Chapter 148: Serpent Dragon Maiden

Having successfully resisted the charm person spell, Joachim dared not lower his guard. Heaven knew whether the water nymph might unleash other magical arts. Unconcerned with the rugged terrain that made riding difficult, he vaulted onto his horse's back, shook the reins, and urged the black colt to gallop away at full speed.

From behind came the elf maiden's shrill, enraged curses. Joachim pretended not to hear, but then an even more terrifying roar drowned out her curses, striking his eardrums like rolling thunder. Joachim glanced back hastily and was nearly frightened right out of the saddle!

Right there in the pool behind him, the nymph had crawled onto the bank, revealing her true form. That seductive torso resembling an elf maiden was merely a small fraction of her entire body; below the waist, she had transformed into a plump, thick, and elongated snake tail adorned with green scales.

So she was a half-human, half-serpent enchantress?

Joachim had initially thought so, but he quickly realized he was still too naive and lacked imagination.

The serpent-like lower body of the enchantress grew thicker and thicker, connecting to the massive body of a green dragon-like beast—as if the lower halves of a giant dragon and an elf maiden had been severed and spliced together with a thick, slender serpentine torso. Thus, the green dragon, the giant snake, and the maiden—three creatures that originally bore no resemblance—fused into a single monster that was both terrifying and absurd!

Even in a nightmare, Joachim could not have imagined such a deformed monstrosity. When he saw the green dragon, tightly joined to the enchantress's lower body, flap its enormous wings and slowly lift into the air, its tooth-filled maw spewing fire and thick smoke, the fear in his heart rapidly climbed to its peak. Daring not to look back again, his cold-sweat-soaked hands gripped the reins tightly, and he desperately urged his horse to bolt in a mad dash!

His horse's hooves trampled the standing water, splashing spray everywhere as it ran with difficulty across the riverbank littered with sharp stones. Having finally broken out of the rugged canyon, a giant python suddenly darted out from the woods ahead, coiling its body in the center of the road. It opened its mouth wide to reveal two pairs of fangs, flicking its scarlet, flame-like fork at the oncoming black colt and hissing with a soul-stirring sound.

The black colt was so terrified by the giant snake blocking its path that it reared its front hooves and neighed shrilly. Caught off guard by the sudden event, Joachim lost his balance and tumbled off the horse's back, a wave of darkness sweeping across his vision.

The rustling sound of snake scales scraping against the ground echoed by his ear, accompanied by a foul stench blowing straight toward him. Joachim shuddered involuntarily, fighting through the dizziness to struggle into a sitting position. The moment he raised his head, he saw the giant python—clearly the green-eyed serpent that had played its part alongside the half-dragon enchantress by the water's edge just moments ago. It had now crawled right up to him, its jaws opened to nearly one hundred and eighty degrees. A foul-smelling breath billowed from the depths of its dark red throat as it rapidly closed in on his face, ready to pounce at any moment and sink its sharp fangs into his neck.

Barely suppressing the terror filling his heart, Joachim crossed his left arm in front of him and chanted a spell just before the python launched its attack. The angry human face carved on his shield glared with wide-open eyes, startling the python so much that it instinctively recoiled and recoiled into a defensive coil once more. Simultaneously, the shield's face projected a brilliant cone of light directly into the python's eyes. Blinded by the intense glare, the python shook its head in agony and hissed repeatedly.

Knowing that serpentine creatures generally had poor vision and that eyes were merely secondary organs to snakes, Joachim understood that even with severely damaged and sightless eyes, the python could still accurately track every move of its prey through the shifting air currents detected by its sensitive tongue. Therefore, he dared not relax in the slightest. Taking advantage of the python's blinding pain which left it unable to attack, he hurriedly opened his storage pouch, pulled out the Branch of Irminsul, and channeled his magic to transform it into a massive treant. It opened its massive hands woven from countless tangled branches, grabbed the python's head, and hoisted it straight up into the air!

The python twisted wildly in terror, attempting to constrict this strange half-man, half-tree monster that had appeared out of nowhere. Freeing his left hand, Joachim grabbed its tail. With both hands gripping the python's head and tail tightly, he first lifted it high into the air and then smashed it fiercely down onto the ground.

Thud! The python slammed into the earth, twitching in agony. Still gripping the beast's head and tail tightly, Joachim raised his right foot and took a step forward.

With a resounding boom, the ground trembled slightly. The treant's massive, thick foot trampled the giant snake's abdomen, instantly crushing its internal organs. Half-digested food remnants mixed with blood and shattered intestines spilled out.

Discarding the limp and motionless snake carcass, Joachim stomped fiercely on the snake's head once more. A muffled squelch rose from beneath his sole, resembling the sound of stepping on an overripe apple, as blood and brain matter burst forth from between his toes. Though the breath had left its body, the giant python was still dying hard, its corpse involuntarily twitching and shuddering.

Before Joachim could shift his weight and return to his human form, a dragon's roar suddenly echoed from the sky, and a dark cloud blotted out the sun. Looking up, Joachim saw that half-dragon, half-human monstrosity giving chase. It spread a pair of green dragon wings, casting a massive shadow, while its thick, serpentine tail curled upward. Faintly visible at the tip of the tail was a naked female torso standing proudly in midair; the fair, delicate skin contrasted sharply with the terrifying lower body, her mass of black hair whipping wildly in the wind, and her eyes filled with murderous intent.

Looking down from above, the nymph's gaze fell first upon the giant python that Joachim had stomped to death. Her beautiful face instantly twisted and contorted with shock and fury, and her hateful glare pierced Joachim like two sharp daggers as she opened her mouth to emit a long, piercing howl.

As if responding to a signal, the giant dragon tightly fused to the nymph's lower body also opened its jaw and roared fiercely. Thick smoke billowed from the depths of its throat, and a searing heat surged outward, ready to burst forth.

Realizing the extreme danger the moment he saw this, Joachim tried to move his heavy legs, but it was too late. The dragon had already unleashed a torrent of flames directly at him. The temperature of a supernatural dragon breath was enough to melt steel instantly—how could a treant, naturally vulnerable to fire, possibly withstand it?

Struck squarely by the dragon breath, Joachim's entire body of branches and leaves erupted into blazing infernos. Well aware that continuing the burn would soon reduce him to a charred corpse, he was forced to suppress the magic of the Branch of Irminsul and revert to his human form, rolling desperately on the ground in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

Splash! Joachim plunged headfirst into the roadside pool, barely managing to put out the fire on his body. Ignoring the excruciating agony of his severe burns, he struggled to crawl ashore. At that moment, a pitiful whinny from the black colt reached his ears. Turning his head, he saw that the half-human, half-dragon beast had landed and was currently mauling his horse.

The poor black colt had its neck gripped tightly in the dragon jaws of the enchantress, blood gushing steadily from between the evil dragon's teeth, while its wide-open eyes were filled with utter despair...

Seeing the companion who had accompanied him all this way about to be brutally slaughtered by the evil dragon, Joachim felt a surge of both anxiety and heartache. It felt as though all the blood in his body rushed straight to his head, and he prepared to charge forward recklessly to rescue the black colt. Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind, gripping his arm tightly to stop him from rushing ahead.