The demon's Princess: Snakes and an angry Berserker

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE.

DAY 6

GOLD: 8,050.

SATURDAY.

Tyler woke to the sight of Rias in his bedroll. The redheaded beauty had wrapped her long arms around his back and shoved her face into his chest while he'd wrapped her head in his arms in a protective embrace. He smiled at the warmth she gave off and the way she looked asleep in his arms. he stroked her long, blood red hair and she woke with a smile.

"Morning Tyler."

"Mornin Rias. You okay?"

She nodded with a warm smile and sparkling blue eyes.

"Yeah. I....needed that."

"I gotchyer back too."

She hugged him harder.

"Thank you."

"Sure thing Rias."

He held her for a moment longer before the pair got out of bed to face the day. Tyler donned his coat as Rias got dressed. Once they were the pair left the tent where Rias was dragged away by Akeno, Belfast, and Asuna. Asia appeared beside the warrior all smiles as he relit the fire.

"Morning Asia."

She hugged him sweetly and he patted her fondly. Then she looked at him.

"So what'd Rias want?"

"She just needed a hug."

"Oh. Kay!"

He chuckled at her sweetness as the camp came to life. The friends had a breakfast of leftover deermeat and water before they were made to go through their usual duels and magical practice. Rias returned to him with a tired smile and the warrior chuckled.

"The girls take you for a ride rias?"

"Shut up."

"Ha."

Victoria was heard then after mana was replenshed.

"BREAK camp Maggots!"

Tyler chuckled as they readied for another day on the trail. He mounted Shadow 15 minutes later and they were thundering along the road. The purple haired Victoria looked at him.

"The training in the forest will be each of you given to a ranger for the three day period. They will teach you how to survive in the wilderness. Them we will return to Berun for a day and then set off for Dunrick."

"Sounds fun."

The knight captain smirked at that one as they passed a merchant caravan on the road.

"You say that now."

Tyler chuckled before he focused on the road ahead.

"So that merchant caravan."

"They travel from city to city as supplylines."

"Huh. And the fact they were carrying more weapons then dry goods?"

The knight captain chuckled.

"You have a keen eye. That was a Military Caravan. They deal in weapons and armor."

"Ah. Neat trick."

Rias appeared beside him and he smiled at the red unicorn she rode and the way her hair was strewn out behind her in the wind.

"Huh. I always had you figured for a unicorn girl Rias."

she smirked at that.

"I will set you on fire."

Tyler looked forward now and blinked as a dark smudge appeared on the horizon and was rapidly approaching.

"That the forest, Victoria?"

"It is. Wilder forest. The road turns so we'll be going straight across some level ground."

"Got it."

Tyler patted Shadow and the immense Morbol tossed his head in acknowledgment. wilder forest reared up before them after a few hours with an oddly forboding aura. The warrior noting the trunks of the trees were easily 6 feet thick at the smallest and well over a 100 at the medium. The canopy soared high over their heads at heights exceeding 500 feet and he looked at Rias.

"I am getting Sequioa and Fangorn forest feelings from this forest at the same damn time."

Victoria looked at him sharply now.

"That name. Fangorn. Did you hear it here?"

He blinked.

"no. It's the name of a forest from a book in my world."

She nodded.

"You do not lie. That is the name of the Drakin Homeland. If you hear mention of it in Berun, alert the guard as a spy is inside the city."

"Noted."

Victoria refocused on the forest.

"Alright Maggots. we enter the trees double file. If you get lost, you're lost until we feel like finding you. MOVE out."

Tyler followed the knight captain through the fringe into the forest. Shadow huffed at the shift from sunny grassland to sunlight forest and Rias smiled at the shade.

"That feels better."

Asuna was looking around at the woodland curiously.

"I kinda feel like we're being watched."

Tyler chuckled as he waved at a shadow on a tree limb overhead. The shadow vanished and so did a large number of similar shadows around them.

"We are. There be Rangers up there."

The redheaded wife to Kirito blinked as she started picking out the shapes herself now.

"Wow. That's impressive."

Tyler chuckled as he piled Shadow through the undergrowth and around the immense trees. Victoria smirked as a few heroes were grumbling about nearly riding into a tree or getting caught in a branch or brushing up against a tree.

"Rookies."

