If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on. –Sheryl Sandberg

Somehow I think being seated in a ships missile tube or rocket exhaust wouldn't be worth it. I think there needs to be a little more common sense involved here.

I didn't exactly wake from the coma. It was more like finally breaching the surface of deep water after almost drowning.

My limbs failed wildly and I gasped for air as my consciousness came rushing back.

I was still in darkness and I tried to look around for any hint of light. There was a sharp pain in my neck, and I put my hand to the wound reflexively, only making it worse.

I was hovering on around 10 health points, likely due to lost blood. It was still slowly bleeding, but the status effect was in its final minute and my health regen was about the same speed as the damage.

I eased myself to my feet slowly, and a wave of nausea caused me to sit again.

I leant back onto the pillar I hadn't been moved from and tried to collect my thoughts.

I couldn't hear anything, so if the new vamp was anywhere near, she might be asleep or quietly crying in a corner trying to forgive herself for what she had become. But she would need to forgive me first. I needed to know how she felt about being turned.

Yes, she was on the brink of death, and yes, she did almost kill me once already. But what I had done forced her to go against all her principals.

I let my head clear and slowly got to my feet again. My health was still fairly low, but my stamina was refilling again and I had stopped bleeding.

The first thing I had to do was find Klaudia. If she was nearby, I had to make sure she wasn't on a rampage. And if she was somehow dead, it was only customary to pay my respects.

There was nothing in the range of Life Seeker, so I had to settle for the significantly harder Trackers Sense.

I followed her tracks from where she laid dying to where she bit me, then they led me to the body of the wyrm.

I laid my hand on it, noticing the lack of any residual warmth. I wasn't exactly cold down in the caves, but it would have taken a long time for something this big to bleed all of its heat.

Klaudias footsteps led over the wyrm, and I saw puncture marks grouped in fives that led up the scaly skin. It looked like she had pulled herself up with claws, and I added another potential species based weapon to her repertoire.

Instead of climbing, I opted to walk around the corpse, feeling my way carefully. As I stepped around it, I noticed almost random tears and gashes appearing on the wyrm. I guessed they were the same size as the one still healing on my own neck and concluded that they were vampire bites. This was probably why I was still alive. She must have torn herself away from me before killing me just to attach herself to an easier prey with far more blood.

At least she was still alive, or so this evidence suggested. But when I completed my circuit of the wyrm, I noticed there were no tracks leading away from the corpse. Either Klaudia was gone or... I couldn't really think of an alternative.

Flying? No...

"HEY! YOU STILL ALIVE!?"

skill learnt: Loud Voice ©

I smirked at the skill. That was one that would vastly increase my prank game.

After a few seconds, I noticed what sounded like wind through the leaves of the surrounding forest. But I felt no wind, and a sense of dread came over me. I spun trying to get an idea of where the sound was coming from and was almost instantly swept off my feet by a red blur.

-18hp

Status effect applied: Unconscious (3:20)

I came too again with a pounding headache and less health than I was comfortable with.

At least I wasn't alone. I could hear the sound of wet tearing and slurping right next to me.

Life seeker

Klaudia sat next to my limp and prone body happily chewing on the headless body of a lizard about the length of my forearm.

She noticed I was awake and hastily swallowed her mouthful. She crawled closer to my face and waited for my reaction.

I could tell in the red light of the skill that she was almost covered in blood, though the darkness of the patches indicated how old some of the blood was. Worryingly, most of it looked fresh.

I tried to speak, my voice hoarse and weak. I had spent too long asleep today, and I was paying the price. I was thirsty beyond belief but had lost my bag when she knocked me out.

"Did you... take more blood?"

She merely giggled lightly.

"You would be dead if I drank anymore. Seriously, that was a risky move. I barely managed to not kill you."

I rubbed my head and grimaced. Though I did manage to bark out a frustrated sounding laugh.

"Which time?"

"Both I guess. The first one was on you. And... sorry for the second time. I'm not used to my speed."

"So you're faster now? And I guess no longer a vegan?"

She waved the lizard above me, letting its tail slap me in the forehead. I was hardly in the best mood, so I just snatched it from her hand and threw it into the darkness. The still slightly glowing snack disappeared as it left my gloom and I turned to see a genuinely upset girl.

She reached in the general direction I had thrown it with an expression of loss.

So that answers the vegan question.

I snapped my fingers in front of her eyes to draw her attention again and she looked at me more pissed off than I was hoping. She was one wrong word away from baring her teeth and growling at me, so I chose my next few words carefully.

