Are they here to hunt? He squinted to focus his vision. No, it doesn’t seem like it. The group to the east was attempting to flee. If only I had some binoculars. Enhanced as his vision was, he could only make out silhouettes from this distance.

The presence of other people aside, it was obvious that the easygoing grass fields were now a thing of the past.

He returned to the others and shared what he’d seen, which heightened tensions as they continued onward with their weapons out. They wouldn’t approach any of the groups he’d seen, and would try to keep their distance from any others that they might spot along the way.

“Do you guys think the rocks are getting bigger?” asked Esteban from his spot within the hexagonal formation.

“They’re obviously getting bigger,” said Lyra. “Look at this one coming up. It’s basically a boulder.”

The rock in question was about five metres from left to right, and perhaps three tall.

“Is it okay if we stop to pee?”

It was Zess who’d asked, her heart-shaped face red with embarrassment. Nobody minded the pause, since it turned out that almost everybody else had to relieve themselves as well. They’d been out in the open for most of the day, and hadn’t passed any spots that might’ve afforded them some privacy.

“Aren’t you coming Zess?” asked Aine, who lagged behind the other girls with a cocked eyebrow.

“I’ll go after you guys are done…”

Something caught Nolan’s notice as they waited for the girls to finish up, with the exception of Zess, whose beet-red face was shrouded by her blonde curls. She was leaning up against the mossy surface of the oblong boulder when an area of rock near her shoulder began to excrete some sort of clear liquid.

It’s wet? Wait a minute. Those patterns… There were subtle, grid-like formations in the gaps between the moss. Wait, that’s—

His realization came too late, as time stood still for a horrifying moment. A straight line of liquid suddenly spread across the face of the rock, the top half of which rose up to reveal large, sabre-like fangs that were wet with some slimy, purple liquid. Zess disappeared before she could show any shock, her slender calves and booted feet dangling out of the creature’s mouth as it bit down with life-ending force. It happened in a split second, and was simply too startling for anybody to react with anything but wide eyes.

All but instantly, the powerful snake fought its way out of the earth as if it were covered by nothing but a light layer of snow. It didn’t simply rise up out of the ground, but erupted upward in a fit of deadly thrashing.

Lyra and Nyla appeared in the air above, Alicia and Aine in their arms, respectively. A large bubble of spiritual energy followed after them, which contained the rest of the girls. Everybody watched in horror as a heavy tail smashed into the bubble of energy so quickly and with such force that everybody inside disappeared with the sickening sound of a loud smack. Aside from Alicia and Aine, all of the young women that they had saved from the bandit town had just exploded into a mix of bloody mist and red rain.

Everybody scattered, and the snake chose to chase after Nolan. The fact that the girls hadn’t gone flying, but were obliterated with sheer force told him that it was strong enough to severely injure him with a single hit. His heart beat rapidly in his chest as the creature closed the distance between them within seconds. He was forced to activate the Tranquil Void Step to widen the gap.

He tossed a barrel of gunpowder at its head as he ran, hot air from the explosion heating his back as he tossed another in his wake. The snake slithered after him so quickly that it hardly bore the brunt of the blasts, though it did appear disoriented, as it was chasing him slightly off course.

Wait, can it not sense me? It had no eyes, just a dark, mossy face. Still, it should have had a spiritual sense of some sort. Why then, did it only turn in the right direction whenever he kicked off the ground? Maybe it can sense the vibrations of my steps?

The main problem was its strength. Was the snake similar to the newts, in that its aura was naturally undetectable? Or was it simply that much more powerful than him?

He leapt into the air and climbed skyward via a series of conjured platforms. Sure enough, the snake stopped a few moments later, its head cocking this way and that in apparent confusion. It still hadn’t swallowed Zess, her bloody legs dangling around with every movement.

Shit!

The snake changed course and made a beeline toward the others, who’d gathered together about a kilometre away.

Nolan leapt as fast as possible, landing in front of the snake with an explosion of dirt and shredded grass. Wielding the bone sword, he poured inner essence into it and activated its essence fusion effect. With the exception with those in the Genesis stage, the pestilent nature of his weapon posed a serious threat to most people. He gained more inner essence as he grew stronger, which meant more fuel that he could funnel into his weapon, its effects proving more potent as he matured. Not only that, but he activated his only offensive martial skill, the Emerald Thorn Piercing Technique.

