FLY HIGH!
It was a fiery hell.
Was the hell people spoke of after death really this terrifying?
That guard captain was truly a dreadful man.
Using the wind direction to start a fire attack—who did he think he was, Zhuge Liang?
It wasn't a southeast wind, but it seemed the cave really did have a ventilation hole.
The flames didn't just flicker along the ground—they surged upward, sending waves of scorching heat into the air.
The soldiers covered their faces and slowly began to retreat.
"Fall back to the cave entrance and hold position!"
The guard captain shouted, commanding his men.
It was clear he intended not to let even a single Serpent escape.
My siblings whose bodies caught fire shriveled up and died instantly.
Like eels tossed onto a grill.
So was I, who had avoided the flames, safe?
No. Not at all.
「Heat Resistance proficiency is rising rapidly. You have acquired Heat Resistance Lv.1.」
Just the heat alone was scorching my scales white.
My survival instinct warned me to run from the flames.
My scales trembled, urging me to hide in some damp crevice in the rocks.
「You have acquired Survival Instinct Lv.1.」
It wasn't a joke—it was real.
But I didn't follow my survival instinct's warning.
The flames were spreading along the oil. Even if I hid in a crack in the rocks, I'd just end up as a nicely roasted Serpent.
Instead, I glared at the retreating guard captain.
I'll remember your face.
I won't forget this grudge.
But that was all the time I had for revenge.
At this rate I was really going to die.
The reason I had waited this long was because the petrification of the monsters had to loosen somewhat first.
Their color was slowly returning.
They still couldn't move yet, but their bodies twitched slightly.
Now my fangs would probably be able to sink into their flesh.
What I was about to do was clearly insane.
But without doing something insane, there was no way out of this fiery hell.
I crawled directly into the wide-open mouth of the Horn Jaguar.
The Horn Jaguar was bigger than a bull.
When it saw Mother, it had roared in fear—and then froze in that position.
Which meant its carnivore throat was wide open.
As I slipped between its sharp teeth, I saw its tongue, and further inside hung its uvula.
Chomp.
I bit the uvula.
The petrification had loosened enough that my teeth sank deep into it.
If I did this, then unless the uvula tore off, I could remain hidden inside the Horn Jaguar's mouth.
Alright, go, Horn Jaguar!
At last, the petrification broke.
And naturally, the first thing the monster did with something biting its uvula… was gag.
"Geh! Gek-gek! Gwaaaack!"
Honestly, if something dangled from my uvula, I'd be retching like crazy too.
But I was small enough to be called a thread-Serpent.
If I had been a normal animal, I would have either been crushed by the tightening throat muscles or spat out with a hacking cough.
But this enormous throat—used to gulping down barely chewed meat—couldn't easily vomit me out.
So I held on stubbornly.
Think of it like a non-sedated endoscopy, Jaguar.
Stop! Stop gagging!
"Gwaaaack!"
Aaagh!
The beast vomited the contents of its stomach.
The Horn Jaguar's vomit washed over my already burned skin.
It stung and smelled awful.
If I'd endured a little more, I might've gained Pain Resistance too.
Anyway, I kept hanging on.
Only then did the Horn Jaguar realize it was standing in a sea of fire.
Whether monster or human, everyone feared fire.
Beside it, the Geiger Hog—whose petrification had also broken—let out a loud squeal and started running.
"Gweeek!"
"Grrraaah!"
The two monsters began to run wildly.
Instinctively fleeing the flames—straight toward the direction where the retreating soldiers were.
They were incredibly fast.
The ride felt amazing, like standing on a racing chariot.
Neither monster paid the slightest attention to the Serpents writhing beneath their feet.
They simply crushed them as they ran.
Because the Horn Jaguar was running with its mouth open in pain, I could see everything.
As expected, my siblings had fighting spirit.
Instinctively, they bit the legs of the passing Geiger Hog and Jaguar.
The two monsters couldn't shake them off and kept running.
Several dozen Serpents managed to cling onto the monsters and escape together.
But the difference between their ride and mine was like economy class versus first class.
Many of them were burned by the flames or had their teeth broken off by the force of running and were flung away.
Farewell, everyone.
Finally, the Horn Jaguar burst out of the cave entrance.
And the soldiers waiting there were horrified.
"Aaaah!"
"W-What is that?!"
They had probably only expected Serpents to crawl out.
Their equipment—including the gambesons—was meant for Serpent hunting.
Some weren't even carrying spears but shovels and hoes to deal with Serpents crawling along the ground.
Then suddenly two house-sized monsters came charging out.
No wonder they panicked.
"It's a monster!"
The soldiers seemed a bit cowardly.
The guard captain smacked the back of the shouting soldier's head.
"You idiot. Look carefully. That's just a monster."
"A-ah… the Serpents… I see."
Monster or beast—it didn't seem that different to me.
But judging from the soldiers' reaction, I realized something.
The Horn Jaguar was covered in flames and dragging dozens of Serpents along its body.
Of course that looked horrifying.
Part of me wanted to pop my head out of its mouth and say "Peekaboo."
But if I did that, the furious Jaguar would probably bite me in half.
Come to think of it, getting out of this Jaguar's mouth later might be a problem.
I couldn't exactly say, "Thanks for the ride!" and politely leave.
Anyway.
"Hold formation!"
Here, I could only hope the Horn Jaguar fought well.
"Spears up!"
And my mortal enemy, the guard captain, carried out his duty to the very end.
At his command, the soldiers quickly raised their spears.
A group of soldiers with spears could kill even large predators.
The same applied to monsters.
"Gweeeek!"
The brave Geiger Hog charged first into the soldiers.
