Mathew was currently looking through Agnox’s eyes. After another fifteen hours of searching, Mathew had discovered in fact two floor bosses.

The first was already being attacked by a group of six. Matehw didn’t recognize any of them, nor wanted to interrupt their battle. Once he was sure they would kill it, he left. He didn’t want a free ride to the next floor, but he did take notes.

The group fought a giant bear. Sticking out of his shoulder blades were two red crystals, much like the Hearth Crystal back in Blue Oaks. They stuck out maybe six to ten inches out of its back.

Once the bear was defeated, a portal appeared. Mathew waited, and counted fifteen minutes before it disappeared. That was his window to ensure nobody snuck in behind him. Funny enough, a group did go into the portal the bear created. Only two people, but Mathew still found it smart.

He wanted to go through the portal, to already progress to the next floor. On the other hand, that would prove nothing to himself. He was strong, this was the place to prove it.

The second creature was unfortunately a snake. It was far larger than any snake had any right to be. Its girth was the same size as he was, maybe thicker. In length, it was hard to tell. The snake was never fully elongated.

Mathew had Agnox stay far into the air to scout it out. At a guess, it was around twenty meters long. It would be a difficult battle for sure.

It was hard to tell through use of his familiar’s senses, but Mathew guessed this creature was no more than level fifteen. However, it was boosted in power. Watching the group fight the bear proved it wasn’t just level fifteen.

Its raw stats were probably 50% more than that. Not to mention its size, speed, and other factors to keep in mind. The only benefit was that it was still an animal. The mind of a beast that ran off instinct, not forethought.

When Mathew planned things out, he saw a path to victory. Naturally, snakes were ambush predators. They were inlign with assassins. Using surprise to their advantage. When that didn’t work they used the huge muscles in their body to squeeze to death their prey. Venom was another use. A single attack, and they would wait until the poisoned victim died, or was too tired to keep running.

Mathew had the advantage on both sides. Firstly, he wouldn’t be surprised, he would be the one to spring a trap on the creature. Secondly, he would constantly stay away, avoiding its constricting body.

This wasn’t a training area. This was meant to be a massacre. There was no holding back here. Mathew was feeling very confident. Was it too much? He wouldn’t know until they fought.

At first, Mathew was going to set up a ritual, but decided against it. He imagined the fight ending too quickly to worry about that.

Agnox watched the snake for an hour. By then, Mathew had seen enough. It was time to fight.

Everyone was going to participate in this battle. Both Jeffery and Agnox were wearing their full armor. Agnox was especially excited to test out his new Axiom of Embers.

Both Whis and Wispy were out, and Mathew thought he felt excitement come from the two of them as well. Yet, that wasn’t possible. Wisps were not living creatures. They were a formation of his own mana.

[Doozora’s Rod] was in his hand. Mathew wasn’t going to use his spear here. There would be no point in getting that close.

Mathew walked to the edge of the snake's domain. He could see the ground was beaten down from its massive body slithering back and forth.

There were pieces of shedded skin around. Which was the primary way Mathew found the snake in the first place. No normal snake ever shed skin that large.

In the distance, Mathew could see movement. The snake surprisingly was normal in its coloration. It had hues of gray, green, and black. Helping it blend in with the local environment. So far, it hasn’t noticed him yet.

“Good, then we proceed with the first plan.”

Mathew summoned one of his disposable staves. It had a fire affinity. There was a small test he wanted to perform. But it wasn’t anything that would drastically change here. Afterall, if you don’t learn from something, did you even try?

The staff was charcoal black. Agnox glanced at it and made a face. It was one of the staves he would end up using if he had to rely on his ranged attacks more than his melee. Mathew had two more, so he wasn’t bothered with his reaction.

Mana slowly started to build up within the staff. He wasn’t infusing it to use as a battery later. He was going to explode it. It worked on the Volkar beasts, it would be devastating to the snake.

That was the signal, Jeffery and Agnox sped forward toward the snake. Once they had taken but a few steps, the head of the gigantic snake turned toward them, and it hissed in annoyment. For someone had intruded upon its grounds.

As it hissed, Mathew spotted red crystals where its fangs would be. “That would not be good to be stabbed by.”

Agnox started things off by igniting his sword. The flames were more ferocious, but also darker. His newest Axiom of Embers gave it a decent power boost. He flew straight at its body and left behind a searing slice.

Jeffery went for the part of its body still on the ground. He clawed and gnawed at it, until it started to attack him with its tail. It batted him away as if he weighed nothing.

The snake moved to bite at Agnox, but he was able to continually dodge its attacks. Agnox threw the occasional [Fire Bolt] to keep it distracted.

Mathew’s staff was now fully charged, and it took developing it with Enforce to prevent it from exploding right then and there. He had to wait for the perfect opportunity. He picked the fire themed staff for a reason.

Both Jeffery and Agnox were resistant to fire damage. If they got caught in part of the explosion, they were built to take the brunt of the damage.

The Wisp duo were also waiting. Mathew was now slowly overcharging them with mana as well. His control over the process has only increased. Gone were the days where he struggled with a handful of spells.

Now he had an abundance. Between the amount he can keep in his ring and staves, Mathew no longer feared wasting mana. That didn’t mean he would waste it. No, he kept constant control over how much he used.

Agnox and Jeffery continued their combined attacks against the snake. To an outsider, it might seem the two were losing. Agnox was only getting in one hit every few attacks. Meanwhile Jeffery was having a hard time dodging the snake's tail.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

That would be a half correct assessment. They were having trouble fighting the monster. Both of them were also Beginner ranked creatures. It was their items that kept them on an even playing field to the floor boss.

