Chapter 46 Mind Games

My eyes locked with the slit-like pupils of the snake.

I watched its head drop a few degrees before looking up again, allowing me to once again lock with its scrutinizing gaze. Yet even with the scrutiny within its gaze, there was one thing I could recognize. It was something that shone within its eyes brighter than any other feeling it was currently going through. It also happened to be a feeling that I had become too familiar with in the last 5 weeks of my life.

It was feeling fear.

Once I saw its hesitation, I finally snapped out of my trance and let out a wry smile.

'I have to show it that I'm confident.' I told myself while seriously pondering over my chances.

If I were to run, I would realize that I am weaker than my previous display of power. I, of course, didn't know exactly what I had done to get it to become this fearful of me, but if the corpse in front of me was any indication of what had happened, I could argue that its fear had been reasonable.

If I were to try and attack it, it would also realize that my burst of power from earlier had been temporary, therefore probably choosing to end my life right there and then just to get rid of a 'dangerous being' like me.

Letting out another deep sigh, I turned my entire body and faced it, trying my hardest to avoid wobbling or falling over due to the fatigue that was barraging my body.

Breathing in once again, I quickly calmed down my heart rate before hardening my resolve. I only had a few more lives left before failing my mission, and I was not about to waste one of my lives on something as small as this.

However, my eyes were peeled away from the snake's eyes and forced to look at the screen that had appeared in front of me.

'Hm?' My eyes widened in surprise before narrowing once again.

[The Unknown Energy has resonated with your will to fight and kill the Prime Tyrannosaurus Ancestor]

[Hidden title 'Endling' had been forcefully activated]

[Hidden ability 'Deathlock' had been forcefully activated]

[Hidden ability 'Deathlock' requires a sacrifice to activate]

[Deathlock activated for 3 seconds]

[Mana: 0/20]

[Deathlock has sacrificed 'Bone armor set']

[Deathlock has sacrificed 'Poison spear']

[Deathlock has sacrificed 4 'Hardened feathers']

[Deathlock has sacrificed 1 level]

[Deathlock has sacrificed 3 random attribute points]

[Attribute chosen]

[Stats-

HP:20 (-3)

Strength: 23

Agility: 26

Intelligence: 26

Vitality: 23

Mana: 4

Defence: 0 (-6) ]

[Hp: 26/100 (-15)]

[Mana: 0/20]

The corner of my mouth could not help but twitch as I watched my Hp stat drop to 20, therefore dropping my max Hp from 115 to 100.

However, I did not ponder over my stats any longer than necessary since I still had to deal with the enormous monster in front of me that could probably kill me with a swat of its tail.

After making eye contact for a little longer, I finally opened my mouth and tried to speak to it in the English tongue.

"What is it?" I asked.

The fear within its eyes deepened while its head retreated a meter or two, yet due to its ginormous body, it probably did not realize that it had done so.

Unbeknownst to me, the snake hadn't been frightened of me specifically, but instead had been terrified by the energy I radiated throughout our exchange.

It felt a huge burden on its body as if a mountain had dropped onto its back, forcing it to carry the weight of my gaze the entire time and not allowing it to move for a moment.

It felt like it was being peered at by the eyes of so many beings that it simply could not count the number of gazes that landed on it.

It felt like it was naked in front of those eyes, leaving it exposed with nothing to hide.

The feeling softened when I had looked away to look at my system message, yet it returned stronger whenever when I finally faced it.

That was when it finally understood what was happening. It was my eyes. My deep dark-brown eyes with a tinge of crimson that had tainted a speck of them. The moment it saw that speck of red, it was thrown into a dark world where nothing but darkness could be seen for miles.

Suddenly, however, it saw stars... Red stars... Ones that could barely be seen and others that were much bigger and brighter than the rest.

However, there was one thing that they all held in common other than the fact that they were red...

It was the fact that they were all looking at the snake...

