CHAPTER 182: [IT CAN SPEAK?]

’Here we go.’

The thought barely formed before the entire world moved beneath him.

The serpent’s massive body trembled once—then shifted. The sound was deep and terrible, like mountains grinding together.

Beneath Eli’s palms, the scales vibrated violently, the jagged ridges biting into his skin until he felt them tear.

The ground was gone. There was only motion—endless, rolling, alive.

Then came the sound.

A low, guttural rumble that wasn’t quite a roar but wasn’t just a hiss either. It vibrated through his bones, through the air, through everything.

Eli’s breath hitched. His heart stuttered. "You’re finally awake," he whispered, voice barely audible over the quake of the serpent’s breathing.

The creature’s body moved like an ocean caught in a storm. Its scales rippled in waves, muscles twitching beneath the armor of obsidian and blue. Each movement sent a rush of wind spiraling up around him. Eli’s chest tightened, and his fingers dug deeper into the ridges just to keep from being thrown off.

’Hold on—just hold on—’

But his grip was slipping. His arms burned. His entire body trembled from strain and adrenaline.

The serpent’s pulse throbbed beneath him, a monstrous rhythm that shook the earth itself.

With every breath it took, the air around him seemed to grow heavier—thicker with mana, dense enough that it stung his lungs when he tried to inhale.

"Shit—" Eli hissed, pulling himself lower, trying to flatten his body against the creature’s back. But it only made the serpent move harder, the massive form beneath him coiling tighter, like it could feel him there.

And then—

"ELI!"

The sound sliced through the chaos like lightning.

Eli froze, breath caught in his throat. His head snapped toward the ground, and for one dizzying second, he almost lost his balance.

Below—through the smoke and the broken forest—he saw them.

Zaira. Jabby. Mel. Mio. Punzo.

Their figures glowed like sparks against the serpent’s shadow, their voices overlapping in panic.

"Eli, get down!"

"Are you insane?!"

"Move, before it—!"

Eli blinked, his chest twisting. ’They got here already?’

But they weren’t alone.

’How...’

Just a few meters ahead of the group—standing side by side, despite the tension burning between them like fire—were Kairo and Caelen.

’...come I can see them now?’

Both of them looking up.

Both of them staring straight at him.

Eli’s pulse spiked. ’Since when...? Did I even need to do this? But...’

The system was still glitching.

Kairo’s sword gleamed faintly, veins of red mana crawling across its surface. His voice, when it reached Eli, was calm—but that kind of calm that barely hid the fury beneath.

"Eli, it seems you can see us now." he said steadily, "I need you to get down. Slowly. Don’t move too fast."

Caelen’s scoff came right after, sharp and laced with disbelief. "Unbelievable," he muttered, the sound half a growl.

"You spend a few hours with Twilight Guild and suddenly you think climbing an SS-Class boss monster is a good idea?"

His smirk was razor-thin—more tension than amusement. "You even tried to wake it up. Seriously?"

The faint golden glow in his eyes flickered like a warning. His tone was teasing, yes, but underneath it—under the mockery—was something else. Something that sounded dangerously close to worry.

Eli’s throat tightened. ’He’s pissed... but he’s worried too.’

’So they saw everything, huh?’

He opened his mouth, ready to say something—anything—to defuse the situation, maybe even crack a joke.

Something like "Hey, it worked, didn’t it? I can see you now." or "You were too busy fighting so I decided to move on my own."

But before a word could leave his lips—

The serpent moved.

Harder this time.

The entire world seemed to tilt. The air split with a thunderous hiss, trees bending and shattering from the pressure alone.

And Eli—caught mid-breath, still gripping onto the scales—felt his stomach drop.

The serpent’s scales split apart with a wet, tearing sound.

From the cracks seeped something slick and luminous—a glowing blue liquid that oozed down its body in slow, viscous streams, coating the dark scales in a sheen that shimmered like lightning trapped beneath glass.

The air thickened.

It wasn’t just mana this time. It crackled.

Eli blinked, chest heaving, eyes widening as realization hit too late.

The slime shimmered once.

Then sparked.

’Oh, shit—’

The world turned white.

A violent current ripped through his body, the sound of it sharp and terrible—like thunder exploding inside his bones.

Pain surged everywhere at once, hot and merciless. His back arched; his fingers clawed at the scales, slipping as his muscles locked up. His vision fractured—light, static, flashes of blue and black.

He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t even scream properly. The noise that tore from his throat was raw, animal, broken.

’It—hurts—it—hurts—’

Every nerve burned. Every thought dissolved into light and agony.

He had completely forgotten. The serpent wasn’t just capable of summoning storms. It was one.

Its body was the storm.

The crackle of electricity danced over his skin, and the smell of ozone filled his lungs. His hands, slick with the glowing slime, slipped—his body pitching sideways.

Somewhere below, voices echoed faintly through the chaos:

"Eli!"

"Kai! He’s falling—!"

"Get him—someone get him!"

Kairo’s sharp voice, Caelen’s furious one, Mio shouting his name, Zaira’s scream—all blurred together into a haze of noise.

The serpent shifted again. The scales rolled like waves beneath him, and then—his grip gave out.

He fell.

