"How the hell did you even find me?" I had to ask, avoiding tentacles from slamming into me as I did. Despite my relief of Viper being here, I was almost as pissed as she was. "Seriously, do you have some sort of weird mystical tracking spell linked to me?!"

"Let's just say you're not the only one who uses an enemies devices when making snap decisions!" She huffed, gracefully twirling over a claw swipe. And yeah, I know. Not exactly the best time to be having this talk, but if not now when? There was no guarantee that we'll be making it out of this in one piece. Plus I had a few things that I needed to get off my chest.

"Really? Those teleporting marbles?"

"You're not as sneaky you like to think you are. Especially when you make stupid choices like this!"

I quickly ducked in time before a set of broken teeth snapped together attempting to bite my head off. "Yeah well there's a reason I came alone Viper! And okay, it may have been while under the influence of a mind warping spirit but I still agree that it was the best option! I'd be the only one at risk!"

"Oh and you thought I came with you all the way to Gongmen just for the sake of it?"

"Well you did sort of demand to!"

The conversation was cut short as I took a hit to the head from a large heavy hand. It had enough force to send me flying a bit of a distance, almost to the other side of the cavern!

"Ow..." I wheezed out with the mother of all headaches. Damn Mèngyǎn.

It wasn't done with me either. It must have taken the opportunity to finish me off as I felt the thundering footsteps approach quickly. Even with my vision blurred there was no mistaking the large black mass charging right at me. It raised its claw, let out a roar and brought it down. Had a green tail not wrapped its tail around my chest and yanked me out if the way barely in the nick of time. It's strike was so powerful that the long bony weapons wedged themselves deep into the ground, causing the monster to be stuck as it tried desperately to pull them out with no luck. All the while it roared, snapped its fouls jaws and tried anything it could to reach us in vain.

"Maybe we should finish this conversation later." I managed to speak. There was no argument on Vipers end.

"So what's the plan for taking stopping the Mèngyǎn?"

"Plan?

"Well I'm assuming that you didn't come all the way here counting on luck?"

It took a moment for me to remember the sticks of dynamite scattered across the cavern. I had intended to weaken this place and hope that the damage was enough to cause the mountain, or at least a portion of it to collapse in on itself and destroy the skeletal corpses lying in the coffins. A little extreme, but it was the only idea I had at the time. Looking back I might have been better off just stuffing all twelve sticks in the coffin and legging for the exit, but it's a bit late now! Once stuck to a surface those things don't come off! Another genius modification from the Silent Blade faction it seems!

"Okay I have a dozen sticks of dynamite scattered around this cavern! We blow them up, this mountain might come down and bury this thing for good! We'll need to split up to light them before getting out of here!"

The look on her face suggested that this was a stupid- no, an insane plan! One with little chance of succeeding. Perhaps now she understood one of the reasons I came here alone! What was even crazier was that she nodded her head in agreement!

"Okay then, let's do it then."

Before she could move for the first one I grabbed her tail. "Those things will explode only seconds after lighting them so this place is going to become unstable rather quickly!"

"Then let's do this quickly!"

We split up and sped to our respective sides as quickly as we could. I reached the first stick right away, stuck on what looked like a large load bearing column for the cavern. Blowing that up would definitely do some damage to this place. I twisted the sandpaper cap and pulled it off. Just like that the fuse was lit and ready to explode. That was the first step done. Step two? Run like hell! I wasted no time slithering as fast as possible and hoping that I was free of the blast radius. I didn't exactly have the chance to check the power or the amount of black powder stored into these things!

*BOOM*

A mighty bang thundered through the cave and I could even feel the force of the explosion push itself into my back nearly causing me to fall over! Damn these things were powerful! I guess that was a good thing though, the more powerful the better chance of stopping the Mèngyǎn.

The column shuddered, groaning under its own weight. The dynamite had blown a rather sizable chunk out it. Enough for it to eventually succumb and fall. The massive rock smashed right into the middle of the cavern and shattered into several large pieces upon contact with the ground.

"One down, eleven more to go." I though optimistically. Piece of cake, right?

"DIE...!"

Then again, maybe not.

The disgusting form of the Mèngyǎn revealed itself, jumping right over the now destroyed column that separated us and begun swiping its enormous limbs at me. Any jabs I threw at its legs or its stomach had no effect! The beast then tried to slam its large claw into me from above! Having no time to dodge I reacted by forming a circular shield with the lower half of my body and using it to block the attack. The weight that I received nearly made me cave in right away. Nearly. By whatever miracle I held on as the claw continued to press down! All I could do was stare into the eyeholes of the thing as it growled in frustration.

*BOOM*

Another explosion went off! Vipers work no doubt. The tremor and sound was enough to distract the demon. Enough for me to twist my body and deflect the force of the hand causing it to smash into the ground next to me with a thump. No sooner that that happened did I grab its wrist and twist.

*CRACK*

A audible snap was my reward and a yell of pain. Not surprising as its wrist was now broken. Still holding onto it I followed up with a pull, pulling the monstrosity off balance and then launching into its head and smashing it in the face with a backflip and very powerful tail. I didn't exactly hold back. A lot of pent up anger had gone into that attack. The power behind it was enough to send the beast crashing down onto its back dazed. Though for however long I don't know. After what happened with Viper cutting off its hand I may have had only seconds before it recovered. I tried to make those seconds count by reaching the second stick. I activated it, ran and let the explosion nearly send me flying. This was followed by a second explosion. That was two each! Unfortunately the mountain wasn't appreciating our handiwork! I found that out the second a rather large stalactite freed itself from the top of the cavern and smashed into the ground a few metres from where I was. Then another.

