We could not escape; the massive beast had utterly cut us off.

“Fuck! Of all the places to run into a lesser dragon,” Tabitha curses as she draws her sword while I stand frozen in fear.

I wouldn’t call the creature before us a dragon, but with the pressure emanating from it, I wasn’t exactly going to argue with how she referred to it. The magic beast towering over us was a snake of massive proportions. From head to tail, the thing was almost three hundred feet long; its body was thick, its scales were dark green, and its wings were jet black.

Why the hell did, a snake have wings!?

Its wingspan was over a hundred feet wide, and though it rarely flapped them, the winged serpent hovered a few inches from the ground like it wasn't affected by gravity.

The wings were so dark they drew in the eye. They were such a deep black that it was like I was looking into a void of nothingness, one where almost no light escaped.

Large amounts of mana were released from those dark wings, coating the entire winged serpent's massive body. The best I could tell, the lesser dragon, as Tabitha called it, was using an advanced form of my Air Walk skill to stay airborne.

And to make matters worse, the ambient mana turned against us as soon as it appeared. The black flakes that I now realize were motes of the winged serpent’s mana visibly congeal around Tabitha and me in an attempt to lock us down.

Although only to a small degree, this creature could manipulate the mana around us, which, needless to say, wasn't good. The sheer amount of mana in the crater was challenging to deal with, but it wasn't actively fighting against us like it is here. Sure, the mana wasn’t limiting our movement much, but every little bit mattered up against something this strong.

Mental Resistance was working overtime to combat the killing intent radiating off the winged serpent, and with great difficulty, I was eventually able to flex my fingers. It was only the slightest of movements, but that was enough to draw the beast’s attention. Its large amber eyes, previously focused solely on Tabitha, swivel to me, and I immediately start trembling under its powerful gaze.

Something in the way it looked at me set alarm bells off in my head. It only focuses on me briefly before looking back at Tabitha, but that moment is all I need to make a scary realization. This creature was much more intelligent than anything I'd ever encountered. Unlike the soul devourer, it didn’t attack as soon as we broke out of its skill. Instead, it was taking the time to size us up, which terrified me.

"Get ready; it's going to attack soon," Tabitha warns me quietly. “I’ll try to draw its attention. When I say so, I want you to run. It doesn’t matter what direction you do so, but don’t look back.”

“But what about you?” I nervously wheeze.

“You don’t have time to worry about me. Here it comes!” Tabitha shouts, and all hell breaks loose.

Tabitha and I Flash Step backward as the giant serpent slams its massive body down on where we are standing.

Tabitha tries to run to the right to put some distance between us, but the winged serpent doesn’t like that. At incredible speeds that rivaled me at my fastest, the snake slithers through the air and cuts Tabitha off before she can get very far. Then, using its tail to attack, it forces Tabitha to dodge backward in my direction.

To Tabitha’s dismay, she’s forced back toward me. However, Tabitha doesn't give up easily and quickly tries again, running in a different direction, boosted by her movement skills.

Sadly, the same thing repeats itself. Tabitha tries to put enough distance between us so I can make a break for it, but the snake inevitably cuts her off and forces us back together, pushing us deeper into the dead zone.

Thankfully, besides a few swats with its tail, the snake is almost entirely focused on Tabitha and pays me little attention. I try to sneak off when I can, but the snake quickly forces me to change directions with its precise tail attacks. Though one thing becomes clear, it isn’t trying to kill us. Yet. Which is a good thing for me because I'm having trouble dodging it, and it wasn’t even trying to hit me.

It was apparent what the winged serpent was doing; the bastard was pushing us toward a specific location, which I presume was at the center of the dead zone.

Tabitha does her best to fight back, but I don't need to use Sense Soul to know the winged serpent out-leveled her significantly.

Tabitha was struggling to leave a scratch on the snake’s scales, and that was only when she could make contact with the wily beast. Despite Tabitha's fantastic sword skills, the winged serpent was somehow more agile than she was. It should be impossible for a creature of that size to be so nimble, yet here it was, dodging almost every single one of Tabitha's lightning-fast attacks.

I’m too busy dodging the snake’s casual tail swipes to draw my weapon; not like I could do anything with it. I was doing my best to help Tabitha, the only way I knew how, by following her directions and looking for a chance to escape, but I was quickly losing hope.

The snake was simply too fast, and the fact that it could fly meant I couldn’t just Air Walk my way out of here. The only thing I could do was try and stay out of Tabitha’s way. But, sadly, with the snake hellbent on keeping us together, I couldn’t even do that.

Flash Stepping left, I narrowly avoided bumping into Tabitha, who was once again forced to dodge in my direction.

“Try to use the buildings for cover!” She shouts to me before lunging at the winged serpent again.

