Chapter 15-

I had been limping through the jungle for a while, covered in animal waste. My injuries still haven't fully recovered and felt like I was trying to breath pins-and-needles.

I was following the distant sounds of rushing water.

Once I passed a few more trees, I came across a waterfall.

Water was running down some rocks, into a small pond and flowed down a river.

There were more of those small glowing birds and other small creatures drinking from the pond. As soon as they saw me, they all ran away.

"I get it, I smell like sh**! Doesn't mean you have to make a big deal out of it."

I then walked over to the waterfall and used it to rinse the animal waste off.

It was very cold, but I didn't care. I was just glad to wash the animal waste off.

After I was done, I had to change out of my wet clothes and into a fresh pair of pants.

Since my backpacks were covered in animal waste too, I had to empty everything out and tossed them under the waterfall to wash.

I then had to treat my injuries.

My entire front torso was bruised and slightly bleeding.

"Guess the divine cloth can't treat every wound?"

I then lied down and opened up two bottles of the medicine. I poured one over my injuries and forced myself to drink the other one.

I then laid there while the medicine did its thing. It wasn't a full recovery, but the bleeding stopped and the bruises seemed to almost vanish. I'll let the Divine Cloth treat the rest of my injuries.

This at least helped me breathe normally again. But I still used some of the rags to make a makeshift bandage over my torso.

After resting there for a while, I decided to look through which of my items survived.

"The cooking pot got dented, but luckily the rest of the items were ok. Might be able to hammer the dent out if I could get a fire started?"

As much as I wanted to call it a day and set up camp, I still wanted to create as much distance away from the giant snake as possible.

So after making sure the backpacks were clean and gathering my stuff, I kept traveling through the jungle while snacking on some of my rations.

Without my longbat, I was forced to hold onto the goblin spear. But luckily none of the wildlife seemed hostile towards me.

Some of them ran away, while the rest seemed curious with my presence.

When I turned around, there was three strange looking elks following me.

"What… you've never seen a human before?"

As soon as I said that, they all ran away.

"..."

I sniffed my clothes.

"I'm pretty sure that I took a decent shower?"

I then spotted a large strange object in the distance.

After getting a closer look, I saw that it was a large stone door.

It wasn’t connected to a wall or had any reason for being there. It was supported by two large oak trees on the sides that seem to almost wrap around the frame of the stone door.

I looked around the strange door, trying to figure out what it was.

"Is this the door to the next floor?"

I then noticed a unique keyhole on the door.

It looked more like an offering slot, with a little platform and a spike on the center of it.

"What do I need to put here?"

I traced my hands around the slot, wondering what's needed to open this door.

I then saw that the slot was in the center of a carving of what looked to be the giant snake from before.

I then realized what the offering was needed to pass through.

"You've gotta be kidding me? The key to unlock this door is that thing's heart."

I then sat down with my back against the door.

"So the only way to pass down each floor, is to take the heart from each of these 'hunters' and place them on these doors. If every hunter in this dungeon is just like that snake, then that would make traveling down this dungeon difficult?"

Part of me wanted to just quit, but the other half wanted to survive.

"There's no way I could beat that thing on my own, and it's not like I could bring anyone with me now? Maybe I should've brought others to help before going inside this deathtrap?"

I then shook my head in disagreement.

"I shouldn't ask others to risk their lives. I've decided to go here on my own decision, so I need to solve this mess on my own."

I then started to think back to the encounter with the snake.

I know that despite its unique appearance, it still shared a similar eyesight to the common snake.

"What other weaknesses would it have? I know that they're coldblooded, can't see well, rely on their tongue to find their prey, and need to ready themselves in order to strike. I just need to take advantage of those weaknesses in order to beat it. But how?"

I thought about it for a while. Soon enough, I finally thought up an idea.

“That might just work?!”

****

Toshio was running away from the giant serpent, running around trees and screaming.

“It breathes fire! Why does it breathe fire?!”

Right behind him the giant serpent was slithering after him. Once in a while, the giant serpent raises its head and shoots fire in his direction.

Toshio takes shelter by leaping behind some trees and avoids the flames.

The giant serpent poked its head around the tree, but surprisingly didn’t see or smell any trace of its prey.

It then hissed and slithered angrily away into the jungle.

A few minutes after it left, Toshio climbed out of a mud pit and wiped the mud out of his eyes.

“Well that plan backfired?”

Toshio made his way back to the waterfall to rinse the dirt off of himself.

After rinsing the dirt off, Toshio noticed that he was starting to get tired and gave a long yawn.

“Guess I need to find a place to set up camp?”

He looked around to find a good place to set up camp and keep himself hidden from the giant snake.

He soon found a nice hole under a tree and found a small cave inside.

It wasn’t very spacious, but it was enough for him to move around inside.

“This would be perfect.”

****

I left my stuff inside the cave and went out to gather rocks, logs, sticks, dry plants, and some hanging vines from trees.

After gathering everything, I started working on my shelter.

I used some logs to line the walls of the cave and support the ceiling. I then made a door for the entrance with mud, branches, and some vines.

I had to sleep on the ground, since I had left the tent and sleeping bag outside of the dungeon.

It was uncomfortable, but I was only worried that the snake might find me while I slept. But after awhile, I soon drifted off to sleep.

