Flash.
At this level, couldn't I be called a proper mage?
[Uses Beginner Elemental Magic: Water Lv.2.][Uses Beginner Elemental Magic: Fire Lv.3.][Uses Beginner Elemental Magic: Sun Lv.4.][Uses Beginner Elemental Magic: Wind Lv.2.]
I used all four types of magic I could wield.
Fire spewed from my mouth, water surged through the air, and the ground trembled as it writhed.
Each phenomenon by itself wasn't particularly impressive.
But using four spells at the same time created quite a spectacle.
Of course, I couldn't keep this up for long.
3.
2.
1.
End!
[Mana has been depleted.]
My mana pool wasn't that large to begin with.
Blasting out four spells at full power drained it in no time.
When your mana runs out, you become unbearably sleepy. Your body also feels exhausted.
And after sprinting back at full speed the moment I saw the Krok tribe warriors, I felt like I could collapse at any second.
Still, I forced myself to stand upright.
If it were Whitey, maybe—but if I'm Ulumulrulu, I can't just collapse like this.
The effort had been worth it.
Silence fell over the area.
Even the goblins who had been chanting my name, "Mulumulrulu," shut their mouths.
All of them had lowered their heads.
Those who believed me to be the legendary serpent had even clasped their hands in prayer.
Only one kept her head raised.
Nanaruk.
She was looking at me with a bright smile.
I was glad Nanaruk had come.
It would've been hard to explain the situation to the other goblins.
"Ululkurulu, you're back."
Nanaruk, who never used that name for me before, said it now.
There was a hint of teasing in her voice.
But right now, I was completely serious.
Serpents don't have vocal cords.
So I had no choice but to use magic, my tail, and a few objects to explain the situation.
Beyond the hill not far from here, there are over a hundred Krok tribe warriors.
When night falls, they'll attack this place. Everyone needs to prepare!
Explaining all that without speaking was incredibly difficult.
First, I pulled out a Krok tribe necklace I had obtained as loot from my subspace.
Then I wrote "100" on the ground using goblin numerals, pointed toward the hill, and mimicked a goblin thrusting a spear with my tail.
Back and forth, wriggling around—urururu, ulululu.
The cries of a hundred goblins filling the valleys, the army of skull-crushers surging forward like a flood.
It felt like I had just performed an entire Pansori epic by myself.
When I looked around, the other goblins were staring blankly.
I thought maybe it was too much to convey such lofty meaning to fools—
But Nanaruk shouted in shock:
"The Krok tribe's goblin warriors are coming!"
"What?"
"I-It's true!"
They say you only need one person who understands you.
I was suddenly grateful to Nanaruk, who understood instantly.
No—at this level, it was almost unbelievable how well she understood.
Anyway, from then on, all I had to do was nod.
Sighs and gasps erupted everywhere.
"Lord Ulumulrulu, is this true?!"
An old grandmother covered in tattoos—the Great Shaman—pushed her face forward.
Mm-hmm, yes, yes. It's surprising, but it's true.
I nodded again to confirm.
Borrowing the authority of Mulumulrulu had been the right choice.
—So no new title appeared.
I wondered if I might gain a new title, but that didn't happen.
Considering how many goblins already called me Mululkurulu, maybe I needed achievements worthy of that name.
—The greater the title, the harder it is to obtain.
Pelerian said that.
Yeah… that sounds about right.
Nanaruk's expression turned cold and sharp.
"Zadiram, go immediately and confirm it. Ride the ostrich. Take a flag with you."
As expected, she clearly separated personal matters from duty.
A hobgoblin named Zadiram mounted an ostrich and sped off.
"All warriors, arm yourselves. If there are thirty hobgoblins, they must be the Krok tribe's elite."
Following her command, the goblins hurried to prepare their weapons.
"Was the Krok chieftain there? A goblin wearing a haggle necklace, at least two heads taller than me?"
I shook my head.
Their leader was a goblin called Ayutar the Skull Crusher.
"That's a relief."
Nanaruk sighed in relief.
Is that Krok chieftain really that strong? I kind of want to see him.
The goblins didn't seem to doubt my claim.
I couldn't tell whether it was because they believed I was Ulumulrulu—or simply because they were an inherently naive race.
The Runga tribe began preparing for battle.
Everyone was busy.
Then a pot-bellied goblin appeared, shouting at the top of his lungs:
"What are you all doing right now?!"
It was the chieftain.
"That thing you call Ululrulu—it's just a Serpent covered in black mud!"
Ugh… guess it runs in the family.
Just like Nanaruk at first, the chieftain didn't believe I was Mulumulrulu.
