"Urgh…" "Kaede! Stay with me!" "...no wonder Jeanne warned us about this..." Emma, for the first time in a long while, was starting to regret never learning how to cook before leaving home and missed having Garos or her captain around. A few days had passed since the expedition party left for the Lower Floors, with their scheduled return only a couple of days away. In the short time they were gone, she and Tris had led their party of rookies all the way down to the twelfth floor, with suggestions about heading down into the thirteenth ter today. This morning, Hecate had decided to surprise them with breakfast she had cooked for them as congratutions for making it down to the Middle Floors on their own, something that Jeanne had explicitly warned them not to let the goddess do. And unfortunately, it wasn't without good reason, as Kaede immediately fainted upon eating a small bite of it, much to the dismay of her renard friend. "Oh, come on!" Hecate huffed in annoyance. "It's not that bad!" "The toast is completely bck! The bacon is ash!" Tris cried out. "And the omelet... I swear it is moving... omelets aren't supposed to be moving..." "...it has a lot of nutrients." "More like poison! How did you even cook it!?" "I simply followed the recipe given to me by the stars." "Use a cookbook!" Emma let out a nervous ugh as she and Coco threw the inedible food into the garbage bin. She wasn't sure if it was due to the fumes coming off of it, but she could see the cooked food wiggling about as if it was still alive. With her appetite now gone, she went to the fridge to grab the milk jug to prepare some oatmeal for everyone. 'I wonder if I could get Garos to teach me how to cook when he gets back...?' CRASH "Ah! I'm sorry!" When Coco went to take out some bowls from the kitchen cupboard, the young pallum girl had accidentally pushed over a mug, and it shattered onto the floor into many shards of green ceramic. Emma recognized the mug as the one that Garos always drank his coffee out of; he was quite displeased when she accidentally used it one time. "Are you hurt?" She asked her. "N-No... but, th-the mug..." "..." "...Lady Hecate...?" While Tris pulled Coco away from the site of the accident to check her hands, Hecate had knelt down in front of the shards and picked up the particurly rge shard to examine. She was used to the goddess's many whims of fancy, especially when it came to her love for theatrics, yet this was the first time she saw her not acting out and instead being genuine. Rather, she looked like she was worried, scared even; like it was a huge issue for that mug to be broken. 'Is a mug breaking that much of an issue?' "I...I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!" Coco cried as she bowed repeatedly. "I sh-should have been more ca-careful!" "Rex, I'm not angry," Hecate assured her. "It is only an accident. We can always get a new mug." "...are you alright, Lady Hecate?" Tris asked her. "You looked troubled." "Oh, I'm fine; just... have a lot on my mind right now..." She looked back down at the broken mug. "Hopefully, I was reading too much into it..."

  This is a dream. It has to be. The warrior was now adorned in knight's regalia, with Indra strapped to his back, as he looked out over the balcony at the town. It was now unrecognizable from the bustling hub it had been just days ago. More than half of the town had been turned to rubble, with the bodies of its former residents littered about the open streets as skeleton soldiers and other monsters marched through. Meanwhile, their titanic overlord loomed in the distance. Once the walls were breached, the town itself became a battlefield. The skeleton soldiers struck down anyone in their way, and many civilians near the wall couldn't even scream before being sughtered. Those who survived the initial assault were swiftly evacuated into the fort, with the warrior and his companions taking charge. Knights and soldiers formed a perimeter around the fort. However, it was clear that even with the combined might of all those wielding spirit weapons, they wouldn't be able to hold on for long. Each passing day made it increasingly harder to hold back the monster army. They were pushed further back into the fort, with more and more soldiers losing their lives with each retreat. Before long, a third of their forces were lost, and they had retreated into the fort's outer walls with nowhere left to run or hide. In the end, it was decided that the civilians would evacuate the fort through a secret underground tunnel leading out of town. They would seek protection from another nearby town. Meanwhile, the rest of the army stayed behind to hold back the monster threat for as long as possible. The town and its fort would be their grave. When he shared his pn, many soldiers agreed to proceed with the suicide mission. A few, however, refused to be a part of it. The warrior had them safeguard the refugees from the monsters once they left town. With memories of his final goodbye to his wife and newborn child, the warrior descended from the balcony steps and joined his comrades in this final stand. So there he stood, alongside his Spirit Brigade and the remaining members of his regiment, ready to face the skeleton soldiers flooding in as the door broke off its hinges with a loud snap. The warrior raised his spirit sword as he—

