The Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake King

Listening to that sound was like listening to a winter wind colder than the chilly night.

The golden light began to writhe, stretching from an oval mass into something longer and narrower. Twisting and winding, it encircled the mound of Black-Feathered Sparrow carcasses, its length exceeding thirty meters.

Only then did they begin to realize what it was. Zeng Mu reacted first, squeezing out a question in a voice filled with unrestrained horror. "That thing is a Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake too?"

Her brows knitted tightly, Ma Linya nodded. "Yes. To be precise, it's an Elemental Snake King."

Like Elementalists, Elemental Beasts had originally evolved from ordinary birds and animals. Of course, some exceptionally powerful, long-lived Elemental Beasts underwent mutations in their bloodlines, allowing them to pass elemental energy on to their offspring. But these represented only a small minority. Most Elemental Beasts still came into being gradually, developing their powers from nothing.

The golden Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake before them, its length rivaling that of nearly half the plaza, was naturally an Elemental Snake King endowed with elemental power.

Looking at the conspicuous golden ring around its tail, Ma Linya added, "Yellow Sand Diamondback Snakes live for three to five years, but this one has lived for at least twenty. No wonder it's reached this stage."

"A Common Grade, One-Element, level-two beast. Equivalent to an Elementalist in the second realm," Yetos murmured gravely.

The towering mound of carcasses shrank rapidly beneath the enormous golden maw. Watching this, even Xibizete's naturally cold expression betrayed alarm, though his voice remained calm. "I never expected the mound of Black-Feathered Sparrow carcasses and the yellow viper fruit to lure something like this into the city."

Aikimu agreed. "That's only natural, considering the sheer quantity of Black-Feathered Sparrows and yellow viper fruit. What's unexpected is that an Elemental Beast of this level existed outside Sand City without any of us knowing. I doubt even that bastard Qin Zihui anticipated this."

"Its arrival has taken their scheme to a whole new level. Boss, what do we do now?" William turned to Yetos and asked.

After several seconds of silence, Yetos spoke, his gaze still fixed below. "Wait. We wait until it finishes eating. Its speed will drop a little then, and I'll have a slightly better chance of winning."

Everyone's expression darkened at those words. Even someone as powerful as he was deeply wary of this Elemental Snake King.

It was extremely difficult for an Elementalist to kill an Elemental Beast of the same level, because the latter possessed not only the same elemental power, but an overwhelming physical advantage as well.

Thus, the more people joined a hunt for an Elemental Beast, the greater the chance of succeeding without injuries. Hunting the stronger Fine Grade Two-Element beasts or Superior Grade Three-Element beasts required groups of at least ten Elementalists every time, and casualties were inevitable.

Yetos knew perfectly well how difficult it would be to kill the Elemental Snake King before him. He could do it by sacrificing his subordinates' lives, but that would cost him at least a hundred knights.

With a fierce battle imminent, every knight lost could mean the fall of Sand City. That was why Yetos had ordered all the knights to stay indoors-to avoid that possibility.

Having already weighed the consequences, Yetos settled on a single objective: drive the Elemental Snake King away. That would preserve as much of their strength as possible and prevent the Seven Kingdoms Alliance's Vanguard Corps from exploiting their weakness.

William, Aikimu, and Xibizete had fought alongside him for years. Skilled, calm, and decisive, they were unquestionably the best support he could ask for. With Zeng Mu, Kanni, and Ma Linya joining them, the tension in Yetos's heart eased a little, and their chances of driving off the Snake King improved.

The Elemental Snake King seemed not to have enjoyed a feast of this scale for a long time. Every time its bloody maw opened, it swallowed a stone house's worth of Black-Feathered Sparrow carcasses. The black tide of snakes on the perimeter could only pick up the scraps.

This scalp-prickling feeding frenzy continued for two minutes.

The golden creature lay contentedly on the ground, its golden eyes filled with lazy satisfaction. Its gleaming body rose and fell rhythmically with its breathing. Inside its belly, gastric juices comparable to sulfuric acid rapidly dissolved the accumulated food, breaking down its energy and channeling it into its golden scales. As the Elemental Snake King closed its eyes for a nap, its aura slowly grew stronger.

Seeing this, Yetos's wary gaze flickered again. Beside him, Zeng Mu distinctly caught a trace of-fear?

He hurriedly asked, "Knight Commander, will that thing fall asleep once it's full?"

Kanni replied in a corrective tone, "Obviously. Any snake that eats that much enters a half-asleep state to digest the food in its belly better. Still, it's extremely rare for one to nap on the spot instead of returning to its nest."

Ma Linya nodded. "That's right. It's very strange. Yellow Sand Diamondback Snakes are among the most cautious snakes, after all. They wouldn't normally do this, especially an Elemental Snake King, which would be even more cautious. And it must have noticed us long ago, so why would it behave like this?"

While they puzzled over it, one simple statement from Yetos brought an endless chill:

"Because it's leveling up."