Tyler noted a large white rabbit sitting on some moss nibbling on a fern in the open. He looked at Rias.

"I guess there's not a lot of active predators in this area."

She looked at him as her unicorn navigated with ease.

"How do you know?"

HE nodded to the fat rabbit.

"If there were, that rabbit would not be so arrogant as to sit in the open like that. It's a pure white rabbit, Rias. So in a forest of green, brown and some yellow, white sticks out like a sore thumb. did you not see how big it was?"

"I did?"

"It's well fed and from the way it's coat shined was healthy. Plus young too. There is no way such a basic prey animal like a rabbit should get to that size unless there were no active predators like fox or wolf or coyot in the area. Rabbits are base prey just above mice and moles."

She looked at the fat rabbit with new eyes now.

"Wow. A single rabbit you haven't killed told you that?"

"Be amazed what the base of a food chain can teach you about the top."

Victoria smiled approvingly.

"So you DO know about the forest. Impressive Maggot."

"Most of my knowledge came from books, Victoria."

"Ah. An admirable thing, seeking knowledge out. Now you'll learn to put it into practice."

Rias looked at her friend curiously.

"why were you researching the forest, Tyler? School project?"

"NAh. I used to write a lot and some of my favorite worlds to create were fantasy style. So I collected a lot of books and references on the forest for help with mine."

"Huh. I wanna read em sometime."

"I get a boon from some god or goddess or whatever I'll ask."

She smiled at that....then smirked.

"I just remembered something."

"Yes, I used your characters for my stories."

"Okay. NOW I AM going to ask for them too."

"Coolio."

He smiled at the thought of Rias reading his stories about her before the force entered a large meadow complete with a river flowing through it. Victoria nodded.

"Make camp. This will be your new home for the next three days."

The group of heroes got to work with a will pitching their tents in the flatland meadow by the river. Tyler set his nearest the bubbling water and noted the presence of fish inside it. That knowledge made him smile and he looked at Rias as she set her tent.

"We'll be able to do some fishing in the river."

"Never fished before. Sounds fun."

"I'll be sure to teach you."

Camp was pitched in fifteen minutes and Tyler went to the edge of the forest looking at different trees before he stopped at one tall specimen.

"You'll do. Hey, Kirito, mind giving me a hand with this?"

The other boy in black came over with a wood axe.

"Find a good one?"

Tyler nodded as he looked at the 80 foot tall tree.

"It's a balsam fir. The needles smell simply divine when burned and same with the wood. I spotted three more but this one here's the biggest."

"I've only ever done this in deep dive."

"The basic concept is the same. When we get deep into the wood, I'll have you back up and I'll drop it. had a few friends die when dropping trees."

"I gotchya."

Tyler cleared the base of the tree of brush and branches as Kirito paid attention.

"Alright. Find your rythim, and for gods sakes don't hit me."

"Ha."

Tyler swung his woodaxe at the tree and the steel head bit deep into the bark.

"Switch."

Kirito was there with his own axe and the two men worked in tandem to carve a deep V into the trunk. Tyler kept close watch on the depth of the cut until he nodded.

"Drop back and be ready to jump."

Kirito nodded as Tyler took the other side of the tree now and got to work hacking at the still solid rear trunk. The warrior smiled as he worked a second, lower cut in the wood to try to make the tree fall AWAY from the camp. Once his cut was deep enough he took some rocks from the riverbank and wedged them in the first cut. He then used the back of his axe to tap them deeper into the cut until there was a loud crack and Tyler watched the tip wobble.

"TIMBER!"

The tree fell away from the camp into a clean lane between other trees with a crash of timbers and snapping branches. The trunk now had a wedge shaped slab of wood and Tyler smiled as he looked at Kirito.

"Alright. We'll get this one back to camp. Should have enough here for a few days."

Kirito chuckled as the two slung ropes around the thicker branches close to the trunk.

"So you're a lumberjack too."

"Northern American small town in the mountains."

"Ah."

The two boys dragged the tree into the center of the camp where a few girls all threw wolf whistles and leers at the sight and Tyler looked at them chuckling.

"YOU guys get the next one."

The whistles turned to chuckles as Asuna came over with a hatchet.

"Where do ya want me?"

"We'll trim the branches and use em as kindling. You start with Kirito on that side. I got this side with Belfast."

