Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

'Crunch. Crunch.'

The crunching sound didn't stop even after a while. Did it seriously eat its own dead skin? But why?

"General Zhang, what do we do?" I asked, gripping my dagger.

"Of course, we have fun." He grinned excitedly as sparks started to form around him.

Why did I even bother asking. I should've known his head was messed up.

Suddenly, the ground beneath us shook, and the lake splashed once again. This time, an enormous rocky serpent emerged from it. In its mouth were pieces of dead serpent skin, glistening with clear blue acid.

'KIIIEK!'

I felt an abrupt explosion of mana coming from the serpent. How did it survive? Didn't I burn its last heart? Did the skin offer some kind of protection or recovery?

"Hey... Isn't this kinda bad?" I took a step back, intimidated by the seemingly invincible serpent in front of me.

[Enemy: Evolved Serpent, rank 5]

[Weakness: the artificial heart in its stomach]

What? Did we accidentally make eye contact? It was like this earlier, too, even though we cracked its eyes already. And what was this artificial heart thing? Did it get a new heart by eating its skin? That was hardcore, man.

"Wait," I whispered to myself, "I think we've been approaching this the wrong way."

I suddenly remembered what Eli had told me.

--------

"Chaerin-ah, I killed a serpent all by myself today. Praise me." The 20-year-old Elias grinned mischievously at Chaerin.

His shirt was dirty and torn, and his chiseled body was full of new and old bruises. Loneliness was painted all over his tired face, and yet his eyes still shone brightly when he saw the girl before him.

"You did? How come? I thought you said a serpent is pretty strong?" The dark-haired girl in front of him beamed with such happiness upon seeing his face, even though her condition herself wasn't exactly the best.

Her hair was messy and her army uniform was clearly battered. Her uniform looked too big for her small but toned figure.

"Yeah, it was difficult," he walked closer and stroked Chaerin's messy hair, combing it with such delicate care, "it was easier because you helped me, though."

"I did? But how did I help you? I wasn't even there." Chaerin tilted her head to the side, earning a smile from Elias.

"Remember what you told me about snakes in your world?" He gently caressed her head.

"Ah, yes. I was complaining about snakes near our camp... It was hard enough to navigate through the forest while constantly worrying about enemies and traps, and now we had to worry about snakes, too..." Chaerin huffed and crossed her arms in annoyance.

"Well, that made me curious about snakes, you see," Elias pinched her cheek, "so I went to the library and read a book about them."

"And?" Chaerin looked at him with anticipation.

"And I found out that most of them don't only rely on their eyes to detect prey." He winked at her.

"Wait, really? I just knew that!" Her eyes sparkled, completely immersed in his story, even though the young man was just telling a story about snakes.

"Yes. They also use smell to track their prey, kind of like a second 'sight' for them. You see, they smell using their tongue and mouth," he explained with a smile on his face, "so I just need to rob them off those senses, and it'll be an easy win."

"You scare me sometimes, you know that?" Chaerin pinched his left cheek back.

"Haha, but I did great, right?" Elias laughed genuinely at her.

He grabbed her hand that was pinching his cheek, and cupped her hand gently against his cheek, like usual.

"Praise me, Chaerin-ah." He nuzzled at her hand and closed his eyes.

Chaerin smiled, "you did great, Eli. I'm proud of you... And glad you didn't die."

"I'm tired." He said, still closing his eyes and pressing his cheek into her palm.

"If only we could meet in real life..." Her eyes trailed downwards, filled with sadness.

"We will, one day." He assured her, even though he wasn't sure how.

"When we meet, I'll take care of you, Eli. So you can get a much-deserved rest." She said to him with a sad smile.

"No, I'll take care of you, Chae. So you can finally feel safe."

--------

...That wasn't a pleasant thing to remember, but it certainly did help our situation.

"General Zhang! I think some snakes use their mouth to detect prey, you think you can do something about it!?" I asked him.

"Me? You're the one who should do something about it, little cub~" General Zhang winked at me.

"What? Why me?" I tilted my head.

"Well, rather than slashing its tongue, just burn it. It's just meat, tee-hee!" He replied.

"No, wait--"

"Did you know, little cub? Electricity can mess with muscle movements. I'll hold it off for you. Toodles!"

General Zhang dashed past the wall of wind around us, and maneuvered skillfully to avoid getting injured while throwing sparks of electricity around.

"That maniac, he'll die if he gets out like that!" I exclaimed.

"Go, Chaerin. I'll protect you with my wind." Jeanne said.

She couldn't walk, but she still managed to use her wind to make a wall around me so I could be safe from the acid.

"Thanks, Jeanne!" I ran out towards where General Zhang was, and waited from afar until it opened its mouth wide to devour general Zhang.

'BOOM!'

I fired my flames straight into its mouth, burning the inside. It screeched for a bit, but then it immediately closed its mouth.

