Another set of fangs aimed at Synexus’ throat as the scaled assassin jumped from its coiled position. If it wasn’t trying to kill him currently, he might have thought it looked quite majestic soaring through the air solely focused on a base function of its nature. With a quick flick of Progress, the head and body were separated to harmlessly fall to the ground with the thousands of other snake corpses.
Two weeks had passed since the bridge, and they were making good time and progress. Synexus had consolidated the gains from his newest creation netting him a level in Genome Perfecting and Progress Garden. After that the focus was to be on Enemy Transmutation since that was again his lowest level skill.
His progress was coming along nicely when they took down a pack of strange goats who were overly aggressive. Zuls attempted to calm them with no luck and a fight broke out. It was strange how strong they ended up being.
Like normal mountain goats they had a knack for being able to glue themselves to the mountain at any angle. However, they were even more difficult due to the odd muscular human-like arms rising from their backs always holding onto a boulder. According to Zuls’ beast manual and confirmed by System, they were simply known as boulder sure-foots and not to be confused with their more agility focused cousins the gust sure-foots. The boulder sure-foots were obviously focused on strength and a fun fact from the beast manual was that they were constantly attempting to squeeze the boulder in their arms. When the boulder broke, they would need to find a harder boulder in order to stay in the herd.
All the information was great, but it did not prepare them for a hectic battle of dodging extremely hard boulders and seismic punches. Some of the boulders were simply too dense and heavy for Kumo’s overpowered wind to blow around. Synexus mitigated the danger by using Enemy Transmutation to weaken the goats so they couldn’t pick up the boulders. Their confusion seemed cruel and Synexus was quite sad to take that action in the fight. He was just unsure if they would be able to take down the whole herd without taking injuries and that ultimately made the decision for him.
Even with the usage of the skill against the goats, Enemy Transmutation didn’t level up. That ended up taking another week since nothing had attacked them after the sure-foots. A massive bird who was only protecting her nest and her chicks attacked them with a flurry of sharp feathers thinking that they were a little too close to her nest. Zuls again tried to calm the bird and managed to make some progress before a strange horn in the distance sounded and scared her. Shortly after her mate showed up and fire rained down on the group melting some of the snow that capped the mountain they were on. None of the party wanted to hurt the birds or even attempt to fight near the nest as to not harm the little birds within, so Synexus decided to use Enemy Transmutation on both of the adult birds to make their feathers weigh them down enough that the party could get away. The plan worked except he nearly lost his arm from a surprisingly fast reaction from the mother bird. Fortunately, Shell was able to heal the nasty wound with help from Synexus’ Zaxillian healing abilities over the course of two days.
He wasn’t happy about the wound, but he did get the last level he needed in Enemy Transmutation which also netted him another class level and to his surprise another skill selection. He was going to do it as soon as they found a relatively safe area to make camp. No one in party thought it wise to stay too close to the nest so they had traveled through the night and into the next day only to be attacked by moles that nearly teleported through the dirt to strike beneath them. That left them travelling one more day to ensure the group’s safety while they got some rest and then they had finally found it.
When they came upon the area, they all knew instantly that they would have to make camp. A beautiful deep blue waterfall was cascading down the mountain reminding them of the waterfall on the island. A town was built at the bottom of the waterfall near the lake that it flowed into. It was decided in silence that they would step away from mountain living for a night to get a night of decent rest. As soon as they made plans to descend the snakes attacked.
First it was half a dozen that slithered over to act as scouts. A lot of hissing from the six started to echo over the mountains until they realized they weren’t echoes. An incredible number of snakes slithered down from the peak or up from the side of the mountain. Some even seemed to come from out of the water. All different sizes and colors, but they all shared the same designation. Assassin Cobras.
Zuls immediately brought out her beast manual and searched through the entries until she found the information she was looking for. The cobras were, of course, ambush predators that had the ability to blend into their environment to hide from any prey until they were ready to strike. Normally they wouldn’t show their position until it was too late, however, when they did it was a show of dominance. The cobras were showing the party that it was their mountain.
Another bit of information was that their fangs delivered a deadly venom that would ignite the blood of their victims. One good dose meant death in an excruciating pain.
Once that was shared with the party, they got serious. Fort threw up his best shields around the party. Kumo summoned a cloud bubble that would repel most of the snakes when they lunged. Soul grew into a harder material that was more resistant to piercing damage and covered most of Synexus’ body. Then the thousands of snakes started their assault.
Most were bouncing off the cloud dome. They would simply pick themselves back up and try again. The ones that were powerful enough pushed through the cloud barrier only to fail against Fort’s shields. Synexus ended up making a ring of razor grass and spiked vines circle their defensive position to start skewering the cobras that bounced off and the ones that tried to retreat when Fort’s shields proved too much.
Stolen novel; please report.
As for their offensive, Zuls, Yu, Shell, Siz, Snowfall, and Gliya used their different elements for long distance attacks. Kumo saved her mana to keep the taxing cloud barrier up but sent the occasional gust out to knock a whole path clear or summon a low fog to eat away at their health points. Prith and Vorin stood at the edge of the barriers and lashed out whenever possible to cut the snakes in two or deliver a horrifying plague. Synexus used Progress to do same, but he also sent out his Razor Hydras to hunt and threw some of his original Razor Death Plants to spread through the ranks.
