A dozen of the Torab Serpents jumped on top of the floating manticore's back.

"Leave the tanking for Fortress and me, you guys do the DPS!" Dave shot called the battle. He dashed forward driving his glaive into the nearest Torab Serpent and used his newly synergized ability [Blade Tornado].

Dave spun in a maelstrom of slicing blades. He was slas.h.i.+ng and cutting off the heads of the Torab Serpent in front of him.

Fortress moved next to Dave and used [Block] on the nearest snake that was about to attack Dave.

He raised his mace and activated [Guard Ally]. A blue s.h.i.+eld icon appeared on top of Dave. Mercy flashed disappeared into stealth and appeared right behind one of the Torab snake, downing it to 0 HP in one hit.

"f.u.c.k that damage is Sick!" Perfect commented.

He waved his hand and chanted, "Bestow, Vigor of the troll!" A green aura surrounded Dave and Fortress. Their HP regeneration spiked up.

"Here's another, Bless, Grant, my ally Feline Grace!"

A yellow glowing aura gathered around Dave and Fortress's legs, increasing their agility.

Perfect shot moved to the back, kneeling he drew his bow to the limit.

"Everyone duck!" Perfect called.

Every player ducked down as Perfect released his arrow. Fire coiled around his arrow and materialised an enormous ethereal blue shark that shot like a train cras.h.i.+ng into one of the Torab snakes and sent it back into the waters. Not to mention that it had killed the Torab Serpent in the process.

"Wow, where did you get that skill?" Lone asked in wonder. She was surprised.

"Got it from a ruin a few days ago. It's quite powerful." Perfect said. He was feeling pleased that he had a good skill right now to use.

"Well, I also have a new skill," Lone drew her bow and shot an arrow at the serpent Dave was fighting. The arrow flew like a bullet and pierced through the snake and continued until it dropped into the lake.

"Uh, isn't that just a regular arrow shot?" Flanker commented.

Lone smiled and said, "Wait for it."

A moment later, the lake area where Lone's arrow dove began freezing. A creature, quite similar to the Torab Serpent emerged from the water, only it was made entirely of ice. It swam across the lake and hopped over the manticore. The ice Torab Serpent engaged the creature Lone had attacked earlier in a fight.

"Wow, what's that?" Flanker asked.

"It's a skill that creates a clone of whatever it hits. It has some conditions before I can use it, but nothing too severe."

"This clone I suppose isn't as strong as the original creature," Dave said.

"Nah, about 30% as strong. Otherwise, it would be too broken." Lone said.

"Well, even if it's just 30% that's still quite good. Imagine using it on a certain black dragon."

Lone shook her head, "It won't work on anything above level 400."

"Ah, figures," Perfect said.

"Guys, keep fighting!" Dave shouted. There seemed to be another wave of these Torab Serpents coming their way.

The party continued slaughtering the serpents, but more and more kept coming.

"s.h.i.+t this is going to be a pain. Big guy, you're up." Dave shouted.

The manticore moved its tail and began shooting poisoned spikes from his tail at the Torab Serpents.

The spikes impaled the Torab Serpents and pinned them on the manticore's carapace.

"Tiny, get more manticores out they will help us in this fight," Dave shouted.

Tiny opened more coffins and released more manticores into the water. The giant creatures sent waves through the lake as they dropped into it.

"Manticore! Hunt every serpent in this lake! I want them all dead!" Dave called.

The manticores spread from Dave and began hunting the creatures. They pulled the snakes from the lake and crushed them with their mighty hands.

"Man, why didn't you do that earlier?" Flanker asked.

"I wanted to see if we could get some drops, but it's unlikely. Tiny, you can eat your fill from these snakes." Dave said.

The grave lord happily obliged. He began ripping the snakes and eating them by the bunch. His torso was made of bone and flesh, now, a thin coating of scales covered them. It made the Grave Lord look like a scaled demonic creature.

A notification appeared in front of Dave.

***

Bud the Ghoul has died.

Spike, the pyromancer, has died.

Two hundred eighty-eight of your undead have died in the Storm Labyrinth.

***

Dave waved away the notification.

He was receiving these reminders constantly.

"Keep killing the serpents. We should be able to finish this quest by the evening," Dave said.

He only needed to kill 200 of these creatures, and he had killed 40 so far.

Dave found this quest easy. He didn't need to do much but kill some creatures. But this also made him feel that something was amiss. The Undead Legion should have been more than capable of handling these creatures. So why didn't they do it?

The quest rating was S. So there had to be a twist. Something he didn't see.

More of his undead death notification showed up in front of him, but he just ignored it.

'I'll revive you all again boyz, just hang on.'

"Manti, keep moving the serpents in this area are all dead," Dave ordered the serpent to move to another side of the lake.

The party kept killing the serpents at a fast pace. After three hours, he had killed the 199th serpent. But no matter how much he waited and searched; he couldn't find the last one.

"Where the f.u.c.k is it?" Flanker said. He was getting bored from spectating the calm lake.

"Just keep a lookout, it should be nearby," Dave said. He was also getting annoyed.

The water had already turned from rancid green to clear blue, but there was no sign of the last serpent.

"I hate to say this, but it think it's hiding underwater and it won't come out. We should probably go under and look for it." Lone said.

"Sorry, not interested in taking a dip in serpent filled lake.," Flanker shook his head.

