novelraw Chapter 331: The Giant Nabau Serpent
Chapter 331: The Giant Nabau Serpent
The upper tributaries of the Rajang River.
Turbid, rushing waters, carrying rotten driftwood and vast amounts of silt washed down from upstream, roared and surged through this river channel, over two hundred meters wide, charging towards the distance.
The giant dipterocarp trees lining both banks, dozens of meters tall, cast massive shadows on the water's surface, making the river look like a yellow river of the underworld flowing at the bottom of a green canyon.
A raft, made from dozens of thick bamboo poles lashed together, bobbed and swayed on the water's surface.
Nadia stood at the raft's prow, forcefully poling with her bamboo pole. Her eyes were fixed intently on the churning water ahead. The reverence for ancient totems, originating from the depths of her bloodline, made her somewhat tense.
Lin Jie sat cross-legged in the center of the raft. He placed the Serene Heart flat on his knees, maintaining a vigilant posture ready to erupt into action at any moment.
"The flow rate here is off."
Julian pushed up his glasses. He held a notebook used for recording hydrological data.
"According to the map markings and the river's width, the water flow speed here shouldn't be this fast." The scholar frowned, watching the white foam rapidly receding past the raft's side. "And do you feel like the raft itself is getting... heavier?"
This wasn't an illusion.The originally shallow-draft raft, which should have been floating lightly on the water's surface at this moment, was instead sinking deep into the murky river water as if loaded with immense weight.
Turbid waves constantly slapped against the raft's edges, nearly washing over the bamboo planks beneath their feet several times.
"It's not just the raft getting heavier." Evelyn's voice carried a note of panic.
She crouched in a corner of the raft, clutching a brass compass used for surveying geomagnetic data.
The magnetic needle, which should have been pointing steadily north, was now spinning wildly, the pointer clattering against the glass faceplate with a series of "tick-tick" sounds.
"The magnetic field is chaotic." Evelyn looked up at Lin Jie. "The geomagnetic intensity here is showing disordered growth. This completely defies the laws of physics."
Lin Jie didn't speak.
His gaze passed over the wildly spinning instrument and landed on the river's surface not far from the raft.
A withered, yellow leaf floated there.
That leaf wasn't drifting downstream with the rapid current, nor was it being pulled into a whirlpool to sink.
It was suspended in mid-air.
Just hanging there quietly about ten centimeters above the water's surface, neither rising nor falling.
Immediately after.
An even more bizarre scene occurred.
A water droplet falling from the canopy above suddenly halted in mid-air just as it was about to hit the river's surface. Then, defying the law of universal gravitation, it began to slowly... rise upward.
"Hold on tight!"
Lin Jie let out a sharp shout.
The moment his voice fell.
The surging river suddenly and inexplicably stilled.
That stillness wasn't because the water flow had stopped, but because a vaster, more terrifying force had instantly suppressed the entire river's kinetic energy.
All waves were forcibly smoothed out.
The entire wide river surface transformed in that instant into an absolutely smooth, yet faintly trembling, yellow mirror.
A low-frequency buzzing sound that caused eardrums to ache painfully emanated from the unfathomably deep riverbed below.
"Bzzz—"
The sound wasn't loud, but it carried a terrifying frequency that made one's internal organs resonate.
The raft let out a groan. The tough vines used to lash the bamboo poles began to snap under this invisible pressure.
"It's coming."
Nadia's voice trembled. She threw down her bamboo pole, prostrated herself on the raft, and performed a Dayak-specific kneeling posture of absolute submission towards the river's center.
"Nabau... Master of the River... The Giant Serpent that Devours the Earth..."
As her prayer, filled with terror, echoed.
The river surface ahead suddenly boiled.
A "mountain" rose from the water.
It was a head so massive it was suffocating.
It was covered in heavy, dark green scales the size of ancient bronze shields. Each scale was overgrown with parasitic plants like seaweed and bore the marks of time.
On top of its broad, flat head grew a bright red, fleshy crest-like growth resembling a cockscomb, emitting an eerie luster under the sunlight.
