Chapter 18: The Poisonous Plant

"Azreon!"

The dragon immediately understood.

Diving downward, Azreon grabbed the back of Chris’s collar with his teeth and pulled him off the ground. Chris barely had time to react before Azreon spread his wings and shot upward, carrying him away from the approaching Level 50 serpent.

The enormous beast lunged after them, its jaws snapping shut just beneath Chris’s feet.

Azreon immediately released a massive burst of crimson flames directly into the serpent’s face.

*BOOOOM!*

The leader recoiled, blinded by the flames for a moment, while the other serpents scattered around it. Taking advantage of the opening, Azreon quickly flew higher, putting more distance between them and the beasts below.

Chris looked down at the passage as they escaped, watching the mass of serpents moving through it.

"Good thinking, buddy."

Azreon gave a low roar and continued flying through the trees.

While looking around from the sky, Chris activated Dragon Vision again, scanning the forest in every direction in search of Aldric and Serena. After several moments, he finally spotted two figures running through the trees in the distance.

"There they are."

Chris narrowed his eyes and looked beyond them, noticing something else further ahead.

A huge river stretched across the forest, its width making it impossible to see the other side clearly from where they were. The current was moving extremely fast, churning the water as it flowed downstream, and even stronger beasts would have trouble swimming across without being swept away.

An idea immediately came to him.

"Azreon, go toward them!"

Azreon changed direction without hesitation and flew toward the two figures.

Chris watched as Aldric and Serena continued running, seemingly unaware that they had been spotted. They were getting closer to the river with every passing moment, and by the time Azreon reached them, the two had just arrived at its edge.

"Serena! Aldric!"

Both of them looked up in surprise as Azreon descended toward them.

"No time to explain! The serpents are probably still coming after us. Azreon will take you across the river!"

Before either of them could ask anything else, Azreon lowered himself toward Serena.

The dragon grabbed the back of her collar with his teeth and immediately spread his wings, lifting her from the ground.

"Wait!"

Serena barely had time to react before Azreon carried her into the air.

Chris remained on the ground for a moment, watching as Azreon flew over the river with Serena hanging safely from his collar. The dragon crossed the wide stretch of water in only a few seconds before landing on the opposite bank and carefully lowering her to the ground.

"Your turn, Aldric!"

Aldric looked toward the river and then at Azreon before giving a tired laugh.

"I suppose there’s no point arguing."

Azreon grabbed the back of his collar with his teeth and lifted him from the ground, carrying him across the river just as he had done with Serena.

Chris waited until Aldric was safely on the opposite bank before climbing onto Azreon’s back.

"Let’s go."

Azreon spread his wings and lifted into the air once again, carrying Chris over the river.

While being carried across, Chris turned around and looked back toward the forest they had just escaped from.

Several serpents began emerging from the narrow rocky passage. More followed behind them, and soon the forest near the passage was filled with them.

Chris stared at them for a moment. He had a feeling they wouldn’t give up so easily and would continue tracking them through the forest, but it didn’t matter anymore.

The river was too wide and the current too strong for the serpents to cross without being swept away, giving them enough distance to escape.

Turning back toward the other side, Chris saw Aldric and Serena standing near the riverbank, both breathing heavily after the long chase.

They had made it. The serpents wouldn’t be able to follow them any further.

"We’re safe for now."

Azreon gave a quiet roar as they landed beside the others.

Aldric looked toward the river behind them before letting out a long sigh of relief.

"I never thought I’d be this happy to see a river."

Serena laughed softly, still trying to catch her breath.

"Neither did I."

"Heh, we were lucky this time. At least there wasn’t a cliff."

Chris let out a small laugh while looking back at the river, seemingly amused by the thought.

Aldric and Serena both turned toward him with confused expressions.

"A cliff?" Serena asked.

"What are you talking about?" Aldric added.

Chris looked at them for a moment before shrugging.

"This was before Azreon evolved. Almost every time I’ve been chased by monsters, a cliff somehow ends up appearing in front of me."

Serena blinked.

"A cliff just... appears?"

"Pretty much."

Chris looked toward the forest on the other side of the river.

"Whenever the monsters are too strong for me to fight, I usually end up running until I reach one. Then I have two choices: get eaten or jump."

Aldric stared at him in disbelief.

"And you’ve actually jumped?"

"More times than I’d like to remember."

Serena looked at him as if she couldn’t decide whether he was joking.

"You’re telling me you’ve survived jumping off cliffs while being chased by monsters?"

"Most of the time."

"Most of the time?"

Chris scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I’m still here, aren’t I?"

Aldric remained silent for a few seconds before letting out a tired sigh.

"I honestly don’t know whether you’re incredibly lucky or incredibly unlucky."

"Probably both."

Chris gave a small smile.

"Either way, I’m glad we found a river this time."

Serena couldn’t help but laugh at that.

"I’m starting to think your life is much stranger than I imagined."

"You have no idea."

Aldric rested for a moment, catching his breath before straightening up again.

"So, how much farther do we have to go before we reach the plant?"

"It should be tomorrow. We actually saved some time during the chase because we crossed a few shortcuts through the Horned Serpent territory. I wasn’t planning to go through there since the risk is too high, but after what happened, we’re already much closer than we were supposed to be."

Chris explained before looking at him thoughtfully.

"There is something I’ve been wondering about. Why do you need that poisonous flower?"

Aldric’s expression tightened slightly.