"Your speed is impressive. Seriously. I barely saw you approach. But can you answer some questions about what the hell you even are now?"

Ok, so my choice of words had grown more and more lax the more I spoke, but at least she didn't bite me. Again. Instead, she almost reluctantly answered my question.

"Apparently I'm a vampling right now. It's a racial feature. Like, I have to level up as a vampling and then I can become a proper vampire."

"So you still need to drink blood?"

She seemed to mull it over a bit before answering. I knew she needed to drink blood if the surrounding evidence wasn't enough to show. I just wanted to know the degree to which she needed it.

"So I don't really need a lot of blood. My racial feature still says I need to drink at least a pint every few days, but I think I'll be fine after this."

She indicated my throat and then the slowly decaying boss corpse behind her.

"I drank a couple from you, then gallons of the stuff from that. More than I should... I think there's something wrong with my stomach. It's... bigger now."

She started to feel around her stomach for any sort of difference, but I couldn't see anything of concern.

"Maybe your body turns it into vampire specific energy instantly. Like when people do drugs. Actually, it's almost exactly like a drug."

She sighed, sounding eerily similar to myself.

"I'm not... I'm not happy about this. But when I was being eaten alive, I thought I was dead. I thought you were dead. I wasn't scared exactly, just... regretful. So... thanks for saving me."

She leant forward and before I could question what she was about to do, she pressed her lips lightly against my own.

She felt soft but so cold against my own dry lips that it was all I could focus on despite the bitter metallic taste of blood flooding my dry mouth.

She pulled back and was blushing hard. I could see the way her whole face was glowing a darker shade of red.

I was speechless. I had never expected this source of affection from her. Sure, we had flirted for almost the entirety of the time we knew each other, but I did that with most people. It was just such an extraordinarily normal event that I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to stop myself from grinning. And possibly giggling.

When I had calmed myself, I looked into her eyes and addressed her reproachful stance.

"I... don't know what this means. And we should talk about it later, but when we're back on the surface. Because honestly, I could use some light... and a drink."

Still blushing, Klaudia managed to nod at me and then retrieved my bag as I struggled to stay standing without feeling light-headed. One of the straps was torn, but I got over it and downed one of the remaining three bottles of water. Judging by how long it took us to get this far, that would still be plenty to get back to the surface.

Think.

I also had to consider food for the future. And maybe collect some lizard blood for the days to come.

No. Think.

Maybe I should go back to the cafeteria before I burn the whole place down. They might have some food left.

Stop. Think about her.

But...

I wrestled with my conscience about priority. My logic was focused on survival, but something deep in my mind kept pushing the sensation of the kiss back to my mind.

It was forced.

It was nice. I think.

It was a novice move and probably an impulse she acted upon.

But it happened.

I had to address it somehow. Else we would be stuck in an awkward silence until we fought the queen.

And then there would be yet another challenge to overcome. For me to speak openly and honestly about myself.

Of course, I could just rely on Social Chameleon to cheat my way through this, but that was nought but a temporary respite. Without any friends to ask for guidance, I needed to learn through experience for once.

Ignoring my previous monologue almost completely, I broke the silence as casually as I could.

"So where to next. My tracker's sense stops here. Was the wyrm guarding anything?"

Klaudia had been facing away from me and turned slightly. I couldn't make out her expression, but I couldn't even hazard a guess at what she was feeling.

"It was guarding a hole. With stairs this time."

"Good. Give me a minute before we go. I want another crack at the night vision."

"It won't be as good as primal eyes."

I was already sitting and focusing on trying to pierce the veil without any skills active. Talking probably wouldn't stunt my progress, so I responded to her obvious bait.

"Primal eyes?"

"Its a monster type skill. Apparently, I only got it because I had a visual type skill active when I was turned."

"You kept night vision on despite being unconscious?"

"Yeah. It doesn't cost anything to use, so passing out doesn't deactivate it."

I smiled a little. Under these circumstances, that would be much more useful than Life Seeker.

Skill learnt: Night vision (B)

"Finally."

I activated the skill and got an actual idea of where I was sitting.

Klaudia had worded it badly when she said it was like an old temple. It was more like a flat coliseum.

I was standing in a proper arena surrounded by pillars that half held up rings of stone that radiated outwards. It might have been a temple in the past... if it even existed then.

I couldn't make out the type of stone so the colour was out of the question, so I had to make do with the shades of green.