Those cold, utterly emotionless yellow vertical pupils, like two massive searchlights, gazed down upon the raft from above.
But this was only the beginning.
As this head rose, its body, hidden beneath the water, finally revealed its true form.
Ten meters.
Twenty meters.
Fifty meters.
One hundred meters.
This monster's body length actually exceeded one hundred meters!
It wasn't the slender type of serpent, but a thick-bodied prehistoric behemoth.
Its massive form coiled upon the wide river surface, like a living black mountain range barring their path, completely obscuring their vision.
The Giant Nabau Serpent.
Borneo's oldest, most terrifying legend.
Also the watchdog guarding this Garden of Eden.
"My God..." Julian looked up at this creature capable of crushing any human industrial creation. The Discipline pistol in his hand now seemed so laughable and powerless. "Is this... its true form?"
This was no longer within the realm of biology.
This was a miracle.
The giant serpent didn't attack immediately.
It lowered its head, nostrils exhaling two streams of white air carrying a strong, fishy stench that caused the raft to rock violently on the water.
It was inspecting.
Inspecting these minuscule creatures who dared intrude into its domain.
Lin Jie's hand remained on his knee, but his muscles were tensed to the limit.
The White Vulture's Mark within his body was frantically sounding alarms. The sense of threat emanating from a higher-tier being made every hair on his body stand on end.
He could sense an extremely special energy contained within this giant beast's body.
That energy wasn't like the Plague Butcher's corruption and death, nor was it like the Oil Ghost's resentment and curses.
It was a purer, more fundamental force, closer to the essence of physics.
That was...
Gravity.
"ROAR—!!!"
The giant serpent suddenly opened its maw, lined with barbs and sharp teeth, and let out an earth-shattering roar.
This roar triggered a catastrophe.
As its sound spread, the gravitational field within a radius of several hundred meters centered on it instantly warped!
"Get down!" Lin Jie roared again.
But this time, it was too late.
A terrifying pressure descended from above, slamming violently onto the raft.
"CRACK!"
The raft was crushed into splinters under this force!
Several bamboo poles exploded, turning into fragments flying everywhere.
The four of them lost their footing simultaneously and fell into the water.
But this wasn't the most terrifying part.
The most terrifying was the change in the water flow.
After Lin Jie fell into the water, he discovered in horror that the surrounding river water seemed to have gained life and began moving in defiance of gravity's rules.
The originally gently flowing river water suddenly stood upright in the wake of the giant serpent's roar!
Yes.
Upright.
Tens of thousands of tons of river water, pulled by some powerful gravitational force, broke free from the riverbed's constraints and surged upward towards the sky.
They formed a thick, transparent water wall dozens of meters high, encircling the giant serpent's body!
This ring-shaped water wall swept Lin Jie and the other three, along with the raft fragments, into it, forming a sealed gravitational prison.
Within this prison, the concepts of up, down, left, and right were completely blurred.
Lin Jie felt like a stone thrown into a washing machine, his body tumbling and colliding constantly amidst the chaotic currents and gravitational fields.
One moment, he was pinned to the bottom by immense pressure, unable to move. The next, he was flung into mid-air by weightless forces.
"Cough! Cough!"
Evelyn choked on water. Amidst the chaos, she tried to grab a floating bamboo pole, but the pole seemed conscious as it slipped from her grasp and slammed heavily into her back.
"Everyone... gather together!"
Lin Jie struggled to adjust his posture in the water.
His Black Mercury trench coat played a crucial role at this moment.
That outer layer with Phase Slip properties produced a strange repulsion effect upon contact with this chaotic gravitational turbulence.
The forces trying to tear his body apart slid off the force field on the coat's surface.
Although he was still out of control, at least he wasn't being squeezed until his internal organs bled like the others.
He reached out, grabbing the collar of Nadia, who was nearest, and then used the momentum to swim towards Julian.
Swimming here was extremely difficult because the water's buoyancy and resistance were constantly changing. Sometimes you paddled backward with all your might, but your body moved backward instead.
