“Ready your bows.” Everyone drew their bows and aimed at the sleeping monster.

“Fire," I whispered.

Crude arrows made of twigs with stone arrowheads were launched into the air, each one flying wildly. Their aerial voyage was abruptly stopped by a bloody wall of scales. Most arrows were deflected by the snake's natural armour, but the few that did sink into the monster's flesh instantly alerted the serpent. Its eyelids opened, revealing furious olive-coloured eyes, whose anger raged like a burning forest. It let out a deep, creeping hiss that echoed under our skin and in our bones.

The snake uncoiled itself and slid up from the pit. It stood above us, blocking the sun behind it with its massive body. As it opened its massive maw, it conjured a bubbling, dark green sphere of liquid in its mouth from thin air.

“It’s going to attack, everybody run!” One goblin cried. The goblins yelled and screeched in fear, some huddled together in a circle, others hid behind trees and boulders.

The snake spat out the giant green blob out at us, the liquid landing and splashing upon some goblins, causing their skin and flesh to melt. The sound of their screams was mixed with the malicious hissing and of the acid until nothing but hissing remained.

The goblins stared at their disintegrated companions in horror. “What do we do!?” One of them cried.

“Shut up!” I yelled. “You’re all useless!”

I took out my sling and began hurling stones at the snake, in a futile attempt to gain its attention. The rocks simply bounced off its skin, not even leaving a scratch behind. Yet the snake became irritated and turned its gaze unto me. Its gigantic body looming over the sky, casting a deep shadow upon me, and its gaze looking down at me with contempt.

I gnashed my teeth in anger. "I got my own poison, you freak!" I slashed at my hand with a dagger, and sprayed the blood into the air, staining its face with my scarlet noxious poison. Some landed in its eye, causing its eyes to sting and making the beast wince in pain.

“Stab it now!” I used my [Command skill].

The goblins quickly raised their weapons and charged at the distracted snake. Each goblin penetrated the snake's whitish underbelly deeply with their spears, but as the monster twisted and contorted its body in pain, it sent the goblins flying into the ground and trees.

Rugum was knocked onto a boulder, but despite the incredible pain, he got up and began firing arrows at the snake. As the snake's eyes quickly recovered, Rugum had successfully distracted it.

"Everybody! Save yourselves!" He yelled as he waved his hands to keep the snake's attention.

The snake opened its mouth to swallow Rugum whole, but Voglo had been chanting his spell in the meantime. “Entwining Vines!” He cast.

Bright green thorny vines sprouted from the ground, wrapping themselves around the snake, digging into its flesh and restraining it. The snake hissed in pain and tried to wriggle itself out of the vines, only causing their thorns to dig in further.

“Sapphire-Spear!” I cried and attacked the immobilised beast. The snake rapidly jerked its head away, avoiding a direct strike. But I had left a deep cut on the side of its neck, which caused the monster to violently shriek. Voglo’s vines withered and faded away, and the snake once more readied its fangs with its eyes trained on me. Before it could strike, I aimed my hand at a nearby tree. “Ground-Shake!” The tree began to wobble, the ground under it crumbling, making the tree fall towards the snake.

The snake, noticing my plan, lunged at me, swiftly dodging the falling tree. As it dived at me, my mind went blank, I stood frozen, looking directly at the enormous maw of the beast barrelling down towards me until I was suddenly pushed out of place. As my trance was broken, I saw the goblin who had pushed me, he was standing in my place, his face relieved as I was away from danger. The snake swallowed him whole, then being unable to stop its momentum, it crashed into a tree.

My vision had turned red with fury. “Sapphire-Spear!” I cried and cast my spell at nearly point-blank range of the snake. The magic crystal bolt passed effortlessly through the snake, killing it instantly, leaving a clean hole in its head going from one side to the other. My heart was racing so much, I felt as if it would jump out of my body.

Interface You gained 820 experience. You levelled up 2 times. You have reached level 6, you can select a new skill to learn. Would you like to do so [Now] or [Later]? You have gained 6 stat points which you can distribute freely. You have raised your Health, by 36, (104/104 → 140/140) You have raised your Mana, by 30, (70/147 → 177/177) You have raised your Ground-Shake (Novice) to Ground-Shake (Initiate) You have raised your Sapphire Spear (Novice) to Sapphire Spear (Initiate) You have raised your Command (Beginner) to Command (Novice)

I had ignored the interface, blinded by rage I kept attacking and attacking the dead snake. I shot one spell after another, and after running out of mana I began hitting it with my bare fists. As my energy was slowly being depleted, I was gently pulled away from the snake by Voglo and Rugum. Slowly, my body relaxed, and my vision became clearer. I felt a rush of strength flow through me, it was intoxicating. Despite the rush to my head, I tried to keep myself conscious. Looking at the interface, I could not help but feel amazed, I had nearly achieved five weeks of progress in one fight.

The other goblins were in awe. The corpse of a mighty beast stood before them, and its demise was achieved through their efforts. They were eerily silent as they gazed upon the snake, but suddenly, all of them prostrated themselves before me.

“Praise the Mighty Chieftain! Praise the Great Champion! Glory and brilliance to the Great Gemmed one!” They all yelled in unison.

My mind was in a state of swirling emotions. I was too tired and frustrated to revel in the glory. “Rise and serve me well,” I said dismissively.

They all quickly rose together, with looks of fierce determination and loyalty. “We need to get the tribe back here, it would be a shame to let all this snake go to waste.” Voglo cackled with glee.

We quickly hurried back to the tribe, carrying our dead with us. Many goblins had died during this raid, 5 had perished, and 2 were injured. It was a loss of workforce, yet one could say it was a worthy sacrifice, as a result of their deaths, we now had a giant snake to feast upon and whose body would nourish and strengthen the others. And yet, if these goblins were stronger, or I was stronger myself, such a loss would not have been necessary. It was a personal failure to not have pursued strength more avidly.