It was admittedly awesome to see everything around me. It was like the very small amount of light emitted by my eyes was enough to illuminate far into the horizon.

I could see a hole in the centre of the arena that the wyrm was still half covering. But I could also make out the beginning of a staircase.

I looked over and just as I had expected, Klaudia was chewing on the lizard I had thrown away minutes ago. So casually. And with such pleasure.

I had always enjoyed my food and hadn't previously considered what culinary delights this new world might be able to offer. Especially in the sweet department.

We made eye contact and she swallowed loudly and slowly. My mouth hung open with an unasked question.

I coughed and recovered my poise as well as I could.

"Come on. Let's finish this."

She nodded to me and hastily stuffed the remainder of her snack in her mouth. It barely fit and there was still a piece of the tail poking out from between her lips. That mine had been on moments earlier.

Couldn't even bring myself to feel anything other than vaguely uncomfortable. I mean, I had eaten lizard raw and it was hardly like the blood would kill me.

So I left the discomfort behind and started towards the stairs. It was a larger hole than I had expected from the edge of the arena, so despite only having access to half of it, there was still plenty of room for me to push past the wyrm.

When I put my hand to it, I felt hard lumps under the skin and almost slapped my forehead when I remembered that monsters held the loot in their bodies.

"Can you pass a knife please?"

I held my hand out to Klaudia while using my other to try and get a grasp of how much was being stored in this specific monster.

She passed me the entire scabbard and I looked back in confusion. She gave me a reluctant look but pushed my hand closed around it.

I was about to ask why but she took the initiative.

"There's apparently silver in the metal of the knives. It's not enough to hurt me much now, but it still feels wrong to use them."

I tried to take my shotgun out of storage but she pushed my hand away as I tried to retrieve it.

"But you need a weapon."

She held up a hand to me and I could see that her nails were significantly longer and thicker than I remembered. Not to mention sharper. Along with her teeth and speed, she held some dangerous weapons on her.

"I'm dangerous enough I think. Besides, I still don't like guns. I think a bow and arrows might suit me better."

"I'll keep an eye out then."

I strapped the scabbard to my waist and immediately felt lighter on my feet.

I analysed the scabbard on a hunch.

Light Leather Rangers Scabbard:

Quality: fine

Condition: worn

"Designed to carry both a rangers saxe knife and throwing knife."

Stats:

+9 AGI

I gave an incredible agility increase and gave me a better idea of classes. This was probably something that would be better for a ranger to use. Which meant that there would be items specifically for a Soul Reaper.

But I created that class...

Shit.

So maybe I wouldn't get a Soul Harpoon. But hey, at least I had some knives now.

I used the saxe knife to slice the scaled skin back, and along with some slushy organs, a pile of metal items fell out.

"What do you say we leave this here and pick it up on the way out when the gore is all gone?"

I tore my eyes away from the slimy pile and looked over at Klaudia, but she kept her eyes glued to the fees meat. And she looked... hungry.

"Ok fine, you do whatever here and I'll go ahead. And one more thing."

I pushed my hand into the new wound until I could feel the presence of the powerful soul and with a little gentle pulling, absorbed it.

Powerful Soul absorbed at 3% efficiency. 84.9 spectral essence absorbed.

Powerful Soul absorbed for the first time.

+1 spectral affinity

A total of 5 types of souls have been absorbed. (5/50)

+1 spectral affinity

And just like that, any concerns over how to get more spectral affinity were gone. All I needed to worry about now was more powerful souls. And I was sure this queen would have one.

I drew my arm back out pulling more gore and a few rogue coins with it. I heard Klaudia swallow in anticipation, and I smiled at her enthusiasm towards eating meat that even the most pretentious human carnivore would think twice about.

"Just... try not to swallow any coins."

She smiled slightly and then pushed me down the stairs. I was sure she intended to do do it gently, but I was almost thrown down a long flight of stone stairs.

Almost fifty steps and ten damage later, I was lying on a smooth stone floor counting down the seconds until I was no longer dazed.

I stood up and was hit by another wave of nausea. At least I was still over half health. I took a few seconds to calm my stomach and look around some.

I was in a completely square corridor that had identical panels lining the ceiling floor and walls. It was just a light coloured stone with thick cracks running along the length of the corridor that had been filled in with a darker stone. The overall effect mirrored tree roots, the source of which was ahead of me, behind a set of heavy doors.