'KUWAA!'

It opened its mouth as it let out an ear-splitting noise, revealing a perfectly fine tongue.

"Was my flame not strong enough!?" I panicked.

"Focus, little cub!" General Zhang kicked the serpent's snout away from me. He then continuously bombarded the serpent with lightning strikes.

I snapped out of my panic state, and immediately started thinking while I ran around to avoid any collision.

What should I do? I didn't have any stat points left...

Suddenly, an idea came to mind.

"Shop!"

[Ding!]

A window appeared before me, and I immediately clicked the search bar on the top-right corner.

"Um... Acid? Acid-proof? Anti-acid?" I tried several keywords, frantically trying to search for a specific item.

"Ah! This one, please!"

[Would you like to purchase the item 'Anti-acid pill' for 500 gold?]

"Yes! Inventory!"

I opened my inventory and quickly snatched my newly-bought pill. This would be a risky play, but I'd rather die trying than not. I threw the round red pill into my mouth and immediately swallowed it.

[The item 'Anti-acid pill' is now in effect. Your body will be immune to acid for 10 minutes]

Too bad it only worked for 10 minutes, even though it literally cost me almost all of my gold.

"Please hold on, general Zhang!" I shouted as I ran towards the lake.

"Don't mind me! I'm having fun!" He replied while he had his maniacal grin on his face while he fought the serpent. Both sides didn't seem to plan to back down soon.

"Jeanne, you can focus on protecting general Zhang now, I'll be fine!" I alerted her. I should be safe now that I was immune to acid.

I looked around me, trying to find the key to my plan. It should be around here...

"There it is!" I picked up a small piece of the serpent's skin that fell off from the serpent's mouth earlier. It was hard and coated with acid. But it shouldn't be a problem for me anymore.

I stepped on the skin to break it into smaller pieces that I could swallow, and braced myself to eat all of it.

"...I think I'll get diarrhea and an infection after this trip." I gulped all the pieces down in one go.

'Ba-thump!'

Ugh..! I... My stomach and heart felt like they were burning!

'Ba-thump!'

I fell on my knees as I felt a tremendous amount of pain surging through my body. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

'Ba-thump!'

Did my plan fail? Was it a bad decision to eat the skin? I thought it would give me an artificial heart, too, or instant recovery, like the serpent did...

I felt my vision blur and the world seemed to spin around me as I started to feel my consciousness slipping away.

'Thud!'

--------

"Chaerin!" Jeanne shouted upon seeing Chaerin's body fell on the ground, motionless.

'What happened to her? I saw her swallow the skin pieces... Did the skin kill her?' Jeanne thought to herself.

"Come at me, worm! Hahaha!" General Zhang kept exchanging blows with the serpent, even though his body was already full of injury.

Blood trickled down his head, and the wound on his arm opened up again. Bruises could be seen under his shirt whenever he moved fast enough to lift his shirt a bit.

Suddenly, the serpent circled around him, and in one swift motion, it trapped him in a deadly, crushing grip.

"Ugh--!" He winced, but his mouth was smiling in delight.

'KIIIEK!" The serpent bellowed and tightened its grip on general Zhang's whole body.

"Unfortunately, you picked the wrong guy to strangle." General Zhang grinned.

In a split second, he turned his body into water, and launched himself upwards, freeing him from the serpent's deadly grip.

"Eat this!" He pulled his knuckle backwards, charged it with electricity, and punched the serpent in the head, launching sparks everywhere.

'KUWAA!'

The serpent screamed and writhed in pain, as a crack began to form on the area where general Zhang's punch landed.

He didn't stop there and landed a few more blows on the serpent. For some reason, instead of attacking with long-ranged lightning strikes, he preferred hands-on bashing.

'KIAAK!'

It swiftly withdrew, gaining a considerable distance from general Zhang. Without sparing a second for him to get close, it rubbed its body against the cave walls, cracking the crystals on its body.

Acid began to spill from all over its body, making general Zhang hesitate to come close. Seeing that its trick worked, the serpent slithered closer towards him with anger.

'BOOM!'

'KIEEEK!'

"Over here, you overgrown worm!" Chaerin's voice rang out.

"Chaerin? I thought she was--?" Shock was apparent on Jeanne's face.

She fired her flames again, hitting the side of its head. This time, the serpent looked as if it was in pain. Her attacks seemed to finally have an effect on the serpent.

"Yeah, come here. Your prey is over here." She grinned and beckoned the serpent to come.

'HISSS!'

It launched itself with its jaws open towards her with such speed and force that the ground beneath them trembled. However, the girl did not move an inch. She just lifted her arms around her head, protecting it.

"Chaerin, move!" Jeanne shouted.

But, it was too late. The serpent's jaws had closed. The girl was nowhere to be seen.

'Gulp.'