Chapter 279: Poisonous everything.

Across the wild lands, Zyra and her team landed with a quiet thud on the damp grass at the outskirts of the Moonfall Dungeon. The place was unnaturally quiet. Too quiet. Yet, if you listened closely, a low, collective hissing vibrated through the air like a broken steam pipe.

That hissing was the surest sign that they had arrived in snake territory. That--and the greenish poisonous mist in the air, everywhere. Luckily for team, they had taken all measures to protect themselves, including pushing toxin filtrators into their nostrils. The small devices were uncomfortable, but they got the job done.

Etania gulped, clutching her gun so hard her knuckles turned white. "Divine maiden_ be honest with me. Is the entire place crawling with snakes? I mean I would hate to step on one."

"Pretty much," Zyra replied, completely unbothered. "Relax, the antidote I gave you earlier are very effective. Even if one bites your tongue, you won’t die. At most, you could lose a limb." It was meant to be a joke, but nobody laughed.

"That is not reassuring!" Etania squeaked.

Bullet patted his machine gun, chuckling darkly. "Ah, don’t sweat the little biters, Etania. We just have to worry about the giant ones that can crush our bones into soup or swallow us whole in one gulp."

Zyra blinked rapidly, thinking to herself that her joke was better than his. But then, Bullet was not joking. The man was always straight forward in his words and actions.

"Bullet, please stop talking," Etania groaned, looking ready to faint.

Elfy shook her head, "Anyone that fears snakes is on the wrong Mission. You should have gone with Orrakuns."

"Why do you keep calling my cousin that?" Bianca asked. "What does Orrakuns mean?"

Elfy shrugged like it was nothing important. "It means idiot."

Zyra paused and chuckled, even she had called Hunter Orrakuns! And she had no idea that she was calling her husband ’idiot’! However, she was certain Elfy was not telling the truth.

The rest laughed except Bianca who did not find it funny. "That is not nice Elfy."

"He calls me Eggfy! Is that nice?" Elfy retorted.

Bianca sighed and gave up.

The screen in Zyra’s head came to life. [Host, the ground you are walking on is also poisonous so warn your team. Humans are unpredictable, they may desire to taste it. I can’t believe that I have been reduced to giving such warnings.]

Got it, Zyra thought back. She too could not believe that she had been reduced to giving such warnings. She turned to the group. "By the way, don’t touch the mud or the plants. The soil is pure poison so nobody should pull a Scotty. Just keep your damn gloves on if you are going to be handsy with your surroundings."

"Great. Wonderful. I love mother fucking nature," Etania muttered under her breath.

Zyra ignored her and whispered to her system, "hey, can I harvest any poisonous roots around here for Spice’s evolution?

[Host, not every root will work. It must be at least 100 years or more.]

"Fine, just alert me when you spot one."

[I will.]

They trudged forward through the thin but crowded trees, but after a few steps, the ground grew dangerously soft. Zyra felt her boots sinking into the squelchy, venomous mud. "Stop. Use your boots to hover or glide, to avoid sinking."

As they did so, another frantic alert popped up.

[Warning host, a swarm of bright red worm snakes has been detected in your vicinity. They are hard to see with the normal human eyes. That is their strength.]

Zyra squinted at the surrounding trees. Nothing. Just leaves and branches.

"Activate Soul Sight!" Zyra commanded aloud.

Bullet blinked, looking at Bianca. "Did she just order the air to do something?"

"I’ve stopped asking questions," Bianca sighed.

Zyra’s eyes narrowed as she held up her hand, commanding the team to stop. Vibrant colors of the world drained into grayscale, revealing hundreds of tiny, bright-red worm snakes camouflaged in the canopy right above their heads. They were coiling, ready to drop like deadly rain.

"Activate X-Shield!" Zyra yelled.

[Activating....strong X- shield activated]

A glowing, golden honeycomb dome instantly expanded around the team. Six seconds later, thousands of tiny snakes slammed against the barrier, their tiny fangs clicking uselessly against the glowing hexes.

"What the fuck is this?!" Bullet barked, jumping back as a writhing mass of small venomous worms covered the outside of the dome.

Etania stared at Zyra in absolute awe. She summons invisible shields out of thin air_ She truly is the Divine Maiden! What offerings should I make to her when we return? We don’t have a temple at the shelter; we should build one.

Zyra didn’t know Etania was having a spiritual awakening; she was just annoyed by the slimy view. She waved her hand and summoned her drake. The beast popped into existence, hovering inside the dome.

"Alright buddy, shock the dome. Extra crispy," Zyra ordered.

The drake let out a proud roar and blasted a stream of blue lightning directly into the X-Shield. High-voltage electricity rippled across the honeycomb mesh. Outside, the tiny snakes instantly twitched, fried, and slid down like burnt popcorn.

It took a solid thirty minutes of continuous zapping until the sky was clear.

Just as the dome collapsed, Hunter called. A blue floating screen popped up in front of Zyra’s link band. He had been calling every twenty minutes like an overprotective mother hen.

"Zyra! Are you alright?" Hunter asked, his brows furrowed in worry. "Are you having any trouble there?"

Zyra wiped a speck of snake ash off her shoulder and deadpanned, "We just survived a rainstorm of poisonous worm-snakes. How are things on your end?"

Hunter pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. "We ran into a froshark that was sunbathing by a lake but we taught it a lesson. Sounds like we’re both having a fantastic day." He looked at her closely, checking for blood. Satisfied she was intact, his gaze softened. "Continue to stay safe. Don’t do anything reckless. I will call you again in twenty minutes."

"I make no promises. Bye!" Zyra waved and cut the call before he could lecture her.

They made it through the trees and came to a clearing. Before them was a clear pond of water. Bullet shook his water bottle, which was empty and grinned at the lake.

[Host, poisonous pond ahead, do not drink the water. I repeat, leave the water alone. And leave what is sleeping in the pond alone too.]

Zyra held her hand up.

"Is the water...?" Bullet pinched his lips when the rest looked at him with disbelief.

Elfy narrowed her gaze at him. "Do not even think about it!"