Chapter 134: Coiling Strike
Rebecca watched the snake's scales shift across its skin as it coiled around the tree. They moved over one another in constant motion, sliding around its body like crawling ants, as if its entire hide was alive, the pattern crawling up its length and disappearing into the coils layered against the bark.
"Don't make a sound," she whispered, barely more than a breath.
Tyler froze at the sound of her voice.
Rebecca's eyes stayed fixed on the snake's head as she spoke, her voice dropping even lower. "It's blind, and it can barely hear. Let's just go back slowly."
Tyler nodded, small enough that it was barely a motion at all, and they both started walking backward slowly, careful not to make a sound, testing each step with the ball of his foot before letting his heel down. He watched the snake continue to coil around the tree, its large head, already bigger than his own, reaching the ground.
His heart started beating faster and faster as he saw its black eyes directed straight at him, as if it were staring at him, the muscles in his calves tightening with every backward step. Its forked tongue slipped out of its mouth flicking through the air as it tasted it, the motion slow and unhurried.
*This monster is huge. And its level is so high. There's no way I can take it on. It might as well be a boss monster.* Tyler thought as he swallowed, his throat dry.
Rebecca looked down at her feet, making sure to step over the exposed root on the ground. *If it attacks, we're dead for sure. Tyler might be strong, but he can't handle a monster like this, even if I helped him, even with my new skill. I'd probably only be able to hurt it.*
She felt the stiffness set into her legs first at the knees, then climbing up through her thighs, a tightness that made each step feel like she was wading through something thicker than air, as she looked back at the boss monster. *Not to mention my legs feel like they're made of stone. Damn it, even if they didn't, I still wouldn't outrun it. My level is too low for that. But how did it get here? This doesn't make any sense. What drew it here of all places?*
*Should I just grab Rebecca and run again? I can probably outrun it, right? Even if I don't know its speed, I'm super confident in mine.*
Tyler turned his head to look at Rebecca, but his eyes widened, and he froze mid-step, one foot still hovering above the ground. His breath almost caught, but he stopped himself, forcing it out slow between his teeth.
Just above Rebecca's head, something green was slowly sliding down toward her, so similar to a vine that he almost mistook it for one. Then he recognized what he was looking at, a Vine Stalker, its head twitching slightly as it continued making its way down, the twitch running down its length in a slow ripple that traveled the full height of the trunk behind it.
Tyler still wasn't used to how long the creature was. Its body stretched high above them, almost twenty meters from end to end, and was covered in what looked like short patches of grass or algae, clumped unevenly along its length like something that had been growing there for years.
*Oh shit. Oh shit. Shit. That thing's gonna bite her. What do I do?* Tyler thought, his heart hammering faster and faster, his breath coming shorter and more uneven with every second as he watched the Vine Stalker dip lower and lower toward Rebecca. *If I tell her, will she freak out?*
"Rebecca, don't freak out, but there is a Vine Stalker coming down towards you right now," Tyler whispered, his voice barely more than a breath.
"What?" Rebecca muttered, her eyes widening as she totally froze, her whole body going rigid. Her heart rammed against her ribs so hard, it stung as soon as she had heard him say it. "Where?"
"It's on top of you," Tyler said, his eyes flicking upward for just a second before snapping back to the snake, careful not to move his head.
Immediately, his eyes shot toward the snake in front of them. Half its body had reached the ground now, its head lifted slightly and angled just inches toward Tyler, its focus fixed on him without any further movement, as if it had caught the sound of something.
Tyler's muscles tensed, ready to move at any moment, his weight already shifting onto the balls of his feet. Beside him, Rebecca's left hand closed around the hilt of her dagger, a bead of sweat forming at her hairline and sliding slowly down the side of her face.
*This is it.* Tyler thought. His brow pulled together, a faint shimmer of blue light glowing behind his pupils as he felt the mana surge throughout his body, gathering first in his chest before spreading down through his arms, every skill inside him primed and ready to activate.
The Vine Stalker was now just a foot away from Rebecca's head. It coiled back, its mouth opening wide, ready to strike. In Tyler's hand, the Teara Dagger materialized already resting in his grip, a faint blue light flickering along its edge.
The Vine Stalker hissed as it launched towards Rebecca's shoulder. Tyler threw the dagger the instant it moved, the blade crossing the distance in a blur. At the same moment, Rebecca's hand closed around her own dagger, drawing it free, but Tyler's throw had already struck it, the blade slamming into the Vine Stalker's head and pulverizing it in a burst of green pulp.