  "WAKE UP, DAMN IT!!" "Hrgk!?" Pain in my cheek snapped me out of the lucid dream I was deeply entrenched in, and I immediately regained consciousness. The first thing that caught my attention was the throbbing pain coming from the back of my head. Did I hit my head on something? That must be what knocked me out. "Urgh…" "Sorry about that. You weren't responding, so I had to be physical." The first thing that entered my vision was Otto, who looked a little worse for wear. His battle garments were more ruffled than usual, and there was soot all over his face. Another thing I noticed was that we were behind a massive rock, and the air was unusually hot for the floor filled with kes and rivers. I even saw flickers of what looked to be blue fmes in the corner of my eye. "What… what's going on…?" "You don't remember?" "Remember what—" The remaining words died in my throat when I looked to the side and saw a horrific sight. Garos was leaning against the rock in a dazed state, with the left side of his upper torso completely burnt red and smoking. The vice-captain was one of the toughest people I know, who could withstand almost any blow from any monster in the Dungeon. So, what kind of monster could have— That was when the memories came flooding back, everything that had happened just moments ago…

  "…And that is the st one," Jirou pointed out with a smile as he threw the Blue Crab Shell into the sack. "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting us to complete the quest this quickly." "That Monster Party yesterday definitely helped," Lisa noted. It had been a few days since our expedition party reached the Water Capital. After the whole Drag Octopus situation on the first day, Garos had shifted the party's formation to ensure that the female members would not be anywhere near bodies of water. Garos and Kyumaru positioned themselves next to the rivers and kes whenever we passed them. That didn't stop the octopuses from unching themselves at us whenever we moved alongside one, but now they were quickly taken out before reaching us. Aside from those perverted octopuses, the expedition had been running smoothly. We have been steadily gathering all the magic stones and Drop Items that were requested. We did encounter a Monster Party twice, but the monsters that were birthed to kill us weren't too much trouble. We were able to get out of it easily, and we were lucky that they dropped many Drop Items we needed. We had even managed to acquire a few good quality mithril ores that Otto had complete ownership over; those were lucky finds when we took breaks. And now, we had collected the st of the Drop Items, meaning we had completed the quest issued by the Guild. "It's a good thing we finished up when we did," Drake stated. "Our supplies are almost gone." "Not to mention you-know-what is still roaming the floors," Garos pointed out. "It's best that we head up while we still can." I looked at Garos with a raised eyebrow. "Um… do you have to say it like that? I don't think just saying its name would make it appear." "Better safe than sorry," he told me. "And like Lady Hecate once said, 'Speak of the devil, and he will appear.'" What Garos was referring to was the Monster Rex Amphisbeana, which had supposedly spawned days ago. This monster had the ability to traverse the entire Water Capital along the rivers and waterfalls. Considering that its strength was recorded at Level 5 and none of us had experience fighting on the water, it would be a disadvantageous encounter for us. Additionally, we were currently close to a rge underground ke where most adventurers had encountered the monster."Garos's superstitions aside, I agree that we should head on up," Drake noted. "The longer we stay here, the more likely we are to encounter it." Jeanne nodded in agreement. "Right, let's go. Time to head back to the surface—" "Ah, wait a minute!" Otto's cries stopped us in our tracks as he pointed at the edge of the underground ke, where a cluster of rge metallic coral was growing out of the rocky ground. "Are those… Under Coral?" I pointed out."Yes! And good quality ones too!" the bcksmith cried out. "We have to get these!" "Seriously, Otto?" Jirou groaned. "Haven't you already got more than your fair share?" "It would only take a minute!" "Come on, man..."With a skip and a hop more fitting for a young teenage girl than a grown man like Otto, the bcksmith happily ran towards the corals and began cutting them off their stems one after another.But just as he finished harvesting all the corals and was about to head back to us, a rge figure rose out from under the ke's surface and revealed itself to us. Panic began to set in when we saw what had appeared before us. "Grr..." "That's...!"With a body almost as big as the Goliath, if not bigger, covered with bright blue scales and rge crystals growing from the tops of its two dragon heads down its long necks, it was without a doubt the Amphisbeana. "Otto!" "Run!"The bcksmith quickly dropped his loot and ran away from the waters as we also started running toward the corridor leading out of the area.But before we could reach it, the monster let out a loud, deafening roar that caused the ground and everything around us to tremble. It resulted in shards of breaking crystals in the ceiling raining down on us. And the particurly rge shards nded in front of the entrance of the corridor, completely sealing it off. "Damn it! Head for the other one—!" "Grraahhh!" "Crap! Move!" Before we could head off for the other exit, one of the dragon heads opened its mouth and unleashed a bst of blue fme toward us. We all quickly got out of the way and looked in horror as the fmes burned up a ditch in the solid, rocky ground. I had read that its breath was deadly, but I did not expect it to burn up solid rocks as if they were ice! No wonder it was cssified as Level 5...! "Split up!" Garos ordered. "Spread out and keep moving!" At his command, we quickly got out of formation and split up into various groups as we made a run for it toward the other exit on the other side of the ke, hoping to confuse the Monster Rex as much as possible. Unfortunately, some of us weren't fast enough. I saw the fme-spewing head turn toward Tetra, who had fallen onto the ground in the chaos and was left completely defenseless.So when I saw blue fmes flickering from the side of the monster's mouth, the chant left my mouth before I realized it."Strike, and break through: Electro!"I dashed towards the young Amazoness as fast as I could, right as the fire breath shot out of the dragon's mouth, tackling her out of harm's way as the blue fire bsted into the ground where she had just been."Quick, we have to move—"But just when I thought we had successfully evaded the attack, the dragon turned its head and the bst of fmes moved toward us at frightening speeds, catching up with us within moments.

