Bazel watched as Samara braced her feet and raised the shield up. The snake struck at her, its head blurring as it shot forward. Samara used her shield to stop the attack, then batted away the head with the large round piece of brass. She immediately followed up by hitting the snake in the nose with her mace.

"Nice block and counter!" Paris said from her perch on a stone block nearby, "Are you ready, Bazel? Use your words, buddy!"

Bazel already used [Drain Strength] on the snake and hit the switch to load his Xanadu. Just as Paris finished speaking, it emitted the now familiar "cha-chunk" sound to indicate it was ready to fire.

"Ready!" Bazel shouted.

Samara hit the snake across the nose one more time making it reel back in pain. At the same time, she skipped backwards and to the side so she would be out of the line of fire. As soon as his partner was clear, Bazel pulled the trigger.

KA-BOOM!

Smoke and fire bellowed out of the gun and the force made Bazel slide back a couple feet. Blood sprayed off the snake's head as it whipped backwards from the impact.

"Good!" Paris shouted, "Your aim is getting better and you're doing more damage as a result! Get back in there Samara, don't give it a chance to retaliate."

Samara jogged up and took her position between the snake and Bazel. He could tell his partner was getting tired with the way she held the shield too low. He was getting tired as well, despite the fact that [Drain Strength] was still active.

While Bazel waited for his gun to reload, he pointed at the snake and used [Analyze].

《 Poisonous Snake, level 6

Health: Waning

Effects: Bleeding

High Stats: Agility, Sense

Attack types: Piercing, Poison,

Resistances: Poison 》

"Waning" health didn't indicate anything specific, but after fifteen battles, it told Bazel enough. "Waning" was less than "Half", but more than "Low". Once he got used to the words used to describe the monster's state of health, it was easy to know how much more it would take to bring it down.

One more shot ought to do it.

The effect "Bleeding" was from his Xanadu Gun. It made the monsters bleed profusely and helped to bring down their health even when not attacking them. The fact that his weapon could inflict such an effect was a huge help and contributed greatly to their victories so far.

CHA-CHUNK!

Bazel heard the sound of his gun loading and prepared to fire again. Paris drilled them on their teamwork during every battle, so he had the routine down well.

"Ready!" He shouted.

The snake tried to hit Samara with its tail, but she dodged out of the way and rolled across the ground. As soon as she was clear, Bazel pulled the trigger.

KA-BOOM!

The snake thrashed around for a moment before going limp and falling to the ground. Its large body made a loud thud and threw up some clouds of dust.

《 Congratulations! You defeated a Poisonous Snake, level 6.

260 Experience Points awarded.

…

You have increased your stats through training!

Strength increased from 5 to 6,

Stamina increased from 7 to 8, 》

Bazel didn't expect his stats to increase so soon, so the message was a pleasant surprise. He forgot about how tired he was and waved at Samara.

"Samara, look!" He pointed at his interface, "My strength and stamina went up!"

Samara walked over and looked at the screen, then patted him on the back, "Good work, partner!"

Paris walked up behind Bazel and looked over his shoulder, "Nice!" She said, "Your health should have increased with that as well."

Bazel pulled up his status screen and saw that she was right.

《 Bazel

Swindler, level 6

Rank E

Experience: 4869/8800

Health: 70/70

Aether: 160/160

Credits: 1375

Stats:

Strength - 6

Stamina - 8

Agility - 7

Sense - 15

Intelligence - 18

Spirit - 17 》

His health had gone from sixty to seventy, and while ten points didn't seem like much in the long run, it could mean the difference between life and death if he took an attack head on.

Samara rolled her shoulders and looked at the snake corpse, "What is that? Sixteen now?"

"Yeah," Bazel gazed out at the horizon where the sun was dropping awfully low, "I don't think we can kill four more before sunset."

"Seriously," Paris put her hands on her hips, "I had no expectation that you would be able to kill twenty of them in the time limit."

"So you gave us an impossible task?" Bazel frowned at her.

"Yup!" Paris smiled like a precocious child, "Although I'll admit you guys did way better than I thought you would."

"So what's our 'punishment' then?" Samara asked.

"Hmm…" Paris tapped her chin as she thought, then smiled, "I want you to kill the Brood Mother!"

Bazel remembered the name from the job offer, though he didn't know exactly what it was. He assumed it was similar to the rat he killed when he first arrived – just a larger, meaner version of the regular type of monster.

That wasn't exactly a comforting thought though.

The "snakes" they had been fighting already were fifty to sixty foot long monsters that only resembled snakes. He shuddered to think of what a larger version of those was like.

"Do you think we can do it?" Samara asked.

"Probably," Paris nodded, "and if it looks like you're about to die, I'll step in."

"Okay," Bazel looked around the ruins, "Where is the Brood Mother? I haven't seen anything that would fit the description."

They had walked all over the ruins while hunting the regular snakes and never saw anything else except them. Even regular animals steered clear of the area.

"She's inside the large building at the center of the ruins," Paris pointed in the direction, "but before you guys run over there, I should give you a quick rundown on what you're up against."

Paris tapped her interface and turned it around so they could see the screen. On it was a crude drawing of a snake next to a similar drawing of a much larger snake.

"In the dungeon, there are two kinds of monsters." She pointed to the small snake, "the normal ones are all similar in appearance and abilities. You probably noticed by using [Analyze] on them that all their traits were identical. This also makes them predictable and easy to defeat if you already know how."