The fear in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a resolute fire. No wonder this creature had come in person. Its second target would be him.

An Elemental Beast leveling up was much like an Elementalist advancing to a higher realm: a natural evolution that occurred once sufficient energy had accumulated within the body.

Whether an Elementalist or an Elemental Beast, once the advancement succeeded, their energy would temporarily be far more abundant than that of others at the same level. This amounted to a natural, short-lived protective state following advancement. During that period, they would find few worthy opponents at their own level, while victory for a lower-level enemy would be nothing but a fool's dream.

Apart from leveling up, Elemental Beasts possessed another trait that Elementalists feared even more: grade advancement.

Under the influence of some force, the Elementalists of this world could control only one kind of elemental power throughout their lives. Elemental Beasts were different. They could master multiple elemental powers, becoming powerful existences of Fine Grade or Superior Grade.

After an Elemental Beast successfully reached level three, the right opportunity could trigger its grade advancement. Once it succeeded, a second element would emerge within its body, and its strength would not be affected by the division into individual elemental entities. It would effectively gain elemental control at the return to origin realm outright, making it incomparably stronger than the individual elemental division practiced by Elementalists in Zeng Mu's world.

But all things were subject to the balance of yin and yang. Perhaps because this mechanism was too powerful, Elemental Beasts could advance only as far as Superior Grade, mastering three elemental powers. This, too, was a restraint imposed by the laws of the world.

As for Peerless Grade Elemental Beasts, they existed only in legends. No one had ever seen one with their own eyes.

Aikimu instinctively wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. As an ordinary man, he knew perfectly well that he could not fight even the lowest-level Elemental Beast alone. Yet this level-two elemental Yellow Sand Diamondback Snake King was now climbing toward level three. If it succeeded, its strength would rival that of an Elementalist in the return to origin realm. At that point, even the mighty Knight Commander would not survive a single blow from it.

His voice had never been so low. "Boss, how long will it take that thing to level up?"

"Possibly five minutes, possibly half an hour. No one can say for certain," Yetos replied.

Xibizete immediately said, "Then this is our chance. Let's wipe out the snake tide while we have time, then surround this thing. We absolutely cannot let it finish leveling up."

He had already been worried that the black tide of snakes under the Snake King's command would seriously hinder them. Although the Snake King was now leveling up, the favorable way of looking at it was that it temporarily could not resist. This was the perfect opportunity to clear out the snake tide.

Whoosh! The moment he finished speaking, a mass of green light burst forth, illuminating the entire tower and most of the plaza swarming with snakes.

Under the glow of this elemental energy, everyone could see clearly that the snakes feeding on Black-Feathered Sparrows moments earlier had now formed an orderly black ring dozens of meters wide, securely protecting the Snake King at its center.

His loose hair stirring without any wind, Yetos turned and touched each of their foreheads in turn. Green light surged beneath their feet, and emerald twigs crept upward from their ankles. As they spread, the sparse branches thickened and tightened, finally fitting together seamlessly into suits of green-glowing branch armor over their iron armor.

"This is Elemental Armor I created with my elemental power. It's solid as rock and impervious to every poison. With this armor protecting you, the Yellow Sand Diamondback Snakes' venomous fangs and venom will be completely useless. They can only lament their fate and wait to be slain by the swords in your hands."

"Now, attack!" At Yetos's command, he stamped his foot and leaped out of the tower pavilion.

The others followed close behind, jumping almost simultaneously. In an instant, they were out in the air, yet they did not plummet. A thick tree root beneath their feet supported them and lowered them safely to the ground.

Sensing their approach, the snakes turned their heads in unison, fixing them with terrifying purple eyes that promised death. Their red tongues flickered with hisses, and two cold gleams shone within each hideous mouth. In such numbers, they were enough to terrify an ordinary person into fainting on the spot.

With a thought from Yetos, the ground began to split. Green, glowing spikes shot out of the cracks, and a rain of blood rose from the earth. The Yellow Sand Diamondback Snakes were torn to pieces before they could even scream.

That single attack tore an opening in the encirclement, but the Yellow Sand Diamondback Snakes gathered again to fill the gap, heedless of death, as though controlled by something. Even after several more attacks from Yetos, the ring remained intact.

Mindful of his stamina, Yetos had to stop using elemental power, lest he lack the energy to confront the Snake King later.

His footsteps swift as the wind and his movements ghostlike, he scraped his greatsword across the ground, sending up glowing red sparks as he aimed straight at the dense black tide of snakes ahead.

The snake tide spread like ink and rushed toward him with the speed of cheetahs, bringing waves of rank wind.

Normally, anyone overwhelmed by this many snakes would suffer terribly even if they survived. But now, protected by the Elemental Armor Yetos had formed, the group had no such concerns. They could unleash their full strength and swing their swords freely.

At that moment, they slaughtered mercilessly like invincible gods of war. There was no need to look, no need to listen-only to swing their swords, only to charge and kill.