"What is it?" I asked it, causing it to snap out of the vision and appear on solid ground once again before retreating a few meters in fear of having to feel and see that vision once again.

"Hello?" I tilted my head to the right and took a step forward trying to talk to it, but even if it was in the right mind to listen to me, my words were comparable to gibberish in its mind since it couldn't understand a single thing I said.

'How the hell did the other one understand what I was saying? How the hell am I supposed to get out of this situation if I can't speak to the snake? I keep getting the feeling that if I do turn around and show it my back, I'll immediately be attacked.'

After massaging the bridge of my nose for a few seconds, trying to lessen the impact of the incoming headache, I looked up at it once again and tried to communicate with it a few more times until...

"Hello!?" I waved wildly and forced it to finally look at me once again.

"Who are you!?" It asked with narrowed eyes, but unlike it, I understood every word that came out of its mouth.

"Me? You're the one staring at me. Shouldn't you be the one answering that question?" I snorted in return.

It felt odd to talk to another person, yet at the same time, the feeling caused a warm sensation to spread from the center of my chest.

When I focused on its face, I could see a few small changes to its attitude that indicated that it understood me.

"Sorry for not introducing myself-" It said while slightly bowing its head and at the same time, regaining its composure.

"My name is Blanca. I come from the white snake tribe and had come here to explore. However, after a small part of the northeastern enchanted forest had a fire outbreak, I was forced to move away. I eventually joined the invasion to find other intelligent beings but I couldn't find any until now." I explained before looking up again with its scrutinizing eyes, watching my every movement.

This was no longer a battle of power and instead had become a battle of minds.

'One slip-up and it could mean the end of my life.' I thought before nodding at its explanation.

I had to make everything I say seem believable while somehow making it think I am stronger than I was showing.

"Heh. It has become quite hard to find any intelligent creatures around, let alone intelligent beasts." I threw a glance at the corpse before looking back at the snake and folding my arms.

"Is this your territory?" It asked.

While that might have sounded like a simple question, it had quite a lot of implications behind it.

If I were to say yes then it would mean that I was the strongest one in the forest and therefore benefiting me. But that question could also throw me into an unnecessary fight to the death with the create, a fight that I would obviously lose.

On the other hand, I could say that this wasn't my territory, but that would also raise suspicions as it might indicate that I wasn't the strongest in the area.

However, in my mind, there was only one right answer to this question, and the answer was...

"Nah. Just like you, I happened to stumble onto this place a few days ago. When I saw that the place was being invaded, I couldn't help but want to get a closer look. In my defense, I didn't know I would have been attacked by every creature that saw me." I laughed in a relaxed manner.

I didn't want to show that I was in any way feeling threatened by the presence of the snake, and at the same time, I wanted to get across the fact that I was willing to settle everything without having to fight to the death.

When it heard what I had said as well as the tone I had said it in, it closed its eyes and finally moved forward while scanning me from head to toe.

Unbeknownst to me, there was only one thing it was thinking of at that moment, and it was not my tone of voice.

'I can't feel his energy at all!'

Its mind was stirring and trying its hardest to find a solution to this problem.

'From what I've seen so far, he cannot use that power again without sacrificing something in return. While I can't feel his energy at all, I can still feel that the threatening aura around him had significantly dropped after the energy around himm had disappeared.'

'Another factor is the fact that his armor and weapons were made out of a material that simply could not handle the power he showed, indicating that he doesn't usually use even a fraction of that power, showing that the energy that surged from him had probably been temporary.' The snake concluded, yet at the same time, it chose to not kill me on the spot after another assumption hit it.

'What if the only condition for that power is to have a sacrifice? That would mean he can activate it again, kill me and then burden himself with the sacrifice that power would create. It's best if I take the safe option and not try anything...'

"I have a proposition..." It finally spoke aloud, causing me to tilt my head and speak while trying my hardest to stop a grin from creeping up the corner of my lips.

"Sure. What do you have in mind?"

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