Chapter 213: Death!!! The White Snake Sage's Vigilance
At the same time, deep within Ryūchi Cave, in a profound cavern encircled by colossal stalactites, the air was even more viscous than the outer regions. Senjutsu energy, thick enough to be nearly tangible, permeated the space like a fine mist.
A massive, pure white serpent—the White Snake Sage of Ryūchi Cave, one of the three Great Sage Lands—was currently coiled upon a giant throne.
The White Snake Sage held a smoking pipe, taller than a man, in its massive maw.
Wreaths of blue smoke slowly ascended.
Fading into the darkness of the cavern ceiling.
Its amber vertical pupils, which seemed to contain endless wisdom and years, suddenly opened a tiny slit.
The White Snake Sage slightly tilted its enormous head.
As if listening intently to something.
"Heh, a... an uninvited guest has arrived..." The White Snake Sage's voice was ancient and deep, like an echo from the depths of the earth.
It gently tapped the pipe against its mouth.
The moment its voice fell silent, the mist pervading the cavern was stirred by an unseen force. Three graceful, alluring figures silently materialized before the giant throne.
They were all clad in light, beautiful ancient robes, their faces delicate and moving—one cold, one seductive, one innocent.
But their vertical snake eyes and the cold aura surrounding them were no weaker than Manda's.
This clearly indicated they were no mere humans but high-ranking members of Ryūchi Cave, the three Snake Hime capable of assuming human form: Tagitsuhime, Ichikishimahime, and Hayaakitsuhime.
(Translator's Note: These names are based on the Three Goddesses of Munakata, often associated with the three Snake Hime of Ryūchi Cave in fan lore.)
"White Snake Sage."
The one in the center, Tagitsuhime, with the coolest, most otherworldly demeanor, gave a slight bow. Her voice was slightly ethereal: "Did you summon us sisters for a command?"
The White Snake Sage slowly exhaled a thick plume of blue smoke, which strangely condensed mid-air without dissipating.
It even faintly showed a blurry image of a distant battlefield!
"Manda is engaged in battle with Orochimaru and an 'outside enemy.'"
Its voice carried a sense of all-knowing composure.
"Go and observe."
The three Snake Hime's gazes instantly converged on the smoky image.
But the image was vague and fleeting, only showing Manda's thrashing figure.
A flicker of surprise crossed the beautiful eyes of all three Snake Hime.
"If the one snake and one human are at a disadvantage..." The White Snake Sage tapped its pipe toward the slightly desperate-looking Orochimaru and the roaring Manda in the smoke image. It paused, its amber vertical pupils sweeping over the three Snake Hime: "The three of you may intervene and assist them."
At these words, a look of distinct astonishment appeared on the beautiful faces of the three Snake Hime for the first time.
Having served the White Snake Sage for countless years, they knew the transcendent aloofness of this ancient being.
Ryūchi Cave adhered to the law of the jungle. Even in internal disputes within the Sacred Land, the White Snake Sage usually remained a passive observer, as long as the foundation was not threatened.
Yet, the White Snake Sage was actively asking them to help a contractor and a notoriously short-tempered Summoning Beast fight an "outside enemy."
This was unprecedented!
Who was this "outside enemy" who could make the White Snake Sage make such a judgment, even breaking tradition to intervene?
"Is it the toads from Mount Myōboku? Or perhaps the slug from Shikkotsu Forest?" Ichikishimahime, the one on the left with a sweet smile but a hint of cunning in her eyes, couldn't help but ask.
These were the only entities she could conceive of that would have the qualifications and ability to be an "outside enemy" to Ryūchi Cave.
While the three Great Sage Lands maintained a facade of non-interference.
The hidden rivalry and vigilance never ceased.
"Neither."
The White Snake Sage slowly shook its head. The sparks in its pipe flickered with its movement. In the smoky image, a figure—shrouded in crimson magma with cold eyes—became a little clearer.
"It is a human brat named Ikeizumi Uchiha."
