God Magnus

Huff! Huff! Huff!

Oliver's own breathing was already causing him unbearable pain, and carrying Nikki on his back only worsened his exhaustion. She wasn't heavy, but combined with the weapons and the meat he carved from the albino serpent, he was completely overloaded.

When he crossed the river, he made the decision to head to a place that seemed like the perfect spot to rest. Sleeping out in the open would just be begging for a quick death.

It was already late afternoon. Saving Nikki, fighting the serpent, and making his way here had taken up nearly all of the remaining daylight. It wasn't long before the trees cleared and the scene of the massacre came into view.

If it were just that, he could've handled it. But the stench of decomposition hit his nostrils and he had to fight with everything he had not to vomit.

Even after so many hours, the lake still pulsed with a bloody red hue and now, it seemed the entire volume of crimson from the corpses upstream had pooled here. Even the waterfall was now as red as the lake.

"A place like this would never be the kind of environment a damn snake would choose. Inside that cave, we'll be protected through the night."

Oliver began climbing the rocks near the cliff face where the waterfall crashed down. A new kind of battle began, one that made his muscles burn. But eventually, with great reluctance, he hurled himself through the bloody waterfall, praying he wouldn't smash his face on a rock.

Oliver and his branded backpack, called Nikki, passed through the blood-contaminated fall. Everything was dark. The little light still in the sky was blocked by the water, and the roar of it crashing onto the rocks echoed like a soothing melody inside the cavern.

He gently set his red-haired backpack down on the ground and unloaded all the gear he'd collected along the way. And with that, a new and harder battle began:

Starting a fire with damp twigs and rocks.

A long, long time passed, so much that even the faint sunlight coming through the waterfall had disappeared, but in the end, he prevailed. Tiny sparks caught, and finally, the wood began to burn. A few puffs of breath later, and a campfire was born.

The orange glow bathed the cavern and lit up Nikki's still-unconscious face. In this light, she looked strangely beautiful. Not the fierce demon she usually was.

The warmth slowly began to heat both of their bodies, and Oliver looked around. The cave seemed to have formed naturally, stretching deep and growing wider the further the light reached.

"Could there be more snakes in there? No! That has to be impossible!"

His instincts screamed at him, but he ignored them for a while. He grabbed everything he had brought and began roasting the albino serpent's meat. This time, it had a reddish look, not so different from beef.

The smell of fat sizzling over the fire filled the space. While the food cooked, Oliver started inspecting his blades.

The ivory fangs had proven just as good, maybe even better, than the bronze gladii. But of course, everything had limits. One of the blades was riddled with cracks and its tip had broken off.

"It was already a miracle you didn't shatter during that last attack from the albino demon."

Putting his broken companion aside, Oliver now understood why some warriors refused to give up their weapons, even after they were ruined. As a natural-born spellcaster, he never got that while playing RPGs.

His thoughts were cut short as he looked at the other fang. Its blade was entirely red, with fractures spiderwebbing across its surface.

But something was different. The more he stared, the more it felt like the broken ivory fang didn't want to give up. As if it was fighting to hold itself together, needing to stay strong in the face of challenge. It was dying, but it still wanted to fight.

"All right, partner! We might not have known each other for long, but you saved my life. I'll respect that."

"I'm going crazy... I'm literally talking to a fang from the snake I killed not that long ago!" Oliver shoved his madness aside.

The albino snake skewer was ready, and he devoured it like a man possessed. Even without salt or seasoning, it was delicious. Whether it was hunger or taste, he couldn't say.

Beep!

"Of course you'd beep!"

[Saturation: 30% → 40%]

"Okay... so eating meat raises saturation, and waking up also increases it... That means time spent here and eating meat pushes the percentage up. Even if I don't know what the hell it actually does."

Oliver spent several minutes eating, then tore some of the meat into tiny pieces. Lifting Nikki's head, he placed some in her mouth. Slowly, her body's involuntary reflexes kicked in and she swallowed the snake meat.

"Finally… maybe now I can get some rest."

But his instincts had other plans. They wouldn't let him drop his guard. Something told him he'd need to explore deeper into this cave. So Oliver grabbed a larger burning branch and used it as a torch.

"That should give me a few minutes of light."

This time, he took the crossbow and the quiver with the last remaining bolts. He left the more fragile blade on Nikki's lap and carried the bloodstained ivory fang.

He had no idea what awaited him in that albino serpent's lair, but he had to be ready.

It didn't take long for Oliver to disappear into the old den, leaving Nikki behind. The crashing sound of water on stone faded behind him until all that remained was the echo of his own footsteps.

"Please, angel... I pray there are no more snakes in here."