Chapter 1080: Kundara (13)
“Demon-Slaying Blood [살마혈]. An extreme poison ground from the blood of demonic beasts.”
“Hmm.”
“…Dream-Reality Poison [현몽독]. A hallucinogenic poison that confuses reality and dreams.”
“I see.”
“…Wobbling Wood Pellet [요목환]. Soul-Wounding Powder [승혼산]. A type of hallucinogen that saps vitality and harms the soul.”
“They don’t seem very useful.”
CRASH!!
“You scoundrel, how long do you intend to make me play shopkeeper?”
Nives, who had been pulling out all sorts of poisons from under her scales while watching Lennok’s reactions, expressed her annoyance.
“I’ve shown you this much poison; you should just accept it and pick your reward—”
“Oh?”
As if on cue, Lennok shook a small, purplish vial.
“This, you don’t need it?”
“…”
“If the Elixir of Ascension is such a precious extreme poison, then I’d like to receive a poison equally useful in exchange.”
“…”
“I’m even offering to give up using this to enter the Ninth Tribulation and return the elixir, so you’re not saying you can’t even do this much, are you?”
The white snake, her mouth clamped shut, finally started to twitch her scales again, pulling out more hidden poisons.
It had been ten minutes since Lennok had tamed Nives, using the Elixir of Ascension he received from Maleon as bait.
Lennok had her seated in the center of this colossal Snake Blood Palace, making her pull out and introduce each of her poisons.
‘It would be difficult to make her reveal all her poisons anyway.’
Demanding poison in exchange for the elixir was merely an excuse; the real goal was to ascertain the abilities and types of poisons Nives possessed.
In just ten minutes, Nives had already produced well over 300 types of poisons.
It was hard to guess how many more poisons she still had.
‘All the poisons she’s revealed so far were manufactured by others. She never intended to show me the real ones from the start.’
The fact that she was dragging out time for over ten minutes, observing his reactions, was itself proof that Nives had no intention of showing off the poisons she herself manufactured.
However, Lennok also didn’t press Nives to reveal other poisons.
After all, Lennok was just as keen to stall for time here as Nives was.
“Enough. Let’s stop there.”
Lennok, who had been watching Nives lift her scales, slowly opened his mouth.
Lennok took a few steps towards Nives, who had immediately ceased her movements, and looked up at her, lifting his chin.
“Before I choose a poison, I first want to hear a polite apology for this matter.”
“…”
“You doubted me without cause, even after receiving Olivera’s request, and you accused me of not keeping my promise.”
Lennok raised his chin higher.
“I was deeply wounded by those cruel words. Only a heartfelt apology can soothe my spirit.”
“…You scoundrel.”
At Lennok’s brazen words, delivered without even a blink, the snake’s tongue quivered.
The sight of the wizard, far from being wounded, seemingly enjoying this moment, must have been utterly galling.
But Nives, seeing the purplish vial in Lennok’s hand, gritted her teeth and bowed her head.
CRUNCH!!
The colossal coiled snake slammed her head against the floor of the Snake Blood Palace, bowing deeply.
The very ground shook and trembled as her heavy head connected with the earth.
She bowed so deeply her pupils were hidden, and with all her will-thought suppressed, she ground out through gritted teeth.
“Through my hasty judgment… I doubted the results you achieved…”
“…”
“If I can… retrieve… the Elixir of Ascension… I will bow my head like this.”
Her words, clearly forced and insincere, broke off awkwardly, stretching out from the proud Long-lived Being.
Her attitude was blatant, deliberately changing words here and there, trying to gauge Lennok’s reaction.
But Nives, unable to contain her indignation and attempting to twist her words, was also quite a sight to behold.
“If you offer the Elixir of Ascension, I shall bestow upon you a suitable reward… will you accept my apology?”
“…”
A near-disastrous blunder of words, making it unclear if she was apologizing or pressuring Lennok.
But Lennok ignored Nives’s words and fixed his gaze on the crown of her bowed head.
‘There are no particularly noticeable scales or areas. I thought there might be something like a Reverse Scale [역린], but it seems not.’
While Nives had been pulling out poisons and revealing her scales, he had observed all other parts of her, but not the top of her head.
So he had used the apology as an excuse to check the back of her head, but saw nothing unusual.
“If you say so much, then there’s nothing for it.”
Lennok, finishing his observation in an instant and averting his gaze, nodded.
