Shriek.

  The entire dungeon shook violently, as a blood curling shriek echoed through it. The giant serpent flung its tail at Jack and his companions, forcing the trio to disperse to avoid the attack, before the tamer leapt back and stomped his right foot onto the ground, before stabbing the Red Moon into the ground and extending his arm out towards Sallow and Araneida.

  Great Skill [War General] has been activated.

  Sallows' and Araneida's bodies shone with a bright amber orange glow, before a massive amount of air force shot from them. The two familiars let out loud battle cries, their eyes shining brightly. Jack then took in a deep breath, before picking up Red Moon again and morphing his legs into a pair of rabbits, leaping high into the air.

  “Go for it you two! However, make sure to avoid its attacks to the best of your ability!” Jack shouted, before falling down towards the serpent's head, the large beast letting out a loud, hissing shriek.

  Without saying anything back, Sallow and Araneida leapt towards the serpent – fierce fighting spirit burning in their eyes. First, Araneida attempted to freeze the beast, unleashing a powerful shriek from her ‘Ultimate Intimidation’ skill – however, the force unleashed by the skill simply brushed across the beasts body, leaving it completely unfazed by the skill, before it shrieked towards the arachnid and dashed at her.

  Before it could even move close enough to strike Araneida, Jack crashed onto its head, stomping it into the ground before lifting up Red Moon and attempting to jam it into its skull – however, the scales did not budge. He was barely even scratching it. Jack scoffed, as the serpent looked up at him, causing the tamer to quickly leap away, as the serpent attempted to fling him up into the air to attack.

  Landing back down, Jack narrowed his eyes, for a second his gaze falling onto Sallow who dashed up to the serpent's head, swinging his greatsword at the beast.

  The serpent flipped its attention to the Goblin, opening its jaws wide open, before dashing down at Sallow, attempting to swallow him whole in an instant — but the Goblin just barely managed to react at the last moment, using his greatsword to keep the jaws of the serpent open and now allowing it to bite down. “My lord…!”

  Without a response, Jack appeared in the air above the serpent – having used ‘Animal Body’ to leap above it. The tamer crashed onto the head of the serpent once more, before jamming the Red Moon into his left eye. The serpent reacted immediately, as blood spewed from its eye, forcing it to fling away from Sallow, shrieking in pain as it tried to fling Jack off of its head, roaring and shrieking before smashing its head into the wall.

  Jack leapt off of its head at the last second, leaving the Red Moon jammed into its eye, before spinning White Spiders fang and sharpening his gaze on the monster. The serpent glared at the trio with a furious gaze from its still healthy eye, before dashing at them – forcing them to leap in separate directions once more. Only this time, things turned out different.

  While mid-air, Sallow was suddenly struck by the serpent's tail, sending it flying into a column, destroying it and shaking the dungeon violently once more.

  Araneida meanwhile quickly shot a web towards the ceiling, pulling herself onto it, before skittering across it and with shining eyes, shooting down a whole flurry of silk threads, the threads ever so slightly purplish, coated in venom. Jack was smacked into the ground by the serpent's tail — the appendage having moved from Sallow over to him at lightning fast speeds – so fast, that the tamer had barely been able to even notice the attack and block it at the last second.

  Though he didn’t avoid damage, he managed to soften the impact he would endure crashing into the ground from the strike that the beast landed on him. Groaning a bit, he stood back up, before the tail of the serpent came down crashing towards him once more, forcing the tamer to quickly morph his legs into ostrich ones, and sprint out of the way, barely dodging the attack, before circling the monster.

  Looking up, he noticed the threads raining down towards the serpent by Araneida, smirking gently, before he slowed his acceleration and blocked the incoming tail strike, however struggled to push it away. The serpent glared down at him with its single eye, before it widened and a flash came from it. The tamer's eyes widened for a second, before the cloak he wore suddenly shone gently and caused Jack to quickly close his eyes and shake his head, leaping back, allowing the tail of the beast to smash into another pillar.

