When Brand reached the end of the corridor, he saw the path leading into a rather large hall. In several parts of this hall, there were crystals of various sizes that shimmered rather faintly. Although they managed to break the pitch black a little, they were not strong enough to illuminate the surroundings.

He noticed that there was a large torch stuck in the ground by his side. When he ignited it with the help of the torch in his hand, the large torch engulfed the fire in an instant, and crackling sounds began to rise one after the other.

All over the hall, large torches stuck to the ground began to burn one after the other. In a short time, more than ten torches had lit and illuminated the entire hall.

"What's going on?" Brand frowned slightly as he looked around.

The ceiling of the hall was supported by many thick columns. There were many stalactites on the ceiling, as in the places he had passed before. The walls of this hall were not like the stones in other places he had seen. They looked like they were carved with more care.

He took a few steps forward and saw that there was a small pocket pool in the corner of the hall. With the effect of his long-drying thirst, he suddenly lost all control and started running towards him with all his might.

When he reached the pocket pool, he grabbed onto the edges of it and stopped at the last moment, just as he was about to put his mouth on it. There were only a few inches between his mouth and the water.

"What am I doing!"

As Brand greedily gazed into the water, he found himself in an internal battle. He knew that if he drank this water, the Test would probably be over. However, he felt as if his body was refusing to listen to his mind.

After a few hard moments, he sighed and gritted his teeth as he walked away from the pocket pool.

*Hiss* A chilling voice echoed in the hall.

For a few seconds, Brand couldn't move, as if he had been nailed into place. Turning his head in the direction of the sound, he saw a gigantic serpent almost twice its own size staring at him piercingly.

He had neither heard nor felt its coming, which made him feel even more in crisis.

He immediately drew his longsword and began to stare intently at the serpent.

The serpent's massive body curved slowly but fluidly as it moved towards him; it waved its tongue menacingly. Its eyes sparkled like a pair of emeralds and had sharp focus.

It was preparing for the attack as it slithered around the columns. Its hard black scales smashed small pieces of stone from the columns as it rubbed them.

Brand kept his eyes on it, contemplating possible scenarios. He doubted that any attack on its body would harm it; even so, he would have to use a lot of willpower in his attack.

Therefore, his target would always be its head, because that was the only area where he could make a deadly attack. However, this also meant that he had to deal with the most dangerous part of the serpent when he was about to attack.

With a sharp hiss, the huge serpent dashed forward like an arrow, trying to grab him between its sharp teeth.

However, Brand reacted quickly and jumped back.

*hiss*

The serpent made his second attack with a delay of about two seconds.

With such a short distance between them, Brand had predicted that it would launch another attack. He stepped aside and made a heavy strike downward, slashing the serpent's side head.

*hisss!*

After shaking his head furiously, the serpent quickly moved his massive body and wriggled between the columns again to find another position.

Taking advantage of the length of his sword, he managed to make a deep cut on the side of the serpent's head, but it wasn't a fatal wound. The gigantic snake managed to pull its head back a bit as it made its move, preventing the move from causing even greater damage.

A heat wave enveloped his body as Brand's heart pounded against his chest as if it were going to burst out. He licked his lips as his watchful gaze rested on the huge creature.

Just then, he remembered that undefinable feeling he felt when he was about to die. That feeling was exactly the opposite of what he was feeling right now. Although he felt nervous, uneasy, and in danger, his life force rose the most when surrounded by these feelings.

When the serpent attacked again, it struck one of the columns quite violently, causing multiple deep cracks to form on it.

"Shit!" Brand immediately looked up at the ceiling supported by the columns and saw several pointed stalactites falling. He tumbled to the side, avoiding the sharp stalactite turning him into a meat paste at the last moment.

One of the falling stalactites had also landed on the middle part of the serpent's body, causing it to go insane for a short time. Twisting its body, it broke the stalactite stuck in the middle area with its head, but the tip that stuck in its body remained inside.

"This is not good!" Brand looked at the columns anxiously. As the serpent went mad, it violently crashed into several columns with its massive body, causing a few of them to have deeper cracks.

Fortunately, no more stalactites fell. If those stalactites were to fall again, this time it would be the larger and taller ones that would fall, because the small and unstable ones had already fallen.

The serpent stretched its head back and rose; it was targeting Brand directly. With a forward thrust of its head, it spat out the extremely acidic secretion.

Brand leaped immediately behind one of the columns.

The excessively acidic secretion had spread far and wide, and was starting to erode everything it touched.

"The bastard has limited my range of motion!" Brand cried out inside. The acidic secretion had completely engulfed all but the back of the column.

The gigantic serpent spun his body quickly and fiercely; it blew up the column, which he was hiding behind with its tail.

Brand had foreseen such a move as soon as the serpent began to turn its body, and he thrust his sword in front of him and supported it with his other arm. However, even though the column also absorbed some of the force of the attack, he was knocked back a few meters along with the rubble.

"Arrgh!" Brand groaned in pain and began to squirm. A wave of pain that stretched from his fingers to his shoulder made him go through hell for a few seconds.

With one of the columns completely shattered, a loud crackling could be heard from the ceiling, and several veins appeared.

Clenching his teeth, Brand looked up at the ceiling and then at the gigantic serpent. He crawled towards his sword, which was thrust forward a few meters from him, and stood up after grabbing it. His hands and arms were trembling relentlessly against his will, the blow suddenly putting too much strain on his muscles and bones.

Although the serpent in front of him had primitive intelligence, it could perceive that he was not in very good condition. So without wasting any more time, it started to move forward to go for another attack.

He started running around a few columns. The serpent crawled between the columns with fluid grace, trying to block his runway.

"This is the first!"

Brand swung his sword at one of the previously damaged columns. He had pierced the most damaged, thinnest part of the column. When the column broke up into several large stone fragments, another vein appeared on the ceiling.

"This won't be as easy as before!"

When Brand came near another damaged column, he realized that this one was not damaged enough to shatter.

He quickly took up position behind the column and watched the serpent approach him.

*hiss!*

The serpent angrily rushed forward to catch him, but its angle was not right; its huge body crashed into the already damaged column, causing the it to collapse.

Brand roared, gathering strength in his legs and leaping to the side.

The floor trembled along with the ceiling, and then the middle part of the ceiling suddenly collapsed. With dozens of stalactites on its surface, most of the central area of the ceiling fell directly onto the gigantic serpent.

As the collapsed ceiling crushed its body, piercing and large stalactites entered from the upper side of its body and exited from the lower side.

The serpent died after struggling a bit before it could even make a sound. Its corrosive blue blood began to engulf the environment.

Brand slumped away from it, slumped into a corner, and began to take deep breaths. He felt completely exhausted, not wanting to move, at least for a while.

But suddenly, multiple crackling sounds in the ceiling echoed in the hall.