Kaelen, Vessira, and Nirathi marched through the desert, seeking more prey. The six lizards they had caught were enough for the village's immediate needs, but Nirathi insisted they needed more meat to make into jerky. Zharaith was preparing for a long trip to a desert city to resupply and have their armor and weapons repaired, so stockpiling provisions was essential.

Kaelen understood and didn’t ask any more questions. He followed Nirathi, who was tracking something through the shifting sands while Vessira slept peacefully inside Kaelens armor. According to her, it was a group of bighorns. They followed the tracks closely, but after some time, the trail stopped. There were no bighorns in sight, only traces of a fight. Blood splatters marked the sand, broken horns lay scattered, and in the center of the carnage was a massive snake, the size of a carriage, sleeping with large lumps in its belly—the likely fate of the bighorns they had been tracking.

Kaelen froze, eyes widening. "Looks like we’re too late," he muttered, gripping his sword tighter.

Nirathi glanced at the snake, her expression unreadable. "Too late for the bighorns," she replied calmly, "but this might be worth more than we expected."

Kaelen gave Nirathi a confused look. "You don't mean to fight that thing, do you?"

She knocked an arrow, which immediately became shrouded in blue energy. "Don’t be scared. I’ve killed many sand serpents."

Kaelen turned back toward the massive snake, his brow furrowing. "I’m not scared, I’m just not dumb. I assume you don’t hunt alone for these things, and if you haven’t noticed, I’m the weakest hunter in the village. You won’t have reliable backup, and I have no plans to get us both killed for no reason. We can just hunt something else."

Nirathi smirked, unfazed by his reasoning, while Kaelen kept a wary eye on the beast.

Nirathi drew her bow, the tension in the air palpable, as she prepared to fire. Kaelen sighed, shaking his head. "Damn it. If you're gonna fight it anyway, I’ll help you, even though this is ridiculously stupid."

Without a word, Nirathi released her shot. The glowing blue arrow arced through the air, brimming with energy, and struck the giant snake squarely in its side. The beast hissed in pain, uncoiling as it turned its attention toward them, its eyes burning with fury, now fully awake and enraged. It stared daggers at the two who had dared to disturb its slumber.

Kaelen stared at the jet-black serpent, its golden eyes glowing menacingly. Gold accents shimmered along its scales, but what stood out most were the two dagger-like horns that pointed backward from its head. His heart skipped a beat, and Nirathi’s eyes widened in alarm.

“Shit,” she muttered, “this isn’t a regular sand serpent... You might’ve been right, Kaelen. I could probably handle this with Kalivara.”

Kaelen, already gripping his sword, took a deep breath and shifted into a defensive stance. “Well, it’s a little too late to regret our decision now.” His gaze locked on the serpent as it began to slither toward them, hunger and malice in its eyes.

The serpent lunged forward, its massive jaws aimed directly at Nirathi. Without thinking, Kaelen jumped in front of her, his body suddenly shrouded in a brilliant red energy. With a loud clash, his sword connected with the serpent’s mouth, stopping the beast in its tracks. The force of the impact sent a shockwave through the ground, but Kaelen stood his ground, unmoving. His muscles tensed as he held the creature back, refusing to give even an inch.

Nirathi stared in shock at Kaelen's display of strength but quickly snapped back to focus. Without wasting time, she leaped backward, her bow glowing bright blue as it shifted from a shortbow into a longbow, still emanating that same ethereal hue. She pulled the string back and fired an arrow that whistled sharply through the air. The serpent, sensing the projectile, turned just in time to expose its side, but the arrow struck true, embedding itself deeply into its scales. The creature hissed in pain, its golden eyes flaring with fury as it now had two enemies to contend with.

The snake lashed its tail toward Kaelen, but he was ready. With a swift motion, he parried the strike, the clang of metal ringing out as his sword met the beast’s tail, both rebounding from the impact. From behind him, another arrow shot through the air—this one unnoticed by the serpent. It struck the snake's head, but instead of piercing through, it merely left a faint scar as it bounced off the hardened scales.

The serpent, now irritated, attempted to slither around Kaelen to eliminate the pesky archer. But before it could maneuver far, Kaelen leapt high into the air, bringing his sword down with a powerful Brutal Strike. The blade didn’t manage to cut deep, but the sheer force of the blow slammed the serpent’s head into the ground, sending a shockwave through the sand. The snake hissed angrily, its golden eyes narrowing as it finally recognized Kaelen as a true threat.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Kaelen landed back on the ground and quickly pivoted on his foot but before he could take another action the snake lunged at him its fangs glowing a brilliant gold color Kaelen lifted his sword to block but his guard wasn't complete he managed to avoid getting bitten but was launched backward he flew through the air and smacked into the sand, his body ached but he stood right back up and charged toward the snake that was being peppered with arrows. but as he ran he heard a familiar voice.

