The forest was a little thick, and even though both Yun Fao and Alex had lived in very rural areas that could be considered completely cut from civilization, they weren't exactly masters of surviving in the wild. So in all honesty they had no idea how to find running water, and given how late it's gotten, there definitely won't be that much luck in that regard. For over an hour the boys have been running through the forest, they've been as silent as possible, which was probably why they were lucky enough to not have encountered any beasts that hunted at night, but they knew it wouldn't be wise if they continued on, by now they've already given the mountain as much gap as they could, they needed to find a place to hold up for the night and continue in the morning.
But everything around them was just trees and more trees, and none of the trees around them were easy to scale, neither could they guarantee that they wouldn't fall off with how thin their branches looked like. It was a conundrum, so they had no choice but to keep on going, until they came to a cluster of trees that seemed to be a different species of the others they've been see so far.
The trees here were just as tall, but they were more thicker and had full branches with lots of vines hanging off it's branches. Alex moved forward a bit, there was a soft patch of grass covering the entire area around the trees, which was as weird, most forests only have patches of grass growing on dead wood, or on the trees themselves. Grasses don't grow as much as what he was seeing in forests, it was like he was looking at a plain made for grazing.
"Guys don't move!" Alex loudly whispered to his comrades, they had already moved halfway through field of shin long grass. Louis looked at him and said.
"There's something off about this field and those trees right? Do you know what it is?" Alex looked back at him and shook his head, he also had no idea what was off about this place, but his danger senses were tingling, besides looking at all of the trees they've seen so far, none of them could be considered green. They all looked I'll or like they were in he midst of some sort of drought, yet this particular area of the forest was so green that they could even see it at night.
"I think I know what's wrong, those vines! They're moving!" Yun Fao hissed at them as he started taking steps backwards. But just as he moved back, something shot out from the grass towards his face.
*Hisssssss!*
A snake as thick as a fully grown man's arm sprung up out of the grass at him, Yun Fao reacted as swiftly as he could, jumping backwards on his back to the ground as the snake flew over his head, and then pushing himself back up with his hands until he was back on his feet. The snake disappeared into the grass and not a single sound was heard from it.
Alex looked back and saw that all of the vines hanging on the trees were dropping to the ground and into the grass with massive thuds, and as soon as they touched the grass nothing was heard from them again. Louis pulled Alex along as they moved back the way they came, running with Yun Fao until they and towards the edge of the field of grass. Yun Fao who at this point was proving to be more sensitive to danger than Louis and Alex came to a halt and spread his arms out on both sides, bringing Alex and Louis to a halt also.
These boys might not have been together for long, but they had already survive a lot, to the point they almost instinctually trusted each other and the decisions they made on the fly. So when Yun Fao stopped them, instead of asking what was wrong, they looked ahead of them to see the edge of the grass field rustling. They were just tall enough to see dozens upon dozens of snakes intertwined with each other and moving around the edges of the grass field. Louis felt his heart drop into his stomach and Alex broke out in a cold sweat.
One thing Louis and Alex shared was their deathly fear of snakes, Yun Fao on then other hand have been having them for dinner ever since he was a child...well not all dinners, but he grew up in a place where snakes were a delicate and has killed more than enough of them in his time to lose fear of reptile. But for Alex and Louis, this was like a scene out of their worst nightmare.
Alex pulled out East cloud and his halberd, he handed the sword to Yun Fao; this was not his Sabre, but Yun Fao knew it was better than nothing. Louis had his rapier out as all three of them stood back to back, their hearts pounding as they focused on the ring of snakes that was now slowly shrinking.
"They're trying to box us in, and given how high and how far these slithering abominations can keep, I'll say jumping over them would be a bad idea. Since when were snakes this smart?" Louis asked in annoyance, only for Alex to answer.
"Since they've been controlled by Nagas!" after he said that he pointed at the trees all the snakes had just dropped from. It was then Louis and Yun Fao noticed the snake tailed humanoid beings who had their coils wrapped around the trunk of the trees and we're watching all three boys with undisguised goes and enjoyment in their eyes.
"We're screwed! Aren't Nagas a magical race, we've not learnt any technique to counter them, or at least one that can attack from a distance! "Louis complained with a slightly scared tone.
"Don't worry about that, first we have to survive their pets!" Alex barked at him as he pointed his halberd at the rapidly shrinking circle of snakes. That's when the first snake made it's move, as it went straight for Louis neck with jaws spread open wide the size of a helmet if not more, it really was a scene out of his worst nightmare.