Not long after Vik returned to the camp, a patch of ground deep within Black Snake Valley suddenly began to tremble.
Stone pillars stood everywhere here, and countless enormous black snakes lay coiled across the uneven rocky ground. But when the tremors spread, these black snakes raised their upper bodies in terror, frantically flicking their tongues and emitting frightened hisses.
A huge hole silently opened in the ground. An immense black snake head, crowned with a massive sharp horn, slowly emerged from the earth. Its body was as thick as a man's, and its tongue—over a dozen meters long—flicked rapidly through the air. This astonishingly huge black snake lazily crawled out of the ground and slowly slithered toward the exit of Black Snake Valley.
Faint traces of blackish-red medicinal powder could be seen on the ground. The powder gave off a light scent of blood, and this concoction, blended from the marrow and blood essence of various wild beasts, held an irresistible lure for snakes and other reptiles. Ordinary little snakes would burst apart and die after consuming it, unable to withstand the immense potency within. But for those gigantic snakes, it was a supreme tonic.
No one could say exactly how many black snakes lived in Black Snake Valley.
Nor could anyone say how many years Black Snake Valley had existed on the Odin Icefield.
The black snakes in Black Snake Valley were merely ordinary snakes. They had no magic cores for hunters to claim, no venom, and no strange or unusual value. Even their flesh was not particularly tasty. They were a species good for nothing, and thus had survived in Black Snake Valley for many years without trouble.
Enzo and the others had camped in Black Snake Valley several times. Vik, who loved darting about and wandering