Well, they looked heavy. They were made of the same stone as the floor and walls, but with a planet pattern of a darker border over the light panels and a stone ring hanging from the seam between them. It was basic, but I could appreciate how well kept this part of the ruin was compared to the surface.

Obviously, they were pull doors, so I took a ring in each hand and pulled back as hard as I could. There was absolutely no give whatsoever and I only felt like I was trying to move a mountain.

Maybe it's a trick?

I instead tried to push against the doors only to receive a similar result.

I tried and failed to double up my efforts into only one of the doors, I tried to rotate the rings, I looked for any sort of hidden mechanism, but nothing.

Sweating and out of breath, I hurled a frustrated kick against the door, landing my heel solidly against it with all my weight behind me.

There was a loud echo from the other side of the door which sounded meters thick and a thin covering of dust fell from the ceiling.

Roaring in anger, I drew my shotgun as fast as I could and fired at the door.

The slug round rebounded off the door with a bang only slightly louder than the initial firing and tore past my face, causing a thin tear to open up from my jaw to my ear.

-1hp

I took a closer look at the impact and there really was no damage done. I had wasted a round and injured myself for no reason.

I sat on the ground and closed my eyes, sitting in the warm darkness and focusing on my breath in an attempt to calm down.

I heard someone walking down the stairs and reactivated my Night vision skill to see Klaudia sauntering towards me with a disk in her hand.

She threw it to me and when I caught it, I could see it was a piece of stone with an intricate carving in it.

A closer look and some rotation showed it was an incredibly detailed carving of the wyrm we had killed.

I Already knew what this was, but analysed it, just to be sure.

Elite Queens Wyrm Guard Trophy:

Awarded for killing the queen's guard. Unlocks the queen's cavern boss room.

"Is that what you were missing?"

I glared up at Klaudia and stared into her smug smile. I refused to rise to her challenge though, as it would only serve to aggravate myself further.

I merely returned to the door and held the trophy up to it. The stone shone in the darkness and a recess formed in the door that was the same shape as the key I was holding.

Shrugging at the simplicity, I pushed the token into the hole and it stuck, leaving behind a sheen surface again.

The door trembled and then silently swung open towards us. To my surprise though, the doors only appeared to be a few centimetres thick. It must have been some stupidly hard material to stand up to my gun.

Klaudia took the lead through the corridor and I was glad that I didn't have to go first. She had more health, was likely faster and stronger than me, and I was still sore and bleeding from everything I had endured in the last hour.

But her superior eyesight proved unnecessary as the walls seemed to be getting lighter as we continued. I deactivated Night vision and found that I could still slightly see. It wasn't much better than the complete darkness, but the slight illumination from the very stone was enough to make out the shape of the vampling in front of me.

As we went further, it soon got bright enough that I had no problem discerning colour and depth. I still couldn't see any definitive source of light, but as couldn't see a shadow anywhere on myself, I could only assume there was light being emitted from the air itself.

Magic? Magic.

It was some incredible stuff though. To force enough energy into the particles in the air that they start emitting photons at such a low temperature was nothing short of a scientific impossibility.

But I had to stop getting so impressed by these things. I was likely to find far more incredible sights soon enough that defied logic itself.

Or maybe I was just misunderstanding the light and I was completely wrong.

Regardless, we were approaching another doorway. This time, I could make out easily that it was wooden, and had no visible handles or locks.

"That's probably the last door before the queen. Are you ready?"

Klaudia stretched her arms above her head and then sprinted the rest of the way.

"Oh shit. Wait!"

I struggled to keep up even when running as fast as I could. If she was planning to storm the room, I wasn't exactly ready. I grabbed my shotgun out and summoned another ring of slug ammunition in my free hand.

Ahead of me, Klaudia jumped and kicked the door open. A flash of dark blue light from the open doorway almost blinded me, but I kept running.

Past the open doors, I found myself skidding to a stop in a throne room. There was white and grey stone adorning the walls, perfect pillars of marble and gold held up loose cloth canopies.

Whatever the blue flash was, it had hit Klaudia point blank, and she was frozen mid-stride with a still expression of despair on her face. It must have been an effect similar to the wyrms petrify but it looked to be more powerful.

She wasn't taking any damage and would stay out of trouble, so I passed her and ventured further into the room. As a last thought, I took off my bag and hung it on her outstretched hand. I didn't want to let it get damaged again. A slight pat on her head and I strode confidently into the throne room. That lacked a throne... But it had a pool.

