The small snake was at a loss due to the onslaught of telepathic messages.
‘You’ve met the Progenitor, you say? For real? Seriously, really? Wow…! Then are you possibly a High Sage? Greetings!’
Certainly, there was no time for this.
It was unclear whether it was being told to proceed or to stop, but the endless questions kept coming.
For the small snake, with its tiny brain, conjuring up the concept of multitasking was an arduous task.
Finally, after anxiously wagging its tail and listening to all the questions, the small snake resumed its movement.
‘What’s it like to have met the Progenitor in person? Are they awake? It’s said the Progenitor sleeps all the time, so it’s surprising to learn they’re awake. I’d really like to meet them!’
The telepathic messages were filled with anticipation.
No matter what they were imagining, they were bound to be disappointed upon meeting the Progenitor.
The small snake shook its head.
‘Progenitor. Kind. But also. Dangerous. Caution.’
‘Huh…? I don’t quite get it. Can you elaborate further?’
To have already woven together so many words seemed like enough, but the question of how to elaborate further was perplexing.
The small snake made odd noises as it moved forward.
In the gap between an especially large rock, there was a place that was relatively undamaged and intact.
‘You’re almost here!’
The telepathic messages of the other side were clearly drawing closer, implying there wasn’t much distance left.
‘Really? Can you even get over the wall? There are many biped beasts.’
‘Yes! I inherited this skill from my mother! Except for this wall with the lever, I’ve never been blocked anywhere I’ve been! Biped beasts, bah, how many there may be, I can still overcome!’
Although it was unclear how they planned to break through the numerous vigilant biped beasts, their confidence seemed genuine.
Soon, the small snake would finally get to stand before the Progenitor.
Brimming with dreams, the small snake crawled boldly forward.
Pree?!
That confidence shattered within just a minute.
The small snake’s plump body trembled violently.
— Grrrr.
— Kwaaa!
Everywhere it looked, there were only beasts.
Many beasts had their mouths wide open as if they were about to pounce on the small snake.
With cries of Preee!!, the small snake desperately broadcasted its telepathic messages.
‘Beasts! Fear! Help! Help!’
‘Eh?! Oh no! If you’re stranded there, what can I do to help…?!’
The reply indicated there was no help coming.
The small snake was close to fainting.
— Whoosh.
A warmth emitted.
The warmth spread to its lower jaw as if urging it to stay focused.
Pree? Upon opening its eyes, the small snake was finally able to relax.
The beasts were glaring fiercely at the small snake but did not approach, as if blocked by an invisible wall.
An invisible prison.
It was something the small snake was already familiar with from the biped beasts.
‘Beasts. Trapped. Safe.’
With a pheeew of relief, the small snake signaled to the other side that it was fine.
‘Phew, what a relief! I thought I’d end up not meeting the Progenitor. So, can you lower that lever, right?’
Then came the other side’s message.
And the small snake blinked.
What’s a lever?
Born in the mountains and having learned much from its mother, the small snake had never heard the word ‘lever.’
Of course, to either lower or raise a lever, one would first need to know what one was.
The small snake swished its head and tail in confusion and inquired.
‘What’s a lever?’
‘Huh? You don’t know what a lever is? So you’re not from the city then? Where did you learn telepathy then…? It’s supposed to be hard to master.’
Pree?
The small snake made a pitiful crying sound.
The words of the Progenitor might have been difficult, but because each word carried strong intent, the small snake roughly understood the meaning.
However, even that type of understanding wasn’t present in the current telepathic messages.
So, what’s a lever?
Unable to comprehend, the small snake repeated the inquiry.
‘What’s the city?’
‘Eh?? Oh, so you don’t know about the city? It’s the sanctuary established by the Progenitor and the First Sajejang by the lakeside after the Judgment! I’ve never been there myself, but…’
‘Judgment? Sanctuary? What are those?’
‘Ehhh…?? Uh, well, a sanctuary is a resting place for the Progenitor managed by the Sajejang, and the Judgment… Uh… a long, long time ago, when the enraged Progenitor unleashed a great roar on humans, the humans who used to be, well, they started to become biped beasts from then on… Uh… you know…’
Preee…
It had already been hard to understand even before.
Now, it was entirely impossible for the small snake to grasp any of it.
‘So, the biped beasts used to be humans…?’
Preeek.
No matter what this meant, and therefore what a lever was… while doing so…
The small snake idly listened to the explanation and kept crawling forward.
How much time had passed?
Just as the small snake faced the next wall, the other side, realizing it wasn’t listening, stopped the explanation.
‘… Wow, ang! Why are you asking me about this?! I’ve never been to the city either! It’s not like a school inspection, so if you’ve met the Progenitor, just ask them!’
That was exactly right.
Having heard this message, the small snake smacked the ground with its tail.
Of course.