  Moving Tetra behind me, I boosted my magic spell to its maximum output and braced myself to face the fmes head-on."Venti Troy Magnum Octum!!"Before the fmes could reach us, several familiar astral shields materialized in front of us and blocked the fiery breath. However, they wouldn't hold up for long as they began to crack under the intense bst.Just as the st shield was about to shatter, Garos swiftly pced himself in front of us and raised his shield to it. The bst of blue fire struck him instead, instantly turning the shield red-hot and causing it to melt. His clothes and skin started to burn off.

  "Garos, get out of there!" "Ngggaahhh!"With a loud cry, he swung what was left of his shield and redirected the bst up into the ceiling. The protective gear fell off his arm like a blob of red slime, revealing the bloodied burnt skin underneath."Ugh...""Garos!"The vice-captain then colpsed onto the ground, unmoving. Only the pain-filled groans leaving his mouth indicated that he was still alive. It was a miracle that he hadn't lost his arm in the process."Po-Potion! We need a healing potion!""Tetra, look out!"As the young amazoness pulled out a potion from her pack, a piece of stagmite that had been knocked off the ceiling by the bst of fire Garos had redirected was mere moments away from nding on her.Without any time to think, I pushed Tetra away from the point of impact and took the hit for her. The rock smmed down on the back of my head, rattling my brain.My vision blurred before slowly fading into bck as I lost consciousness. The st thing I heard was Tetra's worried cries.