I understand what Tabitha is going for, but her plan would be harder to execute than it sounded. We weren’t the ones deciding which direction we were going, the snake was, and it was doing a damn good job of leading us by the nose without letting us get close to any of the nearby structures.

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“Run to the nearest tower,” Tabitha instructs with a manic look of urgency.

As instructed, I bolt towards the tower while Tabitha turns around and tries to attack the snake's face.

For a brief second, I think Tabitha’s distraction had finally worked when the snake didn't immediately position itself between me and the tower, but my excitement was short-lived.

“Watch out!” I hear Tabitha warningly shout behind me.

Looking over my shoulder, I expected to face a rapidly approaching winged snake, but the reality was much worse.

The snake was still fighting Tabitha, using its whip-like tail to keep her at bay, but at the same time, its mouth was directed at me, and its throat was puffing up like a balloon.

I have just enough time to change direction when the snake breathes out a dense cloud of dark brown mist.

“Don’t let it touch you!” I clearly hear Tabitha's panicked warning.

Yeah, I wasn't planning on it. Gritting my teeth, I dodge backward to avoid the immense cloud of what I assume is acid or some sort of poison. Whatever it was, it blocked me from reaching the tower.

"Fall back," Tabitha says, right behind me. I don’t have time to react or think about how she closed the distance between us so quickly before she yanked me off my feet and dragged me alongside her, the snake hot on her heels.

While being dragged, I got a clear look at the snake who was casually flying after us. I swear the massive serpent was smiling at us, and I think I know why. Tabitha was dragging me in the direction the snake had not so subtly been herding us. We were doing exactly what it wanted.

Finally finding my feet, I run alongside Tabitha rather than letting her drag me around. "You know we're doing what it wants, right?" I say anxiously.

"I know," Tabitha runs with a steely expression. "It probably wants to wait to deal with us until we're deeper in its territory," she comments darkly.

“Why?" I ask, more than a little hysterical at the moment.

"Most likely, it doesn't want to clean up after itself. Whatever skill it used to lure us here would've probably been broken if we came across a bunch of bones or signs of a battle. Compulsion skills are powerful, but once a person notices something is off, they’re relatively easy to break,” Tabitha sounds tired, as she explains.

"And that's why it's not attacking us for the moment?" I glance over my shoulder at the hovering snake tailing not far behind us. It hisses at me and strikes the ground behind us with its tail, kicking up dirt and stone, urging us to go faster when it could just as easily finish us off now. “I’m sorry I couldn’t escape,” I feebly add.

“You’ll have your chance,” Tabitha assures me. “I’ll see to it,” she promises.

“What does that mean?" I don't like the way Tabitha was talking; it almost sounded like she planned on sacrificing herself or something.

“It’s yet to attack us seriously,” Tabitha stares ahead, ignoring both my question and the beast chasing us. "When it does, I'll do everything possible to slow it down and buy you as much time as I can. That's when you run.”

“And how will you escape?” I frown. Tabitha doesn’t say anything, all but confirming my worst fears. “You can’t!”

Tabitha finally turns and looks at me, and her resolute expression makes my hair stand on end. “I’ll do what I must. When you get back to the village, send for Master, he’ll be able to avenge me.”

“What if we work together?” I plead.

Tabitha shakes her head. "I can't see its level, meaning it's over level 120. You’ll die before being able to do anything, and I’m not fast enough to outrun it. At least with my sacrifice, one of us will live.”

I wanted to disagree but couldn't find the words to argue with her. Tabitha was dead set on sacrificing herself so I may have a sliver of a chance to escape, and the worst part was part of me was relieved.

I didn’t want to die again. I promised my family I’d return to them safely, and I didn't want to imagine how sad they would be if I never returned.

On the other hand, I couldn’t just accept letting Tabitha sacrifice her life for me. There had to be a way out of this we weren’t seeing. If I could survive against the soul devourer by myself, the two of us should be able to find a way to kill this oversized snake, lesser dragon or not.

"Get ready; we're almost there,” Tabitha’s cold voice is a sad reminder that we were running out of time.

In the distance, up against a section of arena sticking out of the ground was a massive pile of bones, and looking closer, it wasn’t the only one. There were piles of sun-bleached bones all over the place. I spot goblin bones, silent falcon bones, a skull from a forest lion; they were all here. There were remains of countless beasts scattered everywhere, making for a grizzly scene, and I couldn't help but think ours would be joining them soon.

“Good, it’s not going to waste its time eating us,” Tabitha mumbles beside me.

“And how do you know that?” I ask, nervously sweating up a storm.

“Snakes digest bones,” Tabitha says matter-of-factly. “Chances are, it just wants to kill us for the experience.”

