Not far from the cave, Typhon was trying to assess the security and safety of their location.

He climbed the tallest tree to get a good glimpse of the area, and spotted a flock of hideous bird monsters in the distance, squabbling over the meat of a shredded carcass.

They were too far away to cause a problem for them, but he kept an eye on them regardless. Along with the other creatures he spotted near their cave in the event that any drew near.

The location of the cave was well hidden and high enough to overlook many acres of forest where he could see any creatures approaching before any became aware of him.

It also wasn't affected by the flood like the rest of the forest and was relatively peaceful, so the creatures here hadn't devolved into chaos like the rest below.

As the rain pelted his scales, he sensed an abundance of energy swirling around him. He could almost grasp it but when he tried, there seemed to be a resistance keeping it out of his reach. It was likely because his level wasn't high enough to manipulate the foreign energy yet, but he continued to attempt it anyway.

His skills had improved a great deal since the battle, and when he checked with [Status Inspection], he found he gained three levels.

--------------

Name: Typhon [LV10 Neonate Cerastes]

Specie: Ailith Vipera

HP: 109/124 Defence: 183

MP: 74/74 Intellect: 86

SP: 121/140 Magic: 56

Attack: 80 Agility: 107

Skills:

[Heat Sense: LV10] [Rugged Scales: LV10]

[Farsight: LV4] [Persistent: LV3] [Grip: LV9]

[Bite: LV10] [Steel Skin: LV9] [Scent: LV8]

[Shock Enhancement: LV7] [Solidity: LV6]

[Spherical Form: LV7] [Camouflage: LV6]

[Danger Perception: LV5] [Silence: LV8]

[Impact Enhancement: LV7] [Leap: LV9]

[Strength: LV7] [Motion Perception: LV7]

[Rapid Strike: LV8] [Determination: LV6]

[Poison Generation: LV5] [Stealth: LV7]

[Poison Fang: LV8] [Shockwave: LV6]

[Piercing Enhancement: LV8]

Titles:

[Pit Member] [Captain] [Assassin]

-----------------

He felt he was close to bridging the ability barrier and after taking 'her' potion, he also seemed to have excessive amounts of energy, so he decided to practice his skills. But, he was alerted of some movement below and looked down with a scowl.

With the forest below being so still, he quickly picked up the presence of an annoying lizard that seemed to have taken a fancy to follow him everywhere.

Sylrin decided to stick close to Typhon in an effort to avoid Ophelia's advances. He lay in wait at the base of his tree, but Typhon wasn't the least bit interested in being used as a shield so he gave him a dismissive look and remained in the tree.

But the lizard took an offence to that and glared back at him with a low growl.

Typhon leapt over to another branch just as a smoking ball of poisonous slime came towards him. The branch he had just been on was instantly melted into soup and the lizard stared up at him with a triumphant look.

And finding it a bit fun, he fired another shot, this time at the stem of the tree and as the bark melted, Typhon felt the tree totter unsteadily.

This brat!

As Sylrin was admiring his handiwork, Typhon plunged down from the tree in his spherical form, aiming for the lizard's body. However, he collided with the rocky ground when the lizard barely managed to dodge, but the impact formed a crater that threw up pieces of smashed rock all over.

Typhon slithered out of the crater without much delay just as Sylrin's chest glowed with heat, preparing to shoot another smoking ball.

But he didn't get a chance to launch it as Typhon coiled around his head in a constriction hold that forced its mouth shut. The smoking ball soon died out in the lizard's chest and a black smoke fizzled out of his mouth.

But they could continue their battle, Ophelia burst out of the bushes and exclaimed with an evil glint in her eyes. [I finally found you!]

The lizard's eyes flashed with panic and he quickly threw off Typhon before taking off into a sprint, with Ophelia in hot pursuit, leaving Typhon alone and unwanted.

Why was he so daring with him, but he could only flee when it came to her? Was he not so scary anymore?

Typhon sighed and glanced at the crater he just made with a satisfied smirk, it seemed his [Shockwave] had improved by a lot.

He returned to the cave after shrivelling the area another time and saw his sister again, along with her 'captive', and the spaded snake who was trying her hardest to ignore their leader, who was in turn, too busy eating.

From what little he'd gathered from his observations, she seemed to spend far too much time eating and her diet was also really terrible. Rather than trying a variety of things, she seemed to focus on eating one type of creature at one time. And sometimes, after eating her fill she would break out into insane behaviour.

Like now for example. She had just eaten a whole lot of that three pronged stinger beasts and immediately rushed out into the rain as we all watched her with perplexed looks.

[I don't understand why you admire her so much, when she's clearly mad.] The spaded snake rebuked.

Since their death battle with those creatures, she was no longer as hostile towards Ophelia.

Typhon felt that their near death experience had changed her mindset and strengthened the bond between them, but the one thing that hadn't changed was her dislike of their leader.

And for some reason, spaded snake was under the feeling, 'she' had stolen their kill when they did most of the work – a view neither Typhon nor Ophelia shared or deemed to convince her otherwise.

She was especially angry whenever Ophelia looked at their leader with admiration and began to blame their leader for wandering off by herself, and that they wouldn't have encountered any of those creatures if not for her.

Typhon was quickly running out of patience with her but decided to hold back his criticism for now.

[Would you rather she left you behind with those creatures to fend for yourself?] he asked, and the spaded snake immediately became flustered.

[N-No, but she's acting strange.]

Typhon did not respond, but he agreed.

He noticed their leader's eyes had changed since the last time he saw her. They were a deep black colour before, but now, they seemed to shine, like they had been given a polish. They were still black, but were oddly reflected the colours of anything and everything in her sight, much like a dark mirror.

Typhon couldn't ignore that this change just happened to occur right about the time she had learned how to turn her scales invisible. And he began to wonder if her eating habits had anything to do with it.

[Stop complaining and improve yourself. So the next time we face that sort of situation, you won't be the weak link.] he advised with a stern tone and the spaded snake nodded fiercely much to his relief.

It seemed she had made up her mind to improve.