Adil sensed through the ground the size of the cavern, it was a huge space dripping with an evil corruption. As the entity wreathed across the floor below him it sent a creeping chill down his spine.

Adil got up from where he was sitting. "The plan is to bomb it. We drop enough of the brew for the creature and it's 8 heads then Swift and I will try to incinerate it. We can set up defences by coating weapons with the flaming brew. " He said.

Morganna stepped forward. "I will help coat the vile creature with this substance," she said.

Swift solemnly said in a quiet voice to Adil. "The more you talk about it the more I think it's not going to work,"

"Not everything has to be a fight with a huge struggle," Adil replied.

Adil scratched a circle into the floor and the goblins stepped back before the dryad focused her magics and Seras moved into to take a smash. She raised her axe over the impact space and looked to the others before striking the rubble. A shattering blow erupted from the floor as rocks and dust coated all around. Adil felt the creature become still, he was unable to detect its position.

"Shine some light," Seras asked.

Swift focused on his mana and shot out a small orb of liquid fire. it highlighted the size and darkness of the cave but as it hit the floor all it did was show how the prominence of taint could hide anything and everything there.

"We need to draw it out," Swift said. They looked around and the goblins sheepishly backed away as they felt the image of cannon fodder over themselves.

"I'll do it," Ezra said with a stony expression.

"No. I'm going to be the one doing it. You cant even respawn." The Dryad shuffled uncomfortably.

"Forgive me squire but I do not believe that you will respawn if the taint was to corrupt your essence." She said.

Adil realized what she said was likely true. he thought his fear of death was taken away by the chance he could respawn, but here now he felt no difference on that realization.

"It still has to be me," he said. tying a rope around his body. He dipped his sword in the alcoholic substance and had Swift coat it in the longest lasting fire he could muster.

Each member of the group was grabbing onto the rope apart from the dryad and Swift and he was slowly lowered into the hole.

He hung in the air unsure of how deep the pit went and saw spores of the darkness flicker into the flame of his sword. When he swung around, the darkness receded further from him. He checked looked up seeing the rope dangling through the pit, the faces of his friends looking down wearily. He was glad the rope was still attached to him. He swung forward and towards a wall, scraping his sword against it created a cascade of fire. which burnt away a section and let himself swing back, dangling in the dark depths ready to be eaten by a giant hydra of darkness. He felt the presence of the beast move and thought he saw one of the heads slither behind him. When he turned he saw nothing there.

He swung his head around again, looking from side to side. He wasn't sure how long he was going to wait, but like with the firefighters at Chernobyl. It seemed like a decent idea at first. and then out of the darkness, he saw a demonic serpent head approach. Head the height that he was tall. neck the width that his arms could reach. He pulled the rope.

"Pull me up!" he shouted as one by one the heads came into vision, three heads shot towards him as the rope grew taut. He shot a burst of air from his feet launching himself higher than the rope was pulled taking him to the side. Nimbly he landed against the wall as the rope tried to catch up with him burning the size so the tentacles of darkness could get no hold.

Another head was ready and waiting, it dove towards Adil whilst another grabbed at this rope. With another burst of air, he dove again off the wall whilst the rope was pulled at through he serpents attacks, pulling on both him and the ones holding the rope above. Adil used the momentum change to launch him further up and the rope snapped. Before he fell to the ground he landed on the serpents head, quickly jumping off with a burst of air he reached for the exit but was just too short. Morgana waved her staff and pulled him the rest of the way up.

"Now, do it fucking now!" he Shouted as he flew into the cavern.

The head launched itself through the hole cracking the rock around it before they had time to react. Adil had hit the roof with his feet and shot off again this time clashing against the Hydra's head with his sword, before sliding across the floor. The place he had hit fizzled and left a streak of burning fire across the creatures face. Morganna lifted the yellow liquid into a large bubble splashing a section onto the now present head seeing it mix in with the darkness and with that Swift launched a torrent of fire towards the creature lighting it's head ablaze.

The goblins had not backed off enough, frightened by what they saw they had cowered to the rims of the room. A head of a giant dragon was thrashing through the hole, it's skin alight as it screamed. Burning black essence cascading from its scales. The heads eyes grew pale as it started thrashing about, a thunderous crash came from all around. Another head burst through the rock staring down towards the group, more followed as the snaking heads of darkness climbed out of their pit. the floor started cracking and crumbling away forming a large gaping hole in the middle of the cavern. The burning head had its eyes grow a dim white before it collapsed and fell back to the bottom causing another head to come out and replace it.

"Wait for the body!" Seras shouted to the dryad.

Then Adil realized something, he realized why it was so hard to find, how it was coming out from the darkness and able to climb so high, bursting through the hole.

"It doesn't have a body!"

"what?!" Seras asked shouting over the crashing sounds.

"It Comes out of the darkness!"