  Landing a bit away from the beast, a window appeared in front of Jack.

  [ NOTICE ]

  Use of [Serpents Gaze] detected.

  Resistance through ‘Red Serpents cloak’ protected you.

  [ NOTICE ]

  “So that was ‘Serpents Gaze’? Something tells me that it most likely is a petrifying thing, similar to those old stories of medusa that my master would tell me.” Jack commented in his mind, before scoffing and dashing to the side. The serpent followed Jack's movement, as Araneida's threads finally fell upon it, tangling the beast and causing it to struggle to try and break through the threads. Though its physical power was far, far greater than anything the trio had encountered so far, Araneidas silk wasn’t a weak spider web.

  It was a thread so durable and sticky, it was like an extreme version of a thin steel wire, that Jack remembered using sometimes for traps during his time as a mercenary — traps to either slice apart unsuspecting enemies or to set up traps that weren’t easily sabotaged.

  As Jack circled the serpent once more, Sallow leapt towards it from the spot he had been sent flying into, his body covered by a thick aura, his eyes shining red as he smashed his greatsword against the head of the serpent. As expected, the serpent barely sustained any damage — its scales didn’t look even scratched from that attack.

  Sallow followed his initial strike with a quick ball of fire he created, before smashing it into the serpent's head, causing it to erupt into a large sphere that completely encased the beast's head in a large, slowly spinning fiery sphere. The monster shrieked loudly, as Jack slowed his sprint and leapt onto its body, the serpent thrashing around – finally breaking out of Araneidas threads tied around its body and tossing Sallow off of its head. After the smoke of the fiery sphere cleared, the serpent looked at Sallow with pure rage in its intact eye.

  Surprisingly, the fire attack Sallow smashed into its head had managed to leave a mark, charring the scales of the beast. However the damage quickly healed. “Sallow, forget the sword! Focus on using your ‘Inferno’ skill!”

  “Very well!” Sallow stabbed his sword into the ground, before creating two more spheres of flames. The serpent tried to strike Sallow with its tail, while also flinging off Jack from its body – however, Araneida let out a loud shriek, before a large net of threads fell onto the serpent, tying it down. Then, another net followed after it, creating two layers of threads that tied it down.

  The serpent roared, as Jack flipped around and leapt onto its head once more, grabbing the Red Moon and pulling it out of the serpents eye, before - with the help of ‘Spiders Venom’, coating the shortsword in a thick layer of the venom and then jamming it into the beasts other eye, causing to shriek in pain once more, as blood and venom spewed all over the place.

  The serpent was now blind in both eyes.

  Jack leapt off of its head, leaving the Red Moon behind. “Sallow, fire off as strong of a fire attack as you can at its head!”

  “But my lord, your blade!”

  “It’s just a weapon! Do it!” Jack ordered, as he landed down, breathing a bit heavily. Slowly, exhaustion was building. Though they haven’t been fighting all that long at all, somehow, this entire fight felt far more exhausting than any other. Was it because of the immense difference in power between the three of them and the serpent? Perhaps.

  However, right now – the reason didn’t matter.

  Sallow formed a large sphere of flames, leaping into the air with it before tossing it at the serpent's head, with Araneida using her threads to restrain the head in place, preventing the beast from thrashing it around. The large sphere of flames collided with the head head on, creating a large-scale implosion, where the sphere erupted into a massive orb of flames around the serpent's body.

  The heat was so immense, the ground was charred by the flames, while Araneida skittered away from the fire as fast as she could, just to not get caught in the heat of the attack. Jack shed a sweat, smiling lightly. “This has to have done some damage.”

  And damage – there was.

