The moment the orb burst the snake tried dragging the body in its direction and smashed the pyre with its tail that set it aflame and angered the other head that lunged at Jonah with lightning speed.
As it did so, the tail got pulled back the other way and smashed the adjacent pyre, throwing its attack off course enough for Jonah to roll under and cut through its bottom jaw at a diagonal with a wing.
At the same time, Kayla had already launched her second attack at the snake's inner eye on the other head, bursting it immediately once again even without the double attack effect of "Serpent Strike".
"Jonah! Get back to Kayla!" Orcette's shout was confusing and unexpected, but Jonah had enough faith and could sense her confidence, so he did as ordered.
Just as he reached her, he caught the other emotions and gestured to his right for Lucas' sake and he was gone in a thunderous boom, then Jonah turned back toward the snake as he skidded to a halt next to Kayla. "Clear!"
The moment he shouted he saw a small length of vine land in the snake's mouth and he lost faith almost immediately, before being proved hasty just as quickly.
The vines suddenly took root in the serpent's tongue and began rapidly spreading and growing through and around its massive body and binding its mouth shut and its heads together.
Orcette regrouped with the others, hoping that would be the end, but then the sound of stretched vines made it clear they weren't strong enough to finish it off.
"Orcette, take this and go stab..." Kayla held out one of her daggers looking squeamish. "...Killing it all tied up would be bad for me I think."
"If it ever comes up, I'll swap you my hunter class for your rogue, I think it would be a better fit and they can both use that chained knife I'd imagine."
"Please, I don't think I'm cut out for it even if stealth stuff is nice."
"Jonah, you get that head."
With that, Jonah went into action on the head to their left, which he had already maimed and Orcette headed to the right.
'I need to get on top and cut there, snake's brains are small and at the back of the head. If I run to the side and cut the quadrate bone that its jaw hangs on, I can completely disable it...' The thought was followed by one more, that crept in. '...Thank you late night nature documentaries and osmosis learning.'
With that he reached his goal and cut deep into his first target as he lunged for the vines binding it.
Orcette on the other hand had already made it on top of the right head and was struggling to pierce its skull with the dagger.
"Orcette! They have a plate to protect the bone, line up the blade and elbow the pommel with everything!"
"The what!?"
"The ball on the end of the handle! I thought you were a nerd! What nerd doesn't know what pommel means!?"
"I'm still a girl, Feather!"
As she shouted, she followed his advice and lined up the blade, then just as the vines neared their limits, Orcette smashed her buckler into the dagger and Jonah sliced so deeply with his wing he managed to destroy the brain despite the terrible angle.
As the head he was standing on slumped a thunder crack and gorey splash came from Orcette's direction. The horrible wet noise followed by spluttering then a yelp, a thud and finally "OWW!"
When he turned around the other head was a bloody crater and Orcette was completely covered in blood and rubbing her behind, back and head.
"You okay?" As he asked the snake bubbled and liquified beneath him and he fell sharply, caught at the last second by his wings, which were being cleaned as the blood and brains dissolved in the same way.
"God I wish I had wings too, other than that, yeah I'm good."
As Jonah landed, their IDs beeped and they were distracted by a bright glow from where the snake had been sleeping.
"Good job you three. That beep, means you got the new record for your rank and that glow will be your reward chest. Now can you try and work your magic on this nutjob? I don't know what an "NPC" is, but he said this was a game, so I'm assuming he's a foreigner like you."
Lucas appeared carrying someone over his shoulder, a long whip-like tail hanging down over the legs which Lucas had decided to use as a rope to stop him running off. Jonah suggested they leave the dungeon first so there were no distractions and Lucas sighed whilst pointing out that an Angel should be more ready to help.
"Looks like a demon on your shoulder, I sensed hostility. A bit of unconsciousness might be good for him."
"Wow, so you guys really don't get on, I thought you left the war in the immortal realms."
"Not so much that we don't get on, I just don't want to put my charges in what my instincts tell me, is danger."
"Yeah, makes sense, but can you at least not head for the shiny chest while you say it?"
"Nope, I'm interested in what rewards these dungeons have to offer." Lucas chuckled and made a joke about the Angel's golden eyes reflecting his desires, but Jonah ignored it, ironically in favour of proving him right.
In an attempt to save some of his reputation, Jonah let Kayla do the honours and to Lucas' surprise, it disappeared the moment she opened it.
"What the hell? I wanted to see what you guys got and you didn't get a damn thing!"
"Stop your sulking, it went into our storage automatically."
"Weird, guess dungeons can detect that magic. Now stop being stingy and spill, what did you get?"
The three of them laughed and Jonah just pointed to the guy on his shoulder and told him to get his priorities in order, leaving him to grumble as he led them to the exit and told them to put their hands on the door.
As all of their palms touched the stone, the thrum of power turned to a rumble like an approaching avalanche, gradually intensifying until the world around them twisted and distorted in a display of colours not entirely different from the one that preceded their arrival in the white room upon logging in.
The dazzling display cleared and they found themselves looking out at the hidden grove they had been approaching before being transported into the dungeon.
The only illumination present was from Orcette's bucklers, Jonah's shield and the massive full moon hanging in the sky above, which was so clear they could make out what looked to be nebula and even pillars of creation.
"Beautiful..." Orcette murmured the word, the necessity of acting like they belong falling to second place in face of applauding the sheer flawless design of the world they had been trapped in.
"You're acting like you've never seen the sky before." Lucas commented as he picked up on her wonderstruck tone of voice.
"I can't really remember it, so in a way, I haven't. We were in the guild before nightfall, remember?"
"I guess, still surprised you didn't look out a window."
"My guardian Angel gave me a bed time." Orcette grumbled with slightly more honesty earning a comforting pity-filled pat on the shoulder.
"Speaking of bed time, let's get camp set and I'll take a look at this guy, I don't have to sleep so you three can. Lucas, out of curiosity, got any IDs on you?"
"Hmm, I see your plan, but it's technically not allowed. Still, I suppose as a foreigner, our choices are limited in identifying him..." Lucas considered it, then declared they were going to set up camp first then awaken the demon and see if he agrees to it.
They all agreed and got to work exploring the grove for a good spot, which luckily didn't take long and thanks to the self-erecting tent and supplies that got at Granny's shop, setting up didn't take long either.
As he watched them climb into their incredibly luxurious tent, Lucas couldn't help but look at the simple bedroll hanging from his pack in disgust, then when they emerged a few seconds later in casual wear saying they were happy they could "insta-quip from storage", he just felt played.
"Well... I got... Whatever. You two can start the fire and cook while we deal with the demon. Stay alert and shout if anything happens, changing is fine, but keep your weapons out ladies you just lost points."
"Damn, you're right, that was stupid."
"Sorry, Lucas... We'll get dinner ready."
"Sorry, Kayla. If you know how, then it's on you, Orcette will only kill us all." Jonah laughed as Orcette nodded in aggressive agreement.
"Ugh, fine, but you need to learn if you're going to be any kind of mum." With that sentence, Orcette's limp jaw and a complete aversion to getting involved, Lucas and Jonah went off to deal with the demon.