One moment Quinn was suspended in the air, his stomach lurching as he fell from the steep height of the cliff. The next, the world was replaced by a blurr. The resistance of the wind blowing against his body.
The Silver Serpent drove upward from the depths of the lake, its massive jaws unhinging like a tectonic plate shifting to catch its prey.
Suddenly, Quinn felt his descent accelerate at a terrifying pace—he wasn't just falling anymore, he was being sucked in. The Serpent inhaled, creating a localized vacuum that dragged him straight to its maw.
The stench of stagnant lake water, old slime, and rotting fish hit Quinn like a physical blow. The air was thick and humid, tasting of copper and death as he plummeted toward the black abyss of the creature's throat.
Survival was the only Instinct left in his mind; every other thought was drowned out by the roar of the wind and the wet squelch of the beast's interior. He was seconds away from being swallowed whole, destined to be dissolved alive.
MC: 50 / 390
The notification flashed in his peripheral vision, striking him with the force of a physical punch.
"Not like this," Quinn hissed, his voice raw. "I've still got fifty left... I can do this!"
Just then, cutting through the roar of the rushing air and the wet thrumming of the Serpent's throat, a voice resonated directly in his mind. it was the steady, calm voice of a person, echoing with a strange weight.
"Godspeed, Quinn, i am with you."
The words acted like a jolt of pure adrenaline. As the sheer force of the inhale threatened to drag him into the endless pit of the Serpent's gullet, Quinn reacted with the desperation of the damned.
He reached out his hands in the air, as his eyes darted towards the long fang. Hardening himself mid air, he caught them, holding on with his dear life.
The sudden jerk nearly tore his arms from their sockets.
He hung there, dangling over the dark hole, his legs kicking at the empty, putrid air.
The Serpent moved, and Quinn's body swung violently from side to side, a ragdoll suspended over a chasm.
Then a massive jolt threw him upward, and for a heartbeat, he was weightless. He was slammed down hard, landing flat atop the muscular, silver-fleshed tongue.
Before he could even catch his breath, the Serpent brought its lower jaw up to meet the upper. It was a killing blow designed to crush anything caught within its maw into a fine paste.
Quinn already sensed the intention through his dragon eyes,
Preparing himself at the last moment, he quickly stood upright.
"HARDENING!" Quinn roared.
He threw his hands upward, palms flat against the roof of the Serpent's mouth, and planted his feet firmly into the thick muscle of the tongue.
He became a single pillar of iron-hard flesh trying to hold back the weight of a mountain.
The struggle was absolute. It was Quinn's 40 points in Strength against the primal, crushing force of a predator.
The Serpent's jaw muscles, thick as tree trunks, bunched and rippled. They applied a rhythmic, pulsing pressure that made Quinn's entire world turn white. The pain was so intense it felt cold.
But then deep from inside, Quinn felt a warm feeling in his abdomen, then it started to spread throughout his body, moving to his arms and legs further strengthening him.
This was qi that was surging through Quinn body, that held him up this long.Yet it wasn't enough.
Then 'Crr-ack'.
Under the astronomical weight, his shins splintered.
Then, his spine felt like a folding accordion, each vertebrae being compressed into a jagged, agonizing line.
Blood sprayed from his mouth painting the Serpent's pale, ribbed palate a gruesome red.
"Damn it!" he screamed, his voice a guttural rasp as tears of agony mixed with the blood streaking down his face. The sound was muffled, trapped within the closing tomb of the jaws.
Only five seconds had passed. But for Quinn, each second was an hour spent beneath a hydraulic press.
It was a miracle of sheer willpower that he sustained the load for even that long without popping like an overripe fruit thanks to his Hardening and qi.
His eyes were bloodshot, the tiny vessels bursting from the strain until his vision was stained a hazy crimson.
MC: 25 / 390
His mana was depleting as he fought to keep his Hardening active. His body was at its breaking point.
In a final, desperate act of defiance, Quinn made his move. With a final guttural roar he summoned the remaining dregs of his energy into his right palm.
"Earth Spear!"
A long earth spear, the length of his own body quickly manifested, it grew thicker and sharper in millie seconds.
Managing to keep it upright, his strength finally gave way. His body collapsed, falling flat onto the Serpent's tongue.
MC: 0 / 390
The moment the obstruction was gone, the Serpent's mouth snapped shut with the force of a thunderclap. But the spear was already there. As the jaws locked, the stone spear was driven straight through the soft, sensitive tissue of the Serpent's upper palate and deep into its brain.
The snap of the jaw echoed through the cavern—a sickening, wet thud that signaled the end.
Outside, the beast went berserk. The Serpent thrashed, its titanic frame whipping through the water and slamming against the rock foundations of the cliffs in a dizzying frenzy.
It spun and coiled, a silver hurricane of agony, until finally, its nervous system short-circuited and gave out.
The Great Silver Serpent collapsed. As its life faded, the muscles of its jaw finally slackened. The mouth fell open under its own massive weight as the beast tumbled sideways.
Quinn's broken, limp body slipped through the parting lips, falling toward the water just as the Serpent hit the surface with a sound like a collapsing skyscraper.
The impact was cataclysmic. The Serpent's weight displaced the lake, sending a wall of water exploding outward in every direction. Quinn was caught in the surge, his body washed along with the violent tide. He was thrown toward the shore, his frame rolling several times over the jagged rocks and silt before finally coming to a dead halt.
Quinn lay there motionless.
The water pooling around him stained dark red, spreading slowly into the earth.