Neil, who was already frozen inside the cell, felt a shiver run through his body as her gaze focused on him.
Those pair of pupils looked infinitely more terrifying than Magma Bima or that bug he had faced.
The sight was beautiful and terrifying at the same time, scales starting to form over her skin.
'S- Snake woman…'
Neil only had a moment, as the tattoo on her arm glowed briefly and everything went dark.
[You died.]
[Would you like to start over?]
[Start again / Give up?]
'W- What just happened? I am dead? What the fuck?!!' Neil was so baffled that he couldn't make sense of anything for a few moments.
How did he even die? And there was no option to continue, which meant his chance of survival was zero.
'Start again.' He spoke, his voice full of frustration.
…
Neil reappeared inside the core room, at the time when he was about to enter, and around twenty minutes were left for the portal to close.
"That… That crazy woman!!" Neil felt so angry, he punched the air several times.
He got killed simply for existing there. Neil really wished to beat her up so badly, but he was far too weak.
As he thought, all women are bad, they couldn't be trusted and goes crazy when power is given.
Maybe it was for the best that he saw the true face of women early up, now he could get stronger in peace.
"Nemo, do you know any snake woman who is super duper powerful?" Taking several breaths and calming his mind, Neil questioned.
He was holding the bracelet in his hand.
"There are several snake women who are very powerful." Nemo answered; after all, she did not retain any of the memories before his death.
"Uhm… she is super beautiful, far more beautiful than anyone I have seen and… oh right, she has a tattoo on her right arm."
Because she was wearing a robe, Neil was only able to see the tattoo up to her wrist.
"Hmm, master, that still doesn't solve anything. All snake women have tattoos like that." Nemo said.
"Haa, forget it, not that knowing her identity would solve anything." Shaking his head, he just gave up.
But seeing how he was sent back so far in time, did that mean his decision could be improved?
'Then not going there is the right answer? Or do I need to be more active?' At least Neil could start from the very beginning and knew more.
This time, he could somehow use that woman to his advantage.
"Who is the strongest snake woman on this planet?" Neil asked, making changes to his plans.
"On this planet, that would be Cynthia Reid, the queen of the snake people. Though stronger members of her family do exist on the next planet." Nemo answered.
"Hmm, I doubt the queen would be there. Whatever, this time I will do something different."
He still felt so angry at getting killed for absolutely no reason; that woman was certainly crazy.
Again, he jumped into the portal, for his second try.
…
Things continued like before; Neil used the same tricks to hide his bracelet away.
"Stand up." The same guard lazily spoke.
However, in the next moment, Neil took out the dagger he was hiding, the same weapon he had obtained from those Lizzard men.
With all his strength, he swung the dagger, cutting vertically.
SWISH
With Neil's current strength and speed, the guard at the silver class of 1st Origin was no match.
Blood splattered over his body as the creature's body was torn into two, but no messages popped.
Everyone in the room was shocked; the human teens were terrified, while the shock of the Lizzard men turned into rage.
Neil wasted no time as he struck the next target, stabbing the Lizzard man right into its eye and then pulling it away forcefully.
Within moments, two of them were dead.
But the biggest challenge was the 2nd Origin guard, and Neil knew he would die by its hand.
'Let's try that.'
[Aquamorph Activated.]
Suddenly, black veins bulged all over his body as if tiny snakes were crawling over his skin.
Neil's heart began to beat wildly, the vibration traveling through his body.
His body was shaking.
The scent of blood in the air made Neil's mind hazy, almost as if he was craving it; this was the first time.
Seeing that the leader was about to charge, he jumped back, increasing his blood flow even further until his veins were on the verge of exploding.
But right before he was about to die from his experiment, the armor around his body buzzed.
It somehow began to help him circulate better, strengthening his internal organs ever so slightly.
The buzzing only got stronger, barely stopping the veins from exploding.
Neil had just taken that armor since bringing his other armor would be a waste here, especially if that got destroyed.
He didn't really care about its effects.
His mind became foggier; only the bloody scent swirling around him filled his senses.
The Lizzard men who were about to attack him paused momentarily, seeing his strange form.
Black blood kept flowing in a strange manner, and with the help of the armor and his previous experiments, it began to resemble the real thing more and more.
BOOOOM!!
Soon, the armor couldn't handle the pressure and it exploded.
But it had bought Neil enough time.
All of a sudden, his body started to transform.
His size started increasing, muscles bulging, and his eyes turned black with no sclera.
Neil resembled the phantom he had seen in the video, but also not completely.
His height grew a bit over eight feet, his skin turning pitch black; he looked like a terrifying monster far from a human.
ROOAAARRRRR!!
A blood-curdling scream reverberated across the building, shaking most present inside it.
…
People were seated peacefully in the big hall, watching over the various signal readings.
Their job was simply to see if a powerful link was about to open or check if a powerful creature was around their settlement.
All of a sudden, the reading on a certain monitor that hadn't changed in a long time went high.
The people who were carelessly drinking or chatting were shocked as they saw the high readings.
"P- Ph- Phantom!!! A phantom has attacked our settlement, quick, we are retreating from the settlement. Announce that we are abandoning this place- huh?" one of the Lizzard men spoke in dread.
But then he paused; although those readings showed that it was indeed a phantom, why did the strength seem so low?
"Could it be that the phantom is badly injured or a baby phantom has attacked? What's going on?" the man scratched his head, stopping others from making that announcement.
Seeing those readings, the phantom didn't seem too big of a threat.
But it was way too close.
Previously, all the phantoms had been at the 5th Origin, but this time…
"Huh? Is the phantom in this settlement itself?" A chill ran down his spine despite the doubts.
"Wait, what if they learned some way to hide their presence? Maybe they are learning to completely hide themselves. After all, phantoms are the greatest creatures who could adapt to anything."
After a moment, he still decided to abandon the settlement.
But many, or maybe all of them, were going to die anyway.
Similar scenes were taking place in all the settlements present not too far away from it.
Various races thousands of kilometers away too noticed the presence of a phantom.
They instantly began to increase their defenses; they too assumed similar things.
Back inside the hall, all humans rushed towards the door when they saw Neil transform into such a terrifying creature.
The Lizzard men too froze from fear; they could recognize a phantom, although he seemed quite different from what they had seen in images.
Unfortunately, Neil had completely lost his sanity; he had truly transformed into a mindless monster.
His strength had increased, his speed far higher than before, as he rushed towards one of the frozen Lizzard men.
The horrifying monster grabbed him by his torso, while clutching his head with the other hand, and tore him apart.
Then, squeezing his broken body, it drank the blood of the Lizzard man, sending chills further down their spines.
❖❖❖
Thanks for reading...