A cloud of dust accompanied Python as it moved, as it was impossible for it not to knock over buildings due to its enormous size. It, therefore, was quite easy for Sorin, Lawrence, and Lorimer to stage an ambush on the serpent—though they soon discovered that damaging the creature was easier said than done.

An initial scan of Python revealed that its scales were thick and powerful, so Sorin skipped his usual needle and dagger attacks in favor of morphing Nemesis into a spear. It cut a shallow gash in the serpent's side, allowing Sorin to inject a moderate payload of poison that deepened his understanding of the creature's anatomy.

Poison resistance is confirmed to be A-Tier, analyzed Sorin. Resistance applies equally to all poisons, despite the unequal effectiveness of each respective poison.

He followed up with a few more spear attacks to confirm his findings. Target's life force is overwhelming, making the effects of Gorgon's Mouning significantly weaker than normal. Simulations place the effectiveness of each dose reducing reaction speed by 0.1% with a maximum projected effectiveness of 25-40%. Effect on speed and strength is negligible.

Sorin jumped backward as Python's massive body cut beside their group, cutting them off from the rest of their team. Fire and arrows bombarded the serpent from the other side to little effect. Python ignored the retreating Daphne and focused on Sorin, its main target.

It bit down on Sorin's position, but Sorin evaded it with a well-timed teleportation from his Wraith Hair boots. He dodged a second time using Adder Rush but failed to evade the serpent's keen senses. Fortunately, Lawrence had been ready for just this moment.

"Hey there, Snakey, Snakey!" Lawrence's well-timed words caused Python's biting path to change at the last minute. "I can call you snakey, can't I? How's family life these days? Got a clutch of eggs at home you're probably worried about?!" Python hissed as it changed its primary target to Lawrence, freeing up Sorin to launch a series of attacks. "Wait, you don't have eggs because you're not female? Or are you just both? It must be tough, being the only member of your species, but worry not—Uncle Lawrence can help you out!"

Lawrence's taunts, amplified by his S-Tier Bullseye Ring, completely provoked the creature. It bit down repeatedly, tearing up paving stones and exposing the city's sewage system as it missed Lawrence by a hair each time. Small pools of acid dissolved remained after each failed attack, pitting and dissolving stone.

Python's outer scales musculature are extremely resistant to poison transmission, likely due to its own acitoxins. Nemesis's spear form is barely good enough to get through. This is limiting my ability to successfully stack poisons.

Sorin used his Wraith Hair Boots to avoid Python's sweeping tail and appeared atop the serpent's body, where he proceeded to hack into the back of the serpent's sinuous body and move his way toward the creature's head. Hemotoxins have successfully distributed poisons throughout Python's body. Performing a preliminary analysis of bone structure. Evaluating the performance of individual organs. Calculating weak points.

Small points of light lit up on Sorin's mental map of the creature, confirming that it was unlike any other demonic serpent Sorin had ever analyzed.

"Sorin, the jig is up!" warned Lawrence, appearing beside Sorin. He led Sorin through the shadows to appear beside Lorimer, then teleported their group away.

Mana stirred as the mythical serpent, now fully enraged by his targets, got serious. A shockwave stunned their group for two full seconds, just long enough for Python to close the gap. Sorin used Cobra's Glare against the creature to buy them a fraction of a second to escape but suffered serious injuries in the process.

"I'm fine," Sorin said to Lawrence as tears of blood poured out of his eyes. "They're healing over. You don't need to concern yourself."

Physically, Sorin was almost back to normal, as his poisons were constantly siphoning lifeforce from Python. The problem instead lay in his spirit, which had suffered grievous damage in the exchange.

Seeing that Python was gaining on them once again, Sorin summoned a hundred-foot-long poisonous snake. "Hop on," he said to Lawrence and Lorimer. The snake shot off at double their group's original speed.

"Cool," said Lawrence. "You never told me you had a snake mount."

"I just never thought of the application," said Sorin. "Also, he's back."

"Not to worry," said Lawrence. "Eyes on the back of my head, remember? Dodge. Dodge. Dodge now!"

Sorin dodged a biting attack at the last second, then directed his own Python Coil toward a nearby shadow, which Lawrence used to transport them. What had originally been a bid to distract the creature had now fully devolved into a one-sided chase.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"It's slower at reacting than it was at the beginning, at least," said Lawrence. "We accomplished something."

Sorin shook his head. "The effects are wearing off, and it's already building a tolerance to my poisons. I'm going to need to modify my poisons before our next encounter. And Lorimer, what exactly are you doing? You haven't done anything all battle!"

"Ree!" said an aggrieved Lorimer.

Sorin sighed. "Fine. If you can't damage it, you can't damage it. At least try to draw its attention. Lawrence, do we have any idea how close Gareth and the others are to Astley's safe spot?' I can't maintain Python Coil indefinitely, as it's a huge drain on my mana."

"Neither can I keep jumping us between shadows," said Lawrence. "As for how far they are, I have no idea. Why don't we start heading their way and hope they've gotten far enough ahead?"

It was easy to find where their companions had traveled. Scorched patches of stone and smoldering corpses littered the way to their destination. Due to time constraints, they hadn't harvested any of the demon cores along the way; Lorimer, the fastest on their team, made sure to swoop in and devour the unclaimed loop. The corruption in his body began to climb to unhealthy levels."