The system panel flickered into view in front of Tyler for a split second: [WHITE FANG ACTIVATED SKILL: COILING STRIKE]
On instinct, Tyler activated his coat's Rush skill together with his own, both firing at once. The energy surged through him with unbelievable force, filling his limbs until it felt like it could explode out of his skin, vibrating under it like something trying to break free. Immediately, he saw the White Fang's shifting scales go still, pressing flat against its body and locking down like tensed muscle.
Its mouth widened as it launched forward towards Rebecca. She could barely react, as it came. Tyler saw it cross the distance faster than anything should move, a blur of shifting scale and dripping green saliva. He dashed towards her and, within the nick of time, slammed both hands into her shoulders, shoving her out of the way. But before he could throw himself clear, he clenched his teeth, his eyes widening.
The boss monster's mouth was inches from him. Its teeth were white but coated in translucent green saliva, each one as long as his palm. They sank into his backside as he groaned in pain, not only from the piercing wound but also from the sheer raw power behind the strike.
Rebecca saw it happen mid-air, her eyes widening as well. All of it unfolded in the space of a second, the snake, its teeth still buried in Tyler's body, rammed him into the nearest tree with a thunderous bash. The trunk exploded into splinters as Rebecca fell to the ground.
She quickly lifted her head, ignoring the pain as adrenaline surged through her entire body, sharp and electric under her skin. Her mouth parted slightly as she saw Tyler tumbling across the ground like a ragdoll at incredible speed before ramming into a tree with his back. What shocked her even more was the tree Infront of her the one he'd struck earlier. More than half of its trunk was shattered clean through, the wood pale and splintered where the bark had been torn away, leaving it barely able to support its own weight.
She watched as the crown of the tree slowly leaned farther and farther before finally tipping and crashing down. This was the first time she'd ever seen a tree this massive, in this monster zone, come down. All the while, the snake was coiling low against the ground, its sights fixed on Tyler. Rebecca groaned as she forced herself upright, watching the enormous trunk crash down onto its side, caught partway by the branches of the taller trees around it before it could hit the ground fully.
Her eyes found Tyler again, he was struggling to rise, teeth clenched, every limb trembling under him. Blood welled from both sides of his chest, and more of it trickled steadily from the corner of his mouth.
*I have to get it's attention, otherwise he'll die,* she thought, already reaching back for an arrow. She notched it in one motion, her eyes catching the creature's head coiling back, readying itself to strike at Tyler again. She activated her skill: EXPLOSIVE ARROW. The metal tip glowed red as she drew and aimed it right behind the creature's head. The creature's mouth opened, ready to launch itself forward, but Rebecca loosed her arrow first, and it cut through the air, flying straight for it.
It was less than a meter from the creature's head when something bizarre happened.
Its scales surged toward the back of its skull all at once, bunching together into a thick, raised lump that hadn't been there a second before. The arrow struck the lump and exploded, and the creature hissed, its whole body uncoiling in one violent motion into a full circle, like a whirlpool unwinding.
Its tail caught Rebecca straight across the ribs mid motion. The impact felt like being struck with a log of rough, unyielding bark, the hard scales driving into her side with bone-jarring force. Pain flared white-hot through her chest, and something inside her gave way with a sharp snap she felt more than heard, the sound swallowed by the force of the blow.
It threw her sideways, sending her tumbling through the air like a leaf caught in a gust, before she rammed shoulder-first into the nearest tree and dropped to the ground.
She let out a wet cough, and a fine spray of blood followed it flecking the grass in front of her, dark red against the green. The copper taste of it sat thick on her tongue.
Meanwhile, Tyler was on his knees, holding himself up with both hands pressed flat into the dirt, his forearms trembling under the weight of his own body, his elbows threatening to buckle with every breath. The system panel appeared before him, reading:
[HP: 180]
*Shit. That one hit took away 100 HP. And it feels like if I get hit again, I might actually die.*
Suddenly, his heart slammed against his ribs in one hard, jarring throb that felt too close to rupturing, the force of it climbing up into his throat and ringing in his ears. His vision started closing in from the edges first, a creeping dark red bleeding inward like ink spreading through water, narrowing what he could see down to a tunnel.
