When Nathan said he wanted to hunt, he meant hunt animals like deer, birds, or any other thing that wouldn't give him nightmares for days. The universe, or whatever controlled this shitty apocalypse, decided to deny him his silent request and instead toss him a snake—and it wasn't even a little snake, no, it was something that vaguely seemed like an anaconda. Of course, Nathan didn't really believe that's what it was.

At least I hope not.

Right about now, the two opposing sides had neither attacked nor fled. Nathan knew he'd probably be able to make it if he decided to flee, but he'd basically be sending Ciara and the rest of the squad to their deaths. Considering it was him who'd decided that they were somewhat ready enough to go on a hunt with him, it'd be very unkind of him to abandon them. So far, they'd been lucky enough not to have been attacked by the snake since it dropped to the floor, and Nathan was hoping that his next action wouldn't be the inciting incident. With bated breath, he analyzed the monster.

[ Rapid Soza

Level 22 ]

Huh, not bad.

While he was a hundred percent sure he could take on the Soza in his own, the reality was that he'd come into this fight with many people who were incapable of going toe to toe with the Soza snake. Nathan wrinkled his forehead, trying to keep perfectly still as he tried to figure out how exactly he was going to handle the Soza on his own.

Level 22 meant that both Pirlo and Ruben were both ruled out of the fight, so was the priestess and the rangers, meaning that the only other person that could make a difference in this fight was the Mage. He had no idea if the fireballs he'd seen the Mage chuck at other monsters would have an effect on the current monster in front of him, but he'd take all the firepower that he could get. Plus, she could attack from range; he, on the other hand, had to get close and personal with the Soza.

"Everyone, stay back. You're all... You guys can't take on this monster. If possible, run, run and don't look back," Nathan said.

He'd had to stop himself from calling them useless. Sure, in the current situation they'd be of no help, but with a couple more dungeon runs, a monster like this should be prey to their squad as a whole.

Well, I've done my best. I'll leave the rest up to them.

Nathan's mind raced in anticipation of the fight he was about to begin. He'd spent his last five dungeon runs doing nothing but supervising kids his own age. They'd come out smiling, happy in their newfound strength, but with the encounter with this snake, he had no doubts that a resolve would bloom inside the others to grow stronger.

Note to self: Try not to get any acidic venom on you.

He charged at the head-bobbing snake, a hiss leaving its lips at the sudden movement from the Berserker. A little part of him had been raring to exercise, to feel the thrill of battle—an impulse he'd had to stomp out when in the F-Ranked dungeons.

Hiss.

Droplets of sizzling venom flew towards him, but Nathan had been on the lookout for the attack, so it was easy for him to change directions. The little movement he made of changing the direction of his charge had been enough to evade the attack of the snake, which Nathan was supremely grateful for.

Acid getting on his skin wouldn't kill him immediately, but it'd hurt like crazy if he ever got that sizzling venom on him. The encounter with the Nagas in an earlier dungeon rang a few bells before he dismissed the thought entirely.

He had to give his utmost focus to the snake, especially since he had a couple of easy targets behind him. The moment Nathan got within range, he raised his sword up for a slash, but the damned snake just moved backward, faster than his swing could connect.

Ah, you sly creature.

Nathan had been careful not to overextend himself during the strike and that seemingly routine attack. The simple decision from him had probably saved his life as the snake reared back its head to strike him, but he easily jumped back, evading the counterattack.

You sly, sly creature.

They'd disengaged for the moment. Nathan had his sword at the ready, and the snake—well, the snake was its own weapon: head, body, tail. What really made him tick was the fact that the snake had just tried to seduce him into a false sense of security in his opening strike. Now that he could see it clearly, he might've been able to catch the snake a little with the tip of his sword if he'd extended, and then he'd have fallen into the sly creature's trap.

Overextending like that would leave him unbalanced, and an unbalanced Nathan against a monster that had the word "Rapid" in its name was as good as a free bite—a tasty, Berserker-defined treat. But nonetheless, he'd decided not to overextend, a decision that had been purely instinctual at the time but definitely one that played a crucial role in his ability to breathe right now.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

You can't teach that.

Nathan inwardly rejoiced at the fact that he was gradually becoming fight-tuned. The fact that his mind was already calculating his moves on a subconscious level was mind-boggling to say the least, but it also spoke to the fact that he'd begun growing in a way that wasn't stat-oriented. He was getting better at his decision-making during fights, and he didn't know if it was because he'd spent a lot of time over-analyzing the stupid decisions that the squad made at times during their dungeon runs.

Maybe watching Ruben make cringe-worthy decisions during fights had forced his brain to think smarter and faster before he could move his sword. The synergy between the body, mind, and sword was yet to come, but he'd welcome any improvement he could get at this point.

The tail.

"Rarggggh!"

