I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 400 Big Snake
In the early morning, the air in the Suvano siege camp was still a bit chilly. As a thin mist drifted between the wooden fences, the kid in charge took care of his "watering" needs behind a clump of grass.

While releasing the water, the young man in charge didn't forget to look around, wary of the military police appearing.

There were public toilets in the military camp, but because so many people used them, the toilets smelled rather pungent. So, the young man preferred to pee in the bushes not far behind his tent rather than go there.

After the floodwaters were released, he stretched comfortably, humming a Cantonese song out of tune, and pondered sneaking out of the camp to hunt some game and stretch his muscles.

As the little homebody strolled to the eastern perimeter of the camp, preparing to find a gap to slip through, he glanced to his left and saw, "Hey, isn't that Mia, the strange NPC girl riding the big white pig?"

She was squatting on the ground not far from the fence, her little head close to the ground, staring at it without moving, like a little stone statue.

"Oh, Mia-chan!"

The little guy curiously went over and squatted down next to her.

"What are you looking at? Counting ants moving house?"

Mia looked up when she heard this. Her little face was not as expressionless as usual. Instead, she frowned, looking a little confused and... nervous? She pointed to the ground with her little finger that was covered in mud.

"It's not an ant, look at this."

The little Boss looked carefully in the direction she pointed, and a meter away from her, between the damp soil and the fallen grass, there was a very obvious, wide indentation.

Something long and heavy slid across the ground, flattening the grass and leaving a shallow, winding groove in the mud that stretched from the camp to the edge of the distant woods.

"Huh? What's that thing crawling over there?"

The kid got interested.

"It's a snake!"

Mia's voice was firm, with a hint of barely perceptible tension.

"What a huge snake! It's thicker than my Elsa's leg!"

"A giant snake!?"

The little devil's eyes lit up instantly.

There's a snake! Hey, I was just about to go hunting, and I never expected to encounter prey here. I stepped in dog poop today, and now I'm having such good luck!

The little devil immediately became excited. He examined the mark carefully again. It was indeed wide and long, winding and twisting, and could definitely not have been made by a human or an ordinary wild boar or deer.

"Really? How big is it?"

He rubbed his hands together like a fly, asking questions.

Mia tilted her head and thought about it seriously for a moment, then spread her arms wide and gestured vigorously.

"It's really huge! It went into the woods over there, and the tracks are still very fresh!"

She pointed in the direction where the traces disappeared.

How long have you had this mark?

"At most five hours ago!"

The kid was in high spirits, five hours ago?

Snakes are warm-blooded animals that prefer to live in environments that are neither too hot nor too cold, and they always give people a lazy feeling... The reason for this is that after successfully hunting, they will find a corner to hide in and digest the food in their stomach.

This digestion process often takes a long time. Small snakes may only need a few days to digest, while large snakes, especially those that have swallowed large prey, may take weeks to digest.

This is because snakes have a very unique digestive system. Their stomachs and intestines can secrete powerful digestive enzymes that can break down the muscles, bones, and internal organs of their prey.

In the young lord's view, the large snake had come to the military camp because it was hungry and looking for something to eat. Now that it was leaving, it was clear that it had eaten and drunk its fill and was looking for a place to rest and digest its prey.

Now is a good time to hunt snakes. If you're quick, you might even be able to save the unfortunate soul who's been swallowed by one.

The little devil immediately lay down on the ground and logged off to notify his other friends.

Within minutes, a dozen or so players rushed in through the gap in the fence on the east side of the camp.

Some carried swords, some carried bows and arrows, and some carried hastily sharpened wooden sticks as spears. They were all sleepy-eyed but in high spirits, making a lot of noise.

Where are the traces?

"Let Mia lead the way, didn't she see it?!"

"Quick, quick, don't let that snake get away!"

Mia was already mounted on her big white boar, surrounded by the players. She pointed to the clear, wide indentation on the ground, then to the distant woods.
"You guys go after them, I'll go find them!"

After saying that, without waiting for the other players to respond, Elsa took off running towards the camp, ignoring the players completely, which made the kid in charge complain to the others.

"What are you doing? Have some manners! You've all scared Mia!"

"It's your fault, you're too ugly..."

The players, blaming and hurling insults at each other, plunged into the woods in the direction Mia pointed. The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the dew on the grass quickly soaked their trouser legs.

The little devil led the way, hunched over like a hunting dog, staring intently at the wide, intermittent indentation on the ground. Fresh sap oozed from the broken grass stems at the edge of the indentation, and the edges of the shallow furrow in the mud were smooth and damp... Mia was right, the mark was very fresh.

"Damn, that's really impressive!"

