A Snake's Life

by Kenneth Arant

  Broken bones were ignored and being impaled only slowed it down, unless it was through the head or heart. Then it was only incapacitated until I restored it. Even having its head caved in barely deterred it.

  However, the farther from its original capabilities I pushed it, the more energy it took to control. At its maximum potential, I only had enough energy to keep it sustained for ten minutes before I was completely depleted and needed to eat.

  Because of this, I decided to only use it for combat purposes as a last resort. After all, running out of energy while I was in the middle of a fight would defeat the purpose of using it in the first place. And in such a case, I would be better off fighting as myself instead of the puppet.

  But, for the time being, I was going to enjoy “playing around” as the puppet.

  Holstig, Siofs, and Hogunn stood across from the puppet with their weapons drawn. As I had stopped to eat, there was time for a quick bout between the goblins and me. So, I'd assumed control of the puppet while my real body focused on eating its way through a mountain.

  The puppet tilted its head to the right until it was parallel to the ground. It smiled at the goblins. "Ready?" it asked.

  The three of them gripped their weapons tighter, then they charged. They closed the twelve-foot gap in only a few seconds and they each swung at a different part of the puppet's body. Siofs swung in a horizontal slash aimed for the head, Holstig stabbed at the stomach with his longsword, and Hogunn swung his morning star at its left knee.

  The puppet lifted its right leg and kicked the handle of the morning star, deflecting its arc. Next, it tilted its body back until it was staring up at the sky, so the blades passed safely overhead. And with one quick move it launched into a back tumble and came up in a crouched position.

  The puppet rushed at the goblins and began its “dance.” It would dodge around Siofs and Holstig, while it focused on Hogunn. The two larger goblins swung their swords at its head and legs from behind in an attempt to catch it off guard, but the puppet jumped into the air and double kicked Hogunn in the face. The puppet used the sudden momentum to push itself into a corkscrew spin that allowed it to pass between the blades. Hogunn was launched headfirst onto the ground, where he lay motionless.

  The puppet, after passing through the blades, stuck out its right arm and pressed it into the ground, stopping its spinning and allowing it to move again. It kicked out with its left leg, hitting Siofs in the back, and jumped over its arm to land back on its feet.

  Siofs stumbled forward, but then turned around and leaped at the puppet, swinging her sword through the air as she did. The puppet stepped out of the way and swung its fist into her jaw. Her downward momentum only added to the force of his fist, and she was instantly knocked out. The puppet reached out with his other arm and caught the front of Siofs shirt before her head could slam into the ground, then let her down gently.

  Holstig waited for the puppet to put her down, then charged with his shield raised. The puppet let him get as close as possible before it jumped into the air and placed its right hand on Holstig's head, then pushed off and vaulted over him.

  It landed in a crouch, spun around and attempted to sweep his legs out from under him. *Clang!* His metal skin bent the puppet’s legs in the wrong direction. He turned around and kicked the puppet in the face while stomping on its foot, causing the puppet's neck to snap backward.

  Holstig bent down and grabbed the puppet by the shirt and started bashing its face in with his shield. Three smashes later, the puppet was immobilized.

  Holstig stood up straight and said, "You lost again, Master."

  I let out a sigh. "Yes Holstig, I'm aware..."

  I healed the puppet while Holstig woke up the other goblins and they sat down to wait for Findral to return from exploring the area. Two hours later, she returned and informed us that all was well, and we could continue moving without issue, as the surrounding area was barren of civilized life. So, I took her word for it and continued to dig my way through a mountain.

  Three days later, I finally completed carving a tunnel through the several mile-long mountain range—which may have seemed like an incredibly long time to waste. But since it would have taken over a week to go around it and going over it would have been impossible due to the sheer cliff wall that prevented me from climbing up, through the mountain it was. And once I was through, I continued moving towards my goal of finding the other branch.

  TWO MORE WEEKS PASSED while we were traversing the land, and we eventually arrived at the ocean that separated this continent from the rest of the world. I stopped and allowed the goblins to do whatever they pleased for one week, while I rested.

  Two of those days went by without much happening but on the third day...

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Findral

  Race: Lower Flame Princess

  Classification: Tier 4

  Class: Spy: Rank 4

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Findral had finally eaten enough to evolve into her next race. No longer was she the small, bald goblin that I'd come to know. She grew to around six feet tall and short, orange, flame-like hair grew from her head and hung down to her chin. Two small horns grew from her forehead.

  She celebrated her new form by shooting balls of fire into the air and jumping around. However, her celebration was cut short after Siofs smacked her head and pointed to the fire she'd started with her antics.

  While Siofs berated Findral, Holstig and Hogunn were forced to put out the fire by filling the leather sacks up with water and dumping it on the flames. But even after her mishap, Findral wouldn't be deterred from her celebration, and she spent the next week with a smile on her face.

  The good news didn't stop there, as she wasn't the only one to evolve during this period of rest. On the fifth day, another goblin evolved—only she didn't complete her evolution until the seventh day.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Siofs

  Race: Water Hobgoblin

  Classification: Tier 4

  Class: Warrior: Rank 3

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Siofs had apparently caught and eaten enough water creatures to finally unlock her element. Her skin turned a bluish green color and gills grew on her neck, but otherwise, she didn't change physically.