  The serpent broke free from the spider's threads, a loud roar echoing as its entire body became encased in a dark blue aura. Jack, Sallow and Araneida suddenly froze up, their bodies unable to move an inch. A strong, strong bloodlust suddenly radiated around the serpent

  As the smoke of the flames cast by Sallow cleared, the serpent opened its eyes, the damage they sustained having healed, while blood still gently treaded down from its eyes. The fire sphere had left its impact, with most of the scales surrounding the head portion of its body, charred by the flames cast by Sallow.

  However, other than that, it looked completely fine.

  Jack scoffed, before forcing his body to move. “It has tough scales alright…” He commented in his mind, before looking over at Sallow. “We’re getting nowhere like this – change of plans!”

  He announced before dashing towards Sallow and then past him, gently touching him.

  Great Skill [War General] has been activated.

  As Sallow's body shone, Jack dashed back around towards the serpent, leaping up towards the serpent's head. The beast roared at the tamer, before flinging at him, overpowering him in an instant and smashing him into the ceiling above — before pulling back and using its tail, striking Jack once more, sending him flying away to the side and through several columns around, before he crashed into the wall, the White Spiders fang in his hand falling out of his grip.

  Sallow, realising Jack's idea, quickly let out a loud roar – magical energy exploding from his body. The serpent turned its attention away from Jack, as the tamer fell down, crashing into the ground. However, he wasn’t out of the game just yet, as he rose back up, his body gently trembling. “That wasn’t fun to tank.”

  Magical energy rampaged around Sallow as a familiar exo-armour covered his entire body.

  Familiar ‘Sallow’ has activated [Overlord Transformation].

  Combined with the now two ‘War General’ boosts from Jack's side, Sallow's ‘Overlord’ form had a far more powerful aura surrounding it. As the skill finished its activation process, Sallow glared down the serpent, which now looked a bit more serious, glaring down Sallow, before roaring and rising high above him.

  Then, several white magic circles appeared in the air around it, spinning lightly with a symbolic serpent head at their center. Jack laughed, picking up the White Spiders fang back up. “This thing also has magic? Talk about saving your cards..”

  Sallow looked unfazed.

  From the magic circles, white lightning shot out, rushing down towards the Grey Overlord. At first, Sallow remained in place, not moving a bit. Then, he disappeared, dashing at the serpent at monstrous speed, before striking its lower jaw from below, the impact so strong, a powerful wind force was sent through the cave from the strike. For the first time during this fight, the scales finally showed signs of damage, the place that Sallow struck having the scales covering it shatter, before healing almost instantly.

  “The healing factor is annoying…” Jack thought, before dashing past the action. For now, Sallow was going to keep the beast distracted. Jack rushed over to Araneida, who was on the ground, not too far from the action, slightly dazed from the strong murderous aura that the serpent had unleashed moments ago.

  “Come on partner, don’t give up on me yet.” Jack stated, before taking out one of the healing potions he had on him, pouring it over the spider, healing its injuries. Once Araneida was recovered, she looked fiercely at the serpent which was clashing with Sallow. “Listen Araneida, I need you to do something.”

  The arachnid looked at its master with a curious gaze, while Jack moved in a bit closer, explaining his plan.

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  Crash, smash – tremble.

  The duel between Sallow and the Pale Serpent was enough to make the entire dungeon shake violently. It was as if two equals were facing one another in a match of stalemate, even though Sallow was greatly outpowered by the serpent. The combination of his Overlord form and the two ‘War General’ boosts Jack had bestowed onto him were allowing him to keep the monster distracted.

  He could even finally break through the tough scales — even if they healed almost instantly due to the things insane regenerative abilities. Sallow landed back down onto the ground, grabbing hold of the incoming strike with the tail that the serpent attempted, before it shot down a wave of white lightning at him – the lightning strong enough to knock him away, however, not strong enough to put him out the game.

  Sallow slowed himself down, grabbing onto the ground before narrowing his eyes as the serpent launched at the Overlord, opening its jaws a bit. Sallow pulled back his right fist, before punting the serpent – his fist encased in a thick energy cloud.

  Class Skill [Draining Fist] activated.

