the bait

"I'm not doing it," Sid shouted.

"yes, you will," Alex shouted back.

They had been at it for the past few minutes, and neither seemed to want to stop.

Sid, who seemed desperate, turned to look at Max and said, "pleas, I don't want to do it; it's too scary."

"Sorry, we don't have any other choice. It seems to want you more than anyone," said Max

"but I don't want to," Sid started crying like a baby.

"Stop being such a baby; if I can get more than five fruits, I will give you another legendary forging peace," said Alex trying to get Sid to do it.

Previously, he planned to get the other legendary peace to Sid's dad, Liam, to get a legendary job. But after more consideration, he decided against it and gave him an epic anvil instead.

Having one legendary forger with two legendary pieces of equipment was far better than having two legendary forgers.

He planned to give the other legendary piece to Sid after the dungeon raid but now that he was being a baby about it, what better way to use it as an incentive.

At the mention of a legendary piece, Sid's behavior took a 180 turn, and he jumped up, "I knew you had more; give it to me now, and I will do whatever you want."

"no, first do your part," said Alex, taking out a small glass ball containing a green ball of fire inside, "if you can stall the snake long enough for me to grab more than five fruits, the legendary fire is yours."

"what the f**??? How did you get your hands on a legendary fire?? With that and my hammer, I can forge rare-grade weapons and equipment easily. Give it to me now, and I will make sure you can pick more than six."

"Shut up; I will give it to you after I pick up the fruit," said Alex before putting away the glass ball.

"ok then, let's get to it," Sid cracked his knuckles and started walking toward the golden tree, "as you wish then, I will be the bait."

As soon as Sid put his foot inside the hundred-meter circle, the snake opened its eyes and looked at him with pure hatred. After looking at him for a few seconds, it untangled its body, raised its head, and opened its mouth wide.

"guys, I changed my mind; get me out of here…." Sid shouted and started banging on the invisible barrier.

Alas, no one answered his calls, and he was left alone in there with Ladon.

As the snake was about to lunch in Sid's direction, Alex, who had circled the barrier, entered it and slowly approached the tree without raising any alarms.

The snake hissed and attacked with its mouth wide open, but before it could reach Sid, Reyhan, and Asue both entered the barrier and released their already cast spells into the snake's mouth.

The snake was shocked for a second and stood there looking at the two girls before waving its tail and killing them on the spot.

Then it searched for Sid and attacked him again after finding him on the far end of the circle.

This time, Sid just ran and didn't even look back to see where the snake was.

Before it could catch up and devour him, Ryan entered the circle and used all his skills to deflect the snake's attack just for one second. Enough for Sid to get as far away from it as possible.

He was successful in confusing the snake for another second, and it gave Sid the opportunity to flee.

The process continued for another 15 seconds, and each time the snake was about to get Sid, one member of the team entered the circle and prevented it from eating him.

Max and Parisa were the last people standing capable of entering the circle, and Alex was still picking the fruit.

He had already picked three and was about to pick his fourth.

One theory about the tree was that the higher the fruit on the tree, the better the reward, so Alex decided to go to the mid-levels without hesitation. But unfortunately, regardless of the number of picked fruits, the snake didn't let anyone go higher than the mid-levels.

The tree had many fruits with many different shapes and sizes, if Alex decided to pick the lower fruits, he could even pick more than seven, but he wanted the one on the peak.

The most magnificent of them all. It was an apple-shaped purple fruit on the highest point of the tree.

Alex was torn between choosing the apple as his last fruit or picking two or maybe three lower fruits.

In the end, he decided to go with the apple and jumped up from branch to branch until he reached it, but as soon as he touched the apple and was about to pick it, the snake took a 180 turn and rushed back to the tree.

"Alex, come back; it's not paying attention to Sid anymore," Max shouted, chasing after the snake.

"Just one more second," Alex shouted back.

Alex activated his strangest skill, "shadow clone," and immediately, two clones of him with swords in hand jumped down on the snake's head while Alex finally picked the apple.

He couldn't use the skill to pick fruits, so he decided to save it as a contingency plan in case something went wrong.

As soon as the apple was detached from the tree, the ground shook, and the tree started withering at a visible rate.

All the fruits turned to ash, and even the fruit that Alex had already picked slowly lost their color and soon turned ash.

The snaked shirked in pain and looked at Alex with so much hatred that Alex felt like he was about to die from guilt.

"give me back the apple," the snake started talking under the surprised look of everybody.

"no," Alex shouted back and jumped down from the tree.

The snake, who was at an upward position, turned around and chased after Alex, "you lowly human, give it back; you're not worthy of that fruit."

"founders keepers," Alex shouted back and looked at Sid, "it's time for your sacrifice."

Sid wanted to refuse, but before he could say anything, Alex's remaining shadow clone appeared behind him and kicked him in the ass, pushing him in front of Ladon.

Ladon looked at him for a second before devouring him in one fell swoop.

Alex took the chance and exited the circle without even giving Sid a second glance.

"NOOOOO, come back, give it back…." Ladon started screaming and rolling on the ground like crazy.

"just go to hell; I wasted all those fruits just to get this one; do you really think I will give this to you just because you asked?" said Alex and turned around to leave.

But before he could take another step, a crack sound was heard from behind him.

When he turned back to see what was noise, he was shocked to see the invisible barrier beginning to shatter.

"everybody, RUUNNNNN," shouted Alex, running towards the starting point with everyone else behind him.

"Why are we going that way???" asked Kate while running at full speed.

"the only way out is through the gate inside the big tree," Alex answered.

Just as they passed the first point on the map, an explosion sound came from behind them, but none of them turned back to look. It was clearly the sound of the barrier getting destroyed, which meant that Ladon was out.

"AWWWW," a loud roar came from behind, and soon the sound of trees being crushed followed.

"I didn't know snakes can roar," Sid said while running.

"shut up and run, or else we will all die here."

They ran for another few seconds before reaching the tree and activating the door.

A time bar appeared above the tree, counting downward from 10.

"oww, COME ON," Alex shouted in irritation and looked back.

Behind him, the trees were shaking, and it was clear that the snake was getting nearer and nearer.

"come on, come on, come on. I don't want to be that ugly snake's lunch for the third time," said Leo.

"it was very pretty actually. But I agree with you," Kate retorted.

"shut up, cast your strongest spells and get ready to release them on my command." At this point, even Max was irritated.

If they died and couldn't exit the dungeon and kept dying, they would die for real without coming back.

The bar was disappearing slowly. 9, 8, 7, ….

Suddenly the snake came out of the woods and attacked without even thinking for one second.

"get readyyyyy, on my mark," Max shouted.

5, 4, 3 …..

"NOW," Max shouted and released his strongest skill.

A series of skills hit the snake in the mouth and made it stop for a second to regain its senses.

But that was all they needed.

2, 1…. Teleportation starting.

And they all vanished from sight.