Putting snakes to sleep

Hugo felt an intense connection form between him and the coiled serpent as he visualized his base chakra whilst practicing the Psykhe-Mental-Exercise.

He ignored the approaching snakes and focused his mind on summoning Infinitus which was tucked away in his spiritual world.

Weaving a spell powerful enough to give him a chance against the nest of cobras would require the mystic features of both the Grimoire and his innate kundalini mana. Only by utilizing the two in tandem would he have any hope of escaping his impending doom.

The Grimoire of All Beginnings appeared within Hugo's grip as he lifted his hands in the direction of the snakes. It was the size of a pocket dictionary.

Without wasting any time, Hugo started channeling kundalini mana through his subclavian and radial channels into the now pulsating Grimoire whilst simultaneously visualizing the hypnosis spell on the fourth page.

"Shuaa… Shua…Shua…"

At that moment, the pages of Infinitus mysteriously began turning by themselves without Hugo's physical intervention. After a few pages had blurred past, the page inscribed with the hypnosis and levitation spells appeared before his eyes.

Hugo stole a few glances at the approaching snakes and realized that they were only a few meters away. He began insanely visualizing the hypnosis spell without halting the flow of mana being channeled into the Grimoire.

Hugo intended to put the snakes to sleep so that he would have enough time to escape from the accursed underground tunnels.

"…giza linakumbatia usingizi…" He chanted in ancient Swahili whilst pouring in more mana.

Heavy beads of sweat had already formed on his brow and cheeks. His expression was the embodiment of anxiety. But he suppressed the panic trying to take root in his psyche and channeled more Kundalini mana.

"ZZZ… ZZZ…"

In a flash of light, a gigantic geometric hexagon with Six 'Z' letters linked to its vertices by equidistant lines floated out of Grimoire. At its center lay a dark crescent-moon that was whirling with ever-increasing angular velocity.

This was the spell-model of the hypnosis spell materializing within the material universe; a feat only made possible for Hugo by the Grimoire of All Beginnings.

The slithering snakes halted momentarily when the gigantic hypnosis spell-model appeared. They seemed to have forgotten their intentions for a short while but recovered quickly and stabilized their psyches in the next few seconds.

Hugo's heart jumped to his throat after he realized how close the snakes at the forefront were from him. His panic only grew as he observed that their actions appeared patient and measured. Some started slithering around his figure to encircle him and eliminate any possibility of escape.

However, he shut out everything else and continued holding the spell model in his mind whilst channeling more kundalini mana from his base chakra into Infinitus. Hugo started to feel mounting agony due to his overuse of such a potent type of mana at his relatively low scholar mystic level.

Just when Hugo felt like he was on the verge of losing his sanity due to the mounting fear stoked by the hissing of the patiently approaching snakes, he felt the spell model begin to tremble intermittently. It instantaneously grew in size and covered the area around him.

"BAAAAM…"

Hugo felt the rumble of a suppressed implosion as an amorphous dark wave spread out from the spell model towards the seething multitude of snakes.

As the wave progressed, all the snakes were engulfed and the tunnel quickly became deathly quiet. The spell had dropped the snakes' previously erect upper bodies leaving them lying in odd poses, fast asleep.

"It worked." Hugo sighed in relief at winning a gamble with his life at stake.

[Next comes the hard part. How do I get this door open?] Hugo set his sights back on the huge portal adorned with mysterious runes and ciphers. He needed to work fast since he didn't know how soon the hypnosis spell would wear off.

Hugo lifted his hand and touched the image of a lotus flower at the center of the summoning circle inscribed on the door.

He immediately felt the lotus flower tremble with increasing intensity when his hand made contact with the summoning circle.

The lotus on the door flashed green and started spinning in tandem with the one in his spiritual world.

But suddenly, Hugo instincts kicked in once more. He sensed another hidden opponent lurking nearby. He felt a tightening in his chest. He opened his lips, but alas, no sound made it past.

The fear had robbed him of all his senses and substituted them with something that made his muscles clench and eyes widen in dread.

Hugo turned back ever so slowly, so as not to alert the terrifying enemy he thought was still some distance away…

"Aahh…"

Hugo was scared shitless. Behind him lurked another huge cobra. Its upper body stood erect, at about the height of an average house. It looked down at him with clear amusement in its serpentine eyes.

Hugo's heart sank.

[Why did the spell fail to take effect on this snake?] Hugo mused. He stood still, taking care not to antagonize the huge snake. Any assault from such a huge serpent would undoubtedly lead to his demise.

The gigantic cobra acted more like a cat than a snake. Instead of killing him fast, it preferred to toy with its food (Hugo).

A string of profanities unraveled deep inside his consciousness, like yarn unfolding. However, the creature continued to look at Hugo with what appeared to be a smirk plastered on its face.

Its reptilian scales shimmered along with its dark, cold eyes. Every second that passed, rattled his bones and shook his heart.

Hugo's mind was blank. He couldn't even weave a rank one fire spell to protect himself. He stayed in place and silently locked gaze with the monster whose eyes were narrowed.

Suddenly, Hugo felt an intense vibration around him. A beam of green light burst out of the door. In a blink, it had covered the entire area around him.…