The Roc Python Queen moved first.
Its sheer size should have made the creature slower, but the moment its massive body surged from the cave entrance into the clearing, Traise immediately realized how wrong that assumption was.
White scales streaked with black blurred across the shattered terrain fast enough to distort beneath the dim evening light while Luna vanished sideways through the shadows barely an instant before enormous fangs slammed into the stone where she had been standing moments earlier.
The impact shook the entire clearing.
Stone exploded outward beneath the Queen’s strike while glowing venom splashed across nearby cliff walls, melting deep grooves directly into the rock.
Traise activated Quickstep instantly and threw himself backward as the serpent’s tail whipped across the clearing a split second later.
The air cracked from the force of the swing before the massive tail smashed into the cliffside hard enough to collapse part of the upper ledge above them.
Traise barely avoided getting buried beneath the falling debris.
His body slammed violently across the uneven ground while pain erupted through his shoulder and ribs the moment he hit the stone.
Dust and shattered gravel scattered across the clearing while loose rocks continued tumbling from the damaged cliffs overhead.
Before he could fully recover, Luna darted through the shadows beneath the Queen’s head and tore her claws across one of its crimson eyes.
The Queen hissed in fury.
But instead of panicking, the serpent twisted toward Luna with terrifying precision.
It adapted to their teamwork immediately.
That realization hit Traise harder than the collapsing stone beside him.
Every other Roc Python they fought relied mostly on aggression once injured.
The Queen remained controlled.
Calculating.
Watching them even while attacking.
Which made it infinitely more dangerous.
Traise forced himself upright while blood ran down the side of his arm.
The Queen lunged toward Luna again before abruptly twisting mid-strike toward him instead.
A feint.
Traise reacted purely on instinct while activating Quickstep again.
Too slow.
The serpent’s armored neck slammed directly into him before he fully escaped the strike.
[Critical! You have taken 17 damage]
The world spun violently.
Traise crashed across the clearing hard enough to lose his grip on the Silverhorn Dagger while air exploded from his lungs.
Pain surged through nearly every part of his body simultaneously, while the Queen immediately rushed toward him again, massive scales grinding against shattered stone as its body wove quickly through the clearing.
Luna intercepted it just in time.
Shadows burst outward across the terrain while Luna slammed into the serpent’s damaged eye with enough force to redirect the Queen’s head slightly sideways.
The movement barely altered the attack trajectory, but it created just enough space for Traise to roll beneath the descending jaws before glowing venom exploded across the ground beside him.
Several burning droplets splashed across his left arm as he hit the stone.
Stone dissolved instantly beneath the impact.
Traise’s stomach tightened painfully at the sight.
One direct bite would kill him immediately.
The Queen’s massive body coiled violently through the clearing while Luna darted in and out of the shadows repeatedly, forcing the serpent to divide its focus between both of them.
Traise quickly recovered his dagger while forcing himself to think past the panic clawing at his chest.
Raw strength wasn’t winning this fight.
It never was.
The Queen struck again, and this time Traise forced himself to focus on the movement itself instead of the fear behind it.
The tightening muscles beneath the scales.
The subtle shift of its shoulders before each lunge.
The slight overextension whenever the serpent committed its enormous weight into a strike.
A pattern slowly emerged.
Every major attack was directed heavily toward one side before being corrected mid-strike.
The Queen compensated for its size by overextending its initial movement to build momentum more quickly.
Which meant an opening existed right before an attack would fully land.
Traise moved early this time.
The Queen’s jaws crashed through the space where he had stood a second earlier, while Luna attempted to tear another slash across the damaged eye from the opposite side.
The serpent shrieked violently while Traise sprinted toward the narrow cliff wall bordering the clearing.
“Luna! Left side!”
Understanding surged back through the bond immediately.
Luna shifted directions without hesitation while the Queen lunged toward her again.
This time, Traise noticed the movement sooner.
The tightening of her neck muscles, the angle of her shoulders, and the delayed correction she made afterward.
Still fast.
Still horrifying.
But predictable enough to exploit.
Traise sprinted beneath the Queen’s attack while slamming his dagger into a weakened section of stone near the cliff wall.
The rock formation was already unstable from the serpent’s earlier attacks, and the moment the Queen twisted violently toward him again, he activated Quickstep before kicking himself away from the collapsing cliffside.
The Queen’s body slammed directly into the weakened rock wall.