The White Snake Sage's voice took on an inexplicable tone: "He broke in here to execute his self-proclaimed [Absolute Justice]. Heh heh, in his fanatical eyes... the very breath of most living creatures in this Ryūchi Cave is already a 'heinous sin.' If he were to see me, he might even entertain the thought of killing me."
"What?!"
All three Snake Hime gasped simultaneously, their lovely faces filled with disbelief.
Was there truly such a crazy fool in the world of shinobi, so utterly reckless, who would dare to invade Ryūchi Cave in the name of "Justice"?!
And even intend to kill the White Snake Sage?!
BOOM!!!
A torrent of blood-red lava, like a molten tongue from the depths of hell, carrying an aura of absolute annihilation, shot past Manda's massive tail, covered in hard purple scales!
Sizzle!!!
A scalp-prickling searing sound accompanied by a thick scent of char instantly filled the air. Manda felt an inexpressible, soul-deep agony shoot through its tail.
Its proud scales, strong enough to withstand an A-rank jutsu blast.
In the face of that extreme high temperature, they were instantly melted and vaporized by the magma, like butter under a hot knife!
The end section of its enormous tail, over ten meters long, vanished without a trace the moment the lava swept past, as if erased from a pencil drawing by an eraser!
The wound was charred black, carbonized and sealed by the heat before a drop of blood could escape!
The intense pain drove Manda to the brink of insanity.
"Hiss-ANG!!! Bastard!!!"
Manda let out a heaven-shaking shriek of pain, its voice filled with berserk fury and disbelieving madness. The agony and the insult of having its tail severed plunged it into a complete frenzy.
Its massive body thrashed and slammed wildly. Every roll was like a landslide.
The tough cavern walls shattered and collapsed like tofu under its brute force, and huge boulders rained down.
The entire underground space shuddered violently.
As if it could collapse entirely at any moment!
"Orochimaru!!!"
Manda's vertical pupils were bloodshot with rage. It let out an ear-splitting roar at the tiny figure on its head. The palpable sound waves whipped Orochimaru's hair wildly.
"KILL HIM FOR ME!!!"
Standing on Manda's head, barely keeping his balance from the violent shaking, Orochimaru's face was equally grim.
Ikeizumi Uchiha's control over Lava Release and its destructive power.
It surpassed his understanding with every attack.
His golden snake eyes locked onto the magma-flowing figure below. His hands instantly blurred into a series of afterimages across his chest, moving so fast they cut the wind.
"Suiton: Suishōha (Water Release: Water Shockwave)!!!"
As the final hand sign was completed, Orochimaru violently inhaled, his chest visibly swelling. Chakra was being frantically squeezed from his body.
The water stream spewed from his mouth, like a bursting dam, charged ferociously toward Ikeizumi Uchiha's position with an air of crushing gravity.
The passing deluge compressed the very air into sonic booms!
At the same time, the enraged Manda endured the intense pain of its severed tail.
Using the terrifying momentum built up by its frantic rolling, its huge body crashed down in the same direction, like a collapsing mountain, carrying the crushing force of ten thousand tons, perfectly timing its strike with the Water Shockwave!
However, the instant the terrifying chakra-infused wave was about to swallow Ikeizumi Uchiha... and Manda's colossal, sky-obscuring shadow was about to fall over his head.
Ikeizumi Uchiha's figure vanished like a phantom, leaving only an afterimage behind.
BOOM!!!
A deafening crash mingled with the sound of the water explosion, creating a destructive symphony. Manda's huge body slammed down like a meteor into the epicenter of the Water Shockwave impact.
The wild water stream was compressed by the immense force, blasting out in all directions to form a towering wall of water dozens of meters high. The horrific impact finally exceeded the limits of the battered underground cavern.
CRACK—
RUMBLE, RUMBLE!!!
The rock pillars supporting the cavern ceiling groaned under the stress, then fractured with a crash. Countless tons of giant rock rained down like a heavenly punishment, instantly burying the area below.
"Hah... Hah..."
Standing on a relatively safe giant rock nearby, Orochimaru gasped violently, the piercing wound in his left shoulder bleeding again from the strenuous use of hand signs.
But his golden vertical pupils remained fixed on the area completely submerged by boulders and water, desperately trying to sense any movement.
