Two shining purple eyes. A large body 30 metres long and 5 metres wide. Lustrous green and white scales, alternating in stripes that covered the entire body. And a pair of emerald-green fangs jutting out of the mouth, indicating the royalty and the ferocity of the creature.
It was an Emerald Krait. "Huff.....huff.....huff." Ethan breathed heavily as he looked at the monstrous creature in front of him. His heart pounded loudly as his fingers started shaking slightly. He was facing an E rank creature. A monster that was two whole ranks above him. And right now, that creature wanted to kill him.
CRACK! "HISS!" The emerald krait moved slightly along the edge of the crater, eyeing him curiously. Tack....tack...tack. Stones rolled into the crater as they were dislodged by the monster's large body. His heart pounded loudly as he stared at the monster in fear.
Tack...tack...tack. Ethan moved his arm ever so slowly, tucking the sphere behind his waist as he tried to hide it from the emerald krait. "HISS!" It bared it fangs at him as its purple eyes at him bore into him. Ethan flinched slightly. "HISS!" The emerald krait continued to circle the crater as it flicked its forked tongue at him.
The monster wasn't attacking. Ethan's heart pounded loudly as he watched the emerald krait, waiting for it to pounce on him. But it wasn't doing anything. Was it afraid of him? Probably not. Monsters tended to throw themselves at humans even against overwhelming odds. It was like an instinct programmed into each one of them. Fear never held them back while facing humans.
Tack...tack...tack. Ethan shuddered as a pebble rolled onto his foot. He desperately wanted to get out of here. "Huff...huff...huff." He slowed down his breathing. There was something different about this monster. He had to find out why it was behaving strangely before it attacked him. He couldn't count on Noah, after all. He'd abandoned him.
"HISSS!" The emerald krait bared its fangs, reacting to Ethan's sudden movement. He flinched slightly. Thump...Thump...Thump. His heart beat loudly as he prepared to fight against the monster. "Hiss!" The emerald krait continued to move around him, keeping its gaze trained on him.
Right now, this monster was driven by an instinct different from its aggression. Ethan knew enough about E ranked monsters to know that they weren't smart. So this creature holding itself back was definitely an anomaly. And the only thing that Ethan could think of that caused this was the fact that he took away the sphere.
Thump....thump....thump. Suddenly, the emerald krait's eyes narrowed. Its purple eyes glowed as it raised its head in anger. "HISSSSSSSSS!" A loud noise rang across the crater as the monster screamed in anger. ThumpThumpThumpThump. "Fucking hell!" Ethan unsheathed his dagger, morphing it into its kusarigama form as his heart started pounding in fear. Something had provoked the emerald krait. And right now, any signs of it being docile had disappeared.
"HISSSSSS!" The emerald krait descended into the crater, moving extremely quickly as it headed towards Ethan. Whoosh.....whoosh.....whoosh. He started spinning his kusarigama in an arc as he prepared to face the monster head on. He wasn't going down without a fight. Whoosh....whoosh....whoosh. "Come on, you oversized worm! I'll fucking...."
CRASH! Whoosh! The wind whistled past Ethan's face as he was thrown into the air. "Ahh!" He groaned in pain. The monster had moved faster than he could react. His vision grew blurry as he sailed through the air. THUD! He crashed into the edge of the crater as the breath was knocked out of his lungs. "Urk!"
Ethan could feel his broken ribs as his head started spinning. He was lucky. If he wasn't an awakener, the emerald krait's first attack would have killed him immediately. He'd have become a corpse even before he reached the broken soil. Crack...crack! He tried to dislodge himself from the newly constructed hole in the crater's wall.
Crack...crack...crack. Ethan got up unsteadily on his feet, trying to regain his balance. He'd crashed into the dried soil, instantly suffering a concussion as his head crashed into the wall. "Cough...cough...cough." He definitely couldn't hurt the emerald krait. It was way too strong for him to fight against.
Crack...crack...crack. White fog began to pool around him. "What....what the hell is this weird fog?" Was this the mysterious anti-magic fog that had shrouded the forest when they fought against the emerald krait's subjects? Maybe it was the emerald krait that had used a magical attack to help the monsters.
Ethan didn't know about emerald kraits at all. Perhaps they were creatures that focused on magical attacks more than physical attacks. That would explain why he had survived one hit from the monster. E rank strength would have completely decimated him completely. The difference between F-10 and E-1 rank was too large for him to survive.