For hours the party withstood the constant onslaught. Thousands upon thousands of Assassin Cobras fell to fire whips, jets of liquid flame, sunbeams that would disintegrate all in their paths, pressurized water that would slice the snakes cleanly in two, and subzero rays of frost. Multiple battlefields started to pop up as Synexus’ plant beasts fought their own battles all over the mountain. He would grow fortifications, and deadly plants whenever possible to help his allies.
When Kumo exhausted all her mana and the cloud bubble fell, they had to go back-to-back to protect each other. A ring of trees helped for some time until the snakes simply slithered up them with no problem and attacked from the canopy. Eventually Fort ran out of everything the turtle had and Zuls had to recall him. That’s when the all-out melee brawl broke out and they had to be hyper vigilant about any cobras able to get through. When possible Synexus would take the bite as Soul did everything to protect him. The fangs would shatter as the snake tried to bite down on the impossibly hard material the living armor had turned into.
Mana fruits were passed around when there was a break in the endless waves and those were the only reason the party was able to last the ten hours of fighting before the snakes started to thin out. Unfortunately, it seemed that the ambush predators were clever and had saved their most powerful members for last.
Several bigger cobras with impressive designs on their scales slithered up but kept their distance. The party soon figured out why when a barrage of acidic venom shot towards them in a wave. Shell and Kumo rebuffed the wave with wind and water only to find another barrage was already being shot out. While they were focused on the party, one of the razor hydras flanked the cobras and caused mayhem in their ranks which gave the party the moment they needed.
Prith, Synexus, and Vorin shot out from their defensive circle with their weapons in hand to deliver a lightning-fast death to the remaining generals of the snake army. As the last head hit the dirt, they all fell in exhaustion onto the mountain pass stained in the sticky, thick blood of the snakes.
A deadly hiss that rattled the mountain itself instilled fear in the exhausted class chosen. Each one immediately tried to jump up and get prepared to fight only to find that their stances were wobbly from the intense marathon fight they had just experienced. They all looked at each other in confusion as their enemy hadn’t shown themselves yet. Suddenly a crash next to Shell, Zuls, and Kumo sent them flying. Zuls’ arm was broken and blood freely flowed from an unseen wound.
“Synexus! Mana Perception now!” Gene yelled from above.
Without second guessing his friend he activated the skill only to see a large dense mana coiled up right where the girls just were.
“Huge snake and invisible. Be prepared!”
Everyone nodded. Shell was already helping Zuls up and playing a song of healing. Kumo stepped in front of the two ready to fight.
Synexus noticed that the giant blob of mana turned towards his friends. It must have seen them as weaker prey due to the injury. Before it got a chance to lunge, he poured his mana into Progress Garden to summon the rest of his razor grass, binding vine, and leech moss seeds. He nearly fell over from the effort and silver blood ran from his nose, but it was worth it.
A hiss of pain and anger shook the mountain as the boss assassin cobra was impaled hundreds of times. The blanket of leech moss was used as a net and tied around the beast by the dozens of binding vines. As soon as the blood started flowing, the invisibility wore off and the thrashing began. Each time it tried to escape from the trap the sharp, hardened grass bit into it more and more. Synexus was glad that the thick scales provided so little defense, but it made sense since they were ambush predators.
Kumo, Prith, Vorin, and Gliya didn’t waste a single second. A sharpened, condensed cloud blade shot out in an attempt to decapitate the snake. A mana blade from Prith’s sword was going to do the same. Vorin was clearly channeling a potent plague into the blades of his scythes. Gliya shot a massive sunbeam down that clearly used everything left in the tank as the hawk started to fall from the sky. Just before the attacks converged on their targets a green shield appeared out of nowhere and deflected the attacks.
As soon as the attacks were repelled, the acid bubble popped and it flew everywhere. All of them got some on their skin and it immediately started to eat away at their bodies in a hiss of sizzles. Shell instantly reacted and dropped a ridiculous amount of water on them to wash away the acid. She then played her song of healing louder to affect the entire party. Kumo threw a cloud buffer up for Gliya to fall on right before the poor hawk hit the ground. Zuls quickly recalled her.
The head assassin cobra didn’t sit and wait for them to recover and slithered its way out of the trap. Some of the acid in the bubble had melted through some of Synexus’ plants to make it a bit easier to escape. Neither side looked great, however. Blood poured out from beneath the scales of the massive snake where it had been impaled. The leech moss had clearly taken its fill of life and mana as well.
Still, it wasn’t only six on one. In the chaos, the big snake didn’t realize that the parties’ seventh fighter had taken to the skies. A huge blast of wind shot straight down and smacked the snake’s head against the rocky ground. Not even a second later a three-foot-wide whip made of a blazing inferno came from above and cleanly sliced the head of the snake in two. Its body writhed on the ground for nearly a minute before falling lifeless like the thousands of snakes before.
“We’re adding snakes to the list of the worst creatures to deal with. Snakes and spiders.” Zuls called out while lying on the ground putting pressure on the slowly healing wound.
No one had enough energy to respond and an eerie silence fell over the battlefield or more aptly the snake graveyard until the sound of several feet stomping across the gravel roused them from their recuperation.
Several people in silk robes holding various weapons were running towards them. Vorin barely stood in order to greet them and figure out if it was another fight or a chance encounter. Synexus was rolling over to attempt standing while thinking that all he wanted to do was find a safe place to choose his new skill.
