It was a sunny day, not a storm cloud nor terrorist in sight—
The perfect day for a flight... or, at least it should've been.
But the airplane's engine decided to malfunction, which in turn caused the pilot to lose complete control.
Swiftly he turned on the fasten seatbelts sign after realizing the plane was going down.
Though, as usual, no one paid it much mind.
"Ehh! Why do I have to leave Japan for Harvard? I don't even wanna go."
Complained a young man with short black hair and striking blue eyes as he pouted, sinking into his first-class seat.
"Huh? The fasten seatbelt signs are on; should I buckle up then?" He questioned before taking a look around him. "No one else is doing it, so... I guess it doesn't matter then."
Suddenly the plane began shaking violently, spiraling out of control.
One guy even went flying down the aisle.
And after that happened, no one hesitated to put their seatbelts on, not wanting to be the next incident.
"Gee! Why didn't anyone listen to the sign? What a bunch of idiots." The young man said as he buckled his own seat belt.
"Everyone, please brace for impact. We'll be performing an emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean." Repeated the pilot on the loudspeakers.
But no one really paid any attention.
The entire plane began panicking; they screamed and yelled, "We're all going to die!" at the top of their lungs as they braced for the impact.
Though the plane didn't crash or anything like that.
Instead, the plane slid across the sea, bumping against the surface of the water like skipping stones before finally coming to an abrupt stop.
"We're okay!"
A passenger shouted while jumping out of his seat with joy-filled eyes.
"I don't think I ever want to get on an airplane again."
Another passenger joked while everyone began exiting the plane.
"What the heck just happened? Is it always like this when riding a public airplane... why is everyone so chill about it?"
The young man from earlier questioned, having never ridden a public plane in his life.
"You're either insanely rich or have just never ridden a plane in your life."
A man said, giving the black-haired, blue-eyed boy a bland glare of envy.
A couple of minutes that seemed like hours passed by of everyone waiting for the rescue boat to finally pick them up.
Everyone started to lose hope when there was no signs of it showing up—
That was until a loud horn echoed across the empty ocean.
People began jumping for joy at the usually annoying sound.
And one by one they lined up to begin boarding the ship.
When it was the black-haired boy's turn, an eager young lady rushed through her actions, emitting an aura of superiority.
"Out of my way, I should've been at the front of the line. I'm way more important than any of you."
She declared, pushing everyone aside. When she bumped into the black-haired boy, he slipped and fell off the side of the bridge to the boat.
The speed of him falling from that height caused him to sink below the surface and his inability to swim made things worse.
His body sank lower and lower before anybody noticed he was drowning.
And by the time they'd noticed, he was already dead.
This entire event became international news.
A plane emergency landed in the Pacific Ocean, where only one person died.
Even the guy who flew down an aisle survived.
But the one casualty came from a man drowning, kind of ironic.
...
What happened?
Am I asleep?
What do people do to test if they're asleep again...?
Oh, that's right, they pinch themselves.
I tried to pinch myself to test if I was awake or not.
But I couldn't move my arms. Actually, I can't even feel them.
I can't feel my legs either.
I have a mouth but I cannot speak.
What's happening to me?
Is this a nightmare?
That would explain this darkness.
Well, then how do I wake up?
I can't pinch myself; I don't have arms.
I don't have legs either so I also can't kick myself.
Though I don't know how I'd do that anyways.
Wait...
I can try biting my tongue.
Well, here goes nothing.
I braced myself and bit down hard on my tongue.
I jolted at the sudden pain, falling forward on my own body weight.
I didn't fall all the way.
Instead it felt like I bumped into something soft.
A wall, maybe?
From where I crashed into it, a beam of light poked through a small hole created in the wall.
So this isn't a dream; could I have been kidnapped?
My father is immensely rich and hated by a lot of people.
So that wouldn't be too far-fetched.
Out of curiosity I decided to push forward... no, it was more like an instinct that came over me.
The force of my body pushing against the soft wall forced the hole in it to get bigger.
Until it was big enough for me to crawl out of.
My eyes were struck by the sudden transformation from darkness to light.
My vision is still a little blurry, which makes it hard to make out my surroundings.
But I could smell something overwhelmingly disgusting.
Wait, no...
It's not a scent; I taste it.
What could possibly taste this disgusting?
Slowly my vision began to clear up.
I could make out massive figures crawling around.
Wait—
Ahhh!!
Snakes!
Giant Snakes!
They're everywhere.
Are they pythons?
No, they're much larger than that; I'd say they're around 30 ft.
