So I'm a Snake, Who Cares

"Kyaaaaaah!"

A severed head is talking!

I was startled and frozen in terror.

That’s when Pelerian spoke up.

"Why are you making such a fuss when this isn’t the first time you’ve seen this! You’re being noisy."

Pelerian seemed irritated by my mental screaming.

But what does he mean it’s not the first time?

That I’ve seen such a horrific sight before.

"There was that stupid shadow elf who sold his soul to the demon."

Deshnan, even that zookeeper who was far worse than Kadam, had spoken with a severed head.

"Grrrr, betrayal..."

Still, somehow, that lion looks much more creepy.

No, how is it even alive with its head cut off?

There was nothing about this in the status window.

I focused my eyes once more.

Indeed, since the lion wasn’t dead, its status window appeared.

Its original name was definitely ’Shining Elder Lion Ambejeu lv110’.

It was quite a powerful monster.

But now...

[Crawling Elder Lion Ambejeu lv100*]

Huh, what’s this?

The name had changed.

It was definitely "Shining" something before, but the modifier changed.

That wasn’t all.

Ambejeu’s mane was growing longer.

The translucent white flowing mane was becoming stiff and long like wire.

The reason a living monster’s modifier changes.

As far as I know, there’s only one reason.

"Grrr, how long has it been since I evolved."

Evolution.

Did it just say evolution?

I cut off its head, so why evolution...

[Traits]

[Leader], [Greed], [Death Evolution*]

What is that?

A trait that hadn’t been visible until now appeared.

The letters flickered and blinked.

Perhaps it’s a trait that normally isn’t activated and only activates under special conditions.

For example, when dying.

But ’Death Evolution’?

Doesn’t that mean it evolves when it dies?

That’s completely overpowered!

"It might only be able to evolve through death."

Pelerian marveled after hearing my words.

"However, this is undoubtedly a monster with incredible research value. It’s miraculous. This is a trait I’ve never heard of before."

It was a monster that would pique the interest of Pelerian, who had researched monsters and evolution.

And I couldn’t help but be shocked.

’No way, no way...’

I hadn’t even imagined such a possibility.

’I wasn’t the most special monster in this zoo?’

I thought I was the most extraordinary monster, but...!

Who knew that old, greedy lion was so amazing.

Still, there must be no power without drawbacks or limitations.

I looked more carefully at Ambejeu’s skills.

Even though it was a named monster, it wasn’t easy, but I used all my strength to peer through.

[Skills]

[Predation lv20], [Gluttony lv20], [Nap lv20]...

There were very lazy-looking skills listed.

Honestly, there were barely any skills worth stealing with the Crown of Steal.

However, there was something I needed to look at again that I had passed over before.

[Mana Accumulation lv20], [Revival lv0]*

A skill called Mana Accumulation.

And a seemingly temporarily activated skill, Revival lv0

’Maybe it can only evolve through death,’ as Pelerian said.

There’s something else I’m curious about.

Hmm.

With a whatever attitude, I just asked.

’When was your last evolution?’

Surprisingly, the lion answered.

"Grrrr, about 20 years ago?"

"Sssak!"

Amazing.

I’ve figured out the lion’s secret.

Death Evolution is evolution through death.

And Revival is exactly what it sounds like - coming back to life.

But if that’s the case, would it keep evolving if you keep killing it?

That couldn’t be the case.

I see, it kept accumulating mana through Predation, Gluttony, and Mana Accumulation.

The evolution-capable level, or max level, was probably 110.

Even in that state, it probably kept storing mana by eating monsters.

That’s why even after evolving, its level didn’t return to 0 but is 100...

No, wait, does that mean it’s at evolution-capable level again and will evolve once more if I kill it!

I need to verify this terrifying fact quickly.

I fired magic bullets at the lion’s head repeatedly.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

"Kuhung! Stop iit!"

Despite the barrage that could shatter stone, the lion didn’t die.

"Just wait a bit. I’ll pay the price of evolution."

Oh, this won’t work.

Is being invincible during revival a standard rule?

If so, what I needed to do was clear.

「Strengthening Crown of Steal lv4 with Crown of Overcome lv2」

「Attempting to steal trait ’Death Evolution’ with Crown of Steal lv4」

Let’s try it.

「Failed」

But it failed as expected.

I didn’t give up and tried my next attempt.

「Attempting to steal skill ’Revival lv0’ with Crown of Steal lv4」

「Failed」

Complete failure.

I knew I couldn’t steal traits so that can’t be helped.

But I wanted to borrow Revival lv0.

How did this lion get such traits and skills?

That’s when something surprising happened.

The pouched rat that was dead suddenly got up.

"Ssak!"

"Khuheong!"

Both the lion and I were startled.

Weren’t you dead?!

"It was playing dead."

Ah, is that so?

I remember hearing somewhere that pouched rats are good at playing dead. Read exclusive content at empire

Well, if it had been killed by the lion, some part of its body should have been mangled, but there wasn’t a single wound.

"B-boss."

The pouched rat drifted like sliding and showed me its back.

"Qui-quick, run away!"

It looked completely terrified.

"The lion, it’s going to become a monster, hurry."

"Grrr, you little..."

I quickly climbed onto the pouched rat’s back.

And then something like a blood clot started spurting from the lion’s severed neck.

"You’re ruining everything."

That blood clot writhed and moved toward the severed head.

It was an incredibly grotesque sight.

’RuNNN-!’

"Screech!"

I rode the pouched rat and fled.

==

Madam Rila.

The goddess with a prosthetic arm of the black group (according to the rabbit).

She was at a moment where she had to make an important decision.

Before Rila were the monsters belonging to the Zoo Animals Crew, gathered closely together.

Those who couldn’t properly mix with the existing ’Black Night’ group.

The weak ones.

Or those who weren’t so black.

The gray ones.

They were all watching Rila’s lips.

"We’ll stay in the rear."

When her boss was swept away by the monster wave in the great forest.

It was Madam Rila who led the group that was about to scatter.

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