The silver haired maid smiled as she was given a hatchet.

"I will assist."

The four friends worked under Tyler's calm direction to properly trim the tree to the trunk of it's sweetly smelling branches. Once they were collected he had them build a large pile in the center of the camp on a patch of sand.

"The scent of smoke and flames will keep insects away from a solid thirty meters from the base of the fire. Bigger the fire, bigger the area."

The ladies appreicated THAT wily ploy as a grand bonfire pile was constructed of the pine branches from the upper broughs. Tyler threw the match and the pile went up with a whoosh.

"Alright. round the clock maintence and supervision. If that fire goes, the entire woodland goes. And we wouldn't be able to outrun it. Any questions?"

He got crickets.

"Good. Now the trunk itself."

The 80 feet of trunk was cut into a mass of 1 foot logs that was then divvyed to the rest of the camp. Victoria came over once the last log was divvyed with an approving smile on her face.

"That was a very clean felling Tyler. And not even a single twig was wasted. MOST impressive."

He chuckled.

"Thanks Victoria. Cause we need one more for a well supplied camp."

She nodded approvingly.

"Indeed you do. That trick with the fire though. That is a new one."

Tyler chuckled before he looked at the camp.

"Rias, Asia, and Asuna. we're going for the next tree."

The ladies followed him with a smirk to the next 80 footer and he taught them the proper way to fell a fully grown fir tree. This one was also divvyed among the heroes and the top branches added to the fuel for the bonfire. Tyler then went to the river where he took the fishing pole from his equipment and some worms from the ground and set the hook. Rias came over with a smile as he flicked the line in the water.

"Hello Ranger Rick."

"Ha. Hello BloodY Riding Hood."

"Oh that was kinda clever. I guess."

She sat beside him as he worked the line.

"This is fun."

He smiled as she settled on a rock beside him.

"It is. It'll get miserable soon enough."

She smiled at that as the line dipped down,

"Gotchya."

Tyler tugged on the line and the fight was on. The warrior was on his feet as he worked the reel for the fish before he pulled a 2 foot rainbow trout from the water. He smiled at the catch and set the fish on a metal hook for keeping. Rias smiled.

"Nice catch."

"Thanks."

Victoria came over now as he rebaited the hook.

"Can you FLAY it though?"

"I CAN but I'm not the best."

"And that is why you will be taught by the best. How many are you going for?"

"Hmm. I'm thinking four of good size for me and the girls."

"No more then four. In all."

"Gotchya."

Rias looked at him curiously as he worked the line.

"why so few?"

He smiled.

"Rules of the Rangers I guess. Our worlds destoryed our greenry. Let's try to NOT be as bad here."

"Ah."

"GOTCHYA BITCH."

He pulled on the line and scored a 3 foot pike that made Rias whistle as he set the river predator on the metal hook.

"damn dude."

"I got luck with this."

He set the line back in the water as Belfast came over smelling of pine smoke. she smiled as she saw the warrior with the line in the water.

"A man of many skills I see."

He chuckled as she sat beside him.

"Not bad on the tree Belfast."

"Thank you. My hands are sore though."

"If you wanna rinse them in the river use a spot lower then where I'm fishing."

"I will do so. And BATHS?"

"THOSE I'm afraid will have to wait. Less you wanna show off."

She sighed at this.

"An adjustment is needed then. Oh dear."

Rias smiled understandingly at her fellow girl.

"We'll be fine Belfast. I'm SURE he'll figure something out. RIGHT TYLER?"

"come here you fish."

He pulled another 2 foot rainbow trout from the river and set the third catch on his hook.

"You DO know we won't be so lucky as to have a bath every day, right? I mean, we ARE in a fantasy world, and are ADVENTURERS in it, right?"

Rias smiled thinly with a glint in her eyes.

"Soooo you CAN'T figure something out?"

He looked her in the eye.

"I probably could if I wanted to, but cut the shit with the manipulation and guilt trip."

Rias blinked at THAT coldness. Then sighed.

"Sorry."

"Better. I HATE that crap with a passion. If you want my help just ASK."

She nodded with regret in her eyes and Belfast nudged him.

"A little harsh don't you think?"

He sighed.

"I guess. I HATE people that tricks like that bitterly. If you don't have the decency to ask em straight out and have to resort to mindgames, I don't want to know you."

