TA Chapter 14 Interlude; Challenge(1)
Kisol Continent, Unknown Forest
The vibrations started small. I felt them through my scales, yet had deemed them unimportant. Why? Because it probably had been some minor disturbance, like some little fools fighting over territory, or some little ones hunting for prey.
Yet, they slowly grew in intensity until my sleep started getting interrupted. Any other beast wouldn't have felt them, probably the curse of my bloodline, but it had kept me alive since I was just a small snake.
All three of my eyes opened, and I flicked out my tongue to taste the air. Faint blood and some unknown energy wafting in from the outside, made my scales stand on end and vibrate, rattling the ground I was coiled upon.
My muscles were jolted from their almost null energy state and I started uncoiling myself, shaking my surroundings even more with my movement.
Yet my mind was not on any of that. All I wanted was to rush out and get a look at my challenger. Had some of those things from the water grown enough spine to crawl out of their seas?
An emotion settled in my mind, one I only took to be excitement. How long had it been since I had last fought? I couldn't remember very well, except that it had been satisfying in the end when I had drank the loser's blood, devoured his muscles, meat and organs, with the same happening to the bones after crushing them. It had been a very satisfying meal!
Drool leaked from the sides of my mouth, turning into small grey stones upon landing onto the ground while I slithered through the tunnel that led outside. I had carved it through the rock a long time ago, only enlarging it when it became too narrow for my girth.
With a thought, a thin membrane slid over my eyes as I finally made it out, blocking the light from the burning sphere in the sky. The two-legs had used to call it the Sun. It was a pity that they had all been devoured. They had been an intelligent kind of beast that could have entertained me instead of the young fools controlled by their primal instincts.
I flicked my tongue in the air, this time tasting the iron in the blood even more clearly. Then, there was also the energy that tried to lacerate my tongue. It was akin to being poked with numerous tiny needles, a mild inconvenience that made it harder to keep my tongue out for long periods.
Then the symphony of fear, pain, false bravado and terror finally registered within my mind, its origins tracing back into the woods below.
I coiled myself, gathered and stored energy, before shooting down the mountain, tracing the familiar tracks created through countless trips, before reaching the edge, where trees met rock, instantly.
I dove right into the woods, whose height was three times that of my girth, crushing the tiny plants littering the muddy soil, struggling for that small sliver of light that managed to pierce through the canopy.
I flicked out my tongue, tasting the rot and mud prevalent within the atmosphere before ignoring it in favor of the needles trying to pierce my tongue, and the closest taste of iron.
I compressed my length before releasing it, shooting myself through every obstacle in my way, including the trees, which I simply crashed through, finding their stems too flimsy to impede my movement, though they did slow me down a little, but ultimately, I got to my target.
Heat pulsed in its chest with urgency, while some left it's body from the stump that used to connect to its limb.
The dark hairs rising out of its skin rippled as it tried to push itself onto its feet, only to fail miserably. The first time I had managed to peak a glimpse into what constituted as normal vision through my third eye, had amazed me. Now, I was used to the two types of vision overlapping.
It would have been great if it could speak as it would have atleast described my challenger, but now, it was only useful as a snack. I unhinged my jaw and struck with a speed that brooked zero chance at mustering any means defense, or evasion, and swallowed it down into my stomach with a single gulp.
Chewing?! I flicked my tongue out from the risen thought. All snakes swallowed down their prey, but I was different. Ever since I had tasted one of my previous challengers I had gotten enamored with the strange method. But... I only savored the flavors of my most powerful opponents.
After my snack reached the stomach, I shot forward, with the scenery blurring past me due to my speed. I revelled in the sensation of air caressing my scales, enjoying it, even if only for a moment, until the taste of blood became thick enough to even overpower the rot and mud. The needles prickling my tongue had also gotten strong enough to create tiny wounds on the surface.
The first thing that entered my eyes when I arrived at the edge of the carnage were the punctured bodies, severed limbs, disemboweled innards, severed heads, and red splattered across the bark, with most, soaking the undergrowth and mud.
The scene only served to excite me about my opponent. They were close to proving themselves that they could atleast last a little longer against me.
Past another normal tree, a clearing appeared, one which had been forcefully created by leveling everything within. The flecks on the ground told the story of an attack shredding down every single piece of vegetation.
A golden light flashed at the edge, with a black cat instantly being separated into two halves, which fell onto the ground, finally allowing me a glimpse at my opponent.
I froze in place, wondering whether what I was looking at was true. The two-legs had most certainly been wiped out, yet one of them was standing just before me. Though, he was shining with a peculiar glow, maybe another species?
He turned to me, his eyes closed, yet from the instincts screaming at me, rattling of my spines, I was certain that his attention was on me now.
He was smaller than I remembered. Maybe I had done some growing of my own...? Then there was also the fact that his hands were empty, making me puzzled as to how the cat had been bisected.
But all those weren't as important as the fact that my challenger was a tiny midget! Just a single chew and I swallow?! How was I supposed to enjoy the meal now?!
I forcefully cleared my mind of all distractions and slithered within the trees at the edge of the clearing, my eyes trained upon the small two-legged being. Maybe a conversation would have been ideal, but my throat hadn't been created for speaking.
As I was mulling over the possibility of conversation, flakes of light, whose color was almost a copy of the Sun's light, gathered in its hands before becoming something long. It raised it horizontally in a single arm and leaned back before hurling it at me.
The threat of peril pushed me to contract my muscles and shoot away to the side, with the shining golden rod missing me entirely.
When I gazed back at the place I had just been in, only silence greeted me, with the long rod having simply pierced deep into the soil.
I flicked out my tongue in alarm. The ground was no benchmark to the might of the attack, but my instincts would never lie!
With a thought, all of my scales stood on end, with a jade liquid excreting from my pores, instantly encasing all of the scales in a luster similar to their natural color. Then, I shrunk into myself and store up energy.
The surroundings blurred as I shot my head out and widely opened my maw to swallow the two-leg. His figure blurred and he appeared by my side, his hand holding a sharp lethal weapon, one meant for slashing. In the past, I had observed the two-legs, marveling at their stonework, but this, was on an entirely different level!
The grating sound of something metallic echoed within my olfactory membranes before my head snapped to the side, with pain blooming within my mouth. I pulled back reflexively, with the taste of iron, my blood, flooding my tastebuds.
A hiss of pain escaped my mouth. I had thought I could snap the single edged long tool, yet it was as hard as it was sharp.
I willed the wound above, within the cavern of my mouth to close, yet it failed as I felt even more pain. Something, an energy akin to that from the two-leg was lingering within the wound.
It seemed that I hadn't been taking things seriously enough! Rage consumed some part of me, and my spikes rattled with the raw emotion. I opened my mouth and spewed out a gaseous concentration of my own energy, which turned every living tissue that it encroached upon, a dull drey. Tree bark turned grey and hard, plants became bizarre sculptures, and the blood splattered everywhere turned into grey surfaces that cracked with the slightest touch.
My long dormant ferocity within me, awakened. I had temporarily forgotten those times when I had been fighting dangerous battles! And now, those memories were being dusted off!