I dashed. Time was becoming more and more of a burden now. The third and fourth sticks were activated with no issues. The pair exploded and rewarded me with even more stalactites and even pieces of the cavern roof! It was getting harder but for the first time in a while now my confidence had skyrocketed! We might actually pull this off!

As I made my way to the fifth stick the Mèngyǎn reappeared, smashing though rocks and stumbling. Basically doing everything in its power just to reach me. Even as large bodies of rock fell down onto it causing even more injury, and yet it didn't care or even notice. Before the Mèngyǎn had turned into whatever the hell it was supposed to be now, its personality was calm and collected. A being wizened by countless years of experience and mastery of its abilities. But now, there was none of that. Just the personality of a savage animal that could barely speak. Its mind now as twisted as its body.

In a way, the Mèngyǎn was already gone. Only its madness and hate remained in an empty broken shell.

"KILL... YOU…!" It snarled, pushing yet another rock out of the way. It's claws and tentacles reaching out to grab me. That along with its eyeless holes and skulls with broken teeth screaming in fury, it was a hellish sight.

Once again I prepared a defensive stance. Maybe if I go for the legs and trip it I'll have enough time to light the fifth. But it turned out that I didn't need to as a familiar green snake appeared flying through the air and used her tail like a whip to throw her target off balance. The second she had done that another loud bang was heard. If I had heard all those bangs right, that was her last one. And now she was coming to my aid, thank god.

"Mike, get the last ones! I'll hold it off!"

I didn't have much choice to argue back. "Alright, but the second you hear two explosions, you get out of here fast! No matter what!"

I barely saw her nod before rushing the remaining distance to dynamite number five, lighting it and running!

*BANG*

Another load bearing column collapsed and even more piece of rock fell with more intensity! The cavern was becoming too unstable now, but the final dynamite wasn't far away either. I had to chance it. As I slithered and dodged rock after rock, the roars of the abomination was muffled as huge thick slabs of stone began sealing off parts of the cavern. I didn't pay any attention to it, I was so close to the dynamite!

But of course, it wasn't that easy as one enormous thick slab fell right between me and my target. Damn it! And it was too large to slither round too! With the amount of rocks falling it was almost like the cavern itself was building a wall to seal me off! I began to consider retreating back to Viper and getting out of here. But before I could, I noticed an opening! Right there to the other side, barely big enough for me! My luck was still holding out it seemed. I forced my way through to the other side, enduring the sharp stone and tightness of the hole before making it through and there it was, the final dynamite ready to be detonated! Without thinking I twisted the cap and it was lit.

It was then I happened to realise that in my determination to reach the dangerous explosive there was still a giant wall blocking my way.

Shit.

I dived right back at the hole for the second time and struggled as hard as I could to the other side! Damn it, was it this tight going in?! I could imagine the seconds I had remaining slowly ticking down as I wasn't even halfway through.

3

I not going to make it!

2

Come onnnnnnn!

1

Yes! I did it! I-

*BOOM*

Even the wall of rock did nothing to protect me from the explosion nor the boom which was so loud I thought I had gone deaf for a moment. I don't know how far I flew as the rock wall was shot outwards by the explosion carrying me with it in its shockwave. It was an unpleasant feeling. The landing even more so. There was not a single part of my body that ached after all that. My ears rung, my vision was blurred and rocks of all sizes continued to pummel the ground. It was going to be impossible to find the exit at this rate.

I forced myself back up and hobbled forwards. The explosion had done some damage to my underbelly so I couldn't even slither right. I wasn't sure the extent of the damage but it wasn't hard to make out the small lines of blood that followed me round. So now I couldn't fight as well, speed was no longer an option and I'm likely trapped.

Another stalactite burst into pieces feet away.

I hope Viper made it out! She's a much tougher warrior than I am so I don't doubt it but... what if the Mèngyǎn was more than she could handle? NO! Don't even think about it! She made it out, I'm sure of it! She had to...

"Mike?!" My heart stopped. "Mike? Are you there?!"

That was Vipers voice! And she sounded like she was in trouble!

"Vipes! Where are you?!" I called out, hoping the falling cavern wasn't loud enough to hide my voice.

"Over here!" Was the response. I tried to home in on the voice. I soon noticed something that nearly made me turn white. I could barely see the tip of her tail buried under several rocks. There was blood. A lot of it.

"Hold on, I'm coming to get you!" I called and rushed to her as fast as my pained body would allow me. I moved what stones I could out of the way, hoping that each movement wasn't going to bury the both of us under a rockslide! When enough rocks had been moved, I could see her eyes shining from within the darkness. Though instead of looking scared or worried, they looked angry. Terrifyingly so. At me.

It was enough for me to pause and think. Realisation and dread sunk in. It wasn't Viper.

The rock burst open before me and a long whip-like tail grabbed my neck! It was covered in rotting flesh. Her head then peaked out of the opening I had created. It looked like Viper, but only after being eaten alive by wild animals!

Before I could speak I was thrown back into the ground and the Mèngyǎn slowly shed its viper skin in favour of its former one. As it did I ran! With more and more debris surrounding me my paths were very limited. Having to go down one to find a dead end while the beasts roars behind me grew louder and louder was terrifying to say the least. Still, I kept moving until I managed to find an opening at last! It was a small area but it was clearly the very centre of the cavern itself. The two coffins confirmed it. The pair just sat there almost mocking me. The very reason I had gone through this was to see them destroyed and yet here they were, completely intact. Both of them untouched by the rock shower that continued to fall all around. There were no other paths to take either. Seeing no other option, I opted to head back while I still could.

You could imagine the shock on my face as I turned to see the Mèngyǎn mere feet away from me as it squeezed its hulking form into the open space. I was caught off guard for a brief moment, and that was all it needed as it struck with its enormous bony claw.

My right eye stood no chance against it.