Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Second Floor (II)

The third type of being was a serpent up to ten meters in length. There weren't many, but the experience it provided was equivalent to a couple dozen beings of its level.

It came out of deep lava lakes, something that was impossible to know a priori. In fact, their existence and the depth of the lakes varied over time, so even experience wasn't enough to predict where they might come from.

They were a fearsome enemy. Their body was hundreds of degrees in temperature, its size was a formidable, and it wasn't terribly slow. Also, there were usually Lava Larvae nearby, which interfered with their Lava Spit. If it weren't easy to escape from it, that floor would really have been hell. Not that it was too far from it.

They didn't want to escape. Those serpents were their main objective to level up as quickly as possible. Therefore, they didn't hesitate to face the Lava Serpent as soon as it appeared.

Ironically, the first thing they did was run. The serpents chased their prey until they were out of sight, which is why they didn't run too fast. All they wanted was to buy time, until the right time came.

"It hasn't burned," Goldmi reported after a while.

She had been shooting level 1 arrows without any additional skills or spells. Her only goal was to find out if their prey's body had cooled down enough. On top of that, Eldi was raising up some Frozen Walls along the way to speed up the process, and deal some damage.

Gjaki, for her part, had been attacking the larvae with a dragonskin whip, or so it was said in-game. No matter if it was true, it was immune to high temperatures.

Said larvae were also attacked by Eldi and Goldmi, and the vampiress only finished them off if they were close. Since they were running away, sometimes their companions didn't have time.

Eldi then renewed the Frozen Auras. After that, he used Propel on Gjaki, who had climbed onto the hammer, thus sending her flying. She Glided over the Lava Serpent, until landing on its head.

Meanwhile, the lynx distracted it, by dodging its clumsy but powerful attacks. Goldmi and Eldi cleared the surroundings of larvae before joining the battle, while the goshawk Collided with the serpent near Gjaki position.

With her wind aura active, she attacked the huge body with her beak and claws, which were more effective than the Wind Blades she had recovered at level 80, long ago. It was better to invest the mana in the aura while inflicting physical attacks.

Of course, her four-legged sister didn't even think of using her fire aura, let alone the Fireballs that she had also recovered at level 80. Against a being that swam in lava, they were useless.

While the lynx dodged the serpent's Headbutts, Eldi jumped over the small craters resulting from that skill, and approached their enemy. It should be said that Gjaki remained on that head as if it were a rodeo, even exclaiming in amusement. It helped confuse their enemy, so she wasn't doing it just for the fun of it. Well, perhaps, confusing it was just an unexpected bonus.

When the skill was cast, the goshawk simply flapped her wings, and waited for the serpent to raise its head again.

The battle mage created several Frozen Walls, and stepped to the side. He let the lynx back off, thus causing the serpent to follow her, carrying it over the Walls. Eldi took the opportunity to attack from the side with his axe, which was imbued with Frozen Touch. In addition, his Frozen Aura damaged it too, like Gjaki. Without a doubt, ice magic was especially effective on that floor.

The body was huge, and the being's attention was fixed on the lynx, so he could easily execute Slicing. On top of that, he sank a Frozen Spear through Tearing Sting. It was highly effective, and the ice would continue to deal damage for a while.

However, he had to ration his mana. Eldi had invested heavily in the Walls, and he needed to keep enough to imbue his companions with Frozen Aura if they needed it.

For her part, Goldmi took care of any larvae that might appear. If there were none, she shot Wind Arrows at the huge being, which had proven the most effective.

Only if it opened its mouth did she use some Light Arrows. The serpent's skin was much tougher than the larvae's, which preventing the arrows from even scratching it.

To tell the truth, that being wasn't so fearsome in the dungeon, although it was in reality. The Lava Serpent it was based on defended its young, the Lava Larvae, very aggressively. It came out the same as the being from the dungeon towards its enemies or prey, but it returned to the lava before it cooled. For this reason, it was very difficult to face them, although it was enough to not get close to avoid problems.

In the dungeon, the behavior of taking refuge in lava didn't exist. Therefore, it was a relatively easy enemy, if the correct way to handle it was known. It was also needed to be able to withstand the heat, to damage it, and to keep the larvae under control.

Since the group seemed to be having no difficulties, several beings similar to the ones that had been bathing in lava at the entrance clucked their tongues. They had expected the adventurers to flee, in order to face them the serpent. It had happened plenty of times in the past with overconfident adventurers.

They had no choice but to move off in another direction to look for their own prey. The hardest thing about defeating them when having the ability was finding them. Although that wasn't a problem for the goshawk.

After defeating the serpent, they rested for a while to recover the mana. After that, the albino bird flew over the lava lakes again, launching a Wind Blade on each surface. If there was a serpent inside, it would appear.

There was one for every hundred lakes, or so, which made it a heavy job. However, the goshawk could fly over and attack each lake with enormous speed. Also, she didn't need to spend a lot of mana on each attack, just enough to disturb the lava surface. On average, it took her no more than a minute to find their next prey. She just had to be careful that no one was around, as they could steal their prey.