Emma watched in horror as Viperion swallowed a man whole.

"No!! "

She uselessly shouted.

It was crazy how quickly the tides had changed on all of them - one moment they were dominating the Viper with little effort and the next - they were like meat on a chopping board for the Viper to pick and cut (more literally than figuratively).

However Emma quickly regained her composure, she had seen a lot of people die as an adventurer after all.

Swoosh

A spear swept past Emma and impaled Viperion. It seemed to be urgently making an escape.

" Hiss !! "

The snake shrieked in pain.

'Escape? Why would it esc...'

Emma as a veteran quickly pieced things together.

" Attack, don't let it escape! "

She shouted to her party members who immediately followed her orders.

The viper most likely had a cool down - and during it wouldn't be able to use its skill, otherwise the Viper wouldn't have tried escaping but deal with all of them in a swift and quick action like how it had dealt with the two mages; Viperion was never the kind of monster to let go of easy prey after all.

Emma quickly placed her hands on the ground in preparation for a magic spell.

" Element of earth , lend me your power and quake in your wake - let your rumbles stop my enemies : earth spear ! "

Protruding spears emerged below the Viper ready to pierce it to death, however it quickly evaded the lethal attack at the last minute by swiftly using its flexible body to glide on the dungeon walls in an unnatural manner - twisting like a spring.

However, Emma had predicted it would do so as it had done so earlier. The snake's speed considerably slowed from dodging the Earth spears.

" Now !! "

Emma shouted to her party members; she had tried her best to make time for them by using the spear tactic to slow the Viper down.

An arrow fiercely pierced the air which was heavily coated with aura - the aura took the shape of a larger aura as if was mimicking the smaller one. Sensing the incoming arrow, the Viper sped up abruptly making the arrow miss it's head - However it managed to accurately and ruthlessly pierce the snake's lower body and pin it to the ground.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

" Hiss!!! "

It shrieked louder than ever.

A second later, Mason who had been launched in the air by Jacob landed in front of Emma. He had been the one launch the fierce arrow at the snake.

" Mason, do you think you can shoot another one to kill it? "

Mason who was wearing light gear looked at Emma before he pointed at his bare back which didn't have even a single arrow left.

" Damn it, I guess we'll have to get nearer. I have only mana left to cast one spell. and can't shoot through all these spikes "

Emma grunted.

They made a few turns going through the spikes and breaking a few before they finally saw Viperion. It was wriggling all over the place like a worm. With every wriggle, the skin penetrated by the giant arrow became loose.

By the time Emma saw what was happening, only a small ligament of the Viper's skin and body tissue was still penetrated by the arrow.

'Shit, it's trying to escape- and it's working!'

Emma hurriedly prepared to cast a spell but in her panicky state her mind was all over the place and she couldn't properly think of the cast words.

"Fuck... "

With just a single wriggle, Viperion separated from the arrow and began running away faster than ever. It had brutally sacrificed most of it's lower body for the opportunity.

" Emma what are you waiting for? It's escaping! "

Jacob said, panicked as much as Emma.

" I am trying! Why don't you try chasing it then instead of talking my ear off. "

None of their complaints eased the situation, and even though Emma had pointed out Jacob's uselessness in the situation - she knew he wouldn't be able to catch up to the snake with the gap it had opened in the small time , even though it was larger than them. They chose to keep their distance for another good reason, what if Viperion chose to turn and look at them, turning the nearest person into a blood pool? They didn't know how long its cooldown was after all.

'Dammit. '

"Well, there goes our money. I knew it was a bit too rewarding to hunt just a measly Viper on the far outskirts of a village. "

Jacob commented.

There was some truth to what he was saying. Emma had not found it suspicious then when they had accepted the mission, the association had even suggested reducing their forces when killing the Viper to which they complied, it would have been like using a sword to take care of an ant after all - at least that's what they had thought then.

'That guy Is probably dead by now.'

Emma thought to herself, before wondering out loud -

" Come to think of it, the snake started avoiding us after devouring that naked guy. Even if it has a cool-down, the snake has consumed a lot of people in this village so the cooldown shouldn't be that long. "

" Well , I wouldn't know. "

Jacob answered back.

" I knew that guy was suspicious the moment I laid eyes on him, but oh well- if it happens that he actually was innocent then it was his bad luck then. At least the viper has earned itself a free meal. "

Emma said, shrugging before she continued -

" But what about your ring though, didn't you say it was a family heirloom? "

" My ring, you mean that thing I gave him? Pftt - that was something I found at the bottom of a broken wishing well a week ago - I spoke all of that crap about it being a holder of truth as a joke. It was a bit surprising that it shrunk when he wore it, but the ring is pretty much a useless and normal artifact. "

Jacob admitted with a laugh.

The day of the adventurers in the cave ended with that laugh, there was nothing else they could do; their prey was gone, and they didn't have the means to catch up or kill it - sure they had lost the lives of a few party members; however, this was a normal occurrence for their kind of job. The viper was now someone else's problem.

Emma could only hope they would be compensated for misinformation when they returned to the Adventurer's Association and for her lost dagger.

Such was the life of an adventurer.