Renn leaped at the lion snake's massive head while Ruby went for its tail.

Mike was in the back with Chad, each filling their swords with energy. Mike couldn't let his electric blade shoot out until the Renn and Ruby backed away. He didn't want to shock their two allies. Chad didn't have that problem, so he shot forward, stabbing with his sword. It cut through the snake's body, but healed the moment he pulled it out. "Damn it!" Chad grumbled.

Drake had an idea, but it would take a minute to prepare. He let the two familiars and his friends fight while he prepared his whip. Not only did he fill his whip with his explosive whirlwind, but he also had a plasma blade with a sharpened energy tip. He even added a fire blade that was condensed into a blade made of lava. It shocked Drake at how dense the fire was. He didn't know he could do that. As he continued to shove as much energy as he could into the whip, his friends continued to fight.

Mike's sword crackled with intense lightning, which pulsed up and down the blade as it grew more powerful. When he was ready, he yelled at the two familiars that were battling the beast with no results. "Renn! Rubby! Move back!" he screamed.

The familiars immediately moved away from the beast as Mike shot his lightning at the lion snake. It collided with the body near the glow of its life force.

The beast writhed in agony, flopping around like a fish trying to get water. As it flopped, Chad swung his sword, slicing through the beast's body. Mike stabbed at the beast's eyes, trying to blind it.

As soon as he pulled his swords from the now-empty sockets, the eyes regrew, forming new ones. It was as if they were never missing. "Shit!" Mike cursed. He didn't know how to kill a beast that could regenerate parts of its body as well as heal itself.

The great snake finally stopped writhing in pain. It shook its massive head as if trying to clear it and eyed its prey.

It rose into the air, preparing to attack; Drake attacked first, lashing out his whip. Multiple blades flew out milliseconds apart; each was a different kind, before the metallic whip sliced through the beast's large neck.

With so many slashes at once, it gave the beast no time to heal. Immediately, Drake lashed out again, hitting toward the same spot while Mike shot out another lightning blade, which prevented it from healing, while Drake slashed out at the beast.

The massive head finally crashed to the ground with a loud bang, then rolled away from its body. After several seconds, it burst into light particles and disappeared from existence. They had killed the beast.

The soft voice of the system floated through Drake's mind.

{You have slain a Level 4 Lion Snake.}

{You have received a reward}

{Reward: Healing Ring}

Drake walked over to the small ring that he hadn't noticed had fallen to the ground after the lion beast had died. After picking it up, he put it on his finger. He knew that if he got hurt, it would confirm what the ring did. His instincts told him it only worked on the ring's owner. By the system message, he knew it was his.

"We need to continue," Drake informed his friends. "I want to get as far as we can today."

With everyone in agreement, they continued to walk down the road following the bright green quest thread.

"What did you get?" Mike asked.

Chad stepped closer, wanting to know the answer as well.

"I got a 'healing ring' from making the killing blow to the beast. I think it heals if the wearer gets hurt." Drake thought about it for a moment. "I think it only works on the ring's owner, but we can test it out. If we can pass the ring back and forth as needed. That could help us out a lot."

"Can I ask how you know who kills what?" Chad asked, wondering how Drake always knew.

"When I make the kill, my system tells me, I was the one who killed it. When you kill something, it says a member of my cohort killed it, and if Renn or Ruby does, it tells me that one of my familiars killed it," Drake explained. "Sometimes it's hard to determine who it was when it's someone other than me. I have to rely on the runes or what the item is."

"I get it," Mike nodded. "Some items have runes that match our armor. Others go with what our skills are."

"Dad said there are seven quests. This is the third one. I hope we can get them all done so we don't have to worry anymore," Mike grumbled. He was already tired of doing all the quests.

Chad chuckled. "There is a bright side to doing all these quests. We don't have to go to school while we're here. We get awesome powers, cool weapons, and this place is cool if you overlook everyone that's trying to stop us from finishing our ascension quests."

They were all in agreement with Chad's words.

Chad pulled out sandwiches for everyone as they walked. It was breakfast, and they hadn't eaten in a while. They were all hungry. Although they were exhausted, they didn't stop walking as they ate.

Drake looked up at Dragon Head Mountain as he walked alongside it. It was much bigger than he thought it was. He looked over at his friends. "When we finish eating, we'll see if Ruby will give us a ride. She's incredibly fast, and she can see the quest thread the same as we can."

Mike smiled at that and continued to eat his food. Chad remained quiet also, wanting to finish before something else came out and attacked them.

When they finished their meal, Drake communicated with Ruby. She agreed, wanting to run anyway. Renn transformed into her rat form and leaped onto Drake's shoulder before they all climbed onto Ruby's back.

Ruby took off quickly, forcing everyone on her back to hang on tight.

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