Chapter Fifteen: Surviving by Luck
Challenge Difficulty: A+. This means the Serpent Demon is the most powerful and difficult monster to deal with among all teams facing Challenge Level 6!
Standing at an impressive height of 2.4 meters, it creates a significant height difference against many enemies, and its chopping power is exceptionally strong. With a weight of over 600 pounds, its strength far exceeds that of ordinary creatures, conservatively estimated to be close to a 20-point strength that could cause overwhelming damage to Soren. Even if he manages to parry the Serpent Demon’s chopping attack, the damage sustained would be enough to severely injure his internal organs.
The talent for Dual Wielding ensures that the Serpent Demon is the most dangerous and explosively powerful melee-type monster. If its agility and perception were just a bit higher, it could simultaneously handle multiple enemies without a disadvantage. Multiple attacks are a very ** combat specialty, meaning the Serpent Demon can unleash continuous attacks in a short time. If paired with a sufficiently high strength value, it would leave no chance to parry.
The Serpent Demon is a mid-tier demon creature from the Endless Abyss.
All demons share a feature: they possess a layer of demonic skin, equivalent to naturally enchanted leather armor. If its body is covered with scales, then its protection level is comparable to that of ordinary chainmail. For Soren, this means that ten strikes from him against the Serpent Demon would equate to the damage of at most three strikes, while he, dressed in nothing but a piece of cloth, would be gutting him with just one attack from the demon. “Almost impossible to defeat head-on!”
With 20 points of extraordinary agility, Soren possessed an unprecedented level of launching capability. He twisted his body and kicked off the wall, charging into the outer corridor. The Ascetic Card granted him 18 points of constitution, providing him with far more endurance than before. Though mental fatigue still lingered, it was sufficient to support his continued frantic escape.
The Serpent Demon roared and chased after him!
Its upper body resembles that of a humanoid, with abnormally robust arms and a face somewhat similar to that of a lizard. Scales visibly covered its sides, while its lower body was a snake-like tail approximately five meters long.
This indicates it is a male Serpent Demon, a powerful warrior among its kind!
For Soren, this should be the best news, as Serpent Demons exist in a matriarchal society, where females have a higher status and greater combat strength, along with certain spell-like abilities.
The Serpent Demon moves quickly, especially in an explosive state, capable of executing the diving predator movements of snakes!
This is also a key reason for its evaluation of Challenge Difficulty A+.
It can rely on its massive size to easily break through defenses, approach spellcasters in the adventurer team, and then use its dual-wielding and multiple attack combat specialties to chop a spellcaster below level 8 into pieces. Its snake-like body renders it immune to most low-level control spells; oily spells have no effect on it, web spells cannot restrain its nearly 20 points of strength, and the demonic chaotic evil will is immune to most low-tier mind control. This is a monster that must be killed through brute force!
“There’s no escape!”
Soren ran as fast as he could, using the complex corridors to quickly create some distance.
But he soon realized one important thing: if he wanted to escape, he would have to reopen the hidden door outside, which would take at least three minutes. Three minutes was enough time for the Serpent Demon to catch up to him and turn him into more than thirty pieces of meat, selecting the tastiest portions for consumption.
“I must fight!”
As he passed the spot where he first discovered the corpse, Soren quickly picked up a longsword. After such a long time, the blade had become somewhat rusted, indicating it was not sharp enough and could not withstand strong impacts. However, there was no time to worry about that now. Defeating the Serpent Demon in a frontal battle was almost impossible; Soren had to gamble on his luck.
Without hesitation!
Soren rushed down another completely unscouted corridor.
He had to take a chance; demon-type creatures had far more stamina than mortals, and their life force, exceeding one hundred points, meant it remained a significant threat even if he managed to enter. Now, the only approach Soren could think of was to use the traps in the area to take it down, although he might also be taken down by the traps himself.
20 points of agility!
This is the realm of extraordinary humanity, meaning Soren’s footsteps are lighter than a halfling’s, his reflexes sharper than an elf’s, and his physical resilience surpasses most conventional beings.
He had to take a gamble!
A gamble that there are strong and lethal traps in the unscouted corridor and that those traps would not be triggered while he passed through.
Soren is human.
His foot size is small, and 20 points of agility mean he has a good chance of avoiding trap triggers.
But the Serpent Demon is a serpent demon creature, and its lower body has a wide contact area with the ground. Weighing over 600 pounds means it triggers most traps while moving. Any trap set according to human standards that triggers by weight will undoubtedly attack it, as its size makes it impossible to evade.
A wide corridor appeared before him.