Chris noticed the hesitation in his expression and shrugged.

"You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I was only asking because I was curious."

Aldric remained silent for a moment before finally sighing.

"I think you deserve to know after everything you’ve done for us. You’ve saved both of us more than once, so I don’t see a reason to hide it anymore."

He glanced toward Serena before continuing.

"The flower is for her. Serena is the most talented person our family has ever produced, and she awakened an SS-rank Battle-Mage class. Her potential is enormous, but someone tried to kill her with poison in the past."

Chris looked toward Serena, who remained quiet while listening.

"We discovered the poison quickly enough and managed to save her life, but we couldn’t remove all of it. Some remained in her body, and that has caused problems ever since."

Chris nodded, listening carefully.

"What kind of problems?"

Aldric’s expression became more serious.

"It has drastically slowed her progress. Her strength is much lower than it should be for someone with her talent, and she sometimes suffers from severe pain because of the poison."

He paused briefly before continuing.

"She also gets tired far more easily than she should. Even when she pushes herself, her body simply can’t keep up with what she wants to do."

Chris glanced at Serena again, remembering how much she had struggled during their journey through the forest and especially during the escape from the serpents. Despite that, she had continued moving, gritting her teeth and enduring the pain without once asking them to stop.

"I understand now. You’ve been enduring quite a lot without making a fuss about it. I have to admit, I’m impressed."

Serena’s cheeks turned slightly red as she looked away.

"Well, I couldn’t exactly complain while being chased by dozens of giant serpents. They probably wouldn’t have stopped to listen."

Chris smiled slightly.

"That is probably true."

He then turned back toward Aldric.

"But how will this flower help her?"

"The flower was used to create the poison that was given to her. If we can study it properly, we might be able to determine exactly how it affects her and find a way to neutralize what remains in her body."

Chris nodded slowly.

"And you can’t just test different treatments on Serena?"

"Not safely. We don’t know exactly how much poison remains in her body or how it will react to another substance. If we make the wrong choice, we could make her condition much worse, so we need to understand the flower and the poison before trying anything."

Chris understood and nodded.

"Then we’ll get it. Just don’t expect it to be easy. You’ll understand why once we reach the place."

With everyone exhausted from the chase, they decided to stop there and rest for the night.

The following morning, after recovering enough to continue, they packed their belongings and followed Chris deeper into the forest.

After roughly half a day of traveling, the trees gradually became thinner as they climbed a large hill. When they finally reached the top, they found a strange clearing spread out before them.

There was no grass growing across the clearing, and not a single healthy tree stood inside it. Even the trees surrounding the area looked dried out and dead, their branches twisted and their leaves almost completely gone.

In the center of the clearing, a few black flowers grew from the barren ground. Their twisted petals looked almost burned, making them seem dead at first glance, while a small cave opened in the rocky side of the hill nearby.

Chris stopped and pointed toward the flowers.

"Those are the plants."

Aldric’s eyes widened as he looked at them.

"We finally found them."

His voice carried obvious excitement, and when he looked toward Serena, small tears had begun forming in the corners of his eyes.

Chris, however, remained cautious.

"Don’t get too happy yet."

He pointed toward the cave.

"There’s a strong beast living in there. I saw it briefly when I was approaching this place before, but I hid before it noticed me."

Aldric immediately became serious.

"What kind of beast?"

"I don’t know its exact type. It’s another kind of serpent, but I’ve never seen one like it before. It’s big and green, and that’s about everything I know. I don’t know its class rank or level either, so I have no idea how strong it actually is."

Chris then pointed toward the ground surrounding the flowers.

"And don’t touch the ground around the plants unless you have to. The area is poisonous."

Aldric nodded before taking a small wooden box from his storage ring.

"We brought something for that. This box was made from special wood that can contain poisonous materials without being damaged."

Chris took the box from him and looked toward the cave.

"Stay here and wait for me. If something happens, run. I don’t know whether I can fight that beast, and you two definitely shouldn’t get close if it comes out."

Serena and Aldric exchanged a glance before nodding.

"Be careful." Serena said.

"We trust you." Aldric added.

Chris gave them a small nod before carefully making his way toward the center of the clearing.

The closer he got, the more cautious he became, keeping his eyes on the cave while slowly approaching the flowers. Once he reached them, he drew his Rare Iron Sword and carefully cut several of the black flowers from their stems.

Using the sword’s tip, he carefully scooped the flowers into the wooden box before closing the lid tightly.

For a moment, everything remained silent. The beast hadn’t noticed him.

’I actually got lucky.’

Then a powerful roar suddenly erupted from inside the cave.

*ROOAR!*

Chris froze.

A second later, the sound of something enormous moving rapidly across the ground echoed through the clearing.

He tightened his grip around the sword and slowly turned toward the cave.

’Of course. What was I expecting?’

The ground shook beneath his feet as the beast charged toward him.

In the next moment, an enormous serpent emerged from the cave. It looked strange and ugly, with a head that was much thinner and smaller than the rest of its massive body, making its appearance even more unsettling.

The serpent’s eyes locked onto Chris as it opened its mouth and released a thick green smoke that quickly surrounded its entire body. An ominous feeling came from the smoke, and Chris immediately realized that it was highly toxic, making it impossible for him to approach the beast without risking being poisoned.

He quickly used the System to scan the serpent.

[Green Serpent - A-Rank - Level 45.]