Chapter 33: The Serpent’s Pass

The carriage containing Aaron and Liam suddenly slowed to halt. I groaned and put my hand to my head, this was the third time their carriage had stopped and it had all been for one singular reason.

"What is it now?" Emily shouted as our carriage slowed to a stop too.

As if in reply, Liam jumped out of the carriage, two hands holding his crotch. He jumped about for a moment before he got his bearing and ran to one of the bushes by the side and began to pee.

For the third consecutive time that day, the carriages had had to stop their journey because Liam's bladder kept getting full and needed to be voided. Searᴄh the Novёlƒire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

We were all fed up of it but the others experienced more than irritation, it seemed they were actually scared.

"Come on hurry up!" A shouted from the carriage. "The gate is going to be locked when we get there!"

"I can't believe we might be trapped in the serpent's pass tonight because of you". Emily yelled. "I swear I'll kill you if that happens".

"Okay chill". Liam shouted as he hurried into the carriage. "It's not my fault you know? It's the travel sickness".

The carriages resumed moving and our journey continued.

"Travel sickness?" I asked Emily.

"It's a medical condition he has, being in motion for so long makes him have to frequently pee". Emily explained, then she remembered she was supposed to be mad at me and turned away sharply. "Why am I even talking to you?" She snapped.

"I'm confused, why are you mad at me exactly?" I asked.

Gaslighting was always the best option whenever you were confronted on something you're guilty of.

"Why did you kiss her?" Emily asked me.

"I already told you. It was a friendly kiss, I was going to kiss her and the emotions were there, it just kinda happened". I replied.

"Friendly kiss". She scoffed. "What kind of friendly kiss goes on and on for so long".

I tried the gentleman tactic. "Emily, I'm sorry if it upset you, I didn't mean for it to. Plus I'll make it up to you".

"Whatever". She replied. "I still don't believe you anyway". She turned to Zoe. "What do you think?"

Zoe looked at me with that cold gaze of hers, she turned to Emily. "I think he's a whore".

Ouch.

She's not wrong. The voice in my head reminded me.

The carriage in front of us suddenly stopped.

"Oh god what is it this time?" Emily moaned.

Our carriage slowed to a halt and the driver leaned back.

It seems the gate is locked.

"What?!" Emily shouted.

"This is all Liam's fault". Zoe said, some of her cold look her been replaced by a hint of worry.

"This is bad, really bad". Emily said and got down from the carriage.

"Why is it so bad?" I asked as I got down too.

"Don't you get? We're trapped in the serpent's pass, this is where we'll spend the night". Emily replied.

"Other than the lack of good beds, I don't see how that can be a problem". I said.

"I'm sure you'll change your mind when you're bitten by giant snakes". Liam butted in.

"Hey this is all your fault". Aaron shouted at him.

"You knew of my condition, we should have started earlier". Liam yelled back. "But we had to wait for pretty boy over here".

"Hey don't pull me into this!" I wanted to yell but I kept quiet and ignored him instead.

"We're all mages, even if we get attacked by beast monsters, we should be able to handle them just fine". I told Emily.

"Yeah right, you think Garlem had no mages?" Liam replied and walked away.

It was a cruel statement but it was also true, Garlem had mages, probably mages even more powerful than we did, yet they managed to be destroyed. For the first time, the reality of our futures dawned on me and I shivered.

We could be killed in the war we were going to fight.

I looked at my profile.

[Here's your profile]

[Name: Levi]

[Level: 3]

[Title: One star mage, Beast Slayer]

[Strength: 30]

[Intelligence: 30]

[Stamina: 30]

[Speed: 30]

[Mana: 310/1000]

[Element: Air]

[Lust points: 50]

It was comforting in a way, I felt sure the system would not let me die off very easily, it needed me alive to do its bidding.

"Well, we're trapped here, we have no choice but to make camp". Emily said. "Let's choose a better place".

"It's the serpent's pass, there's no better place". Aaron said loudly but he followed her nonetheless.

When we found a suitable spot, we parked the carriages and sat around them.

"Now we wait for the snakes to attack us". Emily said glumly.

She had not finished talking when we suddenly heard hissing sounds coming from every direction. They seemed to have detected our presence and were now surrounding us.

"Great, you jinxed it". Liam complained.

We all stood up and got into fighting stances, Emily, Liam and I brought out our weapons while Aaron and Zoe flexed their hands.

This meant that Aaron and Zoe had mastered mana control to the level where they didn't need weapons to channel them, I immediately knew they must be at least two star mages while Liam was a one star mage like Emily and I.

Liam had a different weapon to us too, he had two metal looking fans in his hands and he flexed them in anticipation of the attack.

The hissing sounds grew louder and began to echo off the trees and the walls of the hills.

"Just get it over with". Zoe yelled into space.

That seemed to trigger the snakes and they descended on us. I lost count when it reached twenty, they all moved slowly at us, with necks raised and ready to strike.

I observed the snakes, they had rough scaly skin but unlike normal snakes, in the gaps between adjacent scales, horny projections shot out, giving the snakes the resemblance of giant non-limbed lizards.

I coated my knives in air and smiled, this was why I came on this journey, to kill as many beast monsters as I could and level up quickly.

I smiled and launched myself at the first serpent.