Mathew watched Jeffery get batted away once again, and Agnox flew up higher than normal. “Perfect.”

A giant ball of fire sailed forward, striking the snake square on its body. Mathew was aiming where its body first touched down on the ground. However, he didn’t need to aim so carefully it seemed.

The snake had ignored him the entire time. When it realized the fireball was close, it had no choice but to bear the attack. It stuck its head down behind the rest of its body. Burning flesh filled the air, and Mathew could see scorched muscles.

The snake hissed and looked directly at Mathew. “Oh, so now you think I’m a threat?”

It rushed forward at Mathew. For he was now the biggest threat. Mathew just pointed at the snake and chains developed its body. “Now now, you have two others to keep you busy. You stay right there for me, big guy.”

It thrashed against the chains that slowed it down. Suddenly two new attacks came barging down on top of it.

One set of rapid attacks. Another set of slower, but more powerful attacks. Whis and Wispy released the build of mana at full throttle. Mathew then conjured a full powered [Mana Bolt]. The blue hued bolt of energy had a subtle sharpness to it. A silvery aura surrounded it as it was empowered with the Axiom of Piercing.

Mathew sent it flying forward, snaking in the air toward the snake's head. It dodged the attack, yet still took the brunt of four different attacks.

This was the full might of Matthew. Currently, five different sources of attacks, three of which with the ability to think for themselves. The wisps couldn’t act without Mathew’s orders.

The snake glanced around, and chose a target. Jeffery dodged yet another tail whip, but that was a faint. When Jeffery landed, the snake dove forward, and wrapped him up in a coil. Agnox was the only to panic and dived down to slice at the snake.

Mathew was about to berate Agnox for doing so. Afterall, he can just unsummon Jeffery. Yet, the snake had now forced it to be completely imobile. The chains restricted its movements, and now it was preoccupied with Jeffery.

Out of all the targets it had, that was the worst choice for the snake. Mathew sent his empowered attack directly at the snake. He couldn’t get a good angle on its head, and instead aimed for the already damaged section of its body.

His attack went through completely, and came out on the other side. Scales were falling off of it from the wisps attacks. Agnox continued to slice at it. Slowly burning away flesh.

The snake seemed hellbent on taking Jeffery down with it. Mathew frowned but continued his onslaught of attacks. “Just a little bit more. He can take the attacks.”

“Boss! Unsummon Jeffery before he dies.”

“Just a little more Agnox, keep at it. We can kill it before Jeffery dies.”

Agnox glanced back at Mathew. There was worry in his eyes, but the imp continued attacks. Mathew blasted attack after attack. Blood was starting to pour out of the snake. “If only I could see its head damnit.”

Another volley of attacks came. Mathew heard a muffle howl from under the snake. He licked his lips, a small bit of worry coming over him. After another moment, he unsummoned the wolf.

The snake’s body shrunk down a bit as it collapsed on the empty space. It unraveled, looking for where its prey had gone. It then locked eyes with Mathew once again.

It tried to lunge at Mathew, but found it unable to. Between the chains and heavy damage to its body. The snake wasn’t as fast as before, and Mathew was able to avoid it by simply jumping to the side.

Mathew moved his Axiom empowered attack up into the air. The snake was still chasing after him. He kept moving backwards and jumping to the side to avoid its crystalline fangs.

On the seventh lunge, Mathew dropped his hand. Following his intent, the attack pierced downwards and impaled the snake's head. The attack forced the snake to drop to the ground, sealing its mouth closed.

Mathew jumped on top of its head and conjured up a sword made of mana. With a grunt, he cleaved through barely a fourth of the snake's neck. It took five more swings to cleave all the way through its body with the help from Agnox’s sword as well.

Heavy panting was the only sound in the air. Agnox and Mathew both were slightly tired. Adrenaline from the fight was slowly wearing off the two of them.

Mathew gave Agnox a nod. “Good work.”

“Thanks. How’s Jeffery?”

Mathew shrugged, “I’ll resummon him once we go through the portal. It still takes several minutes with him. You and the wisps are the quickest by far.”

Agnox nodded, and looked down at the bloody mess on both himself and Mathew. “Speaking of…” He gestured to himself.

Mathew rolled his eyes. “Go bring me Jeffery’s armor first. Once we have that put away, we can worry about cleaning you up.”

Mathew still thought it was cheap how Agnox was instantly cleaned when Mathew unsummoned then resummoned him. He himself had to bathe normally. Luckily he had a ritual for moments like these.

Mathew eye’d the portal. He then looked around, to see if anyone was watching and waiting. He didn't see anybody.

After he was clean, Agnox did a loop around to see if he could spot anyone who was going to get into the portal after Mathew went in. After giving the all clear, Mathew stood in front of the portal with his arms crossed.

He was going to wait before he went in. This was to prevent anyone sneaking in behind him at the last minute. He would wait until two minutes were left before the portal closed.

Time ticked by, and once he was sure nobody was around, he went into the portal himself. He instantly turned around and watched the portal closed before he took a sigh of relief.

He found himself in a dark room. Without the portal light, he couldn't see anything. Luckily, he had two blue balls of light at his disposal. Mathew sent the two of them out to get an idea of where he was.

Rocky walls surrounded him. The ground was rough and slightly sloped. The roof was filled with stalagmites. The entire cave echoed with a creepy dripping sound of water. In two directions the cave continued forward.

“Well, I think we are underground.” Mathew summarized.