Treasure Chest in the Snake Nest

Amid the churning toxic miasma, a grassy patch several kilometers wide suddenly appeared atop the swamp of mud ahead. Through the gaps in the dead grass, a black treasure chest could vaguely be seen.

Inside the Bone Ship, Vic, who had been using magic to observe the outside, immediately grew excited. This was the first treasure chest they had encountered since reaching the fourth floor. They had only found one across the previous three floors.

The full plate armor Hake wore had come from that treasure chest. Though it was not enchanted, a suit of full plate forged entirely from refined steel was worth at least dozens of gold coins.

There was no need to think about it. The treasure chest on the fourth floor was bound to contain something even more valuable.

"Vic, don't approach it directly yet. Check whether there's any solid ground nearby."

Unlike the excited Vic, Lucas, as the captain, was far calmer. Treasure chests in dungeons were almost always guarded by monsters.

The current environment was unsuitable for battle. At least three members of their party would lose most of their combat strength in such terrain.

Therefore, if they wanted the treasure chest, they first had to find somewhere to stand before clearing out the monsters.

"Leave it to me."

Vic guided the Bone Ship around the grassy patch. After more than ten minutes, he finally selected an area with the fewest blades of grass, where the ground was dark brown.

"Go."

A skeleton monster climbed out of the Bone Ship. Under Vic's command, it crawled onto the grass. Only after confirming that it encountered no danger did he direct the Bone Ship closer.

"Finally, we're out."

Hake was the first to climb out of the Bone Ship. He changed into leather armor and carried a longsword and round shield. Standing two meters and thirty centimeters tall, he cautiously stepped onto the grass, then discovered in surprise that it did not sink at all and fully supported his weight.

"Come on, follow Hake!"

Seeing this, everyone inside the Bone Ship could no longer hold back and climbed out. Vic, who came last, guided the Bone Ship to the edge and spent more mana to summon several skeleton warriors.

As their only means of escape, the Bone Ship had to remain ready for use at all times. If they encountered a powerful monster, Vic would not have time to summon undead creatures again and reassemble the Bone Ship.

"Sophia."

"Understood."

Sophia waved a hand. Her petite body darted out like an illusion, and as she neared the shadows, her light figure began to blur before finally vanishing from everyone's sight.

A few minutes later, Sophia reappeared.

"Captain, I've finished scouting. There's a nest of giant pythons inside, around ten of them. They seem highly venomous, but they aren't particularly strong."

Sophia toyed with a fang in her hand. She had casually picked it up from the snake nest, and it was this very thing that had allowed her to determine that the giant pythons were highly venomous.

"Good work, Sophia."

After hearing the report, Lucas nodded for Sophia to return to the group. Then he looked at his teammates. Their long time together had given them exceptional coordination, and they were already prepared for battle without him needing to say more.

"Then let's go. The treasure chest is still waiting for us!"

With a wave of his hand, Lucas led the way forward. Hake, the iron guard, brought up the rear, while the half-elf archer and the assassin Sophia guarded the mage Vic in the center from either side.

Swish!

They had not gone more than a few hundred meters when a bucket-sized snake head suddenly shot out from the grass at their side. Its massive jaws opened, revealing two dagger-like venom fangs. A single bite would inject enough poison to kill its prey instantly.

Cleave!

Facing the giant python at such close range, Lucas did not panic. Instead, he stepped forward and gripped his battle-axe with both hands, severing the python's head in a single strike. With a thud, the head fell onto the grass while the dozens-of-meters-long body began to writhe madly.

Lucas swung his battle-axe again and easily cut the giant python's body into several pieces. An intact python hide would have been worth more, but this was no time to hold back.

Sure enough, as the scent of blood spread, the surrounding grass began to shake continuously. The bodies of numerous giant pythons flickered in and out of view within it.

"Hisss—"

The next second, a giant python at their side abruptly raised its upper body. Its jaws opened in a hiss, and just as torrents of venom were about to spray from its fangs, an arrow wrapped in a gale shot out. With a bang, the python's head exploded into fragments.

"Heh, just a monster."

Sola released the bowstring, a trace of pride on his beautiful, androgynous face. To expose such a massive opening before an elven archer was simply looking down on him.

"Good job, Sola."

Lucas praised him, then charged forward without looking back. He crouched and leaped with all his strength, veins bulging along his arms as furious battle aura nearly solidified around his great axe.

Furious Leaping Cleave!

With a roar, Lucas crashed into the snake horde like a meteor. Amid a thunderous explosion and flames soaring into the sky, several Swamp Pythons were blasted to pieces. The others did not remain idle either.

Before this elite adventurer party composed entirely of extraordinary professionals, the Swamp Pythons were easily slaughtered and utterly routed.

More than ten minutes later, the orc Hake severed the final Swamp Python's head with a single stroke, declaring the battle completely over.

"Vic, you and Sophia cut down every useful material from these monsters. Hake, you protect them. Sola and I will go get the treasure chest."

Lucas wiped the blood from his face and gave the orders with a hint of excitement in his voice.

Then he took the half-elf archer toward the treasure chest, which lay in a pile of dead grass less than a hundred meters from the snake nest.

After Lucas and Sola left, Vic and Sophia began dragging over the relatively intact Swamp Python corpses. The two skillfully started skinning them, pulling their fangs, and gathering valuable materials.

"Huh? Vic, what's that?"

Sophia, who had been skinning a python, suddenly stopped. She pointed toward an earthen mound inside the snake nest that was made entirely of piled dead grass, curiosity flashing in her eyes.

"There should be eggs inside. Some snake-type monsters have the habit of burying their eggs in fallen leaves and dead grass to hatch them."

As Vic spoke, he walked to the pile of dead grass and carefully pushed aside the leaves with his wand. Dozens of bowl-sized snake eggs covered in purple patterns appeared before his eyes.

But in the next instant, Vic ignored those eggs entirely and fixed his gaze on the treasure chest beneath them.

The enormous treasure chest was nearly two meters long, black all over and covered in silver patterns. As a mage, Vic recognized at a glance that those silver patterns were made entirely of Mithril.

Through a narrow crack in the slightly opened chest, a dazzling golden light shone out.

"A... a treasure chest! And one I've never seen before!"

At that moment, Vic's entire vision was consumed by the treasure chest. Desire began rising within him, and in a daze, he seemed to see himself obtaining divine magical knowledge from within it, becoming a legendary mage in the future and being praised in song by the world.