A player carrying a machete squatted down and gestured with his hand to show the width of the indentation, which was as thick as an adult man's thigh.

"What kind of snake can grow so big?"

"Whatever it is, let's get it! Tonight I'm going to have Dragon Tiger Fight!"

The player carrying the bow and arrow behind him was drooling with excitement.

The team trudged through the damp woods for nearly two kilometers, their footprints suddenly disappearing at a rocky slope covered in vines.

Below the slope, the player used a spear to push aside the vines, revealing a dark cave entrance.

The cave entrance is an irregular oval shape with unusually smooth edges, as if it had been repeatedly rubbed by some huge object. The exposed rock surface even has a layer of damp, cold, oily sheen.

A cool breeze, carrying a mixture of earthy and faint fishy smells, was blowing out from inside the cave.

"There's no way out, the giant snake must have crawled inside!"

The little devil pushed aside the hanging vines and peered inside. The midday sun seemed to be swallowed by darkness, only illuminating the damp, scratched rock walls a few meters from the entrance. Beyond that, it was an impenetrable, dense blackness.

The cave was unusually quiet, with only the faint sound of dripping water, which added to the eeriness.

"It's a bit gloomy."

"What's there to be afraid of? There are many of us. The snake can only coil around one person at most at a time. The others can just go all out!"

The player with the spear shouted, "He's the first to take out a torch, light it with a match, and then bend down and crawl inside!"

Provoked by him, and with their desire for the "BOSS's loot" overriding their instinctive fear of the darkness, the others also lit torches or windproof lamps and filed in.

The temperature inside the cave plummeted, the air became damp, cold, and sticky, and when inhaled, it carried a rusty, earthy smell.

The ground beneath the feet of the little resident was soft mud mixed with fine gravel, making no sound when stepped on.

The only light source was the dim yellow light from the windproof lamps and torches held by the players, casting huge and distorted shadows on the uneven, water-drenched cave walls, as if countless demons and monsters were dancing silently.

The cave passage was not straight, but winding and twisting, like the intestines left by a giant snake, sometimes wide and sometimes narrow. In some places, several people could walk side by side, while in others, one had to squeeze through sideways. The rough, cold rock walls brushed against one's shoulders, leaving wet marks.

"Ugh, it stinks!"

Suddenly, someone in the middle of the group covered their nose and cursed under their breath. A strong, indescribable stench of decay and rot, like the stench of dead fish mixed with the stench of an animal's den, wafted from the darkness ahead, ten times stronger than the smell at the cave entrance.

The young master felt a chill and immediately lowered the torch in his hand, sweeping it towards the ground in front of him.

On the silt, several rough, semi-dried, dark green feces were clearly visible, sticky and covered with undigested animal hair and fine bone fragments; these were the source of the foul stench.

Around the feces, there were large, messy, and deep drag marks, as if something heavy had been forcibly pulled, plowing deep furrows in the mud.

"Watch out, the real culprit is just ahead!"

The young Boss's voice tightened as he gripped the horizontal sword in his hand and hurled the torch forward.

The torch drew an orange-red arc in the air, then slammed onto the muddy ground at the edge of the cave, rolled twice, and stubbornly burned, pushing its dim, flickering light deep into the cave.

As the light reached, several twisted and eerie silhouettes stood starkly in the shadows deep within the cave.

They are nearly as tall as an adult human, yet they perch in an extremely unnatural, hunched posture.

Its skin, covered in dark green or yellowish-brown scales, reflected a damp, oily sheen in the firelight, and its torso was slender with bulging muscles.

These non-human aliens have abnormally large limbs, with relatively short arms but unusually large hands, and black, sharp, hook-shaped nails extending from their fingertips. Their lower limbs are those of snakes.

On their triangular snake heads, a pair of cold eyes with gleaming dark gold vertical pupils stared intently at the intruders. Their mouths were open, revealing fine, sharp fangs, and a scarlet forked tongue was rapidly flicking in and out, emitting a teeth-grinding hissing sound.

"Fuck!!!"

The little devil's scalp tingled instantly. The sudden sight of these ghostly things sent a chill down his spine from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

"It's not a snake! It's...it's a monster!!" "What the hell?!"

"Snake... Snake-man?!"

"Hit...hit them!!"

The players were startled by the sudden and terrifying sight, but thanks to their superior numbers, their initial fear was instantly replaced by a frenzy of "slaying monsters." The two closest players roared and charged forward with their weapons raised.

"Kill them all, and the snake-men will still fight like dragons and tigers!"

"Go, brothers!"

The player with the spear let out a strange cry and thrust the spear at the nearest snake-man warrior.

