Chapter 118: 118: Marked

Ophelia reacted quickly and leapt on the creature's tail, tightening her grip around it to stop its stinger from plunging into Typhons neck.

If that stinger pierced Typhon, who knew what kind of poison it would inject? 

Typhon was doing everything he could by coiling his body around the creature's, to stop its numerous teeth from biting her, and there was only so much the two could do with him restrained. 

The rain made the creatures sinewy body slippery and she felt her grip slip as it resisted her efforts. Its stinger inched even closer to Typhon, and Ophelia could see it touching the skin of his neck.

With her brother's life hanging in the balance, she gathered every last ounce of her might and forced the creature's tail away, just enough for Typhon to slip out of its grip.

Once he was free, the creature sensed things were no longer going its way and its struggling became fiercer. Ophelia couldn't hold it back any longer and the creature's three pronged tail stabbed the ground with all the force she'd used to restrain it, sending her crashing to the ground.

[Don't just keep watching!] Typhon yelled at the spaded snake who stayed at the back, watching them with terrified eyes, as he moved towards the creature. [Attack, now!]

The spaded snake was petrified with fear. What exactly could she do? She was the weakest one there.

Although Typhon was constricting its body, the vicious teeth gnashing in every direction could still bite her.

Ophelia was down, and with her no longer restraining the creature, it dug its claws into the ground for more leverage to pull its stinger free.

As its tail waved around wildly, its ominous stinger was tensed and ready to strike at anything that came close.

Aside from Typhon, who was already restraining it with his constriction hold, she had no chance. If she tried to come closer, its stinger would simply slice her to shreds.

So, she did the only thing she could do which was to check on Ophelia.

Her nemesis winced in pain, but she was mostly unhurt.

Ophelia got up and saw her brother struggling alone, and she quickly returned to the battle. But the creature's thrashing tail prevented her from getting close.

It had no eyes, but it could locate her quite easily and it swung its tail around aggressively to keep her at bay.  She was thinking of another way to restrain its tail, when she heard low growls coming from the creature's jagged maw. 

[It's trying to lure others!] she quickly surmised its intent and yelled out to warn her brother.

Typhon tightened his hold around its throat, cutting off the sound immediately. And as the creature struggled fiercely to free itself, its large claws tore through its own skin when they could not pierce his. 

Typhon smelled the blood in the air and began to feel the burn of something acidic on his scales.

Ophelia knew Typhon was too twisted up in the creature to deal the finishing blow, so she instructed the spaded snake to hide and wait for an opportunity, before she approached the creature out in the open.

Typhon was constricting the creature and resisting its attacks, when suddenly the creature stopped moving and its three pronged stinger turned to point towards his sister, the ominous holes staring at her like the empty sockets of a skull. 

It was then that he heard the low vibration of a hiss in the air, and he saw his sister guiding its movements like it was in a trance. 

Somehow, it only affected the monster and not them, and he wondered when she had learnt to control it. 

Even as the creature gasped from a lack of air, it didn't resist her, and with its body frozen, the spaded snake slithered over to bite it with as much venom as she could muster.

But her attack had the opposite effect, as the poison shocked the creature out of Ophelia's spell. It began to flail around again, its stinger swinging down to attack.

The spaded snake leapt back to avoid it. But rather than stab her, the creature's stinger took a sharp dive through the base of its skull, cleaving its own head clean.

As the creature fell and Ophelia fell with it, and the ground hissed where its blood came into contact.

Typhon released the creature and rushed towards her, along with the spaded snake. They saw she was okay and not physically hurt, but the mental toll of controlling the creature had severely affected her. 

He couldn't rule out the risk of more creatures being alerted, so while the spaded snake waited with Ophelia, he activated [Stealth] and went in the direction the creature had emerged from.

And he didn't have to look far.

At the bottom of the hill, there was a group of them gathered together to feast on the carcasses of the monsters they killed.

Highly aggressive and exceedingly violent, their pale flesh glistened horribly with a mix of blood and rain as they ran amok attacking any creature they came across. In the chaos, Typhon watched as they sliced through the tendons of a fleeing fox, bringing it down with numerous stings, before leaving it to bleed out.

The group was in the middle of a hunt and fortunately for them, the creature they faced had come alone. He concluded it was much safer to stay uphill where the creatures could not see them. 

