Keros became anxious. He hated having to just stand by as the team was fighting such a dangerous battle. Stepping in would just risk his life could disrupt the team, so he had to just observe.

Though he thought of this, he acted contrary to his thoughts. He re-positioned and closed the distance between the two battles. He took a bit of cover behind a tree close enough to respond to both battles.

He justified this with the thought that he would act to pull someone from danger if he had to. He even unclipped his bag and quietly placed it on the ground beside him.

Now that he had come so close to the battles, he felt as if the atmosphere had changed. All movement seemed faster than that before, and there was a pressure felt from being so close to strong beasts.

Keros paid more attention to the battle of team two. Captain Lionell and Zimmer were in team one, he didn't need to worry about them at the moment.

The snake was much smaller but the battle seemed to be more difficult. Team two wasn't able to coordinate as well and struggled to get into a rhythm. William was even finding it difficult to hold the focus of the snake due to its erratic behavior. The strikers couldn't find the right moment to go in, and Christy was in a panic trying to figure out where she was needed the most.

Christy attempted to circle the snake to get into position and ran too close to the snake. It lashed out at her with its jaws wide open. She was surprised and stumbled in an attempt to dodge. Right before the jaws snapped onto her, a shield appeared between the maw of the snake and the wide-eyed support.

He tried to help Christy to her feet but they were interrupted. The snake slithered towards them at breakneck speed, enduring the attacks from the strikers, to take advantage of this opportunity.

William didn't have much time to react as the snake moved into a position to coil around them. He grabbed Christy by her rig and roared, throwing her meters away. He quickly tucked his body in the best he could as the snake began to coil around him.

The rest of team two jumped to action and began to attempt harassing the snake. It kept its head and tail free to disrupt them, which made it difficult for them to help in any significant way.

Their presence kept the snake from biting William and injecting its venom, but soon it would crush him. William was grunting and roaring as he fought against the snake to keep it from crushing him.

For the team to rescue him they would have endure a huge risk. Not everyone was as kind as William, and even those that wanted to help were hesitant.

Keros was the person with the most clarity of the situation since he had been able to sit back and observe. If they allowed William to die here then their chances of getting out of this alive were slim. He was one of the only two that seemed to be able to hold the snake off in a face to face confrontation, and would likely guard the rear when they retreated.

The moment he died, the snake would pick them off one by one until they scattered. Then it would target team one which would be the end of them.

'Selfish. Cowards.' Keros thought. These would be the people that fought by his side in the future, and now he knew the ones that he couldn't count on in a tough situation. It left a bad taste in his mouth that William, the man that he just stuck his neck out and risked his life to save a teammate, was being left to die in such a way.

Something had to be done! Keros couldn't stand by any longer. Be it for his morals, or the team as a whole, William needed to be saved!

Keros dashed towards the snake. He would either try to save William himself or give one of the others an opportunity to do so. Since they didn't want to take the risk, he would.

The snake noticed the swift-moving new enemy and focused on it.

Keros held his spear with his right hand resting just above the butt of the spear and headed in a straight line toward the snake.

He covered the distance in a short amount a time, he was now within striking distance of the snake. He didn't show any intention of stopping, even as the snake lashed out.

The moment he saw the snakehead flying towards him, he swung his spear up and placed grabbed it overhand with his left hand. He positioned the shaft between himself and the snake. He slammed his left foot into the ground in front of him and bent his knee, leaning his body forward and bracing himself. He accepted the snakes' strike, with the shaft stopping its head by the edges of its mouth.

Keros' feet dug into the ground as his body was pushed back by the force of the strike. The veins in his neck bulged and his elbows bent as he withstood the force. He could see into the snakes mouth, which was wide open and less than half a meter from his face. He could see cloudy liquid streaming from some of its teeth, and smell its horrid breath wafting against his face.

It took all of the strength Keros could muster to prevent his arms from collapsing, and his feet on the ground. He had to accept this strike and remain on his feet or he would die. It was also vital that he remain standing so he could continue to pressure the snake.

He was pushed back almost five meters before the force stopped and the snake's jaws snapped shut. His soul shook as he thought about how close the snake's teeth were to his face.

The snake began to retract its body with the spear still clutched in its maw. Keros didn't let go, but he couldn't stop the snake from pulling him in. He locked his arms incase the snake went in for another bite and waited for the opportune moment.

When he felt he was close enough, he pressed his feet onto the ground hard and began to twist his spear to the left. Using the leverage gained from the spear he was able to overpower the snake and force its head to twist with the spear.