The silver haired girl frowned.

"YOU use mindgames on us all the time."

"Yet when i ask you for something, do I not just say it straight out?"

"you do. Yet she was not serious?"

"That FIRST one yes, she was fucking around. The SECOND she was dead on serious."

Rias had a shamed smile on her face as she looked at him.

"Sorry. Can you try and figure something out, please?"

He sighed and pulled his last trout out.

"There's a bend in the river down that way with a small overhang. Put a cloak or something over the edge on this side and we can't see."

Rias smiled in relief.

"Oh thank hell. Thanks Tyler!"

"Yeah sure go on."

The redheaded girl smiled at that grumble before she and a few of the ladies went to the indicated spot for a deep cleaning. Belfast stayed beside him and looked at him.

"Residue?"

"More a pet peeve."

"Ah. Understandable. I will remember."

He nodded as he took the fish over with a knife. Victoria appeared then with a smirk.

"Your Ranger is here Tyler."

He looked up at that and a tall lady with spear tipped ears stepped from her shadow. She was Tyler's height with foot length brown hair the color of chocolate while her frame was very slender. Her face was angular and her eyes a deep emerald green. Her skin was pale and her bust large on her narrow chest. Her attire was a set of leather armors with a set of shortswords on her hips and a massive bow on her back. A black cloak of fur hung from her shoulders and she noted the fish on the hook and spoke in a soft, whispery breath.

"I see you had luck in the Wild River, Berserker. And have skill in woodland felling as well."

Tyler smiled at the elf.

"I'm from a mountain town so a I know a few things here an there."

She sat across from him with a cross legged posture.

"I am known as Strand. I will instruct you in the ways of the Ranger. Now. Let me see how you handle the knife."

Belfast watched as Tyler flayed the fish to the best of his knowledge and Strand nodded as he finished.

"A novice in knifework with a promising base. watch well."

She flayed the pike with her bare hands and he watched the way she did so. Then he copied it to perfection with the remainder of the fish and Strand nodded once he finished.

"A fast learner with fish. Let us see how you fare against something a bit bigger and likes to run. You are to go hunting in the forest and return with a buck."

Tyler chuckled as he cleaned his hands in the river at a place below his fishing hole.

"Sure."

BElfast met her Ranger now, a well built elven woman with golden hair that appeared from her shadow. All the heroes were surprised in such manners as the warrior took his bow and arrows before moving into the trees. The forest was alive and well with the sounds of nature as the warrior left the camp behind. Be just my luck to come across a wendigo or something like that on my first hunt. he looked at the ground seeking anything of interest but sighed as he remembered he didn't know the first thing of tracking. I can track a person through a city easily enough. But a deer through a forest? Not so much. He moved without a sound through the underbrush seeking prey when he came out into a sandy floored clearing and he looked at the thing curiously. The clearing was enshrouded by the canopy above with flecks of light covering the white sand of the floor while the rim was a bit TOO perfect of a circle for Tyler's tastes. He frowned and took a rock from the dirt and tossed it onto the sand. There was a soft thud before the sand roiled like water at sea and a set of teeth appeared from the edges to snap up the rock and drag it under. Tyler blinked at this discovery.

"A SAND WORM? Oh jesus that is not fair. Okay."

He put the bow up and pulled his greatsword as he pried a second rock from the ground and tossed it into the sand. the teeth appeared and Tyler stabbed the sand in the spot between the teeth and grass with the azurite sword. there was an instant bellow of pain as the snady clearing exploded from a 10 foot wide worm with shark's teeth surged out to attack the warrior.

"FIREBOLT!"

He sent his serious spell into the maw of the rushing worm and the thing exploded inside it's mouth. The worm roared in pain and Tyler rushed it with a wild roar and slammed his greatsword into the side of the thing. The sword cut deep and he redoubled his efforts before slicing the mouth of the worm CLEAN off it's frame. The worm's parts dropped to the ground with thuds and Tyler dropped back into a fresh stance as the thing didn't move.

"Okay. what's down there?"

He used his lance to stab the flesh of the exposed worm and drag it from the hole. Only to discover the worm was EASILY 300 feet long! And a disgusting puke green as he left the mass by the ten foot hole in te forest floor. He frowned as he looked into the hole.

"I REALLY wanna see what's down there."

