The Viper was sneaky. One of its traits was to be sneaky but the Viper was also sneaky smart! It used feints, changed direction and places it would bite and now? It was circling and tightening the gap between them, which Bones almost failed to notice. The Viper suddenly tightened its body and fully closed the gap.

Bones jumped, avoiding getting crushed, and landed on the Viper's body. Bones knew he either had to aim for the monster's vitals or use a more efficient way to attack and wound the beast. He thought of a way to do both. Just empowering his body wouldn't be enough so he did something he hadn't yet tried with the weapon.

He channeled mana and guided the flow, focusing on the lance in his hands. He built momentum as he dashed a short distance toward Viper's head and when he was close enough, he thrusted forward with his lance, aiming at its eye. At the point of impact, he expelled the mana from the tip of the lance. An explosion boomed from the blast. His lance burst and dissolved into a fog of mana.

The Viper jerked its head back and began to violently thrash around. Bones' was thrown off its body and sent flying into the tree. He slid down to the ground. The damage from the impact was minimal. As for the Viper? It continued to wreak havoc. Bones watched the viper disappear in the jungle and followed the carnage left in its wake until it settled down somewhere beyond his senses and silence once again permeated the area.

Either the Viper moved on and away or… suddenly something disrupted his senses from the side. Bones turned in that direction but the feeling disappeared. He felt it again briefly, coming from the other side. He snapped his head but it disappeared again!

It's…circling me again?

A minute later, a bleak green smoke spread through the area where he was standing. Smoke? Gas? A poisonous gas!

Bones turned in the direction of the rustling of leaves and managed to get a glimpse of the snake.

*hiiisss*

It was circling and leaving poisonous gas in its wake! Seeing how dangerous its prey was, the Viper changed the way it attacked. This time, using poison to paralyze its prey. This poison however, is it…farting gas?? A rather crude thought occurred to Bones. The snake released poison via spores on its skin beneath the scales…

The visibility was reduced to zero. Bones didn't depend on his vision but his other senses, so he spread them out and felt…nothing. The Viper was a natural hunter and as such, its green scales provided natural camouflage in the greenery and its nature made it an expert at hiding its presence.

Bones was alerted, but stayed still. Different scenarios and outcomes played out in his head and suddenly, he casted Bone Nova, his projectiles hitting nothing. Damnit! Am I seriously getting nervous? Nerves…are getting the better of me? ME?

"I don't even have nerves…" Bones said, gritting his teeth. The Viper was far more active than any other monster he encountered so far and its scales have proven to be efficient against his spells. The silence ended soon as Bones finally sensed and heard the snake closing in on him. He turned and dashed in the opposite direction but the sudden impact by the Viper's tail sent him flying to the side. Bones hit and bounced off the trunk of a tree and slid against the ground to a stop.

He was getting one upped by the snake and he didn't like it one bit! Bones slowly stood up, pieces of Bone Armor shattering and crumbling away. His Mend Bone skill was working overtime while his mana was plummeting down. The snake was coming after him. I guess that was payback for the eye?

The Viper was blind in the right eye, courtesy of his attack earlier, so Bones started running against the snake's blind spot and watching out for its whipping tail. He casted the empowered Bone Lance at every opportunity and kept clinging to its blind side. Over time, even lances started to have an effect.

The battle was that of attrition. The Viper had endurance proportional to its size and level, while Bones had infinite stamina. With time, more wounds began showing on the snake's body. The scales fell off and Bones aimed at the vulnerable spots to inflict the most damage. The Viper wasn't as active anymore but focused on making every strike count. It waited patiently, not losing focus off its target even with all the wounds inflicted.

The battlefield was now void of trees and plants, demolished by the raging of the fight. Bones lost the cover of the trees and knew that the end was near. He wasn't foolish enough to think that The Viper had given up. He could see it in its eyes. The defiance and determination and he knew that the beast would lash out when cornered. True to his words, the patient Viper lunged, signaling the final round.

*thump* *crash*

Bones crashed into a tree. His reinforced coat, now ragged and full of holes. The Viper in his final bout was relentless. It was boosting its attacks by burning its life force. The damage it received should have killed it already. Just the damage it received from thrashing around was tremendous. It was impaled, bloody and blind. Bones took its other eye too. Its senses were impeccable though, truly an apex hunter.

Bones was missing an arm. To be more accurate, it hanged uselessly by his side. It was crushed and it was missing bones. Mana could no longer circulate through his arm, making it useless. Mend was slowly repairing the damage but his focus was on finishing the fight, not the arm. His hood was gone, his skull now visible and reflecting what little sunshine bore through the trees. Not that there was anyone there to see him. He was getting tired. Mentally.

Just because Bones' body wasn't getting tired, didn't mean HE wasn't. The constant drain on his mana and mana regeneration, was overloading his core. He could feel it. He would have to enter Eternal Rest for a brief period of time, just like he did the first time against the Ant Queen. Fortunately, it wasn't as bad. He felt tired but he wasn't crashing tired. He stood up and looked at the badly damaged sword in his hands…it wouldn't last long. He was imbuing the weapon and expelling mana with each thrust and strike.

His Bone Lance would make for a better weapon to imbue, but the mana consumption was too high in a prolonged fight. He tried the mace but it didn't have the same impact on the Viper's scales. With a bow, he had the basics down but he wasn't at the point where he could use it in a fast paced fight. The sword was the only option left and it got the job done until now!

