Chapter: Three Headed Snake

Erik turned his attention to the four that were actually fighting. They looked to be in their teens, they wore uniforms identical to the two people observing from the trees.

There was an archer, two casters and a swordsman.

The archer was raining arrows down on the snake, aiming for its eyes, infuriating it and splitting its attention from the fire mage. It tried to spit out some more flammable gas only to have a half dozen fire balls no bigger than a baseball fly towards its mouth.

"Fire rain!"

The flammable cloud exploded, making the gas head reel back in pain as the other heads and the scales around the gas head were damaged.

The snake's tail shot forward, the swordsman let out a yell, "Stone skin!" A grey aura rapidly covered his body and weapons as he braced his shield, taking the hit as two deep trenches were created under his feet, the grey covering dimming and then breaking as the blunted power still sent him back five more feet before he regained his footing.

"Flame Sword Judgement!" The remaining caster unleashed a powerful flame based skill, a spell formation appeared in the sky above the snake, all the heat in the surrounding areas was drawn into the spell formation that quickly turned red before a massive sword descended, shooting towards the snake.

The lightning head opened its mouth, a spell formation appeared as white lightning reached up into the heavens to meet the sword.

The poison head spat at the archer that was aiming for the lightning head.

The archer who wasn't paying attention as the stream of poison shot out at him.

"Move!" The warrior yelled, the archer fired his arrow and looked around, seeing the poison had reached him, he only let out a scream as it landed on his thick armor, starting to eat its way through.

The archer was out of the fight as the other two had to redouble their efforts to keep the snake contained as the caster of the Flame sword was fighting against the lightning head's power.

"Fire rain!"

"Molten armor buff!" The other caster chained spells together, distracting and blinding the two of the snake heads.

Red glowing buffs settled onto the warrior, his armor showing faint flames around the edges as he rushed forwards, dodging the snake's tail as he shot forward towards their heads, aiming for the lightning head.

The lightning head was still fighting with the massive fire sword, the other caster's face was pale as they poured in all their power to the great fire sword.

The lightning head could only stop its attack or be cut apart by the warrior.

"Flame steps!"

The warrior's foot glowed as he seemed to step on nothing and changed his direction.

"Cold Flame slash!"

Scales were separated from flesh as a bloody line appeared on the snake's neck, a sizzling noise could be heard as the warrior dropped to the ground, rolling awkwardly as his armor moved up and down with his deep breaths.

The Flame Sword Judgement had nothing in its path anymore, it shot down like an arrow released from a bow, cutting off the lightning head. The poison and flammable gas head yelled out in pain as they lurched forward at the caster that had launched the sword and dropped to her knee, all of her energy had left her.

The swordsman yelled out, but he was too far away, the other caster was just starting to pull together a spell.

The archer had collected himself and fired an arrow at the snake but it struck the creature's scales, drawing its blood but not affecting it greatly.

The man on the trees made a gesture with his hand.

An arrow formed from flames appeared in front of the doomed caster and shot towards the flammable head.

As the head jerked backwards at this powerful arrow, it pulled the main body with it, stopping the poison head up short.

The poison head spat at the caster.

"Fire projection!" The other caster yelled out, their face rapidly paling as they drank a mana potion with one hand as their other hand that was in the center of a spell formation unleashed a column of fire that burned the poison away, creating a disgusting stench.

Only a few drops landed on the immobilized caster on the ground who yelled out in pain. Unlike melee types, this caster wasn't used to pain and she could only roll in pain, not looking to use her potions as she was stuck in a state of fear.

The woman said something to the man, quickly he disappeared from the tree, he grabbed the two casters by their robes.

"Pull back!" He yelled at the warrior and archer, turning and running away from the battlefield, his fire arrow still chasing the flammable head, pushing the snake back as it held its mouth closed, not wanting that arrow to enter its body.

The poison head spat at the arrow, weakening but not destroying it.

The four fighters left the area, the two remaining heads letting out angry hisses the man threw out his hand.

"Fire arrow."

Another fire arrow shot out at the two heads, redirecting their attention.

The woman who had been watching walked off of the tree, flames appeared under her feet, slowing her momentum as she looked over right at Erik and Rugrat.

Her eyes rested there before she looked away and ran off after the rest of her group.

"Do you think she saw us?" Erik asked in a hushed voice a few moments later.

"No, I just think she conveniently looked over as she saw a particularly nice tree," Rugrat said. "Yes, she damn well saw us, but I don't know how."

"Might be a spell that enhances one's senses?" Erik asked.

"Could be, I don't think that any of the others noticed us though," Rugrat said, his eyes looked to where the group had left and then towards the two snakes, the remainders of the arrows shot forward, hitting the snakes and making them cry out in pain, their scales were broken and blood covered their bodies.

They hissed in the direction that the party had fled, but they didn't chase.

Monsters were powerful and strong and while they couldn't speak human tongues, they were smart. The more powerful the beast the greater its intelligence.

"How the hell is there a level fifteen beast here," Rugrat said.

"Fifteen?" Erik asked.

"Yeah, that lot were probably level thirteens or so, the lady and man watching must've been in the upper teens," Rugrat said.

"Great a teenager can kick my ass, I'm starting to feel old," Erik said.

"Well, you're practically fucking ancient so it's about time."

"You're four years younger!"

"Four years younger, less ancient. Full of vigor and energy. Don't worry gramps, we all get old at some time," Rugrat commiserated.

"Come, tell me that when I'm not strapped to a tree," Erik said, swinging at Rugrat who was just two feet too far away.

"Ahh, the senile ways, don't worry I'll find you a nice home."

"I'll find a nice home for my foot up your ass!" Erik said.

Rugrat shook his head at Erik's antics, knowing that he wouldn't hit him even if they were in striking range.

"I'll go and check to make sure that they really left the area," Rugrat said, untying himself and dropping to the ground below.

Erik dropped with him.

"If they are, then we might as well harvest this three headed snake," Erik said.

"I was thinking the same," Rugrat nodded.

"Alright, we'll meet here, I'll watch it," Erik said, pulling out his map and pointing to a location.

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Map Location shared to you, marked 'Step off Point'

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Rugrat checked the location and then put his map away.

"See you in a bit," Rugrat moved through the forest, his easy going attitude faded away as he moved, listening for disturbances, he passed through easily, his skills as a scout sniper and the additional strengths that came with him leveling up in the ten realms were displayed.

He passed undetected, circling the snake that was licking its wounds with one head, the other looking for any threats that might try to take advantage of its weakened state.

He checked the ground, finding the signs of the party's panicked exit, he followed it for some time but it was clear that the group had run off. The two more powerful users guiding them off deeper into the forest.

Rugrat stealthy climbed up a tree, checking the area once again. He didn't want them to sneak up on them when they were fighting the snake.

After assuring himself that they were gone he headed back to Erik.

"We need to finish this thing off quickly, they might still get some experience from attacking the snake once we kill it so we have to get the hell out of here as fast as possible," Rugrat said.

They both needed to level up and the wounded high level creature in front of them was their best chance to do it in a short period of time. Sure it was dirty kill stealing, but this was no video game with a code of honor.

"Time for some snake killing," Erik nodded, pulling out his rifle as they looked at the unsuspecting snake still dealing with its wounds.