*Gasp*
I awake with the sound of heavy doors opening followed by cheers and lively music, yet when I open my eyes, I Immediately have to close them again because of how sluggish and tired I'm feeling. However, I persevere and finally open my heavy eyelids, and when I do I find myself in a luxurious looking room of what seems to be a palace hall. I seem to be laying back on a comfortable white sofa and when I look down, I'm wearing expensive purple clothing and I seem to be studded in jewelry and expensive accessories.
"Cade, what are you doing in here all by yourself? Your coronation is today, did you forget?" comes a heavenly voice, that when I look up matches perfectly with the heavenly beauty in front of me.
"Ugh…hmm?" I drawl out, looking at the beautiful pink haired woman with curly eyebrows that looks remarkably like Vinsmoke Reiju.
"C'mon already, move it, the rest of the girls are waiting for you," this beauty says as she takes a firm grip of my arm and surprisingly pulls me to my feet with a slight tug, followed by easily pulling me along.
That's when I start to remember where I actually am! That's right this is the day I become the king of one of my favorite territories and the future epicenter of my empire, and the woman holding my arm really is Vinsmoke Reiju, one of my lovers.
"Alright, sorry sorry I was just taking a quick nap," I say in defense, "yeah right you lazy man! We all know how you are!" she replies back with a smile as she pulls me outside.
The sun blears down on me as we step outside, but I simply ignore it to stare at the wonderous sight a few feet away where a few of my beautiful lovers are dressed in beautiful and exquisite dresses.
I immediately zero in on my first wife, Porche-chan who is at this very moment dressed in a frilly but beautiful red dress that emphasizes her magnificent assets.
"Cade-kun, about time, it's about to begin, you did remember to make a speech beforehand right?" she asks as she nears me and dusts me off.
"Hmm? Not really… I don't need it anyways, no one will be paying attention to a silly speech when they can catch a glimpse of all of you," I playfully reply before kissing her cheek, once again excusing my laziness with flattery.
"Aah, don't bother Cade-kun with such trivialities Porche! This kingdom should be honored to have Cade-kun as their new king!" comes the ever-excited voice of my most beautiful lover, Boa Hancock, who has been with me for a few months now.
She approaches with two of my other lovers in toe, the ever-youthful Lily and the milf like Viola, who are respectively dressed in tight yellow and white dresses which allows for their large assets to bounce erotically every step they take, creating a very enticing scene. The three of them quickly approach me and deeply kiss me in greeting.
In response I kiss them back and generously grab a handful of their meaty behinds, groping them over their sexy dresses and making them moan slightly.
"Aah, you naughty boy, wait for the afterparty, then you can do whatever you like," Viola saucily says as she slaps away my wandering hand and winks, but not before I release some slow energy from my hand, leaving an imprint of my hand on her ass cheek that will be visible for a few minutes.
"Waah! Cade ignore the party-pooper! Let's ditch this tedious event and go have some fun instead!" cuts in Lily as she grows slightly taller and pushes her covered mounds against my chest.
"Ara ara, are you trying to sabotage Cade's achievements little miss troublemaker?" cuts in the voice of the approaching Robin-chan as a slender arm manifests on Lily's shoulder and pulls on her ear.
"Owowow, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!" Lily apologizes while dramatically tearing up turning to the approaching Robin who is dressed in a beautifully decorated black yukata that reveals her deep cleavage.
"Hmph, well unfortunately as a queen It pains me to say that Viola and Robin have a point, Cade-kun, let's get this over with so we can get to more important things~, like being together with Cade-kun~!" comes the voice of Hancock and she once again begins to squirm and fantasize with pink hearts in her eyes by the end of her sentence.
I nod and chuckle seeing this and walk towards Porche-chan, link our arms together, and move towards the edge of the futuristic looking emerald platform on the floor that as soon as we all step on it, automatically disconnects and floats upwards until we are high up in the air, looking down at the large cheering crowd below…
/
*Crash* *Boom*
"You mean they still attacked even after my warning!" I rage into the scared looking den-den mushi that looks remarkably like me as I flip over the heavy Adams wood table that cracks the marble floor as it lands.
"Yes sir! There were hundreds of casualties on our side! What should we do now sir?!" comes the masculine voice from the other side.
"… I warned them, and they didn't listen, prepare the troops for a massacre!" I ominously say as I hang up the call and heavily sit back down onto my chair.
"You realize you just signed the deaths of thousands of innocents right Cade?" a feminine voice suddenly speaks out from the shadows of the room.
I look towards the voice, which reveals itself to be Kalifa and nod heavily and reply with a dejected tone, "There's simply no other way Kalifa, if we want to remove a cancer, we have to irradicate every single infected cell first."