The snake’s open maw appeared before him in a heartbeat, but all it ate was a dense rain of emerald needles, which tore into the inside of its mouth and the back of its throat like claws through tender flesh. It let out an ear-splitting hiss and then attempted to slam him with its tail, but he retreated skyward once again, and out of harm’s way. Or so he thought, until a forked tongue shot out far longer than should have been possible and wrapped around his right leg. With a great heave of its head, the snake brought him downward with tremendous, bone-breaking speed. Calm as he was from the Millennial Ring’s soothing effects, he was still at a loss. All he could do was activate the Emerald Skin Technique and pray that he survived.

Surprisingly, Nolan’s landing was rather pleasant. It felt as if he’d fallen into a large pool of water, though he didn’t feel the pain that such a violent impact should have brought on. Nyla had caught him in a dense cloud of spiritual energy, after Ian had severed the snake’s tongue with a sharp slash of his broadsword.

Despite the absence of its tongue, the snake hissed so loudly that it seemed to shake the air. It rushed after them, though was intercepted by a full-powered attack from Ian, who’d used the Varai clan’s most powerful martial skill. The oblong face smashed backwards as if it had just received an uppercut from a giant fist, though that was the extent of the damage. Still, it bought enough time for Nolan to hurl a few barrels of gunpowder at its recoiling figure, which Nyla boxed in with a basic barrier arrayment.

The explosion sent the great serpent flying backwards, parts of its mossy body torn and bleeding, or otherwise charred and smoking.

“You guys left me hanging for a while, eh.” It was hard to hide the frustration in his voice, though he knew that his anger was unfounded. The situation had changed too abruptly, and they had saved him in the end.

“We had to make sure everyone else was safe,” said Ian. “We can’t afford to fight this thing. This field is full of rocks, Nolan.”

“He’s right,” said Nyla. “We need to leave.”

She didn’t wait for his response, and took off in the direction of the others. Nolan followed as he grappled with the implications of their words. How hadn’t he realized it? What they’d taken for a boulder had actually been the snake’s head, as the rest of its body had been hidden beneath the earth. He’d been too caught up with the fighting to draw the connection between the snake’s sudden appearance and the boulder-strewn wilderness that ran on for dozens of kilometres in all directions.

It seemed that the newts had been ousted by another species, not a Genesis-staged creature like some of them had guessed.

Despite its injuries, the faceless snake was right behind them. It caught up so quickly, in fact, that it was clear that a fight would break out before they met up with the others. At that point, they would just be causing problems for their friends.

Although the serpent hadn’t demonized, it was still very powerful. Based off of what he’d seen, Nolan estimated that it was at the peak of Integration.

Just when it seemed that they would have to stake their lives on a risky battle with the powerful beast, a handful of intimidating auras appeared in the area and quickly closed in on their location. It happened so fast that Nolan could only exchange uneasy looks with his friends. Two of the approaching auras broke off and headed toward where Sean and Esteban stood guard over the panicked duo of Alicia and Aine.

The snake appeared before them as they were contemplating their next move.

“You guys deal with them somehow!” said Ian, as he and his sister leapt forward to meet it with their martial skills.

Five figures approached from high above the ground, all of them dressed in the same sapphire robes, their garments patterned with teal teardrops. They stood upon silver swords that looked like elongated gladiuses from ancient Rome, though all of the handles had tails of fine, golden threads at their bases. These were just like the magic sword that he had looted from Keplin’s body, the elder of the Nightshadow Sect that had tried to murder him and his friends after they'd left the kingdom of Ridgerock.

Of those approaching, all were at the fifth level of Integration, and all of them were in the midst of drawing out arrayment diagrams.

Nolan’s needles appeared in the air around him, as Nyla took out the evernight bow and knocked an arrow. It seemed that their worries were unfounded, as five blurs of energy struck the snake after it was driven back by the Varai siblings. These blurs were actually huge swords of pale blue energy, which pierced the serpentine body in several places, skewering it into stillness. The blades dissipated as if they had never existed, leaving only a dead husk in the centre of a large mess of blood.