"What are you saying, Chieftain?!"
The Great Shaman grandmother shouted sternly.
But the chieftain ignored her.
"The Krok chieftain wouldn't suddenly send warriors! Negotiations are going well!"
"Father, the Krok are savage!"
"You—you dare disrespect me, the chieftain?!"
I felt this since yesterday, but Nanaruk's father really turns me into a bad Serpent.
He makes me want to bite his ankle every time.
"Stop! Listen to the chieftain, not the war leader!"
Even so, a chieftain is still a chieftain.
The warriors who were about to arm themselves hesitated, unsure what to do.
Nanaruk issued her command again:
"Arm yourselves! Prepare the ostriches!"
"You dare defy me?! Everyone, stop!"
The confrontation between Nanaruk and the chieftain became clear.
Nanaruk bit her lip. Her clenched fists turned pale.
Yeah—hit him with that.
Or I'll take care of him myself.
"Hey!"
At that moment, a young goblin raised his hand.
Everyone turned to look in the direction he pointed.
On top of the hill, Zadiram—who had left earlier—was riding back on an ostrich.
He looked small like a dot, but it was clear he was holding a flag.
A red flag.
The signal that enemies had been found.
Sighs erupted everywhere.
And everyone turned to look at Nanaruk and the chieftain.
I thought the chieftain would come to his senses now, but—
"They probably didn't come to invade… maybe they're envoys…"
Sometimes,
there are people who cannot objectively accept a worsening situation.
People who keep denying reality until they're pushed to the edge of a cliff, right before they fall.
I used to be like that too, so I understood how he felt.
—Are you just going to leave him like that?
"No."
I decided to bite the chieftain.
As I quietly slithered forward, Nanaruk passed by me.
She threw a punch.
Thud!
The chieftain was struck in the jaw and collapsed.
"Ugh… r-rebellion…!"
Nanaruk didn't let him continue.
She twisted his arm behind his back.
Pulling out a rope from her waist, she bound both his hands.
Though the chieftain struggled, she even gagged his mouth.
Everyone was stunned by the sudden rebellion.
"…The chieftain is not in his right mind."
But Nanaruk gave a cold command:
"Take him to his residence. Warriors, prepare to march. We gather and advance."
The first to react were the hobgoblin warriors.
They dragged away the struggling chieftain.
Next, the Great Shaman grandmother stepped forward.
"War leader Nanaruk."
She stopped the warriors and removed the jade necklace the chieftain had been wearing, placing it around Nanaruk's neck.
"Since you have won the duel witnessed by the Great Shaman…"
A duel?
What a fierce old lady.
"From this moment on, you are the chieftain of Runga."
Nanaruk smiled faintly.
The warriors who followed her broke into wide smiles.
The girl who used to get beaten by her father and secretly wipe away her tears was gone.
All that remained was a warrior who led a tribe.
Under Nanaruk's command, the warriors gathered.
Excluding the minimum number left behind for defense, there were about eighty assembled.
Among them, twenty were hobgoblins.
There were thirty Red Crow ostriches, trained to be ridden like horses.
Compared to the elite of the Krok tribe, their numbers were clearly inferior.
"We go out and repel them."
That was Nanaruk's decision.
They couldn't allow the enemy to reach the village.
There were no walls here, and fighting in a village full of non-combatants was out of the question.
At her command, the Runga warriors began to mobilize.
"Ululululu."
Nanaruk held out her hand. I climbed onto her shoulder.
Black mud smeared onto her clothes.
"Ugh, mud…"
Deal with it, new chieftain.
"You've definitely gotten heavier."
She expressed her gratitude.
"Thank you—for coming back. For telling us."
I needed you too, anyway.
Nanaruk was a bold person.
She wasn't just planning to defend against the attack.
She intended to crush the enemy's elite forces and, with that momentum, push forward into the now-empty Krok tribe.
Meanwhile, I would search for the dungeon entrance.
"Advance!"
Nanaruk shouted.
Night fell.
The night of the forest could not be compared to the night of a city.
The sky was filled with starlight, but the ground was covered in a curtain of darkness.
Because of the towering trees, even walking with torches made you nearly invisible from afar.
Moreover, to reach the Runga tribe, one had to cross the hill ahead.
Which meant the Krok warriors were currently in the lowlands.
Their advance was silent.
"Leader, the boys are getting restless."
A one-eyed goblin warrior approached Ayutar.
"Allow us to raid."
Ayutar glanced at his subordinate.
A cruel smile hung on his lips.
"Fine."
There was no reason to refuse.
With this level of force, crushing the Runga tribe would be easy.