"HISSS!" Suddenly, a large maw with two emerald white teeth appeared in front of him. Whirrrrr! Ethan jumped towards the ground, channeling mana into his legs as he ducked beneath the emerald krait's attack. "HISSS!" The monster turned mid-air as it twisted its mouth towards Ethan, completely unaffected by his feint. Ethan desperately rolled on the floor as he tried to get away. The monster's sheer speed couldn't be beaten by him. He could not escape.
"HISSSS!" "Oof!" The monster narrowly missed Ethan, striking the ground next to him as it sent him flying. Thud! He was enveloped by the white fog as he crashed onto the floor. He got back to his feet. Now was his chance. He could escape from this place under the cover of the fog. He'd use the monster's ability against it to escape from it.
Ethan started running as fast as he could, trying to escape from the crater. Crack...crack...crack. Suddenly, he froze. He could see a black and green striped body moving through the distance. Thump...thump...thump.
The emerald krait must have heard the sound of his footsteps! With its incredible speed, catching up to him by simply tracking the sounds of his feet was possible. Especially when the soil made so much noise every single time he moved.
Ethan completely froze, not moving a single muscle as his heart pounded loudly. He could see the tail of the emerald krait disappearing into the white fog. The monster seemed at ease while navigating through the thickening fog. Thump....thump....thump. The fog wasn't a blessing. It was a goddamn curse.
CRACK! "HISSS!" Suddenly, the emerald krait pounced out of the fog, mouth wide open as it prepared to swallow Ethan. Whirrr! Thud! Ethan jumped to the side, avoiding its teeth as he tried to get away. Swish! Its tail shot up, crashing into his body. "Argh!" Ethan was knocked away instantly.
Whoosh! That goddamn snake! The emerald krait was playing with him, tossing him around in the fog it had created just for the sake of it. It had given him false hope, only to steal it from him. And there was nothing Ethan could do about it. Thud! He crashed into the ground once again, bouncing off the dry soil as he crashed into the wall.
"HISSSS!" He could hear the voice of the emerald krait getting closer and closer as it headed towards him. There was no way out. Even if he managed to climb out along this wall, the monster would just follow him outside and chase him until he was dead.
"HISSSSS!" The fog parted slightly as the emerald krait emerged, racing towards him. "Cough...cough...Firestorm." Ethan tried to say the name of his defence art in an effort to encourage himself. Clang! Clang! Ethan weaved his kusarigama around himself, trying to block the attacks of the monster.
Clang! "HISSSS!" He wasn't fast enough. The monster crushed him against the wall of the crater as it cracked under the weight of its blow. "Urk!" Crack! Crack! Crack! Ethan's vision started to darken as the snake attacked him second time. Crack!
Why was this happening to him? Why had the protagonist who he'd admired so much betrayed him so suddenly. So quickly. He'd just been used and thrown away, like a plastic toy. And now this snake was playing with his life, making him suffer before he died. This wasn't fair. It shouldn't have happened. Ethan shouldn't have had to experience this. Yet he was. All because of a crazy protagonist.
Ethan's eyes glow blue. Crack! Crack! No, this wasn't Noah's fault. It wasn't anybody else's fault. It was his. Because he was too weak. He'd always imagined that he'd become stronger when he reached SS rank. But that wasn't true. Strength was relative. It differed for each person. And for Ethan, the greatest proof of his strength was to survive.
"HISSS!" The emerald krait bared its fangs, closing in for the kill. Clank...clank...clank! Ethan swung his kusarigama in an arc, sending it into the exposed mouth. "Go! Go! Go!" His pushed his mana through his body, channeling it into the scythe blade. Ba-dump...ba-dump...ba-dump. A surge of mana originated from his heart, reacting to the immense strain on his body as it made its way to the kusarigama.
"Damn.....monster....die!" Clang! "Screech!" A tiny flame lit up on the edge of the scythe blade as it travelled through the monster's teeth, connecting with its flesh. Crackle! Clang! An emerald scale shattered as the blade emerged between the snake's snout, fixing itself firmly inside the monster. Thud! Ethan pounced into the air, landing perfectly on the emerald krait's head as he grabbed onto the chain tightly. "I'm not dying so easily." Ethan's glowing eyes stared into the monster's purple eyes as he grasped onto it firmly. He would not die here.
"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Thud! Suddenly, a pale white figure jumped into the crater. Ethan stiffened. This voice! It was the last thing he wanted to hear. Crack...crack...crack. Pale white hair and dark eyes emptier than any living creature. And deathly white skin that resembled a corpse more than a human. Ethan grasped the chain tightly. It was Noah! In his partial ghost form!
"I told you that you'd die if you didn't listen to me." Noah stepped out of the white fog as he walked towards Ethan. "So tell me. Why did you move?"