Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 14 Life Will Find Its Own Way

Time flies, and the sun and moon pass by.

People on the ground died one generation after another, and the leaders in the city changed generation after generation. The great city itself expanded again and again until it became a behemoth that truly occupied the entire plain.

Only war, war has never stopped.

This is an ancestral instruction left by the twenty-first leader, the Burner of Life: the giants of the north are our mortal enemies, and we must fight them relentlessly so that the people of Ignis City can continue to thrive safely.

Of course, throughout this long period of time, they have continued to worship the snake god, although the snake god has never given them any response—the harvest festival that once brought people a bountiful harvest seems to have become just a memory.

After the people who experienced the harvest festival passed away, no one remembered the grandeur of the past. What was originally a festival that truly brought a bountiful harvest gradually turned into a ritual for praying for a good harvest.

As leaders came and went, the ceremony gradually grew in scale and grandeur.

But the Serpent God never appeared, no matter how many generations of leaders came and went.

Over time, people even came to believe that the snake god existed only in ancient legends and might not have actually existed at all.

They even began to sneak into the former sacred mountain, into this forbidden land of the royal family, simply because the resources here were too abundant, and hunting a little bit of food was enough to support their families.

After all, as the city expanded, the hunting grounds around it became increasingly scarce. The wild beasts instinctively stayed away from the city and from the dangerous Ignis people, which made the Ignis people's hunting efficiency increasingly low.

Those who can use magic, especially those from the Ignivas family—now the royal family—are better off. They can control the power of fire, which allows them to venture into more dangerous areas, or even go to the battlefields of the northern tundra to plunder giants.

However, those ordinary Ignis who were not born into the Ignis family were a completely different story. Unable to use the power of the Flame Calendar, they could only use those old weapons, bone spears and daggers, to hunt for food like their ancestors hundreds of years ago.

Although the weapons were rather crude, they were still usable. If our ancestors could use these things to hunt wild animals hundreds of years ago, they could certainly do it if they tried.

"But... we can't defeat those mages with just this."

In an old tree hollow in the Holy Mountain, a young Ignis man gripped a bone knife tightly in his hand.

The sound of leaves falling came from afar, the sound of mages leaping among the treetops. Those mages were searching for all those like him who dared to blaspheme into the holy mountain. As soon as they saw one, they would immediately fire a fireball into him, turning him into roasted meat for the wild beasts of the mountain to devour.

Perhaps it is because they eat so much roasted meat that the saber-toothed tigers or cave bears in the mountains are all so fat.

"So what's wrong with letting me have a couple of bites?"

The young Ignis gritted his teeth.

In this day and age, getting a full meal is no easy feat. The area around Ignis City is now filled with the ranches of those mages. Anyone who dares to touch the bison, antelope, or mammoths will surely be fiercely hunted down by these mages. Perhaps there are some unclaimed territories in the distance, but whether it's the raging waves to the east or the miasma jungle to the south, the people of Ignis will only die a gruesome death if they go there.

As for the north... that's the territory of the frozen giants. The royal family is quite happy to send young hunters north to fight those giants and plunder their spoils.

However, this young Ignis man had returned from the north.

Having experienced it all firsthand, he knew very well that it wasn't like that at all.

Killing giants can indeed yield a reward, but when faced with strong giants that are each twice the height of an Ignis, hunters without magical powers often need three to five people to work together to take down a single giant. Even if they risk their lives and finally manage to kill a giant, the spoils from the giant are not enough for the five of them to share equally.

Moreover, the mages providing support from the rear will also take a cut of it.

Despite the fact that the battle was going quite smoothly and the Ignis had successfully repelled wave after wave of attacks from the giants, those on the front lines were getting thinner and hungrier with each battle.

This made the young Ignis instinctively sense that something was wrong.

When he told his fellow hunters about this strange situation, they were naturally faced with a fight to the death.

It should have been a silent ambush, but when they arrived at the ambush site, what awaited them was not a tranquil valley, but giants who had been waiting for a long time. It was an extremely fierce battle. Several hunters around him were smashed into mincemeat with their clubs. Only he noticed something was wrong at the first moment and managed to escape with his agile skills.

But even if he escapes, will he have a way to survive?
It's obvious he can't go back to Ignis City. The royal family will kill him as soon as they see him, a deserter. As for outside the city... those areas are all pastures for mages. If he goes there, he'll only be burned to ashes by fireballs.

Right now, the only place that can sustain his life is this sacred mountain of the Ignis people. But now, even if he wanted to live in seclusion deep in the mountains, it's impossible.

The mages have caught up with him and have even discovered his whereabouts.

Whether he was a poacher or a deserter, it meant that the mages would definitely kill him and leave him without a complete corpse.

"Is there really no chance of survival at all?"

Hearing that the mages were rushing towards the tree hollow, the young Ignis had no choice but to run at full speed once again.

Fireballs exploded one after another behind him, and towering trees collapsed one after another. The intense heat almost ignited his hair, which made him run even faster.

"I just want to live... I just want to live!"

The young Ignis shouted at the top of his lungs.

Immediately afterwards, he plunged into a cave not far away.

Upon seeing this scene, the magicians who had come to pursue them couldn't help but laugh.

As members of the Ignivas family, although their ancestral rules forbade them from entering the sacred mountain, who among them hadn't secretly sneaked in when they were young? They all recognized the cave in front of them; it was clearly a dead end.

This poacher has actually walked headlong into a cave. What else could it be but courting death?
"Since he has already chosen his own grave, let's give him a quick death."

As the mage spoke, he clapped his hands together in front of the cave.

A scorching heatwave swept through the cave, and even the mages on the treetops in the distance could feel the heat from the flames.

"It seems our good brother has made further progress in his understanding of magic."

Feeling the intense heat and seeing the cavern trembling slightly from the fire, the mages nodded in agreement.

"With that kind of strength, they should be able to participate very soon... Hmm?"

It was at this moment that the magicians suddenly felt that something was not quite right.

Burning it with flames... would that make the cave shake so violently?
"Also, where does this wind come from?"

A mage noticed something amiss.

It was an abnormally strong wind, neither blowing from the top of the mountain downhill nor from the bottom of the mountain uphill, nor even from inside the cave out, but rather from outside the cave into the cave.

The cave seemed to be absorbing everything around it, and the intense storm made it almost impossible for several mages to stand.

Immediately following was a deafening roar.

"Achoo!"

The all-encompassing gale returned once more, tearing apart all vegetation. The few mages who had frantically tried to escape were smashed against a giant tree in the distance, coughing up blood, their faces pale, barely breathing, and clearly not going to make it.

However, in this life-or-death moment, they witnessed an even greater horror.

The earth trembled, the mountains crumbled, and everywhere you looked, the ground shook.

It was at this moment that the enormous snake head burst forth from the ground.

A pair of vertical pupils scanned everything in the world.

(End of this chapter)