The snake-man warrior reacted extremely quickly, twisting its slender body at an uncanny angle to dodge the spear tip. At the same time, its powerful snake body suddenly curled up and then pounced on the player holding the spear like a spring, its large, clawed hands, accompanied by a foul stench, viciously grabbing at the player's face.

"Beware!"

Another player carrying a machete hurriedly raised his shield to block.

"Qiang!"

With a piercing scratching sound, the round shield collided with the snake-man warrior's claws, sending a shower of wood chips flying. The claws were far harder than expected, and the immense force made the shield-wielding player "Xiao Zhang's" arm go numb, causing him to stagger backward.

Another snake-man warrior let out a sharp screech, his black scimitar whistling as he slashed fiercely at another player who was trying to approach.

The player hurriedly used his spear to block, but with a "crack," the spear shaft broke off. The curved blade, still carrying momentum, slammed heavily into his shoulder blade.

"With a snap, the unfortunate man was split in two from the shoulder."

"Old Wang!!!"

The player next to him was furious and thrust his sword at the axe-wielding snake-man, trying to avenge his companion. However, the snake-man simply turned around and slithered away a long distance, disappearing into the shadows.

The battle erupted instantly here, and the narrow cavern was filled with shouts, hisses, the clash of weapons, and screams.

The players, relying on their numbers, wielded swords and clubs and barely managed to withstand the frontal assault of several snake-man warriors.

The flickering light from the torches and windproof lamps distorted and magnified the figures of the fighters, projecting them onto the jagged cave walls.

"Hold on, surround them, don't be afraid, there are only a few of them!"

The young master brandished his sword, his heart pounding, trying to form an encirclement. He noticed that these snake-man warriors were incredibly strong and fast, but seemed to lack any real strategy.

Compared to players, their combat skills are particularly crude; they rely entirely on their physical abilities and their abnormally sharp, black, curved blades to contend with players.

However, just as the players' attention was completely drawn to the fierce snake-man warriors in front, several shadows, darker than the night itself, silently slid down from the shadows of the uneven rock walls above the cave, where sticky moss hung.

They were more slender than the warriors in front of them, and moved with ghostly grace, landing silently. Their weapons were exceptionally sharp bone spikes with an eerie green sheen.

A slender shadow, like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, pounced from the side in an instant towards a sword-and-shield warrior who was fully focused on fighting the snake-man warrior in front. The player only caught a glimpse of a cold glint out of the corner of his eye, and before he could turn his head, a cold, sharp pain shot through his back.

"Pfft!"

The slender bone spikes easily pierced through the finely crafted chainmail!
"Uh……"

The swordsman looked down in disbelief and saw a dark green bone spur protruding from his chest. He opened his mouth, blood gushed out, and his body went limp and collapsed.

"There are assassins, above and behind."

Another sharp-eyed player, Lao Zhao, screamed in terror, pointing to the top of the cave wall.

But it's too late!

Almost simultaneously, another shadow swept past, its target being Old Zhang, who had just been knocked back and was trying to catch his breath. He felt a chill on his wrist, followed by a sharp pain. His entire hand holding the machete, along with half of his forearm, was cleanly severed, and blood gushed out!

He let out an angry curse, but before he could retaliate, another bone spur pierced his throat with lightning speed, and the curse came to an abrupt halt.

Precise! Deadly! Silent!

"Fuck!"

The little devil stared wide-eyed at the two who had fallen instantly. The players, who had been so brave and fearless just moments before, suddenly became timid and hesitant, and they had to focus their attention on what was behind them.

"There are more than just these few; there's an ambush!"

At the same time, the snake-man warriors on the front became even more ferocious, while the assassins in the shadows behind them moved like ghosts along the edge of the firelight. Each flash was accompanied by the screams and falls of the players. Their numerical advantage was completely negated in the face of the narrow space and the unpredictable sneak attacks.

The cavern instantly transformed into a bloody slaughterhouse.

The players' initial fervor quickly cooled under the precise and deadly sneak attacks and the ferocious frontal assaults, turning into a chilling fear.

"Stay put, back to back, don't separate!"

The little devil roared, barely managing to block a powerful slash from a snake-man warrior with his sword. Sparks flew everywhere, and the impact made his hands go numb.

Using the force of the recoil, he slid backward, narrowly avoiding the eerie green bone spikes that stabbed at his side. The chilling killing intent grazed his cheek, leaving a bloody mark.

But not everyone is so lucky.

Just as a player wearing leather armor struck the snake-man warrior's scales, an assassin slid down from behind and pierced the back of his neck with a bone spike, causing him to fall to the ground without uttering a sound.

