With her mind set on continuing onwards with her journey— Shi walked forward in strides.

She had no idea where she was going, but she could not turn back now. She just kept walking forward, deciding to take the righter most tunnel once more since it had done her well so far. She did find this place after all.

The tunnel wasn't dark, thanks to the few mushrooms littering the walls and her enhanced eyesight, but she could tell it was getting a lot dimmer than it was before. The mushrooms got less prominent as she walked further, and if it wasn't for her enhanced sight, she wouldn't be able to see as well as she could.

As she walked further down the tunnel, it slowly went from being a slim one-person limited passageway to a large cavernous area— easily being able to fit multiple people within it. The plantlife also got more frequent, showing that the tunnel was probably close to the underground stream.

But as she continued onward, Shi noticed something strange about the ceiling. It seemed like there were holes in the ceiling, but they weren't the same size. They were all different sizes with some larger than others; none of them were close in size to Shi. At most, they were half her size.

Shi also noticed that there seemed to be an inconsistency between the size; they weren't at random. The smaller ones were closer to the floor while the larger ones were near the top. Shi didn't know what this could mean, but she also didn't want to find out, so she kept walking.

'Living things maybe? If it's an animal, it would be better to avoid it since I'm not sure i can fight something that large. Especially if there is multiply of whatever it is.' Shi thought to herself as she kept going down the tunnel.

"Hm... I wonder what it is." Shi said to herself as she walked along— while she didn't want to meet whatever it was, she was also somewhat curious about what could possibly be down here.

As she was thinking and walking along the tunnel pathway, she soon came across what seemed like another open chamber. This one wasn't nearly as large as the previous one, but it was big enough for Shi to move around within.

One thing that was different about this cave chamber and the other one was what littered it. Unlike the previous one, which was beautifully decorated with grass, this one was decorated with bones.

'What the-' She couldn't even finish thinking to herself as her surprised eyes gazed around the room.

Bones of all sizes and shapes littered the ground of the place; they didn't have a single piece of flesh on them, and no singes of organs lay on the floor. Showing two things to Shi.

This place had monsters in it— a lot of different kinds from the look of it. Ones that came in all shapes and sizes that she hadn't seen before.

But more importantly— whatever lived here was able to kill said monsters. It had to be strong too for it to be able to kill such a large number of monsters and collect their bones like this without worry. The scent alone would merely attract more monsters.

It wasn't entirely covered in bones though. It looked more like the bones were thrown in one side of the room to stay, while the other had grass and twigs that were collected in a form of a nest. This could only mean one thing.

'Crap it's a nest!' Shi thought as she turned and was about to run away from the room— not even bothering to go in it.

However, as she was turning, Shi heard something. A sound, unlike anything she had ever heard before in her life. It was like the crunching sound of bones being broken, followed closely by a loud gut-wrenching hiss— echoing in the enclosed chambers— making it seem only the more loud and terrifying.

Shi didn't even bother to stop or turn around to see where the sound was coming from. She knew what it would be if she didn't run— her death. Her very blood crawled at the sound of that creature, her mind screaming at her to move.

Her entire body's energy was put towards running at that very moment. She used every inch of her vampiric powers she could tap into to move faster. Her speed easily outdone anything a normal human could do— she moved so fast she appeared as a mere blur in the dimly lit cave.

"Guh!" Shi screamed as she ran as fast as she could. Unfortunately for her, it seems like she wasn't fast enough— a blur of white suddenly shoots past her from the side, stopping in front of her.

Stopping so that she wouldn't run into the creature that now blocked her way— she stumbled back. Her eyes locked onto the creature before her.

'How beautiful,' Was the first thought that came to her mind as she gazed at the creature.

A long silver serpent. It was almost as thick as half of her body, but its body wasn't equally proportional; it was slim at some parts while thicker at others. One thing was sure though, it was much longer than her, almost by two times from what she could see.

It was covered in darkened silvery scales much like the color of her hair, except for its head which was marked with a red pattern connected to both its eyes. The scales themselves were shaped in an odd manner— they had uneven and jagged edges running along its back— forming a spikey pattern to it.

The head of the creature rose upright on its long body to match Shi's height, its bright cyan eyes looking onto Shi's very own crimson eyes. Something about the creature before Shi made her feel enamored while at the same time terrified. It was just something about how it looked and how it felt.