But I can't really tell; there are just so many of them.
I felt myself hyperventilating.
Fear is treading away at me. I couldn't move an inch.
Then I saw around me baby snakes breaking out of their eggs.
Wait, am I a snake?
No way, right?
I was kidnapped and some weirdo dumped me in here.
Why would anyone do that, though? These snakes could easily devour an adult human, no problem.
So then there's only one real answer.
I've been isekaied, and out of all things, I was reborn as a snake.
But I don't remember dying.
Then again, the protagonist doesn't always die; sometimes they get summoned or are just teleported to another world.
Wait, does that make me an isekai protagonist?
If that's the case, I should have a system as well.
Status...
[Name: Apex]
[Title(s): None]
[Alias(es): None]
[Species: Serpentine]
[Gender: Male]
[Evolutionary Path: Blue Pit Viper]
[Evolutionary Stage: Hatchling]
[Powers & Abilities]
[Blessing]
— Infinite Evolution: Apex has no limit to how far he can grow, and the more he grows, the stronger and faster he gets as well.
[Unique Skills]
— Adaptation: Apex can adapt to situations to the point of becoming immune.
[Intrinsic Skills]
— Venom Fang: Some serpentine can produce a powerful and potent venom strong enough to paralyze opponents, and if left unattended to, it can lead to death.
— Infrared Vision: Serpentine possess the ability to see heat signatures that are produced by living creatures or other sources of heat.
— Skin Shedding: Serpentine shed their skin when evolving or growing, and as such, they shed all the damage they previously took.
— Dermal Armor: Serpentine possess natural armor in the form of their scales. This armor grows stronger as they do and is naturally resistant to slashing.
— Heightened Perception: Serpentine possess the intrinsic ability to keep track of fast movements.
— Superior Smell: Serpentine have an incredible sense of smell that allows them to smell individual chemicals and discern their scent.
[Basic Skills]
— None
[Intermediate Skills]
— Appraisal
— Detection
[Rare Skills]
— None
[Legendary Skills]
— None
[Ultimate Skills]
— None
[Magic]
[Magic Attributes]
— Fire Magic
— Wind Magic
— Water Magic
— Earth Magic
— Shadow Magic
Okay, that's pretty amazing.
I guess this confirms it as well.
I've been isekaied.
And as a snake of all things.
I'm not even human anymore.
Though it could be worse, I've watched isekai where the MC gets reincarnated as a literal vending machine before.
That would be horrible...
On the upside.
My unique skill seems to be pretty strong.
I wonder just how strong, though.
Will it be like the divine general, or maybe it's more like Darwin's?
Heck, if I'm incredibly lucky, it could possibly be as strong as the hard-to-kill reptile.
Nahh!
There's no way it's the last one.
Right...?
Well, actually, based on that blessing of mine, it certainly could be.
Infinite Evolution...
Yep, I'm definitely the main character of this story.
But do I really have to be a snake?
I miss my arms and legs already.
I hope eventually, after enough evolutions, I can gain a humanoid form.
I turned my head, analyzing the cave or whatever this place was.
From an opening that seemed to lead up, I watched as three giant snakes slithered their way in.
They each had a strange bulge near their head, like they were carrying something.
Something huge.
Then suddenly they each came to an abrupt stop before a massive figure that towered over them, a serpent much larger than any of the other snakes.
Looking at the creature, my eyes unconsciously followed its long, snakelike body up.
Stopping at the chest of a human woman.
If my face could, it'd turn bright red upon gazing at the luscious chest of the woman's body.
What the?
I tilted my head up, forcing my eyes to break their focus on her bosom and lock onto her beautiful face.
What is she?
I guess this gives me the chance to test out a skill.
'Appraisal'
I thought and a system menu appeared before my eyes—
[Name: ???]
[Title(s): Viper Queen, Mother Viper]
[Alias(es): Queen, Mother]
[Species: Serpentine]
[Gender: Female]
[Evolutionary Path: Blue Pit Viper]
[Evolutionary Stage: Naga]
Mother Viper...?
Does that make her my mother as well?
Ugh—so technically I was having lewd thoughts of my own mother?
Yikes, that's so weird.
I swear I don't have some kind of incest kink.
I'm not a weirdo, I promise.
But this does confirm something: there is hope for a humanoid form, if only partially.
Well, then I guess that marks my first goal in this new world:
Get arms and legs.
Yeah!!
My journey begins now!
Get ready, world, because Apex, the otherworldly serpent, is on his way!