  I shook my head as my memories of the past few minutes became clear. "R-Right… we encountered the Amphisbeana… and then, Garos… he…" "Finally remembered everything?" Otto noted with a sigh. "Gd to see that the knock to your head hasn't knocked the memories out of you." "That would be troubling…" I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to lose any more of my memories than before; and I was already a clean ste when Hecate found me. "…How long was I out for…?" "Probably around several minutes or so… you looked like you were having a nightmare, so I woke you up." "A nightmare… yeah…" Right, those insanely detailed dreams I had been having for the past few months now, ever since I reached Level 2… That st one could be considered a nightmare with how bad things had gotten for the warrior… Ironically, the same thing could be said about my current circumstances, staring certain death in the face with no other way to run from it. "So… what happened when I was knocked out?" "Well, you and Garos were out of commission and were no help to anyone, so I grabbed you two and ran for the nearest cover I could find. Drake, Lisa, and Tetra took charge in distracting the Monster Rex while the rest searched for another way out." "Any word from them?" "None—" "Grr…!" The sound of growling cut off the bcksmith's words as we looked up to see two massive dragon heads looming overhead; one of its heads turned towards our direction and reeled its head back with its throat bulged with a soft blue glow. Otto quickly pulled Garos aside before pushing me away, as bright blue fmes burst out of the dragon head's open mouth a second ter and bsted the rock where we were hiding just moments ago, turning it and the ground around it into a smoldering crater. "Don't just sit there! Run!!" At the bcksmith's panic-stricken cries, we took off running as fast as we could, as far away from the two-headed monster as we could; though with how big it was, it would be difficult to get away from it. The eyes of the same head from before followed us as it reeled its head back, forcing us to hasten our steps to get away from the bst radius. But before it could be unleashed on us, several fireballs struck the side of its head and knocked it to the side, causing it to release its fiery breath into the air instead. Looking towards the source of the magic spell, I saw Tetra running alongside the ke from the other side, in the opposite direction from where we were, as she began chanting another spell. "Otto! Dae!" Drake ran up to us in a hurry. "Are you guys alright!?" "Yeah, we're fine," I told him. "How are we doing so far?" "As you can see, we're barely doing anything to the damn thing. The most we can do is keep its attention between us." "Hah!!"As the dragon turned its head towards the amazoness and prepared for another bst of fire, Lisa leaped towards it and swung her chain sickle into the underside of its jaw, causing it to cry out in pain. "Ignis Lumine!!" At the same time, the amazoness unleashed another barrage of fireballs towards the monster. However, this time things pyed out differently as the other head turned towards the spell and sprayed out a red mist from its mouth. The fireballs fizzled into harmless flickers of ember as they flew through the mist, rendering the spell completely ineffective. With Tetra's attempt to distract the twin-headed dragon thwarted, it turned its fire-breathing head towards Lisa and unleashed a bst of blue fire at her. Lisa barely managed to escape getting burnt to a crisp by pulling herself towards the ceiling using her chain sickle. "Shit, I forgot it could do that…" Otto noted. "Yeah, that's been making things really difficult," Drake nodded in agreement. "You guys need to—shit!" He quickly aimed his bow and fired an arrow at the monster, stopping it from taking a bite out of Lisa. The arrow lodged itself into the underside of its jaw, causing it to let out a loud cry in pain. This allowed Lisa to swing away to safety and rejoin us, nding on the ground with a loud thud. "Are the others back yet?" "No word from them yet," Drake told her. "Damn it all! How long are they going to take!?" He then turned to us. "As I was saying, find safe cover and stay there until we find a way out." Otto nodded in understanding. "You got it. Let's go, Dae—" "I'll help out as well." I took a step forward and told them, "You guys aren't the only ones with long-ranged attacks." "Are you sure?" Lisa asked. "You just got hit in the head really hard." "Don't worry, I'll be fine. And just hiding away waiting for help isn't for me." To be a hero meant I was the one doing the saving, not the other way around. Being a damsel in distress wasn't for me either. The st time that happened, Leos died, and Drake ended up on death's door. I refused to let that happen again, not when I was of able mind and body! "…If that's what you want, then I won't stop you," Drake stated. "Just keep your distance and don't stop moving. The goal here is to distract it, not end it." "Understood!" "Otto, get Garos out of here!" "No need to tell me that!!" As Otto dragged Garos as far away from the ke as possible, we all split up and ran around the underground ke, preparing to unleash various projectiles at the Monster Rex to keep it occupied. And when I saw Tetra fire off another barrage of fireballs at it, I joined in with a spell of my own. "Lightning sprites, reach my target, and pierce through it; Piercing Thunder!"

  A bolt of lightning shot out of my outstretched hand and struck one of the Monster Rex's heads, specifically the one that had just spewed out the anti-magic mist. With that head temporarily stunned, the amazoness's bombardment magic hit the other head moments ter in a series of explosions that made the water dragon cry out in pain. Right after that, Lisa seized the opportunity to leap through the smoke and strike at the anti-magic head, while Drake fired another arrow that hit the same spot. The cave echoed with another cry of pain as we quickly scattered, making sure the Amphisbeana couldn't focus on any of us. Its two heads swerved around in confusion as it searched for us. As expected, its body remained pristine; our attacks were like nothing more than bug bites to it. But for our purposes, it was good enough.

  When I saw none of its head looking at me, I raised my hand and I chanted my spell again, another lightning bolt fired out from my palm at its direction and striking the fming spewing head this time.

  That immediately got its attention as the head turned to me before bellowing a burst of blue fire towards me; I quickly dashed away and barely managed to dodge out of the way of the stone-melting fmes.

  As I did so, an arrow was shot into its eye that had its shrieking out in immense pain, louder than any of its previous cries so far; that was probably the most damage any of us had done to it so far.

  And that had caused the twin-headed dragon to treat us as a genuine threat rather than a nuisance; the Amphisbeana came rushing towards Drake with its jaws wide open.

  At the speeds it was going, it would reached him before he could run away from it.

  “Strike, and break through; Electro!”