****

The next "morning" I awoke slightly stiff and sore.

Since the jungle was always filled with a slight shine of light, I didn't know what time or day it was.

I was cautious about opening the door and leaving the shelter, since I didn't know if the snake was outside or not?

But after eating some of my rations and removing the bandages on my torso, I left the shelter with the goblin spear in hand.

I got startled when I saw a pair of antlers outside of my vision, but found out that it was a elk with purple fur.

"Don't startle me like that."

The elk looked at me for a while, then walked away.

I then walked through the jungle, to the area where the snake was breathing fire yesterday.

Surprisingly the area wasn't scorched or showed any signs of damage. When I placed my hand on the tree where it breathed fire on, it felt very warm.

"Guess the plant life is fire resistant, huh?"

I took out one of the goblin knives from my belt and climbed the tree. I then used the knife to chop off a small branch.

It felt very warm, but it also started to slowly leak a golden sap from it.

"What's this?"

I rubbed some of it on my finger and licked it.

It tasted almost like honey. But I also noticed that the soreness and stiffness of my tired body faded away.

"Sweet, this stuff heals a tired body."

I also noticed that the more the golden sap leaked out, the more the warmth faded from the branch.

"So the trees absorb the flames and use it to make this sap. Good to know."

I then gathered a few more branches and brought them back to my shelter.

I started a small fire and used it to heat up the pot to hammer out the dent. I then used the pot to boil some water with the branches that I gathered, hopefully to mix the sap with the water.

“If this works, this should provide some recovering water?”

I then set the pot aside and started working on my idea to take the snake down.

I started sharpening sticks and sticking them into the ground around an area in the jungle.

I did this for the rest of the “day” and returned to the shelter to sleep.

The next day I started covering a thick log with wooden spikes and wrapping rope around it to carry it on my back.

After that, I spent the next few days recovering and training myself for the fight.

After everything was done, I gathered everything and readied myself near the shattered remains of the obelisk.

After mentally preparing myself, I started hitting the obelisk with the goblin spear.

“Alright you overgrown newt, come and get me!”

Nothing happened for a while, so I tried again.

“Hello?... giant snake?”

I didn’t see or hear anything coming my way.

“Did… did it not hear me?”

As I was about to return to the shelter, the sounds of many footsteps could be heard coming my way.

Then a herd of elks were running out of the jungle and running past me. That’s when the giant snake came out and pinned one of the elks down.

“Hey!”

I throw the spear at it and it hits one of the eyes of the giant snake.

The elk that got pinned down gets up and runs away, while the snake shakes its head and hisses in pain.

I run away into the jungle and the snake follows after me.

“I gotta stop getting chased by giant creatures!” I said while avoiding and hopping over the wooden stakes on the ground.

The giant snake slithered over some of them, allowing them to pierce its belly.

It didn’t like that and glared angrily at my direction.

“This won't be like the two times before! This time I have a plan!”

It kept slithering after me. It tried to avoid as many of the spikes it could. But there were too many of them scattered around, so it kept getting stabbed by them.

Whenever it tried to breathe fire at me, I would hide behind the tree and take a swig of the recovering water, removing any fatigue from running.

Once it stopped breathing fire, I kept sprinting through the jungle and the snake went back to chasing after me.

This went on for a while and soon we were out of the area with the wooden spikes, so the snake was no longer getting stabbed by them.

It then saw the perfect opportunity to strike at me and lunged it’s head at me.

I then turned around and brought the spiky log in front of me, holding it like a shield.

Once the snake wrapped it’s mouth around it, it was too late.

The spikes on the log pierced it’s mouth and got wedged in.

The snake was hissing and swinging its head side to side, trying to get the log out. But it started to feel weaker for some weird reason. It then started to feel sick and green liquid started to leak out from the corners of the log.

The snake looked like it was trying to vomit.

“Like that?! A little payback for tossing me into the pile of sh**!”

I had coated every wooden stake with some animal waste, adding a little toxic effect to them. Since the snake was getting pierced by dozens of them, it was a matter of time for it to take effect.

This would only cause a mild stomach ache and vomiting, but it couldn’t do that with the log blocking its mouth. This was forcing it to drown in its own vomit.

The snake was thrashing violently around, knocking over some trees. This went on for about a minute.

Soon the snake slowly lowered its head to the ground and I made my way to it with my dagger in hand.

I stared into its one eye and it stared back at me with its fading anger.

“Sorry about this.”

I then walked over to the other eye and stomped it deeper into its eye, piercing deep into its head.

The snake let out one last gargle of vomit, then dying from its wounds.

I then started carving the heart out.

It was the size of a bowling ball and it was still beating.

“Yeah… this is creepy.”

I used some nearby vines to wrap around the heart and carried it over my shoulder.

I then noticed that the elk that I saved was slowly approaching me.

“Oh hey, it’s you.”

It then poked its nose against my shirt. I then pet its head.

“Um… you're welcome?”

It then walked away and I made my way to the door.

Once I arrived at the door, I brought the heart out and held it close to the door.

The heart shrunk down to the size of an apple.

I then placed the heart onto the needle. As soon as I did it, the slot closed and the sounds of gears could be heard in the door.

Several runes on the door started to glow and it opened, revealing a set of stairs leading down.