"Hold on, what do you mean real hunt?" I asked.
"What have we been doing all this time?" I added.
"This was only a little warmup."
I sighed but deep down, I was happy that there was more to hunt! We ventured even deeper into the forest. My body was already quite tired after my fights, but I had to surpass my current limits.
"Are there more powerful animals the further away from the tribe?" I asked.
"Well of course, they aren't stupid so they prefer to stay away from danger-"
"A lot of beasts, twenty meters in front," I said while interrupting Xavier.
"Let's get ready to greet them."
My eyes and teeth shone through the blood that covered my entire hull. Soft hissing sounds reached my ears and almost compelled me to drop my guard if not for what emerged from the bushes. About twenty massive snakes slithered towards us; sunlight reflected off of their emerald green scales and blinded us while their pitch black eyes stared at us. Their heads were as big as me; this would prove to be a real test of my strength!
"These will make a great dinner," Jasper said.
"By the way, don't worry Jett. These aren't venomous."
"They will just wrap their bodies around yours and strangle you until you perish," he added while laughing.
A grin appeared on my face as the snake rushed towards me. The animal opened its jaws as wide as possible baring its fangs. The forked togue slithered as it advanced towards me. The snake was a couple of meters away from me and the inside of its mouth enveloped my field of vision; it was capable of swallowing me whole!
I jumped up at the last minute and pushed off of a tree trunk; I propelled myself forward and thrusted my dagger between its eyes. A good amount of my energy was already used on my last two fights and wasting time here would only lead to my downfall.
A cracking sound was emitted as my blade broke on impact with its skin. The snake was unharmed. My strike did not even leave a scratch behind; I was left face-to-face with this behemoth without a weapon in hand! The beast charged towards me while hissing thunderingly; something else had changed. Its speed was now on another level. Its jaws closed down fiercely in an attempt to get a hold of me.
My body barely sidestepped out of the way and came out relatively unscathed with only a minor scrape on my neck. My legs pushed off of the ground as I backed away rapidly. I had to be even more cautious when approaching this beast; I had not taken it seriously enough last time and almost paid dearly!
"Be careful and use your brain. That is if you even have one," Jasper said as he threw something.
The item bounced off of the ground a couple of times, stirring up dirt clouds before reaching me. My hand immediately reached down and gripped it.
"You're a godsend Jasper," I said as I lifted the dagger and pointed it at my opponent.
"If its outer skin is too thick to pierce through using the blade, figure something out."
The snake and I were at a standstill, each waiting for the other to initiate the attack. My brain was functioning at maximum capacity to decipher what Jasper meant, when it suddenly clicked. The answer was staring me right in my face.
"How did I not see something that obvious," I murmured.
Akin to the first time, I would be the aggressor and pounced forwards. The giant snake opened its jaws once more and slithered towards me. Logic would dictate that I would attempt to dodge and strike from that position; however, I instead chose to move straight into its mouth. My figure was engulfed entirely before its jaws closed; I was submerged in darkness, but this did not mean that I was blind as the way of the wind showed me everything I needed to know.
I lifted my dagger and slammed it down with all of my might. The blade perforated its mandible as the snake hissed in pain while squirming. After pulling the weapon out, I thrusted it once again, but this time, I would not be as merciful. After the blade penetrated its flesh, I dragged the blade to slash through the beast. Blood gushed out of the deep cut and coated the inside of its mouth. I was gasping for air as the amount of oxygen was limited inside of the enclosed space.
The process was repeated several times until its head dropped lifelessly to the ground. Huffing and puffing, I planted the dagger back in its sheathe and pushed on the snake's maxilla using the palm of my hands to open the jaw. After finding my way out, my body plummeted to the ground due to exhaustion as I did my best to calm my breathing down. After I had successfully done so, my eyes wandered around and was pleasantly surprised to see that the orcs had taken care of the rest of the snakes; they were busying themselves with carving the meat out.
"How did you guys manage to kill the snakes that fast?" I asked.
"When you reach a certain level of strength, cutting through the snake becomes a piece of cake and killing one becomes as easy as killing a cerberus," Hunter replied.
"Come here, I'll teach you how to cut the flesh," Jasper said.
Step-by-step, I ambled towards him and sat next to his imposing self. The latter set about explaining the different knife techniques that could be used to intricately slice the meat without damaging it. Despite his rough appearance, Jasper's movements with the blade were delicate and precise; he let the sharp edge do the work without applying any unnecessary force. After the orcs were done with the butchering, we filled the bags up with the fillets and commenced our return.