Warmth trickled down from the corners of both his eyes, tracing the line of his cheekbones before dripping off his jaw, and on the ground below, a single drop of blood landed in the fresh grass.
The system panel flashed again, reading:
[WARNING: THE USER HAS BEEN ENVENOMATED]
The burn started at the two holes in his chest, a stinging heat that spread outward beneath his skin like something crawling under it, branching along his nerves until it reached his fingertips and the soles of his feet. He tumbled onto his side, his teeth grinding together so hard they ached, and his back arched as his whole body convulsed against the ground, muscles seizing and releasing in waves he couldn't control.
His eyes went wide, a groan tearing loose from somewhere low in his chest.
*It hurts. Feels like I'm burning from the inside,* he thought. The two holes in his chest had gone dry now, the edges of the wounds cracking faintly with each movement, and underneath them, deep beneath muscle, something itched in a way skin itching never should.
His hand flew to his chest, fingers clawing at it as if he could dig the feeling out with his own nails. His whole body ached, but that spot beneath his ribs carried something else entirely, a gnawing, burrowing sensation, as if something small and countless were chewing their way through the bone itself.
The system panel flashed once more:
[HP: 140]
Pain flared in Rebecca's shoulder and ribs, sharp enough to steal her breath, and the sound of the forest around her dulled to something muffled, like her ears were packed with cloth. Then something cut through it anyway.
A raw scream tearing out of Tyler and through the trees, carrying a kind of pain she had never heard from anyone before. The hair on the back of her neck rose. Her eyes went wide as she found him thrashing in the grass ahead of her, his back arching off the ground. The snake, which had been slowly creeping toward her, snapped its head around toward the sound instead, its whole body reorienting in one fluid motion. Rebecca's mouth parted slightly, her grip tightening around her bow as the realization set in.
She'd heard of this before. The creature didn't rely on sight, its hearing wasn't much better but on sound, and its tactics relied on injecting venom into its prey. That poison was said to be so painful its victims would wish for death, thrashing and screaming uncontrollably. And for the creature, that made them so much easier to track.
"No," Rebecca groaned as she pushed herself to stand, her palms digging into the dirt for leverage. But as her muscles tensed, the sharp pain in her ribs and shoulder flared hotter, spreading outward until it stole the breath from her lungs. She squeezed her eyes shut against it, jaw locking, but pushed herself up anyway. The massive snake shot forward towards Tyler, its whole body uncoiling in one fluid, terrible motion.
Its jaw snapped wide as it hissed, the sound tearing through the clearing. Rebecca felt dread drop through her like a stone, the last thread of hope for Tyler's survival slipping away with it. But through the pain, Tyler's skills were still active. Even as his body convulsed, teeth clenched, pain screaming through every nerve he had, he forced himself to move.
The Teara Dagger materialized in his hand, the faint blue light of it flickering against his knuckles. He wanted to dodge, to throw himself clear, but his body wouldn't listen. It moved on instinct instead, reacting to the pain rather than his will. In the same split second, he activated the skill CHAMBER in front of him.
A light materialized, snapping into a solid structure in an instant, and the creature's mouth rammed straight into the crimson metal, puncturing it on impact. It shrieked in pain, its head bobbing backward, tossing side to side, and one of its upper-left teeth cracked and broke away.
Rebecca's breath caught as she watched it happen. Her hand shot back toward her quiver, and she hissed at the fresh spike of pain the motion sent through her ribs, but she pulled an arrow free anyway and nocked it against her bow. She aimed for the creature's moving head, and then she remembered.
She remembered the scales rushing to shield the exact spot the last arrow had struck.
*What do I do if I just shoot, it'll shield itself again.* On the ground ahead of her, scattered scales caught the light, evidence of how many it had already lost to the first explosion. A plan formed in her mind. Her hand went back to the quiver once more, and this time she nocked two arrows together.
She activated her skill and fired. The first arrow shot toward the creature's head, but just as it was about to land, the scales rushed to cover the spot, and the arrow exploded harmlessly against the shield instead of flesh.
The creature turned toward her, and in that same instant was met by the second arrow, catching it on the side of the jaw. It struck and burst in a small white mist of snow, ice spreading out from the point of impact and sheathing half the side of the snake's head in frost.
It shrieked in irritation, thrashing its head, and Rebecca moved immediately, running left, her steps hurried but uneven, her ribs screaming with every stride. The snake slammed the frozen side of its head against a tree trunk, and the ice shattered and fell away in pale fragments.
