Following the trail of a big snake was not very bright. If worse came to worst, at least Wu Hai would get to test his abilities. He was working up the nerve, hiding was impossible and they still couldn't find a clear path to fly away.
Shortly after finding the Snake's molting, Wu Hai found the source.
A large Twin-Headed Viper was a poisonous King of any Swamp. The Viper had grown to a length of over 50 meters and was as fat around as Doofus. The Snake's posture suggested that it found its next meal, it looked at the plump slow duck while opening its Jaw slowly to unfurl it's Fangs. The Snake didn't have to move fast to be intimidating, Wu Hai and Doofus were within its strike range.
Nearly transparent, the tubules of the massive Twin-Headed Viper's Fangs had a glowing fluid building up inside them, the bio-luminescence from the Venom blasted through the evening air.
The venom brought with it an eerie light that lit up the swamp as they dodged.
Doofus scrambled, Wu Hai didn't even know that the duck could move that fast. Doofus was able to avoid the first attack that was meant to stun him. Snakes preferred live prey, always.
Leaping off of Doofus, Wu Hai had to make sure his ride wasn't destroyed. He was gambling with his own life when he distracted one of the Vipers heads. Wu Hai's actions pulled the Viper's attention towards himself.
The venom blasts were being fired with increasing speed, but Wu Hai was faster when using his movement techniques to dodge every drop of the Venom.
A Single drop on either of their bodies would spell disaster.
With a flick of his wrist, Wu Hai chose fight using the crusher. He blocked the poison blasts with the brunt edge of the weapon, they broke apart and small droplets of green seemed to soak into the Metal.
A small spec of green appeared within the translucent portions of the Crusher. There was no time to investigate, Wu Hai had more than just venom to dodge.
The Viper did not want to give up on firing but it would only be a matter of time before it lost too much of it's of poison. Twin Headed Vipers had a few extra poison glands, they helped overproduce the venom in times of combat. The Snake still had more but when one of the heads finally ran out of the venom before other, its focus broke as well.
The Viper's Left head controlled it's body while the other head kept taking aim. One was biting at Wu Hai the other trying its best to spray him with its corrosive Venom.
The ground had been soaked by the Twin-Headed Viper, spots of green surrounding the battleground and holes started to appear in the soil. Doofus had taken shelter away from the Keen Trees in the distance but the fight was only getting more intense.
Wu Hai didn't want to rely on outside forces to defend himself. He channeled the energy into his hands and forced all the energy he could into the Crusher again.
In a life or death battle, Wu Hai intent on using every opportunity. He slammed the Crusher down on the ground. As it passed in front of him, the blast that came from the weapon was just like a shooting star in the darkness. It's Darkflame blast sailed across the gap and struck one of the Viper's heads. The Left head took a massive hit and reared back to protect itself behind the other.
Wu Hai was annoyed, he hadn't quite mastered the move, he was concerned with survival during the battle and it took his all of his momentum to continue. Gripping the hilt lightly, he slammed the tip of the weapon back down and he drew it in a large arc across his back and in the air.
Another flash of black passed across the smoldering battlefield and crashing against the midsection of the neck between the Viper heads, the darkflame bolt exploded on contact. Fire spread across the Viper's neck.
The left head of the Viper was severed and plopped on the mud. It's body was flailing about with it's second neck exposed and writhed in pain while its tail shuddered and it's body spun around in agony. The Twin Headed Viper was bleeding out, its life was about to end.
Horrified at the concept of what was going on within the snakes body, a sense of compassion came of Zao Wu Hai. Without any great hesitation, he stepped around the corrosive spots on the ground and came closer dying snake, blood was oozing all over and the Viper was about to die.
Rather than watching the Beast suffer, Wu Hai fired a small Darkflame through the forehead of the remaining snake head, killing it instantly. There wasn't much value in Viper Brains, so collecting the mush was not necessary, he also had the other head.
It was a huge victory, not an easy one but not as life threatening as he thoughteither, Wu Hai didn't want anything to waste.
The snake was all muscle and meat. Skinning the rest of the Viper and storing its meat, he found the corpses of several adventurers in its belly. They were half digested. In addition to the adventurers, there were parts of two different Giant Bats, an Black Egg,which was still whole albeit covered in digestive fluids as well as a number of destroyed weapons and a single piece of Electramite.
Electramite was a very conductive material. When Electramite was given power, it would imbue weapons crafted from it with an Electric Charge. Such a weapon in combat would cause opponents to receive a shock that could stun, even paralyze them quickly. There were even documented accounts of people dying immediately after hit by electricity.
Wu Hai was enjoying this adventure, it was certainly a strong desire to see more of the world, his adventure had just begun. The young adventurer didn't want anything to waste, he cleaned up the battleground and collected everything into his ring.
Getting back to his mount, Doofus started walking again. The black egg couldn't be placed into his weapon or ring. He could only wrap it up and keep it with him, he decided to just keep the egg at his side after probing it. The creature inside was still very much alive and it gave Wu Hai an obscure feeling.
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Wu Hai and Doofus arrived at the intersection of the Swamp and the plains, herds of different size animals were all feeding on the different grasses and plants that filled the flat ground. Hundreds of varieties stuck together in a massive herd to detour predators.
The tallest of all these animals was a Brontadra herd. Their large frames and huge heads could reach a tall tree. With their wide jaws Brontadra could eat a hundred foot Great Iron Tree in less than three hours.
Herds kept to themselves, although occasionally Werejackels, Stone Bears or Raiju would probe the defenses of smaller, slightly segregated herds. It wasn't common to see a Raiju, the Lightning Wolves would never let themselves be captured, they were some of the swiftest land-based mounts one could hope for but their pride was second to few.
Watching Raiju go after a herd of Rock-Lamb, Wu Hai made his way past the herds but he could only watch on in curiosity as the one of the Wolves tore into the hard wool of the Rock-Lamb. The Wolf finished killing it's meal and started to drag it from the open ground into the Trees to eat.
Rather than attempting to interfere with such a strong opponent, Wu Hai left quietly.
The plains were flat and easy to get a running start, Wu Hai didn't want to waste time dodging things he wasn't going to eat. Fighting for your life was one thing but he had no desire to slaughter without reason.
Wu Hai placed the Wooden Cube back into the sheath's slot while Doofus was sprinting.
The Fat Duck was happy to be back in the air, walking hurt it's feet on the plains and many patches of thorns were laying around in the muddy swamp. Walking with Wu Hai on it's back didn't help things either.