Chapter 4022: Snake in the Grass (Part 1)

"Instead, you flew off the handle and beat him an inch from his life. You are the one who messed everything up, yet I was punished for it!" Orpal snarled in outrage.

"When I was sentenced to exile, I could have Trion with me if you didn’t waggle your tail at Leech like the filthy dog you are. You destroyed my life and took my brother away from me, yet you got rewarded for it!"

Orpal swung Thorn around, the Davross spear swishing with enough strength to generate air blades that shredded wood and stone alike into splinters.

"That wasn’t fair, Rizel." Orpal shook his head. "It wasn’t right. We committed the same crime and should have received the same punishment. Should we not?"

A lunge of Thorn hit Bromann square in the chest. The kinetic energy alone turned the man into gore before Rizel could muster the courage to reply.

"There. I lost my father, and so did you." Orpal said with a sing-song voice. "Now, before I move on to dear Lisa here, I need to know where your little brother Lukah is. Believe me, I searched far and wide for him, but the Kingdom is big and looking for the mere son of a farmer is like trying to smell a fart in a storm."

"Dad!" Rizel cried, tears of pain and fury streaked down his face.

"Yes, I killed your dad. I think we established that already." A swing of Thorn and Lisa’s left arm flew away with a spurt of blood. "Now focus. I can kill your mother, or I can butcher her. She’s going to die anyway, but how much she has to endure is up to you."

"Mom!" Rizel tore his shirt and used what he had learned in the army to twist it into a makeshift tourniquet.

"If you keep up like this, it will take us all day." Orpal sighed, amputating Lisa’s right foot next. "Man, not making her die of shock his harder than I thought. I wish I could heal her, but I’m not wasting mana on a dead woman."

Lisa fainted after the second swing, her face becoming paler and paler as her blood formed a deep, warm pool on the floor.

"Why are you doing this?" Rizel wanted to kill Orpal, but he knew he was too weak.

Rizel wanted to cry for his father’s death, but he already had little chance of saving his mother while keeping his cool. If he broke down, he would have none.

"To make you understand how I felt all these years." Orpal replied, his voice full of hate. "Hopeless. Alone. Dead to my family. The only difference between us is that your family is literally dead."

He watched Rizel struggle to save Lisa and laughed for it. The blood loss was stopping, but not thanks to Rizel’s medical skills.

"If you hate me so much, why don’t you just kill me?"

"Because I want you to suffer as much as I did." Orpal said. "I want you to live a miserable life just like I did, knowing that it’s all your fault. Know that I didn’t attack Lutia to go after Leech. Not this time.

"I came for you and that old fossil of our village elder, Pernat. He’s already dead, which makes this all about you. Once the people of Lutia know that you are the reason so many of them died, they’ll banish you.

"Do you understand-" A colossal snake head burst through the wall, covering Orpal in dust and debris.

Knowing that despite his current appearance Orpal was a Divine Beast, the serpentine neck curled around the two humans and brought them to safety while the other six heads spat rivers of acid at him.

"How dares a mere Hydra defy me?" Orpal repelled the corrosive liquid with a simple flap of his membranous wings.

"Mostly like this." A feminine voice said, accompanied by seven tier five Spirit Spells that hit the Vurdalak one after another, blasting him far away from the dissolving remains of Rizel’s house. "Also, not a Hydra."

Dozens of stumpy but sturdy bodies covered in Adamant emerged from the Trawn Woods, each with seven heads and engulfed in a bright violet aura.

"A lot of them." Faluel hissed while using her breathing technique, Lifestream, to save Lisa’s life. "Sending a couple of goons to dimensionally seal my lair would have been a good move, if Night hadn’t used that same trick against me in the past, Poopie.

"The moment you cut the signal, alarms went off in the houses of my friends and gave them time to arrange transportation for everyone in Lutia. I’m Lith’s former mentor and the ruler of Distar, and I won’t stand you messing up with my turf!"

Orpal didn’t even try to activate Frost Soul. Each of Faluel’s spells was strong enough to blow him away, and the seven she had just conjured formed a perfect chain, the next striking right before the momentum of the previous started to weaken.

The Hydra’s opening move had pushed the Vurdalak so far back that she was already outside the area of effect of his bloodline abilities. At that moment, Frost Soul would solely affect Orpal’s spells and equipment, while the Hydras would be free to do however they wanted.

"Which will make killing you an even greater pleasure, filthy snake!" Orpal released a bolt of Life Maelstrom from Dusk’s crystal that increased his abilities tenfold. "You may have brought a few friends with you, but I have over a hundred loyal Divine Beasts with me!

"The only thing your selfless sacrifice will achieve is give me plenty of Awakened lairs to plunder."

"Who did you call a snake?" Seven silvery feminine voices roared.

The voices resembled Faluel’s, but they were also more ancient and ferocious.

A bigger Hydra, 23 meters (76’) tall and covered in a heavy suit of armor, charged at the Vurdalak with the speed of a train.

"You and everyone like you, snake." Orpal kept his human form and raised his spear, ready to impale the enemy with his superior mass and strength. "There is no place for imperfect beings like you in my w-"

A sudden bolt of silver lightning enveloped the sprinting Hydra, bringing her physical prowess and reflexes on par with the Dead King. She closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye and lashed one of her long necks at Orpal like a metal whip.

Not only was Thorn effortlessly pushed aside, leaving him completely open, but the spear and the serpentine head clanged with the unmistakable sound of clashing Davross.

"You..." Orpal finally recognized the Elder Hydra as Fyrwal, one of the four founding pillars of the Kingdom, owner of a Royal Fortress armor, and mother of Faluel.

"Me, you sick bastard!" The other six heads struck at the Vurdalak in quick succession like a jackhammer. "No one attacks my baby girl!"

Orpal was sent flying high in the sky, spinning like a top. He flapped his wings to stop his ascent before he left Lutia and was met with seven tier five Spirit Spells that hit him with the same rhythm as the heads.

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