Chapter 1306
Leon glanced at Viper and spoke indifferently.
"Finish him off."
In an instant, it was as if a layer of frost suddenly appeared around Viper. By the time Viper noticed the icy shards, a block of ice over three meters wide had already sealed him inside.
Hubert, seething with rage, appeared above Viper, wielding Slaughter with both hands. He smashed the warhammer down onto the ice, its earth-yellow glow enveloping the surface. Even space itself seemed to tremble with the force of Hubert's blow.
With a dull thud, the ice shattered into fragments, and Viper, frozen inside, was torn apart in an instant...
Now that the target was found, Viper was no longer needed. Leon surveyed the space, then bent down to pull up a black-and-red weed. Strange patterns covered its surface, and as Leon recognized the markings, a hint of realization flickered across his face.
Death Venom Dragon Grass—a plant that only grows where Golden Crown Serpents have lived for a long time. Coupled with the dense aura of death here, Leon suddenly remembered why the poisonous mist had always felt so familiar.
Back in the apocalypse, those complicated and obscure magical theories were never Leon's favorite. In that era, even the most powerful spellbooks were no better than scrap paper. Instead, Leon preferred to pass the time reading biographies that felt more like novels.
Now, seeing the Death Venom Dragon Grass, he finally remembered everything.
According to the records, several centuries later, a Golden Crown Serpent appeared in the Odin Kingdom. But its condition was dire—ninety percent of its body had turned undead, with only its head yet to be corrupted. Sadly, on the verge of complete transformation, it lost all reason.
The venom began to spread across the Odin Kingdom, contaminating hundreds of kilometers. Every living thing was poisoned to death, save for a handful of resilient insects, snakes, ants, and toxic plants that managed to survive.
A massive hunt was launched, with countless heroes coming to slay the crazed Golden Crown Serpent. Many tales of courage and tragedy were born from this.
Although part of the biography was written this way, the real reason was greed.
The Golden Crown Serpent had no magic crystal, and its flesh was saturated with deadly toxins. Ironically, it was this toxic flesh that brought about the serpent's downfall.
During the Age of Gods and Demons, Golden Crown Serpents were already extinct. Though their flesh was poisonous, it could be easily processed to make excellent antidotes. Even the venom of the Primordial Venom Dragon could be suppressed by their flesh—if the serpent was powerful enough, it could even neutralize the most ancient dragon's poison.
Legend had it that the flesh of the Golden Crown Serpent could even change one's constitution. So, in the Age of Gods and Demons, they were hunted to extinction—or rather, devoured by the era's mighty creatures...
When one finally appeared, the great powers of the Odin Kingdom were never going to let it go.
Leon flew into the sky, surveying every corner of this small demi-plane, but found no trace of the Golden Crown Serpent. The reason was simple: despite lacking a magic crystal, Golden Crown Serpents possess powerful spatial abilities and can hide themselves in the folds of space itself.
"Elder of the Deinocen Clan, I mean you no harm. On the contrary, I can heal your wounds."
Deinocen is what the Golden Crown Serpents call themselves—a rare, highly intelligent magical beast species. They despise the name 'Golden Crown Serpent.'
Leon called out loudly, but there was no response.
"Your wounds must have spread to sixty percent of your body by now. In another four or five centuries, you'll lose all sense and become a complete undead.
Would a Deinocen elder really accept becoming a mindless undead against their will? Even if you complete the transformation now, you'll lose your wisdom. Only in your intact state can you preserve your mind."
Leon continued to persuade, but the surroundings remained unchanged.
Leon sighed. Golden Crown Serpents are wary of all living things. If not for this, the creature wouldn't have stayed trapped in this cage-like demi-plane for over a thousand years, only leaving after losing its mind.
Leon extended a finger, and a faint spatial ripple began to appear. If this ripple spread and shattered even a fingernail-sized patch of space, the resulting chain reaction would collapse the entire demi-plane like a row of falling dominoes.
This is why, in the future of the Northend World, no one dares provoke top-tier spatial mages—each one has the power to destroy a demi-plane.
There was once a family that offended a peak Sky Rank expert. Their house boasted a Soulfire-ignited powerhouse and feared nothing, not even the spatial mage. The brutal retaliation: eleven out of sixteen demi-planes under their control were destroyed, and the Soulfire-wielder couldn't even catch the spatial mage...
With Leon's ability, the chain collapse he could trigger would only affect a place with such incomplete basic laws—a space barely worthy of being called a demi-plane. Twenty kilometers or so would be enough...
"Elder of the Deinocen Clan, as I said, I mean no harm. But if you refuse to come out, I'll have no choice but to shatter this prison-like demi-plane."
Would you really rather wait for death in a place where your body can't even stretch out?"
Hubert scratched his head, watching Leon shout into the sky, and muttered under his breath.
"Such a huge space, and still not enough to stretch out... Archmage Merlin really knows how to joke..."
The spatial ripple at Leon's fingertip grew more intense, and the surrounding space began to tremble. Once the space collapsed, the Golden Crown Serpent hiding in the folds would no longer be able to conceal itself.
This chapter isn't over yet~.~ Please click 'Next Page' to continue reading!
Suddenly, a frail, ancient voice echoed throughout the demi-plane, reverberating in every corner.
"Human, stop."
As the voice appeared, it was as if a mirage flickered in the demi-plane—a phantom of a massive serpent, hundreds of meters thick and of indeterminate length, materialized and rapidly grew solid.
As the serpent emerged, everyone stared in stunned silence, mouths agape.
The serpent's body was like an impossibly vast wall, encircling the edge of the demi-plane. It stretched at least forty or fifty kilometers long. The front half was perfectly intact, its scales gleaming like dark gold, and atop its head sat a crown that looked forged from pure gold.
Its head, however, resembled a dragon far more than a snake—no trace of reptilian coldness, only majesty. The enormous eyes glimmered with intelligence.
Only the back half of its body was a ghastly white skeleton, stripped of all flesh. Where the undead portion joined the living half, the flesh was withering and decaying.
Leon had always known the Golden Crown Serpent was massive, but seeing it in person was still shocking. Staring at its colossal form, Leon guessed that its sheer size was the reason it could hold out for centuries more...
The Golden Crown Serpent's head rested wearily on the ground, its gaze still wary as it looked at Leon.
"Human, what do you want?"
Leon sighed inwardly. At the peak of the Northend World, some mages had studied using the flesh of Golden Crown Serpents as raw material—that was true waste and extravagance. With just a drop of venom from its mouth, a fragment of its golden crown, and a trace of heartblood, one could cultivate a new plant from Venom Dragon Grass. The result was far more potent than the serpent's flesh and much better suited for humans.
Most importantly, once a single specimen of this plant—called Golden Crown Herb—was cultivated, it could propagate endlessly. Potions made from Golden Crown Herb not only detoxify but also permanently enhance a mage's resistance to poison.
Unfortunately, by then, Golden Crown Serpents had vanished from the Northend World for tens of thousands of years. The next time they were found was in the Undead Plane, but by then, Northend mages had lost interest in hunting them, allowing these ancient, intelligent beings to survive.
Eventually, relations eased, and humans gained vast amounts of ancient history from the Golden Crown Serpent race. Many techniques were developed thanks to them, making Golden Crown Serpents one of the few magical beast species ever treated as equals by Northend mages at their peak.