Bruce stretched his sinewy neck to survey the prize before him—a Red Flame Serpent, its head decisively crushed by a medium-rare heavy hammer, the beast's life extinguished by the sheer force of the blow. The sight of his loyal followers, battered and bruised yet standing triumphant, brought a rare smile to the dragon's imposing visage. The hunt had clearly teetered on the edge of peril, the kind of danger that whispered the possibility of death for those not sufficiently mighty or cunning.
The Red Flame Serpent was no ordinary foe; it nestled close to the zenith of the eighth level in the hierarchy of monsters, a formidable adversary by any measure. Among Bruce's eclectic assembly of Cyclops warriors, Sansham, the three-eyed, stood as their pinnacle of martial prowess. Although his strength bordered the seventh level, the awakening of his bloodline powers, augmented by Bruce's transformative gift, elevated him to near-eighth level combat capability.
