Survive in the parallel world, please!

239 Survive the mana season, I beg you! part From Ryu’s point of view, all he was able to see was the beastkin girl nether parts. It wasn’t his fault though, there was nothing he could do to avoid it because of the way he was hanging. Risa didn’t miss this, but instead of making her usual dirty joke, she took a few seconds to analyze the situation.

There was little Ryu could do to help because he didn’t have any weapon suitable for the situation. She, instead, was wearing her katars and she was already accustomed to fighting snakes. Of course she would have preferred to have her huge knife like sword, but it was lost along with Famine and even if she had it, without hands there wasn’t much she would have been able to do with it.

Risa swiftly cut off the rope that kept her tethered to both Ryu and the beastkin girl, falling on the muddy ground elegantly. Goblins were being targeted from all directions, making it hard to pick an enemy. She needed to prioritize the stronger snakes since goblins were extremely vulnerable to stealth attacks. They weren’t accustomed to being caught by surprise, but there was little they could do to change the situation.

It took some effort, but with Risa’s help they made quick work of most enemies, counting their casualties with one hand making the instructor heave a sigh of relief.

“This is just the beginning!” Bardun desperately shouted, but it fell literally on deaf ears because of the time they spent under the influence of the powerful winds.

While goblins didn’t know much about the mana season, they were aware that snakes would procreate during heavy rains, Bardun knew that the snakes that were attacking them in a desperate frenzy were nothing but hatchlings and the true enemies were bound to be nearby.

The trees in the vicinity shook from side to side, evidencing the presence of a strong creature too big to be able to conceal itself under the mud, but being mostly deaf not everyone noticed its presence on time.

It was a red cobra, the same creature that Luke defeated in a single blow now threatened everyone’s lives. Red cobras were among the most poisonous snakes known to man, they relied on their speed to hunt prey because they needed but a single bite to end the fight. Usually they would only hunt bigger prey, but after the mating season they were in desperate need for food.

It was a well known fact that snakes would eat other snakes, even from their same species, but once a snake reached a certain size its cognitive capabilities were also enhanced along with its intelligence stat, meaning they also became more cunning and less inclined to eating their own.

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Because of this, they fed on anything that had a strong mana signature, especially lone adventurers, but a starved cobra would eat anything and everything on its way.

Ryu watched in disbelief the size of the snake right bellow him, and he couldn’t think of an effective way of killing it without sacrificing at least a few members of their group.

Bardun was already panting when the cobra appeared in front of him, although he was deemed as the goblin’s biggest hero, he was actually wiser than strong and he wasn’t excited about facing the new enemy.

The only silver lining was that most snakes retreated in the presence of an apex predator, they were simple creatures that obeyed their basic instinct. Once fear overshadowed their hunger they would simply turn tail.

Being the tallest of the goblins, almost as tall as a human teenager, Bardun held the grip of his sword tightly and jumped forward in an attempt to at least graze the snake to cause it some pain, but the cobra retreated.

It was aware of the strange weapons adventurers had at their disposal and it had devised a way to probe their strength without risking its life. A quick swoop of its tail sent Bardun to fly, but instead of clashing clumsily on a tree he used his legs to plunge forward in a seemingly impossible movement.

Risa didn’t lose her time either and attempted to cut through the cobra’s skin, thinking that the snake was stuck in between trees and had failed on its attempt to slither away. Risa struck with all her might on repeated occasions causing a numerous amount of light wounds on the snake’s tail, she moved her arms tirelessly but that was all she could do.

She was a warrior that had only recently unlocked the archer’s skilltree leaving her at a huge disadvantage with the weapons she was currently using. Power strike and slash were her more powerful skills, but they could only be performed with one or two handed weapons, oddly enough katars were considered dual wielding weapons and were more suitable for a thief than a warrior.

Most goblins retreated, trying to keep the small snakes from bothering the duo, because they knew their weapons weren’t able to pierce through the thick skin of the wild beast.

As the fight advanced, Ryu noticed something was off.

When Luke told them about his fight with a cobra, he mentioned how fast they were, yet this one left its tail exposed without even trying to dodge or run away. He scanned the area, quickly realizing the grave mistake his friends had made.

The cobra didn’t attempt to retreat, it was simply surrounding them to attack from a different angle. In despair, Ryu balanced his weight on the rope, counting on the superhuman strength of the beastkin girl and cut the rope with his obsidian dagger with perfect timing to be launched forward at an incredible speed.

He fell right on top of the cobra’s hood, and he slid down incapable of standing on top of its head. Ryu poked at the snake with its dagger, slowing down his descent just enough to avoid receiving any damage from the fall.

The snake writhed in pain and the vibrations in the air became so loud that both Risa and Bardun were able to feel them in their bodies.

When they turned around, they saw a gruesome scene.

The red cobra’s skin was open wide revealing much of its flesh and muscle. Blood had gushed out from the horrid wound dying the mud in red and Ryu was impaled by one of its enormous fangs.

In a last effort, the red cobra had turned around quickly enough to catch Ryu before he was able to run away.

Blood was dripping from his body and he was shivering and trembling, his eyes were white and foam was coming out of his mouth.

Not only he had been pierced by a huge fang, he had been poisoned.

The death of the cobra marked the end of the battle, everyone gathered around Ryu in silence thinking that he was already dead, but before anyone could shed the first tear he started vomiting profusely.

Risa ran as fast as she could and attempted to lift Ryu from his awkward position, although he showed life signs he didn’t respond in any way, not to the pain nor to Risa’s reckless behavior.

Ryu, who was still conscious, made his best effort to shout trying to keep Risa from moving him. He knew that as soon as they removed the fang he would bleed out within minutes if not seconds.

“Let me go, you idiot!” Ryu thought inwardly. He couldn’t believe an actual instructor would so something as stupid as moving an injured person.

No matter how much he tried to kick and scream, he was helpless as now even Bardun joined Risa on her effort to move him out, even Lea rushed forward to help and Ryu was about to fall in shock just because of their ineptitude.

Or that was what he thought at first. Things changed as soon as he felt the venom coursing through his body.

It didn’t matter that he possessed a poison resistance skill, it was too much for his body to bear, everything ached, from his muscles to his skin. He started swelling up so fast it was as if he was a balloon being inflated.

Lea quickly placed her hands over his chest and she chanted a prayer that couldn’t be heard by anyone, but the effects were swift.

Although Ryu’s pain didn’t diminish in the slightest, Lea was able to heal his internal organs keeping him from dying on the spot.

Words were unnecessary as everyone understood that they needed to get Ryu to the goblin village as soon as possible. They knew Ryu had equipment they could use to craft an antidote, but his condition was so dire he wouldn’t be able to make it himself, but that was his only hope.

Risa had completely forgotten about the beastkin girl and left her behind without a second thought, everyone moved swiftly on the muddy surface without caring if they were tired or hurt.

It was a race to save their companion and friend.