One thing was clear! Seth had to move from this floor or-

WHUMPH!

The snake had already reached the next floor! Seth had thoroughly blocked the door to the staircase and he would definitely NOT unblock it to take the stairs to the roof.

He needed to find another way. Climbing probably. Oh, what a joy, climbing up the front a building, with an injured leg, 3 floors above a snake infested ocean of doom.

"Yay...", he mumbled.

But how should he get up there? He did not have the time to just make a grappling hook from scratch, as he had no raw materials.

He was about to use his

to improvise a grappling hook from the weapons in his inventory when his eyes fell onto an office chair. Or its base, to be more specific.

"Ha ha, let′s hurry!", with that he grabbed the cross-shaped base of the office chair. This was almost a ready-made grappling hook! A torturous headache was building up in his head as he used

to cover his hands in flame and melt through the gas spring to get rid of the seat-part. Next, Seth heated the limbs of the base and bend them the opposite way, into proper hooks with his bare hands.

It felt as if his head was about to split, when he used his pinky to poke a holed for the rope into the almost liquid handle of his new makeshift grappling hook!

When the flame finally shriveled up it was as if all warmth had left his body.

He summoned the water barrel and dunked the hook in, before collapsing beside it. Just a short break... he felt so cold and empty. So, this was the backlash of overusing an ability....

WHUMPH! Crash!

That sounded like his second barrier was gone. Seth fumbled for the hook in the ice-cold water and ended up toppling the barrel, getting drenched in cold water. He felt so weak. With heavy breathing he picked himself up and stumbled towards the broken window. Shaking, freezing hands threaded the rope through hole on the hook. "Oh, please...."

WHUMPH!

"Shit!", he cursed. This crash came from right behind the door. "This has to work..."

Seth had never thrown a grappling hook! He had a little experience in climbing, but never needed something like this. He could only do what he had seen on TV. He swung it in circles to gain momentum and let it fly over the edge of the rooftop. Now he had rope it back in and hope, that the hooks caught the edge!

Tink!

Oh! The "tink" of hope! The glimmer of hope grew, when he pulled on the rope it didn't come lose.

WHUMPH! The desks at the door shook!

Seth stored away his gear to lose weight and wound the rope around himself. He gripped tightly and jumped out the window. For a moment he dangled above the abyss, then he smashed into the wall and almost lost grip. This would have hurt less with his armor...

He was cold and his leg hurt like hell. Still, he started inching up the rope. He had to reach the rooftop.

"Damned Snakes...stupid ****! You will regret this... if this was not fricking water world, I would burn you all to crisp!", with each step he kept cursing the snakes that had gotten him into this situation. It did not make sense, but it gave him strength. Each burst of anger gave him a little bit of power to go on.

When his numb fingers finally reached the roof edge-

WHUMPH! The juvenile Titanoboa had broken his last defenses and entered the management floor.

Seth, on the other hand, just pulled himself over the roof edge and flopped onto the roof. All tension in his body was gone and he was completely exhausted. As he laid there and listened, he could hear the giant body slithering on the floor below him. A sound unlike anything he ever heard. He could hear it nearing the window he jumped out from. Was it finally over?

Seth clung to roof edge to hide behind it and closed his eyes. He instinctively used

waiting for the inevitable.

Crunch! The shattering of glass.

Seth trembled from the cold and fear.

He jerked from the sound of the system notification! This did not help at all!

Silence.

Above him towered a head as bigger than himself, attached to a tree trunk of a neck that led to somewhere beyond the roof′s edge. It was right above him as it swung it′s head left and right, scanning the roof.

Seth shivered, his leg hurt, twitched and his eyelids flickered, but his eyes were focused. Focused on that soft delectable underbelly.

At no point did it leave his sight as his body tensed like a coiled spring and exploded into motion.

A mighty jump brought him high in the air! His sword appeared in his hand and he stabbed at the snake's lower jaw.

Before the snake could even react, the sword easily penetrated skin and skull, lodging deep into its brain!

Relief washed over him when he saw the titan's health bar empty out! A burning ball of light, the size of a basketball emerged from its head!