Soren didn’t even have time to observe if there were signs of human-carved traps nearby; he simply lunged forward, relying on his powerful physical resilience and sense of balance, taking three steps along the wall to gain momentum, then twisting his body to grab a hanging stalactite, forcibly moving his body along the wall for five meters. This was the place he judged most likely to have traps, as devices need enough space to be set up, and the more concealed the trap, the more so.
Without any pause!
Soren’s speed began to slow, but he still progressed cautiously.
The Serpent Demon’s figure appeared behind him; this creature from the abyss had been thoroughly enraged by the earlier barrage from the crossbow. When it saw Soren, it charged over without hesitation.
Its massive figure did not hinder its speed!
Most snake-like beings possess a speed bonus that is more than double that of ordinary human running.
But just as it was closing in on Soren, the ground suddenly trembled. Its long snake tail triggered a trap buried beneath the ground, and a flurry of crossbow bolts flew out from both sides.
“Roar!”
A painful howl erupted.
Six crossbow bolts stuck into the Serpent Demon’s sides, bl**d dripping continuously, and its bl**d-red pupils were consumed by slaughter and rage. Upon seeing Soren so close, it let out a furious roar.
Twelve crossbows!
Damage to humans could exceed 120 points.
Sufficient to instantly k*ll most warriors below level 10, but landing on the Serpent Demon wasn’t enough to severely injure it.
This implies its body’s toughness is approaching that of lower dragon kin, and its life force likely exceeds 150 points, five to six times that of Soren.
“There should be another trap!”
Soren’s pupils contracted slightly, and without hesitation, he quickened his pace, even though it meant he might trigger the traps himself.
The layout of the underground passage felt somewhat familiar to him.
Because the spot where he initially found the corpse also had a similar terrain, indicating a strong likelihood of another strong acid trap ahead.
This is deadly for Soren,
And it is also a threat to the Serpent Demon’s life!
A winding passage appeared.
Soren’s expression trembled, and he took a deep breath to accelerate his run. The terrain ahead bore some resemblance to where he found the thief’s corpse. Strong acid traps are mostly set near walls, which means he can’t rely on his extraordinary agility to sideways sprint but must try to leap over it with his jumping ability.
This is a distance of over 10 meters!
Without any spell-like abilities, all his attributes, only agility, entered the extraordinary realm.
This is an extreme challenge for Soren.
“I can do it!”
“This little problem won’t stump me!”
Soren took another deep breath, remembering that the human long jump record had reached 10.6 meters. Given his current physical condition, he wouldn’t be far behind the top athletes, even if he was somewhat lacking in strength. The agility granted him coordination to unleash his explosive power perfectly; leaping the distance before him was not impossible.
Bang!
Soren’s figure leaped forward.
He crossed over ten meters in an instant, almost landing in a rather awkward posture in the process.
Soren dared not hesitate even the slightest.
Because he could not guarantee there was not a strong acid trap here, he took a breath and continued to flee forward.
“Swoosh!”
Suddenly, Soren’s body jerked to a stop.
Just as he turned around a bend, a spear suddenly shot out from the ground, piercing through the edge of his foot, momentarily puncturing his thigh. If he hadn’t reflexively shifted his body at the last moment, the spear could have penetrated him all the way to his intestines.
A surge of bl**d gushed out!
Soren gritted his teeth, bit down on a clot of his clothing, and then with both hands grasped his thigh, slowly pulling himself off the spear.
Gouts of bl**d sprayed out.
Barbs tore away flesh, making the wound even more severe.
Soren trembled all over; after shaking, he became stiff. Within just a second or two, he was already drenched in sweat.
“Ha!”
When he pulled his thigh free from the spear, Soren almost felt completely drained.
He hastily bandaged the wound with torn cloth, tightly tying the muscle in a knot, and then staggered towards the rock wall’s edge.
He could no longer escape.
With such a wound, if he continued to run, he would bleed to d*ath without even needing the Serpent Demon to finish him off.
As the bl**d flowed, his physical capabilities rapidly declined!
Now the only thing that might allow him to survive was that there truly is a strong acid trap at the bend ahead.
If it were merely a strong crossbow trap, it might not be enough to k*ll the Serpent Demon.
Time felt incredibly long!
When the figure of the Serpent Demon appeared, it felt like facing his final fate.
Fortunately, fate was on his side.
Soren’s judgment wasn’t wrong; indeed, a trap had been set at the passage’s entrance, but it was not a strong acid trap. The Serpent Demon triggered a violent explosion as it passed through.
—“Burst Trap!”
The corridor had been rigged with explosives, or perhaps a spell-triggering device for Fireball.
“Thud!”
A slight sound echoed.
The smile of survival that had just appeared on Soren’s face froze instantly, and he exclaimed in frustration, “How could it have survived that!”
He gripped the longsword tightly, and his expression began to display a hint of rage.
He was going all out!
