Chapter 145: Oroborus

Oroborus.

A serpent whose mythology was known even on Earth, one that represented the cycle of death and rebirth.

But here, it was clearly different.

Here it was just a monster from which corruption was born, one in search of natural mana only to end up in a trap that caused it to eat itself.

Adrian could see as clear as day how enormous the serpent was.

For reference, the statue was well over fifty feet tall, and the serpent still looked huge while wrapped around it.

It formed the same shape as it did in the coin, the infinity symbol, as it truly did feed on its own tail.

Even from this distance, Adrian could tell just how terrifying it was, especially given the aura it released.

Looking at it, he was completely certain of one thing, there was no way he’d be able to fight it.

Then again, there was this nagging feeling that he had no other option.

«It hasn’t noticed us yet,» Noctis said quietly from atop his head.

"Let’s find a way out of here, then," he muttered, but soon froze when a heavy pressure suddenly fell on him.

«I take that back,» the cat said as they looked towards the serpent again.

Its eyes, previously closed, were now widely opened and its yellow vertical pupils were locked directly on him.

"Damn it," Adrian muttered under his breath as he looked around for another door, a passage, or anything that could reasonably be called an exit.

There wasn’t one.

Which meant there was no other option, if he wanted to get out of here, he’d have to face that thing.

And he was completely outclassed.

Still, despite that, he recalled that the Oroborus was one of the two obstacles standing between him and his lady right now.

Which, all things considered, was a deeply unfortunate situation to be in.

The serpent uncoiled from the statue slowly, each loop that fell sending a tremor through the stone beneath his feet.

Whilst it did that, Adrian watched it and did the mental equivalent of sighing.

He then extended his senses outward carefully, mapping the hall, the walls, the floor, searching for anything useful.

There wasn’t much.

All he spotted were a couple of broken columns, rocks lying here and there, and finally one very large corrupted serpent that was now fully uncoiled.

It was currently regarding him the way a person might regard something small and mildly interesting they’d found on the floor.

The Oroborus’ true form was a lot larger than expected.

It looked nothing like the creature carved on the coin.

The coin showed something elegant, almost symbolic, a serpent curled into itself with clean lines. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

What stood before him now was the truth behind that image, and it was considerably less poetic.

Its scales were black, seemingly absorbing all light around it.... Not that there was any to absorb.

Each one layered over the next like plates of dark armor that had been growing longer and longer for years.

The underbelly was a shade lighter, almost grey, and it caught the faint glow of the hall in a way that made the sheer size of it even harder to process.

The head alone was large enough to swallow their submarine whole, it was also wide and flat with a jaw that hung open slightly, revealing rows of teeth that were of different lengths.

In short, it was a terrifying image for anyone.

«You’re thinking too much,» Noctis said from atop his head, «there are no options but fighting.»

"I have other options," Adrian argued with a frown on his face, looking at the corrupted beast before him.

«Is that so?» the cat asked before teleporting to one of the broken columns and getting comfortable, «then I’d like to see them.»

"...." Adrian looked at his cat with a blank expression before letting out a sigh and turning back to the serpent, "let’s do this then."

The next second, his shadow extended and all eight of the clones he could summon were let out.

He understood that now wasn’t the time to hold anything back, and he had no intention to.

The clones spread out immediately, moving to different points around the hall without needing instruction.

The Oroborus paid them no mind because the next second, it crossed the hall in a fraction of the time anything its size had any right to, and although Adrian switched places with a clone,

The tail was already coming around before he reappeared and it slammed cleanly into his side.

He was airborne before he registered the impact, moving so fast that the broken columns weren’t obstacles so much as things that briefly existed between him and the wall.

BOOM!

He hit the wall hard enough to crack it, slid down, and although he almost blacked out for a second, he was on his feet before the dust settled purely out of stubbornness.

His ribs had thoughts about that but he ignored them.

His clones were already pulling the serpent’s attention back, using shadows to restrain it as two more appeared mid-air with shadow daggers in their hands and aimed directly at its eyes.

But before they could reach it, the Oroborus shook off the restraints as if they were only a minor annoyance, before its maw widely opened and clamped shut on one of the clones.

Although the second managed to land a strike with its dagger, it barely did any damage as it landed on the creature’s scale.

The serpent then lifted its tail and before anyone could react, it slammed it on the clones, instantly turning them to a puddle of shadow.

The entire hall shook at the action, but Adrian had a grin on his face after the Oroborus’ attack.

"Got you," he muttered and extended his hand.

The next second, the shadow puddle spread across the floor faster than the serpent could track, merging into a single mass before launching itself upward in a quick motion.

It then formed what resembled a large blade that came up from directly beneath the tail and sliced clean through it.

The Serpent let out what sounded like a screech of pain, and Adrian almost had a smile on his face.

But the next second, he was reminded that two SSS-Rank spirit mages had fought this thing but still failed to kill it.

A stump formed where it was cut, and right before Adrian, a new tail grew.

He quickly put up a shadow barrier as the snake’s regenerated tail slammed into it, ripping through it like paper and launching him into a wall.

He then peeled himself off it and landed on the floor, his ribs definitely broken now.... Fortunately, none had gotten displaced, so his lungs were safe for now1.

That wouldn’t remain if he were slammed by the tail again.

«Are you out of options now?» Noctis asked as it looked at its contractor’s struggle.

Adrian didn’t answer that, instead, he looked directly at the Oroborus, coming to a single realization,

"This is going to be a lot harder."

Saw questions about this in the yeti Chapter