John's eyes locked on the egg. It didn't take long for him to know that the egg belonged to the snake.

"A tainted egg? Tainted have no way to reproduce," John said.

"Uhm, John, I feel you are looking at the wrong issue right now," Jake said, pointing at the snake which had already locked eyes on them.

"Master, run," Crypt said.

"John, run!" Jake yelled before turning and running down the stairs. John also started descending as fast as he could while Crypt ran behind.

Boom.

The walls of the top floor shattered as the snake broke through it, coming for them. Its massive body slammed into the stairs, and they started shattering.

John looked back and saw the crumbling stairs.

"Run faster, kid!" he yelled. Jake picked up his pace and ran down the stairs like his life depended on it.

The snake was coming down very quickly, and it didn't need the stairs. It was simply coming down the walls, using its length to get down.

Jake made it out of the door first, and then John and Crypt.

"Keep running," John yelled. They didn't stop; they ran as fast as they could.

Boom.

The snake broke out of the tower, its extremely long body coming out as it gave chase. Now that it was on land, it caught up immediately, and both heads lunged for an attack.

Crypt turned, planted his feet, and spun his spear as fast as he could, creating some sort of wind barrier.

The snake heads slammed into the barrier. Crypt was immediately pushed back several meters, but he managed to block the attack.

But the snake was relentless and immediately attacked again. Crypt was yet to recover from the first attack and was immediately thrown back. He flew through the air and slammed into a building.

"Shit, to think something like you would be here," John said. He turned and stabbed his sword into the ground, and a huge vertical flame arc shot toward the snake.

It hit its head on, but barely left a scratch as its scales were too tough for it.

The snake lunged one head at John, and he blocked with his sword but was immediately thrown back, coughing a mouthful of blood. He slammed into a building, but he didn't fall, managing to land on his feet.

Now only Jake was left standing there, and the snake was ready to take him down.

"Shit, shit, shit," Jake cursed and immediately summoned everything except Drake.

The skeletons and the ogres charged immediately, going to confront the snake head-on, while the tainted made tentacles shoot out of the ground and wrap around the snake.

For a short moment, Jake thought that he had held the snake down, but reality was harsh. The snake shook off the tentacles with little to no effort before lunging at the summons and ripping through them like they were flies to be swatted away.

The last summon, the tainted beast—the final line of defense for Jake—twisted its arms into sharp, pointed stabbing spikes and attacked the snake.

The arms stabbed into the snake's head and drew some dark red blood, but it wasn't enough to hinder the snake. One head bit into the tainted and lifted it up, and the second bit into its lower half and ripped it into bits before throwing the body aside and charging at Jake.

It lunged at him, ready to rip Jake apart. Jake watched as the two mouths opened wide.

"Raging Tornado!"

Crypt roared. His spear struck from above, spinning like a vortex, gathering so much wind that it became a tornado.

Boom.

The attack landed right on the snake's body. It dug deep into its body, ripping the flesh and bones. Blood splattered everywhere.

Crypt followed up from above. He landed on the snake and pulled out the spear, ready to attack again, but the snake countered. Its tail flew through the air and slammed into Crypt, sending him flying again.

But Crypt was resilient. While flying backward, he threw the spear again. "Raging Tornado!" The spear tore through the air and stabbed right through the tail, leaving another massive wound.

Because of Crypt, Jake had gotten enough time to get away from the snake. The snake stayed in place after those two attacks, but due to the fact that the snake was tainted, it started healing up immediately.

"You are one stubborn reptile. Two of those attacks and you are still healing," John said while running towards the snake, his sword burning bright with flames.

The snake saw John, and due to the fact it wasn't fully healed, it couldn't move fast enough, so it attacked from there.

The first head came. John leaped into the air at the right moment, dodging the head and landing on it. He ran down the head onto the neck.

The second head attacked, and he dodged as well, thinking he had gotten away, but the head suddenly turned, and it shot out its tongue, wrapping around John's leg.

John managed to react fast enough and cut through the tongue, freeing himself, but it was already too late. He landed on the ground, and both heads attacked at the same time.

But right at that moment, time flew backward a few seconds—just before the tongue grabbed onto his feet. He was back in the air. He turned around this time and blocked the tongue. He landed back on the snake and started running down the neck again.

Jake had seen everything that happened. He was immediately stunned the moment he saw things go in reverse. What ability was that?

[It seems John's path has something to do with time. If that's the case, then it would explain how he was able to make everything flow in his favour. He must have seen it.]

Jake agreed with the system. That actually made sense. But that would mean John advanced his path so much in only one day.

"John, who really are you?" Jake wondered.

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