Athena in Tower Defense Game! [LitRPG]

0024 – Encountering the Black Phosphorus Snake Again

As her most handy weapon, the axe naturally had its benefits. As her only growing weapon, she couldn't neglect practicing with the bow and arrow.

Athena Ravencroft planned her schedule, realizing the need to quickly improve her physical fitness. Otherwise, even with sufficient experience points, she wouldn't be able to enhance her attributes.

Rare moments of leisure inside the house left her feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

Outside, the accumulated snow was melting away, yet the temperature hadn't officially warmed up, so the two stoves in the house continued to operate as usual.

Whether that black phosphorus snake was still alive or not...

Pushing open the stone house door, Athena felt destined for labor. With a bow and arrow in hand, she intended to hunt the snake.

It would be best if it were dead, but if not, she would generously send it on its way. It was also an opportunity to explore, as she had spent these past few days either fighting monsters or on the road to do so.

The melted snow mixed with mud, making the ground soggy. Walking atop it in her leather boots, Athena felt an unprecedented sense of freedom.

Her experience of walking barefoot had left a deep impression on her. She even wondered if she would develop a habit of sleeping with shoes on in the future.

The outside air was refreshing, devoid of the smoke of gunfire. Despite the recent heavy snow, the forest remained lush, seemingly unaffected.

Returning to where she had previously cut grass, she found no familiar humanoid grass pit; all the grass had reverted to its original state overnight. The tree broken by the long-tailed bear had also reverted to its original form.

Athena continued walking into the forest.

If everything had refreshed, had the purple dream buds also refreshed? Gathering some wool would be useful; it was quite handy, though not very convenient to carry.

Thinking differently, she might crush it into juice to carry with her. When encountering enemies, she could throw it into their mouths or directly apply it to wounds, much better than sprinkling salt on wounds.

The rustling sound from the nearby woods instantly put Athena on alert. She aimed her arrow in the direction of the sound.

A rabbit darted out swiftly and was shot by Athena's arrow.

Before she could marvel at the fact that small animals had refreshed, a black python emerged, swiftly snatching the rabbit in its mouth and fleeing.

Even the arrow shot by Athena was dodged.

The speed was astonishing, truly showing the diversity of the world.

...Wasn't that the black phosphorus snake from before?

If she guessed correctly, this snake had regained its life through shedding its skin. However, one thing puzzled her: if she remembered correctly, its strength seemed to be more than 2 points before. Did its strength decrease after evolution?

Faster than a rabbit. However, it was a significant threat that had to be eliminated. Athena decided to pursue it, not out of arrogance, but because her current attributes indeed overwhelmed the black phosphorus snake.

It ran fast, but she wasn't slow either.

Following the traces along the grass, Athena quickly found the snake, which was busy devouring the rabbit she had hunted.

Seeing her, it immediately stopped eating, even regurgitating the half-swallowed rabbit. It curled up, ready to strike at any moment.

Standing at a safe distance, Athena raised her hand and shot an arrow, successfully hitting the snake's tail.

It let out a painful hiss, gathering strength, then, before Athena could shoot another arrow, it darted away at an incredible speed.

Choosing to flee again, Athena swiftly pursued. While chasing, she didn't forget to shoot arrows, although many missed due to the snake's speed, two still hit its body.

The black phosphorus snake seemed to realize it couldn't escape. It changed direction again, attempting to return to where it had just been eating the rabbit.

Athena didn't know what it was planning, but she wouldn't let it pass. As the distance closed, she switched from the bow and arrow to the axe.

The black phosphorus snake charged, and Athena swung her axe at its long body.

To her surprise, the snake didn't dodge or evade, charging straight ahead. Athena successfully chopped off its tail.

Blood gushed from the wound, and the severed tail wriggled on the ground. But it had already escaped, and Athena didn't have time to deal with the remaining tail; she continued chasing.

To her surprise, the snake ran even faster without its tail.

Finally, they returned to where she had caught the rabbit. The snake darted into a hole, and Athena narrowly missed it with an arrow.

As the saying goes, "The cunning rabbit has three burrows," but who knows who will end up benefiting from whom.

Athena stood at the entrance of the rabbit hole, feeling troubled. It was obvious that she couldn't go in. Flooding it with water was impossible, as her own water supply wasn't sufficient. Smoking it out wasn't feasible either; smoking would take time, and darkness was approaching soon.

Standing at the entrance, Athena's expression was blank. She had been played by a snake.

Returning to her small stone house with a heavy heart, the thorny vines on the low stone wall seemed to sense their owner's bad mood and hastily bloomed with flowers.

Surprised, Athena casually said, "If only they were red."

Unexpectedly, the flowers actually started changing color, turning red.

She stood still, pondering for a moment. Then, she spoke again, "If only they were blue." As expected, the flowers hurriedly changed to blue.

Clearing her throat, Athena looked up at the sky and sighed, "It's been so long since I've seen a rainbow. If only there were flowers in rainbow colors, how wonderful that would be."

The flowers began changing colors again, but no matter what, they couldn't turn into rainbow colors.

"Hahahahaha." It was Athena's laughter.

The flowers, which had been changing colors, stopped abruptly. They all turned in a strange direction, facing Athena.

If it were anyone else, they would have been too scared to speak.

Seeing so many flowers looking at her, Athena adjusted her expression and said, "If I were to say that I didn't know you could change colors and it wasn't intentional, would you believe me?"

The once brightly colored flowers closed their petals, turning into small buds and quietly resting on the vines.

Well, they were angry.

But in the beginning, she had just spoken with a probing intent; who would have known these fellows actually had consciousness? It couldn't be considered deceiving them, could it?

"Thanks, I feel much better now."

The flower buds turned away from her in another direction.

Shaking her head, Athena walked into the courtyard.