A boar bigger than the gigantic wild boars said to live near Korea's military demarcation line was pierced by spears.
Thud!
Two unlucky soldiers were sent flying as if hit by a car.
But five spears were lodged in the Geiger Hog's body.
Even a sturdy monster couldn't withstand that.
It collapsed, its head smashing into the ground.
"Don't lower your guard! Another one's coming!"
With the guard captain's shout, the Horn Jaguar began its charge.
All I could do was cling tightly to its uvula.
This was getting worrying. The soldiers' formation was tighter than expected.
"Grrraaaah!"
Hearing a beast's roar from inside its throat was an incredible experience.
The vibrations shook my inner ear and sent chills through my entire body.
Then suddenly—
My body floated.
Weightlessness.
The Horn Jaguar had leapt.
Below, I could see the soldiers staring up with their mouths open.
The Jaguar's jumping power far exceeded what they had imagined.
For a moment, it felt like my eyes met the guard captain's.
Boom!
It must have leapt over something as tall as a building, yet the landing was light.
The Horn Jaguar immediately began running again as if its tail were on fire.
Toward the eastern forest.
Toward the deep, ancient woods so dense that humans would never dare pursue.
So now… how do I get out of here?
Breathing in the Jaguar's hot, damp mouth odor, I pondered my next move.
In the Sija Forest, countless animals lived.
Among them were monsters imbued with demonic power, as well as ordinary beasts.
Strange things often happened in this place, but today something particularly unusual was occurring.
Even mountain animals like monkeys and rabbits couldn't resist their curiosity and watched the scene.
"Kuwing! Kueeeng!"
A Horn Jaguar.
A dangerous monster that could only normally be seen deeper in the great forest beyond this one.
Nothing in the Sija Forest posed any threat to such a creature.
And yet that very Horn Jaguar was now completely losing its mind.
"Kuuek! Kehk!"
It leapt high enough to easily clear trees and then rolled around on the ground.
Crash!
Then it slammed its head into a tree.
Startled birds flew into the air, and monkeys screeched as they fled.
"Grrraaaah!"
The beast roared violently and swung its forepaw.
The tree snapped and toppled over.
The Horn Jaguar was already covered in blood.
It wasn't that something had attacked it.
It had injured itself while thrashing wildly—breaking claws and tearing its own face.
The place it stood now was the border between the Sija Forest and the Great Forest.
There was no real boundary line in the woods, but it was the area where the Sija trees grew sparse and more dangerous monsters appeared.
It was also in front of a basin surrounded by cliffs.
Then it happened.
The Horn Jaguar suddenly began choking.
"Kehk, keeng!"
It coughed violently—and then suddenly it couldn't even do that.
Had something inside it finally blocked its airway?
True to a predator that once roamed the forest freely, the Horn Jaguar did not stop fighting even at the brink of death.
Suddenly it started running wildly—and then threw itself from the top of a cliff.
The mad jaguar had convulsed and finally performed a suicidal leap.
The watching forest animals cautiously approached the edge where it had fallen.
The cliff was high enough.
The Horn Jaguar would suffer no more.
***
Aaaaargh!
I screamed internally.
Burning to death vs. being eaten by the Horn Jaguar.
If I had to choose which was worse… now it was definitely the latter.
Die! Die!
I shouted that in my heart.
Of course, that monster was probably thinking the same thing.
Escaping the flames and soldiers had been great.
But getting out of the Horn Jaguar's mouth peacefully was completely impossible.
All I could do was desperately keep biting its uvula.
If I let go, only two fates awaited me:
Either be chewed to pieces…
or swallowed whole without even being chewed.
***
「Pain Resistance Lv.2 has become Pain Resistance Lv.3.」
「Breath Holding Lv.2 has become Breath Holding Lv.3.」
「Bite Lv.2 has become Bite Lv.3.」
Because I was enduring with all my might, my skill proficiency was rising at an absurd speed.
It had become a contest of who would give out first.
Putting 20 stat points into Mental Strength had truly been a great decision.
I endured with sheer stubbornness.
This Serpent life I had chosen—
Well… actually I hadn't chosen it, but still.
***
But there was a limit to how long I could endure the creature's violent thrashing.
Finally, when my consciousness began to fade and my jaw started to loosen—
The jaguar inhaled sharply.
And I, a tiny Serpent barely the size of a thread, was sucked straight into its airway.
"Keeng!"
That was the moment victory completely shifted to my side.
The jaguar could no longer harm me.
And I had infiltrated its most vulnerable place.
Its lungs.
Whenever I ate Korean blood sausage (sundae), I always asked the vendor for extra lungs.
So I started using Bite repeatedly.
Hot blood began pooling around me.
Aaaah!
「Bite proficiency is rising rapidly.」
Eventually, a huge hole was torn open in the lung.
And then—
My body suddenly floated upward.
Ah… this feeling.
It was familiar.
That dizzy sensation like when a shark might bite your backside.
Like riding the Gyro Drop at Lotte World.
It was the feeling of falling.
That crazy jaguar had thrown itself from somewhere.
Was this some kind of heroic "drag the enemy down with me" spirit like Nongae jumping off a cliff with her enemy?
The fall lasted quite a while.
From a height high enough that even a sturdy monster couldn't survive it.
But I weighed less than a single serving of pork belly.
And I was inside a soft stomach.
***
BOOM!
Even so, the impact was strong enough to make me see stars.
But—
I survived.
Of course, it seemed the jaguar didn't.
***
「Level Up!」
「Level Up!」
「Level Up!」
「Level Up!」
「Level Up!」
「Level Up!」
「Level Up!」
It was thanks to the festival of level-ups.
Seriously, what is this—
some kind of Kim X-ho style novel or something?