Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Florr 10: The Snake Strikes

The snake struck before James could give another order.

Its head shot forward with terrifying speed that made the air hiss. The mouth opened wide enough to swallow a person whole while revealing rows of curved fangs that dripped venom. The pale dead eyes locked onto James without blinking.

James sent the reanimated ogre forward immediately without thinking.

The ogre threw itself between Team Zero and the snake’s descending head. Its massive gray body with green energy burning in empty eye sockets moved to intercept. Both hands gripped the upper jaw when the bite came down.

"HISSSSSSSS!"

The snake’s hiss filled the mall when its attack was blocked.

The System fully identified the boss while the fight officially began.

[DISASTER BEAST DETECTED]

[ABYSSAL VENOM PYTHON]

[BOSS HP: 35,000/35,000]

James’s current status appeared in his vision because the Main Story fight had started and the Tower was tracking everything.

[JAMES GANNER]

[LEVEL: 14]

[EXP: 2,385/9,000]

[HP: 660/660]

[MANA: 1,140/1,140]

[REANIMATED SLOTS: 2/5 OCCUPIED]

His undead status appeared separately below his own.

[REANIMATED OGRE — LEVEL 10]

[HP: 3,200/3,200]

[REANIMATED DIRE WOLF — LEVEL 9]

[HP: 1,400/1,400]

The ogre blocked the snake’s head with both hands gripping the upper jaw while its arms shook from the force. The snake pushed forward. The ogre was driven backward through a broken storefront entrance. Glass exploded outward in all directions. Metal shelves collapsed and scattered products across the floor. Concrete walls cracked from the impact of the ogre’s body hitting them.

[REANIMATED OGRE]

[HP: 3,200/3,200 → 2,410/3,200]

The snake took no real damage from being blocked by the ogre.

[ABYSSAL VENOM PYTHON]

[BOSS HP: 35,000/35,000]

That told James everything he needed to know about this fight. The ogre could delay the snake and absorb hits, but it could not overpower or seriously damage it.

Finn pulled the team out of the direct path while the snake recovered from crashing into the ogre.

He moved in fast and attacked the side of the snake’s neck where scales overlapped. His weapon connected, but the cut was shallow because the scales were too thick.

[DAMAGE: 240]

[BOSS HP: 35,000/35,000 → 34,760/35,000]

James fired Necro Blast at the snake’s body while it was still focused on the ogre.

[NECRO BLAST ACTIVATED]

[MANA COST: 10]

[CURRENT MANA: 1,140/1,140 → 1,130/1,140]

[RESISTED]

[DAMAGE: 180]

[BOSS HP: 34,760/35,000 → 34,580/35,000]

The necrotic rot spread across the scales but did not sink deep. The outer body was too armored.

James did not waste a second shot on the same target area. He understood immediately that they needed to attack the mouth, eyes, underbelly, or opened wounds where the defense was weaker.

The fight was going badly. Team Zero had damaged the snake, but the HP bar barely moved.

The snake opened its mouth wide and released venom mist across the central hall in a spreading cloud.

The green-tinted mist moved like liquid through the air. It touched everything in its path. Tiles hissed and melted where venom droplets landed. Metal rails along the broken escalator corroded rapidly and bent under their own weight. Broken glass turned to liquid and dripped. The air itself burned when breathed.

The remaining academy students hiding behind debris throughout the mall panicked again when they saw the mist spreading. Some tried to crawl away while coughing. Others pressed their faces against walls while trying to find clean air. The mist spread too fast through the enclosed space and reached them before they could escape.

Kael set a support totem immediately while planting it into the cracked floor.

The totem glowed with protective energy that formed a barrier around Team Zero. The barrier did not stop venom completely, but it reduced the concentration enough to keep them from collapsing like the academy students were.

[KAEL SUPPORT TOTEM ACTIVE]

[VENOM RESISTANCE INCREASED]

[PARTY HP LOSS REDUCED]

James still suffered from poison exposure because the totem could only do so much against disaster-class venom.

[JAMES GANNER]

[HP: 660/660 → 632/660]

[STATUS: MINOR POISON EXPOSURE]

His throat burned when he breathed. His eyes watered. His skin felt hot where mist touched exposed areas.

The snake’s tail smashed a support pillar behind James without warning. The pillar cracked and collapsed. Concrete debris flew toward him in chunks large enough to cave in a skull. James raised his shield at the last moment and blocked most of the impact, but pieces still got through and hit his shoulder and side. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

[SHIELD INSTINCT ACTIVE]

[DAMAGE ABSORBED INCREASED]

[JAMES GANNER]

[HP: 632/660 → 584/660]

The block saved him from serious injury, but his shield arm went completely numb from the force transmitted through metal into bone. The passive skill reduced damage substantially, but it did not make him invincible or stop all pain.