“Oh, is that all?” I remark dryly, trying my best not to have a panic attack.

"Well, here we are," Tabitha suddenly stops running and turns around. I slide to a stop a few feet behind her, and time slows as we face off against the colossal magic beast.

The winged serpent hovers a couple of dozen feet away from us, its large head bobbing side to side, quizzically examining us, its prey. Most of its attention was on Tabitha, but it spared me a glance before writing my presence off. That was good if I was running, but could I bring myself to leave Tabitha behind?

“I’m going to use everything I have; get ready," Tabitha tells me as she takes her stance. It was hard not to notice how she placed herself between the snake and me.

I was out of time and still hadn't figured out a way for us to escape. We were deep in the snakes’ territory with almost nothing around us. We could try hiding behind the ruins sticking out of the ground, but that would only stall the inevitable.

Suddenly, the snake twists in the air, climbing higher until it's over thirty feet off the ground. It opens its mouth, showcasing its fangs, and lets out a threateningly long hiss at Tabitha. I can’t see Tabitha’s face from where I am, but I imagine she’s sneering back at it.

Then, Tabitha and the snake's killing intent clash at the same time, and I tremble like I'm standing in the middle of a blizzard without a coat.

“Aaliyah, run!” Tabitha shouts as she leaps at the flying serpent at blinding speeds. At the same time, the snake rushes at Tabitha with its mouth wide open. The two move so fast that my eyes can't keep up with either of their movements.

I vaguely see Tabitha dodge the snake's initial charge, but it uses its wings to slam Tabitha back to the ground. Tabitha recovers in time to dodge the snake's follow-up lunge, but it’s clear she’s struggling to match its movements.

All my instincts screamed for me to turn around and run for the hills, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I had to save Tabitha!

Fighting wasn’t an option, but neither was running, so what did we do?

“Why are you still here!? Get out of here!" Tabitha screams at me to flee while dodging the snake's whip-like tail.

I couldn’t do that! I bite my lower lip until I taste blood. My legs were trembling, and I was scared out of my mind, but I couldn't bring myself to abandon Tabitha, no matter the consequences.

“Damn you, just leave!” I hear the sorrow in Tabitha’s voice as she begs me to follow her orders.

Just then, I sense the snake gathering a significant amount of mana into its tail. “Watch out!” I scram a warning, but it’s too late. So many things happen at once my brain struggles to process it all.

My ears ring as a shockwave of air slams into me. The snake had swung its tail at Tabitha so fast that it created a small explosion when it struck her shield.

There was no way Tabitha could deflect such an attack, and she was sent flying through the air until she landed a few feet away from me, unable to move. Her left arm was completely destroyed, and what remained of Tabitha’s shield was twisted around her bloody flesh. Tabitha’s right arm was better, but it still looked broken in several places. By some miracle, Tabitha was still holding onto her sword, but there was no doubt she was down for the count.

Tabitha was still conscious somehow, but she was losing a lot of blood fast. Her breastplate had a massive dent, and the rest of her armor didn’t look much better. Honestly, I wasn’t sure how she was even alive.

“Why didn’t you run?” She feebly wheezes, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

“Not without you,” I rush to her side and grab her limp body by her armor.

“Then we’ll die together,” she rasps.

“Not if I can help it,” I start dragging her over to the largest pile of nearby bones.

While I’m dragging Tabitha, the winged serpent returns to the sky and slowly circles over us like a vulture waiting for its prey to drop. It must think with Tabitha out of commission, it was only a matter of time before I shared her fate, but I wasn't going to give it the satisfaction.

As we near the pile of bones, I finally draw my hammer, but not for the reason one would think.

The flying snake hisses above us, but I ignore it and focus on my real target. While holding on to Tabitha with my left hand, I take my hammer in my right and prepare to use all my skills simultaneously.

I don't know if the snake realized something was wrong with my actions, but I wasn't waiting to find out.

With everything I have, I slam my weapon down. My hammer pulverizes bone and strikes my real target, the grey bricks hidden underneath. The grey stone resists for a second, but soon I hear it giving way.

If there was no place to hide up here, then why not try underground? That was the crazy idea I came up with in the heat of the moment. Of course, we weren't necessarily escaping, but at least I could save Tabitha and buy us some time to devise a real plan.

The monster overhead sees what I’m doing, but even it’s too far away to make it in time to stop me. “That’s what you get for playing with your food, you bastard!” I shout at it as I'm about to jump into the newly formed hole with Tabitha.

The winged serpent probably didn’t understand exactly what I said, but it sure as hell pissed it off all the same because before we disappeared underground, a wave of brown mist crashed down from above and enveloped us.

The poison clings to Mana Skin as I pull Tabitha underground. The lesser dragon may have gotten the last word, but we were alive.

For now.