Ari was still shocked to see a colossal viper so close to home. Typically they would reside inside the Long territory, but with their kind constantly being hunted they have been migrating outwards. Seeing such a massive one in their territory was a danger they couldn't ignore. Ari sent one of the warriors for reinforcement turning his focus back to the outsiders attacking.
"Get back to camp now!" John shouted dashing forward to retrieve Alexi's gun.
The viper saw John dashing forward preparing another blast, but John already retrieved what he needed. John sprang to the side narrowly dodging the next blast as a smoldering hole was left in the earth. John began sprinting for his comrades as the viper prepared another blast.
Ari swung his Tewhatewha diagonal as a powerful blast of mana roared towards the canopy. The viper took some damage, but Ari's true goal was achieved as the branches gave in to its weight. Ari's comrade began chanting as he pointed the barbs of his spear at the viper's side. The barbs launched off covered in mana as they struck the viper piercing its flesh. The barbs shined immensely as they rapidly expanded with an explosion of mana. It left three gaping holes into the side of the viper.
The viper turned around rapidly biting the warrior injecting him with venom as Ari struck its head releasing a loud bang through the forest. His warrior was released from its bite, but his body was rapidly turning black as his body flailed on the ground for a brief moment before his body went necrotic. Ari was forced to retreat, but with the viper wasn't backing down. After receiving a significant wound on its side, and being exposed to the jungle floor it couldn't back down.
John was running through the forest looking back to see the Ari fight alone. They were strangers and very well could be enemies. This alone should've been enough to keep him running forward, but John stopped. John knew very well how it felt to lose a comrade in arms, and watching the warrior struggle he couldn't leave.
"Get to camp, and tell them everything," John said handing over Alexi's weapon.
"What are you doing!"
John ran forward to return to the battle and saw the viper slowly closing in on Ari. He reached into one of the pouches in his coat pulled a pin, and chucked something through the air. A bright white light erupted in the jungle along with a loud bang.
Every member of their squad was equipped with crowd control measures for this mission. Seeing it prepare to coil up John figured a flashbang at point-blank range might affect it. While the viper was in a daze John yanked Ari off to the bushes and came out firing at the viper while strafing away from Ari.
The viper opened its mouth preparing to launch another blast, but John lit up the inside of its mouth. Shooting the exposed flesh caused it to rear back in pain interrupting its attack, and John pushed forward unloading his mag. He dropped the mag preparing to reload as the viper lunged forward. John narrowly dodged its bite as the tree behind him was crushed.
'He's fighting it alone without a shred of fear.' Ari looked in awe at John's resolve.
Seeing the beast trying to free its fangs from the tree John dropped his rifle switching to his sidearm rapidly unloading the mag into the back of the viper's hood as it flailed in pain. John was struck with its body as it flailed about getting knocked into a tree shattering his back. The viper recovered from the attack and had blood trailing down its neck into the dirt. It was preparing to lunge forward when a loud chant was heard from the brush as a large man stomped out from the bushes.
The warrior chanting was named Huatare, and the current chief of the tribe. As he was performing his haka mana began swirling violently around him from the jungle. Huatare continued stomping towards the viper chanting as the mana rapidly flowed into his body. Slowly the tattoos covering his body began to ignite, and his eyes flared with blue light.
The viper was preparing to launch a blast as Huatare shot forward. John watched in disbelief as the man rampaged through the blast unharmed striking the viper with both hands sending it flying back. Ari ran up checking on John for any wounds.
'It's already bleeding. Was it from Ari?'
Huatare extended his hand conjuring a massive Tewhatewha of wind as he sped forward. The viper lunged attempting to kill him with its venom, but all of Huatrae's senses were pushed to the extreme. This made dodging the rapid strike easy as he shifted to the side, and swung his weapon down as a powerful blast roared through the jungle beheading the viper. The ground was rapidly dyed with its blood as its head flailed about.
"You're a brave warrior," Ari said while trying to help John up.
A sharp pain shot through John as he winced loudly. Ari looked at him a puzzle and lifted his shirt seeing his back severely bruised. Warriors were slowly flooding out of the bushes searching for the viper seeing it already dealt with. They all began cheering at the chief.
"You dealt with it in a matter of minutes."
"Of course he did."
"It was already severely wounded when I arrived. It would've likely bled out, but who knows what destruction it would've caused before it did. Did you do this?" Huatare asked Ari.
"No, it was this man by himself, and I would've died if it weren't for him," Ari replied.
"Get the healer," Huatare ordered.
They all looked at John puzzled at how such a thing was possible. Even for their experienced warriors, it would be a difficult task. No matter how hard they tried they sensed no mana from the man, and couldn't see how such a thing was possible. Once the healer arrived they went straight to work, and after an hour of careful mending, John was able to stand once again.
"How do you guys do that?" John investigated.
"What language is that?" Ari asked his father.
"I've never heard it before, but maybe the elder knows," Huatare replied.
Even though John could stand walking still sent pain through his body, and traveling back to camp wasn't an option. Because of this, John accepted their motions to follow and struggled to walk behind. After ten minutes of walking, they came across a large village where everyone began to stare as he entered.
They were filled with joy seeing the delicacy being dragged by the warriors, and even more so at the mysterious dressed man carrying a strange weapon. Once they reached the town square and old man was fetched from a nearby hut. Ari gestured at the elder for John to speak.
"Can you understand me?" John asked.
The elder looked at him puzzled having never heard any of the tribes in the neutral territories speaking such a language. The elder was unbothered by such a problem as he began chanting and placed his hand on John's head. Villagers watching whispered about his potential origin, and after a few minutes, John began to understand them.
"Could he be from demon territory?"
"No, we would be able to sense if he was in disguise."
"The Long's are supposed to have some powerful new allies and maybe he's with them."
"Did you just say demon territory?" John asked.