I read as much as I could about ouroboros, but did not found out anything new. The adventurer guild records did not told me anything that archduke have not told me, or what I already knew.

  I did not liked fighting such a creature without a pn, but decided to put that problem aside. Reaching him would be just as hard as killing the monster.

  But before getting to my business in the dungeon there was one more thing that I needed to do. I visited all local shops already and bought small library of books, but they did not have any dictionaries, which I was looking for. There were some books, describing dwarf runes, but I already had several. So, I needed someone who could teach me a nguage or better two or three.

  Sve market as usual was located next to livestock market, and it was biggest one that I saw until now. Ninety percent of sves for sale were humans. They were pced inside cages or sitting inside fenced areas and prices on them were lower than in other towns. It was town lord's responsibility to make sure that there were no illegal sves, but to me it seemed that archduke Kurgan was loyal supporter of svery and even smallest crime or debt could nd person in sve market.

  I asked around and soon found what I was looking for. It was a sve merchant, who specialized in non-human species sves.

  - Welcome adventurer, - he grinned and showed his missing teeth: - Are you looking for someone special? I have all kind of product, that could satisfy your wildest dreams.

  - I am interested in barbarians, gorgons and fairies. Do you have any?

  - No fairies. You will not find them in Ashgrin. Most people do not even believe that they exist. If a single one would have been on sale, I would have heard about it. Gorgons are pretty rare and cost a lot, but currently there are none on market. Too dangerous to keep, and require special precautions. But I do have pretty good choice of barbarians. Ogres are good as guards, but if you prefer someone to clean drainage or toilets, then I suggest goblins.

  - I need someone with higher intelligence. Preferably someone who can count and write.

  - Hmm, counting they probably can do. But I doubt that either one of them knows human alphabet.

  - How about their own letters. As long as they have understanding of their letters, then learning ours should not be a problem.

  - If you believe so. But let us see.

  We interviewed half a dozen barbarians, such as goblins, orcs and even a gnoll, until I found one with potential. It was a young orc. His clothes looked like remnants of what probably used to be expensive attire. And he seemed smarter than others.

  - This one is a noble, if you believe it, - ughed sve trader: - First time have to myself an orc aristocrat. Cost me more, but aristocrats always do. Was pnning to addition him in the auction.

  - Does he understands human nguage?

  - Sure does. A rarity, this one.

  - You can you write?

  - Answer her, - ordered merchant and orc raised his head.- I can write in my nguage, but not yours.

  He had accent, but not too horrible. He looked young, like human teenager, and mostly resembled a human, but instead of teeth he had fangs. His nose resembled pig's snout and he had dark brown skin.

  - Can you count?

  - Of course.

  - Received an education or learned from your parents?

  - I had a private tutor. Why are you asking me that?

  - Don't snap back, - roared sve trader and sshed orc with his whip.

  - Stop it, you will damage your product.

  - Barbarians need to be taught, and reminded their pce. Take my advice. They are not the brightest among sves and forget their pce easily.

  - I will keep it in mind. How much do you want for this one?

  - I was pnning to auction him.

  - I am leaving soon. And even if he is not exactly what I wanted, for now he is the closest to my needs. Not perfect still, but if we can agree on price, I will take him.

  - I see, I see.I doubt that my speech fooled him, but I did wanted to lower the price, and we both realized that we are already haggling.

  - He is an aristocrat. I cannot sell him cheap. And he did cost me a lot.

  - He probably is lying about his title. Cannot trust those savages.

  - Maybe. But he had clothe that only aristocrat would wear.

  - That he probably stole.

  - Cannot prove his blue blood, but he is educated, that always raises sves price.

  - Educated to write in a nguage that no one understands. That's not much of education.

  - But he can count. Some nobles would not refuse to buy such oddity.

  - Or they could show no interest.

  - Doubt that, you underestimate our nobles and their willingness to show their wealth by demonstrating something that others do not have.

  - He might be untrainable, - I shrugged: - So we both are risking. So how much do you want for him?

  - Eighty gold coins, and he is yours.

  - I could buy eight virgins for that price. He is not worth more than twenty.

  - An orc aristocrat is worth at least seventy.

  - No one cares about his title. Thirty.