Past a series of stone benches in a recessed part of the floor was a pool of... something.

It initially looked to be a milky white and my first thought was just that it was milk, but slight motion under the surface kept causing shadows of red floating to the surface.

I had no idea what this was, but upon activating Life Seeker, the entire pool glowed with a red and white rippling effect.

The queen was in here. She must be.

I wasted no time to allow for an ambush to be executed and fired into the pool. It wasn't big, so I was hoping whatever was swimming inside it was hit.

The explosion of entry caused the liquid to be showered everywhere. I jumped back to narrowly escape being splattered with it.

Below the initial white layer that was several inches deep, the pool quickly turned red and continued deeper.

I waited a few tense seconds as the pool settled itself again, but there was no indication of damage. No message, no cry of fear or anger.

I took a nervous few steps closer, treading in the liquid that had been spread earlier. It had the consistency of oil, and I had to be careful of my footing on the smooth stone floor.

Surely I don't have to get into the pool, do I?

Thankfully, as soon as I stepped down onto the recessed part of the floor, I received a message.

Do you wish to challenge the Serpentine Queen: Dra'ahr?

"Oh, I'm so bloody scared. Yes, I challenge her."

I was honestly getting so tired of all this build-up that I just wanted to have this queen and kill it. I was tired of the dark. I was tired of the warm air. I was tired of constantly squinting to try and make out depth in the shit illumination provided by the skill.

My loathing of this clearing quest I had given myself only increased as the liquid began to defy gravity and levitate out of the hole.

At first, it was a few droplets of red floating out from the white surface, but soon a human-sized ball of dark red was flaring above the pool which seemed to have stayed the same level despite the volume that had left it.

The floating liquid began to warp and ripple, taking on a vaguely humanoid shape.

But that collapsed in on itself and settled back into a rough sphere. Instead, it compressed, becoming more solid. The movement appeared to mimic a snake but within a thin membrane, and I realised what was going to come out of it when it hatched.

Tendrils of the white liquid pierced the red membrane, becoming a part of whatever was inside. The white stuff that was no longer in the pool didn't partake in this particular fusion.

Perhaps I've pre-emptively weakened it?

The sphere grew massively under the effects of the white liquid until it was at least twice the size of myself, and the shapes moving under the membrane became harder, showing a texture of scales under the surface.

All at once, the red shell hardened and fell apart in the air, shattering into hundreds of fragments. The red flakes fell into the hole where the pool used to be, the lack of hearing any of them hitting the bottom proving how deep it went. If it even went anywhere at all.

What was left was a tight ball of coiled white scales. It slowly unravelled itself in mid-air and my breath caught in my throat as I got a good look at Dra'ahr.

She wasn't exactly human, but I understood where the serpentine part of her name came from.

For all intents and purposes, she was a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties of an average build who just happened to be 50% covered in pure white scales. Who also had a several meter long tail that literally snaked out behind her.

While her features were nothing too impressive, her body design was on a whole new level to what I had seen in video games.

She wasn't exactly like any mythical beast I could bring to mind either. While she was half covered in scales, the softer parts of her like her face, thighs, torso and underarms were just pale human skin.

But the final feature I recognised was a lack of any hair. Of course, I expected this from the reptilian vibe she was giving, but I didn't expect what she had instead.

A cascade of what looked like loose white scales cascaded down the back of her head, while the front was dominated by a bone ridge that mimicked a tiara. She looked regal in every way, and I was tempted to take a knee or bow to her.

I managed to control myself by remembering that she was a monster. And I probably shouldn't also refer to it as a her. But she was a queen. Even in my mind, it would be rude to refer to such a woman as an it.

...and you would be right...

A whispered thought crossed my mind, a foreign one.

I looked inquisitively at Dra'ahr from where she stood suspended above the empty pool. Her very human dark blue eyes met my own and she tilted her head, stretching her lower face into a smile.

I realised that she wouldn't talk as instead of a mouth, she possessed only a thin line of pinkish scales to show an indication of the feature.

"Dra'ahr I presume? An honour to meet you."

I bowed slightly, keeping my arms and their respective weapons at my sides.

Honour has levelled up. Honour is now level 3.

Ha. Thought so.

...you are using me to improve yourself?...

Now that I focused on it, the tone of thought was very different to my own. More feminine, yes. But also... something. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about what she was doing seemed almost beneath her.

"Of course, that is the only reason I am here. Your existence and that of your children is an inconvenience to me."

