"Jeanne, can you smell the horses?" Vicilly said to Jeanne.

"It's okay, Miss Vicky, but other than that, there seems to be some strange smell, a bit like the smell near the spring before."

Jeanne said as she followed the scent of the horses down the hill intently, and the two followed her to the foot of the stone mountain.

"Stone Mountain? Did the horses get here? Vicky asked.

"It's not like running, it's something driving here. It's strange that the smell of horses should have become stronger, why did it suddenly fade a little. Jeanne was very concerned, because the closer she got to the rocky mountain, the stronger the smell of the spring water became, not like the freshness of an ordinary mineral spring, but with a strong smell of herbs.

"Don't forget, the merchant mentioned a 'dragon', although the dragon clan has been extinct in Vlaktu along with the Vannesian civilization, but I don't think it's a similar animal, maybe it's a snake."

Vannesia is an even older civilization than Nikanlos and the most glorious civilization ever on the continent, the Vannesians are a blood sect with dragon blood, they have the ability to tame dragons, but this civilization disappeared from Vlactu after the rise of the southern beasts.

Jeanne cautiously walked towards the spring before, whether it was because she was too complacent or thirsty, she really didn't pay much attention to the strange smell of herbs.

"We're back next to this spring, it's so strange, the smell seems to have disappeared." Jeanne stared at the spring in front of her, puzzled, and at that moment, Vicheric noticed something unusual.

"Jeanne? Are you sure this is the spring we've been to before? Vicky asked behind her back.

"Yes, it's true, the smell of this spring water is familiar to me." Jeanne replied.

"That's a little weird, I'm sure there was a cave here before." Vikily said as she stared at a mess of rocks at the foot of the rocky mountain.

Jeanne suddenly panicked, Miss Vicky did mention that there were caves that made her feel uncomfortable, maybe she was too focused on the smell to observe the nearby terrain well.

"Right here, there's a cave to ......," Vikliko said, pointing to the rocks.

"All in all, we're not in a good situation......" Draenor drew his sword and clenched it tightly in his hand. Although his sense of smell is not yet at the level of Jeanne, he can still detect the sudden disappearance of horses.

Suddenly, the earth began to tremble again, this time it was noticeably more intense than what they had encountered in the forest before, and the three of them could barely stand. The pair of rocks that Vikiriko was referring to gradually slid to the ground with the earthquake, revealing a large dark green wall.

"It's ......," Draenor took a few steps back.

When did this wall first become covered under the rubble, and is it always there? No, according to what Vickyrik said before, there must be some cave there, but when did this wall block the entrance to that hole?

Draenor broke out in a cold sweat as he looked at the dark green curved wall in front of him, could it be that this was the dragon that the merchant mentioned?

The eerie wall began to turn slowly, and as it moved, the entire stone mountain shuddered. The wall turned faster and faster, as if it had life, and the moment it slowly stopped, a huge head protruded from the wall.

It was a huge snake head, and the white membrane covering the eyes slowly shrank to the corners of the eyes, revealing a pair of terrifying golden eyes.

"It's the Apep Snake!" Vekily stared at the serpent's eyes, and a three-meter-long letter stretched out of the serpent's mouth, and the crimson letter swayed up and down in the air like a demon's blood-red fork.

The Apep snake is a species that originally lived on the continent of Abel, they are descendants of the ancient Jeep myth of the Serpent of Chaos Apophis, who were brought to the continent of Vlaktu by the Misarians during St. Peter the Great's southern expedition. In Misarian mythology, he is known as the Apep Worm, the apostle of the god of chaos.

The Apep serpent suddenly opened its massive jaw, and two brown torrents erupted from its blade-like teeth. Everyone hurriedly dodged to the side, only to see that the trees behind them that had been splashed by the liquid immediately emitted smoke and fell.

"Its snake venom is very corrosive, what should we do?" Draenor's toe touched the remaining liquid and immediately fell to the ground like melted butter.

