Chapter 243: Assistance.

Chapter 243: 243: Assistance.

The Green Snake Queen hesitated before proceeding to explain the situation at hand to them.

She explained that they were an ancient S-rank monster tribe that was slowly going extinct, solely because none of the cubs they produced ever survived. Every one of them died.

"...It’s like a curse. They were never able to survive through delivery. They always end up dying. And as a result, our population continued to decline without any successful offspring."

"If nothing is done, we’ll all go extinct soon..." she explained.

While they listened, Ayra hesitated in thought before saying, "I remember seeing an egg that probably belonged to your beast species... What happened to that?"

They fell silent for a moment before the Snake Queen explained, "That is the only heir we have right now. It was in danger of dying until..." She hesitated.

Ayra and the others stared at the Snake Queen and the other snake for a while.

"Did the egg survive? Is it still alive...?" Ally asked curiously.

The Snake Queen slowly nodded with a smile. "At the moment, she’s still alive... But we don’t know how long the egg will survive. She might die tonight or tomorrow. We can’t know since she hasn’t hatched yet..."

Ayra hesitated before finally asking, "The egg belongs to you...?"

She nodded. "Yes. That’s my little one."

"Why was it there, though?" Nyx inquired.

"With the curse upon us, it was hard to keep any little ones alive. They kept dying, and this led most of our females to become unable to bear any little ones..."

She continued, "But I bore my little one. Our little heir. But it has been so long, and she still hasn’t hatched."

"Our people decided to do everything they could to keep the snake alive. They tried every method to make sure of her safety, and that involved taking her to different superstitious places to help her hatch before she died like the others..."

They listened attentively as she continued.

"...But nothing happened until..." She stared up at Ayra and her people. "As soon as we felt the energy of the Blessed Female upon our egg... something happened."

They hesitated.

Ayra stared around, her eyes meeting her mates’ as she looked back at the Snake Queen. "And what was that?"

The Snake Queen continued, "After we felt your energy that day upon my heir, we felt life running within her. The egg cracked a little, and it moved... That was the greatest sign we’d seen."

"And this led us to realize the presence of you. The female who was able to soothe and heal even as an F-rank female... The Blessed Female."

Ayra guessed they already knew about her and had done their research.

She was also glad they hadn’t killed the little egg. It would have been terrible.

"So... Has the little one hatched successfully?" Lord Ash inquired.

The Snake Queen shook her head. "Not yet. But the mere presence of your pheromones was enough to give us such strong signs. So we are more than sure that you could help lift us from this curse and bring our heir into this world..."

The other male snake who had brought them there added, "And maybe also help lift our curse, since you can soothe wild beastmen who can’t be helped..."

They stared at Ayra hopefully after they finished speaking.

Ayra, on the other hand, slowly nodded with a smile. "Okay. No problem. If it’s something I can do, then I’m more than happy to help."

The Green Snake and the Queen stared at each other with relieved smiles, grateful that she had agreed to help.

Ayra nodded as she added, "I guess that explains why you never harmed any of us..."

The Queen shook her head. "We’re sorry if we scared any of you." She smiled at Ally. "Especially the little one. We were just desperate to find a solution."

The other snake explained, "And we also had to use some of our special skills to move around your tribe without being recognized."

Ayra smiled. "Sorry for hurting you that badly..."

"It’s okay! You were able to heal me, and I feel much better now! So it’s fine!" he happily answered.

Ayra looked around before saying, "Since I’m already here... I guess we should get it done. Can I meet your little one?"

The Snake Queen nodded with a smile. "Most certainly." She then signaled the other snake to lead the way.

Happily, he did as they followed him out of the tree.

---

They followed them for a while, passing through other Green Snake beasts who stared at them along the way, before they finally arrived at their destination.

Before them was a pile of green leaves clustered together. Resting on top of it was the Green Egg, which looked almost like a green bamboo stick.

They stared at it for a while. Ayra wanted to approach, but Nyx held out his hand, stopping her from moving any further.

"..." Ayra stared at him. "What’s wrong?"

Nyx hesitated before saying, "It might be dangerous... I’ll take a look around first to make sure."

He stepped forward.

"...."

Ayra and the rest were surprised as they watched Nyx step forward to survey the area first. He moved around the snake’s egg, carefully making sure there was nothing dangerous nearby that could potentially hurt Ayra.

While he did that, the other mates folded their arms, shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Wow, I didn’t know the wild cat had this side to him..." Lord Ash remarked.

"I guess the stubborn cat really is warming up to the female after all." Lord Vale smiled as he turned to Ayra. "Not only do you have strange skills, but you also have the ability to get close to people who want your death, eh?"

Ayra smiled as she folded her arms. "Maybe it’s a talent."

They continued watching as Nyx surveyed the area, making absolutely sure that everywhere was safe for her.

And at that moment, the system beeped.