He watched the snake feeling the air with its tongue, trying to sense him. *hiisss* Bones retracted his mana as best as he could and charged the snake. At times, he managed to go unnoticed and deliver a few unexpected hits, but most often than not, the Viper had sensed him coming.

This time too, it sensed him coming and turned in his direction, preparing to strike back. Bones was closing in and before he reached the snake and the snake lunged, he casted Bone Lance.

The purpose of the attack wasn't to injure, but to distract the snake and it worked. The Viper sensed the lance aimed at its head and flinched. It turned its head away and used its scales to deflect the projectile. Bones changed the direction of his charge and circled the snake. He positioned himself and delivered the blow to its head. At the moment of impact, the snake jerked and spun its body, sweeping the area with its tail. Before Bones managed to respond, he was thrown away like a ragdoll. His body bounced off the ground and slid to a stop.

Shit. His body felt heavier. The toll on his core started straining his body. He couldn't go on like this for much longer. He saw no no other option but to run away or keep his resolve, so he repeatedly assaulted the snake again and again.

The Viper now bleeded profoundly. Bones stood up after being knocked down for the upteenth time, and tried to use Quick Dash but merely managed to take a few steps.

Fuck…this ends, NOW! He started walking towards the snake. Each step faster than the previous one until it turned into a sprint. The snake slowly but surely started slithering towards him as well. With every step, he felt the pulse of pain from within his core. Bones looked at the blackness in the snake's eyes and was pissed off. He was angry at himself for taking so long and angry at the tenacity of The Viper. Enough was enough. I said "ENOUGH!" Bones shouted and…

The Viper froze still. The baleful blaze in Bones' eyes flickered out of its sockets. His gaze bore deep and something broke through, inflicting the blow to the snake's soul, to the core and it cracked. Bones kept his momentum and when he was under the snake's head, he thrusted his sword upwards one last time and expelled the mana through the Viper's head and out the back. The core in its head shattered along with Bones' sword. The fountain of blood burst out from the back of the snake's head and came pouring down on the ground, dyeing the surroundings red. The snake collapsed, dead.

Bones collapsed to his knees in a pool of blood right after. It was finally over, he won. He held his head with his hands. The pain pulsated stronger with each second. He stayed like this for a few minutes until the pain subdued. He looked up at the corpse in front of him. He did it, he killed the miniboss. He tried to stand up, but found it difficult to move. His body wasn't listening to him. He checked his status and saw that his mana was in red. It wasn't even regenerating anymore. He gave up trying to stand and laid on his back.

He would have to enter eternal rest right here and right now. Dungeons had its rules and this area was Viper’s. From what he knew and saw, no other beast or monster would encroach the area. Giant rats maybe? He hoped that wasn't the case. He was too tired to go through all the notifications that were softly dinging at the back of his head. With a final effort, he pushed himself off the ground, sat cross legged and his head slumped down.

Bones woke up with a start, still totally out of it. It took him a moment to process where he was and what he was doing.

*sigh* It's like I overslept…Hm?

He looked up and in front of him the half dissolved corpse of the Viper. He expected the corpse to dissolve back into mana after a period of time, however, he never stayed long enough in one place to see it actually happen. Just how long was I out for?

He shrugged as there was no way to tell the time inside a dungeon without certain items. Speaking of items, he checked the inside of his inventory and found two Fang Daggers made of bones. Poison oozed from the edge of the blade and while he could use the daggers, he preferred his summoned lance.

Fang daggers would make for a nice present to Solin for all and the future spars they'll have. Daggers aside, Bones looted crafting materials like Viper Scales and for some reason, Snake Eyes. I’ll deal with crafting materials later. Now then..

He pulled up his screen and got ready to go through the extensive list of notifications in anticipation! Starting with classic, combat experience gained…

"Finally!" Bones cried out. He was waiting for this moment for what felt like a long time.

Level up!

Congratulations, class Bonemancer is lvl 25

Congratulation on reaching level 25

Achievement: First Advancement unlocked

Bonemancer class advancement available

Bonemancer > Bonemancer Adept

New classes available: 8

Bonemancer Adept

Undying Executioner

Arcanist Mage

Arcane Pugilist

Spellancer

Battlemage

Arcane Weaver

Soulcaster

"Hooh?" There are quite a few new classes available! Bonemancer Adept is an upgrade to my existing class. Executioner? "Well, I did kill the adventurers", Bones muttered…" and the undying part was because of my race.

Arcane Mage was available the first time too and Arcane Pugilist is a hand to hand combat specialist. ”Interesting notion,“ but also a hard pass. I don't plan to fight up-close as much in the future. Spellancer?” Hard to guess that one!

Spellancer - a magic variant of the spearman class specializing in both melee and spell aspects of combat. Key skills of the class involve conjuration and spear combat mastery.

I had a feeling the class would be something like that. "The Battlemage seems like too vague of a name for a class. Isn't any mage battling, a battlemage?” Class seems to be a hybrid class between melee and magic combat. Similar to Spellancer. It would be, no doubt, a great boost to my power but I'd prefer something more specialized and at range. “Arcane Weaver sounds like an Arcanist class but focused more on manipulation then raw damage and finally, Soulcaster…”

Bones enthusiasm deflated for a moment as a flashback brought him memories of all the years he spent experimenting with soul magic. "All the events that transpired, brought me to this moment here and I made the choice to follow a different path in this life…or death?"

Bones closed all the prompts.

"First thing first." Bones summoned a small booklet from his inventory and started listing through the pages. The booklet looked old and worn out and it was missing pages. Silva gave him the booklet before he left, with another popular hit among the readers, “Chronicles of the Skeleton King”.