Slowly it started to move closer to her, causing Shi to stumble back once more in fear this time. Its long body extended across the ground as it slithered towards her; it moved so silently that the thought of how easily this thing could've sneaked up on her couldn't help but cross her mind.

'Now is not the time to think about that. Pay attention.' She thought to herself as she snapped out from her daze, staring at the creature before her.

The creature was fast— this showed by the fact that it got in front of Shi before she could get away from it. This meant she couldn't run away from this fight. Even if she tried to run she had nowhere to go, the creature blocked her way back, and the other way led to the chamber with bones that didn't have any tunnels.

Shi had to fight it. At the very least she had to try and fight it.

'But can i even do anything to it? It's faster than me, and with that length, it could wrap around me easily. I don't even know how to use my racial abilities yet, i might die here. Why do i keep getting into such terrible situations.' She analyzed the situation in her mind as the creature drew closer.

As Shi was lost in thought analyzing the situation, the creature drew close enough and suddenly pounced at her. Before her mind could even react to the attack her body did— jumping backward and away from the biting range, just enough to avoid the sudden pounce.

'Dammit!' She said in her mind as she made up her decision.

She had to fight this thing. She didn't have anywhere to go, and just standing here would do her no good. Fight and survive, that was how it had been all her life— especially so the last few days— and she was going to stick to it.

'It looks hungry, it's attacking too erratic. Did it eat everything around it, and now it's starving?' Shi thought to herself as she noticed how odd the pattern of the creature was.

Shi had heard stories of hunting from people in her village, even if she didn't talk to them herself. Creatures that were able to move silently without making a sound— like the one before her— usually hunt silently and kill their prey before the prey could find them. This thing simply lunged at her without trying to do that.

This could possibly mean it was hungry and not thinking properly. If this was the case, it was great for Shi.

"Fine, since it seems like neither of us can back down here. I know you may be starving, but i am not your meal— so don't hold this against me beast!" Shi said to the creature as she held the vine to her lips, drinking a few mouthfuls of blood from it.

She didn't bother to save it as she had originally planned; since she would need both her hands for this fight. She wouldn't be able to hold onto the vine, which would mean it was most likely going to fall. Plus she needed all the blood she could get for this fight— she would need every drop of power she could muster to win.

As the blood slid down her throat— mixing with her body and coursing through her in waves of energy; she could feel the power coming to her body. Her eyes glowed with a bright red hue, and her muscles tensed as her mind raced. That was just what she needed— blood— lots of it. It made her feel so alive.

With the power coursing through her body, it was no doubt that she saw the creature lunge at her the second it did. It moved much slower in her eyes now— slow enough that she could see it moving. Her body reacted the second it jumped, moving to the side to avoid the incoming attack.

Her fingers balled up firmly into a closed fist, slamming it into the creature as it passed by her in its own attack. The blow connecting to the long body of the creature, causing it to slam onto the stony ground of the cave.

With her vampiric strength coursing through her veins— the blow was not soft by any means. In fact, it was hard enough to even cause the creature to crack the floor upon impact.

'I should've kept the stone from before, i don't have any weapons on me to kill it.' She thought to herself, still sane even with the power coursing through her.

The creature was phased by the sudden attack— as it struggled on the ground to move— wiggling around in an attempt to get back up. It didn't last long though, because before Shi could add another blow to it, the creature shot its tail upward at Shi.

Shi was barely able to react to the incoming attack in time as it grazed her, leaving a shallow cut on her beautiful face. Its tail was sharp— extremely so— it barely touched her and she got cut.

'That could be dangerous, i need to pay attention to the tail now.' She thought as she placed a hand on her cheek to clean the blood away.

The creature got more agitated from its attack missing, but this also made it more cautious. It seemed to have snapped out from its hunger frenzy somewhat, realizing that Shi was able to avoid it and might pose a threat.

This wasn't good for Shi since the only reason she was able to land a hit on the creature, to begin with, was because it looked down on her.

It believed her to be easy prey that it could feed on, most likely due to how easily it hunted for its food before. But now that she was able to not only injure it but also dodge multiple of its attack, it knew she wasn't the same.

The creature took the chance of Shi cleaning her blood away to slither back into a proper position. This time it stood a distance away, slithering side to side as it observed Shi. It was hunting.

Shi did the same— her eyes looked onto the creature, looking at its every movement. Neither of them giving the other a chance to find an opening. Both of them were ready to kill the other at the slightest opening.