From my place on the female Coreless’ shoulder, I had a clear view of the ongoing battle. A clear view of the Great Core’s wisdom in binding the Coreless to its will. The male Coreless who had taken the front was a stalwart giant, holding a great piece of mana-lit ore-flesh before him, keeping the bad-things at bay. In his other hand, he held a weapon of ore-flesh - not like the fangs, claws, and needles that the other carried, but something heavier. Something crushingly powerful. It, too, glowed with the light of mana, as did many other pieces of gear that the Coreless carried.

Part of me wondered how they had obtained them, but I put the thought aside for now.

Needle-fangs slipped through the air, finding their places deep within the skin-flesh of the bad-things. A rare few bounced off, ricocheting off of the heavy plates that protected the creatures’ eyes, but most found their mark. The dangerous bad-things became slightly less, crippled by the needle-fangs that pierced their legs.

The Coreless were doing quite well. It was a thought that I would never have guessed would please me, but it did.

A bad-thing flung itself through the air, colliding with the female Coreless and scrabbling at my coiled scale-flesh. Enraged, and still more than a little irritable from the constant itching that filled my insides, I struck.

Again and again, I sunk my fangs into the bad-thing’s flesh, slow-venom seeping into the wounds and crippling its movements - more than enough for the female to beat it back. A soft hiss spilled from between my lips; I caught my tail within my mouth again a moment later. [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] began to take effect once more, my insides continuing to knit back together.

It was a gradual process, but it was almost done. I was almost whole again - enough to slither about acceptably well, at least.

Enough to ensure that I received the levels that I sorely needed.

As one of the male Coreless ran forwards, slicing off a bad-thing’s leg with a single swipe from his giant claw of ore-flesh, I uncoiled myself from my perch. That was the easy part. After reaching the ground, things became a bit more dangerous.

I slithered between the legs of the male Coreless before me, silent save for the nearly inaudible scratching of scale-flesh on smooth stone, peeking out from behind the solid wall of ore-flesh that he held before him. My tongue flickered, catching the air and seeking the strange scent-taste of the bad-things. They tasted of unfamiliar things; where the Flame Wisps had felt of smoke and fire, the new bad-things were something more unknown.

They tasted of the bubbling oil-water, mixed with an unappealing combination of rot-flesh and unbearable heat. Worse, the scent-taste was growing stronger by the second.

Still, I was eager to sink my fangs into one, despite that.

It wasn’t long before I did, having slithered across the blood-slick stone. The bad-thing lay helpless on the ground, the wound where its leg had been spurting rivers of deep crimson.

So I just did what came naturally; I did what Needle could not.

I sunk my fangs directly into its eye, slipping past the plates that protected it. It thrashed and jerked, but the movements were weak. Stilted. Enough for me to hold fast. Enough for me to flood its body with death-venom. Enough to receive my reward.

Experience Gained! Reduced Due To Assistance Received.

I bobbed my head in joy, hissing with glee. A needle-fang flew overhead; the thunk of pierced flesh soon followed.

The ground shook, vibrating against my scale-flesh.

Chaos broke loose.

It took the form of an angry guardian, defending the Core that had created her. It took the form of a terrifying monster, designed with violence in mind. It took the form of an enraged mother, having watched yet another of her children fall.

The term chaos felt like an understatement, really.

The bad-thing charged forward, gathering speed as it moved and leaving the smaller bad-things behind. A trail of pink-red liquid dripped behind it, the prints smearing with the force of its steps. The cavern shuddered, vibrating against my scale-flesh. I hissed, curling inwards underneath the corpse of the fallen bad-thing and biting my tail for comfort - because it was still slightly comforting, despite how distant I was now from that little snake who had refused to stray far from the room of its birth.

Yet, with a single step, I knew that it could all end, my length splattered against the cavern floor. I could only hope that the Great Core would save me in my last moment; I could only hope that I would be able to face my fears once more. I could only hope that I could defeat the Aridae a second time.

If the Great Core truly saved me again, I knew that I would try.

If the Great Core was truly beside me again, I knew that I would do more than that.

The bad-thing’s giant foot came down, stomping down from above, blotting out my vision with its size. It landed beside me. It moved on.

I breathed again, hissing in relief as the bad-thing smashed into a cluster of stone-spikes further down the cavern. Needle rolled out from behind them, her needle-spitter clutched awkwardly against her body, dust from the shattered stone-spikes clinging to her frame. I thanked the Great Core for my continued survival, and I moved on to other things.

The injured, crippled bad-things.

They were leaking blood, each of them damaged by the battle with the Coreless. Each of them vulnerable, dying and slowed by their wounds, save for those that were already dead. And yet, they still wished to fight.

It was only natural, even for the creations of a lesser Core.

They did not know the glory of the Great Core; they were not blessed to have it as their creator. They were ignorant of their own Core’s unworthiness.

And so they attempted to defend the inferior Core; it was all that they knew. Yet, that knowledge was enough for them to willingly give their lives.

Just as I would have.

So I waited. I hid myself under the corpse of the bad-thing, feeling for the vibrations in the stone below. With each step, the ground pulsed slightly, nearly overlaid entirely by the clamor of the giant bad-thing. One of the Coreless smashed into a wall with a ring of ore-flesh and shattering of stone, making it even harder to track the bad-things’ approach.

Another one screamed.

I hissed in irritation, trying to tune it out.

Then, most of the vibrations had passed me by. I slithered out from underneath my hiding place just as another came down - the final bad-thing on its way back to the fight, limping and unsteady.

My fangs sunk into its tail, far from the reach of its many grasping arms and heavy-plated head. Death-venom coursed through my fangs, finding its home in the bad-thing’s flesh. Slow-venom crippled it further.

It slowed, leaving me free to inflict bite after bite on its heavily-crippled form.

Eventually, it died.

Experience Gained! Reduced Due To Assistance Received.

The bad-thing toppled to the ground, forgotten by its brethren in their shortsightedness. Foolish as they were, they didn’t notice their own companion in the midst of a deadly struggle. They were too singularly focused on the Coreless before them, too lost in the battle-high that coursed through them, the eagerness to achieve victory.

Another sharp ring of ore-flesh and the cracking of stone shook the floor below me, mixed with another scream. I moved on to the next target, already anticipating my eventual victory.

The air began to grow even hotter, breaking past the sweltering dryness that assaulted my scale-flesh, only held at bay by the minor heatsink created through [Illusion Spark]. It pulled the heat from the air around me for a moment before filling its reservoir entirely. I emptied the reservoir, blasting a few tendrils of tiny flames into the air; it began to fill again. Still, it was enough that I could bear the increased temperature. It was enough to hold back the fire-death that wished to sear its way into my scale-flesh.

I slithered on, catching up with another of the bad-things and repeating my earlier performance with the heavily bleeding bad-thing. With my venom depleted further, it died as well.

Experience Gained! Reduced Due To Assistance Received.

My tongue flicked outwards as I exulted in another victory. The Great Core had blessed me, giving me the opportunity to defeat so many powerful bad-things. The Coreless had proven their worth, at least in this if not in other things.

With that in mind, I was quite surprised to see that the Coreless...weren’t doing so hot.

Or rather, they were hot - and that was the problem.