14 RACE

….And the two warmed up to battle in stride. An hour passed in a series of skirmishes and long distance tracking. Larger snakes, smaller birds and other fauna of the wild came and went in waves. But the only ones to fall before the lopsided reverse arrow enthusiasts, were the ones to take the bait.

A ten foot tall plated-snake slithered around a small grove of especially large redwood trees, absent of megatherium climbers above. More than likely because it killed them already…

That would explain its near comical girth, making it look more like an armored slug than a snake.

The beast was well fed and on the hunt still, slithering low to the ground— camoflauged as a moving colony of rocks, with its forked pink tongue erect as to not arouse suspicion from any unsuspecting prey.

Even as lightning bolts split the clouded sky and fires burnt trees in the distance, the hunt continued.

Its body went rigid suddenly. The stone-like keratin plating on its back split into wider spaced sections as it rose and opened its eyes. Reptilian yellow slits zeroed in on the armored carcass of meat laying in the grass ahead.

The black and leather knights armor was of low quality and beat to all hell. The blood inside was fresh. Warm. If the snake had a more developed mind it would've further understood such a death only made sense. Even from the armor, the knight looked poor and weak.

Definitely not gear belonging to a child of one of the strongest men to walk the earth and breach the Tangents…

The snake lunged, muscles moving like wheels in a skin-suit. Rolling and sliding and flexing in perfect unbreakable unison.

In one powerful movement, the reptilian beast smacked its barbed tail against the earth and leapt, descending on the armor like scaled lightning.

In seconds it was biting and tearing open the armor to eat the fleshy bits of human remains inside.

In the midst of the euphoric meal, a twig snapped. Breaths caught. The absence of them highlighting that they were ever there.

The snake rose from its finished meal. Still so hungry.

"Oh what the hell!" Ursula hopped out from behind her tree twenty feet away from the snake and threw her axe.

The angle was awkward. The axe bit into the space between its back and frontside, doing little more than itching the skin beneath its armor plating.

"Your turn!" Ursula took the chance to keep its attention and alert her teammate at the same time.

The snake's mouth hung open and its fangs unfurled, freshly coated in bile-saliv—

Claude stepped out from behind Ursula. Further away but directly in front of the snake.

"HEY! Look at me!" Claude yelled and raised his spear, launching the unbalanced weapon from freshly warmed muscles.

The spear whistled through the air, blurring past the dozens of trees to sink into the snakes chest.

The snake dropped its head in a defensive reaction and twisted, swinging its barbed tail into the trees. At the same time, Claude's spear flew off into the distance.

Splintered shards of wood flew like bullet fire until massive chunks were missing from at least twenty trees.

Claude stood behind his tree, weaponless aside from Warren's bow and quiver. Trying his best to safely pull a shard of wood out of his shoulder.

"Dammit!"

Ursula roared, pulling the snakes attention back to herself as she charged from the opposite side.

Instead of going for the snake, she went for the trees, putting all her strength into a heavy shoulder charge.

She wore no armor. Just her black sleeveless leather top, boots and leggings. Even so, she hit the tree hard. Hard enough for the bark to split her skin as she hit the tree and it tipped over.

The tree fell until it crashed into the next structurally compromised tree.

The wooden monoliths fell like dominoes all around the snake until the closest one crashed into the snake— splitting the armor on its head, and nailing it to the floor. It slithered and thrashed, causing the fallen logs to rustle and roll as it slowly made its way out.

Claude came in from the left with an arrow already on the string of Warren's bow. He pulled until the wood strained and the veins in his bicep and back looked ready to burst. Then he fired at point blank range.

The snake reacted violently. Claude disengaged.

Ursula charged from the front, yelling like a madman as she jumped with her axe raised and brought it down on the snakes head.

The snake jolted once and died from the impact.

Claude and Ursula stood in the silence. Shoulders oozing bright red blood and chests heaving.

"What is that, four?"

Claude wiped sweat from his thick brows, "Four and a half….. that one that got buried up to its neck in frozen earth wasn't completely dead until we finished the job."

Claude could practically hear Ursula's jaws clench— teeth grinding like the gears in a machine absent of oil and steeped in the grime of circumstantial rage.

"Dammit! This can't be it. We won't be here much longer….." Ursula huffed.

Light flashed.

"Correct. We won't." Mr. Raizen replied from behind them.

They both spun around and found the man standing with Warren held beside him by the back of his poncho. "I come bearing gifts." He commented.

Warren smiled awkwardly, blinking frantically as the sweat beads ran down his forehead.

Mr Raizen looked them both over once. Seemingly sympathizing with the struggles they endured over the past hour— but ultimately still looking down on them.

"Xander's been Reborn as an Elemental Mage. Emma has also been Reborn…. But that's a whole new can of worms. They've already taken down ten snakes. After this, Claude, I'll have to ease up on you. Doctors orders. Ursula, your father will have my balls in a solar oven if I ever try this again….. I prefer my sack uncooked. Like the rest of my body. So, you two are in a race against time. A race for power. Be faster, or lose." Mr. Raizen shoved Warren into them.

The two caught him by one arm each and watched Mr. Raizen bolt out of sight in a flash of lightning.

"I'm going to get my spear…" Claude mumbled and walked off.

When he returned, Ursula was just setting Warren down and dusting off his shoulders. She turned to Claude and waved him over.

"Let me see this." Ursula said as she reached for the bow and quiver on Claude and shoved it into Warren's chest— more playfully than angry. "I think you dropped this."

Warren's awkward smile faded. "I..." His eyes wandered to the dead snake under a dozen toppled trees beside them. "They're so much bigger in real life. How…. How is something like that alive?"

"You know how." Claude replied as he looked around the redwoods.

Warren went silent after that. Because he did.

Ursula shuffled back into her armor in the silence. Cursing at how broken her chest plate and left gauntlet was.

"You know, Mr. Raizen was right…. Don't you?" Ursula suddenly said.

Claude nodded, feeling her eyes on him as his mind worked.

"So why aren't we moving?" Ursula questioned.

"Because we can run down snake after snake for hours. We won't be Reborn. That won't do it. At least…. I don't think." Claude said.

Ursula didn't reply, urging him to continue.

"Look at us." Claude threw his arms up, "We look like we ran a mile and tripped a couple of times along the way."

Ursula looked down at her shoulder wound.

"We need to push ourselves harder. Forget the bait, forget the targeting weak and solitary snakes. We need a war." Claude said as he took the chunks of meat out of his pocket and threw them off into the deeper woodland.

Warren looked between them "I feel like I missed something—"

"Shut up." Claude and Ursula said in unison.

"You cooking up another insane idea? Don't keep secrets with me, I hate suspense." Ursula unsheathed her axes in anticipation like a wolf curling its lips back in a show of fangs.

Claude flipped his spear as he spoke, "This is an Infested Area. Meaning these snakes came from a Tangent…."

"Meaning there's a Boss." Ursula finished.

Warren looked ready to collapse, "Aweee damn!—"

"But doesn't this seem more like a Horde-Type Tangent?" Ursula questioned.

Claude shrugged, "If it's been long enough, they could've just bred here to build these numbers. It's a gamble, but like you said…."

"We're out of time." Ursula finished, again. "So…. How do we find a plated-snake Tangent Boss in the wild?"

"You find the den." Claude replied.