After that I heavily shut my eyes and imagine the atrocity I just ordered to take place, a single teardrop escaping my closed eyelids as I do.
/
*Waaah* *Waaah*
I look at the small moving bundle in my arms and brokenly utter, "Forgive me my friend for what I'm about to commit, since I know I will never be able to," before plunging a long dagger into the little bundle, ending the cries, and plunging the whole room into a heart wrenching silence.
I immediately lay the still bundle on the floor and sit before it with dead eyes, 'How can I ever forgive myself for such a thing' I think as I stare at the small bleeding bundle that opens slightly to reveal the little head of a newborn. Knowing that I must get through this, one way or another if I want to succeed.
/
*Cough* *Cough*
"What was that?! What just happened?!" I ask around as I open my eyes and look around for clues on whatever the heck just happened, not finding anything other than the dark passageway that leads deeper into the underground temple and where Porche-chan is being held hostage.
"What was what, Cade? You just stood there for a few seconds, that's all…what happened?" I can hear Carina's startled voice coming from the yellow flower in my pocket.
"Hmm… I don't know, I feel like I just experienced both my highest and lowest points… but I don't remember what they were… anyways, I've got to be extra cautious of this place from now on," I seriously state as I focus back onto the task at hand and carefully move forward, preparing myself to use Limitless at any moment.
Chapter 44
*KABOOM*
*CRACKLE*
*SLASH*
Those are the sounds of the most recent traps I've had to navigate through in order to move forward down here in this hellhole. I've had to go through everything from hallucinogens to poison gas to death spikes, it feels like I'm in a real Indiana Jones adventure here.
But what's really strange is that unlike in Indiana Jones where suddenly a wall crumbles and reveals a hidden passage, nothing crumbles in this one. Every single deadly attack seems incapable of damaging the surroundings, the material the tunnel is made out of seem to be invulnerable, not even receiving a mark as the powerful traps fire off.
I examined the material a while back to confirm it isn't sea stone, but no, it seems like regular stone, obviously it isn't, but meh, can't really do much about it anyways; I even tried firing off a meteor shot at the wall earlier, but nothing, not even a scratch, truly peculiar.
However, this isn't the only peculiar thing down here, another strange thing is that the traps I mentioned aren't your everyday traps, no, they are actually something I recognize and something that should not be down here.
They are sky island Dials.
That's right, the traps in this underground passage in a random island in West Blue are none other than Dials found on islands floating in the sky…
Yeah, I don't get it either.
Anyways, back to the point, the traps that went off not long ago appear to be some sort of explosion dial, kind of like the impact dial, but stronger, as well as a thunder dial and lastly an overpowered version of the axe dial.
And these are just the most recent traps that I've tripped, I've had to go through hundreds of these things.
Thankfully I learned my lesson the first time and began paying close attention and using Ice shields when I do inevitably trip on one, I aint no expert in trapmaking.
I am using a lot of stamina and energy having to remake them for every trap, but that's a price I need to pay and one that's lowering each time I improve it; also taking small breaks in what I believe to be safe points of the tunnel.
And that's what I'm currently doing, recharging my energy as I sit down to inspect another set of symbols on the walls.
I've been trying to decipher what it means, but I couldn't really get too much of anything, other than a few images depicting sky islands as well as sea kings and the calm belt; also, snakes, a lot of snakes.
Overall, this means nothing to me, and the few writings I have seen I can no longer understand the words of, seeming that whatever let me understand the warning no longer applies to the inner sections.
"Cade! Can you hear me? I've been calling you for a while now!" comes Carinas annoyed voice through the flower in my pocket.
"Sorry sorry, just walked through another trap, so what's up?" I ask her.
"Yeah, well I need to warn you that I'm seeing strange signs from the snakes in the jungle, they all seemed to become much more vicious and bold out of the blue." She replies back.
Hearing this I frown slightly, "Hmm… it might be something related to me and this passage or it can simply be something natural for this island, after all not much is known about the island and its nighttime right about now, the best time for snakes to hunt." I respond back.
"Right…the thing that worries me the most is that actually the blood snakes seem to be migrating on mass in your direction, as in…they will very quickly catch up to you…" Carina hesitantly states.
"WHAT! WHAT THE HECK! This is definitely not natural! Fuck okay! I think I'm gonna discover a new room down here any second now, I'm hearing loud echoes not far away from me, so that should provide me with a place to hide and see what the heck is happening." I hastily reply.
With this I decide to use Limitless and begin speed running my way to wherever the source of the echoes is, and after a few minutes, and traps, later I'm greeted by an amazing sight, a humongous cavern that seems to be the size and height of multiple football fields combined covers the area for miles on end.
And within this cavern the floors seem to be made of beautifully spiraling obsidian flooring and the walls seemed to be covered in strange protrusion, that with a closer look I quickly identify as millions of dials, I sigh seeing this, something strange is definitely going on down here.
