Kenji was a few feet behind Yoichi, enhancing his upper limbs. The young tamer walked sideways, waiting for the enemy to launch the first attack.

"What is that, Enatsu?" he yelled, asking his egghead friend for information. ​​

Shioko looked at the merchant too, showing herself unprepared in front of that question. When Enatsu was able to distinguish the voices of his companions in the hustle and bustle, he reasoned aloud. "He's a wild Hebigure, Yoichi! A earth-dark-type demon, typical of sandy areas like this. I've seen its kinds before and... and I'm sure they weren't that big! This dude is huge, something's wrong!"

Sora, who had dodged the blow flying away, perched again on the shoulder of its tamer. When that information flew to Yoichi, the giant Hebigure attacked, leaving him no time to reason.

He crossed his arms in front of his face, parrying the attack. His body was pushed away and his feet crawled into the sand for several meters.

Meandering into the ground, the snake attacked once again, without a moment's pause. Knowing that the enemy's body was unable to withstand his powerful arms, Yoichi realized that the most effective way to counter its enormous bulk was to counterattack.

Taking advantage of the movement of its big scaled head, the most vulnerable point of its long body, Yoichi loaded a punch, waiting for the right moment.

As soon as the jaws of the Hebigure opened further, ready to completely devour the young tamer's body, he lowered himself on his knees and unleashed the stored energy. With a powerful hook, he hit the chin of the dark reptile, hurling its head into the air.

More than half of the snake's body followed that movement, twisting backward along with the heavy scaled head.

Shioko, meanwhile, activated the power of her Hotasagi. Holding the inlaid wooden arch in front of her, she slipped a hand into the empty quiver. By magic, a white light arrow appeared between her fingers.

As the red-haired tamer pulled out the arrow, Yoichi's violent fist left her speechless. That off-scale demon had risked killing her, cornering her in the sand whirlwind core. Despite her proudful character, she knew that without Yoichi's incredible strength, she couldn't have done it.

When Hebigure's body leaned under Yoichi's low hook, Shioko realized the actual power unleashed by her guildmate. At that exact moment, she understood the real reason behind the decision of her guild master, who had insisted to make Yoichi part of their team.

Before the enemy could return to an upright position, she used three fingers to stretch the bowstring, loading the light arrow. Aiming in less than a second, she shot it in the direction of the snake.

The arrow created by Nobu cut through the air in a white wake, hitting the Hebigure on its head, in the middle of its eyes. As soon as the tip touched the snake's black scales, it penetrated its skull box and pierced its brain, popping out on the other side.

Spearing the target in a fraction of a second as if it were made of butter, the arrow continued to fly upwards, glowing into the night sky.

The snake stood still with its eyes pointed upwards. Suddenly, it fell like a dead weight to the ground, in Yoichi's direction.

The young tamer dodged the lifeless body of Hebigure, which impacted on the sandy beach. "What the... did you kill it with a single blow?!" Yoichi gasped, failing to realize what he had just seen.

Shioko said nothing. She repositioned the bow behind her back and deactivated Nobu's power.

"Hey, if you knew you could kill it in one fell swoop, why didn't you do it before?! Yoichi had a really close call to save you!" Enatsu added, approaching her.

"I... I was thinking about the consequences," Shioko stuttered, without looking down.

Yoichi looked at the snake, touching it with his toe. The light attack of Shioko's Oracle had been much more effective than his punch on a dark-type demon.

However, even though its skull had been pierced and its body had fallen to the ground lifeless, that strange dark aura kept coming out from under its hard scales.

"You killed it, and yet its body did not disappear. None of us tried to tame it with a Demon Tooth, so why is it still here?" Yoichi inquired, reasoning aloud.

The wind blew softly through the still intact huts of the village. Only three of them were illuminated inside, while the others looked deserted.

Yoichi's words received no answer and the gaze of the three adventurers fell on the face of the snake demon. Suddenly, its blackish eyelids blinked vertically, hydrating its big purple eyes.

"Any one else see that? No, right? It… it was just me" chuckled Enatsu, breaking in a cold sweat.

The Hebigure's tail moved quickly, allowing its entire heavy body to crawl backward. Under the frightened eyes of the Nightblades tamers, the dark aura that enveloped that monster entered the wound on its forehead, healing it instantly.

For no logical reason, the wild demon was still alive and ready to fight again.

Unleashing its wrath on its attackers, it raised its head to the starry sky and roared vigorously, waving his sinuous body. The black scales began to vibrate, lifted by the dark aura.

Activating some unknown power, the Hebigure unexpectedly enhanced his body: black spikes popped up on its back as an extension of the endoskeleton. One after another, they covered its whole length, from the top of the head to the tip of the tail.

Unable to believe that the battle against that unexpected enemy had a second phase, Yoichi and Shioko frightfully looked at each other.

"Run!" the red-haired girl yelled. Dashing, she began to run away from the village, dispelling the incoming attack.

Gasping for air, Yoichi grabbed Kenji and ran to his companions. The ground beneath his feet began to shake as Hebigure's body continued to vibrate, accumulating energy.

"Groooarghh!" roared the snake, firing a dark beam from its mouth. Its purple eyes shone with wickedness when the same purple gas exhaled from the skin was fired out of his throat, cutting the beach in two halves.