The primordial serpents were darkness incarnate, they were one with the realm of madness, seeping out of the taints maddening corruption.

"Shoot it all with fire!" Seras shouted.

A burst shattered the wall as a serpents head came out of it, endless darkness from where it spawned. Explosions ruptured the surroundings and another demonic serpentine-head shot forth. swift shot down another stream of fire towards the beasts, but it did not catch without the liquids help. pushing them back and not caging them with flame.

Shadows came from the hole down to the bottom and rose upwards as more heads started to appear. Seras had coated her weapon in the brew and stood with Adil ready to make a move as another head dove towards her. Taking the flame from Adil she was ready as to strike, the giant serpentine head didn't expect the impact as it dove in skidding off to the side before an explosion ruptured its insides. Adil had leapt onto and around the creature as it crashed to the side. Its face cracks and fire leaking from breaks in the scales around its eye. He stood atop the side of the beings face and plunged his sword down towards the cracks of the eye pushing forth a bursting gale of wind through the crack and along the fire. catching the cleansing flames and shooting them around the creature's innards. The creature let out a last scream before it was dragged back into the darkness where the creature burst out of the wall. As that happened Adil threw his sword piercing the darkness and forcing it to dissolve away.

"Got one." He shouted.

The goblins were with swift and the dryad. he was still firing flames one after another, occasionally catching with the liquid and bursting one of the heads down.

Then more heads came forth, replacing the old ones. The dryad had made a semi=circle of flaming liquid between them and the spawning mass of heads. Then a head came forth with a crack over its right eye.

"We just killed that one," Adil said in anguish.

"Don't let them retreat to the darkness, they regenerate!" Swift shouted.

"if we kill them all at once," Adil questioned, now standing next to Swift. the semi-circle of fire between them and the gaping hole was not holding the creature back well, Adil decided to let out a large gust of air. Pushing his essence into it and igniting it with the fire. The roar of fire reaching up from those points forced some of the heads to cower back, but they took no damage. Another 3 heads re-emerged, the beast was now complete.

"All the oil. now!" swift commanded.

The yellow alcohol was shot over the beast and then in a focused effort swift and Adil crossed streams, combining their fire they coated the beast. Its dark burning flame was a bright infernal raising the temperature of the room to a sweat.

the creature wreathed, screamed and dove. The dryad created a dome of protection around the group empowering Seras's attack when she launched a powerful smash at the first beast, cracking its jaw and flailing it into the others. Swift and Adil had not let up the burst shooting towards the creatures base. Then suddenly they collapsed, engulfed and charred by the flames.

"It's done," Swift said in trepidation.

"no" Adil quietly objected as he saw the heads moving again as they were being dragged back into darkness. Adil and Swift let out a burst of air and fire again, coating the thing as the heads receded. Swift looked towards Adil a strange looking in his eye, meeting the desperate focus of Adil. Suddenly he stopped his stream of fire and wrapped himself in a coat of flames as he jumped towardsAdil's stream.

Before the last head was taken by the darkness Swift shot towards it grabbing onto a hold on last head to be taken back. Before the team could stop him, he went into the darkness, his cape giving off a strange essence as his eyes closed over fire.

An explosion shocked the cave and rocks began to tumble, the darkness itself began to rupture and fizzle from every part of the room. A shirime fell from the ceiling, shaking and struggling its essence fizzling in a sort of flame that spawned from within it.

A bubbling mass of darkness began erupting from the shadowed hole and then caught alight. Its fire melted away to reveal that the hole was only a few feet deep, no longer leading into some sort of interdimensional endless pit of darkness. A small, well 9 foot long mutated serpent with 8 heads lay dead in the middle, next to what seemed to be Swift's cape.

Notifications flashed for Adil but he ignored them as he walked over towards the hole. he stared down at Swift's cape before turning to the serpent. Adil jumped into the hole and as everyone looked down toward him he grabbed a head of the serpent and lifted it to the air.

the group roared Seras raised her axe in the air amongst chants of goblins. The dryad appeared to collapse onto her staff.

"You fucking did it," Adil said to Swift.

The serpent seemed to condense and combine through Swift's grip. The flowing pressure escalated, essence coiling in tendrils of mana. The tendrils flowed form black, purple white, yellow and red into a faint blue. Condensing the tendrils shot off from all parts of the serpent's body into its tail. The creature's body dissolved as the tail changed form condensing into a rigid black shape.

A sword appeared, contrast darkness trimmed with an icy white. As he held the weapon he felt hie essence pour into it, a spark of lightning shot down the blade before an icy cloud like trail began coming around it. He sliced away from him and saw a wind produced slice through the rock before him.

Enemy slain: XP

(assist)

tainted Orochi serpent 2000

(mutated) grade 10, hive mind.

level up x2

level up spend 4 ability points

*Item acquired State Grade

Grass-cutting sword Stable Ancient Regalia