The door, heavy though it was, swung open as always without resistance. The Smith, vision unrestricted as his visor was raised, cautiously peeked into the boss room.

It was the same windswept plain as before, and from his heightened vantage point he could see that the ground extended some fifty yards to the left and right before ending in a cliff and empty space beyond. Though he could clearly see some two hundred yards ahead, where there seemed to be a treasure chest and hole in the wall, likely a staircase to a lower floor, to the sides the air grew hazy and misty. Above, low hanging clouds sat providing a dim, flat light; the sort of clouds one sees a few hours prior to a storm.

But the wind didn't seem to be blowing.

James couldn't exactly feel the wind, both due to his armor and due to not actually being in the room. He was being very careful to keep on this side of the door-frame. But the grass on the plains just below the steps stood tall and still. The clouds didn't roil or blow around either. And, so far as James could see, the boss room was empty.

James stood there a long minute, thinking.

On both the prior floors, the boss monster had been visible from the door. And they didn't move until after he descended the stairs down to the actual ground.

On the first floor, the treasure chest had been empty while the boss monster was present.

On the second floor, there had been both the boss and treasure in the chest.

Maybe… there was no boss on this floor?

Plus, there was no strong wind on this floor. He swapped out the large iron shield for his round Green Iron [Reflect] shield, just in case.

And so he stepped forward, shield and hammer in hand. Shield raised, he stepped down, step by step, carefully scanning everywhere. On the last step he paused, taking one last look around. And then…

He stepped fully onto the ground.

The iron door slammed shut behind him.

And a bolt of lighting flashed down from the sky, striking his shield.

CRASH! PING!

Faster than he could react, the lightning was reflected by his shield and shot back into the sky. The sound, setting a new record for loudest thing he'd ever heard in his life, stunned him for a moment, but he came back to his senses in time to see a large serpent descend from the clouds, wreathed in discharges of lightning as it slithered through the air.

James' heart fell. There had been a boss. Once again his shield had saved him, though it had chunked his mana down by at least a quarter, maybe more.

There was nothing he could do against a flying monster if it didn't come down to him, so he kept his shield up. The serpent was large, and at that distance it was hard to tell how large exactly, but it looked like it wasn't quite large enough to swallow him up in one easy bite. It would at least have to kill him first…

While James was thinking that grim thought, the lightning serpent continued descending, and then, with a BOOM of acceleration, darted towards James faster than he could react. It wrapped around him, revealing itself to be about a yard across and some dozen or so yards long, and constricted around his legs and torso before rising back into the air.

CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE

Loud sparking sounds hurt James' ears as they rose and lightning sparked all over the serpent's scales, playing against his armor, and reducing his mana as his shield reflected some portion of them, as the serpent had wrapped around the shield and now it was bound tightly to his side.

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But his right arm and his Earth War Hammer were free.

They continued ascending slowly, though James couldn't tell how high, and the serpent turned to face him, green eyes flashing with lightning against its near-black scales as it opened its mouth wide and hissed at him.

Bound as he was, James couldn't properly swing his hammer. But with only the strength in his arm, and empowered by his enchantment, he brought his hammer down on the serpent in front of him.

BOOM!

James was reacting almost entirely on instinct, having been overwhelmed by the speed at which the fight was proceeding, but he caught a subtle wave of faint brown light expand from where his hammer had struck.

The serpent's head recoiled, hissing madly, and James struck again and again, as fast as he could, pouring as much mana into each strike as he could.

[Heavy Blow]

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

Hiiissssssssss

Suddenly, they crashed to the ground. The serpent loosened its constriction on James and slithered away before firing another bolt of lightning at him while he was staggered and off balance.

CRACK!

Bzzt bzzt bzzt…

He took the strike right on the chest, completely unguarded by his shield. And…

Well, basically nothing. The lightning was completely resisted by his armor and dissipated, sparks flying into the air and into the ground blow. The sound was the worst of it, but even that…

Smith Class Skill [Sound Resistance] has reached level 5.

James didn't even think about what was happening. He had only one thought on his mind: get up to the serpent and hit it with his hammer.

And that's what he did. The serpent, having fired a bolt of lightning at him, slithered toward him to follow up with another attack, never imagining that its prey would have completely resisted its most powerful attack after a direct hit. It hissed, darting in with its fangs to bite the foolish creature…

And was met with a full-powered overhand strike from an Earth essence-infused warhammer.

[Technique: Hammer Strike]

[Heavy Blow]

BOOM!

Hammer met serpent scales, driving the head down into the ground.

BOOM!

BOOM!

CRUNCH!

The Smith continued to swing his hammer until the head of the lightning-sparking serpent was completely unrecognizable, and then he kept going until even the smallest discharges of lightning has ceased. Truly, the fight was only over when he recognized the intrusive thoughts, and stopped swinging his hammer.

Smith Class has reached level 8.

Enchanter Class has reached level 8.

As James came down from the rush of the fight, he started becoming aware of his heavy breathing, his pounding heart, and the trembling in his limbs. He collapsed onto his bottom, unable to keep standing on suddenly weak legs.

For a good minute he just breathed, his breath reverberating loudly inside the helmet he dared not take off. The fight had happened so fast he hadn't even had a second to lower his visor, and instinctively he inspected the armor on his legs, which had borne the brunt of the serpent's constriction.

[Appraisal]: Wind Greaves, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 14/14, Enchantment: Wind Resistance (30)

[Appraisal]: Wind Cuisses, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15, Enchantment: Wind Resistance (35)

To his immense surprise, they were totally fine. They had completely resisted the serpent's pressure.

His shield, as well, was perfectly fine. The enchantment hadn't overloaded. Same for his hammer, which he finally noticed he was gripping as hard as he could. It took an effort of will to relax his grip, revealing the soreness in his arm.

With one last large breath, he forced himself to stop hyperventilating, and stood back up.

Smith Class Skill [Nerves of Steel] has reached level 6.

James dismissed the thought and gazed down at the serpent. The head was a gory mess, smashed to gibbets by his hammer, but the rest of the monster's carcass was in good condition, save one part where he had struck it while constricted, about a third of the way down the body.

James was torn inside. He was pleased to have beat another boss and opened the way to another floor of the dungeon. He was frustrated and angry with himself that he believed the boss room was empty and didn't think that the boss might have been hiding in the clouds above.

How many more times was he going to foolishly blunder into danger like this?

Editor's note: Although today 'The Lightning Serpent Principle' is well known, in fact only the name of the principle comes from The Legend of the Smith who Saved the Kingdom. Various formulations of 'absence of evidence is not evidence of absence' existed before the Smith's time.

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