“I’ll accept your apology. Perhaps because I’m so soft-hearted, it pains me to see an elder’s vulnerable side for too long.”
“…”
Lennok’s words were so brazen that he could feel Nives, still bowed, gritting her teeth.
But Nives, quickly suppressing even that thought, finally raised her head and asked Lennok.
“Then, will you hand over the Elixir of Ascension to me now?”
“No, as I said, I will exchange it for a poison of equal value.”
Lennok said firmly.
“This is an item I obtained as a prize in the Obaekro tournament. You’re not thinking of compensating my efforts in acquiring this elixir with just a single apology, are you?”
“I apologize, but I have few poisons left to show you now.”
Nives flicked her tongue, as if expressing regret.
“Since I’ve apologized, if possible, I’d appreciate it if you’d choose an item to exchange for the elixir from the poisons I’ve already shown you.”
“…”
Nives’s reply was to not show any of the poisons she herself manufactured, and instead tell him to choose an item for exchange from what he’d already seen.
As expected, this True Blood species had no intention of conducting a proper barter or transaction with Lennok.
Having made a perfunctory apology, she would now brazenly try to reclaim the Elixir of Ascension.
However, Lennok had already decided what he would demand from Nives from the very beginning.
“Among the poisons, there’s nothing I fancy. I can’t exchange such inferior goods for the elixir.”
“Then, what do you propose?”
Lennok smirked, seeing the snake immediately bare her fangs.
Her blatant desire to snatch the elixir away instantly was clearly visible in Lennok’s eyes.
“Instead of poison, how about exchanging the elixir for an antidote?”
“…Antidote?”
Nives, who had been glaring at Lennok with killing intent, momentarily froze.
“You said it yourself the other day. Depending on how it’s used, a poison can be a poison, or it can be a medicine.”
“…”
“A skilled poison master would naturally have an extensive knowledge of creating antidotes.”
Lennok, holding the elixir in his hand, said.
“Let me be clear. This Elixir of Ascension, created from an extreme poison. Bring me an antidote potent enough to neutralize this poison.”
“Why… do you need such an antidote?”
“Because among all the extreme poisons you’ve created, this Elixir of Ascension will be the most potent.”
Lennok replied.
“If an antidote is potent enough to neutralize this elixir, it means it can neutralize any other poison.”
“…”
“Just as you don’t trust me, I don’t trust you. I could even believe it if you injected an unknown neurotoxin into my body as soon as this deal is over.”
Lennok smiled and asked the silent Nives.
“I merely wish to prevent such a situation. You understand, don’t you?”
“…Fine.”
Nives, staring intently at Lennok with an unreadable expression, said.
“However, an antidote potent enough to neutralize the Elixir of Ascension is not currently in my possession. Manufacturing it is possible, but…”
“If you need time to manufacture the antidote, I’ll wait.”
Lennok said, shaking the elixir.
“Would it be sufficient if I promised not to step a single foot out of your Snake Blood Palace?”
“…Hmph. Wait here.”
Nives’s massive body, slowly snorting, gradually began to move from the center of the Snake Blood Palace’s hall.
Her colossal, several-meter-long body slowly twisted, gracefully sliding across the palace floor.
The viper stared intently at Lennok with her pure white pupils until the moment she vanished down the corridor.
“Good.”
As soon as Lennok confirmed Nives had hidden herself, he moved immediately.
“The snake has left. Now I can move a bit more freely.”
“[That’s typical of Master, but is it really okay to break a promise right after making it?]”
Davi, who had been observing the situation from his pocket, instantly let out a telepathic transmission laced with disbelief.
But Lennok didn’t bat an eye and moved towards the opposite end of the corridor.
“The Fearsome Blood King said that the Elixir of Ascension was made using Nives’s True Blood [진혈] as an ingredient. In that case, she’ll need True Blood to make the antidote as well.”
“[Heh.]”
“She wouldn’t have such a thing on hand, so she’ll need time to manufacture it. What I wanted was for Nives to temporarily leave her post under the pretense of making an antidote.”
“[Ohh.]”
Davi clapped his paws in admiration, then tilted his head.
“[But True Blood is incredibly precious, isn’t it? To get back an elixir made from True Blood, would she really just hand over an antidote also made from True Blood?]”
“Of course not.”
“[Ehh?]”