The world spun violently. Wind screamed past his ears as his body tumbled through the air, the ground rushing closer, closer—

He couldn’t move. Couldn’t feel anything except the echo of the electricity still clawing through his nerves.

Then—

"Orion." Eli whispers, not knowing why.

A word.

That name.

A voice inside his head, low and familiar, spoke a name that didn’t belong to this moment.

Orion.

The same name that haunted the edges of his memories.

Was it the lightning? The system? His mind breaking apart? He didn’t know.

’Who are you? Why do you keep showing up?’

Was it Elione?

Or someone else?

The question echoed uselessly in his head. Everything else was confusion. Noise. Pain.

He closed his eyes. ’It’s fine... just brace for it. It’s going to hurt. Just—hit the ground already.’

Except—he didn’t.

The impact never came.

The fall stopped midair, so abruptly it stole what little breath he had left. The pressure vanished from his chest. The pain faded, the static quieted.

He was... floating.

No—he was being held.

Warmth spread across his skin, faint but familiar—the pulse of controlled mana, steady and grounding.

"Honestly, Princess," came a cold, dry voice above him.

Eli forced his eyes open, blinking through the haze of leftover light.

And then he saw him.

Pitch-black eyes staring down at him. A hand gripping his arm firmly, the faint red of blood energy coiling between Kairo’s fingers.

"Kairo..." Eli breathed, his voice rough, small.

Kairo’s jaw tightened. "How many times are you going to do something reckless?" His voice was calm, but his eyes burned with restrained anger. "At this point, I can’t even blame the bastard for your last raid. Maybe he didn’t have anything to do with you getting hurt."

Eli exhaled shakily, managing a weak smile despite the ringing in his ears. He knew exactly who "the bastard" was.

Caelen.

"...Well," Eli muttered, voice soft but tinged with exhausted relief, "I can see you now."

"You motherfucker."

The voice cut through the chaos like a blade. Sharp. Furious.

Eli’s head snapped toward the sound on instinct, his heart lurching.

For a split second, he thought Caelen was yelling at him, and his shoulders tensed.

"Wha—"

The word caught in his throat.

Caelen wasn’t standing. He was on the ground.

It didn’t look like he had fallen—there was no stumble, no loss of footing.

No, it looked deliberate. The scuffed dirt around him, the faint ripple of mana in the air—he had been pushed.

And there was only one person close enough, strong enough, to do it.

Kairo.

"How dare you push me," Caelen growled, his voice low and venomous as he rose to his feet. His body glowed faintly with golden cracks of energy pulsing across his skin, his eyes burning brighter, almost molten.

Kairo didn’t even flinch. "You were in the way."

Caelen let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh—part fury, part exhaustion, the kind that came from too many battles and too little patience.

"You’ve been getting on my nerves, Kairo," he muttered, cracking his neck, taking a slow step forward.

Kairo said nothing.

Didn’t even look at him.

That silence was worse than any insult—and Caelen felt it. The air around him rippled, the gold in his aura flaring hotter with every breath.

"Caelen, don’t—" Punzo’s voice broke through the tension, strained and desperate. But it didn’t matter. He didn’t have to finish the sentence.

The ground moved before anyone could.

The earth itself shook.

A thunderous crack split the air as the serpent began to uncoil—massive rings of its body sliding over one another with a noise like shifting mountains. Dust exploded from the ground, trees snapping in every direction.

Everyone froze, heads snapping upward.

The creature’s enormous form rose from the cratered earth, its scales glinting with residual light from the electricity that had burned through Eli moments before.

Its eyes opened—cold, alien, and furious.

"In position," Kairo said, his tone clipped, his sword already forming in his hand. He didn’t spare Caelen another glance.

Caelen’s jaw tightened. For a heartbeat, it looked like he’d say something back, maybe throw another insult—but instead, he turned to his team, his own weapon glowing with golden light. "We’re killing this monster."

His tone was final. Brutal.

Eli, still weak and aching from the electrocution, could only stare. He lay on the ground near the edge of the clearing, his breathing uneven, his body trembling. His chest burned, his nerves still raw.

’They’re still not working together,’ he thought bitterly. ’All of that—and now they’re fighting again. I got hurt for nothing.’

His eyes lifted, slowly, to the serpent’s towering form. Its neck rose high into the fog, blue light flickering faintly under its scales like veins of lightning.

Then—something strange struck him.

’Wait...’

The serpent wasn’t just moving. It was seething. Its body pulsed with anger. The air itself felt charged with hate.

It was angry.

But—why?

Even before, when it electrocuted him... his danger sense hadn’t triggered. Not even a flicker.

He usually knew when something was about to kill him. It was like an instinct, a sixth sense. But this time—nothing.

’Unless...’

His eyes widened slightly. ’Or...’

The thought didn’t have time to finish.

Because then—

The world went still.

Everyone froze. Every sound—the wind, the crackle of mana, the serpent’s shifting—fell silent.

And then, a voice.

Low. Guttural. Unnatural.

It crawled through the air like thunder underwater, distorted and heavy, vibrating through their bones.

"...rion..."

Eli’s blood ran cold.

That voice didn’t belong to anyone around them.

It came from the serpent.

"...Orion..."

Zaira’s mouth fell open, her face pale. "Did—it—did that thing just—"

"It spoke," Mio breathed, his eyes wide.

"It... It can speak?!"