Veloc could not believe his eyes when he saw the creature standing in front of him. This was no animal. No beast. It was an anomaly. Something that truly should not exist. The serpent was never the real threat. It was only a chrysalis. A host for whatever parasite was growing inside it, fueled by the ancient magic of Disronden that the poor animal had digested. Fortunately, it seemed that such a creature was partially immobile. Only its tall upper body had emerged from the serpent's flesh, while the rest seemed to still be stuck inside. For how long was anyone's guess.

The dragon did not want to waste any time. Clearly, the creature was strong enough to crush metal with its bare hands. It had to be stopped. His right hand let go of the chain and instead summoned forth what seemed to be a spear made of yellow lightning. Without a single sound, he threw it at the creature, hoping for at least some results.

One of the smaller horns on the serpent's back shot out of the body. Beneath the sharp bone, it appeared like a long tentacle, which blocked the incoming attack with relative ease. The spear merely left a tiny mark on the soft flesh. Before Veloc could bring himself to fully process the situation and what happened, the creature lifted up its arms. All of the countless spikes, which were running along the snake's back in two perfect rows, erupted in a similar fashion, revealing the tentacles underneath. All the hunters stood there, mesmerised by the sight. It was as if the snake has suddenly turned into some reverse centipede. No. In fact, it was even worse than that. Eyes began opening on the soft parts of the tentacles. It was as if each appendage had sight and mind of its own.

It didn't take long before the tentacles began striking. The sharp horns at their ends served as the perfect weapons. It was a storm of endless strikes and they kept flailing all over the place. Veloc dove down from the head, retreating. On his way, he grabbed Glavas by the hand and pulled him along. Both hunters tried their best to avoid dying just in these first few seconds. Dark tendrils emerged from Glavas' head and began blocking whatever attacks they could. Veloc's remaining blade danced among the incoming strikes, but could never stop them all. By the time both of them reached a safe distance, they were covered in bruises and tiny cuts.

The other hunters weren't giving up, but the rage that previously fueled them was all gone. Now they were afraid. Their magic instinctively wrapped around them in all possible forms of armour, and sometimes simply refused to go on the offensive altogether. Nevertheless, some dragons did manage to succeed in chopping the tentacles down.

"It's the eyes! They're the weak spots!" one of the hunters shouted when his blade finally managed to cut through the eyeball and sever the sharp horn from the test of the appendage. Unfortunately, with one eye down, another one soon replaced it. Granted, the tentacle in question was now shorter and not as dangerous, but it was still an active blunt weapon.

"HEEEELP!" another dragon screamed as one of the appendages wrapped around him and pulled him closer. Everyone watched in fear as the blue glow of his magic gradually left his body, flowing down the tentacle, and soon transferring over to the parasite itself, who was sitting at the very top of the now-dead serpent. The creature looked at its glowing hands before pointing one of them toward the hunters. A hail of ice shards rained down soon after. The fire dragons quickly managed to burn them away with a fiery shield while the others protected them from the incoming attacks, but that didn't mean the tentacles wouldn't manage to get a few hits in.

As one of the sharp horns approached a red-scaled hunter, he closed his eyes and prepared for the worst. It was too late. He couldn't dodge anymore. Not without dropping his magic and letting the ice shards through. No, that was not worth it. He would gladly die protecting his comrades.

A wave of flames flew through the air, cutting the incoming horn in half before it could strike. The hunter looked to the side, just barely seeing Darmok pass him.

"Keep the shield up. I'll need it," he told the hunter and calmly approached the tentacle.

Without any warning or incantation, fire exploded from underneath his feet, leaving behind two scorched footprints in the dry earth. The monstrous eye could not even watch what happened. Darmok shot forward at an incredible speed. His blade danced left and right, throwing fire on all sides and leaving behind nothing but diced, seared flesh. The eyes on the other tentacles briefly turned around. The red dragon was close now. Far too close. He was standing on the serpent's body. It would only be a matter of time before he'd go for the parasite's head. He had to be stopped. The nearby tentacles halted their ongoing attacks and instead focused on him. Before they could even approach, however, Darmok spun around. His movements were smooth and perfectly trained, like those of a professional dancer. A ring of fire flew outward from his blade, severing the nearby limbs of the monster and giving him some extra breathing room.

"Now! Move it!" He yelled and ran up the serpent's back.

With Darmok being the biggest threat, most of the tentacles turned their attention to him. They clashed with his enchanted blade, sending sparks flying in all directions. The hunters, who had finally gotten a bit of a break from the relentless and overwhelming attacks, rallied behind the gate guard and charged the serpent. Veloc and Glavas weren't far behind. Both of them were beaten up and bleeding, but at least they could still fight.

Glavas conjured up his weapons and began slicing his way toward the serpent's head. The situation, however, did not magically turn in their favour just because Darmok appeared. The parasite may have been surprised by the sudden reinforcements, but it quickly regained its composure. Soon after, even the gate guard's advancement had stopped. To climb up the snake's body, which was leaning against the hive, while avoiding all the incoming attacks, was simply too much even for him.

