"There is something wrong about this place, Pimp," Kaede told Pimp while walking. "This is quiet."
"I don't have any idea. All I knew was Yurei's were roaming around here looking for prey. Don't let silence deceive you. We don't know who's watching us," Pimp reminded him.
While walking, Kaede saw a big log hindering the way. It was a dark and scaly kind of log.
"What the heck? Who in their right mind will put a log in the way?" Kaede asks.
"Be careful, Kaede," Pimp warns him.
Kaede took his polearmpolearm. He'll try to see if this thing can be pushed away by pushing it using the tip of the spear of his weapon.
"Argh!"
It was a mix of hiss and voice, and suddenly the log moved.
"I told you!" Pimp shouted at Kaede. "How could you be so careless!"
Kaede gave him a reckless smile and suddenly jumped away from where he was standing before a giant mouth lunged at them.
If Kaede didn't jump away, he and Pimp would have been swallowed by that giant snake they thought was a log.
"Finally! A foodzz," the snake spoke at them.
"A goryo. It would be best if you were careful, Kaede. That thing has been known to live in this area for quite now. And I don't know how many students it swallowed."
"Oh, are you Pimp, the entrance keeper? I'll eat you too after I eat that cute boy," the snake said, hissing.
Kaede took the back off in front of him.
"Get inside the bag. I'll hang it on my back. Do not open the zipper no matter what," Kaede instructed Pimp.
"Be careful, Kaede," Pimp said before letting Kaede zip the bag and transfer it to his bag.
Right after Kaede strapped the bag on his bag, a sudden whoosh of tail tried to hit him if only he weren't fast enough to leap away from the snake.
Followed by the whipping of the tail was the head of the snake with its mouth wide open, but Kaede kicked it on the head, pushing it to the ground with his kick before moving away from it.
"Aim the snake under the chin where you can find the core of Yureis. That is its weakness," Pimp told him.
"I got it," Kaede said and ran up to the snake's body.
The snake tries to shake him off, but Kaede doesn't have any plan to fall. He needs to aim that black thing under the snake's chin and be done with it.
The snake probably knew what he was aiming for, and it started to attack him using its tail while slithering to the trees. Kaede dodges the tail while trying to avoid the trees. If he's not careful, he'll fall, and the worst will happen.
He needs to think.
The snake must have been trying to escape from him, but Kaede will not pass this one.
He saw that the snake was heading somewhere. Kaede must do what he needs to before the snake takes them somewhere. He balances himself and runs towards the head of the snake. He was so close when suddenly he fell when the snake started to zigzag. And he saw under him a total blackness, it must be a cliff, but he saw the snake following him down.
Kaede thought it fell too, but he saw its wide mouth ready to catch him, but Kaede threw his polearm, spearhead first, aiming the tongue of the snake. The snake closed its mouth, and Kaede grip into the snake's hair close to his target.
He heard the snake scream trying to take the spear off its tongue. The snake keeps wiggling, giving Kaede a hard time reaching the black core under its chin.
Kaede swung from hair to hair to get closer to the core, but suddenly, he heard sounds like breaking, and when he looked behind him, he saw the snake's body going down too.
"Oh damn," Kaede said before he moved faster, and when he was close enough to the core, he prepared his free hand and formed a fist. He then poured his strength into it before swinging the hair closer to the core back and forth until he could reach it. When he was about an inch away from the core, he punched it with all his might, and he heard the snake squeal before passing out and falling on the ground with him.
The snake made a huge sound when it fell. Lucky for Kaede, he held tighter to the hair and bounced on the snake's soft under the chin. He then looked for his polearm and pulled it out from the snake's mouth.
"Hey boy, are you still alive? I heard a loud sound of falling," Pimp said, unzipping the bag on Kaede's back.
"Yeah, still breathing," Kaede answered him while wiping the blood on his polearm.
"What happened?" Pimp said before leaping out from the bag and finding the snake dead. "Did you kill it?"
"Sure I do," Kaede said and threw the piece of cloth he used to wipe the blood.
"How did you do it?" Pimp said, amazed.
"I follow what you said," Kaede said before dropping to the ground. What he did was exhausting, and it was his first time killing a giant goryo. "What is this place?"
Pimp looked around, and he wasn't sure where they were, but he knew they were safe and could rest for a night.
"I don't know what place this is, but we must move away from the snake. Some nocturnal yureis are often searching for food at night. We have to find a place where we can rest for the night," he said.
Kaede sighed.
"Alright, get in. We're leaving," Kaede said and opened his bag so Pimp could return inside before walking again until he found a good spot.
He found a big tree with trees on it.
"What the heck is that?" Kaede asks. "How could a tree bear a tree? Did someone plant a tree on the tree?"
"That is Daisugi, an ancient forestry technique that Master Krutch created.
"It's like bonsai or something," Kaede said.
"Yes, it was. The Master Krutch family has passed down that technique for hundreds of years, and he made it here," Pimp said.
"Is it safe to stay for a night?" Kaede asked him.
"Yes. Better than sleeping on the ground," Pimp answered.
Kaede climbed up until he found a nice tree part where he could tie his hammock and rest for tonight. He chose the part where the leaves are thick and can hide him. After everything was done, he ate the apple and lay inside the hammock with a mosquito net and Pimp.
"Do you sleep?"
"Of course, nuts," Pimp said and wrapped himself inside the cloth with Kaede, hoping that both of them would sleep well.