  Lightning coursed throughout my body as I ran towards him as fast as I could, focusing most of my Mind into the spell to boost my speed as much as I could.

  My surroundings turned into a blur as pushed my legs to run faster and faster till I reached Drake, just as he dodged the Amphisbeana’s massive jaws and into the way of a huge stream of blue fire.

  I stomped my foot on the ground hard and leapt right at him, tackling him off his feet and sending us tumbling away from the blue fmes; the two of us used the momentum to quickly rolled back onto our feet.

  “Th-Thanks for the—move!!”

  Drake quickly pushed me away as the Amphisbeana unched its head down at us with a loud chomp, only to end up at the end of another bst of fire from its other head.

  Pouring all my Mind into my enchantment magic, I forced it to its maximum output as the lightning aura around me grew to the thickest that I had ever had it before I was bathed in blue fmes.

  “DAE!!!!”

  I could feel the fiery breath burning away at my only defense against getting immediately burnt to a crisp, though not against the intense heat of the blue fmes and the ck of air.

  It was only a few seconds, but I felt like my entire body was being cooked alive, while choking to death from the ck of any air; my vision was slowly blurring as I teetered on the edge of consciousness.

  “GRAAAHH!!”

  Then all of the sudden, the Amphisbeana suddenly screamed out in pain and drew its attention away from me, freeing me from its blue fmes.

  I fell to my knees immediately after as my spell’s lightning aura dissipated and I was left coughing up a storm, hastily breathing in rge sums of air to make up for the ck of any in my lungs.

  And since I had used almost all of my Mind in boosting the spell, I was also feeling the ever sluggish feeling of a Mind Down to the point that I might end up colpsing on the spot.

  “Dae!!” Drake ran up to me, “You okay!?!? How many fingers am I holding up!?”

  “Th…Three… And I’m… fine…” I managed to wheeze out from my parched throat, “Never… doing that… again…”

  It was a miracle that my magic was able to hold on for that long against the Monster Rex’s fiery breath, especially when it could melt solid rock; if it hadn’t, I would be a charred corpse right about now.

  “You guys alright!?”

  A familiar voice called out which had me raise my head, and saw Jirou running towards us in a hurry with the rest of the expedition party close behind, including the ones that had left to find another way out.

  A gnce at the Monster Rex revealed the beast crying out in pain with Jeanne’s spear lodged deep in the same eye Drake had shot moments prior; there were even blood dripping from its eyelids.

  Lisa ran up to me and asked, “Dae, can you still move!?”

  “Ye-Yeah…” I let out a cough before struggling back on my feet, “Did you guys… find a way out…?”

  “…”

  His silence was loud and a grim confirmation of our greatest fear; all exits out of this cave had been completely blocked off, meaning we were trapped here with the Amphisbeana.

  In other words, we were just issued a death sentence and were now just waiting to be burnt to death by the twin-headed dragon.

  Lisa immediately broke down, dropping her sickles as she fell to her knees in despair, “No… no, no… this can’t… it can’t end like this…! Not after all we had…!”

  And the pallum wasn’t the only one reacting this way either; Drake let out a shout out of anger from the news, Tetra just colpsed onto the floor as the lights left her eyes.

  Jeanne said nothing but her head was hanging and her arms were limp on her sides unmoving, muttering apologies beneath her breath.

  Jirou and Kyumaru didn’t react, but their hands were clenched tightly around the scabbards of their swords; the elder of the two was also gritting his teeth in an frustration.

  It was truly a hopeless situation, and everyone had given up on ever escaping this predicament.

  But I refused to do so. Not after coming this far.

  “Dae…?”

  I pulled out my emergency Mind potion from my pouch and chugged it down my dry throat, letting out a few coughs when some of it accidentally went down the wrong pipe.

  As the sluggish feeling of the Mind Down faded away, I raised my hand at the Amphisbeana and began chanting.

  “Lighting sprites, reach my target, chase them down, and pierce through it; Piercing Thunder!”

  With the additional second phase, I fired a bolt of lightning right at the Monster Rex; it sprayed its anti-magic mist at it, but the electric projectile simply twisted around it before striking at the same eye Jeanne had lodged her spear into.

  The dragon let out a loud shriek in pain as its damaged eye was pierced once more, this time with a visible spt of its blood spewing out of the wound.

  Drake looked over at me with eyes widened in shock at my actions, “D-Dae…?”

