The hunting party of five kept on travelling until they were getting uncomfortably close to the forest. Even the once hubristic Garrick was now getting a little anxious as the three older boys' chatter slowly quieted down to a whisper before stopping completely so that they were all moving in silence. Garrick's dirty blonde hair had started to stick to his forehead as a nervous sweat was starting to appear on his face.
"I think we should head back and find some other tracks," Jason said cutting through the silence.
The other two boys agreed and Garrick, somewhat reluctantly, agreed as well. Unfortunately, before they had the chance they heard a sound not far from them. They all drew their weapons and looked around to find the source of the sound but they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Jason was about to give up on any pretext of composure and tell everyone to run back to the village but before he could he turned to see that his worst worries had come true. A massive snake was now in between them and where they had come from. Despite its size, it wasn't simple to spot as its whole body was green and camouflaged perfectly in the tall grass. Jason spared no time and used his skill to check the monster standing in front of them.
[Great Titanboa Lv. 43]
[Fast and silent, a Titanboa can move quickly and often tries to surprise or ambush its prey. They lack strength but their bite delivers a deadly poison.]
Jason swore out loud. This was a terrible monster to encounter. When they had gone out to hunt the Ogre Jason's father had made sure to pack antidotes. Poisonous monsters were weaker but just one cut could be enough to kill without the proper treatment. However this time, they had no antidotes with them. After all, they were just meant to go out animal hunting. Jason couldn't quite believe it. It was extremely rare for a monster to leave the forest even if they were close to it this was terrible luck. Thinking about it again he realised that this monster had most likely been driven out by the work on the mine.
He rushed forward to put himself between the others and the monster. Looking at the giant serpent a bead of sweat rolled down Jason's face. It was far larger than any snake he had ever seen. Even if 6 men lay alongside it would have still been longer. "All of you get back to the village I will deal with it." Jason cried out. As he did he noticed someone else had stood next to him.
"As if, it's my fault we are here I'm not leaving fighting this just to you." Garrick's mocking tone was gone, replaced by a clearly fake bravado. Jason glanced over to tell him he should leave. However, when he did, he saw that Garrick was smiling at him with a serious albeit nervous look. He could tell there would be no convincing him.
"I'm not going either." Jason heard Claire's voice from behind but he didn't dare look behind and turn his back on the Titanboa that seemed to be moving around them searching for a weakness to strike.
"Fine then, you two go find help." Jason sent the command to the shivering last two who clearly were not in any mental state to fight the monster. To their credit, they protested but eventually agreed that finding help was still an important task.
"When we have the monster distracted run around and head over to the path to the mine, it's closer than the village and there should be someone there. Be careful though don't bump into anything else." With the instructions given he focused back on their fight.
"Garrick I see you have a shield, are you any good with it?"
"You bet. I can definitely hold off that things attacks." He said once again with his forced confidence. However, he quickly lost that tone saying "But not for long. Can we beat it?"
"We can beat it but that isn't the problem. If it manages to poison us we will die right after." Jason replied, his tone serious. He was nervous. This was a far more frightening opponent than the ogre even if its level was lower.
"Alright, Garrick you try and hold off its attacks. Don't bother with that spear you have, just make sure it doesn't even scratch you. Claire fire as many arrows as you can to put it off. Aim for the eyes if you can." There was no challenge or sly remark from Garrick this time and Claire just gave a firm acknowledgement. "When there is a window I will finish it off."
They all took their respective positions and it seemed the Titanboa, which had watched on as if taunting its prey, had finally decided to go on the attack. However, it didn't attack those at the front but tried to circle around to attack Claire.
It wasn't successful though as Garrick quickly moved to intercept it. His shield clashed with the serpent's head and it displayed its fangs. They were as big as Garrick's arm and Jason was impressed by both Garrick's ability to hold it back and his courage to attempt to do so. As it tried to bite down on Garrick, Jason could see the venom rolling down his shield and onto the ground. A terrifying sight but thankfully it wasn't an acid it was just poisonous.
