What emerged from the cave was, naturally, Serpent People — though honestly, in Duanmu Huai's view they looked nothing like snakes. If anything, they looked more like lizard-men.
"Hm? Is this what Serpent People look like? I was expecting something more like Medusa."
See — even Mary had the same thought. Whoever originally named these things "Serpent People" clearly hadn't thought it through. When these creatures came into existence, snakes probably hadn't even appeared on the evolutionary tree yet.
"I'll leave them to you and Lorena. Can you handle it?"
"Yes, leave it to me!"
As long as her opponents weren't human, Mary seemed to feel no hesitation. Seeing this, Duanmu Huai gave a satisfied nod, then stepped back a few paces.
Truthfully, most players actually preferred recruiting [NPC]s from worlds with relatively less advanced civilizations. There were several reasons for this.
First, people from such worlds had seen less of the world and were comparatively easier to work with.
Second, their civilizations were less developed, so they would be genuinely astonished by a player's space station and fleet, which satisfied players' inflated desire to show off.
Third, and most importantly — they tended not to empathize with non-human species.
People of those eras had generally only ever encountered other humans, so the moment they came face to face with other races — particularly the fierce, dangerous, and distinctly unlovable variety — their first instinct was to treat them as monsters rather than as a civilization equal to humanity.
This was also why Duanmu Huai had relatively good relations with the kingdoms of Lia, Anne, and the others, while maintaining only a degree of cooperative distance with the Systems Alliance.
The Systems Alliance had already become an interstellar civilization. Once they acknowledged the existence of alien civilizations, they began to view those aliens as equals. For the Inquisition, whose doctrine held humanity supreme, that was obviously unacceptable. The reason Duanmu Huai had arranged for Chiki to livestream on the Systems Alliance network was precisely to shape the public's aesthetic sensibilities and firmly anchor them in human terms.
In other words, even if those viewers developed a preference for cute girls with fluffy ears and tails, that was preferable to falling for blue-skinned Asari octopus-mothers.
In truth, the pro-alien factions within the Systems Alliance were still quite powerful. Lumière had reported to Duanmu Huai on multiple occasions that they were urging the general public not to be too discriminatory toward other alien races, under the banner of "doing so will better help the Systems Alliance join the galactic community" — claiming that "they only look different from us, but in truth we share the same feelings."
Ha. If that's what you believe, why not go live on geth territory and see whether that artificial intelligence shares your feelings or tears you apart?
In the age of the Imperium, a faction like that would have been rooted out by the Inquisition, and every last member publicly strung up for execution.
But for now...…if he didn't know the Reapers were coming sooner or later, Duanmu Huai might well have moved against them already.
Well, patience. When the Reapers come, he'd find some excuse to send these people straight into alien territory. Since they loved communicating with aliens so much, they could share the same death, if not the same birth.
While these thoughts were passing through Duanmu Huai's mind, Lorena and Mary had already worked together to finish off the handful of Serpent People that had come at them. Honestly, looking at these Serpent People, it was genuinely impossible to imagine they were the descendants of a race that had built a flourishing civilization on this planet before the age of the dinosaurs, with achievements in both magic and technology.
These Serpent People looked exactly like primitive beings — spears in hand, making hideous hissing sounds with their mouths. An ordinary person would probably have been terrified at the sight of them, but Lorena and Mary had both been through combat multiple times by now and were not going to be rattled by creatures that were all bluster. They dealt with them swiftly and thoroughly.
"Pick up the pace — we need to move faster."
Though these Serpent People sentries seemed to have simply come out for a look around, Duanmu Huai had no intention of slowing down. He said this as he continued striding forward — and after passing through a pitch-dark tunnel, the three of them entered another large underground chamber.
"Goodness...…"
Seeing the scene in the chamber before her, Mary's eyes went wide with astonishment once again. This time, Duanmu Huai couldn't fault her for overreacting — the sight before them was genuinely astonishing.
In the enormous underground cavity, ancient Serpent People script and carvings covered the surrounding walls, and coiled around the great natural stone pillar at the center was an enormous carved serpent. Before this massive stone serpent stood a large stone altar, with incense burners burning on either side. And hanging from the ceiling were a number of semi-translucent objects that looked like cocoons or chrysalises.
In the dim light, shadowy snake-like forms could be seen curled up inside each one.
"Hissssss..."
And then, something almost unbelievable happened.
The stone serpent that had appeared to be coiled around the stone pillar suddenly began to move. It opened its eyes wide and fixed Duanmu Huai and the others with a vicious stare, then opened its mouth — and an uncountable stream of snakes poured forth like a waterfall, covering the ground within moments and surging toward Duanmu Huai and the others.
"EEEEK—————!!"
At the sight of this, both Lorena and Mary let out cries of alarm. Not only did Mary go visibly pale, even Lorena clutched her scripture and stepped back several paces — which was understandable enough, since these snakes were of ordinary size, and even Lorena would have found it somewhat awkward to attack them effectively.
Only Duanmu Huai stood where he was, staring at the sea of snakes before him, while still finding time to tease the other two.
