Hera saw a flash on the corner of her eye right before the spider slammed its body against her. She had already stopped running, so all her attributes were lower than they should be. Because of that, she wasn't able to defend herself properly, and the impact tossed her towards the mist with such force that Hera flew almost twenty meters into the fog. Twenty meters before she started falling.

With a scream of panic, Hera fell prey to gravity. What would be in the bottom of the abyss? Where was the giant snake? How could she have been so careless? Was she going to die? Where would she end up? Was there even a place to end up in? Would she just return to being a part of the system?

Questions and thoughts flooded her mind, moving even faster than the wind in her ears. Hera heard some noise, a far cry of someone calling her name, and a light above. The light of a storm cloud trying to reach her but going in the complete opposite way. Hera tried to scream, but the sound came out muffled. The fog hid her body and even the noises that she made. Trying to think fast, Hera did a mental check of her spell to see if she could do anything before hitting the ground, anything that would save her from her imminent demise.

Wind spells? They were too weak to keep her up and too small to hold her in the air.

Fire? Unless she had a large piece of cloth, it would be useless.

Poison? She couldn't even use that to end it before hitting the ground.

A single idea came to mind. Using the Mana Reinforcement on herself. It was enough to make her weapons withstand massive hits. Maybe it would be enough to save her. It was a long shot, but she didn't have time to come up with another plan. The issue was she was almost out of mana. Trying to make the Imbue Element spell work almost completely tapped her out. She didn't have enough mana to cover herself entirely with the spell, and if she didn't complete the connection, her Mana Reinforcement wouldn't work. As if a light bulb had been turned on. Hera had an idea. She didn't have to start with that spell. If she covered herself in a different type of mana and then used her [Shaper of Mana] skill to change it to protect her, she might survive. It was a stupid idea, even stupider than her first one, but for all effects, the only one she had.

Hera put her hands on her chest and back and cast her Poison Spray, trying to cover her entire body with the spell. Would she be poisoned by her own spell? Hera tried that a long time ago, but it never took hold of her. Then again, she had never tried jumping into a pool of her own poison before. Understanding her request, Hera's mana worked on overdrive and let out the venom from all her pores. Following that, the explorer began to weave the poison in the same structure as her Mana Reinforcement. Unfortunately, this task was taking too long. She could feel it working, and the spell changed to protect her, but she couldn't do it all at once. It would be better if she could turn around and fall on her side or if she managed to stand up and hit the ground feet first. Sure, she would break both her legs, but it was better than breaking her spine or skull.

By some miracle, Hera wasn't spinning while falling, and she was worried that trying to change her position would make her spiral uncontrollably. So she was focusing on making her back more protected. First, the neck, becoming paralyzed would be worse than dying. Then the skull and following along the spine. Shoulders next, if she broke her legs, she could crawl around and maybe use her tablet to ask for help. If she broke her arms, she could only move, and even taking out her tablet would be a struggle. Was that the right choice? Hera didn't know, but she had to go through with it. There was no time to second guess herself. Shoulders, upper arms, elbows, forearms, and wrists can't forget the wrist and hand. Moving down to her waist and spreading the protection to her legs. The sides of her back were still not done, but you could survive with a perforated stomach, but you couldn't with a collapsed lung.

Stop going to the leg. Focus on the upper area of the back. Hera barely managed to complete her reinforcement of the back of her ribcage when she glanced down and saw something approaching quickly. Something moving at high speed. Maybe this was a river. If she hit the water, it could be better. Or worse? Did she reach terminal velocity? Would this even change anything? Hera tried to go back to her protection and cover more of her back as fast as possible.

After barely starting with her legs, she finally hit the ground.

… and it was…

Soft?

Weirdly pointy but soft.

She even bounced a bit as she hit what should be the floor.

Looking to the side, she saw that she was moving, and under her, there were these weird white rocks. No, not rocks…. Scales!

Hera's heart sank. She just got a glimmer of hope now that she survived the fall, only to realize that she was riding the giant snake. At least it didn't seem to notice her.

Just as she had that though, the monster stopped moving. Hera went tumbling forward, having to hold herself with the help of the scales. However, they were sharp and dug deep into her hands, blood already flowing out of her wound. When she managed to pull herself up, she felt the mist changing. It was both becoming thicker and being pushed by something.

Something big.

Two massive nostrils appeared from the smoke, and a tongue, an impossibly big tongue, came out from under them. It got close to Hera and shook rapidly at such a high speed that she had to hold on to the scales, not to be pushed away. There was nothing she could do but hope that the snake wasn't hungry or angry at her for falling into its back. Instinctively, the explorer triggered her [Observe].

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????????

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Just as the window appeared on top of the creature, the snake shifted, tilting its head to the side, revealing a silver eye that was bigger than Hera.

"Hi," Hera awkwardly waved at the monster.

