Do snakes have ears?
Of course not.
A snake’s charm lies in its smooth, round head.
Having something like ears on that elegantly curved head wouldn’t look very nice.
But strictly speaking, we can’t say they ‘don’t have ears’ either.
Being born as a snake, I knew this for certain.
Though there are no ear holes, I could still hear surrounding sounds.
There must be an inner ear attached to the skull under the skin.
That’s why I could hear sounds.
And I don’t think my hearing has gotten worse compared to when I was human.
I don’t think that’s normal – it might be because I’m not an ordinary snake but a monster.
Why am I thinking about such things?
Because the ‘Dancer’ also had no ear holes.
No eyes or ears, just a bright red maw.
Still, it seemed able to hear sounds. Judging by how it reacted to movements.
But it definitely couldn’t see. That’s for certain.
So how could it move so fast?
Just by sound?
Or like how snakes detect heat through pit organs, could it be something similar?
I’m quite sharp-minded. Probably definitely am.
Through keen deduction, I reached an answer.
It has suddenly charged at us from far away before.
That was when I met the human.
Since it couldn’t possibly detect our body heat from that far, it must have heard our conversation or smelled us.
At that time, the human was soaked in blood, carrying chopped chimera meat.
Perhaps it tracked us by the smell of blood.
With this suspicion in mind, when I examined it, I confirmed it definitely had nostrils.
Not only that.
The inside of its gaping red mouth was grotesque, and like me, it kept flicking out a long tongue.
Snakes flick their tongues to gather scent molecules from the air.
If it’s the same for this creature?
The Dancer must have a highly developed sense of smell.
It was the same during battle.
Even when I stayed still without making sound, it faced my direction.
When I told this hypothesis to Pelerian.
“…Unbelievable.”
He glared at me so seriously that I wondered if I’d said something strange.
“It’s a very plausible hypothesis.”
It was the opposite. Pelerian was impressed with me.
We immediately used the chimera meat and blood we had to set a trap, and lured in the Dancer.
It must have been hungry, as it appeared right away.
Zhanil broke the ampule at the perfect moment.
Crack.
I used magic.
「Using Basic Elemental Magic: Wind lv6」
It wasn’t anything special wind.
Not even wind with blades mixed in for attacking.
Just sufficiently strong wind.
That carried the ampule’s scent and enveloped the Dancer.
“Jurerererereek!”
It vomited with a unique cry.
My prediction was correct.
It was a monster with particularly sensitive smell.
When monsters are most vulnerable.
Is exactly when they’re vomiting.
Puk!
I landed an effective hit for the first time.
Sunset pierced deeply into its side.
“Jukeek!”
Blood burst from its mouth along with vomit.
Got it!
“Don’t mistake a chimera’s vitality for that of an ordinary monster!”
Pelerian was right.
Though it couldn’t stop retching, it tried to flee with the sword still stuck in it.
Must stop it.
「Surpassing Basic Elemental Magic: Earth lv7’s limit with Crown of Overcome lv2」
「Using Intermediate Elemental Magic: Earth lv1」
Earth magic elevated to intermediate level can create stone walls instead of dirt walls.
Stone materials suddenly rose from the ground, blocking the Dancer’s escape route.
Kwang!
If the Dancer had been in its normal state, it could have easily broken through such a thin rock wall.
But it couldn’t get its bearings due to the terrible smell, and thanks to that, the rock wall didn’t break.
It tried to get up, floundering on the ground.
No matter how terrible the stench, one adapts over time.
We need to finish it somehow before that happens.
Having blocked its escape route, this was the perfect situation to use hellfire.
But Zhanil hesitated.
“Huaap!”
He scattered throwing knives.
His reason was understandable.
He was trying to prevent the rising Dancer from approaching.
If he turned his back to flee and got his spine crushed, he’d die.
Pa-ba-bak!
But that attack wasn’t bad at all.
The daggers started embedding themselves in the Dancer’s body as it couldn’t get its bearings.
Those daggers were coated with poison, so they should be effective.
But that only lasted a moment.
Teong!
The Dancer charged at Zhanil with a movement close to a body slam.
Zhanil was thrown back like he’d been hit by a wild boar.
Behind me, that is.
And, the wind was still blowing from back to front.
The scent molecules evaporating from the ampule Zhanil broke were carried along.
“Sauk!”
I accidentally inhaled.
By the way, snakes also have a good sense of smell.
“Saueeeek!”
“Jurerererereek!”
The Dancer and I started retching together.
What a truly horrible smell.
Could it be like socks unwashed for a week stuffed with fermented tofu and fish sauce, then aged for three days in a warm electric blanket?
But I had one ally without a nose by my side.
Twitch…
Isil.
Somehow, even Isil the plant seemed troubled by the smell, but.
At least it could still breathe fire.
Hellfire spewed forth.
Whoosh!
The corridor wasn’t wide, and the wall was blocked.
With nowhere to escape, no matter how agile the Dancer was, it had to be engulfed in hellfire.
When wrapped in extremely hot flames, one gets burned instantly and the body shrivels.
Once the muscles are cooked like that, it’s over.
But the Dancer had quite high heat resistance and.
It also had the Elastic Burst skill.
It must have been just desperation.
It kicked the ground with all its might and crashed into the blocked wall.
Teong!
The magically created stone wall broke.
However, the hellfire still managed to consume two of the Dancer’s legs.
With two legs burning, the Dancer tried to escape while writhing.
「Using Beam lv3」
I hit its buttocks with a beam as it tried to stand.
I was actually aiming for its shin, but anyway, it fell with a thud.
“Sauuuk!”
“Leave it to me!”
Zhanil came running.
