Revenge of the Serpent

Chapter 23

Theodore didn’t waste anymore time and slithered towards the gates, when he’d gotten close enough, they would push themselves open automatically and a blinding light would wash over his figure, followed by an announcement.

[Would you like to exit the ‘Eternal Purgatory’?]

‘Yes.’

With that final thought, he felt a wave of drowsiness crashing onto his mind, and in mere seconds, everything went dark.

When his vision had cleared and adjusted, he found himself back in the Ancient Cavern. His fireball was still the only source of light in the dark hollow and his friends were still there in the same position.

Merlin was crouching next to the sleeping Eugene, who’d turned back into his human form, he was sweating from head to toe and his shirt had been taken off possibly because Merlin was afraid he might die from overheating.

When the archer saw Theodore, his eyes instantly widened with shock. “Holy f*ck, you’re huge!”

“Not the time, Merlin.” Theodore got a little closer to Eugene before using one of his newly acquired skills.

[Asclepius’ Secrets]

Magically, the brunet’s body began to glow a soft light green as shining gold particles sprinkled from a few inches above him, in only a few seconds, he would slowly open his eyes.

“What…?”

“Eugene!” Merlin sounded ecstatic. “How are you feeling?”

“…” The other man didn’t reply for a moment, seemingly still dazed from having just woken up. “Great, I feel great, did Theo—“

As soon as Eugene’s gaze landed on Theodore, his whole body froze. 

“What the f*ck?”

“I know, right? He almost doubled his last size!” Merlin shook his head in disbelief.

Theo only let out a sigh in response. “I died once inside that dungeon, it’s only natural that I grow a lot stronger in the process.”

“You died?” The ginger frowned.

“Yes, met the God of Medicine, came back, and killed the Devil.”

“The Devil?” Eugene slowly got up from the floor, the healing spell still working on him, the chunk of flesh that’d been bitten off were showing signs of regeneration, muscle fibers and veins miraculously materialized and weaved themselves together, it seemed that his wounds would heal in around a few minutes.

“Lucifer, yes. He was in there.”

“What? How did you beat him?” Merlin was the first to ask.

“I used his own spell against him.”

Eugene spoke next. “Like a Rebound spell? Isn’t that supposed to be super rare and hard to learn?”

Theodore shook his head. “I just learned the actual spell on my own.”

Merlin suddenly threw his hands in the air with a heavy sigh. “I’m not even surprised at this point, how about you take my name? I feel like being called ‘Merlin’ is an insult to you.”

“No, you can keep it.”

Eugene clasped his hands together, he seemed to have regained his energy, as if he wasn’t at death’s door a few moments ago. “Okay people, can we get out of here now? I don't want to be here for a second longer.”