The corrupted serpent hissed again, a deep, guttural sound that reverberated through the air like thunder in a canyon. The aura it exuded was suffocating, pressing down on them like an invisible weight. It wasn't just powerful—it was ancient, a living disaster carved from nightmares.
Hope gritted his teeth, wiping the blood from his mouth. His side screamed in pain with every breath, but he didn't let that stop him. He couldn't.
Across the field, Nefer was breathing hard, a gash running across her arm from shoulder to elbow. Her pale skin was smeared with dirt and blood, and her sword—normally sleek and gleaming—was nicked and stained. Massa stood behind a crooked tree stump, her hands glowing faintly, her brows furrowed in focus. She'd used too much energy in the last blast, and her breaths came out shallow and fast.
This was going bad.
Very bad.
The snake coiled its body again and lunged—this time straight for Massa.
"Massa!" Hope shouted, breaking into a sprint, ignoring the pain that lanced through his ribs.
But Nefer got there first. She threw herself sideways, tackling Massa just as the serpent's maw slammed into the spot they had occupied a breath before, shattering the ground with the force of a siege weapon. Dirt, stones, and splinters exploded into the air.
Hope skidded to a stop, eyes darting across the battlefield. He wasn't thinking about winning anymore—he was thinking about how to survive.
They needed a plan. Or a miracle.
He dashed forward, sword in hand, and took a running leap. His blade came down in a full arc, aimed directly at the joint where the snake's head met its body.
CLANG!
It felt like he'd struck iron.
His sword recoiled violently, vibrations surging up his arm and into his shoulder. He landed awkwardly, stumbling. The serpent turned toward him, annoyed more than anything else.
And then the tail came.
Hope didn't see it in time. It whipped around with a howl of wind, crashing into him like a battering ram. His world turned white as he was launched again—his back hit a tree, hard, and the impact shattered bark and splintered the trunk. He crumpled to the ground, coughing up more blood, his sword knocked from his grasp.
He couldn't breathe.
His ears were ringing. His limbs were numb.
He forced himself to crawl, dragging his body toward his blade. Everything hurt—every breath, every heartbeat.
The serpent turned its attention to Nefer and Massa now.
Nefer had gotten back on her feet, though she limped badly. Her left leg was dragging slightly, blood staining her pants. She still held her sword, but her hands shook. Still, she stepped forward.
The snake lunged again.
Nefer rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the strike, but the aftershock knocked her off her feet. The serpent's body followed—curling, wrapping, constricting. It tried to coil around her. She hacked at its flesh, her sword sparking uselessly off the armor-like scales.
Massa screamed something, but it was lost in the chaos. She summoned a blast of force again, aiming directly at the serpent's eye.
It hit.
The beast recoiled, screeching. Not in pain, but in irritation. One of its eyes now oozed dark blood.
But the retaliation was instant.
The serpent's tail slammed into Massa's side with brutal speed, sending her flying. She rolled across the dirt, skidding to a stop with a crack—something in her shoulder dislocated, judging by her scream. She didn't get up.
Nefer scrambled to her side, grabbing her and dragging her back behind a boulder, breathing heavily.
Hope finally reached his sword.
He clenched his fingers around the hilt, ignoring the agony in his back, and stood. His breathing was ragged. His armor was cracked at the side. Blood seeped from a cut on his forehead, blurring one eye.
But he stood.
And then he ran.
Toward the serpent.
It turned, sensing him, and reared back like a cobra, baring its fangs. Hope ducked left, rolled through the mud, and came up on its blind side—the side Massa had hit.
With a roar, he plunged his blade into the wounded eye.
SQUELCH.
The snake screamed, jerking violently. Hope barely managed to wrench his blade free and leap back before it crashed down, mouth snapping wildly.
The good news?
It was hurt now.
The bad?
It was angry.
The snake thrashed, its massive tail flattening trees, gouging trenches into the earth. It turned its ruined eye toward Hope, blood and black sludge dripping from the socket. It was blind on that side—but still dangerous.
Hope backed up quickly, dodging another strike, but his legs were slower now. He was exhausted. One mistake—just one—and he was dead.
Nefer appeared behind the serpent, launching another barrage of strikes with her sword. She targeted the soft part under its jaw, where the armor seemed weaker. Her strikes were fast and clean—but not deep enough.
Then Massa, groaning in pain, stood behind the boulder and raised her uninjured hand.
Another pulse of force energy.
It struck the serpent's side, unbalancing it.
Hope saw the opening.
He pushed off the ground, dashed forward, and leapt—driving his sword deep into the jaw from below. His blade bit through flesh. Blood sprayed out.
The serpent roared.
But it didn't die.
It thrashed violently. Hope was flung again—his back hitting the ground so hard he saw stars. His sword was still embedded in the serpent's mouth.
The three of them were bleeding.
Nefer's face was pale, her leg dragging uselessly.
Massa was barely upright, her shoulder dislocated and ribs likely cracked.
Hope could barely move, his side was broken, he could feel it.
And yet the serpent was still standing—bloody, enraged, monstrous.
They were losing.
And the worst part was…
They knew it.
The snake was Strong hope gave it that, although he was confident that him, Nefer and Massa could defeat at most ten corrupted fiend, which was even more than any awakened three awakened could do.... But this before them was a corrupted devil... A corrupted devil was atleast three to five times stronger than a corrupted fiend, but this snake here seemd to be among the top when it came to corrupted devils.