Raven's body crouched before his muscles contracted—a moment later, his body was sent flying into the skies, skipping the last five steps and landing on the large arena with a thunderous crash.
"Sssss!?" A massive black snake curled under a rocks ledge suddenly lifted its lazy body, long snout with flaring nostrils, and a long black tongue flickered, tasting and sensing the area.
"Oh!? A snake!" Raven bellowed—since fighting and being scolded, he was a little annoyed, thus more reckless, his muscular almond body shimmering in the sun, like an oiled-up bodybuilder or wrestler.
'Let's get the first hit!' He thought, pushing his body forward, arcs of lightning and black shadow swirling around his body.
At the same time, the snake still seemed to be assessing the situation, unable to notice Raven was already under its face, his axe pulled back under his waist for an upwards blow.
The snake reared its head back as though sensing something.
"Snakey, get it!" A black shadow emerged from the ledge, tackling the snake in the belly.
"Fshaaaaaa!~" The snake hissed, turning around—but its scales were tough like armour; from this angle, his sharp axe could hardly cut them, and the monster's mouth was just as tough, so the snake was not in a hurry, turning its body to whip the little ant with its powerful scaled tail.
"Kkahhaaah!!"
Raven was sent flying as though a cannonball had just gone off.
"Grrrrr!!!" Roaring, the small figure stood up again and attacked again, his large axe moving like a blur.
The snake's eyes shone purple, and its mouth opened wide—then a flash of white light shot out, a thin, dazzling ray of light coming from its mouth.
"Crap!" Raven jumped back before spinning to dodge the strange light—this was no ordinary snake, he realised, feeling the burning heat from the flash of light before the entire dirt pillar now had a deep intention of cremated ash.
"Ahh... hahaha! Funny snake!" Raven laughed loudly but was confused about where the light came from—this monster was only Level 27!
Just what did it have stored in its stomach?
'How do I defeat a creature whose abdomen was seemingly made of solid iron and whose jaw can shoot beams of death?' Raven wondered while dashing along the pillar—the snake's body lifted high into the sky to avoid his fatal attacks.
"Attack, then run away! Hahahaha!" Raven taunted, awaiting an opportunity to land his blows—which never came.
Instead, the snake spat more deadly rays of light from its mouth, targeting the spot where he was standing, forcing him to move continually.
Raven grinned as his feet kicked against the air, leaping left and right, "I am sick of your shit, snake!"
In the same second, his body was completely covered in his Dread mantle, making him look like an apparition of smoke and good. Raven used this moment where the snake lost all sight and sense of his heat and location by running straight for the snake's belly, his axe held tightly behind him, building momentum as Shadow strike was prepped, swirling around the blade, and his muscles were tight, bulging and putting all his power into the next barrage of blows.
His target—the snake's midsection.
As he grew nearer, the snake sensed danger, rolling sideways to evade the incoming blow before unsheathing its sword-like teeth to bite down on his weapon.
"GRRROOAAAARHHH!" The snake roared angrily as sparks and fire went off, yet the axe showed no signs of budging.
This caused the snake to struggle mightily, flipping over onto its back to coil itself and constrict its victim.
But Raven didn't fight fair; instead, his free hand swiped outward to deliver a punch to the snake's bottom jaw—black threads followed through his clenched fist, unravelling themselves like a cobra striking a mouse—they smashed into the mouth of the snake's jaw, allowing him to recover, the axe now tearing through the wind towards the large snakes neck and midsection, the soft pale scales shimmering before him.
With a muffled clang, the snake's throat swelled up like a balloon, vomiting blood, sending waves of ripples around its body—it shook slightly before regaining its calm posture and lifting its head higher than usual to assess the situation.
"Tough one, aren't you?" Raven snarled, leaning his body backwards, using his shoulder to keep the snake's maw open.
Then a foot stepped on the snake's side, launching the boy upwards to continue the downward movement with his axe, aimed straight at the vulnerable throat.
The snake immediately shut its mouth in desperation, which became another serious problem for Raven—because the creature's lower jaw wasn't thick enough to withstand this brutal impact and jolt!
The axe continued its brutal course, slicing through the snake's fangs.
The snake struggled wildly, throwing Raven's body across the ground repeatedly before spitting another bright beam of light directly at him.
"Uuuaahhh!!!!" Raven felt like he had been caught in a strong hot wind; it burned, scorching his skin, leaving charred marks and fissures—before his mantle faded, partially revealing his searing arm with smoke and bubbles on the flesh.
"Fucker!"
He didn't recoil nor show fear. Lunging forward, he used his dread aura, filled with both his desire to win and anger towards the beast—it slowed the snake down, stopping it from raising its head once again after using the beam attack.
This gave Raven a second to think about how to solve this problem.
The only idea that came to mind was to block the next attack, whether the beam or the bite, but if the beam pierced through his shield of darkness, he would be severely damaged.
Even worse—he might die!
There was only one other choice.
