Finally, Forsyx saw the big nest right at the center of the deepest part of the snake.
It was much different from what he expected.
It was just built on top of this layer of mud.
All he saw were these massive ridges in the mud that had likely formed because of the Hibiki snake coiling around the nest.
Right at the center, he saw saggy black eggs with white streaks around them.
They were much different from the hard bird eggs. More like the soft turtle's eggs he had seen in some videos.
He slithered around the nest, not daring to move anywhere across them.
He didn't want to alert those stone snakes.
As he moved around, he counted—there were five massive, saggy eggs on the edge of the nest. But when he looked at the nest from the top of the ridge, he was snake-shocked.
The central egg was crimson, with black and purple streaks across it.
The moment he saw it, he felt mesmerized for a bit and unknowingly moved toward the nest.
As he was at the top of the ridge, that unknown motion made him fall down, helping him come back to his senses.
He just looked at the nest in shock. What in the snake world was that thing?
He now got to see that there were actually three kinds of eggs in the nest.
Five black, saggy eggs with white spots—these looked like Hibiki eggs.
Then there were three inner eggs—they were the same black as the Hibiki eggs, just instead of white, they had dull red spots.
Kind of looked like mutated Hibiki eggs.
And then, right at the center, was that massive crimson egg. Because of the saggy nature of the egg, it was hard to notice from the side, but that entire egg occupied the center of the nest.
It was almost two to three times larger than the other eggs.
He also felt this weird sensation from those black and purple lines.
It was like something was screaming at him to get closer to the crimson egg.
Fck—was it some snake-controlling power or something? He wasn't sure, but one thing was certain—it was definitely not normal.
He controlled himself and looked around the cave.
Beyond some massive mana crystals here and there that lit the nest and the massive inscription that covered the ceiling of the cave, he found nothing.
So he was wrong.
Those Radiant bastards were after the eggs—they just weren't after the Hibiki eggs alone.
The amount of trouble those guys went through; he was sure that crimson egg was what they were truly after.
He didn't get too much time to think, though, as he started feeling vibrations.
Was the Hibiki snake back? No—no, the vibrations were much weaker. Shit—it looked like those guys were already here.
He started looking around with full focus. He knew those two snakes wouldn't be able to block them for long.
As he looked around the cave, he noticed that the bottom of the cave was just built on loose ground.
He went to the corner and tried to dig. It was a bit hard, but he was able to dig easily.
He wasted no time and started moving toward the nest. As he reached near the eggs, he felt a big movement.
Looks like the stone snakes already sensed either him or the others. Not wasting a moment, he started placing the eggs into his inventory.
Since he wasn't in combat, he could freely use his inventory. And unlike bodies, the eggs counted as monster parts, so without any problem, he could pack them inside his inventory.
The moment he placed the biggest, center-most egg, he heard a thunderous hiss from outside.
HISSSSSSSS!
He managed to grab all the inner eggs plus three Hibiki eggs on his side before he felt both stone snakes slithering toward him.
Not caring about the last two eggs, he just jumped to the corner and started digging as fast as possible.
To help him escape faster, instead of digging up, he just dug to go as deep as possible.
Just a few inches into the ground, and he felt massive vibrations from above.
-20, -20
Fck—even the shockwave from their attacks almost reduced half of his health.
The only good thing was that those vibrations helped him sink deeper at a much faster speed as they loosened the soil.
He felt vibrations from the side this time, but it was much further away—it looked like the Radiant players were already there.
He didn't stop. He just kept digging like his life depended on it.
Too bad a rabbit would be much faster, but it wasn't the time for all that. He just dug and dug and continued to dig.
After digging for more than 10 minutes, he finally emerged from the forest floor.
He didn't stop there and continued to slither, this time toward the village.
He didn't even dare to switch forms in case someone saw him. He just continued to slither with full attention.
The chaos in the center of the village kind of helped him, as most of the weaker monsters were busy hiding.
He spent almost 5 minutes, but it was time well spent.
He didn't even switch forms inside the village and just entered as a snake, moving toward a remote location.
By this time, many players had even noticed the commotion from those stone snakes.
But compared to the Hibiki snakes in front of them, it was nothing.
The same could not be said for those with the task.
Away from all that mess, Forsyx—now back in human form—walked to the smelly dump land.
After struggling inside the underground, he even started liking this place.
Wasting no time, he closed his eyes and muttered, "Teleport to the lab."
After a few minutes of silence, he saw the familiar notification pop up in front of him.
Ding!
[Teleportation in progress. Remain still for 30 seconds.]
He stood there, and the moment the timer hit zero, a bright light engulfed him.
Zap!
Forsyx opened his eyes inside the Template Master's office.
Not even taking a moment to breathe, he started taking out those massive eggs and placed them around his office.
As for the crimson egg, he placed it right in the center beside the storage table.
Before he could feast his eyes, the entire Template Lab started shaking suddenly.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[!!!! Warning!!! A link to the past has been found.]