  - You do not, but others might. Sixty five and its very generous of me.

  - Fine, but you will owe me favor for that price.

  - What kind of favor you want?

  - Nothing that will cost you. It will earn you some coins, if you can provide. All I need you to do is keep an ear open and let me know if you hear that a gorgon is for sell. I'll pay in orichalcum if you can get one.

  - I can do that. Will you need a colr?

  - Yes. But the one that inflicts pain.

  - Sure thing. Other kind is not very popur. And I will spread word about a gorgon. And keep my ears open for news about fairies as well. Where should I send a word if I get you anything?

  - Just leave a message in Flower of fortune tavern, to adventurer Avone. My party will stay there for at least a year.

  - An expensive tavern.

  - Yes. But not too expensive for my party. We can afford it.- I will keep it in mind, - grinned sve trader.

  * * *

  Expining sve's presence took some doing, but my party was not too surprised by my behavior. What surprised them more was my order to study barbarian nguage from Utag. But I decided that I should not be the only one, who must suffer by learning new nguage.

  At first they thought that I was pnning to take him with us to the dungeon, but I left him in the tavern during our dungeon hunts. Tavern had separate rooms for servants, where I left Utag when I did not need him. Room was barely big enough to take few steps in it, but it had a bed and a roof, and it was all that a sve could ask.

  Utag also was able to read and write in barbarian nguage, and I spend several silver coins on paper and ink, but by the year's end we all were able to speak most common phrases and understand barbarian letters. Also he turned out to be educated and in the evenings told us about barbarian continent history and many legends. Most interesting of them were concerning leveling crystals and magic ws of barbarian continent, but those are stories for another day.

  * * *

  We stepped inside next floor, and I looked around. It took us fourteen month, but we reached floor fifteen. Mostly we got lucky. First six floors had usual animal and insect like monsters that we almost specialized in, and floors six to twelve were undead territory. Between Nelly and me we went through them leaving behind hundreds of undead monster corpses, and Nelly even managed to level up.

  We encountered more difficulties starting from floor thirteen. Monster in there were - weird. Most of them had traits of different animal, insects and reptiles. And those were less weird ones. One of the floor guardians that we encountered looked like a scarecrow and another resembled a huge blob of liquid. Without me being able to use fourth level spells we would have hard time fighting them. Even with powerful magic spells we usually ended up covered in wounds, burns, frozen skin and in several cases acid burns. We had to use my, run away if you are unsure if you can win strategy, but in the end managed to get to floor fifteen. Which was just as unusual as monsters in upper floors.

  It had familiar dark caverns and corridors, but cavers had holes in them. Between four to six meters wide holes that as much as we could see led to the next floor.

  - Someone wants to jump? - I asked, looking down the hole. It was around hundred meters deep, but ended up in downstairs cavern. My friends gave me "are you crazy" looks, and no one volunteered.

  We went deeper inside, when flock of human sized crows flew out of one of the holes. I used my bow and closest monster fell on the ground, breaking his wings during the fall. Nelly casted her slow spell, and we all used spells to deal with flying monsters. Luara was getting good at using Magic arrow, while Trevor kept practicing Sun ray. In the end Nelly finished our battle with Inferno and burned down remaining monsters.

  After st burning birds fell on the ground, air filled with smell of burned meat and feathers.

  - Gather magic stones, - I started speaking, but Luara jumped aside pushing Nelly with her.

  Another bird flew by us. Luara acted just in time and birds talons missed Nelly. Bird flew closer to ceiling and turned towards us. Monster resembled giant bird of prey and its wing span was almost four meters.

  - Scatter! - I screamed and jumped aside. Luara and Nelly followed my example, but Trevor used his shield to cover himself. Dozen sharp feathers fell on the ground where we just stud. Three of them got stuck in Trevor's shield. I prepared a bow, when something else jumped out of the hole and grabbed bird of prey. Our new guest was enormous snake monster. He extended at least eight meters from the hole, and even then I did not see monster tale. Monster was more than three meters wide and when he grabbed bird of prey with his giant mouth only end's of birds wings were left visible. Snake slowly disappeared inside the hole, completely ignoring us.