Anyways I once again try my luck and pull on some of the closest dials, but no luck, they all seem to be glued to the hard wall, not even moving in the slightest with my hardest tugs, no easy dials for me, I guess…
Anyways, I don't have time to marvel at the sight, I quickly begin to run around the humongous, empty room, trying to find a ledge or something that I can hide in, and just as I was second guessing my choice, I get a lucky break and find what seems to be a long crusty rope hanging down from the high ceiling.
Seeing this I quickly run up to it and begin to climb up it with all the speed I could muster; and not a few seconds after I leave the ground, I begin to hear the overbearing sound of hissing and what seems to be extremely powerful cannon shots, or more accurately what I know to be, a bunch of gunshot sounds firing off together. And this racket is coming from where I came from, meaning that the tiny snakes that move at the speed of sound have just about caught up with me.
Thankfully by that point I've reached what seems to be a hollowed out giant stalactite that resides high up on the ceiling.
Providing me with a room sized space inside of the large natural formation, and more importantly, a viewing platform on where I can spectate what the heck is happening with all these Blood Snakes.
I closely pay attention as thousands and then millions of tiny Blood Snakes flood into the room through the entrance, like a red tsunami.
I blanch at this; I would not want to be stuck down there with all those snakes.
However, my attention is immediately caught as the millions of blood snakes proceed to do something very strange, they proceed to climb the walls and congregate wherever the dials are, covering each one with a few hundred snakes each at least.
Seeing this I scrunch up my nose and become even further intrigued, 'What the heck are they doing? Covering the dials? What for?'
And as if they world had heard me, suddenly the entirety of the cavern seems to begin shaking in what seems to be the world's worst earthquake, stopping only after a few minutes.
And when I finally think that it was over, something even stranger happens.
The black crystal-like floor, that spans the entirety of the massive cavern, begins to twist and convulse all of the sudden, rising falling as if the ocean invaded the place, followed by inflating up at a heart-rending pace.
Forming what seems to be torrents of black liquid goo, and then compressing to form a hard cylindrical shape.
And after a whole minute of this happening, finally something comes out of this strange happening.
And that is a…. snake! A humongous black snake with horns covering its head like a crown!
'Holy shit! Was the floor a fucking snake all along? What the fuck! Is this a Sea king or something!?Fuck! what is that bitch redhead up to! Why the fuck is she here with this giant ass snake!' I think to myself while holding my breath, not wanting to make a sound in the presence of this god like beast.
It spans the length of miles and seems to cover the entirety of the ginormous cavern with its body…and that's curled up!
Its large body is even rubbing off on and shaking the large stalactite, making the large structure now seem very unstable, and due to its closeness, it allows me to closely inspect its black obsidian like scales that are each the size of an apartment complex.
Thankfully however its ginormous body doesn't cover up the entirety of the opening, allowing me to peek at what is happening outside, and what I see as I peek outside is something out of my worst nightmares, something that I wouldn't have ever wanted to see.
A humongous black serpentine head, covered in sharp thorns the size of a ship, and with pitch black eyes that resemble the dark abyss, motionlessly staring right at me.
Chapter 45
A humongous black serpentine head, covered in sharp thorns the size of a ship, and with pitch black eyes that resemble the dark abyss, motionlessly staring right at me.
"Huuh" I catch my breath as I forget to breath or move out of pure unadulterated fear.
My entire body freezes, my heart skips a beat, hell, I think I even shat myself due to how much fear I'm currently feeling.
However, just as I think I'm about to have a heart attack I hear a loud reverberating voice in my head, while the huge snake head moves closer to me.
'Μικρή θνητή..HSS.. Αναρωτιέμαι γιατί ya ήρθε ere' it speaks loudly in my head.
'Αναρωτιέμαι γιατί ya ήρθow..hss..MORTAL..HSSSS' continues the loud reverberating voice.
Hearing this and finally registering what was happening brings me back to my senses and I quickly jump back towards the end of the large stalactite, trying to get as far away as I can from the head, for all the good that would do me, and proceeding to cover myself in Limitless; immediately building up all of my energy for a huge compression attack.
However even as preparing to attack, I don't believe for a second that I will even be able to scratch the scales of this monster, so I do the smart thing and try to respond to the snake that seems to want to talk to me…
"Y-y-yes, h-how c-can I help y-you s-sir?" I ask while stuttering like crazy, not even minding how fearful I sound, because guess what! I'm still fucking petrified.
'HSS… εμείς WILL SEE,' it speaks in my mind once again and suddenly, all I can see is the hard ground, and that's due to my face actually being imprinted onto the ground.
I try to change this, but I can't, it seems like something is holding me to the ground, making me unable to move even a muscle in protest.