She frowned at me then, seeming upset at how quickly I stopped treating her with so much respect.

...I saw how you killed my guard...It is a shame you could not have possibly saved your companion...

I shifted to my left so that Klaudia was no longer being hidden by my body and indicated behind me. She was still stuck by that initial magic flash, but I could stall until it wore off.

"You mean her?"

Her eyes showed rage, and when I heard her in my mind again, a sense of anger reverberated in my mind.

...impossible.....the female was suffering from too much blood loss... She had lost appendages... But you are no healer.... what did you do?...

"That's on a need to know basis. And your business isn't with her, but me."

I pointed at my own chest with the saxe knife, making it obvious I was a threat.

...it is no matter... It appears she is part monster now... She cannot interfere while my magic is alive...

"Ah, so that blue light was some sort of barrier spell. So she's frozen until you die. Well, that's just lucky for me then."

...how So?...

"She would have held me back. Besides, I don't need her to finish you."

Her stance, while mid-air immediately became more imposing.

...how can you be so sure?...

I raised my shotgun and levelled it at her flawless face.

"Because I'm a goddamn soul reaper."

I fired and my aim rang true. The slug landed square in her face, knocking her head back.

-30hp

The shell had rebounded and when she lifted her head again, I could see why. In a split second, the scales that had hung on her head like hair now covered her face in a ridged mask devoid of any features that was more befitting of a transformer than a queen.

...I will give you one last chance to leave and take your monster with you...

Frustrated at my failure, I watched helplessly as shifting scales covered the rest of her body, encasing her completely in a white skin-tight armour.

"I can't do that. I need your soul."

...I don't know what you mean human, but you should know... I don't fight with weapons like some savage... I use the sharpest blade known to my species.... my mind... now, hurt...

A brief pressure passed over my mind, but I was wholly unaffected.

Dra'ahr took a step back in the air, surprised.

...how... how are you able to ignore such an attack?... you are a classless Hunter... But why do you not feel crippling anguish?...

I immediately figured out her power and started shaking with repressed laughter. I couldn't hold it, and after a few seconds, I was barely standing, doubled over with laughter.

...why do you laugh... know that I can hurt you in other ways...

I took a deep breath and cleared my throat. Then broke down into unstoppable giggles again and had to take some more deep breaths to calm myself enough to talk.

"Oh man, I needed that. This cave's really been getting me down. But you had me worried for a while. I was sure you would be like a naga or something else like a really fast snake or something. But you're a psycher."

I had to stop talking again to clamp my hand over my mouth. Really, it was unfair for me to be doing this. I was probably still in a life or death situation, Klaudia was watching helplessly from behind me, and poor Dra'ahr had no idea why she wasn't affecting me.

"You should know. I don't feel anything. No anguish, no sorrow. If that's all you have in your skill list, then I'm sorry, but it's just over for you."

Without waiting for another response, I raised the makeshift weapon I had been fiddling with while pretending to be doubled over laughing.

In the top barrel of the shotgun, I had stuffed another slug round and pushed it as far back as I could with the saxe knife which I had left in the barrel as an extra piercing mod. It would probably destroy both weapons, but it would be worth it to do some damage to what was essentially a tank-support boss.

"Say hi to the gods for me."

I fired again, aiming for the centre of her chest this time.

The explosion was deafening this time, and my ears were ringing worse than ever. I was likely on the road to tinnitus if I didn't get some sort of suppression skill before long.

I hurriedly searched for the damage notification, hoping that I managed to pierce her scales.

-368hp

Status effect: Bleeding 2 (8:29)

It looked like she didn't have the same unfair regeneration as her guard, and would be bleeding heavily for a long time.

The saxe knife must have pierced her scales. I just needed to know where it had hit her.

But in the explosion, I had lost where she was. Her white scales would blend in with all the white stone around me, but I had a skill that she would never be able to fool.

I activated Life Seeker and spun around, searching for her. A brief glance at a rapidly moving whip was all I got before her heavy tail slammed into me, knocking me straight over the empty pool she had spawned from.

In the next instant, the smooth scale mask was pushed up against my face, and I felt the hard scaly body pushed up against my own.

...you scum.... forcing me to touch you... and using such cowardly weapons.... you will draw your last breath soon...

Despite the pain I was in, I couldn't help but smile at how she had phrased her accusation. That smile faltered though as her tail wrapped itself around my throat and I was quickly unable to breathe.

Warning: Blackout due to Asphyxiation will occur in 26 seconds.