“She made such a fuss to get the elixir back; do you think she’d really just hand over an antidote containing True Blood to me now?”
Lennok cut her off decisively, looking at Davi, who was making a strange squeaking sound.
“Far from giving me an antidote, she probably won’t even properly intend to make one.”
“[…If you knew that, why did you ask for an antidote?]”
“As long as I have the Elixir of Ascension in my hand, she’ll have no choice but to pretend to make an antidote. And in any case, the manufacturing process will take a lot of time.”
Lennok strode confidently down the corridor opposite to where Nives had vanished, and when he found a wide ramp leading down into the palace’s basement, his expression hardened.
“In the meantime, there’s one crucial fact I must verify in this viper’s palace.”
“[That is…]”
Davi, as if guessing something, fell silent, and Lennok walked unhesitatingly down the ramp.
The fact that there were no stairs anywhere in the Snake Blood Palace was the only thing he liked about this suffocating jungle.
It was probably because Nives herself usually resided in the Snake Blood Palace in her viper form.
Whoosh!!
As he followed the ramp downwards, towards the lower part of the palace, a damp humidity rose, revealing the landscape of a subterranean swamp.
The form of a massive swamp lake hidden beneath the jungle’s thickets and vines.
But the lake was filled not with water or mucus, but with a deep, indigo poison.
BOOM!!
A grotesque sight: the entire lake was filled with dark, indigo poison.
The viscosity of the poison was so strong that even with the wind blowing, there was no ripple on the surface of the lake.
A colossal white veil, looking like a snake’s shed skin, encircled the lake.
Beyond the veil of shed skin, something was deeply submerged in the lake, its back turned.
Buried entirely in the indigo poison, it breathed slowly, without a single tremor.
The moment he saw that figure, its head raised to avoid the poison, draped in a loose black robe, its back to him.
“…Olivera Ron Maize.”
Lennok took a deep breath and slowly called her name.
“We don’t have much time, so I’ll explain it simply.”
Without waiting for a reply, Lennok immediately continued.
“There is a being in Kundara attempting to become an Ascendant, and I’ve decided to cooperate in that process.”
“…”
“I plan to enter the Ninth Tribulation with him, and I’m told Nives’s True Blood [진혈] is needed to retrieve Kaiser’s body there.”
“…”
“Of course, it wouldn’t be too late to cut off that snake’s head and extract her True Blood, but I stopped by first because there’s something I want to confirm before that.”
Lennok’s eyes shone coldly as he gazed at Olivera’s unmoving back.
“Which side are you on right now?”
He knew that Olivera, who had witnessed the project’s failure, was unusually sensitive when it came to Kaiser’s affairs.
Even if she hid her true intentions with all sorts of lies and deceit, the objective of finding Kaiser’s body itself wouldn’t be a lie.
What Lennok wanted to know was the means.
If Olivera sided with Nives instead of Lennok, and decided to retrieve Kaiser’s body herself.
At this point, their paths diverging was practically a foregone conclusion.
And if she was relying on Nives’s lair to focus on her treatment, it wouldn’t be strange for her to side with Nives at any time.
Lennok had arranged time to speak with Olivera to confirm this fact before starting his work.
If, by chance, she had abandoned accompanying Lennok and was devising her own method.
If she intended to side with Nives, an acquaintance she had known longer than Lennok.
Then Lennok, too, would need to significantly alter his future course of action.
It wasn’t because he didn’t trust Olivera; rather, it was precisely because he trusted her so much in this regard.
Knowing she wasn’t the type to abandon her goals for mere sentiment or connection, Lennok had to ascertain her true intentions here.
“…”
“…”
The silence stretched on.
She, who had heard all of Lennok’s words without a single reaction, quietly repeating her ablutions in the lake of poison.
And Lennok, looking at Olivera, slowly rubbing his wrist with an expressionless face—at that moment when their gazes met.
“Aha.”
CRASHHHH!!!!
The swamp’s ceiling exploded with a roar, and the colossal body of the white snake plummeted from above.
“I knew it.”
SPLASHHH!!
The white snake crashed into the middle of the poison lake, scattering waves of toxic fluid in all directions.
The poison that flowed out of the swamp rapidly melted and evaporated the ground, expanding the lake’s surface area.
Nives, having lightly flicked her tail to regain her balance and now standing in the center of the poison lake, glared down at Lennok with her glowing white pupils.