  The serpent's magical energy rushed through Sallow as he absorbed a bit of it, however while at first it was easy to handle, suddenly he was flung back by it, the magical energy feeling like it was burning his body on the inside.

  The overlord crashed into a wall, before rising back up and looking down at his right fist. The exo-armour around it was slightly destroyed and his body underneath it was charred by the magical energy of the serpent.

  “The magical energy flowing through this thing is too powerful for my body to handle. If I am not careful, I could destroy myself by simply absorbing its own power.” Sallow commented in his mind, before standing back up, the destroyed exo-armour rebuilding itself around his right arm. His magical energy was starting to reach its limits – soon he would be completely out of it. He had to make his remaining time with the Overlord form active, count.

  He let out a loud roar, before leaping at the monster — raging magical energy following after him.

  White lightning rained down towards Sallow as he dashed across the dungeon at immense speed, before leaping up at the serpent – pummeling it square between its eyes and forcing it back a bit, before flipping around, grabbing its lower jaw and crashing down onto the ground, pulling the serpent with him, before lifting it up – the massive body of the serpent flying into the air above the goblin, before he sent it down onto the ground - smashing it against it.

  The serpent let out a groan, before its tail grabbed hold of Sallow and tossed him into the air. Then, almost instantly, the thing dashed after him with its jaws wide open, biting down onto Sallow.

  The Overlord barely managed to keep himself from being crushed in the monster's mouth, struggling to push it back open, while magical energy still raged on from his body. It was even slowly beginning to look like Sallow would be overpowered by the serpent and crush him in its jaws — however, Araneida suddenly let out an ear piercing screech, before firing down a storm of threads onto the serpent - pulling it up towards the ceiling – even if she struggled with it a bit.

  The serpent resisted the arachnids pull, almost with ease, however Araneida quickly shot down another wave of threads which wrapped around the upper jaw of the monster, before aiding Sallow a bit, pulling up — with just enough force to allow Sallow to slip out of the serpent's mouth, before flipping around and using its head as a base to leap off of towards the ceiling.

  Clinging to the ceiling, Sallow grabbed hold of Araneidas threads as she fired more and more down at the serpent — tying them around its upper body. The serpent showed slight signs of struggling to overpower the two, before launching its tail towards them to smack them off, however Jack quickly leapt at it, intercepting the tail and pinning it to the ground, while slight tears on his arms appeared, blood gently soaking his clothing.

  It seemed like he had pushed his body so hard over the physical strength of the serpent to pin down its tail, that he slightly tore the muscle of his own body.

  The serpent let out a loud hiss, its eyes filled with fury as Sallow and Araneida continued to pull its head upwards. “Keep it like that! I’ll attempt a forced taming!” Jack called out to his familiars, before taking out the Dragons Bane ring, quickly putting it on. In an instant, the aura surrounding Jack changed – intensifying by a magnitude.

  [ NOTICE ]

  Your presence is now that of a Wyvern.

  All physical stats have been boosted by 60%.

  [ NOTICE ]

  Jack then stomped forward, leaping into the air before extending his right arm towards the creature, about to activate his ‘Taming’ skill — rather, the subskill of it, forced taming. While it wasn’t ideal and he would have preferred to tame the serpent like he did with Sallow and Araneida – with it willingly allowing itself to be tamed – unfortunately, the fight had gone on for too long.

  They were slowly starting to grow exhausted and sustaining heavy damage.

  It was better to just try and force tame it.

  However, with the pressure around it — from being restrained and pulled up towards the ceiling and a tamer behind it, about to cast an unknown spell, the serpent decided to pull out one last trump card from its arsenal - one the trio could have never expected.

  Its eyes lit up with flames, before it let out an earthshaking roar.

  Then — the magical energy surrounding its body erupted. In an instant a force that felt like a point black nuclear bomb had just detonated engulfed the three of them, knocking Jack back - sending him flying through several pillars before he crashed into a wall, creating a massive crater before falling to the ground, his body bleeding out.

