A low, nearly inaudible drone echoed through the arts building—not through the air, but vibrating directly within the depths of the soul.
A terrifying aura, far stronger than any serpent offspring they had encountered, surged outward like a tidal wave. It was cold, viscous, and saturated with boundless greed and primitive possessiveness. The aura locked onto Lin Qiye with crushing intensity.
An illusory sensation crept across his exposed skin, as if something wet and slimy were crawling over him. The air seemed to freeze, heavy with suffocating pressure. Hong Ying and Si Xiaonan's expressions changed instantly; they could clearly sense that this presence was on an entirely different level.
The shadows deep within the arts building writhed.
Then a figure slowly crawled out.
Her upper body belonged to a mature woman with an enchanting, seductive form. Her eyes carried a soul-snaring allure, capable of hooking a person's very spirit.
But below the waist—
Her lower body was that of a gigantic serpent.
Blue-black scales covered the thick, menacing tail, glimmering with a cold, ghostly sheen in the dim light. Every slight movement produced a grinding sound as scales scraped against the floor.
"What a perfect vessel," she said. Her voice was a strange blend of sweetness and rasp, each word brushing against the listener's nerves like a feather. "Such pure charm. Such powerful vitality. You were born to be my breeding ground."
She was the Nanda Serpent Mother.
Her greedy gaze roamed across Lin Qiye's perfect physique as if he already belonged to her.
"Truly perfect… I want to lay my eggs deep inside you!"
The Serpent Mother released a sharp, piercing shriek.
A tide of tiny venomous snakes poured out from beneath her skirt. They were pitch black with glowing red eyes, hissing violently as they surged toward the trio.
Lin Qiye remained calm.
Materials from his Minecraft inventory appeared instantly in his hands. With a sweeping motion, iron blocks stacked together in front of him, forming thick defensive walls that blocked the first wave of snakes.
At the same time, several buckets of water materialized and splashed across the floor. The spreading current slowed the advance of the tiny serpents.
But Lin Qiye didn't stop there.
More blocks appeared around the Serpent Mother, rapidly closing in to compress her movement space. He was trying to trap her inside a confined killing zone.
"You're courting death!"
The Serpent Mother's massive tail lashed out violently.
BOOM!
The tail smashed into the newly formed barrier with crushing force. Dust exploded into the air—but the iron wall did not move.
Hong Ying seized the moment.
"[Rose-Fire Feathered Dress]!"
The fiery wings behind her erupted brilliantly as she pushed her power to the limit. Each feather burned with raging flames, distorting the surrounding air with heat.
The spiral of crimson fire around her spear condensed further, its temperature climbing to terrifying levels.
She rushed forward, her spear moving like a dragon.
Flames swept across the battlefield, incinerating waves of fearless snakes and buying Lin Qiye precious seconds to reinforce the trap.
The Serpent Mother lost patience.
Throwing her upper body back, she let out a shrill scream and forced her enormous body forward, charging directly toward Lin Qiye.
"Now."
Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed.
The final obsidian blocks slammed into place, sealing the Serpent Mother inside a small cage of obsidian.
Her retreat was completely cut off.
Hong Ying was already prepared.
She seized the fleeting opening and burst forward like lightning. Her spear thrust out like a dragon, the spiral of fire carving a blazing arc through the air.
Squelch!
The spear pierced straight through the Serpent Mother's human chest.
The momentum carried the massive body backward, pinning her against the wall of the arts building.
"Aaaah—!"
The Serpent Mother screamed in agony.
But as she hung there, her upper body began to shrivel rapidly.
Flesh withered.
Skin clung tightly to bone.
In the blink of an eye, the once-alluring body turned into a dry, empty snakeskin hanging limply from Hong Ying's spear.
The massive serpent tail collapsed to the ground.
Yet Lin Qiye frowned.
His mental perception caught something faint—a slippery energy fluctuation that vanished in an instant, fleeing in a specific direction.
Was it really over?
The Serpent Mother had died far too easily. That didn't match the cunning and strength expected from a creature like this.
"Something's wrong," Lin Qiye murmured.
A calm voice answered from the edge of the battlefield.
"Very wrong."
An Qingyu stepped forward, adjusting his glasses. Reflected firelight flickered across the lenses as his gaze swept over the shriveled snakeskin and the surrounding battlefield.
"Haven't you noticed?" he said quietly. "From the beginning, every serpent offspring—including this so-called 'Serpent Mother'—seemed to be deliberately avoiding someone."
"It was almost like… they were cooperating with him to stage a performance."
His sharp gaze locked onto a student cowering in a nearby corner.
Li Yifei.
Before Hong Ying and Si Xiaonan could react, An Qingyu's hand flashed inside his coat.
He drew a pistol.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Three shots rang out.
"What are you doing?!"
"Stop!"
Li Yifei screamed in terror, clutching his head as if completely unaware why he had been targeted.
The bullets struck his body.
But they didn't kill him.
His scream abruptly cut off.
In the next moment, it turned into an inhuman roar.
His body twisted violently.
Muscles bulged.
His school uniform tore apart inch by inch.
POP—!
His body exploded.
Blood, flesh, and shredded cloth splattered across the hallway.
From the ruptured remains emerged a monstrous creature.
A giant serpent.
Its enormous body coiled across the ground, covered in hard blue-black scales that radiated a nauseating stench.
Atop the serpent's head was a human face—seventy or eighty percent similar to the "Serpent Mother" from before, but far more ferocious and filled with venomous malice.
This was the true Nanda Serpent Monster.
It had disguised itself as an ordinary student and hidden in plain sight all along.
At that moment, the last sliver of light vanished from the sky.
Night fell.
Lin Qiye's [Starry Night Dancer] activated silently.
Power surged through his body.
A cold, powerful aura spread outward as his presence rose sharply. His eyes shone like two distant stars in the deep darkness.
Facing the real Serpent Mother, Lin Qiye unleashed everything.
He pushed [Transcendent Charm] to its absolute limit.
The charm born from Slaanesh fused with the sovereign aura granted by [Starry Night Dancer], creating a terrifying mental pressure.
This was no longer simple temptation.
It was the crushing dominance of a higher lifeform over a lower one.
"Hiss—!"
The Nanda Serpent Mother let out a pained hiss.
For the first time, fear appeared in its vertical pupils.
Lin Qiye's presence was no longer something it merely desired.
It was something it feared.
Its mind began to spiral into chaos.
Hong Ying and Si Xiaonan moved in instantly.
Hong Ying's flaming spear tore open wound after wound across the serpent's enormous body. Si Xiaonan's knives targeted its vulnerable eyes and mouth with deadly precision.
As the battle raged, the Serpent Mother's movements slowed, its mind destabilized by the overwhelming mental pressure.
Lin Qiye seized the opportunity.
He moved.
In a flash, he closed the distance.
At the same moment, Hong Ying released a powerful spiral strike, forcing the Serpent Mother to raise its massive head.
This was the opening.
Lin Qiye appeared beside the creature's head like a phantom.
A block-style sword materialized in his hand.
He leapt.
And struck downward.
SPLAT!
The giant serpent's head was severed cleanly from its body.
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