  “According to the books, the Amphisbeana would retreat if we damaged it enough.” I pointed out, “If we hit it enough time, then maybe—”

  “Are you crazy!?!?” He cried out, “Didn’t you barely survive getting burnt by its breath!? And we can barely hurt it in the first pce!! It is a hopeless bet—!?”

  “SO WHAT!?!?”

  My cry left him stunned silent as I took several steps forward with my fists clenched tightly, my mind going back to the dream I had while I was unconscious.

  That warrior knew that it was a hopeless battle, that the only thing that awaits him at the end of it was certain death, yet that did not stop him from fighting on, from facing that bck monster head-on.

  “Even if it is a hopeless bet… I’m still going to fight!!”

  Because even in the face of demise, in the face of true despair, he never gave in to it, he never stopped moving forward with sword in hand, and kept on fighting till the very end.

  “Rather than roll over and die, I'd prefer to stand firm and fight for that very small chance of success!!”

  That very courage filled my veins as I stared down the Amphisbeana, ready to face certain death with the resolve to fight it till the bitter end, just like the warrior in my dreams did.

  “And if I’m going die anyway, I’m going down fighting!!”

  For it was what a hero would do.

  “GRRAAAAHHH!!”

  The twin-headed dragon let out a loud synchronized cry that echoed all around the underground ke, blue fmes flickering around one of its heads’ maws before a bst of it burst out of its mouth toward us.

  I quickly ran forward while chanting my spell, “Strike, and breath through; Electro!!”

  “Dae!!”

  As my lightning aura coated my body, I focused it all on my hand and reeled it back, preparing to push back at the fiery breath with my magically charged palm like a shield.

  But as the fmes were about to reach me…

  “Venti Troy Magnum Decim!”

  Ten familiar astral shields formed in front of me in the shape of a dome and took the bst in my stead, redirecting to the sides and leaving us unharmed from its fmes.

  “This spell…!”

  “…I should have gone with that in the beginning…”

  ““Garos!!””

  We all turned around to see our vice-captain being supported by Otto as they slowly made their way towards us, the former’s eyes no longer as dazed as they were moments ago.

  “I agree with Dae.” He pointed out, “If we are to survive and return alive, we have to fight.”

  “Garos, you too!?” Drake cried out, “Weren’t you the one most against fighting it!?”

  “That was when we had the option to avoid it. But now that option is gone, we have no choice but to fight the Amphisbeana in order to survive.”

  “Even then, with just the nine of us…!”

  “It is bleeding, is it not?” He pointed out, “If it bleeds, then we can hurt it! And that’s good enough to drive it off, isn’t it?”

  “…you sure about this?” Jirou asked him.

  “Don’t you remember what Lady Hecate told you about this quest?” Garos asked, “That it is crucial to avoid stagnation?”

  “…heh, can’t argue with you there. What say you, captain?”

  Jeanne looked over at her fellow veteran before letting out a soft sigh as she nodded in agreement much to everyone’s surprise.

  “He’s right; that is the only option left for us here. Besides,” She walked out next to me and patted me on the shoulder, “How can I just give in when our youngest here hasn’t?”

  “…That’s right.” Lisa picked up her weapons and stood back up with fire abze in her eyes, “This still isn’t over yet! Not by a long shot!”

  “Even if it’s just a small chance, we can’t throw in the towel.” Kyumaru pointed out.

  Tetra jumped onto her feet with a loud cry, “Yeah! We have to fight on!”

  “You can count me in as well.” Otto noted as he turned to the only one that had not agreed to it, “…Drake?”

  Drake flinched at the mention of his name, and let out a long sigh, “…hah, as much as I hate to admit it, Dae has the right idea…”

  “Then…”

  “I’m in. As long as I have enough arrows in my quivers, I will provide support.”

  “Then we’re all in favor.” Jeanne noted before stepping forward, “Alright, everyone!! This is do or die!! Fight like your lives depend on it!”

  “GRRAAAHHHH!!”

  In the echoes of the Monster Rex’s roar, we all drew our respective weapons and stood firm, ready to face down the twin-headed dragon till our st breath.

  …To be continued…

  Hey, hey! Been a while!

  Anyways, this chapter was quite difficult to pen out, especially with its ending, so hopefully this is good enough?

  At least, I hoped I captured the sense of danger that the Amphisbeana poses and the hopelessness of the situation well enough.

  So yeah, the next chapter would be an epic showdown between the Hecate Familia and the Monster Rex of the Water Capital. Look forward to that!

  With that, I thank you all for reading this!