“What is even going on, Kaelen?” Vessira’s voice trembled with confusion as she was jolted awake by the impact of Kaelen crashing into the sand.

“Big snake,” Kaelen muttered, his voice strained as he caught his breath.

Vessira’s eyes widened in fear as she took in the sight of the massive, gold-encrusted serpent. “Well... why aren’t you running?!”

Kaelen didn't respond to her panic. Instead, he tightened his grip on his sword, eyes focused on the beast. Without hesitation, he charged forward, aiming his blade at the serpent’s side, already riddled with Nirathi’s arrows. His sword swung with brutal force, determined to break through its defenses.

The sword struck true, and the serpent recoiled from the impact, clearly startled that Kaelen was still on his feet and hadn’t been dispatched. Kaelen noticed Nirathi drawing her bow, aiming high into the sky to divert the snake’s attention.

The massive creature, fed up with the barrage of arrows, turned to focus on the new threat. But instead of the arrow just falling to the ground, Nirathi appeared at the arrow mid-air, nocking it with fluid grace before releasing it in one smooth motion. The arrow flew through the air, striking the snake’s head with deadly precision. Though the impact was powerful, the snake did not succumb to the injury.

Kaelen unleashed another Brutal Swing, this time targeting the back of the serpent's head. His blade connected, leaving a deep slash along the creature's neck. Kaelen could feel his strikes making an impact. Vessira, now floating in the background, stared at him in disbelief; he was only level two, and there was no way he should be able to survive, let alone inflict wounds on such a powerful creature.

As the snake turned to retaliate, its movements were sluggish. Seizing the opportunity, Kaelen stepped forward and delivered a solid punch to the side of its head. The unexpected strike made the serpent recoil, surprised by the force behind it. As it pulled back, three arrows shot from behind, striking the creature and causing it to hiss in pain. In a sudden change of heart, the snake began to retreat, clearly disoriented and desperate to escape the relentless assault.

Kaelen rushed forward, catching up with the weakened snake. He wrapped his arm around its neck, pulling it into a haphazard headlock as it writhed and struggled against his grip. Vessira's mouth fell open in disbelief at the sight of a level-two human managing to restrain such a powerful monster.

The snake thrashed violently, desperately trying to break free, but its strength was waning. Seizing the opportunity, Nirathi unleashed a barrage of arrows aimed at the creature's exposed underbelly. Seven arrows struck true, piercing through its scales and drawing forth dark, viscous blood.

Finally, the snake broke free from Kaelen's grip, now fully enraged. It abandoned its attempts to escape, redirecting all its energy toward attacking Kaelen, its fury palpable in the air around them.

The snake lunged at Kaelen, but he activated Enduring Defense, a red energy enveloping him as he braced for the impact. The snake anticipated his block and swung its tail, slashing Kaelen across the face and knocking him back. The serpent flexed its muscles, causing the arrows lodged in its underbelly to fall away.

It slithered forward, jaws wide, aiming to bite down on Kaelen. He managed to dodge, but the snake's fangs still clamped around his sword arm. Instead of allowing it to crush his arm, Kaelen reached up and seized the top of the snake's mouth, preventing it from biting down any further. He lost his grip on the sword, but that didn’t stop him; he began to throw punches into the monster's snout, determination burning in his eyes as he fought against the creature’s ferocity.

as Kaelen fought ferociously against the snake Nirathi ran up the snake's body and plunged two daggers into both of its eyes the snake stopped struggling and fell flat it finally died.

["King Serpens Slain. You defeated an enemy well above your own level. Fifteen free points awarded."]

Kaelen pushed the snake off of him, and Vessira flew to his side. "Kaelen, how did you do that? You're only level two!"

Kaelen sighed and sat up. "Vessira's right, Kaelen. What you did shouldn’t be possible," Nirathi added, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Kaelen stood to his feet, still feeling the exhaustion weighing on him. "I don’t know either. I just fought... I don't really understand all of this," he admitted, glancing at the notifications floating before him. "Anyway, Vessira, come read this. The words look different."

Vessira landed on his head, her eyes scanning the notification. "Lucky you! It says you have free points. You can allocate those into whatever stats you like, and you have a total of fifteen."

Kaelen thought for a moment, the points he got in dexterity definitely helped him during the fight he could feel how much easier it was to react to attacks so he needed some more points there. and obviously, he needed strength and endurance so he decided to just put five points into each of the three stats.

he told Vessira and she nodded and then the notification disappeared and the points were invested.

"Alright, now how exactly do we get this thing back to the village?" Kaelen said, still catching his breath. Nirathi thought for a moment before responding, "You stay here and watch the kill while I go get he—" But before she could finish, the sand suddenly opened up and swallowed Kaelen and Vessira, then closed as if nothing had ever happened.

Nirathi looked around in confusion for a moment, then immediately ran back to the village. Kaelen had vanished, and she needed help. She had heard tales of the desert swallowing people, but she had never witnessed it herself.