"Should I take the front Lord Bryson?" Florence asked as Bryson continued to stare at the hole with disdain.

"Probably best, I'd rather be behind that thing than in front when you fire it, especially in a tunnel like that." Bryson grumbled, "That reminds me I need to deafen my ears a bit."

"That is a good idea." Florence said nodding her head.

"Wait, how does your hearing not get hurt firing that thing?"

"I'm able to adjust the feedback my ears receive similar to how I manage my fire output. Though it's only really when I use the firearm, harder to do without it." She replied.

"Right, your firearm is more like a magic wand than anything else." Bryson noted.

"It is?" Florence said pulling out her firearm and looking at it, "I suppose that explains why it works like it does."

"Wait you never knew how your thing worked?"

"Never really thought about it, worked on it through instinct mainly."

"Really?"

"I'm much more interested in healing than magic." Florence said as she started to walk towards the cave.

"Impatient aren't we?" Bryson grumbled quickly following behind her. The entrance was easily large enough to have them walk side by side in and it didn't seem to narrow as they went further down. The moment their backs were to the sunlight Bryson tapped Florence's firearm and it lit up enough for them to see ahead.

"The serpent won't be any larger than the cave hole entrance." Florence said, "No point in wasting more energy than needed for a creature like this."

"Oh, it's only that small?" Bryson said sarcastically.

"Don't worry, I'm here." Florence reassured him.

"After everything I've been through, I think I can handle this without you." Bryson grumbled.

"I know." Florence said, Bryson swore he could almost hear a teasing tone in her voice.

"Hmph." Bryson grunted as they walked in silence for a few minutes. Nothing but the sounds of their boots on the damp earth filled the air. Bryson after a few more minutes indicated for Florence to stop and deactivated the light on her firearm.

"Do you see mana amassing from the snake?" Florence asked in a hushed tone.

"Better than that, I can see it." Byron whispered back, eyes white but emitting no light.

"Where?"

"About a kilometre downwards, I can see a mass of mana amounting and scales." Bryson said.

"Scales? But I can't see anything."

"Yeah, one more benefit of these eyes is that I can see in the dark normally. Thankfully the head isn't facing us so it never noticed the light, I think it's still asleep." Bryson said observing for any changes in the scales.

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"That makes sense, they should be able to taste us if it was awake." Florence said nodding her head, "I still can't see it so what should we do?"

"It would be most efficient if you shot the thing right in the head, so I'll wake it up, 'Flash Step' back over here and then you can blast it." Bryson proposed.

"How do we get past the body to reach the eggs?"

"You always have an issue with everything don't you?" Bryson grumbled, "Fine drag it to the surface, kill it, then we can deal with the eggs?"

"Yes, use your 'Flash Step' for this." Florence said with a nod.

"Oh you want to be carried by me is that it?" Bryson asked rolling his eyes as he took a few steps forward.

"No." Florence said quickly as Bryson was about to 'Flash Step'.

Bryson looked back momentarily and Florence felt herself tense as he spoke, "I can only go about a hundred meters at a time, so it will be a bit dangerous."

"Right." Florence said gathering herself.

"Yeah, I know I should know more conveyance magic but it will work." Bryson said before casting nine consecutive 'Flash Steps'.

Stopping at about a hundred meters away from the slumbering monster Bryson raised a single hand and blasted a small arcane bolt at the snake. Immediately upon impact the serpent lurched awake and a loud angry hiss was heard.

Bryson watched as the bundle of snakes turned, and finally he was face-to-face with a glowering snake head. Bryson simply blasted another arcane bolt straight at the snake. The second strike was more than enough to cause the snake to bolt straight towards Bryson.

Bryson waited right before he was in striking range before 'Flash Stepping' further towards the entrance of the cave. The snake momentarily confused as to have missed Bryson refocused on Bryson as he shot another blast at it again.

The pattern continued as Bryson made it back to Florence. Here without exchanging a single word, Florence then took charge of baiting the snake forward. Firing off weaker bursts at the snake, they slowly goaded the snake monster further and further out towards the surface.

Bryson with a firm grip around Florence's waist soon reached sunlight and as they stood at the mouth of the entrance the snake continued to surge forward. Bryson nodded his head and 'Flash Stepped' without Florence while she stood at the entrance and calmly waited for the snake to attack.

This time as the snake launched itself forward it sent itself flying completely out of the cave, Florence in turn leapt into the air as the snake chased after her. Its long body allowing it to rise higher and higher up towards Florence.

As Florence was right above the snake's snout it felt a force smack it from behind as Bryson had gathered up a ball of wind and struck the snake back towards the ground. Florence took this new bird's-eye view opportunity to aim at the snake and fire. This time instead of a large concussive blast, it was a sharper clump of mana aimed for piercing.

In one accurate shot she cut the head off clean. As both she and the snake's body landed onto the ground Bryson casually approached her.

"Why did you cut off the head? Disintegration would be safer." Bryson said, the heads of mutant monster snakes much like regular snakes can still bite long after being decapitated.

"I want the venom glands." Florence said with a shrug, "It's difficult to get fresh samples in regions like this."

"You could always request fresh samples to be teleported directly here. That'll stay fresh." Bryson said.

"But that would be expensive."

"You've done more than enough for requests like that."

"No need now." Florence said as she dug through her bag for a knife, "Lord Bryson would you mind me asking what that spell was? It wasn't psionic magic."

"No, my psionic magic is limited to things my size or smaller and lacks significant magic resistance. It was an aeromancy spell, just a simple ball of concentrated air."

"I've never seen you do it before."

"Well it's actually pretty similar to the spells I use when I slow down my falls. I gathered air and manipulated how it moves." Bryson said before looking down at the cave, "I'll go deal with the eggs while you help yourself to the venom, don't get bit."

"Of course Lord Bryson."

As Bryson was about to disappear into the darkness he turned to her, "It's a shame that you won't be around when I leave for The Academy. That weapon of yours is useful. As are you." Bryson added quickly before he entered the tunnel.

Florence looked to where Bryson had vanished into before turning back towards the snake. She found herself humming a small tune feeling happy with herself. Yes, she would remember this day.

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