James realized they could not stay in open ground where the snake controlled the entire space and could attack from any angle while filling the air with poison.

The snake moved through broken shops, flooded sections, and collapsed pillars while using the mall’s chaotic structure like a maze designed for ambush. Its body was so long that Team Zero could not tell where the head would appear next because thirty meters of snake body could coil behind walls and emerge from completely different directions.

James used the dire wolf properly instead of wasting it in direct combat. He did not send it to fight the snake head-on because that would get it killed within seconds. He used it to track the snake’s movement through enhanced smell and supernatural hearing that came with being an undead beast.

The dire wolf moved low through puddles of blood, spreading venom, and broken glass while its enhanced senses followed the snake’s massive body shifting position behind walls and under water.

Its ears twitched. Its nose followed scent trails invisible to humans.

"GRRRRR!"

The wolf growled low toward the left side of the hall just three seconds before the snake burst through a collapsed wall section that nobody had been watching.

That warning saved Finn from a direct bite to the head.

Finn heard the growl and moved his body sideways on pure instinct. The snake’s head shot through the wall where he had been standing half a second earlier.

Finn still got clipped by the side of the snake’s head when he dodged too late. The glancing blow was enough to throw him backward through the air. He crashed into a broken display case and glass shattered around him.

[FINN HP: 780/780 → 612/780]

The dire wolf lunged forward immediately while the snake’s mouth was still open and vulnerable. It bit into soft flesh near the base of a fang where tissue connected to the jaw bone.

[DAMAGE: 420]

[BOSS HP: 34,580/35,000 → 34,160/35,000]

"HISSSSSS!"

The snake whipped its head sideways violently in response to pain. The dire wolf was still attached to the mouth. It was thrown across the entire hall and slammed into a concrete pillar hard enough to crack the stone.

[REANIMATED DIRE WOLF]

[HP: 1,400/1,400 → 910/1,400]

James saw the wolf’s real value in this fight clearly now. It could not kill the snake on its own, but it could warn the team about attacks they would not see coming and could attack weak points that others could not reach safely without getting killed.

James looked around the ruined mall and saw dead demonic beasts scattered across the floor. Some were half-eaten with ribs exposed. Some had been crushed during the massacre when the snake moved through student groups.

There were student corpses too, but James did not use them yet.

He targeted beast corpses first while moving toward three bodies near a broken escalator.

[SUMMON UNDEAD SKELETON ACTIVATED]

[MANA COST: 50]

[CURRENT MANA: 1,130/1,140 → 1,080/1,140]

[BEAST SKELETONS SUMMONED]

[MAX SUMMON UNDEAD SKELETONS: 5]

Five broken beast skeletons rose from corpses with bones clicking together as necrotic energy filled empty spaces. Some were incomplete with missing limbs. Some dragged damaged spines. They were not strong enough to defeat the snake, but that was not their purpose.

James sent them toward the snake from different directions while spreading them across the hall.

The snake crushed two skeletons with its tail before they got close. Another skeleton got smashed against the floor when the snake’s body coiled over it. The remaining two reached the snake’s head and forced it to open its mouth when they attacked the damaged lip area.

James waited for the correct timing while watching the snake’s movement.

The skeletons were bait.

The snake bit down on one beast skeleton when it got too close to the exposed flesh.

James activated Corpse Explosion before the snake could spit it out.

[CORPSE EXPLOSION ACTIVATED]

[MANA COST: 28]

[COOLDOWN: 40 SECONDS]

[CURRENT MANA: 1,080/1,140 → 1,052/1,140]

The explosion detonated inside the snake’s mouth.

The outer scales had resisted almost everything, but the inside of the mouth was softer tissue without armor. Black blood and venom sprayed across the floor. The snake’s head jerked back violently while its entire body convulsed.

[WEAK POINT HIT]

[DAMAGE: 3,950]

[BOSS HP: 34,160/35,000 → 30,210/35,000]

For the first time, the snake looked truly hurt.

Finn attacked the damaged lower jaw immediately while the wound was still open.

[DAMAGE: 620]

[BOSS HP: 30,210/35,000 → 29,590/35,000]

James understood the answer to killing this boss. They could not damage the snake from outside where scales protected everything. They had to keep opening weak points and attacking through them before the wounds closed.