Mr. Johnson patted Khrx’s head. “Don’t feel bad if your spirit is less than five. As people get older, their spirit increases. I’m sure you’ll be able to learn spells in no time.”

Khrx’s expression darkened as he resisted the urge to maul Mr. Johnson.

“Four snakes up ahead,” Vinny said. The group came to a halt at a bend in the tunnel. Vinny tossed his torch around the corner, causing hissing sounds to echo throughout the passage. He positioned himself with his arms and legs spread apart like a goalie and shouted, “Stoneskin!”

Four bright-red snakes came around the corner, lunging towards Vinny. They were as thick as a human’s thigh with green venom dripping from their mouths. A slimy trail was left where they passed.

“Whoa, these are big,” Randy said, his eyes bulging out of his head. “Why the hell are they so big?”

“Shut up and kill them,” the lanky fellow beside Randy said. He raised an arm and pointed his palm at one of the snakes. “Firebolt!” A wisp of fire flew towards the snake and struck its side. It let out a hiss as it reared its head up, facing towards the ceiling. Before anyone could react, it shot out two lines of green liquid straight into the lanky fellow’s eyes. He screamed as he fell to his knees, smoke drifting out of the corners of his shut eyes. The snake lunged forward to finish him off, but Vinny tackled it, crushing it with his magically enhanced body.

Mr. Johnson ran forward and placed his hands on the lanky fellow’s back. “Cure Touch,” he said as white light flowed out of his palms. The lanky fellow stopped squirming as his dripping eyes wriggled and mended itself.

“Watch out!” Randy shouted. The three other snakes slithered around Vinny, all of them heading straight for Mr. Johnson. “Arcane Pulse!” A wave of pink light surged out of Randy’s chest, slamming into the three snakes. Two of them let out hisses and crashed into the tunnel wall, but one of them remained unaffected.

“Goddamn,” one of the men who was originally guarding Mr. Johnson said. He reached into his bag and pulled out a stone club while swinging it at the remaining snake in a single motion. It struck the snake squarely on the head, causing it to coil its body back and hiss. The man grinned and stepped forward, raising his club into the air.

“Duck!” Mr. Johnson shouted.

But the man didn’t have the time to listen to Mr. Johnson’s advice. Like a rifle shot, the coiled snake sprang into the air and sank its fangs into the man’s neck, wrapping its body around his torso. The man struggled, but his club bounced uselessly off the snake’s scales.

“Shit! George!” shouted the other man who was guarding Mr. Johnson. He ran forward and pulled out the dagger by his waist, stabbing it into the snake’s head. It shuddered but coiled even tighter around George’s twitching body. Its eyes gradually lost their luster, but George had also stopped moving. “Damn! George died.”

“This wasn’t normal,” Vinny said, climbing to his feet. He had wrestled one of the snakes to death, killing it by crushing its head in his hands. The remaining two snakes had been wrapped up by Randy and the lanky fellow who still had burn marks near his eyes and cheeks. Both of them had pulled out their swords. “Why the hell were they so big?”

“Could it be the hidden boss?” Mr. Johnson asked, his forehead furrowed. “To think we’d be this lucky.”

Khrx unwound the snake coiled around George’s body. He stuffed its tail into his mouth and slurped it up like a noodle, causing his cheeks to bulge to comical sizes. The men stopped discussing amongst themselves as the bulge in Khrx’s mouth vanished.

“W-where did it go?” Randy asked. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

The lanky fellow let out a scream in reply. Everyone whirled around to face him. A purple and black tail was wrapped around his neck, and his face was turning blue as he clawed at it to no avail. In a single motion, his body jerked upwards with a cracking sound, and his limbs stopped moving as his eyes widened and glazed over. The tail released him, and he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

“The hell is that!?” Randy shouted, waving his sword at the ceiling. A massive cobra was coiled around the stalactites, its tail swinging back and forth like a pendulum. “Fireball!” A ball of flames erupted out of Randy’s sword, striking the largest stalactite supporting the cobra’s weight.

The cobra fell to the ground with a hiss, its tongue flickering in and out of its mouth. “These sacks of meat dare to invade this queen’s lair?”

Khrx blinked. It was a shame he lost the glossy black feather; otherwise, he might’ve been able to have a civilized discussion with the snake. Well, it wasn’t like it was his problem. He took a few steps back and sat on a nearby rock, but not before retrieving one of the dead red snakes to munch on.

“What’s the plan?” Vinny asked as he positioned himself between the cobra and Mr. Johnson. Sweat rolled down his neck as he swallowed. “I have two uses of Stoneskin left.”

“Do we ever plan things?” Mr. Johnson asked with a wry smile. “Just tank it while Randy and Eddie smack the shit out of it.” He pursed his lips and took a glance at Khrx before letting out a sigh of relief. It didn’t seem like Khrx had heard him swear. He pointed at the cobra. “Wither!” Black smoke rose up around the snake’s body, seeping into its nostrils.

Vinny roared and ran forward. “Stoneskin!” He leapt up and hugged the snake’s face, trying to clamp its mouth shut. Randy ran forward and hacked at its sides with his sword while Eddie picked up George’s club and ran up to it. Unfortunately, the club bounced off the snake without causing any visible damage.

“Blessing of Might!” Mr. Johnson clapped his hands, and a wave of white light surged towards his three companions, washing over them.

Khrx finished eating the red snake and waddled over to the one that was dead by Mr. Johnson’s feet. He picked it up and trudged back to his original seat. A second later, a screaming Eddie flew over him and crashed into the tunnel wall, his head exploding into bits of bones and blood.

“Holy crap! Eddie!” Randy’s mouth fell open at the sight before he refocused on the snake. There was a bright red patch of blood on its tail where it had slapped Eddie. If that hit him, he’d probably suffer the same fate as his exploded friend. He raised his sword into the air and stabbed down. “Hurry up and bleed to death, you giant son of a bitch.”

Khrx finished his third snake and glanced at the three dead men around him. He tilted his head. Should he? It’d be a waste not to. But something in his gut told him the other people would try to kill him if he did. And his gut was never wrong unless it was. Instead, he crept up to the red snake that Vinny had killed and grabbed its tail.

The cobra’s eyes flashed. “Eating this queen’s children! Unforgivable!” It ignored Randy and Vinny, lunging at Khrx, intent on crushing him with its sheer size.

“Kay! Watch out!” Mr. Johnson shouted. He ran forward and dove in front of Khrx, shielding him with his back. But the cobra was like a truck, slamming into him and Khrx, crashing through them and into the wall. Vinny let out a groan as he rolled off the snake’s head, landing on top of Mr. Johnson’s unmoving body.

Khrx wrinkled his nose as he sat up. His head was a little sore from where it had smacked into a rock, but other than that, he was fine. The cobra reared back and opened its mouth, exhaling a fog of purple mist. It permeated the whole tunnel, causing Randy to collapse with a curse. Khrx sighed as he scratched his head. Was he going to die again so soon? A day hadn’t even passed. The purple mist entered his nose and mouth, and a feeling of comfort overwhelmed him. His head no longer hurt, and the few scratches he received from his fall were healing themselves.

“What’s this sorcery?” the cobra asked. “How are you healing from my most potent poison!?”

Poison? A smile bloomed on Khrx’s face. He had to thank that disgusting blob for hugging him and giving him a mythic skill. But how was he going to fight the cobra without any weapons or claws or fangs or horns or hooves or spells?

The cobra’s tail flashed towards Khrx, and he batted at it out of reflex. With a boom, the cobra’s tail flew to the side, slamming against the wall. Khrx blinked at the giant snake. This…. Wasn’t this cobra a little too weak?