Shades of the New World

Chapter 207: To be worthy

After a half-hour walk deep into the underground, the group finally appeared inside a big open space, where the Giant Serpent was lying on a pile of various metals. It briefly glanced at Arza and some of the pink blobs around gathered together to form a floating human torso. The head only had a mouth and a bit of its chest, while the rest of its body was missing.

"Who knew that a random human I spared in the past would actually bring me back a host candidate?" the pink human torso spoke, facing Ssatsko.

Arza knew that it was the serpent talking, as he could feel how this voice, although much more bearable this time. But one thing that was different was the way it spoke, which was much gentler compared to the serpent's raw thoughts.

"I'm glad to be of service," Ssatsko replied, a hint of reverence in his voice. 

"Take whatever you wish from my collection. I understand you humans expect rewards and benefits for your services, no?" the Beast Lord spoke through the torso.

"I don't dare," Ssatsko replied, not even glancing at the collection of metals. Arza could see some rather precious metals shining in the pile, but mostly the collection was just iron and copper.

Arza looked at Evin and saw the boy completely out of focus, staring at blank space.

'What's he doing?' Arza thought, but quickly brought his attention to the serpent.

"Do as you will. As for the red one Give the two of us a moment," the torso ordered. 

Ssatsko and Rith walked away, but noticed that Evin was completely zoned out. The two panicked a bit, seemingly debating through their eyes whether or not they should drag Evin out in the presence of the Serpent.

"Drag the black-haired boy away. Although I hate his gall to go through that in my presence, I'm in a good mood now, so I'll let it slide," the torso instructed and the two walked out of the space, with pile of pink snakes appearing to block out the path that they took.

Arza looked over at the giant Serpent looking over him with interest. A sudden feeling of excitement came over his heart, as he thought about all the stories of mages who assimilated Beast Lords inside themselves. 

'If I become one of them, maybe I can beat Evin,' a thought appeared in Arza's head.

"Are you going to fuse with me?" he then asked, unable to bear the silence.

The giant snake seemed to smile, as the torso began speaking.

"Oh, how I wish to do just that and get this thing over with but the problem is, you're going to die in the process. I don't know how these other Beast Lords assimilate themselves, but the moment the entirety of my existence enters your body, you're simply going to explode into a bloodbath. But that's not the biggest problem. We can work on getting your body ready over the years, as I slowly let you absorb my powers, gradually making you stronger and stronger."

Arza thought about it and thought that perhaps the Serpent was right. After all, just thinking about it physically, the size difference was too big. The Serpent was at least a thousand times bigger than Arza. But for this other problem Arza didn't know what it was.

"What's the biggest problem?" 

"The biggest problem is you're too vulnerable," the mouth on the torso smiled widely. Arza wasn't able to understand fully, so he let the Serpent explain further.

"You lack the dignity to stand atop others, you lack the superbia that should be natural the powerful, and you lack the poise that I require from my host. You're too lacking in pride But I feel like it's not your fault. I feel that there was a certain someone that instilled in you this feeling of inferiority. Perhaps if you've never met this person, we wouldn't be having this conversation now," the World sprite said and the serpent's eyes briefly glancing towards where Evin and the others had just left towards.

[YOU NEED TO SURPASS THAT BOY YOU LOOK UP TO SO MUCH] the serpent's jarring voice reappeared in Arza's mind.

"Ugh, why him? There are countless mages and Beasts who are stronger than me," Arza replied with a groan.

[THEY DON'T COUNT. WHO CARES IF SOME 500-YEAR-OLD MAGE IS STRONGER THAN YOU? BUT THE BOY, ON THE OTHER HAND, HE' SOMETHING THAT MATTERS TO YOU, SOMEONE YOU CARE. YOU NEED TO BEST THE BOY PERMANENTLY AND YOU CAN'T FAIL IT.] 

"Just use the World Sprites to talk!" Arza shouted back with a shudder, trying to calm himself down.

The smile on the pink torso widened and it mockingly asked.

"Why are you so against this? Don't you always wish to beat the boy in a fight?"

"The way you speak of it there's something sinister about it," Arza said with a pant.

"You think I want you to kill him? Hehe, that's certainly an idea. But unfortunately for you, that would achieve the opposite of what we want. After all, it's not about him, it's about you," the weirdly made World Sprite said.

Hearing the explanation, Arza calmed down a bit. 

"So I just have to beat Evin and we can start assimilating?" he asked unsurely.

"Basically, yes. But the sooner the better. If you take too long, you might end up unworthy. Right now, you're almost perfect, except for the matter of your inferiority."

"But how? Evin's becoming stronger and stronger by the days, and I'm here stuck trying to make my single World act like all the Worlds," Arza let out.

The smile on the Serpent disappeared, and Arza could feel it invading his mind again.

[YOU CALL THAT WEAKLING STRONG?! SURE HE GREW BY A LOT IN THESE FEW YEARS, BUT NEVER IN MY LIFE I WOULD LET MYSELF BE THREATENED BY THAT BOY, LET ALONE THE BEAST LORD BEHIND HIM!] the thundering voice shouted.

Arza clutched his head in pain, but the barrage wasn't over yet.

[AND YOU! YOU PURSUE THE PATH OF THE ONE WORLD, BUT YOU SORELY LACK CONFIDENCE IN IT! HOW SHOULD I INTERPRET THAT? CHASING THE ONE WORLD MEANS ENTRUSTING EVERYTHING TO IT! YOUR EFFORTS, YOUR FOCUS AND THE ENTIRETY OF YOUR LIFE!]

"Shut up!" Arza shouted, clutching his drumming head. 

Trying to mend his beat up body, Arza wasn't able to notice what was happening around him and what the torso's mouth was muttering.

The countless snakes that slithered around the caves started to gather around Arza, excruciatingly inserting themselves into his body.