I returned to my original observation point.

Crouched down on my haunches, I took a moment to watch the serpents. Their positions remained unchanged. Right, let’s be about it.

Readying my voice, I cast ventro. “Yoohoo, ugly monsters!” I yelled at the top of my voice, projecting the words to appear as if originating from the trapped boulder. “I’m over here!”

Twelve heads reared up. Staring at the ground to my left, the snakes hissed angrily, but none moved.

“Come on, come and get me!” I roared.

The serpents still stayed put.

Bleh. Looks like they need a bit more motivation. Using mindsight to locate a target, I cast simple charm. Strands of psi reached out to the closest serpent.

A level 115 two-headed stygian snake has failed a mental resistance check! You have charmed your target for 10 seconds.

I smiled as I overcame the creature’s defenses with startling ease. Unlike my previous charm attempts on the streets of Nexus, this time, I’d succeeded on the first try. The twenty-five percent boost provided by Moonshadow’s buff was already proving useful.

Tugging on the mental leash wrapped around the serpent’s mind, I commanded it towards the ambush spot. Obedient to my will, the charmed snake separated from the group and slid in the direction I indicated.

A heartbeat passed and another—but all the other serpents remained fixed in place.

My hands tightened about my weapons painfully. Damn, these snakes are stubborn. My improvised plan looked to be failing—spectacularly. There was only one more thing to do: play the bait myself.

So be it. Bouncing off my haunches, I made to rise.

One of the seed guards uncoiled itself. Then another.

Still wrapped in shadows, I sank back down to the ground in relief. Finally! Seeing their fellow race towards my supposed location, the other serpents were following in its wake.

I yelled further encouragement. “That's it! Come and get me!”

Predatory instincts stirred, overwhelming the creatures’ more protective urges, and the trickle towards the trapped boulder became a stream.

The remaining time on my charm spell was passing quickly. Still, I ordered my minion to slow down a touch. It would not do for the bespelled creature to trigger the ambush too early. Caught up in the frenzy of the hunt, the other serpents barely noticed and narrowed the gap in an impressively short amount of time.

Excellent, I thought, eyeing the mass of writhing snakes hurrying to their doom. My gaze slid back to the seed.

Not all the stygians had abandoned their post.

Four remained behind, including the largest—still tightly wrapped about the seed. Four I can manage. Drawing my blade, I rose into a half-crouch and waited.

A moment later, the ambush was sprung.

A stygian serpent has triggered a trap!

A stygian serpent has triggered a trap!

A stygian serpent has triggered a trap!

A stygian serpent has triggered a trap!

The ground shook, and the air burned as, near-simultaneously, four explosions rocketed through the dried-out lakebed. Dense orange flames mushroomed outwards, swallowing the eight blindly swarming serpents and, even momentarily, the nether’s yellow smog.

Eight stygian serpents have failed a magical resistance check!

A stygian serpent has been killed.

A stygian serpent has been killed.

Your charmed minion has been killed.

A stygian serpent has been injured.

A stygian…

Game notices scrolled heedlessly through my vision, a testament to my ambush’s success. While the serpents hadn’t been as tightly grouped as I’d hoped, they’d all been caught in the killing ground, and none escaped unscathed.

I smiled grimly. The odds had swung firmly in my favor. Turning back to the four stygians protecting the seed, I fixed my gaze on the largest serpent and cast again.

Waves of psi swamped the beast’s mind, overwhelming its mental defenses, and in surprisingly short order, the creature was mine.

You have charmed a level 121 stygian serpent for 10 seconds.

“Attack,” I breathed across the mental conduit linking us. Obediently, my minion uncoiled free of the seed and darted towards its nearest companion.

The assaulted snake hissed in anger and shock as my bespelled minion’s jaws clamped down on it. Flinging itself erect, it tried to escape, but the second snake’s teeth were sunk deep into its skin, and it failed to free itself.

The remaining two serpents shrank back, their forked tongues hissing out in unmistakable warning to the fellows. From a safe distance, they watched the sudden—and from their perspective, senseless—fight.

It was the perfect opportunity for me to execute my next attack. Blade in hand, I blinked into the shadow of the closest stygian.

You have teleported into the shadow of a level 115 two-headed snake. You are still hidden.

In quick succession, I activated whirlwind, piercing strike, and crippling blow. With its malevolent gaze fixed on the battling duo, my target had still not noticed me.

Soundlessly, I flowed forward, plunging the stygian shortsword deep into the oblivious beast.

You have backstabbed a two-headed snake for 100% more damage. You have crippled your target’s torso.

Sadly, the creature’s head had been out of reach, and I’d been forced to attack at its lean torso instead. Despite that, the attack had been devastating, and the stygian shuddered, its head sagging lower. Moving faster than thought, I struck my foe twice more in quick succession.

