Chapter 183: Vine Snakes (2)
Chapter 181
Vines that looked as thick as a human arm suddenly uncurled from the trees where they had been slumbering and immediately lunged at all the Aspirants standing nearby.
Each creature was approximately two meters long, with a mouth as wide as a large canine from the old times, opened wide and ready to clamp down on the humans in the area.
The entire forest vicinity descended into absolute chaos almost instantaneously.
One of the Vine Snakes caught an unlucky Aspirant by the neck and proceeded to ruthlessly tear a huge chunk of flesh from the spot where it bit.
Hot blood streamed down his body as a loud, agonizing shout broke out from his throat.
Panic flashed before his eyes as the beast refused to let go, seemingly ready to attack another spot to finish him off.
Suddenly, an arrow streaked through the air at a furious speed.
Smashing into the beast’s head, the projectile managed to push the creature to the side and away from the Aspirant’s mangled skin.
Before the serpent could steady itself again, another arrow flew past and crashed into one of its yellow eyes, sinking in deep as black ichor sprayed into the air.
The beast squirmed violently, yet the arrow was strangely being pushed deeper into its eye by some unseen force.
The Aspirant who had been bit immediately lunged forward with his remaining strength and bashed his foot into the arrow, driving the shaft deeper into the beast’s skull.
This caused the creature to stop squirming and turn lifeless almost immediately.
Simultaneously, the wounded Aspirant crumpled to the ground due to extreme blood loss.
His chest stilled; he was no longer breathing.
Panic surged across the faces of the remaining Aspirants as almost all of them had been standing beside the thick trees, placing them directly in the path of the beasts’ fangs.
But even with the suddenness of the ambush, some figures were still fast enough to react on time.
One of those individuals was Trisha.
She had been standing far too close for comfort to a tree when a Vine Snake suddenly lunged toward her.
Frost crept around her fingers as she spun around with quick reflexes, sending two thick ice shards tearing through the beast’s head.
The impact sent it crashing to the ground with dark blood oozing from where she had struck.
But that wasn’t all.
More of these serpents surrounded her, and they wasted no time in pushing toward the human who stood at the center of this deadly enclosure.
Even at this terrifying sight, the girl looked unfazed as frost kept creeping around her hands at an impressive rate.
In total, she counted ten of these monsters surrounding her from every corner.
Still, she stood her ground.
Her sword remained hung in its scabbard around her waist for the moment.
One of the beasts reached her position but was quickly taken down by an ice shard before she spun around almost immediately with a fresh ice spike gripped tightly in her hand.
Hauling her arm forward, she bashed the weapon into a second beast’s head, driving the spike deep into its skull.
However, she wasn’t able to dig further in time as the others were now closing in upon her.
Kicking the beast in front of her, she sent it crashing into a tree before spinning around in a blur of motion; her sword was drawn out in one fluid movement.
Tchaakkkk—!
Her blade bit into the space connecting the snake’s head to its body and easily sliced through the scales.
This ease of entry stunned her for a moment, causing her to stagger backward as the severed head hit the dirt.
’Huh?’
The remaining beasts now slithered across the ground, speeding toward the stunned girl with predatory intent.
’... How did the sword slice it that easily? It shouldn’t be possible unless...’
Her eyes lit up in sudden realization as she analyzed the density of the scales she had just pierced.
’Oh. They are just awakened rank beasts, eh?’
The moment the realization settled in her mind, her movements became even more calculated.
One of the slithering predators reached her in a second, its body coiled like a spring.
Pushing off from the soil, it was about to catch her in its fangs when the ice spike in her hand—which still dripped with the dark blood of the beast’s comrade—was hurled toward it with deadly aim.
The spike flew directly into the beast’s open maw and instantly disappeared within its throat before freezing its innards solid.
The sudden drop in temperature caused the snake to collapse to the ground, dead before it even landed.
Vaulting backward, Trisha narrowly avoided a secondary bite aimed at her leg from a lurking serpent.
Spinning around, she brought her sword in front of her face just in time to block a strike from another of the slithering beasts, which had launched itself toward her head, ready to bite it off.
The beast’s fangs clamped tight on the cold steel, unable to push forward as the girl was seen sliding backward from the force, a cold, unwavering look on her face.
Hisssssss—!
The other beasts took this struggle as the opportunity they were searching for and immediately launched a coordinated attack toward the girl whose back was actually turned to them.
But it didn’t mean that Trisha didn’t sense them coming; she could feel the displacement of air behind her.
Pushing the beast forward—though it refused to let go of the blade—she was able to regain her footing in time, allowing her to swing her free hand backward.
She sent four sharp icicles flying toward the approaching monsters.
Seeing the projectiles heading their way, the vine snakes quickly slithered out of the path, allowing the attack to crash into the ground and kick up a small cloud of orange dust.
The beast lodged on her sword took this distraction as an opportunity.
It pushed further against the steel, sending the girl sliding backward again because of her loosened grip on the weapon.
Turning back to glare at the stubborn vine snake, Trisha angrily swung her hand from below, bashing it with her knuckles which were now encased in a thin, jagged veil of ice.
The blow collided with the lower body of the beast, causing it to immediately let go of her sword in pain.
Shifting her weight forward, she made a wide, lethal arc with her blade, splitting the beast’s body in half.
Unfortunately, before she could regain her composure, she was immediately encircled by the remaining beasts.
They all lunged at her in unison from every corner, their bodies blurring as they cut off any possible escape route.