Glavas growled as one of the tentacles managed to hit him in the shoulder. He wasn't wounded, but the pain made him realise just how weak he was becoming. His gun was lying god knows where after he dropped it. His music was unusable since it would affect the hunters as well, and his best weapon for blocking was now stuck in the snake's head. The sealing scroll would never absorb something so massive in time, and the paralysing poison on his sword only worked at individual tentacles and not the whole creature. Combined with the pain in his knee, which he possibly bruised during his retreat, he felt as if all the cards were stacked against him. He knew already that he wouldn't be the one to deal the final blow. It was up to the dragons now. All he could do was make himself useful as much as possible.

The battle progressed at a painfully slow rate. Every once in a while, a dragon would get grabbed by the monster and drained of some of their magic, which was then used against the hunters of Skinscale. Countering such attacks was always difficult. After a few minutes and several such cases, the first casualties began showing up. Dragons were smashed by the tentacles, drained dry, or simply crushed by the monster's grip. To balance out the losses, some hunters retreated and brought back help. Wizards, blacksmiths, alchemists, or just simply anyone who'd be willing to help and had at least some remote fighting skills.

"We need to get to the main body up there!" Veloc ran up to Glavas.

"You think I don't know that? But what can we do? Is there anyone who can fly maybe?"

"No. None that I know of. Now I really wish I was a winged dragon."

"Then what is the plan?!"

"I came to ask you! You're always the plan, guy, no?"

Glavas took another look at the whole situation. Their target was high up at the head of the serpent, which was leaning against the wall of the hive. The tentacles kept them from getting too close, but there was a limited number of them.

"We... We just have to keep cutting the tentacles down."

"That's your plan?!"

"They will run out sooner or later."

"So will we! We're all getting tired, wounded, and people are dying! What do we–" Veloc didn't get to finish. A tentacle coming from high above them completely escaped their sight. They both managed to dodge just in time to avoid demise, but the impact knocked them to the ground. Glavas lifted his head as soon as he collected himself once again. The only thing he saw was the incoming horn. He felt pain shot through his belly. It was, however, surprisingly small. Almost as if he was just punched really hard, rather than impaled. He looked down and saw only a small bit of the tentacle that had managed to reach him. When he lifted his head, he noticed the rest of the horn crushed to bits, among which stood his daughter.

"No! Get–"

"Shut it! I don't want to hear it!" she interrupted him. "You there, can you stand?" Alma turned her attention to Veloc.

"Yeah, but he's right, kid. You shouldn't–"

"Okay, so here's the plan. I will pull the snake off the wall of the hive. Once it's on the ground, we kill that ugly freak at the top, okay?"

Before the hunters could reply, another tentacle moved towards them. With a single punch from Alma, the limb twisted and the spike at the top shattered. The eyeball sitting inside the appendage began bleeding and eyed the little girl up and down before she stomped on it.

The creature up top turned its attention to her. The hunters were a threat indeed, but she had just managed to break the tentacle with just a single punch. Whatever power she had, she posed a threat.

More attacks were coming. The parasite deemed it wise to take some pressure off Darmok and instead concentrate the attacks on Alma. Glavas freaked out as he saw the attack coming. Dark magic began spilling from his hair. Then, without any warning, a wave of dust hit him in the face as Alma kicked it his way.

"No! What?!" he yelled and wiped the dirt out of his eyes just in time to see the impact.

The first tentacle struck Alma, stopping against her first. The horn cracked a bit before retreating backwards, letting another appendage strike from a different angle. Even here, the result was the same. One attack kept coming after another with Alma punching them away as if the several-tone horns were nothing but pebbles. The speed at which she and the monster were striking one another caught Glavas completely off guard. For a moment, he felt like he was lying in the grass again, with his leg caught under a fallen tree, as he watched Sizzy dance with her sword, making sure no attack from the monster ahead of them would reach him.

Seeing that display of skill moved something in Veloc. "That's a fucking child..." he thought. "You're being saved by a child. You pathetic excuse for a hunter. Aren't you Ezma's number two?! MOVE YOUR ASS!" With the last bit of strength he had left, he stepped to the side, letting his lightning magic carry him into the perfect position. Now the eyes on all the tentacles striking Alma were almost perfectly aligned. He screamed and his remaining blade lit up with magic. As he swung it downward, lightning struck and the severed appendages fell lifeless to the ground.

"Forward then, girl! Glavas! Get up! We need to protect her!"

Riled up by his words and what he had just seen, Glavas pushed himself back on his legs and despite the pain in his knee, he moved forward. More attacks followed, but neither of the two hunters was willing to give up. They had to get Alma close enough. That was their best bet.

The Skinscale hive was shaking. Those who wished to go outside and fight have already done so, while the others went to hide underground. The hallways and corridors were empty. The only thing that could be heard was the noise outside, and small footsteps, which were approaching the hole in the wall. Surdi walked all the way up to the place where the snake's enormously long horn breached the outer shell of the hive. He stopped at the very edge and looked at the mayhem outside. The sharp winds have pushed apart the haphazardly tied straps around the infirmary tunic, blowing it open. The young dragon sighed as he felt the hot wind reach his chest. There was so much mana in the air. All the spells cast in the past several minutes were enriching the environment around him. It wasn't quite like inside the mana cave, but close enough.