Nathan charged at the snake, and unlike the other monsters that preferred to reuse tactics against him that had already failed, the Rapid Soza decided to do things a little differently, which was like a fresh breath for him. Instead of attacking with its head and fangs, the Rapid Soza decided to try and batter him away with its tail.

Unfortunately for the monster, Nathan had been expecting that move. His mind was whirring like it'd been waiting for this moment to go "brr," and to be honest, he'd been seeking a fight for a while. With barely restrained glee, he slowed down his charge as he waited for the Soza's tail to get within attacking range.

Swoosh!

A maniacal grin split Nathan's face as his blade whistled through the air, the motion promising nothing but unrestricted and savage violence—the kind you associated with horror movies.

Hiss!

The snake's version of a cry echoed around the forest as Nathan's sword tore into its skin with reckless abandon. The sword did not make it all the way through, but it was more than halfway there before Nathan pulled back the blade and hopped back, already anticipating a retaliation of sorts from the now-injured snake.

The situation would be funny to any onlooker, purely from a visual standpoint. The odds that the snake would be the first one to suffer a crippling blow were very low compared to Nathan and the rest, but somehow he managed to find a way to defy the odds.

His victory was short-lived, though, as the snake seemed to have decided that Nathan wasn't going to be an easy prey. Considering what he'd just done to its tail, he could understand why. Its next move, though, was completely uncalled for but at the same time completely expected.

It shot forward towards Nathan, who threw himself to the side. The strike was too sudden and too reckless from the injured monster for Nathan's still-improving brain to have thought it a real possibility. But when the Soza didn't pause its charge after Nathan got out of the way, alarm bells started going off in his head, causing him to scramble to his feet. The attack at him had been nothing but a feint; the snake was going for Ciara and the squad.

Not on my watch.

"Ciara, chuck fireballs at it! The rest of you, scram. You're probably dead if its venom touches you," Nathan yelled.

The Mage didn't respond, but he ignored it. For her sake and the rest of the squad, he hoped that she'd heard him. He felt a niggle at the back of his mind and had to resist the urge to check his wrist—of course, he wasn't wearing a watch. Shaking the loose thought from his head, he began charging at the exposed behind of the Rapid Soza.

By now, the snake had already eaten up a lot of the distance he'd put between him, it, and the squad. The damned monster had a head start, and it was way faster than him, too. So it was all he could do as he watched the monster rear up its head to attack the mage, which only had a single other person beside her, Pirlo—the rest had wisely taken his advice and had hidden behind one of the numerous trees. Hell, he wouldn't even judge if they were halfway to Blood Rock by now.

This idiot.

Ciara chucked her first fireball at the Soza snake. The attack hit the snake square in its face. He was pretty interested in finding out if the Mage's fireball would have an effect on the snake. It did. The snake's head rocked backward at the fireball that had been chucked at it. Other than buying them some time, Nathan couldn't really see any use of the attack. The Rapid Soza barely sustained any visible injury from the fireball, and now it was rearing its head up. Without warning, it went for the head of the idiot in question, Pirlo.

Fear gripped Nathan's heart as he could do nothing but watch as the Soza's mouth got close to the Rogue's head. The wiry teen gritted his teeth and raised both his daggers in defiance as he faced off against something that Nathan was sure could kill the rogue with ease.

Block head.

Nathan had already been preparing the words he'd speak over the rogue's dead body when a second fireball flared into existence, the ball of fire catching the Rapid Soza at the side of the head. The snake let out a hiss at the attack, and Nathan had a sneaking suspicion that it was born out of frustration rather than pain of any kind. Regardless of whatever sentiment was behind the hiss, it had bought them more time still.

You've got to be kidding me.

Instead of Pirlo getting out of the way and celebrating his second chance at life, the block head had decided that it was a wise idea to attack the snake that was doubly pissed. His daggers struck the neck of the snake. The distance between the pair hadn't been much to begin with, seeing as the Rapid Soza hadn't pulled back after the failed attack.

Are you happy now?

As expected, the rogue's dagger did no damage to the monster. His attack had done nothing more than add fuel to the Rapid Soza's ire. However, Nathan did get a front-row seat to watch the spectacle that was Pirlo's face as the rogue realized that he'd made a stupid mistake.

The rogue tried to dodge the retaliation by the snake, but Nathan knew that it'd take a miracle for the teenager to escape the attack. Ciara had already thrown her second fireball, and by Nathan's estimate, she'd need a second or two before she could recast the spell. Luckily for the rogue, though, Nathan was already in position to settle the scores. With a lust for blood, Nathan's sword flashed by, decapitating the head of the Rapid Soza, which was almost the size of his torso.

Thud!

A wave of euphoria passed through him, but he pushed aside the feeling, instead focusing on the glee that the look on Pirlo's face brought him.

"That's it. Either you guys hit a Rank E-Dungeon with me, or you handle some F-Ranked ones by yourselves," Nathan said, trying to catch his breath.