside of the bottle. It was a snake with black scales coiling around a silver circular cone.
Next, he looked at the black anaconda beside him.
"That snake … is you?" Angor asked in a low voice as he looked at the sad serpent.
The serpent looked back and lowered its head without saying anything. It slid down the wall of the hole.
The serpent remained silent, but it did not deny Angor's question. Also, judging from its behavior, the serpent might really be the snake on the potion's symbol.
A real snake was used as the symbol in the symbol. Angor narrowed his eyes. He thought of some evil religions.
But as a doctor, on the day he took the oath, he was destined to go against the heretics. If a doctor used a snake as a symbol, did it mean there was a story behind the snake? Or did the snake represent some kind of spiritual belief?
As Angor pondered, the serpent slowly climbed up again. This time, it brought something with it.
Angor saw the serpent looking for something in the pile of skeletons. Now that it found something, it brought it up.
Angor was a little surprised when he saw what the serpent brought up.
It was actually a coffin?!
It was a coffin made of black greasewood. This type of wood was extremely rare. It would not rot in moist environments for tens of thousands of years. It was often used to make coffins in the mortal world. In the wizarding world, it was also a low-level magic plant, which was the best substitute for the shaft in machine alchemy.
The body of the coffin was black, while the lid was pure white. There was also a symbol on the lid of the coffin: "Snake Wrapped Around Awl".
The serpent brought the coffin up and gently placed its head beside Angor.
The serpent looked at Angor quietly. Its vertical pupils, which were supposed to be a cold-blooded creature, now contained a hint of pleading.
"So you brought me here to bury this coffin for you?" Angor looked at the coffin with a puzzled look.
Angor asked while putting his hand on the coffin.
As soon as his hand touched the coffin, something strange happened.
The coffin suddenly shook violently, swaying left and right. The lid of the coffin also jumped, as if there was something inside that was unwilling to give up and was trying to crawl out.
"Zombification?" Angor pulled his hand back and looked at it with a serious expression.
After a corpse died, if its soul did not leave the body, it could be turned into a "ghoul" through some special means. If the soul left the body, it had a chance to become a "walking corpse".
Walking corpses and ghouls were all low-level monsters. Wizards usually did not bother to make them. Instead of messing around with corpses, wizards preferred to turn living people into puppets. For example, the famous "Puppet Master" Bogula from the southern wizarding region loved to make "Beauty Puppets", and all of them were made from living bodies.
Angor frowned. "That can't be right. If it's zombification, the corpse should at least be intact. It's been dead for a thousand years. Is it a skeleton? "
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