Chapter 145: 145: No Man's Land [2]

Cygnus watched the terrifying creature approach and walk past where they hid without noticing them. 

Even without their [Stealth] they were still not even a contender for its next meal as they were too small. The imprints in the ground had given him an idea of what to expect, but the creature was a lot more frightening than he ever imagined.

This gave Cygnus a measure of comfort for his rather risky plan to go ahead.

He gave his team a signal and they all crept out stealthily to follow behind the creature, taking care to avoid its dangerous tail as it swung about. The wary canine was still with them and when it saw them moving, it looked from them to the creature, before warily moving with them.

Cygnus didn't know what to think. It had actually followed them!

His team members were also confused.

[It's still here.] The female snake looked wary. [What do you think it wants?]

The other three snakes gathered around him and put some distance between himself and the tawny canine, some even raring their fang to attack it. But since it wasn't attacking them, Cygnus told them to leave it alone.

Together, they followed underneath the creature's and escaped the birds without getting attacked.

If he canine wanted to follow them, as long as it didn't try anything, he was fine with letting it come. Regardless, his plan was a risk with a high chance of failure, his major concern being whether the large armoured beast will continue to not notice them.

They followed it past the line of trees, each of them looking up in the mist for the birds to attack - but none of them made a move. The only danger left was the canine so he made it walk ahead of the group, to prevent it from attacking their backs.

Across the canyon, the stony ground was littered with corpses and bones, both fresh and old. Cygnus saw the hastily abandoned half-eaten corpse of the feline that crossed first, followed by that of the armoured creature who had been eaten right out of its shell with the remnants of the spiders were not far ahead.

All of them dead, with not a single one making it across.

Cygnus was glad he had followed his instincts, but so far all he saw was corpses and there was no sign of the creature that had gotten to them.

The giant armoured beast continued to move, it was quite fast even with its large bulk swaying from side to side, and Cygnus instructed his team to move much closer under its tail to keep from getting exposed. They were now walking right beneath its clawed feet, sticking close together to keep themselves from getting crushed. 

He saw flashes of movement and stared out at the grey canyon walls, but they were all normal and there was nothing to be seen. However, there was plenty of noise coming from behind the bleak stone.

He heard the guttural cries of numerous unseen creatures and heard the scrape of scales against stone. They had to be strong for the birds to not enter their domain. Although he couldn't see what they were, their sounds were too many to count.

They had to be the ones that had abandoned the corpses to flee in haste. 

Fortunately for them, it seemed they too were afraid of the armoured beast to show themselves, so Cygnus and his team confidently followed it without fear. They kept up with the armoured beast's pace and soon the grey canyons began to shrink behind them, and the sounds of the creatures became faint. 

Cygnus watched the canine walking ahead of them. It had its ears down and its fur raised high as it heard the cries, and its pace had slowed down as it tried to huddle even closer to them. But his team members hissed at it, forcing it to move faster. 

They followed the massive monster into the wide area beyond where the coarse ground changed to one covered in sand, and soon they left the howling creatures behind. The canyons here were reddish brown in colour and completely free of corpses. 

But the canine creature was still tense. It frantically looked around until it spotted an opening in one of the canyon's hills and sped off towards it, without the huge beast noticing. Cygnus watched it leave, wondering if perhaps his team members had spooked it, but then he saw its small head poke out of the hole to wave at them, seemingly gesturing for them to follow. 

Cygnus wondered why it had fled when there wasn't any more danger. If they continued following the large beast, it could lead them out of the canyon safely since it was strong. 

But then, he heard a loud cry and the dark shadow of something even larger than the armoured beast appeared, covering the sandy ground around them. His eyes went wide as he spotted the flying figure of a ginormous bird behind them. It hovered in the air above the canyon, before it began its swift descent to attack.

The armoured beast heard its cry and its huge bulk spun around to face it, its clawed feet causing tremors in the ground. Huge grooves opened up in the sands and suddenly the snakes were completely exposed, caught between the two large beasts that were about to clash.

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They immediately dashed out from under the armoured beast and into the canyon, following after the canine, right as the armoured beast was tackled by the ginormous bird and flipped on its sides. They narrowly avoided getting crushed by the bodies of the rampaging monsters, but they managed to slip out from between their thrashing limbs.

The two creatures were too focused on attacking each other to notice a few fast moving stowaways. They were about equal in size and they quickly tore up the surroundings as they fought. But the bird creature proved to be stronger as it's claws sunk into the armoured beast, like it's armour was butter, lifting it up briefly before throwing it across the canyon.

Cygnus and his team did not stay to see the aftermath. They were already inside the canyon where he and his team members caught their breaths. It was far more spacious than what was seen from the outside. The walls were smooth stone like it had been carved, and there were many curved tunnels diverging from the one they had entered. 

Inside, he saw the canine was waiting. It stood across from them and watched them recover, before nodding to him.

Seemingly repaying the favour of saving their lives, it quickly dashed off into one of the tunnels, leaving them without another look.

[Wait!] Cygnus called after it.

He wanted to chase after it, but between his team that was still recovering and their unfamiliar new surroundings - he couldn't. 

He'd never seen the canine run before and from what he could see, it was pretty fast – perhaps even faster than all the creatures that crossed the canyon so far. Cygnus was compelled to go after it, but he didn't want to leave his team behind. 

[Go after it.] The female snake shouted towards him as she saw his hesitation. [We'll be right behind you.]

Feeling a bit of gratitude, he immediately took off after the canine. The sandy tunnels were twisty and curved around in circles, seeming to go on for miles. The sounds of rapid footsteps echoed all around him - the canine was familiar with the tunnels and seemed to know its way around. It constantly vanished from view, even with him following not far behind. 

Without any distinctive markers, it was easy to get lost inside, and for anything to hide within. Who knew how many creatures used this place as their home? Cygnus stopped chasing it and soon the sounds of its footsteps grew faint.

[Why are we stopping?] The female snake asked as she caught up.

[We don't know what else could be inside.] he replied.

[But it's getting away!]

[We can't follow it any longer. What if it is leading us to a trap?]

[But it was nice.] she grumbled. [We should make it follow us, like Hestia follows Galahad.]

Cygnus frowned at her. [I don't think it's the type.]

He was more interested in racing against the canine, rather than making it follow them. Soon the rest of his team caught up and amidst their protests, he decided it was best to head back outside. If they climbed to the top of the canyon, maybe they would see another armoured beast to hitch a ride back with. 

In the end, they chose to travel through the canyon tunnels, drawn towards the exit by the flow of air. Outside, they looked around to see their new surroundings and what met them was a wide expanse of rocky ground, dotted with areas of vegetation here and there. 

The open landscape was marred by several blue streams of water and there were many creatures drawn towards it to quench their thirst.

Cygnus spotted several armoured beasts and also another unusual creature. They stood on two legs and seemed to have very little hair to speak of. He tilted his head in thought – they weren't very shiny at all, contrary to what their leader had said, neither did they have any sharp teeth to speak of. 

They hid in the limited vegetation and appeared to be hunting the smaller armoured beasts, but he recognised them clearly. When 'she' had mentioned the dangerous creatures to avoid, she seemed very particular towards this type. 

So he decided to return quickly and report their findings to her. 

Because, according to their leader, he had found the biggest threat of all.

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