The new day dawned and brightened our room. Brahm, Onaki, and I were ready for breakfast and made ourselves a light buffet. We ate that with relish and headed out after dinner. We visited the guild site, which was not far from our hotel. Brahm, however, stayed behind at the hotel. He wanted us to experience it alone. I saw a woman at one of the counters and asked her to give us an S rank mission. ''Well, you guys are new here. Sure you want to start directly with the most difficult level? That would be suicide!'' she replied, making it clear to us that this is not kindergarten, but bitter seriousness. ''We are aware of the danger. We still want this step, please put it on us, dear lady,'' I then answered her with a polite gesture.

The lady thought for a moment but then nodded and gave us the mission to defeat the snake demon. We would receive 1000 gold coins and items that could help us a lot as a reward. ''Thank you very much, but where can we find this slaying demon?" I asked out of curiosity. ''He is located in the catacombs. However, you must finish off his subjects before you finish him off. There are several hundred serpentine beasts,'' the woman replied seriously.
''I guess it won't be that easy to kill the slaying demon. All right, we'll take this mission. Let's go, Onaki!'', I answered the woman and Onaki resolutely. The fact that the whole thing reminded me heavily of a game made me smile a little. Back in my previous life, I often played MMOs. Not infrequently, there were dungeons like this one.

''Aramoto! Come on, don't dream!'' Onaki replied, slapping me lightly so that I drifted out of my thoughts and back into the reality of this world. The catacombs were further out in the land of the Kemono. We made our way there, wasting no time. Hours passed before we finally arrived at the catacombs. It radiated a very ominous aura. ''We have to have each other's backs when we enter these catacombs, Aramoto,'' Onaki answered, looking earnestly into my eyes. ''Yes, you are right. We must not lose sight of each other either. This will be our first and directly the hardest mission.'' I answered her, took her by her hand, and entered the catacombs with her.

Having taken a few steps into the catacombs, the entrance closed, and so did our only exit. There was no turning back. The catacombs were extremely dark, so Onaki made some light for us with her light spell. With each step we took in the catacombs, the sounds around us became quieter and quieter. It was as if we were being watched. Breathing became more and more difficult in this confined environment and turned into deep inhaling and exhaling. I continued to hold Onaki's hand and did not let go of it so that my breathing could calm down a bit. It wasn't fear, but her soft hand could do wonders for me. From the shadows, the movement could be perceived. Onaki directed the light to the shadows, and as if from nowhere, several hundred of these snake aspirants jumped out of the shadows. We were surrounded and could only see these snake aspirants. ''Are you kidding me? There are thousands of them!'' I shouted into the crowd and immediately summoned my Hell Blade. Onaki pulled out her bow and summoned her lightning. Not hesitating, the serpent contenders attacked us. My reinforced Hellblade with the Mana Sword cut through the crowds. However, there was hardly any air to breathe, for the serpent contenders leaped upon us repetitively. Onaki destroyed a large group of the snake contenders with her lightning bolts. However, there were so many that they pounced on her and dragged her away from me. ''Shit, Onaki! You're not taking her away from me, you bastards!'' I shouted in anger to the crowd and cut them free of the snake contenders.

Suddenly I felt a bite on my leg, and my vision blurred. One of the snake contenders was able to sneak up on me and induce its venom into me. This was not good at all. My breathing worsened and became shorter and tighter. Onaki created a barrier and retrieved the one bottle of blue liquid from her bag, as a normal healing spell would not have helped here. She administered the rest of the bottle to me so that it emptied. My vision returned to normal, and I could breathe better. ''Thank you, Onaki. We need a plan. Can you keep the barrier up a little longer? I need to think!'' I replied to her. ''Yes, for a little while, I can maintain the barrier. Think of something effective quickly,'' she answered me back.