However, I fight this, there's no fucking way that I'm simply going to let whatever the snake did continue without resistance, nor am I going to die without giving it my all, not even to a giant Sea King.
"UGGHh"
"AAAH"
I scream as I push myself to the limit and past it, trying my hardest to get off the ground, just get off the ground, even an inch!
And with time and perseverance I'm doing it! I'm beginning to be able to lift myself off the ground, slowly, very slowly, but I'm fucking doing it!
By this point my hands seem to be bleeding and my forearms are covered in thick protruding veins, and I would imagine my entire body isn't any better, likely covered in veins and turning blue from the pressure.
That's how much strain I am currently in.
However, this doesn't seem to be the end of it, because just as I was about to push myself onto my knees, I am once again forced down onto the ground, hard.
*Thud*
Seeming as if gravity itself is telling me to stay down on my face and prostate myself to this ginormous serpentine creature.
Yet when this happens, my head slams onto the floor which causes my vision to gradually darken and a stream of blood to trickle down and hit the floor in front of me. It all adds up until I feel as if I'm slowly losing my grip over my consciousness and consequently my hold in the struggle as well, but I don't give up, I push past it with all of my will.
Because I have a bad feeling that if I give up and black out now…it will be the last I ever get to lay my eyes on this world again.
So, I inhumanly hold on with all of my might to simply not lose my life.
"AAAHHHH"
I scream with everything I have, trying to push myself past my limit, trying to do something! And miraculously this does something!
For a split second, I feel weightless, like I'm floating in the air and the world is under my will…until the pressure returns, and I'm once again planted face first onto the floor.
'SHHASHHASHA… YOU ARE INTERESTING MORTAL…HIISS…MEMORIES OF THE PAST…AND THE FUTURE…' the snake speaks into my head like an overbearing god.
'HISS... SURVIVING VISIONS OF YOUR LOWEST MOMENT…HSSS…SURVIVE 5% OF MY KINGS PRESENCE! SHASHASHA…INTERESTING TRAVELER!' it continues roaring in my head while laughing in its unique laugh.
I don't fully register his words either, as I'm still under the pressure that seems to be gradually increasing as time goes on, but just as I believed I couldn't hold on any longer, it finally stops, allowing me to gain clarity once again, as well as the strength that seemed to have left me.
And when I do and look up, I immediately feel like passing out again because the serpentine Sea Kings giant pitch-black eye is staring right at me, closely inspecting me.
'HSSS…GIVE ME A MOMENT' it says to me again before it suddenly turns its head away from me and towards the entrance where I can hear loud sounds coming from once again.
As I see this action I immediately wonder if I should risk offending this creature by bolting out of here and trying to get away, but just as this thought arrives, it immediately vanishes… 'F-fuck! What the fuck is that!' I internally scream to myself as I see the abomination that just walked through the only entrance and exit of this place.
*ROOAR*
*HSSS*
*CRASH*
Out of nowhere an abomination comes in through the passageway, having to squeeze through it because of its size, it's about 500 meters in length! About 2 times bigger than the Skypean Snake Nora, which while nothing compared to the black snake which seems to be miles long, still manages to look scarier and much more grotesque due to its disgusting appearance.
It looks like a giant fleshy, bleeding worm, with sacs of puss and parts of its skin peeling off the bone.
"CHILDREN…HSSS… BRING IT HERE" the giant snake commands out loud…looks like it could speak the whole time… The giant snake then proceeds to set its ginormous head on the floor and open its large maw as wide as it can go, making it take a 90-degree angle.
And just as it commanded, suddenly something macabre occurs, the worm like creature, that I just noticed is actually a giant flayed snake due to noticing its giant boat sized fangs, seems to move to the command of the black snake…thrashing and hissing the whole way there.
Yet it still moves, and as I look closer, I notice something disgusting, millions upon millions of tiny red Blood Snakes seem to be inside the creature's body.
Commanding and controlling its movement through their own, forcing it to move forward…and right into the gaping maw of the Black Snake.
And once it's completely inside, the large black snake shuts its mouth with a loud *Boom* entrapping its prey whole.
*Gulp*
I gulp as I witness this… that was one of the most horrific things I've seen so far if not ever, a creature forcing another to move into its own mouth for digestion by controlling it like a meat puppet…
And just as I think it couldn't get worse… the black snakes ginormous head once again slowly turns to my direction…observing me…
/Authors Thoughts
Here's a little teaser of what could happen in the future disguised as a trial (All of it without context :D YAY). Still thinking on who should be in the Harem but these are some that I like and will likely be including. Lily = Lily Enstomach
Also If yall want to support me go to Kό-fi.cόm/Snailz. Will be creating a Patreόn soon... possibly.