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墨書 Inktalez
After my injury, I stretched my right arm upward for the first time with all my strength. A sharp pain coursed through my nerves, causing a wave of dizziness to wash over me. In the cold rain, sweat broke out on my skin. I felt a chilling sensation all over, a coldness that followed extreme exhaustion.
I couldn't help but let out a shout. In my hoarse voice, I reached out with my right hand and grasped a vine coiled around the tree trunk. The pain tortured my nerves, and each upward stretch of my right arm felt like a form of torture. I continued to scream as I climbed, gradually catching up to Buasong.
The Banyan Tree was towering. In the dim light, I saw the Lao People ahead had already reached the crown of the tree and were moving along a horizontal branch toward the edge of the canopy. There, a neighboring tall plant extended its branches toward us. From my position, the distance between these two branches was still over five meters; I couldn't imagine how they would jump across.
I understood the Lao People's intentions; I had guessed what they were after as soon as I saw them climbing up. This Banyan Tree was tall, its crown sprawling widely. At night, it was hard to see clearly; I could only vaguely make out that it was close to the neighboring tree's crown. Now that there was light, it became apparent that things were not so optimistic. However, we had no way back; even if we couldn't jump to the neighboring tree, we had to keep climbing for at least temporary safety.
Seeing that I had regained my ability to climb independently, Buasong quickened his pace. The two Lao Mountain People were just as agile in climbing trees as they were in climbing mountains and soon left me behind. At that moment, the violent shaking below suddenly stopped—this was not good news; it meant that the giant python had shaken off the Rain Cover and was now charging toward me at high speed. Its body moved silently as it slithered.
I didn't dare look down; any stimulus at this moment would not give me an ounce of strength. My eyes were fixed on the person in front of me. I didn't know if I would survive this escape, but I knew that if the two Lao People couldn't make it across, my chances would be even slimmer. My hoarse cries continued to erupt from my mouth, forcing rainwater flowing into it aside; the immense pain compelled me to vocalize my anguish or risk collapsing under pressure. Shouting was the most cathartic way to release emotions; perhaps crying could alleviate some pain too, but I imagined my expression looked worse than tears.
The Lao Person at the front hung from the horizontal crown of the tree, his hands and feet gripping branches while he moved toward the edge of the canopy like a leaf that could be blown away at any moment in the pouring cold rain. His movements were nimble yet made my heart race with fear; he seemed on the verge of falling at any second. Below him was nothing to support him anymore; at this point, I also realized how high this Banyan Tree was—about thirty-five meters. Falling would mean plunging directly into the swampy mud below without any doubt.
The Lao Person managed to hang on and climb to the very top of the tree crown, which bent dramatically under his weight as if it might snap at any moment. My cries grew louder involuntarily; I wasn't sure if it was out of anxiety or an instinctive urge to warn him or simply a reaction to overwhelming pain causing spasms in my vocal cords. Yet in that moment, my movements noticeably quickened, like a startled rooster; his daring actions triggered an adrenaline rush within me.
I drew closer to the Lao Person, but my vision grew increasingly blurry as I approached the tree crown where branches and leaves suddenly thickened, severely obstructing my view. All I saw was him pulling something from his waist and throwing it toward the opposite tree crown. Then suddenly, I heard a sound louder than my own cries—it was Buasong's voice, yelling fiercely at me from just above.
He leaned against the trunk with both feet and one hand securing himself while raising a machete with his other hand as if he intended to split me in half. Of course, I knew his target was the giant python behind me; his action served as a crucial signal for me—it meant that the python was closing in on me without me realizing it. However, his weapon seemed inadequate against such a creature; using it against a python would be akin to courting death. Nonetheless, his warning came just in time because I still had some means to delay the python.
In my backpack were two handheld signal flares. These devices burned intensely hot and could give the python quite a surprise—though not enough to kill it, they would definitely provoke it significantly. Of course, this depended on hitting its sensitive spots; ideally burning its eyes would be best—but getting close enough for that would likely mean being right next to its mouth. Actually tossing one into its mouth wasn't a bad option either.
I couldn't secure myself against the trunk like Buasong did; after all, one of my arms was nearly incapacitated. I placed one foot firmly in a stable tree hollow while pushing off another branch with my other foot and wrapped my right arm around the trunk while reaching into my backpack with my left hand for a flare gun. The waterproof casing on these flares was reliable; however, unwrapping them now proved difficult—it was something I'd done myself for waterproofing purposes—so I could only curse myself for it now. Using even my teeth, I finally managed to tear away at least part of its outer waterproof layer when suddenly that massive python coiled around several times appeared ghost-like just two or three meters away from me.
As I approached the treetop, the light grew brighter, and for the first time, the giant python appeared clearly before my eyes. Its scales were brown, and its head was slightly flattened into an oval shape—not the thin, flat head of a venomous snake, but a skull filled with a sense of wild power. Its eyes were slightly larger than my fist, gleaming with a dark shine, resembling lifeless objects devoid of any emotion or feeling, staring at me motionlessly as if what it was gazing at was not a living creature. Its tongue, as thick as a finger, flicked in and out with a sound like the whisper of death. Its body coiled around the tree trunk in spirals, and on its slightly thinner body compared to the trunk, I noticed a broad band of red scales along its back. This reminded me of the Crimson Snake that had once surrounded me and nearly attacked.
At that moment, the python's head rose silently like a periscope, yet its posture and the coldness of its expressionless eyes showed no change; only our perspectives had shifted, and in an instant, it loomed above me. It seemed as if its body had elongated; without seeing it climb upward, its head was raised high before me, forming a powerful arc or S-shape directed at me. I couldn't help but think of the great () S; I must be losing my mind.
I expected it to pounce on me at any moment.
In that instant, the world fell silent. My own screams, Buasong's terrified cries, the sound of rain pouring down like a river, and the python's tongue flicking with a sound reminiscent of death's call—all these sounds faded from my ears. My hearing experienced a brief deafness, yet my mind was unusually clear; I had never felt so awake in my life. I calculated precisely what I needed to do next and how to seize the perfect moment—down to the second
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