If he was correct, this would likely result in the snake releasing the spear. If so, he was close enough to immediately spring into action and attack it before it could retaliate. If not, then the snake would be forced into an awkward position in which it couldn't respond well to his teammates.

The only variable he would think of was its tail. However, short of smacking him with it, there wasn't much it could do. While it had William coiled its tail wouldn't be dexterous enough to wrap him up. Maybe it could tense its tail enough to be able to pierce him with it but that was just wild speculation on his part. Either way, he had no way to block such an attack at the moment, if it retaliated with its tail then he would just take the hit and bear with the consequences.

He continued to apply his strength and twist the spear, and the snakes head twisted with it. Keros could hear the sound of wind pressure and knew that the tail would soon strike him.

'Good.' Keros thought.

He had successfully occupied the snakes' full attention and caused it to use all means of retaliation on him. This would be a golden opportunity for his team to act without any fear of injury.

*FWAP*

The tail lashed against his back, smacking against his right shoulder blade like a whip. Searing pain shot through his back and right arm, causing him to scream out and his strength to falter. His legs began to buckle and the snakes head began to twist back.

Zimmer heard the scream and spared a little attention to quickly glance over. Any scream from a teammate meant that things were dire. When he saw the situation his eyebrows furrowed even more than they already were and his jaw clenched.

What was Keros doing confronting the snake?! Where was William, and why did the team allow Keros to interfere?

His mind was filled with questions but he couldn't spare the focus to look back again. His momentary shift in focus already caused him to miss an opportunity to support the team

"Stay focused! We can't afford to worry about the other team right now!" Captain Lionell roared as he ducked a bite from the large snake.

Zimmer hardened his heart and continued his battle. Keros' fate would be in his own hands now, and he could only blame himself if he died.

-

Keros' vision was blurry and pain was surging through his body. He could feel the snake forcing its head back. He hadn't felt any thrashing from the snake so it must not have been attacked by the team yet. If that was the case then he couldn't allow the snake and respite. Regardless of his pain, he needed to bear it and force the situation back in his team's favor.

His heel slammed down and his muscles tensed as he forced his strength to rise. He grit his teeth in pain and began to resist the snake again. slowly he began forcing the snakes head to twist again and roughly jerked the spear to interrupt the snakes' strength.

"GET READY!" He screamed out, anticipating the tail whip again.

He could only hope that his teammates would use the next opportunity he gave them. He wasn't sure if he would be able to give them another one.

He felt fear as he waited to hear the sound of wind again. He didn't want to take another hit like that, he already felt like the last one broke bones. He didn't have a choice though, if William was to be saved then someone had to take a risk. He was the only one willing, and this brutish method was the only thing he could think of. It hurt, but bad would it hurt to be crushed?

The sound of wind was heard again. Keros prepared himself better this time, he knew what would come next and he needed to respond to it better this time. Oddly enough, the wind wasn't the only thing heard. It was the thudding of heavy footsteps, someone was taking action!

*FWAP*

The tail whipped against his back once again.

Keros grunted through his grit teeth, and his legs went weak again. He expected this though and struggled to quickly recover.

Suddenly he felt the snake begin to fight more fiercely and trash around. His teammate had managed to land a strong strike. Now was the time to buckle down and give it everything he had.

Keros recovered the strength in his legs and began to struggle wildly against the snake. It opened its mouth in an attempt to free itself from Keros' influence, but he had no intention of letting this stupid snake off that easy. He jerked his spear towards his right quickly and spun his body, aiming the blade into the open mouth as quickly as he could.

He probably couldn't pierce its scales, but its insides were soft.

Keros thrust his spear into its bottom jaw.

The snake hissed and thrashed in an attempt to remove the spear.

Keros used all of his strength to force the spear down, he pinned the snakes head to the ground. From the inside, his spear was able to pierce all of the way through the snake's jaw, its tip plunged into the ground.

The more the snake thrashed the more pain it felt, and the larger the wound became. Keros was applying all of his strength, and weight, into keeping the spear tip in the ground. If the snake wanted free it would have to rip its jaw.

Keros felt that he finally held the upper hand and could spare the effort to check on William. Looking over he saw that the coil around William had loosened considerably, and continued to do so. There was a dagger buried in the snake's body near William, and Derek was nearby dodging the tail. Derek hit the dagger with every chance he had, causing the snake to experience more pain and the coil to loosen more and more each time.

'YES, Keep going!' Keros thought. William still appeared to be in decent shape, if he got free they might be able to kill the snake while Keros had its head pinned.

