Faynn braced for impact. If she got out of the way the Bashmu could just ignore her and resume pursuit of the others. Therefore, she decided to stay still and use her shadows as a shield to absorb the impact.

The Bashmu decided to accept the elf's dare and charged against her with its horn up in front. It aimed for her chest and advanced in full speed.

That's when Matthew turned back and shot the monster with his guns already using his demonic mana and unholy mana in conjunction. Faralynn also decided to use her bow. Her arrows now enhanced with both the Infuse Mana and Sharpen skills could do some kind of damage to the Bashmu.

Meanwhile Claudio was already halfway back to the checkpoint.

The giant snake coiled from the attacks of the pair stopping its charge. This gave the opportunity for Faynn to use her shadows and conjure spears stabbing the Bashmu from its own shadow.

All damage they could do was a bit of pain. That monster's Vital Shield wasn't going to be easy to pierce through.

The Bashmu hissed tasting the air with its tongue. It was done just being shot at. It was going to attack.

"Here it comes!" Faynn warned them realizing how the snake sprung onto itself.

Suddenly, with a flap of wing it jumped forward. It missed Faynn, or rather, she wasn't its target from the beginning. It attacked Matthew. Perhaps it realized that the miasma he was liberating was the most dangerous thing to it at the moment.

Because of the distance, Matthew was able to dodge the Bashmu's bite attempt. But it had a strategy for that. On the same movement, after missing the bite, it twisted its head and descended down on Matthew with its bladed horn.

Matthew wasn't ready for that continuation after its first strike and was caught off guard.

Luckily, Faralynn was paying attention. She created a mana shield right in front of her boyfriend making the solid mana absorb most of the impact and shatter. It didn't stop the snake's attack, but it dulled it enough for Matthew's armor to protect him from the blow.

Matthew was sent flying to the side and hitting a wall, but he was still mostly unharmed.

The Bashmu didn't stop after that. It kept going after Matthew. It opened its mouth and tried to bite him again, but Ffyr was close by now and threw a fireball inside its mouth making it flinch. On the next movement, it tried to claw Matthew's throat off, but he let go of one of his guns and drew his sword on a reverse grip using it more like a shield than a weapon.

Faynn was finally near enough to sink both her shadow scimitar's on the flank of the Bashmu, making it slither away from her and Matthew as the pain scared her.

Two thin streams of blood. Like the Shedu, that one was a real monster. That meant that Ffyr was right. Most likely another part of the gold tiara was in that room it was guarding.

Faralynn shot some more arrows aiming for the eyes of the creature. She knew her level was too low to damage it, but sapping its Vital Shield even a little could help the others.

Matthew had the same idea. He now had time to correct his grip on the sword and shoot with his gun in the other hand. Even though there was no real damage being done, since the Bashmu felt the bullets, he knew some of its Vital Shield was being drained.

Faynn took point, keeping herself in front of the two, between them and the giant snake. However, Faynn's specialization was hiding. Acquiring information and assassination. She was not the best to be in the front line. But she had no choice. Matthew, even enhanced by the demonic mana and the unholy mana, was not powerful enough to be in the front either. Perhaps not even Faynn herself was strong enough, since they knew nothing about that monster.

The Shedu breathed fire and could use wind spells from its wings. Was the Bashmu able to use any spells? Did it have any secret attacks?

The time to rest ended. The Bashmu attacked again. This time aiming Faynn since it noticed she was strong enough to harm it. Matthew's miasma was not as big of a threat as Faynn's shadow blades.

The Bashmu attack with its claws making Faynn use her swords to defend herself. Each blow of the monster made her give way and step back to absorb the impact without getting hurt.

Matthew and Faralynn aimed their shots at the body of the snake, farther from the head as to not to hit Faynn by accident.

Ffyr used a flame curtain trying to blind the Bashmu and give Faynn some edge on her fight. The snake got irritated by the fairy's attempt and tried to bite her, missing by a hair. That gave Faynn the chance to land a hit on its neck and take out another thing line of blood.

However, on the next moment, she was hit by the monster's backhand which sent her flying back a few paces.

The Bashmu charged her letting Ffyr go while Faynn recovered from the blow to her ribs. Matthew sprung in with both of his sword on his hands blazing in unholy fire. He stabbed the snake on its cheek as it tried to impale Faynn on its horn.

For a moment Matthew had hope to end the battle there. Unholy fire could only be dispelled by Purification. However, the Bashmu was not burning. His strike didn't penetrate its Vital Shield. It was too shallow to burn it.

Matthew was caught off guard when the tail of the beast came from behind him like a whip directed at his ribs. Luckily, Ffyr was paying attention and used a powerful gust of wind to push Matthew out of the way.

While Faralynn still showered the creature with arrows that did almost nothing, Faynn tried to tie it down with her shadows. Like living ropes, tentacles made of solid shadow sprung from the Bashmu's shadow coiling over it and constricting it in place.

Faynn kept her hands together, closed on one another with only both indexes upright. Her eyes showed the pure concentration she had and the pain of maintaining the huge monster locked on the floor.

"Now! Matthew! The blue flame!" Faynn pleaded while fighting the beast.

Matthew understood. He charged at full speed with his sword clad in unholy fire aiming for the creature's yellow eye. A precise stab. Snakes don't have eyelids. Constrained with the shadow ropes, it could not move to defend itself. There was nothing wrong in that attack. However, Matthew's strength was still not enough to pierce its Vital shield.

"AGAIN!" Faynn screamed as the monster wriggled in place almost getting free.

Matthew held his sword like a nail and using his other sword like a hammer he started to pound over the creature's eye.

"DIE! DIE!" His demonic mana was getting the better of him.

And then it broke free headbutting Matthew far away. Its blade like horn missing him for an inch. After that, it turned its attention back to Faynn. She took a few seconds to recompose from the exertion she did while holding the beast still.

The Bashmu advanced and opened its mouth to bite Faynn who took too long to move out of the way. The bite sank on her shoulder. Only one of the fangs grazed her, but no poison came out. Her black leather armor protected her.

It was then that Faralynn put an arrow inside the creature's mouth cutting its tongue a bit.

When the Bashmu turned to look at Faralynn, Ffyr threw a big fireball on the creature's eye that Matthew was hammering on.

It was now moving oddly. Like it was feeling pain. In its head.

Matthew got up from the floor with a smile.

"Got you son of a bitch."

The Bashmu's eye had a small blue flame on it. Burning from the inside. Growing very slowly as it consumed its flesh.

"It's a matter of time now." Matthew said almost like a cheer. "We just need to keep ourselves alive while it burns."

It was easier said than done. Although no expression could come out of its snake face, the way the claws moved showed pure anger.

The Bashmu stood tall. It took a huge breath in. And then blew it all away in a cloud of vitriolic green fog that filled the corridor very fast.

Breathing it in burned the lungs and the throat. Contact with the skin made it tingle and go numb. They all instantly felt sick. Feverish and weak.

"Poison cloud." Faynn said fastening her mask around her face. She was protected because of it, but not Matthew and Faralynn. And specially not Ffyr. Her small size was sure make the poison act fast on her. "Run away from the cloud!" Faynn screamed to them.

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