Chapter 67: Chapter 24: Journey 2
After entering the southern region, the climate became much warmer.
The northern area was sparsely populated, and there were hardly any travelers along the way. However, after reaching the southern region, it was possible to encounter some merchant caravans on the road. Although Su Ziyu had a map, in this era, relying solely on a map might not be enough to find the way. Fortunately, he could ask the merchant caravans for directions along the road.
But good fortune would not always favor him. On the morning of the sixth day when Su Ziyu was heading to the Royal Capital, the stallion he had obtained from the barbarians collapsed from exhaustion.
Horses in this world have quite good endurance and are physically robust, but they could not withstand the heavy load Su Ziyu carried. The weight of just the anti-material sniper rifle was overwhelming. He lacked experience, having no background in horseback riding, and had not prepared adequate forage on his journey. For such a long journey, one must prepare abundant forage for the horse, feed it well with items like eggs and beans, while Su Ziyu mostly fed it grass along the way.
Fortunately, the horse’s endurance was commendable, or else it would have collapsed much sooner.
No choice.
Su Ziyu had to release the horse and continue his journey on foot, carrying his belongings.
There are more towns in the south, and since he still had plenty of money, he planned to buy another horse when necessary.
It was only when he walked on his own feet that Su Ziyu realized just how slow he truly was.
Luckily, that afternoon, he encountered a sizeable merchant caravan. After spending a silver coin, he successfully joined the caravan’s journey. The merchant caravan used dragon beasts resembling rhinos as beasts of burden. These creatures were massive with thick skin but had gentle dispositions. The leader was a white-bearded old man with a triangular hat, looking very cunning.
The most striking aspect was the caravan’s guards.
All of these guards were tall and brawny, at least two meters in height, and the tallest among them was nearly over three meters tall.
At first, Su Ziyu thought he was a Giant.
Later, he learned that he was merely a half-Giant; Giants in this world generally stand over six meters tall, and some with special bloodlines can grow up to twenty or thirty meters. Of course, this still couldn’t compare to the Giant Snake mentioned by York, who claims legends say it is tens of thousands of meters long, able to swallow an adult dragon with one bite.
Considering York likes to exaggerate, Su Ziyu thought the Giant Snake would be at most one or two hundred meters long.
This merchant caravan also planned to head to the Royal Capital.
Su Ziyu planned to follow them to avoid wasting more time by taking a roundabout route.
The goods transported by the merchant caravan were fur specialties from the north. These people were rather reserved, not exchanging much conversation along the way, only occasionally casting curious glances at Su Ziyu. Even though he wore a large cloak outside, his attire and weaponry remained quite eye-catching.
Nightfall descended.
"Let’s camp and rest here," the old leader shouted.
Soon.
Everyone stacked the goods into a circle. Some people began preparing food, while others took care of feeding the beasts of burden.
"Have you heard?"
"There’s going to be war on the border again."
"The Black Queen’s minions have awakened. Many monsters have emerged," the attendants said as they ate.
During this period, Su Ziyu learned much about the world.
The Chessboard Realm has a stark black-and-white divide. The White Queen leads a kingdom of humans, while the Black Queen rules Giants and monsters. The two opposing sides have been at a standstill for over a millennium. If the White Queen weren’t a title but referred to a person, this woman is a unique existence who has lived for no less than a thousand years.
She is nearly ’god-like’ in the realm of humanity.
Su Ziyu listened quietly as the others chatted, trying to gather more intelligence about this world.
In fact, he already had some guesses, but was still missing the most crucial evidence.
"Watch out!"
"Seems like something is approaching!"
The Superman’s perception gave Su Ziyu sharper five senses, prompting him to abruptly stand and say to the others, "Seems like it’s something big!"
In the darkness.
He seemed to hear a ’hiss’ sound.
The others stood up at his words, with the guards grasping their weapons. Some seemed to hear the noise, their expressions growing anxious.
"What the hell is that?"
"Everyone be careful!"
Just as they spoke.
A massive shadow suddenly slithered out, followed by enormous snake heads emerging in the dark. Their heads measured nearly a meter in diameter, their black scales cold, and their vertical pupils a murky dark yellow. These giant snakes had massive bodies, their estimated length exceeding thirty meters.
"Ah!"
"It’s the Biter’s spawn! Run!"
"Oh my god!"
"Why are they here!"
The entire caravan quickly fell into chaos. In the darkness came the anguished cries of burdened beasts, and the massive dragon beasts seemed equally powerless to resist, swiftly bitten to death by these giant snakes.
"What’s happening? Why suddenly so many giant snakes appeared!" Su Ziyu’s expression turned extremely serious.
He drew a black short sword from his waist and, as a giant snake attacked, abruptly swung the blade, slicing a three to four-meter long cut below its neck. A large amount of foul-smelling snake blood spilled down, the snake’s body violently twitching, its tail smashing a nearby companion too slow to dodge into a pulp.
What is the Biter?
Are these giant snakes its offspring?
Black Queen’s minions?
Didn’t they say they’d appear on the border? Why are there also here?
The situation became extremely critical.
Among the entire caravan, only Su Ziyu and the half-Giant had the ability to pose a threat to these giant snakes, while the others were nothing but food to them.
Bam!
A dull gunshot rang out.
A thirty-meter-long giant snake was directly blown apart by Su Ziyu’s shot.
These giant snakes didn’t have excessive life force; the anti-material sniper rifle could blow open their heads with one shot. However, there were many of these giant snakes, an estimated dozen or more, and over by the dragon beast was an even bigger creature, the one that first bit to death the dragon beast with an elephant-like size.
"What now?"
"Retreat?"
The muffled gunshot seemed to attract more giant snakes. Su Ziyu suddenly felt an immense threat and flipped away, narrowly evading a giant snake’s venomous spit in his previous position.
Sizzle.
The venom seemed extremely corrosive.
Su Ziyu’s expression was quite hesitant at this moment, his right hand grasping at the pocket on his waist where his Jet-03 was stored.
To flee or to fight?
Can he escape if he runs? Can he succeed if he fights?
At least, there are still these caravan guards to help draw fire; if they fall, he won’t have a chance to fight later.
Some sought to escape, while others fought.
The scene was exceptionally chaotic.
In the darkness, people were continuously being devoured by giant snakes. The merchant caravan initially had over a hundred people, but currently, only dozens could be seen.
.........