Her human-like hands and feet pinned my own down so that I could do nothing but struggle. It was time to play my final hand. Almost. It wasn't like I was going to obliterate her soul. I needed that.

I needed a little leeway to start with, so I had to confuse her. I used Social Chameleon to make myself appear as attractive to her as possible.

Her head backed away from mine and the grip loosened on my neck earning me a precious few more seconds.

...your tricks will not work on me human... your kind repulses me...

I was still unable to break my hands free, but I didn't need to. Not yet.

I managed to choke out two words that I knew would help me. But it was a pretty huge gamble either way.

"NOT...... SCARED...."

...you should be...

And then she unleashed a skill that I was hoping she was merely holding back from using.

A primal fear lit up alarm bells in my mind. The sheer force of the skill causing my body to respond the only way it knew how, exactly how I wanted it to; shock.

+18 intelligence (0:10)

It wasn't the stat I wanted, but I could make do. With my temporarily higher magic capabilities, I pushed as much mana into my hands, feet and head as I could.

My mana decreased rapidly, and a headache pushed its way above the fear. But that could have been due to the lack of oxygen. I had less than ten seconds left and I could see black spots dotting my vision.

Spell learnt: Full Body Infusion (B)

I cast the spell in my mind over the already huge amounts of mana I had in my body. For only a few seconds, I had the strength I needed in excess.

I pushed Dra'ahr off of me and pulled my legs in from under hers. Tearing her tail from my neck, I took a huge breath and bit off as much as I could fit in my mouth. I felt more than one tooth crack as I bit through her hard scales, but I managed to tear into the flesh and rip off the top foot of her ridiculously long tail.

-46hp

Before she could react, I used the last of my mana to kick her in the stomach with both my feet, making sure I hit the hole that the saxe knife had made as it passed through her.

-36hp

She flew backwards, slamming into a pillar hard enough to cause it to rock in its foundation.

Status effects applied:

Mana fatigue (8:17)

Mana exhaustion (5:25)

She was still losing health at about 10 points per second, but just avoiding her wouldn't be enough to let her bleed out on her own. She was faster and stronger than me, so I had few weapons I could use. I only had my throwing knife in the scabbard, but I had never thrown one before and was likely unable to throw it hard enough to pierce her scales.

I needed my shotgun which had been knocked out of my hand when she hit me with her tail. I also wanted to see how damaged it was.

I saw it just by the edge of the pit where the pool had once been. One of the barrels was almost comically destroyed, split and spread like a flower. I would need to get that fixed before long.

Dra'ahr recovered quickly, and half jumped, half slithered around the pillar, disguising herself in the white surroundings.

I dove for my weapon and felt a crack of displaced air where I had just been. The marble shattered behind me, a true testament to the power she held in her tail.

...so you can see the life inside me, can't you Hunter... well, try to do it while blind...

I had life seeker active and was following her main body as she crept around the obstacles obscuring my view.

Suddenly, I heard several smaller explosions, and a red mist began to disperse into the air from the tops of several of the pillars.

This mist glowed with life, and I realised it was probably blood. The problem was that it was completely stopping me from discerning the snake woman from anything else in the air.

I could still make out her soul, but it only told me where her main body was. I was completely blind regarding her tail.

My mana was too low to attempt another epiphany of magic, so I had to rely on my wits and my weapons. Of which one was damaged, and one was potentially useless. I really wanted my saxe knife back.

"Fuck this."

I fired my remaining three shots randomly at wherever I heard a sound, pausing to change my request to flechette and resupply again.

I reloaded the gun, but the empty shell in the broken barrel refused to eject. So I had to tear a shell off the flechette ring, throw it away and push the remaining in regardless.

Luckily the barrel spun when it was cracked, so I could make sure the gun didn't jam.

She gave me no time to prepare myself anymore and a sharp rush of air was all the warning I got. I dove to the side, still feeling a sharp snap on my ankle. I was sure it wasn't broken, but I was bleeding because of the whiplash and it would be bruised like hell.

I slid to a stop on the marble floor, pain causing my leg to seize up.

I fired my first shot blindly, making it look like I had no idea where she was. In reality, I had noticed Dra'ahr was standing just a couple of feet away from me, using her tail to make it look like she was in constant motion.

Light but painful whips of her tail kept me wary, but I held up the illusion of ignorance, spinning and glancing with a false expression of fear on my face. The mist was still thick, preventing me from seeing anything further than my arm fully extended. It was the kind of scene I would expect from a silent hill movie, but at least there wasn't a deadly monster lurking, waiting for me to fall.