"Use the rope!" Lin Jie shouted.
Despite her fear, Nadia's instincts as a jungle hunter made her react immediately.
She untied a long rope woven from vines from her waist and threw it to Julian and Evelyn, who were struggling in the water.
The four of them finally managed to gather together amidst the chaotic currents.
They were like four flies trapped in amber, suspended inside this massive cylinder made of water.
And that Giant Nabau Serpent coiled at the center of this cylinder.
It swam gracefully through the air, its yellow eyes watching these prey struggling desperately within its manufactured domain with amusement.
Within this domain, it was the master.
"Its ability is gravity manipulation!" Evelyn wiped water from her face and shouted. "It's changed the gravitational constant in this area!"
"I know!" Lin Jie said through gritted teeth. "I'm thinking about how to break this cage!"
He tried to raise the Serene Heart in his hand.
But firing a gun in this environment was pure gambling.
The bullet's trajectory depended entirely on the gravitational influence on the projectile.
Here, bullets might travel straight, might curve, or might even fly back and hit the shooter.
"Julian! Can you lock onto it?" Lin Jie asked.
Julian was clinging desperately to a piece of driftwood. His glasses were lost somewhere, his face pale as paper.
He raised the Discipline.
In that gun's unique rule-based vision, the clear red lines of causality had become a tangled mess.
Countless lines representing ballistic trajectories twisted and knotted in the air, unable to form an effective firing solution.
"No!" Julian shouted in despair. "The rules here are warped! The 'certain hit' property is failing! Bullets can't penetrate this gravity barrier!"
Even rule-based weapons were failing.
"ROAR—"
The giant serpent seemed to have grown tired of this cat-and-mouse game.
It let out another roar.
This time, it began to contract its domain.
That massive ring-shaped water wall began to press inward.
Terrifying water pressure mixed with gravitational acceleration, crushing towards the four like a hydraulic press.
If struck by this force, they would be instantly turned into pulp.
"We must break its control node!"
Lin Jie's gaze swept rapidly over the giant serpent's massive body.
Such a massive energy output must have a core organ sustaining it.
Not the heart.
Nor the eyes.
His gaze finally settled on the bright red fleshy crest atop the serpent's head.
That crest was emitting an eerie red light in sync with the fluctuations of the surrounding gravitational field, like a high-speed signal transmitter.
"Its weak point is that crest!"
Lin Jie made the judgment.
But it was useless.
Because that crest was located on the serpent's head a hundred meters in the air, and they couldn't even stand steady now, let alone attack the heavily-scaled-protected core.
Someone had to create an opportunity.
Someone had to disrupt its rhythm.
Lin Jie glanced at his teammates.
Nadia was nearly paralyzed with fear, clutching her knuckles tightly in prayer.
Julian, without his glasses and rule assistance, was practically blind.
Only Evelyn.
Though also afraid, she still held the weapon that might create a miracle in this desperate situation.
"Evelyn!"
Lin Jie grabbed her shoulder, his gaze sharp.
"Your glove! Maximum power!"
"What?" Evelyn was stunned. "But discharging electricity in water will electrocute us all!"
"The water here isn't conductive!" Lin Jie roared. "This isn't ordinary water! It's gravitational fluid! Now!"
He was gambling completely.
Betting that in this gravity-warped space, the conduction of electric charge would also change.
Betting that the giant beast, while capable of controlling gravity, lacked sufficient resistance to an energy form like electric current.
Evelyn looked at the madness in Lin Jie's eyes and gritted her teeth.
She suddenly raised her right hand.
The miniature Tesla coil on the back of her hand instantly lit up with a blinding blue light. The charge within the Leyden Jar was released all at once.
"Break!"
She slammed her gloved palm towards the approaching water wall.
"Zzz—BOOM!!!"
A massive, thick bolt of blue-white lightning erupted within the gravitational prison.
Lin Jie's gamble paid off.
In this environment of extreme gravitational distortion, the molecular structure of the water had changed.