"A Sand Worm? HERE?"

Strand appeared beside him then and he looked at the shocked Ranger.

"Yeah I found a clearing and it seemed TOO perfect a circle."

The elf nodded as she approached the hole.

"A unsettling discovery. This worm JUST arrived not even hours ago. I searched this region myself the morning prior. The den will be searched."

"Ooookay. HOW?"

she smiled and leapt into the hole. Tyler watched as the elven ranger dropped into the darkness and he sighed.

"Why'd I even bother?"

He leapt in after her. The hole was ten feet wide and so allowed for a clean drop. Tyler noting the walls were cleanly cut and silky smooth as he dropped to the bottom of the pit a solid 40 feet below. he landed in a roll and found Strand waiting for him with her shortswords out.

"You didn't hesitate to join me down here."

"Yeeeah if I'd walked away it'd bug me."

"Amusing. And your weapon?"

He took the thus far unused cutlass and she nodded.

"Suitable. Come. We MUST find it's young or HOW it got into the forest."

Tyler looked at the ground under his boots and noted the floor was pure white sand. While all around them was solid rock and brown dirt.

"Follow the sand."

She nodded and they set off along the tunnel that was perfectly round to the point it was a little disorienting. The walls of the tunnel were perfectly smooth and had a shine from the smoothness. Tyler frowned as he found it to be well lit down there.

"Where's the light coming from?"

The ranger didn't look away from the end of the tunnel as she explained.

"The secretions of the worm have illumintive properties. Their fluids are used in lamps you see."

"Flammable?"

"EXTREMELY."

"explains why it exploded like it did. So if I drop a firebolt in here,"

"It'll kill us both. AND set off a massive explosion."

He nodded as they followed the tunnel. The warrior looked at the walls of the tunnel curiously when he spotted a glitter.

"Hey is that gold?"

Strand smiled as she saw the mineral.

"It is indeed. And we will send in a team to collect it later."

"Cool."

The pair followed the tunnel through the underground for another hour until Tyler noted something in the rock.

"There's moisture in th rock, Strand."

She looked and he pointed out some cracking in the stone above their heads.

"We're under a water source. A BIG one too. Those are stress cracks. This entire cave is going to give at some point in the future without support."

She frowned.

"There ARE no water sources overhead, Tyler. We're underneath the road."

"Got a map handy?"

She unrolled an enchanted map of the region and Tyler smiled as he noticed something.

"Okay. see this here? How the lines evenly spread apart?"

"I do."

"Now as you follow them, they bunch up EVER so slightly along this line here?"

"I see it?"

"That's an underground river. When lines like that bunch up for no good reason, there's two reasons: One is an unopened cave, the other is an underground river. from the size of the bunching we're looking at a 50 foot wide stretch."

Strand looked at him in mild shock.

"HOW are you able to know this from a mere map?"

"My world is very scientific. And this is the method they use to figure out why caveins happen or why sinkholes appear."

"I see. we shall away from here and inform the Queendom. That river must be searched."

They nodded and Tyler looked down the tunnel again.

"Hang on."

He set the map down with the orientation following the tunnel. He looked down the tunnel.

"So THAT'S their play? Strand, look down the tunnel. and look what direction it came from."

She did and blinked.

"That's the direction of the border with Malik! A FREE nation!"

"HA. And the indents go that way. Which means, SOMEONE is using the underground to sneak around the queendom."

The Ranger nodded gravely.

"I see your logic and agree with your reasoning. The Dwarven Guilds will be informed and their sappers deployed."

"Nothing more we can do down here, Strand."

"No there is not."

The pair returned to the surface and Tyler looked at her.

"You go raise the alarm, I'll get back to it."

She nodded.

"Underground you are MOST knowledgable. ABOVE IT you need work."

He chuckled and they split. Him on his hunt and her to make her report. Using sand worms to travel underground out of reach of most of the army. If the Drakens wanted to they could invade the Queendom captial from underground and the country would NEVER see it coming. So WHY haven't they done it already? Hmm. He frowned at the question as he stopped to look at the ground. It COULD be as simple as they JUST thought of it. Strategies like that are the kind are usually dismissed at the very beginning of a campaign due to how farfetched they are. Yet are adopted and attempted when the advance has been bogged down for too long. The second option is it's NOT the Drakens at all but the work of another faction entirely. which in turn means the Queendom has mroe enemies then they know. He shrugged at that as he walked along the forest seeking a deer. Nothing I can do about that right now. So I'll just get stronger. A twig snapped to his right and he looked over to see a full grown white tailed buck nibbling at a laden apple tree. the magnificent animal had it's side to him and he did not waste the open opportunity. He fired his arrow and the round took the deer in the shoulder. The animal kicked befre dropping to the ground the next instant.