Sure, Dra'ahr was dangerous, but not entirely deadly.

If she had the element of surprise, she would be more of a concern to me, but the only problem she still held in front of me was her ridiculous defence.

The scales had deflected a massive slug of metal, so my only choice was to attempt to inflict more leeching status effects on her. Like decay.

My body had been tensed and ready for the last minute that I had kept being whipped. I managed to stop myself from thinking too hard about my plan. The fact that Dra'ahr could read my mind at all showed she could only read what was most prevalent in my mind. Thankfully, the lingering effects of her terrifying skill kept me scared. All I thought of, all I let her read, was my own desperate survival instincts.

I let my arms fall limply to my sides and let her whip me a few more times, bringing my health down to less than 20%.

...giving up?... pathetic...

Her whipping lulled, and just when I knew she would be the least wary, I put as much strength I to my legs as possible and leapt at her. My legs screamed at the effort, the damage of a full body infusion still painfully present.

I knocked her down, resulting in me straddling her chest.

Her tail wrapped around my neck again, but this time, I shoved the barrel of my shotgun into the still dripping wound in her chest.

"Take it off right now. If you do anything to hurt me, I'll pull the trigger."

I adjusted the angle of the gun so that it was aiming further towards her vitals.

"And I warn you, my reactions are faster than your tail."

I pushed the barrel further into the wound, prompting some response. She took no more outright damage, but the bleeding counter ticked up a few more minutes.

Her hands grabbed onto my wrist, but it appeared most of her strength was due to weight. Now that she wasn't on top, she wasn't strong enough to stop my right arm with both of her own.

...stop.... please.... what do you want?....

"Answers. You know more about this world. You know about humans, but I'm the first one down here. So what gives?"

She put her hands on the floor, facing her palm towards me, effectively surrendering.

...please... I don't know what you mean... humans have visited this place many times in the past.... some have found my nest... few have defeated my guard.... none have stood up to me...

I took a moment to think about what she meant. Perhaps her definition of humans was very loose, maybe aliens looked the same to her... But maybe it always was humans, but her perception of time was different.

"Have you always lived under this system of numbers and skills?"

...ever since I hatched...

"Did the humans that have come down here use similar weapons to me?"

...not for a while... some used brute force weapons... later they had swords... before you, I was last challenged by a man and his companions that carried much weaker projectile weapons.... their sparks and powder was too bad...

I guessed the last ones to attack her was likely pirates or maybe colonial soldiers. Before that, metal age soldiers then possibly cavemen before that.

It seemed impossible that so many people from the past might have known of this world.

"That makes no sense. Before two days ago, this world was ignorant of the gods and monsters and levels and systems. How?"

...the challengers also mentioned being new to the world... I have always been here though...

So the system was initiated before in the past. But for some reason, it never stuck.

"That's all I wanted to know."

...so you will let me go?...

"No."

I pulled the trigger again, the explosion and flechette darts tearing through her insides, turning them to mush.

-1472hp (severe critical hit)

Critical weakness has levelled up. Critical Weakness is now level 5.

+2 STR

+1 INT

Boss monster killed: The Serpentine Queen, Dra'ahr:

Damage dealt: 2013

Exp earnt: 3297

I sat back, letting the notifications roll past. I would check them all later.

I noticed the air was now clear again, and there was no sign of the red mist that had surrounded me before. The empty hole was now filled with a dark blue liquid that swirled gently. It was likely a portal that would take me back to the surface, but I didn't know about a time limit, so I should be quick. I had to go back to the previous arena and collect the loot, I wanted to loot the dead queen, but that would take a long time too.

"Klaudia? You ok?"

"Yeah."

That was good. She was still healthy.

"Did you pick up the loot from the wyrm?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, come on. Jump into the pool. We're going back to the surface."

"Yeah."

I finally caught wind of Klaudias muted reactions and how she had replied to me.

I walked over to where she was still standing, noticing how lost she looked.

I looked into her eyes, but she was unfocused.

Groaning inwardly, I took my bag from her hand and slung it back over my shoulder. I then lifted her onto my other shoulder. She was compliant at least and while she didn't exactly help, she didn't resist.

I walked back to the portal and grabbed Dra'ahr by her tail as I passed. I was tired and hurt, and my ankle still burned with every step, but I struggled closer to the edge and threw myself into the portal. Hoping I was right.