Mid Evening (Next Day) - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan / Zan Border

- Lawton Keen ~

"We are well past the border, so let's stop and get some rest!" I yelled out to the rest of the convoy of knights.

""Yes Sir!"" The whole convoy responded immediately and began spreading out to set up the camp.

-Glad to see they haven't lost their edge..- The knights I was ordering around were not those I had trained with or led before so I was expecting a little bit of rejection, but they moved without any hesitation.

A smile came to my face seeing how well they responded. "Scouts, scan the area for monsters and anything of note, we will be here till morning!"

*Thud*

Hopping off my Rider (a bulky and really fast horse), I reached into my satchel and pulled out some snacks and water.

Looking for a place to sit, I found a dead looking tree and cut the bottom, thinking nothing of it being dead.

*Thump* *Thud*

Pushing it over, I sat down on the stump and started to snack on my rations.

All the knights were moving well together, managing to methodically set up camp in no time.

Once I finished my snack I hopped up to go talk with the captains to discuss tomorrow's plans, but was interrupted by a messenger.

"Sir Keen. We found something we think you should see."

"What would that be?"

"It's a huge circular clearing around 10 kilometers ahead. We didn't poke our heads in too much since a couple strong monsters were seen in the area."

"Alright, I'll come with you, let me do something first." *Whistle* "Captain Coleman! Come here for a moment!" I called over Coleman, the second in command for this expedition.

"What is it sir?"

"I'm going to investigate something with the scouts up ahead, I need you to take command while I'm gone. Also save me a bowl when they make soup, I should be back before it gets cold."

"Right away sir!" Giving a small bow he turned back and jogged towards the middle of the camp.

I looked back towards the scout. "Shall we?"

With a light nod the scout dashed into the woods and I followed.

Picking up speed as we were running, I started to notice some.. odd changes in the environment.

The surrounding trees weren't just dead, the more we ran the less branches they had on them.

The ground was also littered in debris, covered in dried leaves, dead animals, and dried or collapsed trees.

-What in the world..- Realizing this could be a major issue we picked up speed.

Coming up to the edge of the clearing, the surrounding trees only had their trunks left or were completely uprooted.

My eyes widened as we left the treeline.

I stopped running and just stood there, stunned and speechless.

"Sir Keen, this is the area I mentioned. It's around 12 kilometers to the other side but we couldn't get too far in before we caught the attention of the monsters towards the middle."

Although the scale of the clearing was mind boggling, the most horrifying part was that the ground was covered in ash. I couldn't even see the stumps or roots left from trees. -Something just.. turned a whole forest to ash..-

Something of this scale was far beyond what I could handle, but at the same time, it was far beyond anything anyone could handle.

"Hooh.." -I cant let the fear grip me otherwise I'll get caught off guard..- Although the ash was cool, there was still a chance the monster that did this was still there.

"Sir Keen, would you like us to call up some of the S ranks?"

"No, I'm going to run up and scout the monsters before deciding what to do. If it is something I can't handle, we will have to find another way around."

Unsheathing my greatsword, I started lightly running forward.

Towards the middle of the clearing, there were a couple of huge monsters coiled around, their tan scales glistening in the moonlight.

-Great Cobras..- Although usually only A rank, sometimes they can push into the S rank. The ones up ahead were around 2 meters across so they were likely around 60 meters long. Some of the biggest cobras I’ve ever seen.

-Why are there two in this area..- Great Cobras were a species not native to this area. They were fairly common in areas with abundant wildlife and would even be kept by some nations to help control a dungeon’s population, but we hadn't seen so much as an insect for many kilometers.

Although these two cobras were absolutely giant and likely towards the top of S rank, they were nothing my greatsword couldn't handle.

Dashing forward towards the cobras, I managed to stay completely silent thanks to the ash and got all the way to the first one without alerting it.

I concealed my aura as much as possible and jumped up above the coil.

In the middle of the circled snake was its head laying there with its eyes closed.

-Number 1!-

*Shing*

It took more force than I expected but my sword roughly cut through its skull.

As soon as it died, its entire body tried to contract around me but I managed to get away just fast enough to dodge it.

Moving as fast as I could, I tried to get to the other cobra before it woke up, but just before I got there, two gleaming ruby red eyes appeared over the snake's body.

Its head rose above its body, its flat face making it look bigger. -Crap..- Its head was out of range for a good swing, so I had to resort to some unusual measures.

"Hyup!" Putting all of my strength into my legs and arms, I changed my grip and hurled my sword like a lance at its head.

*Shing*

Although the sword hit, the cobra moved slightly so the blade missed its vitals, lodging my blade in its hood.

-Sh*t..-

Its mouth slowly opened revealing two massive fangs.

With its bite being nearly undodgeable, I allocated my aura around my arms and braced myself.

*Crack* (Sonic Boom)

Only being able to barely follow its movements, I moved my hands to catch its fangs.

*Bang*

The ground under me shattered as I gripped the cobras fangs.

"Ngh! Not! Today!"

Letting go of one fang and pulling its mouth to my side, I reached for my greatsword.

Gripping my greatsword, I yanked it out of the cobras body and pointed it at the sky, the cobras crimson blood glistening in the moonlight. "GOT YA!"

With a heavy slash down through its head, its skull was obliterated.

*Crunch*

It’s head fell limp to the ground after I cut it’s face off, but the rest of its body was still moving.

The tail unraveled and contracted, swinging it by me.

*Thud* *Woosh*

Throwing myself to the ground, I dodged it and quickly backed off.

Keeping my sword unsheathed, crimson blood dripping off of it, I watched the two cobra's bodies squirm and flail around.

It was then that a wave of fear struck my heart.

Behind the two cobras, in the middle of the opening was a colossal snake head that seemed to rise from the ground.

Its glowing orange scales like red hot iron exuded a heat that rippled the moonlight.

Its head slowly turned to me, revealing its two unblinking, cold eyes staring at me.

-What.. is.. that..-