Another player, who tried to repel the assassin with his spear, was caught off guard by the snake-man warrior in front of him. The eerie black stone scimitar, with a dull whistling sound, easily cleaved through his hastily raised wooden shield and then severed his ribs.

"We can't take it anymore, there's too much!"

"Bobo," clad in half-body chainmail, cried out in despair. His chainmail proved utterly vulnerable to the claws of the snake-man warriors and the bone spikes of the assassins. Several deep, bone-revealing wounds had appeared on his body, their blood staining the chainmail rings.

"Retreat! Retreat towards the cave entrance!"

The young master's eyes widened in horror as he saw the only remaining heavily armored force in the team: two players, "Iron Tower" and "Rock," clad in thick plate armor and wielding long-handled hammers and battle axes.

With their heavy armor, they could barely hold on. The heavy whistling of their hammers forced the approaching snake-men to avoid direct confrontation. However, their movements were slowed by the weight, making them prime targets for assassins.

"Iron Tower, Rockfall, cover the rear, and take turns providing cover for the rest. Retreat with me!"

The young leader made a decisive move. He knew that if the fight continued, everyone would die here. He swung his knife to force back a snake-man assassin who tried to pounce on him, and then took the lead in retreating towards the cave entrance while fighting.

The remaining lightly armored players knew they couldn't continue, and upon hearing this, they immediately panicked and rushed backward.

The iron tower and the rock roared, and their two heavy weapons slammed into the wall, sending up a shower of rubble that temporarily blocked the snake-man warriors' pursuit.

The two stood back to back, like two mobile steel fortresses, swinging their sledgehammers in a wide arc to protect themselves, slowly and steadily retreating with the main force.

However, the snake-men were too fast, and the players who escaped were quickly caught up. In the more spacious cave, two heavily armored infantrymen were completely unable to block the snake-men's detour.

The assassins lurked in the shadows like a persistent leech, constantly emerging from the darkness above or behind the rock face. Each flash of cold light was accompanied by a scream or a muffled groan.

People kept falling along the retreat route.

Bobo was pierced through the thigh by a bone spike that came from a tricky angle. He screamed and fell into the mud, where he was instantly overwhelmed by the snake-man warriors that surged up behind him.

Another player tripped over vines in the chaos, and before he could get up, a cold scimitar had already severed his neck.

The tunnel was narrow, and the retreat turned into a death march.

When the pale sunlight, a symbol of life, finally appeared ahead, the original group of more than ten people was reduced to only the young leader, covered in blood and panting heavily, and the equally battered Iron Tower and Rock, whose plate armor was covered with deep claw marks and impact dents.

"Quick, the cave entrance is just ahead!"

The young man's voice was hoarse; a long gash had been cut into his left arm by a bone spur, and blood had soaked through his sleeve.

Behind the iron tower and the stone palace, heavy footsteps dragged through the mud, each swing of the hammer appearing extremely laborious. Behind them, several snake-man warriors and assassins pursued relentlessly, their cold, vertical pupils flashing with bloodlust, their hissing sounds like death knells.

The three of them finally broke free of the vines in a disheveled state and stumbled out of the cave. The blinding sunlight made them squint instantly, but the strong, fishy smell from inside the cave was already close at hand.

"It's over!"

The young master felt a chill in his heart. The three of them were already at their limit, and there was nowhere to hide in this open space at the cave entrance. Once the snake-man rushed out, they would surely die!

At this critical moment...

"volley!"

A clear and authoritative shout rang out at the cave entrance like a resounding bell.

The next second, a burst of gunfire erupted, and countless lead bullets rained down on the cave. The snake-men's scales, which could withstand swords and blades, were like paper in front of the flintlock pistol, easily pierced. Crimson, foul-smelling blood mixed with brain matter exploded, and the two snake-men who were not dead howled and rolled on the ground, writhing in pain.

This sudden, precise, and deadly long-range attack, like a cold tide, instantly extinguished the snake-men's fierce pursuit.

The remaining snake-man warriors and assassins let out a horrified and furious howl, abruptly halting their charge and instinctively retreating into the shadows within the cave entrance. For the first time, their vertical pupils revealed a deep apprehension and fear of the light outside the cave.

When Xiao Dao turned around, he saw Mia riding a big white boar, and about a hundred Bagnian soldiers standing behind her. Half of them were equipped with flintlock muskets, and the other half carried spears.

Reinforcements arrived at the most desperate moment.

The young master collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily. After a few breaths, he immediately jumped up and raised his sword.

"Damn it, brothers, give me a gun, come with me, let's kill these idiots together!"

(End of this chapter)