  The two of them evolving in such drastically different ways prompted me to ask Siofs about the goblin evolution tree.

  "Well, Goblins are... adaptors. Unlike other creatures that require certain stones to evolve or are required to eat creatures that are saturated by the elements, goblins have the inborn ability to draw out small amounts of elemental energy from everything we eat. Because of this, we don't have a strict path to follow like most races do. For example, Holstig over there..." she motioned to Holstig who was fighting with Findral over the last fish. "He used to eat small bits of metal every day until he eventually evolved into a metal goblin."

  She pointed to Hogunn. "Hogunn did the same, but with normal stones instead of metal. And Findral used to heat stones until they began to melt, then she would put them in her mouth and literally suck the fire energy out of them."

  I looked over at the cheerfully fighting Findral and tried to picture her having the discipline required to torture herself in order to evolve.

  Siofs must have recognized the look on my face, as she quickly added, "Don't let her appearance fool you, Master. Findral is a lot tougher than she looks."

  "I'll keep that in mind." I shook my head, then refocused on Siofs. "Why does she look so different from the rest of you, though?"

  Siofs glanced over at Findral, then back to me. "Because of her fire element magic, she was given the opportunity to evolve beyond the goblin forms and she took it," she finished with a lazy shrug.

  "I see..." I turned away from her and called to the other goblins.

  "Let's go. We've got a long way to go and I want to get there before I die of old age!"

  The goblins quickly packed up their stuff with some help f
rom the puppet, then they all climbed on and I slid into the water.

  “It's good to be back in the water... I hope there's plenty of fish in this ocean because I'm starving," I said aloud as I swam further out into the water.

  Chapter 31

  IT ONLY TOOK A FEW days of swimming in the ocean for me to realize that while there were plenty of fish, there was sadly a lack of anything higher than a Tier 1 creature. Which meant I stayed perpetually hungry, even while surrounded by literal tons of food.

  Eventually, I grew tired of constantly slowing down to catch the small fish, so I just focused on swimming and made the puppet go fishing for me. It dove into the water with the dagger in its mouth and swam along with me, while it caught any fish that happened to come near.

  Three hours into our trip, the puppet threw the goblins some fish for Findral to cook so they wouldn't be too hungry to fight in case something was to happen.

  And when something did happen, I let out a sigh. "I'm glad I prepared for these instances, but why is my luck always so bad? It's almost like every time I wish to be left alone, something decides to send trouble my way."

  It was Findral who'd seen them first and she'd been all too eager to yell out her discovery to the rest of us. Thirty ships, all of various makes and sizes, were floating on the horizon, and between them flew three flags: a red flag, with a golden lion's head insignia; a purple flag, with a silver bird insignia; and a black flag, with a white skull insignia.

  The red flags were flown on ships that appeared to have been created for combat, massive in size and scope. They were well over three hundred feet long and one hundred feet wide and lined with enough cannons to pulverize a mountain, with an especially large cannon mounted at the bow. They easily had the most firepower, but they also had the least number of ships, with only four ships total.

  The purple flags were flown on ships that appeared to be defenseless. They were small in size, being about the size of the ship Fenris and his family used. They had no cannons to speak of, but each ship had multiple sails and oars sticking out of the lower part of their hulls. So, I assumed they were meant for speed. There were eight ships bearing the purple flag.

  Lastly, the black flags were the most numerous, and also the most diverse. The black flags were flown on an amalgamation of ships that ranged from the combat ships of the red flags to the travel ships of the purple flags. Their numbers were even further padded out by many other types of ships, with the largest ship being tens of stories high, and resembled a floating city. Ships of every size imaginable were used as supports for the three “castles” that rested atop it to further emphasize their majesty, as if the castles weren't enough. The owners of the floating city had each castle lined with cannons, and on the roof of each sat a wooden, high-backed chair.

  I let out a deep sigh. "What's with that overly grandiose display? It's almost like they want someone to aim for the chairs at the top."

  Siofs, who'd heard my words, voiced out her agreement. "I agree, Master. Truly a foolish move to put yourself on display as such an easy target—"

  A cannon fired at the top of a castle in an attempt to destroy the chair... But a golden shield manifested before the cannonball could get near it and sent the ball flying off into the distance.

  "Well... It seems I was mistaken," I said in a quieter voice.

  That first cannon shot led to an all-out war between the ships. The red flags versus the black flags, while the purple flags tried to flee.

  However, this action led to an idea. I still needed to gain the Leviathan evolution and as the ships with cannons were currently distracted, well, let's just say I had no intention of allowing this opportunity to pass me by.

  "Findral, can you survive underwater?" I asked, while staring at the fleeing ships.

  "You underestimate me, Master... You're underestimating all of us it would seem," she replied with a giggle.

  I turned my head around to look at her and when I did, she proved that I had indeed been underestimating them. The flames on her body turned from bright orange and yellow to blue and purple. The heat that came off her was enough to evaporate the nearby ocean water almost instantly.