The cliff collapsed suddenly.
Massive stones smashed downward onto the serpent’s upper body while debris spread through the clearing.
Luna burst from the shadows above and slammed both her paws directly into the Queen’s damaged eye, the instant the collapse had disrupted her focus.
[Critical! You have dealt 39 damage]
The Queen thrashed violently enough to send chunks of rock flying through the clearing.
One of them managed to hit Traise directly in the ribs.
[You have taken 11 damage]
Venom still remained on portions of his left arm, left from earlier splashes he failed to fully avoid.
It continued burning through flesh like liquid fire beneath his skin, while his health continued dropping dangerously low.
Traise immediately activated the active effect of Minor Regeneration.
Warmth spread steadily through his body while damaged flesh rapidly repaired itself beneath the blood coating his arm and ribs.
Under normal circumstances, healing like this would never keep up with injuries during active combat, but the combined efficiency from the Bracer of the Fallen One and Light Affinity kept the mana drain manageable enough for him to sustain it.
Without that synergy, he already knew he would be dead.
Traise forced himself back onto his feet while Minor Regeneration continued burning through his remaining mana reserves.
The healing slowed the venom spreading beneath his skin and stabilized the worst of the damage, but it still wasn’t enough to fully recover him.
It only bought him time.
The Queen erupted from the collapsed stones a second later, still alive and far angrier than before.
One ruined crimson eye hung beneath torn scales while glowing venom dripped steadily from its exposed fangs onto the shattered ground below.
The serpent lunged toward Luna again while Traise forced himself upright despite the pain screaming through nearly every part of his body.
His thoughts raced while analyzing the battlefield around him.
Sections of the cliff walls had already collapsed from the Queen’s attacks, and venom continued weakening the surrounding stone every time it struck the terrain.
Loose debris covered nearly the entire clearing now, while several Roc Python corpses remained scattered throughout the area beneath the rubble.
The entire battlefield was becoming unstable.
And suddenly, that mattered far more than raw damage.
Traise sprinted toward one of the partially collapsed ledges overlooking the clearing while Luna continued baiting the Queen through the damaged terrain below.
The serpent pursued relentlessly while it spat venom that splashed repeatedly against the already weakened cliff walls, causing fresh cracks to spread visibly through the stone with every impact.
Exactly what Traise wanted.
The Queen lunged upward toward him while Traise deliberately waited until the final possible second before dodging sideways.
The serpent’s massive body slammed directly into the weakened cliff support beneath the ledge.
The entire upper section collapsed instantly afterward.
Thousands of kilograms of stone crashed downward onto the Queen’s midsection while Luna burst from the shadows once more, appearing beneath the serpent’s exposed throat at the exact same moment.
Traise moved too, activating Quickstep one final time before driving the Silverhorn Bone Dagger upward through the softer scales beneath the Queen’s jaw, right as Luna tore into the exposed wound from the opposite side.
The Queen convulsed violently while venom sprayed across the clearing, and loose debris shook beneath the force of its movements.
Traise desperately held onto the dagger as blood flooded down his arm, before the serpent’s struggles finally began slowing beneath the massive stones crushing its midsection.
Then suddenly—
Everything stopped.
The clearing fell eerily quiet aside from loose rocks still tumbling from the damaged cliffs overhead.
Traise lay against a particularly large rock among the debris for several long seconds while Minor Regeneration continued slowly repairing the worst of his injuries.
Every breath still hurt.
Venom burns were still spread across portions of his arm and ribs, while dried blood covered nearly half his body beneath his Roc Skin Tunic.
Luna collapsed beside him shortly afterward.
Her silver-black fur was heavily stained with dirt and blood, and her exhaustion was clearly felt by Traise.
Neither of them moved much at first.
The fight had drained almost everything they had left.
Even standing felt difficult right now.
Then the system flashed before Traise with a new notification.
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[Congratulations!]
Set Item Acquired: Naga Queen Daggers
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Traise forced himself upright slightly while a pair of weapons slowly materialized within pale blue light.
The first dagger looked wrong immediately.
Dark metal curved like a serpent fang while faint green light pulsed beneath the blade itself, giving the impression that venom still flowed through the weapon like living blood.
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[Viper Fang]
Grade: Initiate
A dagger forged from one of the Roc Python Queen’s venomous fangs.
The blade continuously produces traces of corrosive venom capable of weakening even durable prey.