This huge and terrifying snake is different from other snakes in that it has very sharp vision, and can simultaneously observe the movements of all prey in a field of view of nearly 260° above the water level. Coupled with its strong corrosive venom, it is difficult for ordinary beasts to be its opponents, not to mention that as an alien species, it has lost the natural enemies of the Abel Continent, and in the face of such a powerful adult giant snake, everyone feels unlucky.

Viklico calmly looked around, and as if she had thought of something, she quickly rolled and hid in the grass, and shouted to the two:

"I'm here to draw its attention, Draenor, climb up the rocky hill and take a good look, and take the chance! Jeanne, we've got to find a way to make this thing blind! ”

As she spoke, Vikiriko pulled out the bow and arrow from her backpack and quickly shot it into the serpent's eyes. But as she expected, the strength of the bow and arrow was not enough to threaten its eyes, and the serpent's eyes opened their hard white membranes and bounced the flying arrows into the air.

The behemoth was attacked and began to angrily spray venom into the grass, and Viklily dodged with agility, avoiding the area covered by the venom and ducking into the dense grass once more. Just as the serpent closed his mouth and carefully observed the movement in the grass, Jeanne took the opportunity to climb a large tree next to the entrance of the cave.

"Let me open your eyes!" Jeanne roared and leapt from the trunk, pulling out her dagger and stabbing it at the giant golden eye.

The blade pierced the hard white membrane, and blood spurted high into the air from the crack in the snake's eye, and it fell to the ground and writhed wildly, the vibration that made the stone mountain tremble again.

Draenor reacted when he saw a boulder above the entrance to the cave, and he rushed to the foot of the rocky hill and climbed up. Jeanne quickly pulled out her dagger and hid back in the forest, looking for an opportunity again, while Viklico also shuttled through the grass and kept shooting arrows to attract the attention of the serpent.

The serpent stared at the grass with its only remaining eye, and it sensed Viklico's movements, and spewed poison into the grass once more. The venom squirted onto the trunk of the tree beside the grass, and the tree fell with a thud on the stone beside the spring, aiming it like a spear at the serpent's jaw.

Jeanne jumped on the serpent's head again, drawing her dagger and making a cut in its other eye.

"Here's your chance!"

Vikiriko burst out of the grass and yelled at Draenor on the mountainside. Draenor thrust his feet into the ground and thrust the three-meter-high boulder with all his might.

The boulder slowly descended, rolling faster and faster on the mountainside, and finally tumbled in the air, spinning and smashing down the mountain. The serpent wriggled and threw Jeanne into the bushes, its blind eyes making it impossible to see its surroundings, and it could only rely on Nobuko to detect that Vikilic's breath was still in place.

Just as it was gathering its strength to strike at Viklico, the boulder sliced through the sky like a meteor and struck it in the back of the head.

The force of the impact slammed its massive head downward, and the trunk stuck in the stone pierced the serpent's jaw, staining blood and pouring out of the top of its head. After a violent struggle, the serpent stopped on the ground like a sculpture and stopped moving.

"Jeanne!" Vicilli didn't care about the life or death of the serpent, and quickly rushed to Jeanne's side. She was thrown into the bushes by the serpent and fell to the ground, and she must have been hurt a lot.

"Miss Vicky, that's great, it's finally gone!" Jeanne said to Viklico, still smiling. "I'm fine, I was cut through a few parts of my skin by a branch, but I fell a little hard."

The Licus are a strong people, and Jeanne fell from a five-meter-high tree without breaking a single bone. Vicky finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry...... Embarrassed in front of Mr. Delanor, let's go to the cave before he comes down, I seem to smell the smell of horses after the serpent left the cave. Jeanne looked at Draenor as she ran down the hill. She quickly stood up and walked towards the cave with Viklico.

Vikilico walked up to the serpent and found it covered in plant liquid, and her whole body was extremely smooth, and she concluded that the strange thing she had stepped on before must be the snake's tail.

"Sure enough, that strange herbal smell came from the snake's body." Jeanne dipped her fingers in some of the liquid from the snakeskin, approached her nose and sniffed it gently.