"Next up are the Dynas," she pointed to the larger snake, "These are mutated and more powerful versions of their counterparts. They are usually much bigger and can have abilities not seen in the regular kind. Sometimes, they can look drastically different as well."

As she said that, the large snake grew two more heads and shot a ball of green stuff from one of its mouths.

"Never take a Dyna lightly, and never rush into battle with one. The best thing to do is scope it out on the dee-el and make a plan before getting too close." Paris dismissed her interface which disappeared with a pop, "Also keep in mind that Dynas are usually more intelligent than the lesser types. They can have strategies of their own."

"I get it." Samara pinched her chin and furrowed her brows, "So we sneak in and [Analyze] it, then retreat and come up with a plan to defeat it."

"Exactly!" Paris crossed her arms and nodded, "Don't be afraid to use things in the environment to your advantage either. When you scout the Dyna, also take a look at the location and see if there's anything that can be used to give you the upper hand."

With that, the three of them set off towards the building Paris indicated. It looked like all the other buildings around it, except it was in better condition. It was almost a perfect cube around two hundred feet on each side and around sixty feet high. Large marble columns stood in front of the building and supported a triangular piece of stone above them. Some of the columns had fallen over, making it difficult to get to the front entrance.

When they got close, Paris put her finger to her lips to indicate they should be quiet. Bazel stored the Xanadu in his inventory so he could move easier and walked in a crouch.

At the entrance, Bazel and Samara stood on opposite sides and pressed themselves against the walls. Ever so slowly, they peeked around the corner and looked into the dark interior.

Somehow, the building's roof was mostly intact. Only a couple holes let in steamers of orange light and glinted off golden statues lining the walls. Large piles of rubble took up most of the interior – fallen pillars and interior walls that obscured parts of the space in darkness.

Bazel didn't see any snakes.

He glanced over at Samara and put his hands up, silently asking "Where is it?"

Samara frowned and shrugged in a way that said "How should I know?"

He looked over at Paris standing a couple dozen feet from the building. She used two of her fingers to point at her own eyes and then pointed at the building.

I did look! Bazel grumbled to himself as he gazed back into the dark interior, I don't think it's here–

Between a couple pieces of ruble, something moved. At first Bazel thought it might be a trick of the light, but as he focused on the area, he saw it again.

Green scales.

[Analyze] he thought as he focused on that area.

《 Poisonous Brood Mother, level 9

Health: Full

Effects: None

High Stats: Agility, Sense, Intelligence

Attack types: Piercing, Poison, Aether

Resistances: Poison 》

Bazel also looked around the room to see if there was anything he could use to their advantage. The things which stood out the most were the pillars and statues. Most of the ones still standing looked like they could topple over any moment. Maybe with just a push…

Bazel signaled Samara to fall back and they walked a distance away from the building with Paris. Once they were far enough, Paris gestured to Bazel.

"What did you learn?" She asked.

"It's a level nine monster with above average intelligence compared to the other snakes, so I won't be able to use [Entangle] or [Mesmerize] on it." He thought about what he saw when he analyzed it, "It also said it can attack with aether? I don't know what that means."

"Aether attacks are usually some sort of projectile or area-of-effect thing," Paris said, "They can manifest stuff from aether and use it as a weapon."

"It's a good thing we found that out ahead of time," Samara said, "It would be bad to get caught off guard when it starts spitting fireballs or whatever."

"Most likely not fireballs," Paris rolled her eyes, "the Analyze should have told you what it would use however."

"Poison," Bazel answered, "I'm pretty sure the piercing attacks are from its fangs, so the aether attacks must use poison."

"Very good!" Paris gave a thumb up, "Of course, that doesn't tell you how it will be used. It could shoot blobs of poison or breathe a cloud of poison gas. You have to be ready for anything."

"Do you know what it will do?" Samara asked Paris.

"Yes, but I'm not going to tell you." Paris stuck her tongue out, "Now you guys think of a way to kill it."

Bazel and Samara talked it over for a few minutes and came up with something they thought had a high chance of success. They took Paris' advice and thought of a way to incorporate the environmental hazards inside the ruined building – of which there were many.

Once they had it all worked out, Bazel retrieved his gun from the inventory and they walked back to the entrance of the building.

"One more thing," Paris whispered as she held up an orange device in her hand, "It's getting dark, so I'm going to use this to light the area up, it's called a flare gun."

The sun was already touching the horizon and most of the sky was turning a darker shade of blue. The inside of the building would be too dark to see well within minutes, so Bazel was happy she thought of something to help.

"Okay." Samara said and locked eyes with Bazel, "You ready?"

"Yes." Bazel gave a single nod.

Samara brought her mace and shield up and jogged into the building. She stopped a couple dozen feet in. Bazel took a position a few feet behind her and waited for the Brood Mother to appear.

Twilight streamed into the space through the holes in the ceiling and refracted off of pieces of marble and the golden statues. The ground shook slightly as something moved into the darkness.

A loud hiss echoed through the building.

A shadow rose up from the rubble and loomed over them, but in the failing light it lacked any particular shape. Samara used her shielding skills and [Boost Damage] on herself, causing her body to be enveloped in a red and blue aura.

Paris aimed the flare gun in the air and pulled the trigger.

A ball of shining light arced through the ruined building, immediately illuminating everything inside. The form of the Brood Mother was made clear.

Before them was a three headed snake – much larger than the others – and all three heads were bearing their wicked fangs at the small humans.

"Get ready!" Samara shouted.

The Brood Mother attacked.