Chapter 182: Vine Snake (1)
Chapter 180
The forest was bustling with activity as the Aspirants scanned and tried to one-up each other, desperately attempting to claw their way to the top of the leaderboard.
Kai had already joined in the fray.
Coupled with Trisha’s furious movement and passive-aggressive scanning, the duo was literally crushing the competition.
Now, the other Aspirants couldn’t even manage to find a single unique plant to document before it was snatched away.
Chloe stood beside Ray, who hadn’t even bothered to scan anything since the expedition began.
What was the need?
There were far too few plants and flowers in this forest compared to the tons of humans trying to register them, so he didn’t even make the effort.
Instead, he remained rooted in one spot, arms crossed with the squad’s backpack resting on his shoulders.
Chloe hadn’t said a word, quietly observing the others as they aggressively shoved one another to claim a specimen.
In the end, heated arguments erupted around the forest with the Aspirants now pushing each other angrily.
In no time, actual fists could be thrown.
Trisha didn’t even care about the tension.
Anyone caught arguing and therefore unable to scan, she would simply walk over and scan their targeted plants for them.
Clearly, they didn’t care for the points nor need them, right?
So, in a way, she was merely helping them out.
Despite the escalating disagreements, Sony hadn’t even aimed to shut them down.
In fact, he had found a comfortable spot and decided to settle there, opening his own bag to pull out a cold soda with a straw tucked in.
Sipping it loudly, he exhaled with a contented sigh.
’Now this is the life. We can say the trees are umbrellas, the chattering kids are the ocean, and then the soft sunlight provides the warmth overhead. If we put this together, what’s the difference between this setting and the beach?’
Ray thought while standing still, his senses remaining on high alert.
He maintained a 360-degree awareness of his environment, which extended several meters around his current position.
He could track everyone’s movements; hence, he didn’t even need to search for Van with his eyes, even though he didn’t see his friend directly beside him.
He could sense the boy curiously tapping the trees as if waiting for a reaction from the wood, but there was none.
’Sigh... What a paranoid boy. I wonder what his big brain thought about that made him begin doing this.’
With a shake of his head, he continued observing his friend in deep thought until he sensed him poking the vine.
Yet, nothing happened.
’Even the vines? Bro, how paranoid are you?’
He shook his head once more with a soft chuckle when, almost immediately, every hair on his body rose up.
His eyes widened as his head shot up in a flash, startling Chloe who was standing right next to him.
"Wh-What is wrong?"
Ray didn’t reply as he twirled around in one smooth motion.
His eyes locked onto Van’s retreating back and then at the vine he had just poked a moment ago.
"Ba...thump..."
His heart skipped a beat as he peered closer, only to see a pair of furious yellow eyes locking onto his friend.
"Shoot! Chloe, hand over your bow now!" Ray shouted, his hand held out expectantly.
The girl was confused, but she decided to shelve her questions for later and swiftly handed the boy her bow along with a single arrow.
The moment the weapon left her grip, she suddenly realized something critical.
"Wait. You don’t know how to use the b—"
Not waiting for her to finish, Ray nocked the arrow on the string perfectly.
Dragging his hand backward, he drew the string taut, the tension in the wood creaking under his superior strength.
His eyes locked on the vine with a calm, predatory gaze.
At that exact moment, the vine suddenly lunged forward, slithering through the air with astonishing grace and lethal intent.
The sharp hissing sound from the creature immediately caused Van to spin around almost instantly, only to see the supposed ’vine’ lunging at him with its mouth opened wide.
’Aaargh! It’s actually a snake?!’
His eyes widened at the approaching snake, terror paralyzing his limbs, only for a sudden, sharp whistle to cut through the air with a powerful, spinning velocity.
The serpent was now just an inch away from clamping its venomous fangs onto the boy when an arrow from the flank smashed into its scales, sending the beast flying away and crashing violently into a nearby tree.
The projectile pinned it firmly to the trunk, the shaft vibrating from the force of the impact and preventing the creature from slithering away into the shadows.
Chloe stared at Ray, who was still holding the bow, with a stunned, speechless look on her face.
She had never seen the boy train with such a weapon before, so how did he suddenly manage to strike a moving target from this distance?
When handing over the equipment, she had expected a complete novice who would shake while drawing the string and struggle with the weight.
She anticipated a shaky stance and a wildly off-target shot—not someone capable of landing a precision strike on a lunging predator.
Though it wasn’t a perfect headshot, he had still managed to pin the beast against the wood with lethal efficiency.
This was not the performance of a beginner, but of someone who possessed at least a fundamental mastery of archery.
Someone well above the novice phase.
How was this possible?
Before she could even voice her confusion, lightning began crackling fiercely around Ray’s feet.
Without wasting even a fraction of a second, he suddenly exploded forward in a terrifying, lightning-fast lunge.
Bang—!
The sound of the sonic boom echoed through the entire forest like a gunshot, cutting through every argument, competition, and peaceful scan.
It felt as though the forest froze for a heartbeat as they witnessed a blur blitz forward.
Within a few moments, Ray stood before the creature pinned to the tree—a serpent nearly as thick as a teenager’s arm.
Seeing the human before it, the snake beast bared its fangs with a deafening hiss, squirming desperately to lunge at its attacker.
Before it could make a move, four thick lines of black energy burst from Ray’s hands, smashing into the beast’s head repeatedly.
Black ichor sprayed into the air, coating the bark.
It took only a few more brutal hits before all life faded from the beast’s eyes and it finally fell limp.
[Vine Snake Defeated]
[+300 Exp; +3 stat points]
[Additional +100 EXP as a bonus for killing the beast for the first time]
Before he had a chance to process the digital notification, a loud, piercing scream split the air.
Then another. Then another.
Almost instantaneously, the forest descended into absolute, bloody chaos.
All the supposed vines curling around the bark of the trees and hanging from the branches suddenly came alive.
They began moving in a synchronized, predatory rhythm, lunging toward the unsuspecting humans gathered below.