An arrow shot through the air towards the creature's eye, had the Titanboa stayed still it would have hit dead on, but it quickly avoided it, hissing aloud as if in mockery. The snake tried to jab down at Garrick again but he managed to hold it back once more. This time Garrick was even able to push it back. Sensing his moment Jason tried to stab at the creature but it shifted its body to avoid the sword.
The Titanboa then swept its tail at both Garrick and Jason. They both lacked experience of fighting the creature so this came as a surprise. Jason was small and managed to duck under the blow but Garrick took it head on. This time it was him that was sent backwards. He was quick to his feet and managed to recover in time thanks to Claire once again sending arrows at the monster, which it had no choice but to dodge.
When the creature clashed with Garrick again, Jason tried to better take advantage of their numbers. He circled around to the back of the creature. The monster now distracted by both arrows and Garrick's tanking, had no defence for Jason's attack in its blind side. As a result, this time Jason's strike connected slicing a large cut in the lower half of the serpent. Unfortunately, the snake was around half a metre wide so he hadn't fully cut the serpent's tail off.
It reacted to the wound by sliding back and raising its head up before loudly hissing again. This time it wasn't a taunt but a cry making its killing intent known. One of Claire's arrows, at last, did reach its target and lodged in its eye. This was swiftly followed by Garrick bashing it with his shield. Without full control of the lower portion of its body, it lost balance. He had hoped to not have to but as he once again swung his sword he activated his [Blistering Slash] skill. With the added help of the skill, he did manage to fully cut through and remove the beast's head.
+4300 EXP
Level UP 42->43
'All that was for one level and that thing was only level 43. That was much tougher than the ogre in fact Jason wasn't sure that he would have been able to beat it on his own, definitely not without taking at least a scratch.' Jason said to himself
Both Claire and Garrick both sighed with relief. Garrick dropped to the floor exhausted from the fight. In fact, of all of them, Garrick had done the majority of the hard work and would surely have a bruise or two from the experience.
"How'd you do that? You managed to cut through that thing's whole body as if it was nothing." Garrick said rubbing his side.
"I think I just got lucky" Jason replied sheepishly.
"He's right that last slash was amazing your sword was so fast I could barely see it, that wasn't normal," Claire added.
"Well, you see I used a skill."
"Huh." They both let out in unison.
"How do you have a skill already?" Garion quickly let out struggling to hold back due to shock.
After all, they had been through Jason felt quite close to the two of them, despite the short time together, so decided he would at least to them that much about himself. He could tell from the fact that they had stayed with him that they were people he could trust. He wasn't ready to tell them everything but he thought it would be nice to at least have someone he could talk to other than his parents.
"Well, I'm actually level 43." It wasn't the whole truth but it was half true.
"Now I feel silly about bragging that I was level 25." Claire said with a laugh "Though I'm now level 28, I guess I'm catching up."
"I gained two levels too but I'm not sure fighting one of those was worth it," Garrick said joining in on the laughter. He then stood up and looked at Jason before lowering his head. "I'm sorry for being an idiot earlier. I guess I was just envious, probably cos my dad had been speaking so highly of you. You definitely were the right choice to be the leader."
"Don't worry about it, I was a bit nervous if I'm honest. I could have handled things better." Jason wanted to add that he really just wanted to be friends but decided it would sound a bit sad. Plus he was certain that they would become friends from here anyway.
Garrick then stood and turned so he faced both Claire and Jason before once again apologising for getting them into the mess. Though like Jason, Claire accepted the apology immediately. After all he had done to make up for it, it was hard not to.
"Hey, how come you were so calm when facing the monster even at your level you should have been scared no?" Garrick asked and Claire nodded her head
"Well I was afraid the first time but it was a lot easier this time," Jason replied.
"What!?" the two both shouted in unison once again.