He smiled and took off the tunic. His right hand pulled undone the knot over the package he received from the blacksmith. As the wind blew the loose cloth away, it revealed a beautiful silver sword, with a curved blade, just like Darmok's. In the meantime, his left hand reached into the pocket of his pants, pulling out a small flask. The contents seemed to be unharmed. There was water inside, mixed with what appeared to be diluted blood and glimmering dragon-scale dust. Surdi recalled what happened. How all the pain from the ritual made him dizzy. How he shuffled his way to the blacksmith nearby but tripped and fell there. The blacksmith then carried him to the infirmary, keeping the tools the boy previously carried in the safety of his workshop, along with the silver blade the young dragon managed to conjure. Surdi, however, cared little for the tools. Of course, he still had to return them, but what he truly needed was the small flask, filled with the water he collected in the mana cave right after the ritual.

"I have to give it to you Darmok," he said and opened the bottle. "You were right. Totally. I don't like hunting. I don't like conflict." He raised the flask above his head and turned it around, pouring its contents over himself. "But when I get to use some new magic to help people. Well, I guess I just get too excited. I just can't help myself" The stinging feeling as mana rushed into his body returned. It was different now though. Familiar. Empowering. Intoxicating. "So you actually were right." Surdi smiled and gripped his sword firmly with both hands. "I really do have a screw loose."

He squeezed himself through the gap in the wall and hopped onto the serpent's horn. Under such a steep angle, sliding down it was far too easy. All he had to do was just keep his balance.

Shivers ran across the back of the parasite's neck. He felt something. Something was touching the snake's body. Something was approaching from behind. It turned around. The big yellow eyes widened as they saw the small dragon approaching. Some of the tentacles quickly began ignoring the hunters down on the ground and flew toward Surdi. Despite their approach, however, the dragon's expression did not change. The parasite felt its heart beating faster. It remembered such expression. Those sharp teeth. That wicked smile. The yellow dragon had the same exact look right before it cracked the snake's skull open. To see such a face again brought fear even into the heart of the monster.

"Alright, show time," Surdi, whispered just as the tentacles approached him.

A gust of flammable gas flew out of his wrist and exploded, propelling his blade forward. He remembered what he read about reactive silver, along with what Glavas and the blacksmith told him. It was useless for weapons. The metal increases the kinetic energy of the strike, literally speeding it up. It is powerful when swung, but then stopping the swing is difficult. It requires a powerful grip, and can even break the wielder's arms when used without caution. With the power that Surdi applied to it now, the blade easily cut even through the rough horn on the tentacle. But the young dragon never intended on stopping the blade. He kept holding on to it with all his strength and simply spun around, letting himself be carried by the sword. If a change of direction was necessary, he used another explosion to push the blade along a different trajectory. It was a clumsy solution. His head spun and the explosions were uncomfortably hot. However, one couldn't say it wasn't effective.

Glavas heard the blasts from down below. He turned his head up, nearly fainting when he saw his son dancing with a sword among explosions while cutting down the monster's extra appendages left and right.

Finally, Surdi managed to get close enough. He knew he can't keep going any longer. He waited for the right moment and finally let go of the blade. As he stopped spinning, he fell to the ground, almost ready to throw up.

The curved sword flew right toward the parasite's main body. One thing the reactive silver was great for was projectiles. Those would always become even faster when fired or thrown, and stopping them wouldn't be needed. The monster didn't have time to react. The blade pierced its right side and remained stuck there. The creature reached for it, but before it could pull it out, something else landed on its face. Magic. Magical projectiles were raining down on its other side. All the tentacles that moved over to strike Surdi gave the hunters below a chance at counterattacking. The creature quickly covered its face, hissing wildly as the magic burned, electrocuted, and cut into its arms.

Surdi smiled, and with a hand up toward the monster, he snapped his fingers. Only now did the snake notice a faint coating of the dragon's magical smoke floating around the blade. An explosion occurred, biting a solid chunk out of the parasite's side and blasting the sword free. Its eyes narrowed. All this trouble happened because of this little cyan dragon. He had to die. At any cost. With all the magic the monster absorbed, it pointed with its one hand toward Surdi, whose head was spinning so much he could barely get up again. He saw the monster's fingers move as if it was about to snap. If nothing else, it was great at mimicking others.

However, no snap could be heard. The parasite didn't know what happened. All it saw was its own head rolling backwards before darkness fell over its eyes. Surdi watched as Darmok finally finished his climb up the snake's back. With most of the tentacles focused on Alma or later on Surdi, he had all the time he needed to push forward. He jumped up those final few metres, and with one final flame-enchanted cut, he severed the parasite's head. He shook the blood off his sword while watching the tentacles finally stop moving and fall to the ground. Soon after, cheers and laughter replaced the dreadful noises of battle, which at last faded into oblivion.