The electric current didn't disperse and conduct as it would in ordinary water. Instead, it was confined by the strong magnetic field into a beam of high-energy particles.
This particle beam, like a lightsaber, followed the curvature of the water wall and lashed viciously against the giant serpent at the circle's center!
"SCREECH—!!!"
The giant serpent let out a pained shriek.
The intense electric current pierced its scale defenses, directly affecting its nervous system.
Its massive body convulsed violently. The perfectly controlled gravitational field experienced a momentary disruption.
And in that moment.
The seemingly indestructible water wall developed a crack.
The weightless group felt their bodies grow heavy—normal gravity attempting to reassert itself.
"Now!"
Lin Jie released his grip on his teammates.
Using the reactive force generated during the gravitational field's disturbance, he shot forward like a black cannonball towards the convulsing giant serpent!
Black Mercury, surface friction reduced to zero.
He stepped on water droplets and wooden fragments suspended in mid-air, tracing a series of Z-shaped zigzags in the air that defied physical laws.
He was charging.
Though paralyzed by the electric shock, the giant serpent's reaction was still astonishingly fast.
Seeing this minuscule insect dare to attack, a flash of fury passed through its vertical pupils.
It violently swung its tail.
That tail, thick as a train carriage, swept across with overwhelming, mountain-toppling force.
Lin Jie, with nothing to push against in mid-air, was surely doomed.
But at the moment just before being struck by the tail, a cold smile curled at the corner of Lin Jie's mouth.
He suddenly performed an emergency stop in mid-air.
Through the disturbance to space caused by Phase Slip in an extremely short time, he could leave behind an incredibly realistic visual afterimage with a sense of physical solidity on the retina.
"BOOM!"
The giant serpent's tail swept viciously through that "Lin Jie."
But the real Lin Jie, using the wind pressure generated by that sweep, had floated like a black feather onto the giant serpent's back.
His tactical boots landed on the slippery scales.
This was the serpent's blind spot.
Lin Jie didn't hesitate for a second. Using hands and feet, he sprinted rapidly across the back of the wildly thrashing giant beast.
He had only one target.
That red fleshy crest.
That crown controlling all gravity.
"Come... down!"
Lin Jie roared, leaping high into the air from a point ten meters from the serpent's head.
He drew the Silencer in mid-air.
Simultaneously.
The giant serpent also sensed the threat above its head.
It raised its head. The fleshy crest once again emitted a dazzling red light.
A terrifying gravity wave pressed down directly onto Lin Jie in mid-air!
It was a terrifying pressure ten times Earth's gravity, enough to crush a person's bones.
Lin Jie felt as if a mountain had been placed on his back. His descent speed increased tenfold.
If he fell like this, he'd be crushed into paste by gravity before even touching the crest.
But at this moment.
In his mental world, the Mental Staircase was opened to its limit.
He calmly calculated the frequency and intervals of the gravity wave.
Then.
He performed an action in mid-air that an ordinary person could absolutely not achieve.
He spread open the hem of his trench coat.
The vertically pressing gravity wave, upon contacting the coat's surface, was forcibly diverted and slid away in all directions by that special force field.
Lin Jie, like a bullet piercing through a balloon, drilled straight through that gravity barrier!
"THWACK!"
The gray-white blade plunged deep into the red fleshy crest!
Blood gushed wildly.
It wasn't ordinary serpent blood, but an energy fluid with a golden sheen.
The giant serpent let out a shriek that shattered the clouds.
The organ atop its head maintaining the gravitational field was destroyed.
The tens of thousands of tons of river water it had controlled in the air lost their support.
"RUMBLE—!!!"
It was a true reversal of the heavenly river.
The massive water wall collapsed, transforming into a catastrophic flood that slammed the injured giant beast, along with Lin Jie in mid-air, deep into the depths of the turbid river water.
The world plunged into darkness and chaos.
And amidst the churning sound of the water currents, the knife in Lin Jie's hand remained firmly embedded in that fleshy crest.
He knew the fight wasn't over.
This mythical monster wouldn't die from just this one blow.