  Sallow and Araneida initially tanked the force, however after Araneidas threads snapped, the serpent dashed up at them with its head. “Not good–!” Sallow tried to counter the incoming head strike with his ‘Draining Fist’ — however, he couldn’t react fast enough and the two were smashed into the ceiling, letting out a cut off scream of pain. Then, after the serpent pulled away, the two familiars looked like they had just been smashed apart, with their exo-armours cracked and shattered.

  The two fell from the ceiling, their magical energies calm now – before the serpent knocked them into a nearby wall with its tail. Jack coughed up blood, pushing himself up from the ground.

  [ WARNING ]

  Health: 402/3204 (+80%)

  [ WARNING ]

  “God damnit… What the hell was that? It felt like a nuclear bomb went off next to me..” Jack looked up at the serpent. Its eyes burned with a bright flame, while its body was covered in a white shine, the damage it had sustained during the entire clash against Sallow healing.

  A window appeared in front of Jack.

  [ NOTICE ]

  Pale Serpent has activated [Primal Blood].

  [ NOTICE ]

  “Another ace in the sleeve you had, eh…?” The Tamer pushed himself up, throwing a gaze over at where Sallow and Araneida had been smashed into. The duo were out of commission. They weren’t dead, but they would not be able to continue the fight. And Jack wasn’t in any better situation.

  He was feeling the exhaustion build up and start affecting him.

  The magical energy he possessed was still great, but with him being on the brink of death, did it really matter? Even with ‘Leaders Transformation’ he would not be able to overpower this beast.

  The serpent glared down at Jack, narrowing its eyes.

  Jack stood up, his legs trembling and blood soaking his clothes. He hadn’t sustained this bad of damage since his first ever time stepping on the battlefield during his time as a military mercenary. It felt like his entire body would give out any second, however the tamer pushed forward. Not bothering to pick up the White Spiders fang, he stepped towards the serpent, trying to balance his footing so he didn't fall over.

  The serpent hissed loudly, seemingly impressed by his resilience to still be standing, even with the damage he had sustained.

  “I get that we can’t beat this thing… But seriously— this is some bullshit.” Jack stepped more forward, his entire body trembling.

  It keeps pulling some random nonsense out to fight.

  First, it fought us with its body and head, using just physical strength that we already could barely compete with.

  Then, it pulled out magic.

  Then, it surrounded itself in a strong murderous aura, which coincidentally also healed it.

  Now it pulls out some random shit that enhances its strength and heals its wounds?

  Is this some kind of mockery aimed at me?

  Is some kind of god laughing at me?

  …Is that damned saintess laughing at me?

  Many thoughts went through Jack's head, as he slowly stepped towards the serpent. The beast narrowed its eyes, letting out another ear piercing roar, which eventually went silent. Not because it stopped it – but because Jack tuned it out.

  Oh shut up.

  Those roars and shrieks have gotten tiresome. I’m surprised I haven’t gone deaf yet.

  This thing is unlike anything I’ve seen in my life.

  Its stronger…

  Faster…

  Grander and bigger…

  The serpent then dashed at Jack, aiming to crush him with its head just as it had done with his familiars. However, as it approached Jack — it was as if time slowed down. Was this another trick of Jack's mind? Perceiving an incoming death blow targeted against him so slowly, because of him accepting it?

  Who cared anymore.

  Jack was tired. Exhausted. Spent.

  For the first time in such a long, long time – he had thought about giving up. Jack froze as the serpent's head got closer. For a moment, it seemed like he had lost all his hope. However, a memory kept replaying in his head.

  Well, rather – two memories did.

  First was with his master, when he had begun his training. She told him to never give up and to always keep pushing, no matter how impossible or hopeless it may seem. She told him that ‘losing hope’ — was the decider on whether he would live or die.

  And the other…

  “You’re right Young one. Those who are of no use, should be disposed of.”

