Chapter 10

Kayden weaved through the forest, running in between trees and avoiding roots, Thane followed close behind him, behind them the serpent chased after them with murderous intent, it didn't bother slipping through the trees, rather it broke them down, it's scales protecting it from any physical damage.

"I don't think... We can keep running from that thing" Kayden said, exhaustion slowly overcoming him, they couldn't leave the forest while that monster chased them unless they would endanger the lives of humans.

"Yeah, you're right" Thane responded, "Let's part ways for now to confuse the serpent" he continued then ran towards his left, Kayden followed his right not knowing exactly where he was running, he looked behind him and his heart dropped to his belly.

"Shit, why me?" He ran even faster, the serpent had ignored Thane and focused completely on him, it became even faster, aggressive, felling down trees and crushing rocks with its massive steel plated body.

Not knowing what else to do, Kayden filled his body with soul essence, covering himself from head to toe, he gave out a light blue hue that outlined his body, and focusing on his legs he bolted even further from the serpent, leaving it in mere seconds.

He was sure the serpent had lost sight of him but, "That damned tongue" he cursed, he knew the characteristics of most monsters, when it came to serpents, they were able to taste the scent of things in the air, especially the human scent.

He found a huge sentinel tree ahead of him, the tree seemed isolated and sturdy enough that the serpent couldn't break unless it wrapped its entire body around it, he sped up and grabbed the lowest branch of the tree, climbing as quickly as he could, he climbed till he reached the highest point, where the wind blew harder.

He hoped that by climbing up this far, the wind would disperse his scent leaving the Serpent confused for a bit longer, he sat on a huge branch comfortably as he waited for the serpent, a few moments later the Serpent slithered through, its red eyes shone bright in the night, searching, looking for a trace of Kayden.

Kayden sat on top of the sentinel tree, he was confident enough that the serpent couldn't snap this tree like it did to the others but he wasn't very keen on testing his luck, fortunately for him, the serpent slithered around the other trees, bringing out it's tongue at short intervals.

The serpent seemed to search everywhere except the tree Kayden sat on, he sat down watching the serpent as it circled the tree but never coming close to it, just when Kayden breathed out in relief, his eyes met the blood-red eyes of the serpent, it opened it's maw baring it's fangs at him, how the serpent has spotted Kayden from there he had no idea.

"What to do...." Kayden thought impatiently, at the corner of his eye, he caught a silver reflection, somewhere deep in the forest, it shone again at a different location as if changing positions, Kayden realized it was Thane running towards him, or rather towards the serpent.

"Shit, he can't attack it" he spoke softly to himself, Kayden began climbing down from branch to branch, going lower in hopes that Thane could spot him before the Serpent did.

The Serpent's eyes were still fixated on Kayden, they watched him closely as he climbed down from branch to branch, readying itself to attack but not going closer to the sentinel tree.

Not knowing why the serpent wouldn't come closer, he lowered himself to the branch closest to the serpent, it was as close as he dared, and he hoped Thane had a plan for dealing with the monster.

Thane brandished his sword then muttered a few words under his breath, suddenly a gust of wind carried Thane from where he stood high up in the air, without caring for the consequences, he added another elemental attack, a killer of fire surrounded his blade as he brought it down with all of his might.

His plan wasn't to kill the Serpent or break its impenetrable scale, it was something much different, Kayden saw this and grinned at Thane's ingenuity, Thane brought down his blade with all his might, bringing it down into the left eye of the Serpent.

The Serpent who had been focused on Kayden, noticed Thane's presence a bit too late, Thane lodged his weapon into the ruby eyes of the scaled monster, and he drove it even deeper with all its might, making sure he had blinded the monster.

The serpent thrashed about flinging Thane towards a nearby tree, it rolled about screaming in pain, as black blood flowed from the place where its eye had once been, Thane's sword still lodged there gave the monster an even eerie appearance.

Kayden excitedly looked for Thane, he saw him hiding in the bushes, running even further from the serpent.

"Where are you going..." He said to himself, Thane just couldn't leave him to finish off a monster of this size, especially now that it looked even more aggressive, it thrashed about spitting trees in half with its tail, searching for Thane, its bloodlust growing thicker and thicker.

He finally understood what Thane had intended, the plan wasn't to kill the Serpent but if we took away its sight, we had a better chance of escaping, Kayden drew his Odachi blade, the blade that had been given to him by Tharros, the only last thing he had left to remind him of the dead Master.

"Here goes nothing" Kayden breathed in deeply 

"Thaaaaane" he shouted at the top of his lungs, he hoped the sound would be enough to distract the Serpent, turning its direction towards me, he knew he couldn't repeat the same kind of attack that Thane did, but he would try something similar.

He unleashed the full power of his soul core, washing him in the glorious blue aura of lightning itself, it was still a new power to him he couldn't control it, not even by half but in desperate times like these, he had no choice but to go all out.

Thane who had heard his name being shouted turned back to look at his fool of a friend, unmistakenly he saw Kayden, but a different Kayden, one who had evolved into something stronger, something he had always wanted to be.

The Serpent's attention turned back to Kayden, he filled every part of his body with Lightning, he knew it would exhaust his soul essence quickly, but what other choice did they have, he screamed and jumped from the branch where he was aiming his Odachi towards the second ruby eye that shone in the darkness.

The Serpent reacted differently this time around, as if seeing through its attack, it bent its head down to the ground and lifted its tail, ready to smash Kayden with as much strength as it could gather.

Kayden smiled at this, it had been what he expected, the only advantage he had between him and Thane was solely his speed and nothing else, he saw the huge tail of the serpent coming, and he knew how hard it would be to change trajectory while mid air.

Very carefully, he knew if his timing went off by a heartbeat, he would be dead, as soon as his heel made constant with the scale of the serpent, he poured most of his essence to his feet, making him as fast as lightning, he sped from the scale of the Serpent, launching himself back to the base of the sentinel tree.

Without wasting a single breath, he shot forward again at the serpent, balanced his blade in front of him, and the tip raised before him as he sped up even faster, driving the blade into the second eye of the serpent.

Then he released all of his energy that he had been rotating violently at his core, he directed all that energy into his fist and then his blade, he screamed as he drove the sword even deeper than Thane had

The Serpent screamed with all its might turning about before using its tail to smash Kayden into a nearby tree, he coughed blood as his back was slammed into a tree, he felt a few ribs break at the force of the impact, he knew everything had happened in less than five heartbeats but he had expanded almost all his energy, Kayden and the Serpent lay on the ground, neither moved not made a sound as the ground soaked up the blood of the serpent.