  - I think we just found Ouroboros, - I said and even my voice shook a little.

  We retreated and gathered on the stairs that led to upper floors. I hoped that they were too narrow for ouroboros to follow, but be just might fit inside, which was a very scary thought.

  - How are we supposed to stop him? - asked Trevor.

  - That's the right question, - I grinned: - I do have a pn, but it will take some improvisation. Luara how is your Extend weapon spell?

  That was third level Earth spell that I learned myself and ordered Luara to learn it as well. For a small amount of time it changed weapon bde's size making it six time bigger, leaving handle the same size.

  - I did learn that spell, but it takes me some time to cast it. To be honest a lot of time and concentration. Do you really think that we will be able to keep ouroboros in pce long enough?

  - No. Not with Nelly unable to cast Frozen earth or something simir. Swamp might slow that monster down, but it may not work. And I do not want to use spells that may not work. Too dangerous. That snake could squash us and not even notice that.

  - So what's our pn? - asked Luara: - Should we go back and level up until Nelly can use level five spells again? Didn't you said that you will give us potions that can increase our levels, once we gain one more level ourselves?

  - No. It will take years. Or decades. We will try to kill that monster now. And run away if we do not succeed. Let me think what we have. This snake is big and fast. And big. So big that it did not even noticed us. And it is using those holes, no, passages that it probably made to travel between floors. No wonder Adventurer guilds record say that it lives between floors fifteen to twenty. So we do not have any spells that can kill it or slow it down. Poison also will not work, because of the monster's size. Our best choice is to stab it and then use Extend weapon spell and hope that we hit important organ. Except heart, which we need intact. But Luara cannot use spell fast enough and Nelly isn't spellsword so... I will have to do it. Trevor will use Sun Light to summon it. Luara you will need to distract it. Nelly you also on distraction duty. Trevor I gave you Book of Light a year ago and told you to learn level four spells. Did you learned them?

  - Yes. But I do not have enough mana to use them.

  - Weakling. Fine, take this, - I took out Sword Kdenets and passed it to Trevor: - Hold it in your hand and it will increase your mana by six hundred.

  - Incredible, - gasped Nelly. Ha, I guess I never told them what this sword could do.

  - Nelly, cast on us all your enhancement and protection spells. Everyone knows their role, so make sure you do not die.

  I prepared Teleportation spell and gave Trevor signal to begin. He concentrated and in my opinion used too much time before he succeeded casting Sun Light. Undead destroying light illuminated the cavern, and I covered my eyes. Several minutes ter light disappeared, but nothing happened. Trevor shivered and took out mana potions. Unlike me and Nelly he rarely used them, but hated their taste as much as we did. He used two potions and waited a while before repeating the spell. After third time he looked tired, and I doubted that he will be able to cast without a long rest.

  But this time it worked. Giant snakes head came out of hole and looked around. I noticed that snake had small horns. They were half meter long, but looked small on snakes head.

  Luara used Magic arrow, but it did not even damaged a single scale. But she succeeded in attracting ouroboros attention. Snake unched towards her and slummed into swamp that Nelly created a moment before. That gave time Luara, who greatly underestimated snakes speed, to run away. Snake used its tale to push forward and crawled towards hard ground. Too slow.

  I casted Teleportation and jumped on ouroboros just behind its head. I slummed my sword in its body, and snake shook from pain. Ouroboros shook his head, but I managed to hold on. Ouroboros tried to look back, which gave me time to cast Extend weapon.

  Ouroboros again shook in pain and hissed. It trashed on the ground and once my sword regained its original form, I flew of the giant. I regrouped in the air and rolled further away just as soon as I hit the ground.

  Behind me light fshed, and I heard Lightning. Luara's magic arrow followed Nelly's attack and between both of them they succeeded in distracting ouroboros. I got up and run away from the monster.

  Once I gained some distance, I looked back. Ouroboros was wounded, blood flowed out of the wound, but snake was still alive. I hoped to damage its spine, but my pn failed.

  I prepared another Teleportation spell, while Luara was running around the cavern with snake on her tale. Ouroboros was fast, but he had to be careful. His chasing of panther girl ended up with snake crashing inside the wall, and after that ouroboros got more careful. Luara was able to avoid his attacks, but had some close calls. She was able to py cat and mouse thanks to Nelly, who casted one Swamp after another.