"Plunder and destroy as you please."
"Thank you! Hahaha!"
Low, suppressed laughter spread.
Unlike the Runga tribe, which used ostrich cavalry, the Krok tribe used wolves as mounts.
Wolves were fierce and hard to tame, but stronger than ostriches.
The wolf riders calmed their mounts as they moved quietly.
Then it happened.
The trees thinned, revealing an open clearing.
Beyond it lay the hill—cross it, and the Runga village would be visible.
At that moment, Ayutar suddenly halted his warriors.
"What is it?"
Ayutar didn't answer, silently staring at the hill.
"…Send wolf riders as scouts."
Why now, when he hadn't sent any before?
But questioning Ayutar's orders was forbidden.
His subordinate sent two wolf riders.
The riders advanced beyond the hill to scout.
After a while, they returned.
They had left without torches.
Their forms were hard to make out as they descended.
"Why are they staggering?"
Something was off.
They were skilled riders, yet their posture on the wolves was unstable.
They were also dropping something—drip, drip.
As they came into torchlight—
It became clear what had happened.
"Th-their necks…!"
One rider had returned with his head severed.
He collapsed to the ground.
The wolf, smelling blood, tore into the corpse.
The other still had his head.
Ayutar, enraged, approached him.
"What the hell is this, you idiot?!"
He was about to demand an explanation—
"Khk… kehk…"
But the rider couldn't answer properly.
His face had turned purple, and he could only gasp.
"S-save… kehk…!"
He clung to Ayutar without fear.
Poison. Clearly poison.
Realizing it instantly, Ayutar shoved him away.
The rider collapsed and didn't move again.
Both wolf riders were hobgoblins.
Elite warriors, dead in an instant.
Ayutar growled low.
"Extinguish all torches."
When the torches went out, the warriors were swallowed by darkness.
Whistle!
At Ayutar's signal, the Krok warriors began advancing slowly.
They entered the clearing.
On both sides, the forest gaped like a black maw.
"Watch the flanks."
The order passed from front to back.
Ayutar, walking at the front, suddenly stopped.
On top of the hill, several hobgoblins riding ostriches appeared.
"…So they noticed our approach."
"Runga chieftain, Nanaruk."
A young female hobgoblin stepped forward and introduced herself.
"I am Ayutar the Skull Crusher. Nanaruk? Aren't you just a female warrior?"
"I am the chieftain now."
"Looks like that idiot chieftain finally died."
Nanaruk didn't bother explaining.
"So, even knowing we're coming, you brought only this many?"
Were a handful of hobgoblins really planning to face a hundred warriors?
The Krok goblins laughed at such absurd bravado.
"As if."
Then, from beyond the hill, carts began to appear.
Five carts, loaded with boulders—and spears tied to them.
"Thanks for pushing them up."
"You—crazy—!"
Ayutar instantly realized Nanaruk's plan.
The goblins pushing the carts let go.
They didn't seem fast.
No—only at first glance.
As the heavy carts rolled downhill, they rapidly gained speed.
Rumble—!
More than the spears, it was the sheer weight that mattered.
Anyone hit would be crushed instantly.
Ayutar gritted his teeth.
As long as they avoided that, they'd be fine.
"Spread out to the sides—!"
His voice thundered across the dark hillside.
His subordinates obeyed immediately—
Or tried to.
From the forests on both sides—
who could have predicted arrows flying out of the darkness?
Pipipiping—
Following Nanaruk's orders, goblins who had secretly flanked around attacked.
In the pitch-black night, without torches, their arrows easily pierced the Krok warriors.
"Forward! Avoid the carts and push forward!"
Ayutar changed tactics.
Using the agile hobgoblins as the core, he attempted a breakthrough.
At the same time, the Runga warriors charged downhill behind the carts.
War!
I, the Serpent Zhuge Liang—and Nanaruk, the virtuous general—have joined forces!
The flanking archers were Nanaruk's idea, but the carts were my strategy.
With sickening crunches, Krok goblins were crushed into pulp.
It was an excellent plan, making full use of the terrain.
When the wolf riders appeared as scouts, it was a close call—but we handled it well.
So where am I now?
Beside Nanaruk.
More precisely, on the wing of the ostrich she was riding.
The Serpent Zhuge Liang is no more.
All that remains is a pair of fangs hidden in the darkness.
A human-faced dragon—no, just a Serpent among goblins.
Nanaruk swung her axe at the Skull Crusher.
Clang!
The club and axe collided, sparks flying.
Ayutar's pupils dilated.
In that split-second flash, he saw me lunging out.
The heart-devouring serpent has returned.