Using the shadows to hold onto the snake's head, he moved swiftly, lunging underneath its jaws to use the weight of his body to pry them apart to try and see inside the snake's mouth.
"Ugh... you smell so bad... worse than a crotch that wasn't washed for a month..."
Still able to use this kind of humour, Raven acted quickly, his body oozing black mist, not just the mantle but Dread aura and shadow strike—his blade lifted high, and he caused chaos with his seven-strike onslaught filled with deadly necrotic shadow damage in the snake's mouth.
"BBBOOORRSSSS!!!!!" The snake wailed loudly, releasing another bright ray of light in surprise to defend itself—its movements becoming sluggish due to the increasing number of wounds inflicted on its internal organs.
Raven's eyes narrowed, watching the throat of the snake expanding, the sign of light starting to move down its body to the mouth, but he would never let this fucker make him a toasty orc!
He was the Ardent Orc!
Woosh! His fist smashed into the roof of the snake's mouth before backing off, slicing his thigh on the snake's sharp tooth as he fell out; in retaliation, the snake's facelifted, shooting the beam into the sky, a sad and wasted opportunity.
As if life moved in slow motion, the snake's yellow eyes watched in horror as the orc's body held the axe like a baseball bat, tightening his posture and muscles, before chopping towards the snake's throat, the sharp blade cleaving and ripping apart the soft pale scales, blood and flesh spraying into the air.
A shrill noise erupted from its throat as it wobbled forwards, collapsing on top of Raven, knocking his body clean off the ground and into the air—with a thud, the two rolled against the hard stone ground in a series of booms.
The snake was quite heavy, crushing Raven's chest, causing his limbs to tremble and twitch.
After some time passed, the snake finally stopped moving, Raven breathing hard as he pushed the dead giant away from him—hearing the sound of something opening, his eyes looked towards the rock cavern the snake was sleeping to see an exit portal and a black chest with two serpents on the front.
"Ah.... thank you, snake, it was a great fight!" He patted the snake with the burned arm, no longer bubbling, but the almond skin was still dark with blood patches and burnt skin.
***
Back on the Pathway, Raven sighed heavily, trying to stand up with a grunt.
'Maybe I shouldn't fight these boss monsters alone...' He wondered why his bones weren't crushed even when he had fallen ten storeys above the ground.
Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and groaned—examining his condition, he noticed his health was much lower than expected.
Then he shook his head, placing a hand on the black chest; the exhilaration, delight and pleasure he got from fighting the monsters... Nothing but having sex with his beautiful women came close!
"A centaur, eh... I can't want to try."
[Killed Level 25 Raid Boss "Lightwave Snake"]
[Gained 5,000 experience and 1,000 credits]
[Reached Level 32]
-> Experience: 970/5,000
-> Credits: 6,515 (1,540 Lilith's Pocket Money, 2,000 Harem pocket Money)
Strength: 10.6
Agility: 7.7
Stamina: 10.3
Vitality: 11.5
Intellect: 6.5
Wisdom: 6.6
'Oh? Two levels!'
"Enhance Dread Mantle! Twice!"
Dread Mantle [Level 1-> Level 3]
You are the Lord of Dread; this mantle is your own; nobody can take this from you!
Grant's the user a protective cloak of gloom that can cover the entire body at the cost of a rapid drain of willpower and stamina.
It can also be used to attack the enemy when all is lost, trust in yourself!
Dread Mantle is now active passively at no extra cost, giving a small amount of protection.
No Cooldown
Dread Claws [Max] (NEW!)
Control your mantle to form large shadowy claws that protect your arms and tear apart your foes!
Brutal and relentless, walk the path of Dread.
Kill all enemies!
[Only useable under the effects of Dread Mantle]
"Hmm... It's cool getting a spin-off skill... but what does levelling up do besides that?"
[The drain increases, the damage reduction increases each level, and can't you see the newly added line?]
"Why is that text needed when it's always passive then, needing Dread Mantle to be active?"
[Level 2 gave the claws, and Level 3 gave the passive effect]
"Ooooh..."
Raven kicked the chest to find a beautiful black necklace, the gemstone seeming to be some onyx or something—he wasn't too clued in on gemstones, instead deciding it would be a great gift for Lilith, suiting her white hair perfectly! Before tossing it into his item ring without checking it.
'Well... Let's try another dungeon! But no beam snakes this time... let's text my girls and search for a dungeon that is worthy... Maybe a goblin or wolf dungeon? Nice and simple, no beams, teleporting or giant snakes.'
[(Why do you seem to get more like her every time you fight...)]
"Hahaha! The snake meat is edible; let's have snake soup tonight!"
Raven an honest man who loved pleasure and feeling the excitement of his orc blood boiling didn't realise, he entered the raid version of the dungeon accidentally.
Or rather, the fact he switched all solo dungeons to the raid version when his large fingers pressed on the small bracelet...
It would be a long time before he realised, his fat orc fingers almost killed him.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om