"Did it work...?"
Manda's massive body violently burst out of the collapsed rubble pile, raising a massive cloud of dust. Half its head and the site of its severed tail were covered in mud and debris, making it look incredibly pathetic.
Manda's savage vertical pupils fiercely scanned the dust-shrouded ruins, searching for the figure it hated so deeply.
"Manda!"
Just then, Orochimaru suddenly shrieked, his voice filled with unprecedented urgency and alarm: "Below you!"
A fatal warning, like a bucket of ice water, was dumped over Manda's head. Its huge head snapped down, and its vertical pupils instantly constricted.
Deep beneath the seemingly calm rubble at its feet, a terrifying, scale-prickling high temperature erupted without warning!
Countless shattered stones instantly melted into a crimson liquid, as if thrown into a furnace!
And then...
ROAR—!!!
A blazing torrent of pure, destructive magma, over five meters in diameter, erupted violently from beneath Manda, like the accumulated fury of a dormant volcano, tearing the earth apart!
"Hiss!!!"
Manda let out a furious, startled shriek. Its enormous body moved with unbelievable agility born of self-preservation, twisting wildly like a startled python.
It narrowly managed to avoid the core impact of the magma torrent.
However, the peripheral ultra-high temperature of the magma torrent, enough to melt steel, still lashed out like an invisible whip of flame, savagely striking large swathes of the tough scales on Manda's underside.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—
A grating searing sound erupted. The scales on Manda's belly that touched the high-temperature zone instantly blackened and warped, even tearing the skin.
A pungent smell of burnt flesh and skin filled the air.
Even though it wasn't hit directly, the burning pain brought by this extreme heat was... no less than the pain of having its tail severed moments ago!
Manda's vertical pupils were crisscrossed with ferocious blood vessels from pain and fury.
The underlying madness and ferocity were almost spilling out!
The intense pain completely unleashed Manda's savage nature. It abruptly opened its cavernous maw, large enough to swallow a house. From the special ducts at the base of its two giant fangs, a thick, ink-like, dark green gas spewed out.
The poison gas coalesced like a living thing, instantly enveloping a radius of several hundred meters in a thick, toxic mist.
As the poisonous mist swept through, the unique, hardy moss and fungi of Ryūchi Cave, which typically thrived in the endemic poison gas, withered at a visible rate.
Even more horrifyingly, when the poisonous mist touched the hard rock, a terrifying "sizzling" sound erupted from their surfaces.
They were rapidly corroded, pitting with countless holes.
As if splashed with the most concentrated sulfuric acid.
Even Orochimaru, standing on a distant giant rock, turned pale. He clearly felt a stinging, burning sensation on his skin, and his breathing became labored.
"Damn it! Manda! You idiot!"
Orochimaru was both shocked and enraged. While quickly pulling out a specialized purple pill from his ninja pouch and swallowing it, he furiously snarled at Manda: "Didn't I tell you to warn me before using that technique? Are you trying to kill me too?"
The medicine took effect, and the corrosive numbing sensation slightly receded, though the burning on his skin remained palpable.
"Hmph! I'm risking my life to help you kill this enemy, and you're still complaining!"
Manda's massive head glared with impatience and savagery: "Talk back once more, and I'll dump you right now and let you face that magma monster yourself!"
Its patience with Orochimaru seemed to have reached its limit.
However, the instant Manda's words trailed off, a new change occurred.
Across the magma and poison gas-covered battlefield, countless thick, towering trees erupted from the ground at an unnatural speed.
They ignored the deadly poisonous gas and the scorching heat. Their roots deeply embedded themselves in Ryūchi Cave's ancient earth, and their trunks grew and swelled frantically.
In the blink of an eye, a dense, primal forest, radiating a potent aura of life, shot up from this battlefield of death.
Each tree towered a hundred meters high, their branches and leaves so dense they surpassed Manda's height even when it raised its head.
"Wha—What?!" For the first time, an expression of unbelievable astonishment appeared on Manda's bloodshot vertical pupils.
Even more shockingly, countless colorful, giant flowers, emitting a strange glow, instantly bloomed on the thick branches of these giant trees.
