We entered a jungle full of lush and vibrant foliage. Emerald-green trees towered around us with intertwined canopies, forming a dense and shadowy ceiling. Vines hung like nature's drapes, and the air was filled with the symphony of chirping birds. The atmosphere was infused with the heady scent of damp earth, and the rich aroma of tropical blooms. I swatted at buzzing mosquitoes swarming me. How such vile creatures manage to infect both Earth and this world was beyond me.
Snakes darted in and out of sight below the vegetation. Darya noticed them too. She edged closer to me, looking anxiously between the ground and the portal.
“I .. uhm, I never ran this particular dungeon before,” she said nervously.
“Uh-huh. Me neither.”
The map showed a large expanse, fenced off by mountainous cliffs, which made sense. There had to be some sort of bounds for these Void dungeons, or otherwise people would fall off the edge? I decided not to test that theory. Toward the back was what looked like a clearing, which I assumed to be where the boss was.
Darya moved even closer, almost right up to me. Something fast darted in the weeds, and she screeched.
“Are you alright?” I asked her.
“I-I don’t know if I-”
“Snakes?”
She winced and nodded meekly.
“Hop on my back, that way you’ll be off the-”
With the deftness of a cat, she sprung up high on my back before I could finish speaking. Either she was really light, or it was the result of my insane attributes, but I barely felt any burden.
“My horns are not handlebars, okay?” I didn’t know how much force it required to break them off, but so far they seemed as solid as bone. I also didn’t know what would happen if they broke off. Would they regrow?
“I would never.”
“Okay, good.” I didn’t know what sort of etiquette there was when it came to horns, but so far nobody had really said or made any mention of them.
I rushed forward through the vegetation, and she clung on tight, her arms and legs wrapped around me like a monkey. I shifted my backpack to one shoulder in order to give her space.
Animals screeched and called through the area. I kept a watchful eye. A small feral boar rushed out of the bush. Shifting to the side, I punted it with a swift kick to the ribs and continued running, but it wouldn’t let up. It grunted and whined, and got back up on its trotters. More of its friends appeared out of the bush.
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Something needed to be done about these boars, or they’d bite my ankles off. The power up time on my Ardent wands was too cumbersome for how quickly they moved. I reached into my backpack to take out a swift oak wand, but it was missing. Did it fall out somewhere? The Bolstered wand was gone as well.
A spear would have been just the thing for these weaker monsters. Instead, I took out my hatchet and went to town on them. I didn’t like how these badgering pests were costing me time, and I intended to avoid future open area dungeons where I could easily get mobbed.
Whole bunch of time was wasted, but I made it to the clearing covered in sweat and winded. I must have killed half the regular monsters in the place. Darya helped with picking up the few crystals that dropped, but was quick to retreat to safety as if the ground was lava.
At first I didn’t even notice it until a movement of a forked tongue flicking caught my eye. What I initially thought was an earthly mound, was the body of a great serpent.
[T3] Verdant Serpent
It stared in my direction with its unblinking yellow eyes. I wasn’t the only one that noticed the enormous snake as thick as an alligator. Darya’s grip tightened and her fingers dug in. For her, this dungeon must have been like walking into a nightmare.
Trying not to frighten the serpent, I cautiously put away my hatchet and replaced it with my two Ardent wands. However, as soon as I thumbed the power crystals, the whining noise startled the boss. It moved, and moved fast.
Its tail whipped forward, and I brought up my arms to block the assault. What I had thought would be a devastating hit that would knock me on my ass, turned out to be a stinging slap across the forearms.
It followed up with a lunging attack with mouth wide out, fangs dripping with venom. In an instant, I dropped my wands to free my hands, grabbed at the top and bottom of its jaw. My large, clawed feet dug into the ground to gain solid footing, and the serpent stopped dead in its tracks. My clawed finger sunk into its soft flesh, solidifying my grip. It hissed. Darya whimpered in my ear, and I felt her clinging tighter.
The serpent’s massive body whirled and churned in pain. We were locked in a wrestling match. Adrenaline surged through my veins. I pumped every bit of my strength into my arms, turned its head sideways and snapped its jaws open. Except it didn’t seem to have had any effect. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest move to try and break the jaw on a snake that could unhinge it at will?
I pushed it forward, brought its head down lower and stuck my foot at the back of its throat, pinning its head to the ground. I yanked up with my left hand and ripped its lower jaw right off, tossed it aside. With a freed hand, I gouged out its eyes, ripped out its large fangs one at a time, but it was still alive and moving. It took another couple of bloody and gore filled minutes to hack off its head with a hatchet to get the job done.
[Evolution Points gained: 3]
[Congratulations! You have gained level 11.]
“Woo! Bloody hell.” I chuckled. “Now that was quite the workout, eh?”
Darya was unusually pale, and on the verge of tears. Without saying a word, she jumped off my back and bolted through the open portal, not even glancing at the dropped loot.
Before walking through the portal, I picked up the three items. A [t2] Mineral Springs dungeon orb, a [Serpent’s rattler], and a thick chocolate bar.
On the other side, the door to my room was wide open and Darya was nowhere in sight. Amelia stood facing me with a furious look on her face. She was more frightening than the serpent that I had just faced.
“What did you do?!” she shouted at me.