"You need to stop this, Lorimer," said Sorin, scooping up the rat as he returned to their 'python' mount. He used Hand of the Twisted Physician to remove a large amount of corruption from the rat's body. "You've reached your limits. All you're doing is poisoning yourself."

"Reee!" Lorimer bit down on Sorin's hand and shot out to harvest more cores, restoring the corruption in his body to dangerous levels once again.

Sorin sighed as he scooped up the rat a second time. This time, he didn't withdraw the corruption from the rodent's body.

"You're feeling useless," said Sorin.

"Reee!"

"You're feeling forgotten."

"Reee! Ree ree ree, ree, ree ree ree!"

"You should understand that I've done everything I can for you," Sorin said to Lorimer. "Everything within safe limits. I opened all your available meridians—all sixteen you possessed—and unsealed your bones to ruby grade.

"Nevertheless, there are just too many impurities stuck in your bones and your core. If I try to purge them, there's a good chance your bone and your core will shatter. The remnant corruption will destroy you in body and soul.

"While you could theoretically use this as an opportunity to exceed your limits, the process won't be as reliable as using natural treasures."

"Incoming!" shouted Lawrence. Sorin twisted to avoid another one of Python's attacks and threw a spear at the creature's muzzle. Nemesis bounced off its skull, confirming the futility of exchanging blows with it.

Shadows twisted to bring them a bit farther away, but Sorin could see that Lawrence was growing tired. "How many more jumps have you got left?"

"Four," said Lawrence. "Our destination is getting closer, and it's quite likely that Gareth and the rest are already there. Maybe they can support us once we get within firing distance?"

Lorimer stirred in Sorin's hands as the corruption in his body reached a critical point. The rat knew things were dire and was trying to force a breakthrough.

Sensing Lorimer's determination, Sorin sighed and told the rat his options. "I have three divine abilities that are useful in this situation: Ophiuchan Simulation, Grove Keeper's Touch, and Hand of the Twisted Physician. Through these abilities, I can infuse you with more potent corruption and somewhat guide it."

A wave of earthen spikes shot up from beneath them, forcing Sorin to dodge to the side. One of the stone spikes tore a gash in his leather armor and cut three inches into his flesh, chipping his bones and forcing him to down a vial of poison to recuperate.

"The way I see it, there are three real options," continued Sorin. "The first is to inject you with dense enough Violence-based corruption and attempt to force a genetic mutation. Unfortunately, we don't have any of this on hand. Any attempts will have to wait.

"The second option is to use Madness. I could attempt to purify the high-grade demon cores in our possession and use Grove Keeper's Touch and Hand of the Twisted Physician to spur mutation in your body. The results would be highly unpredictable and might result in your death."

"Ree!"

"The third option is the most dangerous," continued Sorin. "By using my blood as a catalyst, I'll attempt to reconcile the Madness and Violence in your blood to promote conflict. Essentially, you'll undergo a similar process to mine, using Violence to forge your bones and Madness to temper them. Should you survive the process, you'll likely be much stronger. The only problem is that I'm not sure if a demon like you can withstand it."

Sorin cut off as Python once again took the offensive. A barrier of earthen spikes cornered Sorin and forced him to face the snake head-on. It was clear that Python's power was growing, likely due to its proximity to the center of the catacombs.

Since his Wraith Hare Boots were still on cooldown, Sorin could only take drastic action. He jumped straight into Python's open mouth and lodged Nemesis into its jaw, taking the opportunity to infuse a large dose of Gorgon's Lament straight into its brain.

The attack enraged the serpent more than anything else but achieved Sorin's goal of wasting time. In the three seconds it took the serpent to shatter Nemesis and purge the poison, Sorin was able to vault over the spikes and rejoin Lawrence on the other side.

"Ree!" said Lorimer as they landed.

"Are you sure?" said Sorin. "I've never seen a combination of Madness and Violence in the wild. As far as I know, both forces are incompatible without a catalyst, and I'm a unique case." This was why his blood was a necessary component. Both Violence and Madness now fully permeated his body alongside divinity.

"Reee!" confirmed Lorimer.

"Are you sure?" asked Sorin.

"Reee!" said Lorimer with a tone of finality.

"Fine," said Sorin. "Prepare yourself."

"Incoming!" said Lawrence from a distance. "Evade!"

"You go on ahead," said Sorin, ducking to the side as a massive tail whipped down on their position. "Regroup with the others while I try to think of a way out of here. Ask Astley and Daphne if they have any magical solutions and confirm that Astley's prediction of a safe haven was correct."

"Got it!" confirmed Lawrence. The rogue slipped into the shadows, leaving Sorin and Lorimer alone to fight the massive mythical creature.

As predicted, the serpent paid no heed to Lawrence. "It's clear now that you're not just acting on instinct," muttered Sorin. "You have a clear target in mind." Sorin used Nemesis to cut open his left hand. Lorimer greedily lapped up his poisonous and corrupted blood.

"I can buy you twenty minutes at most, Lorimer," said Sorin, pointing his spear at Python and placing the trembling Lorimer into his pocket. "You'd better make every second count."