Since the Progenitor knows everything, it could have just asked them later.
The small snake expressed heartfelt gratitude.
‘Correct. Genius? The best!’
‘Yaaahh! And after having me explain it for a few minutes… You little rascal!!!’
For some reason, the other side got angry upon hearing the thank you.
Why would the other side be mad despite being called the best?
The small snake stuck out its lower lip.
‘Why the anger? Is something wrong with the mind?’
‘^&%$%$#!!!’
Now ignoring the indecipherable mass of intent, the small snake stared upward at the wall.
A wall completely blocked, with no holes to escape through.
The small snake could sense it.
If it could get over this wall, the telepathic messages were just right there.
Perhaps there would also be a door here, it thought.
As it looked around, the small snake indeed spotted a place that seemed like it could be pressed down with a paw to open.
‘Discovery.’
Hopp.
Thud.
Crash.
A flawless three-step process.
But the results were far from ideal.
The door remained stubbornly closed.
The small snake, surprised at this unexpected outcome, stared with wide eyes.
‘???’
‘… Again, what’s wrong?’
‘Door. Activation. Failure. Why?’
The anxious small snake.
However, the other side calmly transmitted a message, as if it was something that could happen.
‘Maybe it’s just locked?’
‘Locked? Why? And how to resolve?’
‘Just try going around it a bit. Anyway, everything has collapsed around here, and the holes are wide open, so whichever way you come, the paths must connect.’
‘Verification.’
Any way should work.
With this surprisingly simple solution, the small snake’s scales, which had been standing on edge from anxiety, relaxed back down.
The small snake leisurely leapt toward the other doors.
Upon finding an opening door, the small snake entered.
A place lined with invisible prisons.
The layout here was similar to where the small snake had been earlier.
However, unlike before, the small snake didn’t feel terrified.
— Whoosh.
Thanks to the warm comfort under the chin from its bead-like object…
And because the invisible prisons were just ‘prisons’ with no beasts inside!
With no beasts in sight, just their presence would normally cause one to shrink back, but the small snake felt much more relaxed.
‘Prisons. Empty. No beasts.’
The small snake moved toward the telepathic messages with a chirp-chirp smile.
‘What? Why none? The biped beasts wouldn’t have released them…? Anyway, what’s the situation with the prisons?’
The other side responded with a tone of curiosity, asking for an explanation, but the small snake had nothing particular to add.
It was just a feeling it had sensed about the lack of beasts within the prisons.
As to how they had come to this state…
The transparent prisons had melted and turned opaque, making it impossible to peer inside and see.
That was all the small snake could express.
‘Prisons. Melted. Unclear.’
‘Melted? What do you mean…? By the way, isn’t there a red lever nearby?’
‘Lever? Unknown. Red. Familiar.’
The small snake didn’t know what a lever was, but it was tired of its counterpart repeatedly bringing up levers.
However, it could move past this.
The small snake didn’t know what a lever was but knew what red meant.
It looked around.
Here, red must mean…
That rod half-broken and stuck on the ground over there, surely.
The message was conveyed as much.
‘Red. Lever. Broken.’
‘Eh, as I understand it, that lever must be the ultimate lock when the biped beasts are absent. By any chance, are you strong? Did the Progenitor teach you any breath attacks or something..?’
The small snake made a preep? sound.
Even without understanding the meaning of “breath,” the concept was clear enough, but that made the telepathic message feel more random.
‘Negative.’
‘With neither the biped beasts nor the lever, if I were you, I wouldn’t just stay put. So, you should, uh… flee?’
‘Meaning? What?’
The small snake felt a eerie chill and looked behind.
There was nothing there.
Preep?
Instead, there it was in front.
— Tik-tik.
A leggy bird beast walking on branch-like limbs approached.
Its eyes were murky and its beak sharp.
The small snake had seen something that closely resembled this beast before.
A wicked bird beast that ate one of its siblings and was then killed by the mother.
However, the difference was…
“Kuwaak.”
The bird beast in front of the small snake had purple feathers.
As the bird beast looked at the small snake and drooled, smoke started rising from the ground.
Preee…?
— Whoosh.
The bead heated up the lower jaw, and the situation became clear to the small snake.
There was only one course of action.
The small snake leapt and ran away.
“Kuwaak!”
Slipping through the rock crevice, the small snake narrowly escaped.
The poison bird melted the rocks and pursued the small snake from behind.
‘Help! Help!’
Preep!!
The party sending the telepathic messages was now really close.
A strangely shaped figure.
‘Wow… Now I see… But why are you dragging that thing along?!’
But there was no time to take a closer look.
Because if it didn’t make it to the Progenitor’s call, it couldn’t die meaninglessly.
With every ounce of strength, the small snake pressed its body forward and bent hard, then shot forward with a swoosh.
— Chuck.
The red lever dropped.
