Jake and John looked at the body of the snake. John took out a cigar first and lit it. He drew on it and blew out the smoke.

"You could have ended that right before it began," he said.

"You expected me to show my trump card?" Jake asked.

"You ended up showing it, didn't you?" John asked.

"Well, now you owe me," Jake said and immediately unsummoned Drake.

"I have a little of questions about what happened here, but I believe that you want to keep lots of that information a secret. Else you would have used the dragon right off the bat," John said.

"Thank you. I hope you'll keep this a secret for me," Jake said.

"Telling anyone would be simply setting you up for death. They will come after you, knowing that you are a serious threat, and I would lose a valuable comrade," John said.

"Thank you," Jake replied.

"Now let's go get that egg," John said.

"Wait, before that," Jake said and walked toward the snake. He still had some slots left after he leveled up to level sixteen, so he placed his hand on the body of the snake.

"Rise," he called out, and the formation appeared beneath. The snake went in and came out after a few seconds, both heads bowed to Jake.

It couldn't speak, but Jake could understand what the snake was saying just by looking at it.

"You turned it into an undead just like that?" John asked, his eyes wide in shock.

"Yes," Jake replied.

"Man, I don't understand you one bit," John said.

Jake walked over to Crypt after turning the snake. He placed his hand on Crypt's shoulder. "You did good. You should rest for now," he said and unsummoned Crypt.

"Alright, let's go," Jake said. They walked toward the tower. The stairs had all been destroyed, so they couldn't use them.

"Get on," Jake said, pointing at the snake's second head while he was on one. John got on one, and the snake started going up erect.

It made it to the top floor, and the two of them went in through the small window. The moment they stepped in, they saw a figure hunched over the egg in a black cloak, about to carry the egg.

"Hoho, I went through hell to get here, so pleassssee, take that egg and give me a reason to kill you," John said. He spat out the cigar from his mouth and pulled his sword.

The figure turned and saw them. He immediately grabbed the egg and ran toward a window, but before he could reach the window, he saw a snake's eyes looking through it. He immediately backed away in fear.

John took slow and heavy steps toward the figure. "This is going to hurt," he said and readied his hand to attack. The figure then threw the egg at John, forcing him to catch it and giving him enough time to run to the door.

But as he reached the door, a spear flew through the air and stabbed through the shoulder of the figure, pinning him right into the wall.

"I've had it up to here with this whole eggshells tower, so don't piss me off," Jake said.

The figure struggled and tried to escape, but he couldn't. Jake walked to him, then pulled back his hood and revealed his face.

It was a young man with jet black hair. But what shocked Jake about the face was that his mouth had been threaded close, thick woven threads used to thread the mouth.

"Why would this be done to anyone?" Jake asked. He looked down at the man's neck and saw a string. He pulled on the string, and the man tried to use his other hand to stop Jake, but John came from behind and stabbed the hand into the wall.

Even with all the stabbing, the man didn't make a sound, as if he felt nothing. Jake pulled out the string, and at the end he saw the crystal star.

"The Church of the Abyss," John said.

"So he belongs to them. That makes more sense," Jake said.

"Master, run! He is trying to self-destruct!" Drake suddenly said, and as soon as he said it, Jake felt the rising energy inside the man.

"John, run, through the window!" Jake said. He pulled that string and removed the crystal before running toward the window. John followed suit with the egg in hand, and the both of them jumped out.

The moment they jumped out, the entire top floor exploded, destroying the floor entirely. The snake caught both of them on its head and safely brought them down to the ground, far away from the falling debris of the explosion.

"He killed himself," Jake said.

"That's what happens when you are in a cult—you lose your free will," John said.

They came down from the snake, and Jake unsummoned it. He looked at the crystal in his hands for a few seconds.

"Keep it safe. Those crystals hold the mana memories of the person that had it. We might be able to get something from it," John said.

Jake nodded and stored the crystal. "What about the egg?" he asked.

"This is the first time I have heard of a tainted that had an egg. Tainted are supposed to lose all of such features after they are turned.

I'll have to turn this in to our higher-ups and have them research it. We might have just stumbled on something that might be of actual help," John said.

He stored the egg away and pulled out his map. "We should leave. This is enough for a day," John said. He started leading the way out.

Jake followed behind, but suddenly he felt something looking at him. He turned around and checked, but there was nothing there. He looked for a few more seconds to be sure, but when he saw nothing, he turned and left.

It took some time, but John navigated them out of the middle section and back into the outer section.

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