"Bulls eye."

He walked over to the large animal with a smile and Strand stepped out from behind a tree with a smile.

"Well shot and well killed. Now, skin it."

"THAT I DON'T know how to do."

"watch."

She taught him the proper manner to skin a fully grown white tailed deer and Tyler paid exacting attention as she made him hunt down a second for his own practice. Then he was to return to the camp without any aid in direction. Thankfully his sense of direction was up to the task and he found his way back to camp without issue. The place was awash with the sweet scent of pine smoke from the still blazing bonfire in the center and the rest of the heroes were all groaning from their first day in the woods. Tyler chuckled as he returned to his tent to find a sore footed Rias and Belfast waiting for him by his own fire. The redhead had her boots off and was warming her bare feet on the flames with Belfast beside her. They smiled as the laden warrior joined them.

"Hey."

"Hey Rias. Looks like you worked hard."

She chuckled tiredly.

"Never had to track a deer before."

Belfast nodded ruefully.

"Nor I skin one. YOUR fare?"

"Yeah about that. The Underground is moving."

They nodded and Rias leaned in his ear.

"Tell me everything."

He told the tale and the redhead frowned as he finished.

"An underground highway that hasn't been used to attack the Queendom yet? That doesn't make any sense."

Belfast frowned as well.

"Perhaps a supplyline for a surprise campaign?"

Tyler frowned as well.

"I thought that at first, Belfast. But the tunnel was a mere ten feet wide and ten tall. The usual wagon is 15 and the tunnel would be wide enough for four abreast at best. Plus the unstable nature of the cave as a whole? It would be a death sentence for any major forces sent through."

Rias nodded as he set meat to the grate.

"It doesn't make any sense. especially given it's location. The middle of a forest? really?"

"And a RANGER forest no less. Unless they're keeping tabs on the heroes' training that is. THNE it makes sense."

The trio sighed at that possibility and Tyler shrugged.

"Nothing we can do about it right now. We'll get stronger and go from there."

The ladies nodded and he pulled his Status PLate.

"Hm. HAlf way to another level up."

The ladies checked theirs and Rias smirked.

"I'm three quarters to my first."

"As am i dear. it seems he has more experience then us."

"Well, I DID spend all that time fighting in the arena and in streetfights. Makes sense."

They chuckled at that one as the deer meat was flipped and the water divvyed. Tyler took a dip in the river at the curve before he returned for dinner. He and his friends enjoyed their meal together before he took his place at the front of the camp as first watch. He smiled as the camp settled behind him and looked at the sky at the masses of stars and four moons that decorated the blackdrop of the night. Stars as far as he could see made up a mesmerizing cloud he wished he was seeing with Seria. But he knew his Princess was back in Berun looking at the sky as well from her chambers.

"I'll be back soon, Seria."

The whispered words got no response but he smiled at the way they made him feel before he turned to his statue of Armor imitation for his shift. His shift passed in a few hours and he was relieved by an unnerved Kirito. Tyler chuckled as the Black Swordsman shivered from his passing.

"The dark is MY lair."

"Dude you are CREEPY sometimes."

"Aww thanks!"

"Greeeat. No sleep for me tonight."

Tyler chuckled as he went to his tent and found Asia inside it for some freakin reason. the bubbly blonde smiled as he walked in.

"Surprise!"

"Ha. always nice snuggling with a sexy blonde."

She smiled and he noted she was naked under the bedroll.

"Yup!"

He chuckled as he laid beside her and she affectionate girl wasted no time in snuggling right up against him. he wrapped her in his arms and she smiled as she got comfy.

"Aww better! Night Tyler!"

"Night Glowball."

"Hey."

"What? You're always glowing. I like it."

"Bully."

He hugged her warmly and she smiled as she relaxed. Tyler smiled as they drifted off.

"Night Asia."

"Night."