  "We're adaptors, Master... There's not a climate in existence where we cannot thrive," she said with a mad grin—an action the others quickly copied as they each moved.

  Siofs jumped off my back and landed in the water, staying submerged for ten seconds before she rose to the surface and stepped out of the water to stand on top of it.

  Hogunn and Holstig both jumped in and swam towards Siofs, who caught them and began to pull them out of the water where they joined her on the surface.

  "You see, Master. Though we are not the physically strongest race, we make up for it by being the most adaptable," Findral said, before she jumped into the air. A second before she touched the water, a micro explosion beneath her feet sent her flying into the air.

  She would cause one of these explosions every time she began to drop towards the water, and this allowed her to, for all intents and purposes, run across the water as if it were dry land.

  "I must say... I've never been happier to be wrong," I said. Then I ordered the puppet to follow Siofs orders for the time being. "Your target is one of the purple flag ships. Clear out the people aboard, then get out of the area."

  "What will you be doing, Master?" Holstig asked.

  The puppet gave them a toothy grin in my place. "It's lunchtime, Holstig... I'm going to eat my fill," I replied, then I dove under the water and swam as fast as I could towards the ships.

  I swam until I was directly underneath one of the purple ships, then I launched myself out of the water and barreled into that ship and two others, turning them into splinters.

  Suddenly, everything went quiet, as if the entire world had turned off the sound. I stared down at the humanoids clinging to their ruined ships and they stared up at me in turn.

  "I'm truly sorry about this, but I'm starving over here," I said with a polite bow of my head.

  ".........." The humanoids were silent for ten more seconds, then. "M... Monster!!" one of them yelled, causing the active cannons to cease fire on the black flags and focus on me.

  "Oh well, let's get this over with," I sighed, as I opened my “eyes” and activated my petrification skill.

  Almost instantly, forty percent of the humanoids were turned to stone. But the ones who weren't, were either too powerful to be petrified or had looked away at the right time. I left my ”eyes” open, while I charged up my next attack, and it finished charging, right after the red and black flags had fired a volley at me.

  "Twenty percent power should suffice..." I shot out a consistent beam of energy and quickly twisted my head, causing the beam to turn ten ships to dust and killing who knows how many people.

  A pop-up appeared almost immediately after...

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have unlocked the following evolutionary path: Elemental Leviathan

  Would you like to evolve?

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Before I could respond, multiple cannonballs smashed into me, causing severe pain and a few cracked scales, but otherwise it just pissed me off.

  "No." I growled out. The pop-up disappeared and a new one took its place.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Very well, you have passed up the Elemental Leviathan path. As a result, this path has forever been locked to you.

  Please select your reward for unlocking it:

  Superior Strength

  Acidic Blood

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "Superior strength!" I quickly said, while ducking under the water again to prevent my attackers from firing another volley at me.

  However, despite my quick answer, I'd actually thought about this choice for a long time. And I'd come to the decision that Superior Strength was the more useful of the two for one reason. Superior Strength is transferable to my possessed bodies, while Acidic Blood most likely was not.

  Just
like I'd lost my wings while I was inside the goblin body, I guessed that I would also lose the acid blood if I possessed a body. Could I be wrong? Sure I could, but I would rather take a certain bet over a gamble, any day.

  Another pop-up immediately followed my choice.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have been granted the Supreme Strength skill, due to unlocking and rejecting the Elemental Leviathan path.

  *Note: The Leviathan Superior Strength combined with your already increased strength to unlock its current level.

  *Note: Your Growth trait has been increased by 7, bringing it to Growth +10

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "That's going to be a problem in the future," I said with a sigh as I launched myself out of the water and slammed into the barrier around the bottom of the floating castles. My massive size and weight launched one castle off the ship and sent it flying into the air. It flew over one hundred feet away, then it crashed into the water. The other two castles collapsed under their own weight and the ship as a whole fell onto its side.

  Then I turned my attention to the red flags. I snapped my head out and bit one of the ships completely in two, with the back half of the ship becoming my meal.

  Another volley of cannonballs came flying my way, but I picked up a red flag by its mast and used it to take the brunt of the volley. Then I tilted my head back and used my tongue to pull the ship into my mouth, where I quickly chewed it up.

  The black flags decided to use this opportunity to flee, but I cut them off by thrusting my head into the water behind them, causing a massive wave to capsize over half the ships, while I destroyed the rest by another charged shot.

  This left only one red flag and four purple flags, after the goblins took over one of the remaining purple ships and left the immediate area. These five ships were the only witnesses. Then suddenly, a loud roar echoed from one of the castles.

  I and the remaining twenty humanoids turned to look at the now glowing castle.

  "That's going to be a problem..." Before whatever was about to happen actually happened, I quickly scooped up two of the purple flags and ate them, then I blasted the red flag with an energy beam. And finally, I picked the second-to-last purple flag out of the water and slammed it into the remaining ship, leaving only me and whatever was about to burst out of the now swelling barrier. A large black tentacle came out of the barrier that easily stretched over a mile into the sky. It came crashing down, causing massive waves to knock me about for a few seconds. The tentacle was then followed by a truly massive octopus, which was attempting to pull its body out of the barrier.