Effects:
+4 Dexterity
Attacks have a 25% chance to inflict Venom Drain, causing the target to lose 5% of their maximum Health over 30 seconds.
The effect does not stack.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The second dagger completely contrasted with the first.
Pale ivory formed the blade instead of black metal, but the moment Traise wrapped his fingers around the handle, an uncomfortable sensation settled over him.
The weapon felt unnaturally aggressive somehow, as though it responded more strongly the closer its wielder drifted toward death itself.
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[Queen’s Fury]
Grade: Initiate
A pale ivory dagger forged from one of the Queen’s primary fangs.
Crimson veins pulse faintly beneath the blade whenever its wielder is injured, as though the weapon itself feeds upon desperation.
Effects:
+4 Strength
Damage dealt increases greatly as the user’s health decreases.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Traise looked between both daggers again while his grip tightened slightly around the handles.
Either weapon alone already surpassed the Silverhorn Bone Dagger by an absurd margin.
Together, they felt like an entirely different tier of equipment altogether.
Then the final notification appeared.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Set Bonus: Naga Queen’s Wrath]
When both daggers are equipped:
+10% Dexterity
+10% Attack Speed
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Traise stared quietly at the weapons while his thoughts slowly processed what he was seeing.
Until now, most of his equipment upgrades improved singular areas.
More speed.
Better movement.
Higher Dexterity.
Useful advantages, but still individual improvements.
This felt completely different.
The daggers complemented each other naturally.
One rewarded sustained aggression through poison and mobility, while the other became stronger the closer he drifted toward death itself.
Together, they amplified the exact combat style he and Luna had already started developing inside the forest.
Speed.
Positioning.
Constant pressure.
Relentless openings.
Traise slowly equipped both daggers at his waist while mentally running through how the set would alter future fights.
Almost immediately, the difference became noticeable.
His movements felt lighter, and even small motions carried a sharper response than before.
The added attack speed enhancement felt especially dangerous when combined with Enhanced Agility and Quickstep.
Not overwhelming enough to trivialize danger, but significant enough to completely alter how future fights would flow.
Luna slowly approached afterward while sniffing cautiously toward Viper Fang before immediately flattening her ears in visible disapproval.
Traise almost laughed despite the exhaustion crushing down on him.
“Yeah,” he muttered weakly.
“Probably shouldn’t lick that one.”
Luna still looked offended anyway.
The humor faded quickly once Traise finally stood fully upright again.
Pain immediately surged through his body while Minor Regeneration continued, slowly stabilizing the remaining venom damage beneath his skin.
Without the passive healing and active regeneration effects, he honestly doubted he would even still be conscious after that fight.
The Queen almost killed them.
That fact remained painfully clear, no matter what rewards they received afterward.
Traise and Luna spent the next several minutes carefully gathering the remaining corpses scattered throughout the ruined cave.
Several Roc Python bodies still remained partially intact despite the collapsing terrain, and the Queen herself alone occupied an absurd amount of inventory space after being stored.
The moment the enormous corpse vanished into storage, the surrounding area somehow felt different than before.
Less oppressive.
Even so, her blood remained everywhere.
Dark stains soaked through shattered stone while venom still hissed faintly across portions of the collapsed terrain nearby.
Even with the Queen gone, the surrounding clearing still looked ruined.
Once everything valuable had finally been collected, Traise opened the Shop again while leaning heavily against one of the remaining cliff walls.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Dragon Coin Total Updated]
Current Total:
8,164 Dragon Coins
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
His eyes lingered on the number silently.
Higher than ever before.
Still nowhere near enough.
The realization should have felt frustrating, but honestly, it didn’t.
The gap between himself and his potential growth no longer felt impossible.
A bit dangerous and slow, definitely, but achievable now.
If he survived long enough.
Luna eventually settled beside him near the edge of the crumbling cave while evening shadows slowly stretched across the cliffs overhead.
Exhaustion drifted heavily through the bond between them, though beneath it rested something else.
Satisfaction.
This was the proof that his preparation, strategy, and persistence actually mattered in this world.
Traise lowered his gaze toward the pair of daggers resting against his side while the light reflected faintly off the blades.
Somewhere deeper within the forest existed creatures vastly stronger than the Roc Python Queen.
But now Traise finally understood something important.
This world rewarded those who survived long enough to adapt to it.