The Serpent chased me around and around. I could do nothing but dodge its attacks as it seemed determined to make a meal of me. I had to do something to save myself. I also did not know what kind of creature this was. I had never encountered it before in the game. I ducked as it lunged at my head. It missed and hit it's snout against a stalagmite on the ground. As it reeled under the impact, i quickly ducked behind a thicker stalagmite, hoping that the injury from the stalagmite might have impacted the serpent's sense of smell.
I could hear the beast screaming out in pain and hissing. Taking a chance, I plunged my newly forged sword straight at its neck. To my great disappointment, I couldn't pierce its hide. The blade literally bounced off. Who was I kidding? The hide was gold so obviously my weapon would bounce off. Taking advantage while it was still reeling under the impact of the crash, I quickly jumped over its tail and hurriedly hid behind a very thick slab of rock. I peeked carefully from behind the rock and saw the snake shaking its head side to side. It sneezed and spat out blood and mucus, and then slithered away somewhere.
Slowly, once I was sure that the coast was clear, I carefully stepped out of my hiding place and looked around. The serpent had left a trail of blood in its way. I made up my mind to get out of that place. I did not want to spend another minute in a place with such monstrous creatures roaming around. Heaven forbid that there might be more of them. I turned and made straight for the tunnel through which I had previously marked my path before. I had to get out no matter what.
However, after a while, I realized to my horror, that I was going round and round in circles. I kept passing marks which I had made in the wall but I still couldn't find the exit. Then it occurred to me that I might be able to use the mini-map feature to find my way out. I opened the mini-map, but found to my disappointment that It inly showed me at the location of the mine. It didn't show the path of the mine. Now fear came. Here I was, trapped inside a mine, with a deadly Serpent whose hide I could not pierce, and no way of telling where I was going.
I pondered for a moment on my situation and then decided that no matter what, I wasn't going to die here. Not at all. I would fight. I would not allow myself to be defeated so easily. I would survive. No matter what. So what if I had never seen this part of the game before? It didn't mean that it would be impossible to conquer. After all, this was a game where you conquer things. It all depended upon your strategy. And I was a good strategist. At least, to my knowledge.
I was lucky to somehow find my way back to the place where I had last encountered the serpent. The trail of blood was still there, fresh as ever. As though by instinct, I made up my mind to follow the trail. Something told me that I needed to face this mysterious serpent. Else I wouldn't be able to escape this place. The trail seemed to go on and on. I wondered if the serpent could even heal itself. In the game whenever an animal was attacked, its health did not regenerate. But the blood trail of the serpent seemed to get thinner and thinner. To my growing fear.
I suddenly smelled a funny aura. It smelt like Gunpowder. My heart beat with excitement as I smelled the air and looked around. I found, to my great joy, a large stock of huge barrels of gunpowder. I hurried towards it and fell on my knees, thanking whatever deity looked after this world for guiding me to this very much needed stock of gunpowder. But why was the gunpowder here? I mentally kicked myself for I told myself that of course natural to find gunpowder in mines of all places. Miners used gunpowder in their line of work. Probably when the village where I now stayed was abandoned, the villagers had left the gunpowder behind perhaps finding it to be too much to take with them. or perhaps they forgot about it.
Anyhow, now that I had some gunpowder with me, I had a fighting chance against the serpent. My next question was how to use the gunpowder to finish off the serpent? First there was gunpowder. But the barrels had no wick to ignite the powder. That could easily be resolved. I took off my swords, and began tearing away at my trousers. I made wicks for the barrels by stuffing a long strip of cloth from my trousers to the lid after making a crack on it with my sword. It was awkward that there was no rope around which i could have used instead of my own clothes but I had no time to waste as I was in an uncertain and desperate situation.
I did not want to arm all the barrels that were there. Out of the five barrels that I had come across, I resolved to use only two barrels at maximum. I knew of no cheat codes that could create gunpowder anyway. I managed to arm two barrels of gunpowder. My next objective was to find the serpent. I chanced that with its snout damaged, it might not be able to sniff me out. But it might be able to sense prey through ground vibrations. I had read somewhere that some snakes could do so.
I also decided that before I used the gunpowder, I should try to take out the serpent's eyes. That would give me an added advantage. Blind first then fatality strike. Easier said than done though. While I worked to rig the gunpowder barrels for my use, I kept my ears alert for the slightest change in sound. I was glad to finish my rigging work undisturbed. Now all I had to do was lure the serpent into a trap. But First, to find it. I placed my ear to the ground and tried to feel any vibrations that might be caused due to the serpent's movement. However, I had no such luck. Then I decided to do it the old fashioned way. Trial. And error.
There were three tunnels from where I was standing. One of them had to be where the Serpent was hiding. I looked at the first tunnel and found that a little way in, the roof had collapsed. It didn't appear to have caved in freshly, so I concluded that the serpent could not have travelled through this tunnel. As for the third tunnel, the mouth looked too small for a gigantic serpent to pass through but it looked small enough to allow a human to travel. So tunnel number two was my best bet. It looked large enough for a serpent to slither through. Thinking thus, I proceeded boldly.
The tunnel seemed quite long. And quite dark as I walked on. However, I noticed that the walls seemed to give off some light which was probably due to the presence of phosphoresence in them. This made it easier for me to see properly. Having come quite far enough, I braced myself and shouted loud enough to cause an echo. I could feel my surroundings trembling. I braced myself and shouted loudly again. This time there was no mistake. I could hear an unnatural rumbling that was drawing nearer and nearer to me. I turned around and began to run in the direction of the mouth of the tunnel. I caught a glimpse of a glowing form in pursuit of me. The serpent had caught on. I ran and ran. The serpent was within inches of me with its jaws bared. It made an effort and lunged at me from behind. I managed to sprint ahead with some effort. I felt a tug around my waist and found that the remainder of my pants were torn off. I was now completely stripped bare.
Naturally, I was furious. At myself more when I realized that I could have used a speed cheat to increase my speed and got away with my clothing but I suppose it's natural to be unable to think straight and clear continuously when you are in a life-threatening situation like I was. I soon reached the clearing where I had armed the gunpowder. I had earlier dug a wide and deep pit to trick the serpent. Taking a chance now, I jumped, turned around in mid air and jabbed my sword straight into the serpent's eyes.
It was a lucky bullseye. The left eye of the snake was now gone. I quickly pulled out my other sword, clambered over to the serpent's neck and quickly plunged the sword into its other eye. The serpent roared in pain as it swung its head around, trying to shake off the swords stuck in its eyes. I quickly jumped down the serpent's back, hurried over to the barrels of gunpowder I had readied, and picking one up, I pulled out the makeshift match that had wound together using gunpowder wrapped up in a piece of cloth from my trousers and tied to a stick. The barrel's edge having a sand coating to it, I struck it across the coating, and igniting it, quickly lit the makeshift fuse and hurried forward and taking aim at the serpent's mouth, I threw the barrel. However, the serpent was able to knock it aside where it exploded. The explosion rocked the entire area.
I quickly picked up the second barrel that I had armed and took up stance carefully in front of the serpent. The serpent was quicker. It had sensed my movements and lunged with its mouth open wide. I flung the ignited barrel and lunged but turned and found the serpent's jaws closing upon me whole as I saw the barrel coursing into its mouth, taking me along with it. The serpent closed its jaws leaving me and my barrel trapped within it and blacked out. The last thing I could hear was the barrel exploding as I felt the serpent's poisonous fluids and fumes wash over me. the last thing I saw before completely blacking out was a wave of gold descending upon me as it pierced through me like I was submerged in a pool of lava.