"What's this — didn't you both say you weren't afraid of snakes?"
"There are limits to that! Who wouldn't be afraid of this many snakes!"
"There are so many — what do we do, Mr. Duanmu?"
Mary was frozen in place with fright and no idea what to do.
"Nothing. I want to see if they dare come any closer."
Duanmu Huai remained exactly where he was, glaring at the swarm of snakes, then let out a cold snort.
"Back off!!"
At Duanmu Huai's shout, the advancing mass of snakes finally came to a halt — though they didn't retreat either. Instead they held their ground not far from Duanmu Huai, tongues flickering, letting out their hissing sounds, like an army held at bay by a commanding presence, facing off against him from a distance.
"Goodness...…I had no idea Mr. Duanmu was this impressive — he can even intimidate snakes."
"Snakes are nothing. The Sir Knight once frightened off a ghost. When we travel with him, even ghosts don't dare come near us."
"Really? Is that true?"
"...…"
Hearing the exchange behind him, Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes helplessly.
When did Lorena start picking up Olgis's habits?
But right now, there were more important things to deal with.
"Come out, Yig. I know you're here."
Duanmu Huai fixed his gaze ahead and spoke in a flat, unhurried tone.
"RRRUMBLE..."
No sooner had Duanmu Huai spoken than a low rumbling rose from the depths, and the enormous stone serpent coiled around the pillar began to move. It slipped silently down from the column, then raised its head and fixed its gaze on Duanmu Huai. Duanmu Huai stared back, both fists clenching.
And then...…
"HISSSS!!!"
The stone serpent opened its mouth and let out a shriek, then launched itself forward like an arrow fired from a bow, driving straight at Duanmu Huai. At the same moment, the hundreds upon hundreds of snakes let out the same cry, bared their fangs, and surged toward him.
Oh, so you think I'm easy prey, do you?
Seeing this, Duanmu Huai's expression darkened. Though both were Great Old Ones, the Serpent God Yig was a completely different tier of existence from Glaaki. Perhaps from Yig's perspective, Duanmu Huai was nothing more than a reckless upstart who didn't know his place?
Good. Then let me show you what it means to be the God of Destruction.
With that thought, Duanmu Huai clenched his fists tight. Black flames erupted from his body in an instant, and then Duanmu Huai drove his fist down into the ground.
"BOOM!!!"
The enormous fist slammed into the floor with tremendous force, and the black flames spread outward like ripples across a pond. Not only did the smooth stone floor shatter and crack apart in every direction, the swarm of snakes surging toward him was reduced to ash in the wake of the black flames. The massive shockwave that followed made even the stone serpent rearing down at him hesitate and rear back.
But by then, Duanmu Huai was already moving — he appeared directly before the stone serpent in an instant, clenched his fists, and drove them into it with full force.
"ORA! ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!!!!"
Blow after blow rained down on the stone serpent like a typhoon. Though it had been carved from hard stone, it now took every hit like a sandbag, each of Duanmu Huai's strikes landing without mercy.
"ORA—————!!"
With a final roar, Duanmu Huai's clenched right fist drove forward once more and connected squarely with the stone serpent's vital point. The massive stone serpent was launched clean off the ground by the impact and sent flying backward, crashing hard into the stone pillar behind it and collapsing completely.
"Goodness...…"
Mary was completely stunned.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time she had ever witnessed Duanmu Huai unleashing his combat ability without any restraint. Back in Antarctica, her attention had been entirely on her friend, so she hadn't paid much mind to this. But now...…
"Clatter."
At that moment, a soft sound came from amid the ruins of the stone serpent, and a figure slowly emerged from the dust and falling debris.
It had the body of a male comparable in build to Duanmu Huai, with a long serpentine tail extending behind it, its entire body covered in dark green scales. Its head too was that of a snake — and this creature fixed Duanmu Huai with an unwavering stare, a long forked tongue flicking from its mouth, two golden eyes radiating cold light.
Simply seeing it standing there made both Mary and Lorena feel a chill run through them from head to toe. Even just being caught by its gaze felt like countless snakes were crawling across their skin — but fortunately Duanmu Huai stepped in front of the serpent-headed figure and blocked its line of sight, and both of them couldn't help but let out a breath of relief.
"So you've finally shown yourself, Yig. I was starting to wonder if you'd stay hidden."
"Foolish mortal."
The Serpent God Yig fixed Duanmu Huai with its gaze and spoke in a flat, cold tone.
"You have no understanding of what the price of angering me truly is."
"That's irrelevant."
Duanmu Huai clenched his fists again and cracked his knuckles.
"I came here with one purpose — to utterly destroy you and every last one of your malformed descendants...…I trust you're ready to die."
"Foolish."
Yig raised its hands, baring sharp claws.
"What you are doing will only drag yourselves into destruction!"
"Well said — because...…destruction is precisely my specialty!"
The words had barely left his mouth before Duanmu Huai launched himself forward, fist clenched tight, driving it straight at Yig with full force.
(End of Chapter)