You have critically injured a two-headed snake.

You have killed a two-headed snake.

The other unengaged serpent had observed its fellow’s deaths, and it flew forward, its jaws unhinged and ready to clamp down on me.

But whirlwind still empowered my limbs, and I was faster than the striking snake. Deigning to dodge, I met the incoming attack head-on.

Going down on one knee, I flung up my left hand to halt my target while simultaneously plunging the sword in my other hand up and through the creature’s open jaw and deep into its brain.

You have stunned your target for 1 second.

You have killed a level 110 stygian beast with a fatal blow.

Backing away from the dead monster at my feet, I chanced a quick glance around.

My minion and its foe were still coiled about each other, locked in combat, while the ambush survivors, their eyes swimming with hate, were slowly slithering back, dragging themselves across the ground despite their wounds.

Knowing I was nearly out of time, I dashed to the seed. The object was a little larger than my hand. Bending down, I tugged it free.

Or tried to.

The seed was fused to the rock beneath it.

Damn it, I growled. It would take me more than the few seconds that I had remaining to free the thing. Abandoning the seed, I swung around. I would have to deal with the remaining serpents before I could attend to it.

My gaze sweeping over the remaining hostiles, I formulated a hasty plan.

First, I attended to my bespelled minion. It was still the biggest threat on the battlefield, and the spell I’d woven about its mind was about to expire. Slipping tendrils of will into its mind, I cast slaysight.

My second spell overcame the creature as easily as the first had, penetrating its already compromised defenses and blinding it to my presence.

You have hidden your presence from your target for 10 seconds.

A second later, as expected, my charm spell dissipated.

You have lost control over a level 121 stygian serpent.

Returned to its senses, my former minion tried to disentangle itself from the battle. The other snake, however, was having none of it and only coiled itself tighter about its foe.

The larger serpent thrashed violently—in a frenzy to get free. It couldn’t see me, but the beast clearly realized something was wrong.

I smiled tightly. For the time being, at least, I’d nullified the threat of the two dueling serpents. My gaze slid past the pair to the returning snakes.

There were three of them, all bearing one injury or another. Homing into the one I judged to be the greatest threat, I blinked into its shadow and buried my sword in the back of its head.

You have killed a stygian serpent.

The beast on my left snapped at me. I rolled under the blow and, bouncing to my feet, scored a deep cut through its torso.

You have injured a stygian serpent.

I didn’t get to finish off the creature. Warned by mindsight, I sensed the third snake attack. Creeping up from behind, it lunged forward with blistering speed.

I sidestepped smoothly and pivoted on my heel to slap the surprised serpent across the side of the head with the open palm of my left hand.

A stygian serpent has failed a physical resistance check! You have stunned your target for 1 second.

For just a moment, the creature froze, its deadly strike transforming into an undirected strike. Leaping onto the snake, I took my stygian blade into a two-handed grip and plunged it straight downwards, sealing its jaws forever.

You have killed a stygian serpent.

I swung back to face the last of the trio. It was attempting to crawl away, the single blow I’d struck it, heaped on the damage already inflicted by the ambush, proving too much for even its bloodlust to overcome.

Withdrawing my sword from the corpse beneath me, I strode over to the beast and, without a flicker of remorse, stabbed my blade through its left eye.

You have killed a stygian serpent.

Turning about, I scrutinized the remaining two serpents. They were still embroiled in their own struggle. Although, by now, it was clear my former minion would not prevail. It sagged, more than half-dead in the second serpent’s jaws. The larger snake’s attempts to detach itself from combat earlier on had not served it well, and its foe had ruthlessly pressed its advantage.

Hanging back, I slammed my will into the smaller of the battling duo. The creature was no more able to resist me than its fellows had been, and it fell under my control. With one serpent blinded to my presence and the other charmed, I could approach closer with impunity.

Ordering my new minion to disengage, I blinked into the other’s shadow and waited. Obediently, the bespelled serpent released its prey and slid back.

The larger serpent swayed uncertainly, confused by its foe’s abrupt withdrawal.

I raised the stygian shortsword high overhead. Then, timing the blow to perfection, I brought it flashing down and through the injured serpent’s neck. The blade sliced easily through flesh—more solid here in the nether than it had been in Nexus—and severed my target’s head in a single strike.

You have killed a stygian serpent with a fatal blow.

One to go. Dashing forward, I plunged my blade into the last snake, dealing it the same fate as all the others.

With a tired sigh, I sheathed my blade and surveyed the lakebed. The battle was over, and I won. My gaze dropped to the stygian seed.

And now it’s time to get what I came for.