It was only when he felt the wind on his scales that he became wary, and he remembered where the creature's acidic blood had touched him.

He didn't stay any longer and immediately retreated.

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If the scent of the blood from their dead kin flowed downhill, they would be in trouble. He quickly returned to his sister and urged them to get moving. In the rain, he hoped the creatures could not pick up the scent, but he wasn't taking the chance.

The three snakes immediately left. There was no point trying to hide the body, doing so would only waste time.

[Are you sure they can track the blood?] The spaded snake asked anxiously.

[They will, if they find the one we killed -] Before he could finish the sentence, he heard a series of low growls coming from behind them and the sharp 'clink' of numerous claws striking against stone. 

The sounds were getting louder quickly so he increased his pace.

The spaded snake started to panic as she kept looking back. [Are they coming? What do we do?]

[The river.] Ophelia suggested groggily. 

She was exhausted but she was able to keep up with them so far.

Typhon agreed. [Let's shake them off our trail, for now. Then we can go find 'her'.]

He considered returning to the cave, but he couldn't risk bringing danger to the others. There was no other option. So they quickly slithered down the hill in the direction of the river.

The smell of blood hung thickly in the air and they witnessed the carnage up front. There were many large beasts scrambling for safety, nearly trampling them on more than one occasion. 

In their haste to reach the flood, they spotted a large puddle, and the spaded snake suggested washing off inside.

But in the distance, there was the ever present screech of the pursuing creatures and they didn't have the luxury of stopping. Typhon was also quick to notice the sands around it were too soft and they narrowly avoided drowning into it like many poor creatures before them.

Soon, the line of trees stopped, giving way to the sight of rushing water.

The flood had split the forest ground in two, carving out a solitary piece of land with rushing water. But the flood had calmed down a great deal since the start and the wet banks of the river were filled with the half buried corpses of many creatures that had tried to cross it while it was at its peak. And they were all teeming with bottom feeders writhing around in their flesh.

There was a fallen tree that had submerged into the banks, creating a flimsy bridge where smaller logs and other forest debris had piled up. And on the other side of it was an island surrounded by rushing water where they could be safe for a while. 

The creatures pursuing them would catch up soon and they didn't have much of a choice other than to cross the log bridge.

The banks on the other side soon filled with terrible growling noises as more of those creatures arrived. 

Typhon counted more than thirty of the stinger clawed beasts and watched as they sniffed the air and the ground where they had been. Then they quickly reached the log bridge in large numbers, and on seeing the snakes, they began to climb behind them.

The three snakes sped across the bridge, evading the occasional stinger that lashed out at them. But the logs physically trembled under the weight of so many creatures climbing on it at once.

Typhon was sure it would end in disaster as the creatures were moving about recklessly, and the logs were unevenly stacked, only held together by debris. 

Soon, as more of the water flowed, the mud began to shift, and the combined weight of the creatures caused the stacked logs to split apart in the water.

Fortunately, the three were closer to land as the logs burst apart. But as they made it across, Ophelia who was slower than the two was struck in the back by a stinger which knocked her to the edge of the bank where the water surged dangerously below.

Typhon immediately jumped in to save her and managed to catch her, just as a log pushed by water swept over their heads.

The three snakes fell on land while the creatures grasped onto whatever they could hold to stay above the current, but there were too many of them and they promptly fell into the water, where they were washed away. 

On the island, Typhon immediately checked on the two snakes and was relieved to see they were mostly unhurt. Ophelia was drained but her spirit was still strong. 

The creatures were long gone and now they just had to wait for the flood to subside so they could return home.

He spotted the spaded snake peering into the water and was worried she would get too close, so he told her to stay back. But she remained frozen to the spot, so he called out to her again.

[They're in the water.] she responded with a shaking voice.

He rushed to the banks and saw the creatures that had been washed away, pushing hard against the currents to reach them.

They could swim!

Typhon immediately backed away from the water and headed for the trees, instructing the spaded snake to climb up, as he grabbed Ophelia with him.

The first of the creatures to reach the shore, burst out of the water with its stingers raised, and its vicious claws sinking into the soft soil as it stalked the banks with an enraged screech.

Soon more appeared from the water, increasing their numbers until they were completely surrounded.

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