Just as expected.
Seeing its prey attempt to escape, the black-green snake, with its limited intelligence, clearly could not understand that this was intentional.
The black-green snake lowered the upper half of its body, raising most of its length upright. It compressed itself like a spring, then launched toward Saelran.
This was an opportunity.
Saelran's eyes lit up. This was the move he had been waiting for.
He swung his iron sword, gripped it in reverse, and threw it like a javelin into the open mouth of the black-green snake.
Bang.
The tremendous force behind the iron sword exploded in midair.
The iron sword pierced straight into the black-green snake's mouth, spraying white mucus and red blood everywhere, along with several chunks of torn flesh scattered across the ground.
"Hiss! Arsshh!"
The black-green snake fell from the air, thrashing and writhing, hissing in agony.
Bang! Bang!!
Its thick tail lashed wildly in pain, striking nearby trees with thunderous cracks.
Saelran watched the black-green snake spasm in agony, its head completely pierced and then stepped back with a faint grin.
He waited calmly for the snake to die.
Since its scales were hard and slippery, he attacked from the soft inside.
After struggling for two or three minutes, the black-green serpent that had been convulsing on the ground slowly stopped moving and lay still.
『Gained 150 experience points!』
Current experience: 421/1000.
"A decent amount of experience."
A smile appeared on Saelran's face as he stood up and walked toward the black-green snake. With the experience notification, he no longer needed to worry about it pretending to be dead.
Seeing the iron sword lying on the ground, covered in mucus and blood, Saelran's eyes showed a hint of disgust.
From his Inventory Box, Saelran took out the stiff, yellowish paper he had created earlier with a spell scroll. After wiping off the sticky fluid and blood from the iron sword, he retrieved it.
"The scales of this black-green snake should be suitable for making armor,"
Saelran thought as he examined the creature, which was more than six meters long. Other than the severe damage to its head, the rest of its body was relatively intact.
However, Saelran was not very interested in making armor. With the technology available to humans in this world, the highest grade of armor they could produce was Superior.
He preferred to spend his time trying to obtain the equipment of the Seven Lords of Deadly Sins or the Six Orthodox Gods.
In the game "Oblivion Gate," equipment was divided into ten tiers:
Lowest Tier 1–10
Lower Tier 11–20
Middle Tier 21–30
High Tier 31–40
Highest Tier 41–50
Legacy Tier 51–60
Sacred Relic Tier 61–70
Legendary Tier 71–80
Artifact Tier 81–90
Divine Tier 91–100
Above these tiers were items that surpassed specifications, called Ultimate Artifacts, which were counted separately.
Saelran would eventually fight against the Nine Gate of Helldusk, and he needed at least one piece of Divine-tier equipment.
"It should fetch a good price if I sell it."
Saelran touched the corpse of the black-green snake, then stored it inside his Inventory box with a thought.
The commotion he caused earlier had been considerable.
However, this area should be the snake's territory, so other magical beasts should not appear right away.
Saelran continued his journey eastward.
The Arkenwald Forest was a vast, ancient U-shaped forest surrounding the Valenca Mountains, stretching about 120 kilometers long and around 40 kilometers wide.
Naret Village was located somewhere near the central region, and considering the many obstacles in the forest and the constant threat of attacks, Saelran estimated it would take some time to reach the territory of Gruunfang.
Without realizing it, noon had already arrived.
Saelran took out his pocket watch and the map from his item box. After checking the time and estimating his location, he put them back.
"I've covered about one-third of the distance. Slower than expected. I need to move faster."
Saelran sighed and showed no intention of stopping. He took out a piece of black bread and ate it as he continued moving.
Just within a single morning, aside from the black-green snake he had killed earlier, his inventory box now contained the corpses of three boars and five giant pythons, each about five meters long.
Of course, there were also several smaller snakes, wild animals, and poisonous insects. Since they were just ordinary creatures, the experience gained was low, so Saelran did not bother storing them.
After all, they had neither nutritional value nor high selling value.
As for the corpses of the two members of The Gilded Fang, Saelran had dumped them somewhere in the forest shortly after entering.
By now, their bodies were probably nearly eaten by wild animals.
Seeing the dense forest ahead, Saelran deliberately quickened his pace, causing greater noise as he moved through the undergrowth.
Perhaps this bold behavior made some wild animals more cautious, because those hiding in the forest no longer showed signs of attacking him.
This surprised Saelran.
He should have been less wary from the beginning. After all, those wild animals were no match for him, and the experience they offered was negligible, practically worthless.
Whoosh
Saelran swung his iron sword, slicing through branches and brush to clear a path.
Above him, the thick canopy of intertwined branches created a dim, oppressive atmosphere.
Suddenly, a faint noise came from his left.
Saelran's ears twitched, his steps faltered, and he moved back.
Swoosh!
A white spiderweb thread as thick as a finger shot past him and stuck to a nearby tree.
"A spider?" Saelran immediately looked toward the direction where the web had come from.
It clung to a branch where the foliage overlapped.
A spider the size of a washbasin hung upside down from the tree, its body grayish-brown, purple markings on its abdomen, and eight long, sharp, nimble legs.
The white web from earlier had clearly been spat out by it.
"A hanging spider?" Saelran's expression shifted slightly upon seeing the grayish-brown spider.
He had purchased information about Arkenwald Forest from the Adventurers' Guild, which specifically highlighted this type of spider.
Even a C-rank adventurer party would find them a huge problem.
Not because this spider was strong, but because their appearance indicated that many more hanging spiders were nearby.
Swish! Swish!
Whirr! Whirr! Whirr! Whirr! Whirr!
Almost simultaneously, rustling sounds came from the surrounding dense foliage, followed by streams of white spider silk shooting toward Saelran from all directions.
Saelran dodged the incoming silk and rushed away.
These spiders clearly had no intention of letting him escape.
Following the continuous appearance of white silk strands, the spiders glided rapidly along the threads with their sharp legs. One after another, the grayish-brown spiders emerged, chasing relentlessly.
In the blink of an eye, a massive swarm had gathered behind him, densely packed and radiating a terrifying presence.
Saelran glanced back, and his eyes twitched.