  I tried to catch a moment and teleport to snakes head, but it was part of it that snake moved all the time.

  Ouroboros crawled out of the hole completely. Its body was more than twenty meters long. For now it did not used any magic or ranged attacks, but if it could do that, then Luara's chances of survival would be unexistent. Nelly's spells were approaching their end, and Trevor was too exhausted to do anything, and I could not catch a moment to nd on ouroboros head. I cursed and sheeted my sword. Instead I took out my poison knives. I doubted that poison could kill it, but perhaps it could slow snake down. I casted Teleport and jumped on snakes body in its middle. I almost fell from my moving target, but stabbed snake with my daggers and used them to stay on my target. Ouroboros did not even noticed me. That was good. I calmed down a little and casted Extend weapon on my left knife. This time snake noticed me. It shook in pain and hissed in anger. Ouroboros turned around and looked at me with it giant vertical pupils. It looked very angry. My left dagger got smaller, and I almost fell of ouroboros.

  And then snake did something that I did not expect. It rolled over itself. There was nothing that I could do. I fell off of it, and st thing I saw was snakes body crushing my arm and then I lost consciousness.

  * * *

  I woke up and moaned. My body hurt. There was not a single pce on it that did not hurt.

  - She's awake, - I heard someone's relieved voice and opened my eyes. I remembered what happened and moaned again. At least I was still alive. Dead people should hot suffer so much. I got blinded and closed my eyes. I hoped that I was not inside ouroboros stomach.

  - Do not move. You are still not completely healed, - I heard another concerned voice. I recognized Nelly.

  - What happened? - I asked.

  - Snake squashed you, like a bug, - said Luara.

  Good, at least she and Nelly were still alive. I tried to open my eyes again, looking in different direction. Turned out that I was blinded by fire.

  - Why am I not healed? - not to mention in pain.

  - Nelly and Trevor are in no shape to cast. We used all healing potions, but all your bones were broken. It is a miracle that you are even alive, - expined Luara.

  Note to myself. Share with party members elixirs. Not keep all of them in my magic purse, which only I can access. I tried to move my hand, but hissed in pain. Look likes it was not broken, but still damaged.

  - My purse, - I whispered. Luara nodded and put my purse under my hand. I thought about elixir, and Luara helped me to put my fingers inside my purse. I squeezed the bottle and took it out. Luara took the elixir and put it to my mouth, but I closed my lips.

  - Use it on my hand.

  Panther-girl nodded and poured elixir on my right arm. My hand healed, and I felt better. I took out one more elixir and drunk this one. I needed one more to heal completely. It was my st one.

  - Someone else needs a healing potion?

  - No. Trevor healed Nelly as much as he could, and then she used Cure spell on herself, while I used healing potions to save you.

  - What happened? - I got up and looked around. To my surprise ouroboros was dead. I did not saw its head, but we were sitting near its body and ouroboros was not moving.

  - After it squashed you, Trevor used Sacred arrows. They wounded the snake and it slowed down. I again had to distract it, because Trevor lost consciousness after using the spell. But ouroboros got hurt and lost one eye. Then Nelly appeared behind its head and killed the snake.

  - Really? How?

  - I hit the wound that you inflicted with my staff, - blushed Nelly: - And then used Inferno.

  - You cooked it from inside. Good for you. I did not even considered it. And when did you learned Teleportation?

  - I am still working on it. Got lucky that I succeeded. Also, after I killed ouroboros, I felt really bad. Something entered my body and I felt sick. But then it felt almost pleasant.

  - It was ouroboros life energy. It had plenty of it, probably several thousand Health points or more. That is why you actually felt receiving them. Happened to me as well.

  - I see.

  Trevor also woke up and opened his eyes.

  - Is everyone all right? - he asked.

  - We all are, - I answered: - Good work everyone, but let's not do that again. Did someone cut out ouroboros magic stone and its heart.

  - No. We were too busy, taking care of you.

  - I am fine now. So let's us get to work, before his heart rots or something.

  Luara shook her head, but smiled.

  - Gd to see that even braking all your bones does not change you.