Soon the snake could bear the pain no more and quickly uncoiled its body, releasing William. It thrashed around and managed to dislodge the dagger. William climbed to his feet with heavy breaths and grabbed his axe from the ground and started to dash towards Keros.

The snake had no more obstruction and began to strike at Keros with full force to attempt to free itself of his spear.

"ENDURE IT, JUST ONCE MORE!" William roared as he hefty his axe above his head mid charge.

If Keros could keep it pinned for just a few more seconds, then he would be able to attack it with full strength at the most narrow part of its body.

Keros resolved himself to take the hit. He desperately wanted to release his spear and evade since William was already free, but this snake needed to die. If he ran now then they would be back in the same position they were in before William was restrained.

He knew that this tail whip would far exceed the last two.

He released a guttural roar in an attempt to give himself the courage to remain in his position.

*Screeee*

*FWAP*

The tail slammed into Keros' left side, impacting on his upper arm.

*CRACK*

A snap was heard akin to a tree splintering, or a gunshot.

Keros could spare no effort to process the sound, as the blow was threatening to force him away. He had to put all of his efforts into resisting the effects of the attack and last as long as he could.

His right leg grinding against the ground to widen his stance and give him the support he needed to prevent himself from flying out, he leaned into the tail.

The pain he felt gave him a sensation as if his neck was being stabbed with thousands of needles, the harder he resisted the more intense the pain. He wasn't going to die though, as his arm took the brunt of the impact. All he had to do was endure the pain and force, he needed to remain in a position to keep the snakes head pinned.

His sense of sound dulled, but his vision narrowed and tunneled onto William. The sight of the man swinging his axe gave Keros the motivation needed to endure. Just a few more moments. He could see Williams muscles bulging, his mouth was wide open and his face showed with exertion.

The axe was brought down with incredible strength, cleaving into the neck of the snake. No resistance could be seen as it chopped straight through.

Keros watched as the blade of the axe made contact with the snake, and all of his energy swiftly disappeared. He had completed his job, and now he had nothing left to give. His body began to fall forward, his legs stiff and his body tense. He couldn't control his body anymore.

As he was falling, he felt himself abruptly stop. His vision was blurry but he could tell that William was supporting him, keeping him from hitting the ground. This man had risked his life to save a teammate, Keros could trust him... Keros' consciousness faded swiftly.

William didn't have time to celebrate, nor did he have time to be gentle to the kid. He darted away from the beheaded snake and roughly dropped Keros on the ground. He darted back and retrieved his axe, he roared at team two.

"Reinforced team one, quickly!"

They weren't out of danger yet, If they didn't kill the large snake quick enough then more beasts were likely to show up. Blood was already beginning to soak the ground, the scent would suffuse into the distance, luring all manner of hungry creatures. They were going to have to fight just as desperately as they had before to end this fight quickly.

No words were exchanged when team two rejoined team one. The frontliners lead the fight and set the pace, and William took the initiative, forcing Captain Lionell to match his ferocity. The frontliners engaged with reckless abandon, the duo pressured the snake greatly. Its defensive tactics were controlled by this aggression, the strikers were able to bombard the snake with their attacks.

Zimmer covered the majority of them with an incredible grasp of the battlefield, allowing them to continue the onslaught without worry.

A portion of the team was like rabid animals, attacking without worry about the danger.

Within ten minutes the snake had been brought to deaths door. It had already drained much of its energy in the initial battle, now its enemies had assaulted with a renewed vigor.

The killing blow was delivered two minutes later. The snake was pinned and the team immediately began to dissect it, removing the most important part, the gallbladder. The most valuable parts of the snake were taken by the team, everyone collectively sighed.

Their mission had been completed. While they weren't out of danger just yet, now they would not hesitate to run away should danger present itself. Everyone felt their tension receding.

Zimmer and William both shot out at almost the same time and ran toward Keros. Half of the team was startled by their swift actions and followed them with their eyes.

They hadn't had the opportunity to pay attention to the battle of team two, so they had no idea what had occurred. They saw Keros laying on the ground unconscious, the snake was a few meters from him. Their faces scrunched into frowns. What was the kid doing so close to the battle, did he join the fight? What an utter fool.

The team joined them on the second battlefield and began to dissect the smaller snake. Keros' spear still pinned the head, but most of team one believed that someone must have used Keros' spear after he was knocked unconscious. No one spoke, everyone was left to their thoughts as they worked on the snake.