The petals unfurled, releasing a visible torrent of pollen.
This pollen swept toward the green poison gas Manda had released.
Hiss, hiss, hiss—
The poison gas and the pollen mutually dissolved mid-air, creating a jarring, sizzling sound like cold water poured into boiling oil.
"...Mokuton (Wood Release)?!"
An expression of extreme shock and horror appeared human-like on Manda's rough snake face.
"Orochimaru! Why didn't you tell me this information!"
Manda was roaring.
The next moment, the countless towering trees that had shot up, as if manipulated by a pair of invisible giant hands, began to groan with a horrible grinding sound.
The thick trunks and gnarled branches twisted and converged like living pythons. Until a Wood Human, several times larger than Manda, appeared before Manda and Orochimaru.
The wooden figure's head slowly lowered, and the two massive wooden spheres set in its eye sockets suddenly opened.
The gaze held no emotion, instantly locking onto Manda below and Orochimaru on the giant rock.
Manda didn't even have time to react. The Wood Human had already raised its colossal fist, formed by the intertwining of dozens of giant trees.
There was no fancy technique, only the purest, most savage force.
The fist tore through the air, emitting a terrifying shriek like a falling meteor, and slammed down toward Manda's huge head with speed exceeding visual limits!
CRASH!!!
A devastating, heart-stopping muffled roar erupted, as if the sky were collapsing. The instant Manda's tough, scaled face contacted the Wood Human's fist, it visibly buckled and deformed, like a watermelon struck by a battering ram.
Its facial scales shattered inch by inch, and blood and flesh flew everywhere!
One of its giant fangs, taller than a man, snapped off and spun away, embedding itself deep into a distant rock wall.
"Hiss-ANG—!!!"
The indescribable pain forced a high-pitched, agonizing shriek from Manda! Its voice was filled with pain, terror, and disbelief.
Under the destructive force of the wooden fist, its massive head was inevitably slammed down into the already shattered ground below. The entire snake body was carried backward by the force, plowing a terrifying, multi-meter-deep trench across the ground.
A huge cloud of dust shot into the sky like a towering tsunami.
Standing on the peak of the giant rock, Orochimaru was thrown backward by the violent shockwave from this world-shattering punch, like a falling leaf in a storm.
He tumbled awkwardly mid-air, barely managing to adjust his posture to land on another fractured boulder, a thread of blood already escaping the corner of his mouth.
And the Wood Human's assault was far from over.
The instant Manda's head was smashed into the ground, as it painfully struggled to rise...
Large clumps of viscous, crimson magma suddenly surged onto the Wood Giant's unimaginably thick right arm, near the shoulder.
Like a living thing, the magma rapidly flowed and coiled down the arm, which was formed by gnarled giant trees.
The high-temperature magma contacted the life-infused giant wood, creating a violent searing sound. The giant wood visibly blackened and carbonized at a rapid pace.
Just before the entire wooden arm was completely incinerated by the magma.
The Wood Human's right arm, now entirely engulfed in crimson magma and raging flames, violently smashed down onto Manda, who was still reeling from dizziness and intense pain!
In the periphery of Manda's bloodshot vertical pupils, the expanding, sight-filling Magma Giant Fist was reflected.
Its eyes were finally consumed by boundless terror and despair.
"NO—!!!"
RUMBLE, RUMBLE, ROAR!!!
A deafening explosion, ten times more terrifying than all previous blasts combined, shook the entire Ryūchi Cave. Blinding red light illuminated nearly every dark corner, and the violent shockwave instantly swept outwards.
The surrounding residual rock walls, giant trees, and even the pervasive smoke were utterly pulverized and blown away by the shockwave!
At the center of the Magma Giant Fist's impact, Manda's massive, unparalleled head was instantly vaporized and annihilated by the combination of extreme force and horrific high temperature!
A large section of its body connected to its neck was completely erased, leaving behind only a terrifying, bottomless pit with edges flowing with dark red lava and raging flames.
The air was thick with the scent of burning flesh and sulfur.
Manda...
IS DEAD!!!
.............
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