The next day had arrived and it was time for Matt to head out with his new team. 'Remember, kid, this is a D rank quest, it will be more difficult than your last one, you might have a team now, but you should still be careful.' Emma warned.
'Don't worry, I already know to be careful, I'm not planning on getting hurt again like what happened with the goblins.'
Matt approached the group, they were already waiting for him in front of the tavern. "Great, looks like everyone's here. Now we can get going." Clark declared, before turning around and leading the way north towards the lake. The rest of the group followed and Clark continued to talk as they walked. "Hydroscale Serpents are dangerous creatures, fortunately, they're solitary so we shouldn't have to worry about having to deal with more than one. The creature is called a 'Hydroscale' because its scales camouflage it almost perfectly beneath the water, almost as if the creature itself is made of water. If it submerges while we're fighting it, we'll have to be careful not to get caught by a surprise attack." Clark explained what he knew of the creature they would soon be hunting.
"How do you know so much about the creature? I understand that the quest describes the creature, but you know so much more than just a basic description." Matt asked
Clark couldn't help but laugh a little. "I've fought these creatures before. The serpent's scales are very useful to fishermen, they cover the bottom of their boats with the scales to avoid unnecessary attention from dangerous sea creatures while they're fishing. Quests to hunt Hydroscale serpents are quite common." Clark explained.
They continued to chat as they walked, the road to the lake was long and they had to take a few breaks, but eventually, they could see the lake where the serpent resided. "Here is the lake," Clark announced "We need to get the serpent out from underwater, the last group I was with used lightning magic to shock the water, since we don't have that, we'll have to do the next best thing. Matt, see if you can heat up the water enough to get the serpent out."
"That's an awful lot of water, I'm not sure if I'll have any luck but here goes." Matt dipped his hand in the water and created the strongest flame he possibly could. The water around his hand started to boil rapidly, but it wasn't enough, so Matt kept going even as his MP kept decreasing. More and more steam was rising into the air, Matt kept going until he had used 10 MP, almost half of his total, he wasn't willing to waste any more than this. If his MP hit 0, he would be unable to help fight the serpent.
"This is about as much as I can do, any more and I probably won't be able to help in the fight if and when the creature emerges." Matt exclaimed, he was sad he couldn't bring out the creature, even after using up so much of his MP.
"Don't worry about it, I wasn't sure if it was going to work in the first place. It was the only thing I could think of at the time." Clark said as he reached into his pack and brought out a bottle of blue liquid. "Here take this, it'll replenish your mana, we'll have to come up with another way to bring out the serpent."
Matt took the bottle in his hand, but he didn't drink it straight away, he suddenly had a thought. 'Emma, how much MP would this replenish?' Matt asked. 'It looks like a basic mana potion, so it should fill up 20 points if you drink the entire thing. What are you planning?' Emma said, but Matt didn't respond.
"Blair, can you use your magic to sense where the creature is?" Matt asked.
"It will be difficult because it's underwater, but I can give you an approximate location."
"Great, that's all I need, please come over here and tell me where it is."
Blair stood next to Matt and started chanting words that Matt couldn't understand, after around ten seconds, they pointed at a spot on the lake. "Should be around 30 yards in that direction," she whispered.
"Perfect, now stand back, everyone, get ready!" Matt raised his free hand and a flaming spear appeared in his hand, He threw it in the direction Blair had pointed out. A second after it sunk into the water, a great amount of water was sent into the air, the subsequent splash covered everyone in lake water. As Matt was drinking the mana potion to replenish the 20 MP he had used, The giant serpent came out of the water with a thundering roar. In a few seconds, the creature was towering above them, visibly angered that it had been disturbed.
"Alright Phillip, you and me will distract it while Blair uses their illusion magic to confuse it. Matt, you use earth walls to protect Blair from getting hit. No matter what happens, you must not let anything interrupt Blair's incantations." Clark yelled out orders to everyone, he was obviously used to leading groups like this from his days as a knight. No one questioned his words, they all got to work immediately. Phillip was sending out wind attacks from afar, while Clark used his sword to block any attacks coming towards Phillip as well as striking the serpent whenever he had the chance, they were leaving scratches on it, but it wasn't enough. They couldn't take it out on their own, they just had to hold out until Blair finished their incantations so Matt could join in and they could all attack while it was distracted. Matt had set up 3 earth walls to the back and sides of Blair so that nothing could come up from behind. Matt stood in front with several earth spheres floating in the air, he was ready to deflect any attack that would come their way.
Everyone was holding on for as long as possible, but they were starting to get tired. Phillip had already run out of Mana and had to drink a potion once already. That's when the Hydroscale Serpent started acting strange, it was no longer attacking Phillip and Clark, rather it was attacking wildly as if it thought it was being surrounded from all sides. "It is done." they could all hear Blair whisper in their ears. The serpent kept attacking wildly, it roared and swept its long tail across the ground in front of it trying to get rid of the attackers that weren't really there.
Matt took the chance to create the biggest boulder he could move. And dropped it onto the serpent's head, the unexpected attack pinned its head against the ground.
"THIS IS OUR CHANCE ATTACK IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE!" Clark yelled as he rushed in, his sword now glowing red, he was ready to deliver his strongest attack yet. He plunged his sword into the serpent's eye with all his might. It let out one last thunderous roar as it breathed its last breath. The long arduous battle was finally over.
They all simultaneously slumped into the ground, finally able to relax. "Looks like it's finally over, let's rest for now, then we'll see about carrying the creature back to town." Clark said.
"All in a day's work for the great phillip, be glad that i was here to help." Phillip said in between heavy breaths, even when tired he was still arrogant. Matt was too distracted to pay attention to them though, he was more focused on the system.
| First Hydroscale Serpent killed. 4000xp received |
| Level up |
| Level up |
He was surprised at the amount of experience points he had received. It was a very difficult beast to kill and he didn't think he'd be able to kill one by himself anytime soon, but he didn't think he would have received enough to be able to level up twice from that. He would figure out what to do with the 2 stat points later, for now he just needed to rest.