"Stop being a wuss, we already killed all the snakes," Fortress said.

"Nah, not being a wuss, I'm being wise. Do you think this lake has only snakes? An heck, how long do you think you can stay under the water? A minute at most then you'll start drowning. s.h.i.+tty way to go man." Flanker said.

"I'll go down," Dave said.

"Hold up, man, let's just wait, for the snake to come out."

"Nah, It's best if I go and look for it. I won't drown because I'm undead. So you guys will have to keep a lookout here. If the serpent shows up send me a private message," Dave said.

"Okay," Lone said, "Be careful."

Dave nodded and jumped into the lake. His heavy armor made him sink like an anchor in the sea. He rapidly reached the bottom of the lake. His vision was unhindered in the deep and dark depths of the lake.

Small fish moved around Dave. Out of curiosity, he poked one, and it bolted away from him in fright.

Dave smiled and began moving. The water hindered his movement, and his long beard floated and covered his face some times. Dave had to stroke it down every few steps.

After moving aimlessly under the water, Dave spotted some movement in the distance.

Another notification appeared in front of him. Dave was sure that it was another notification that his underlings were still dying. He ignored it and continued toward the movement he saw before.

There was a huge rock under the water that almost looked like a hill. Dave curved around the foundation and spotted a deep tunnel that went deeper into the underground of the lake.

At the entrance of the tunnel, Dave saw some white scales. They were the Torab Serpent scales. Only this one was slightly bigger.

Dave got into the tunnel. He walked deeper and deeper, finding more scales along his path. The tunnel led straight down, so he followed the trail.

'This is where the serpent must be hiding.'

After a while, Dave arrived into a large opening that was as big as a basketball stadium. There were hundreds upon hundreds of small glistening orbs that were strung into floating weed.

'Eggs?'

Dave looked around. He didn't find anything besides the eggs. The cave looked like a nest. And he was intruding on it. But seeing no enemies Dave concluded that the remaining snake must be outside.

Just as the thought crossed Dave's mind, the cave shook. A few pebbles dropped from above him, and some sand moved to make the cave water a bit murky.

Dave looked up, waiting until the murky water to clear, he saw something sticking to the ceiling. Dave's face whitened like a paper sheet. There was a serpent alright. Only this serpent was so big that it was covering the whole of the cave ceiling.

Torab Serpent Adult

Level: 550

Tier: Unique

Base damage: 80,000-140,000

Danger Level: ☠

HP: 2,500,000

PD: 150,000

MD:100,000

Skills:

[Poison Spit] Shoots a spray of poison that deals 20% serpent base damage and 100,000 poison damage over 20 seconds.

[Strangle] wraps itself around a target, rendering them immobile. After 30 seconds of strangling, the Torab Serpent deals 20% of target's max health in flat damage.

[Ma.s.s destruction] after losing 80% of its HP The Torab Serpent enters an enraged stat where its base damage is increased by 200%

Lore:

The adult form of the Torab Serpent. One can see a resemblance to the mythical creature, the sea hydra in this form. Perhaps these Torab Serpentes are descendant of such a legendary creature.

***

***

Bestiary Lore Update.

New Bestiary added.

Sea Hydra.

Sea hydras are legendary creatures that have been said to live in the deep seas of Conquest. There were rare sightings of such a beast as most witnesses never survived to tell the tale.

***

Dave waved away the notification and began slowly walking back to the entrance.

This serpent was the adult form of the other snakes. And it was much more dangerous than the smaller ones. Dave had no chance to defeat this in its lair and underwater. He was barely able to move, and fighting a level 550 aquatic monster in its natural habitat was suicide.

The snake, however, had already noticed Dave entering its lair and it was not about to let him leave.

One of its heads shot toward Dave like a harpoon. It was extremely fast underwater.

Dave kicked the ground, pus.h.i.+ng himself away from the attack. But the mere current created from the ma.s.sive serpent head forced Dave into a spin in the water and slamming into the cave wall.

[-120,000]

's.h.i.+t.' Dave cursed.

The creature attacked once again. But Dave turned around and used [Stampede]das.h.i.+ng out from the serpent lair. He made it out of the cave in a few seconds. Dave tried to swim up, but his armor was too heavy for him to do so. He had to remove it.

Dave quickly unequipped his armor, feeling lighter he swam up. He looked behind him and saw several maws opened wide and aimed at him. The serpent had already exited the cave and made it behind him.

Without his armor, Dave was sure to die from one attack.

Dave had to improvise so, he waved a hand in the water summoning spectral skulls and blew them up, right in front of him. The blast carried Dave away from the water and pushed him toward the surface.

"What's going on, Dave?!" Lone asked she was panicking. They must have noticed the blasts from the spectral skulls.

"I'm being chased by a big a.s.s serpent! Prepare for battle!" Dave shouted as he swam up.

Another notification appeared in front of him.

"G.o.d d.a.m.n it I know that they are dying already!" Dave cursed at the notification that was bugging him and continued rising.

The moment Dave broke through the lake surface, the large serpent maws were right under him. The manticore was far away from Dave. His party members were looking at him with faces aghast they hadn't expected the serpent to be that big.

"f.u.c.k!" Dave cursed, he wasn't going to make it.

Just as the serpent's mouth was closing on Dave, he heard a single word that thundered through the underworld.

"ZAN!"