"No wonder you didn't smell the snake as it should be." Vikily kicked the snake in the abdomen as she approached it and sniffed the plant, which was like a pine.

Vicky used to hunt with her father when she used a plant with such a special smell. It is called pine vanilla, which grows around damp and cold dead wood, and is mixed with pine needles and mashed in a stone mortar, and then a few drops of pine oil are added to make a simple hunting deodorant.

"I didn't expect this guy to know how to disguise, if it's not a beast, I'd like to try to domesticate it, maybe one day I can still use it for hunting." Vicky said with a smile.

"Hahaha, if you want your prey to become as rotten as those trees, that's a good idea." Jeanne laughed as well, stood up and walked with Vikiriko to the cave.

This dark, damp cavern is littered with the skin of giant serpents, looking like chain mail removed from a warrior's body. Vicky thought it would be useful, so she collected some and put them in her backpack.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound of horses' hooves and a few neighing sounds from the cave. The two of them hurriedly ran in the direction of the sound, the eyes of the Blood Sect and the Licus were suitable for observing the environment in the dark, and they saw a huge lair not far away.

It was a snake's nest of broken bones, bark, and gravel, but it was still too small for such a giant serpent, and around the nest stood several large round stones, which the horses were unable to move in the narrow gap.

The two hurried over to remove the heavy stones, and the horses were still frightened, struggling and jumping in place.

"Oh...... Good boy, good boy, it's all right. Vicilico gently stroked the horse's mane to comfort the horses, leading two of them out of the nest.

Just as Jeanne was about to leave the cave with the two horses in tow, Vikli noticed that something was wrong with the horse that was still in the nest.

It was an uncastrated horse, with a long mane on its long black neck, and when it saw Viklico's approaching figure, it immediately raised its hind hooves and kicked at her, and Viklico dodged sideways. The horse's hooves kicked heavily on the stone, and the stone burst into a crack.

The crack was not visible on a normal stone, and the shards of the stone fell to the ground, sticking to some disgusting slime.

"Uh...... Jeana? Do you know if the snake is male or female? Vickiriko said slowly, stepping back.

"It's a female snake, Miss Vicky, and this snake has a fixed nest only for females." Jeanne said, standing at the entrance of the cave.

Vicky sensed that something was wrong, and suddenly the cracked stone began to shake violently, and a mouth with a bowl mouth suddenly burst out, biting the neck of the fierce horse.

"Hey! It's not for you! Vikily picked up a rock from her hand and smashed it into the snake's head, and within three or two blows, the snake lost its strength and hung on the edge of the eggshell.

"Really, you will be the same as your mother until you die." Viklico kicked the snake's corpse away and hurried to check on the horse.

Unfortunately, the horse's throat had been bitten through, and the venom had spread through its veins to its body, and its body had become as soft as dirt.

Should we kill all the little snakes or just walk away? Vekily knew that if these unhatched snakes were spared, they would one day grow into monsters like giant snakes and threaten the forest; But if there is not a single mouth left alive, then what difference does she make with the beasts that slaughter all living beings? And it is true that he did not listen to the words of the old man Igor, and left the mountain road without permission to break into the territory of the female snake, and it also attacked the people passing by in order to protect its children.

"The forest is full of wild beasts, and without the protection of your mother, it is up to you to survive or not." Leaving the horse's carcass, Viklico gathered the head of the little snake and left the cave.

"What are you doing in there?" Draenor finally came down from the hill and stood at the mouth of the cave.

"Yo, you're finally down! I thought you were a caveman. Vicky quipped.

"Mr. Delaenau, it's great that you're okay, your previous figure was very handsome!" Jeanne praised Draenor as always.

"Hahaha, that's not the case...... Draenor said with a smile on his face and clasped his arms around his chest.

"yes, that's not the case. So, Mr. Handsome, please help us get the horse back first! Viklico poured cold water on Draenor, pulled the reins from Jeanne's hand, and stuffed them into Draenor's arms.