The snake shifted again, aiming its mouth towards Hera, and the tongue came out once more, this time getting so close that some of the snake's spit sputtered over Hera. She didn't expect a snake to have saliva, but it wasn't that much of a surprise considering how big it was. The tongue came out one more time. This time was targeting the empty space behind the explorer, who once more had to dig her hands into the scales to stop herself from being tossed away. She saw the massive head of the snake going back and turning to the other side, revealing a beautiful green eye. It was almost like staring into a forest with a white waterfall splitting the woods into two. Hera was mesmerized by the sight and almost felt sad that the creature shifted again, now stretching its head to continue its path.

"Wait," Hera tried to speak, but the snake was already moving through the abyss. However, this time it was much faster. Hera had to lie completely flat on top of the snake and hold on to dear life not to end up flying off. The sound of the wind passing by was deafening, and it was hard to even keep her eyes open. She managed to get a glimpse of what was going on, and it was like she was inside a train going through a tunnel. Everything was moving so fast that she couldn't make sense of anything, and there weren't even the lights to help her understand the speed at which she was traveling.

Hera noticed how there was some mist coming out of the monster's body, but more than that, she saw the wall of fog making a turn to the right. She prepared herself and grabbed the scales with all her strength, feeling them break through the armor of her gloves and cut deep into her hands. But that didn't matter. It was better to have wounded hands than to fall to the ground or whatever it was beneath her. When the curve came, Hera even tried to see if any spell could help her, but her stone wall needed rock to be created. At most, she could try to use some wind feathers to push her in the opposite direction, but even that was a stretch. She felt the centrifugal force pushing her to the side. With all her strength, she tried to hold on to the scales, feeling the sharp edges dig deeper and deeper into her skin. It came to a point where Hera could feel part of her hand flapping around. She didn't have to look to know that the scales were ripping her palms apart. Blood was spilling and making it difficult to maintain her grip, but the worst part of all was the pain.

The pain of having your flesh and muscle being cut slowly.

The pain of having your bones exposed to the elements.

A pain so sharp that not even the adrenaline coursing through her body was able to weaken it.

Her hand was slipping. In just a few more moments, she would be holding on with only her fingers, and it was very likely that they would be chopped off by the scales. She tried to get a better grip, but her hands slipped when Hera tried to pull up, and she was tossed off the snake.

With the body of the snake moving faster under her and some of the skin from her hands dangling from the scales, her thoughts started to wander, 'Did I think that right? Is it centrifugal or centripetal force? I never remember what's the difference between them. It would be nice to at least know the name of what killed me.'

As those thoughts crossed her mind, Hera felt something on her back. Something wet and heavy pushed her down back into the snake. It was like someone had tossed a weight on her back, but not to the point of hurting her. She glanced up and could only see a thick layer of smoke moving at different speeds, but she couldn't tell what part was close and what part was far away. Hera just stopped struggling and rested her face on the snake's back. The scales were like the cold side of a pillow, and whatever was holding her down was soft and warm.

"I wonder if the snake will feel bad if I take a nap," Hera mumbled, her eyes getting heavy.

She never managed to sleep, despite feeling extremely tired. Every time she was about to fall into unconsciousness, something deep inside of her fought back, only to be silenced right away. Some time went by, Hera couldn't tell how long it was, but eventually, the snake slowed down and stopped at the same time that the heavyweight on Hera's back vanished, together with her sleepiness. Looking around, she saw a small alcove to her right, and the snake's body seemed to have shifted to allow her to enter this space.

Carefully, she got up, feeling the sharp pain in her hands again. For the first time, she took a look at the damage, and most of her skin was open. She could see the bones in her hand, but most of the flesh was still attached to the tip of her fingers. Trying to keep her hands steady, not to make the rest of them be ripped apart, Hera walked into the alcove, being careful not to lose her footing. As soon as she stepped off, the snake shifted again. Hera could only make a quick scan of the area before seeing the massive head of the snake approach. It moved to stare at her with its silver eye.

"So… what now?" Hera asked while gritting her teeth. The pain in her hands became more and more unbearable. She had to figure out a way to bandage her hands. That way, she could have a chance of recovering from that, using the only healing spell at her disposal.

Without moving, the snake made a noise with its tongue, and the mist coming from its body reached out to Hera, enveloping both her hands. The pain immediately stopped, and Hera felt a familiar soft and warm sensation, followed by a slight tingle. Less than ten seconds passed, and the snake pulled the fog back. Hera's hands were completely healed. There wasn't even a scar where the scales had cut her, and the parts of flesh that were missing were there. There was no way to tell if that was new skin or the skin that she lost during the trip.

She was in shock for a moment, but suddenly she realized what she had to do and turned to the snake, opening a big smile, "Thank you!"

In response, the snake gently nodded and kept staring at her, almost as if it was waiting for something.

"Can I do something for you?" Hera asked.

Another moment passed without a response. Hera didn't know what to do, but suddenly, a notification appeared in front of her.

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You have been [Observed]

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The snake kept staring at Hera with expectation. The explorer couldn't tell why, but something told her that the snake was asking for her to use [Observe] on it. Not wanting to anger the monster, she complied with the apparent request.

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Chika - Darni's Companion - Level ???? (Mist affinity)

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