  “You ought to know your place. Be grateful that I haven’t taken your head off yet for the disrespect you’ve shown.”

  “I told you already, my power would be wasted in sending you back. However, perhaps if you genuflect in front of me and beg for forgiveness, I’d be willing to consider it.”

  “The only one going to hell will be you.”

  The smirk of a certain shitty saintess he wanted to give a beating to, replaced the memory of his master. Something stirred in Jack, as he grit his teeth. There was a certain feeling that suddenly brewed inside him — one so intense, it was as if a flame was ignited inside him.

  ...

  [ NOTICE ]

  Grand Skill [Wrath] has been acquired.

  Activating [Wrath]...

  Activating [Battle Hungry]...

  [ NOTICE ]

  The serpent crashed onto the tamer, a massive cloud of dust being kicked up. For a moment, it was silent. Then, orange lightning intertwined with gentle reddish lightning crackled. As the dust cleared, the serpent's eyes widened, as Jack stood there, having stopped its strike with one arm.

  Jack's body was engulfed in a strong orange aura, his eyes shining bright orange, with orange lightning sparking from them.

  [ NOTICE ]

  Through [Wrath] all physical abilities have been boosted by 80%.

  Through [Battle Hungry] all abilities have been boosted by 100%.

  [ NOTICE ]

  Jack let out a loud battle cry, before pulling back his other fist and punching the serpent. A massive force was sent through the dungeon, strong enough to shatter all nearby pillars and boulders, as well as crack the ground and walls.

  “About time for that skill to finally activate.”

  The serpent scales that tanked the punch shattered, before it was launched against the wall where the gates rested. As it smashed into the wall, the dungeon shook once more. Shaking its head, it growled before dashing at Jack once more. However the tamer looked unfazed, before kicking its head back and then grabbing a hold of its tail, pulling it with him as he stepped to the side.

  Jack flipped the giant snake up, spinning it around with the serpent letting out a low hiss as Jack spun it, before tossing it up into the ceiling. The serpent crashed into it, sending debris and stalactites falling down.

  The serpent was a bit dazed as it fell down from the ceiling.

  Jack stepped under it, his body practically raging with a strong presence and magical energy. A strong, strong orange aura engulfed his entire form, outlining his figure with an almost orange flame. The tamer caught the serpent by its head, before once more spinning it around letting out a loud battle roar.

  The serpent hissed, trying to open its jaws – however Jack's grip was too strong. It tried to use ‘Serpents Gaze’ again, but it failed. Jack spun the giant serpent around for a bit, before smashing it into the ground and then with one final strike, leapt into the above it and crashed down onto it — delivering a punch so strong, it pushed the serpent into the ground — creating a large crater under its head, as well as making the dungeon shake the most it had shaken during the entire fight.

  Sallow opened his eyes a bit, looking up at the battle scene.

  Dust covered it. He could feel raging magical energy in the atmosphere. It was clear that the fight had continued — however, who had come out on top?

  As the dust cleared, Sallow let out a sigh of relief. Jack stood on top of the defeated Serpent, the beast now having returned to a dormant state — not dead, however, unable to continue the battle.

  A window appeared in front of Jack.

  [ NOTICE ]

  You have survived the Guardian of the 50th floor against all odds.

  A reward for your achievement shall be distributed to you and your familiars.

  [ NOTICE ]

  As his two skills deactivated, Jack breathed heavily, his vision blurring. “Didn’t go according to plan… But it worked out…”

  The tamer fell off of the serpent, crashing onto the ground below, blood staining the ground below him as he fell unconscious. The fight was over — not because Jack had killed the boss, but because he had managed to survive and strike it down, forcing it to resign. The magical energy in the air around them calmed down.

  Finally – calmed down.

  After all the raging it had gone through from all the different sources, this moment where it felt like the air was clear… was liberating.

  Sallow took in deep breaths, before smiling.

  “It seems we managed to pull it off, even if it should have been impossible.”