Meanwhile, a vial of healing potion materialized in Tyler's hands. He fought the edge to a claw at his skin. He'd already seen the damage he was doing to himself, his chest was raked with scratches from his own nails, his dried blood still caked under them.
Both of his arms shook violently as he raised the vial to his mouth. He closed his eyes and swallowed the potion in one gulp, the liquid burning a trail down his throat before settling somewhere deep in his chest. Immediately, his skin glowed a faint green, and he felt the pain in his body ease back, retreating just enough for him to breathe.
The wounds on his chest closed only slightly, the edges knitting together but far from whole. He gasped, air tearing into his lungs, and threw the empty vial aside. Another materialized in his hand at once, and he put it to his mouth and drank it just as quickly. As his skin glowed again, he threw that one away too and reached for a third, drinking it as fast as his shaking hands would let him.
As the burning finally began to fade from his mouth and chest, he gasped harshly and forced himself up into a crouch. He saw the snake creeping toward where Rebecca had been, its body low and searching, but he couldn't see her among the trees.
Rebecca was hidden behind one of them, her back pressed to the bark, clutching her bow tight against her chest. She had only one arrow left in her quiver, the others had scattered to the ground each time she'd fallen, and there hadn't been time to gather them back up.
Tyler quickly activated his skill: Mana Sight. His eyes glowed a faint blue, and through the trees he could make out the shape of Rebecca's mana core, a small steady light where the rest of her was hidden from sight. *She's hiding,* he thought, his heart easing back from his throat, a thread of relief loosening something tight in his chest.
*What should I do? This thing is so much faster. If it uses that skill again, I won't be able to dodge.* Then the realization struck him, and with it came a flicker of embarrassment, the sting of feeling stupid for not thinking of it sooner.
*That's right. I have 40 points. 40 extra points just sitting there. I never even used them. It'd be like leveling up 20 times.* Immediately, with a single mental command, he dumped all 40 points into his speed, the light in his eyes intensified as he felt his body grow lighter.
His muscles tensed and hardened beneath his skin. His legs went warm, too warm, but it wasn't the burn of pain, it felt electric, exhilarating, humming up through his bones. He exploded forward, the Teara Dagger appearing in his right hand as he moved. With all his might, he rammed his right leg into the ground mid-charge, the impact pulverizing the earth beneath him into a shallow crater as he launched himself into the sky toward the creature.
The snake's head snapped around, only to be met with the Teara Dagger driving into its neck. The blade tore through its scales, ripping a jagged line across them, and the strength behind the slash alone sent the massive head bobbing backward.
His eyes widened mid-air as he saw that despite tearing through most of the scales, the wound hadn't gone deep enough to deal real damage, just beneath the torn scales, its pale, smooth, scaleless white skin showed for an instant before more scales rushed in to close over it.
He landed on the ground behind the snake, his knees bending to absorb the impact, a small burst of dust kicking up around his boots. It immediately turned its head toward him, coils shifting and dragging against the earth as the motion carried down the length of its body. At the corner of his eye, he saw Rebecca behind the tree, about 20 meters beside him, clutching her bow, staring at him wide-eyed.
She saw the faint glowing light in his eyes, and the way he had just moved, like he wasn't hurt or in as much pain as he had been moments earlier. She knew why, but it still surprised her. It almost looked like his mobility had increased even further.
Tyler redirected his attention to the snake, settling into a fighting stance and raising his dagger up in front of him. Then he caught it, a small smear of crimson, the snake's blood clinging to the blade's edge.
He remembered the dagger's skill then: the ability to reduce the creature's strength and agility by 30% while increasing his own in turn. The thought of licking the snake's blood off the blade sent a wave of revulsion through him. *Should I do it?* he thought. The creature's head coiled back, readying itself to strike.
*Fuck... I've got no choice.* He stuck out his tongue and licked the blood from the blade, the taste sharp and metallic and wrong on his tongue. At the corner of his eye, he saw Rebecca watching him, her face caught somewhere between disgust and confusion.
*Don't look at me like that,* he thought. The system panel flashed in front of him:
[RED RUSH ACTIVATED]
His energy and strength surged even higher, his chest rising with the force of it, breath catching at the sudden intensity. Then another panel followed:
[WHITE FANG ACTIVATED SKILL: COILING STRIKE]
He remembered the da