Snake Mother Is Here

"Captain Wang."

Hua Yin kept moving. He even picked up speed, running deeper into the campus toward the main teaching building, where the snakes were thickest. His voice came through the earpiece with rare urgency.

"Something's wrong. Something's coming. It's strong... and hostile. Like... a mother animal that's been disturbed."

The channel fell silent for two seconds before Captain Wang's grave voice came through. "White Butterfly, are you sure? Did you sense it with your ability? What's your maximum range? How strong is it?"

"I'm sure."

Hua Yin had reached the steps of the main building. Inside the lobby, more than a dozen snakes were slithering up the stairs.

He did not slow down. His Tang Blade flashed from its sheath, its edge gleaming like snow. In an instant, several Nether-Ring Snakes blocking his path were cut into pieces, their foul blood splattering across the walls.

"My sensing range isn't large, but I picked up a change in the underground magnetic field. It's moving extremely fast. Its spiritual pressure... cold and immense. Stronger than mine. I'd guess at least C-rank, possibly higher. It's coming this way."

As he spoke, he opened his left hand.

Pale light burst from his palm!

The next instant, hundreds of Pale Bewitching Butterflies surged out like an erupting white volcano!

Faint jade-green edges glinted along their wings in the dim light.

This time, Hua Yin held nothing back. He cast his will outward like an invisible net.

Search!

Clear a path!

Hundreds of butterflies shot in every direction, a pale storm descending without warning!

Some flew through the teaching building's windows and vents. Others headed for the gymnasium, the laboratory building, and the other structures.

They followed Hua Yin's highest-priority command: find survivors!

The swarm swept through corridors, classrooms, and storage rooms with astonishing efficiency, rapidly relaying the locations of terrified, huddled students to Hua Yin.

At the same time, their razor-sharp wings cut silently through smaller, isolated Nether-Ring Snakes like tiny harvesting sickles.

"I've sent the swarm to search for survivors. It should buy us a little time."

Hua Yin caught his breath. Controlling a swarm across such a wide area all at once took a toll on him.

"But that thing... will be here soon."

Captain Wang's heavy breathing came through the channel. He was clearly weighing his options fast.

White Butterfly's S-rank potential in special perception, combined with that vast swarm of scouting butterflies... Captain Wang had no choice but to believe him.

"Everyone, listen up!"

Captain Wang's voice rose sharply in every team member's earpiece. "White Butterfly's warning is confirmed! A high-level mother beast is approaching at high speed! Estimated C-rank or higher! Repeat, a C-rank or higher beast is about to reach the battlefield!"

"Mission priorities have changed!"

"Abandon deep searches and on-site extermination!"

"Everyone, get the survivors you've found out of the buildings as fast as possible and assemble at the school gate! Move! Move! Move!"

The order was absolute, its urgency leaving no room for argument.

Every team member still fighting snakes or searching inside the buildings felt a chill.

A C-rank mother beast?

A team equipped like theirs had no chance of taking one head-on!

"Copy!"

"Understood!"

"Evacuating now!"

The replies over the channel were swift and brief. Then came the sounds of faster footsteps and frantic fighting.

Hua Yin charged into the main building too.

Information kept flowing in from the swarm: five people in the third-floor chemistry lab, three in the second-floor teachers' office, and two injured people around the corner of the first-floor stairwell...

He moved through the corridors like a ghost. Each flash of his blade cut down another Nether-Ring Snake lunging at him.

He no longer tried to kill every snake. He focused on driving them back and breaking through, intent on finding the survivors and getting them out.

His movements were efficient and cold, but his heart grew heavier by the moment.

It was not only because that terrifying presence was drawing closer, its pressure soaking the air like freezing water.

It was also because of the disturbing sight before him.

Several Nether-Ring Snakes he had wounded but not killed neither fled nor lay down to die. Instead, the smell of blood drove them into a frenzy. They attacked, bit, and devoured one another!

A slightly thicker snake coiled around a thinner one and, despite its struggles, forced most of its body down its throat!

After feeding, its body visibly swelled. Its scales took on a darker sheen, and its aura rose from that of an ordinary beast to the threshold of E-Rank!

Worse, at the far end of the corridor, several thick Nether-Ring Snakes that had already reached E-Rank faced one another and hissed. They were about to start devouring each other too!

These damned things...

They can evolve this quickly by eating each other?!

"Captain Wang!"

Hua Yin slashed apart two snakes trying to devour their fallen companions, his voice cold.

"New development! The Nether-Ring Snakes are eating one another!"

"The ones that feed grow noticeably stronger. They're advancing from ordinary beasts to E-Rank beasts! Repeat, the swarm can evolve rapidly!"

The news made the channel fall even more silent.

Just then—

BOOM!

A deafening crash shook the ground! The teaching building lurched, and dust rained from above!

The sound had come from the field at the center of campus!

Everyone's heart lurched!

Hua Yin rushed to the nearest window and looked out.

A massive crater, more than ten meters across, had opened in the middle of the once-level field!

Soil, turf, and fragments of rubber flew everywhere!

From the billowing dust, an enormous dark-green shape slowly rose out of the crater, a sight that crushed all hope.

It was a snake!

A snake larger than Hua Yin could have imagined!

The portion above ground alone was nearly a dozen meters long!

Its body was as thick as a small truck!

Dark-green diamond-shaped scales covered it from head to tail. Each was the size of a washbasin, with a sharp edge and a cold metallic sheen. The intricate white rings across them looked like sinister runes.

Its triangular head was as big as a truck. Its vertical, ghost-green pupils burned like two enormous lanterns from hell, cold and cruel and filled with savage fury!

Each flick of its forked scarlet tongue sent a foul wind sweeping outward!

Terrifying C-rank spiritual pressure swept across the entire campus like a tsunami!

The containment field buckled under the pressure, humming as if it could barely hold!

Every surviving Nether-Ring Snake stopped at once. They raised their heads toward the giant serpent and hissed, as though paying homage to their monarch!

Hua Yin gripped his blade so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

The earpiece went dead silent. Only the team members' heavy breathing remained.

At last, Captain Wang's hoarse voice came through. It carried a weight close to despair, though he forced every trace of emotion down.

"Target confirmed... a peak C-rank beast... No, judging by its spiritual pressure and size, it may already be half a step into B-rank..."

"Codename... Nether-Ring Viper Queen."

"Mission... changed to... hold out until reinforcements arrive. I'll stop it from leaving the campus at any cost and wait for the branch's... other high-level fighters to arrive... Protect the civilians."

"I repeat... protect the civilians..."

Peak C-rank, perhaps even half a step into B-rank...

A C-rank beast could already fight a human expert in the Core Condensation Realm. Half a step into B-rank meant it would take someone in the Domain Transformation Realm to kill it with ease!

Captain Wang, meanwhile, possessed only the B-rank ability Ghostwood Vine and was at the early stage of the Core Condensation Realm.

In other words, against a peak C-rank Nether-Ring Viper Queen, Captain Wang could only hold it off. He could not kill it!

They would need at least two more Awakened in the Core Condensation Realm to have even a slim chance of killing it!

Hua Yin looked at the Nether-Ring Viper Queen outside, a beast like something from a primordial age, and felt its terrifying pressure threaten to freeze the blood in his veins. The Pale Core that had remained silent within him was pounding wildly.

For the first time, it sent a tremor through him that mingled a warning of extreme danger with an almost irresistible hunger to devour.

He drew a slow breath. Cool air stabbed into his lungs.

Looks like lunch won't be on time.

But I might still get a fine feast of flesh and blood!