Chapter 30: Chapter 30 – Further Exploration

It took a while longer than she expected but the serpent returned from the pathway after a few minutes of searching it— which informed her that there was a fork in the pathway up ahead. 

This wasn't a bad sign though since forks in the pathways meant more ways to go and more possible ways that could lead her up and out of her. 

The thing that would be bad for her right now; would be if there were no pathways at all— leaving her to have to dig her way out of this place.

Once the serpent returned she knew that she could take this pathway and did just that— beginning to walk along the narrower pathway and into an unexplored area of the caverns.

The stretch was long and had some jagged turns that injured her body when she tried to get past them, but eventually, she came across the fork in the road that the snake found earlier. 

To be exact— it was three ways to go.

Shi sighed because this meant more time she would need to spend here waiting for the serpent to search each pathway before going down one. 

This was going to take a lot of time, but she decided to go with this plan, so she was going to stick with it.

"Alright Serr, start with the first one. Go to the end and return when you reach a fork just like before. If it doesn't have a fork return before the link weakens too much." Shi ordered the serpent once more

She had to be more specific this time because she realized earlier that she wasn't being specific enough with the serpent. Because if there wasn't a fork in the pathway— it would've kept going till the link got too weak. 

With the new command registered with the creature, it took off in search of the first pathway— with Shi waiting at the entrance just like she had before.

Surprisingly it didn't take as long as Shi thought it would before the serpent returned— the link didn't even weaken at all. When She saw the serpent she stood from her resting position and moved closer.

"Why did you return so early— was there a fork in the road?" She asked the serpent with interest; she knew the creature could understand her.

The creature couldn't speak, so instead, it shook its head to tell her that there wasn't any fork in the road. 'There is no fork, and it didn't keep going— that could only mean it's a dead end. That's one way off the list then.' She thought to herself as she looked back at the creature.

"Good, same thing for the next pathway. Let's get this over with quickly so i can get out of here. I'm starting to miss food." She said with a slight chuckle to no one in particular.

The snake didn't reply to her joke and instead followed her command faithfully and went into the second pathway— a pathway that was much wider than the previous one or even the one she just went down. 

It took longer than the one before— as to be expected— but the serpent returned after a few minutes when she noticed the connection between them weakening. Meaning one thing; the pathway was long without any forks in it yet. 

'This could be a good thing, but before i go down it, let's just make sure the last one doesn't have anything either.' Shi thought to herself— then ordered the serpent to do so, "One more time, go down the last pathway and follow the same order."

Just like all the times before, the serpent did as she asked however unlike that time— before the serpent could return she felt the connection between them spike— and a sense of irritation rushed into her mind.

It felt like nothing she had ever felt before. It wasn't like how one would normally feel emotions— where they just feel it— rather it felt more like she was being told that she should feel this emotion coming from the connection. 

It took her a few seconds to skim through the information in her mind about the link before she realized what this feeling was. 'It's the feeling of the snake. It's feeling irritated.' She thought to herself before quickly piecing the information together and running down the pathway.

'It has no reason to feel any emotions since it's not living, the only reason it would feel something is if it's related to my commands— and in this case the lack of the ability to finish my command. Something is wrong with it.' She thought as she ran quickly down the pathway.

Even though the serpent took a few minutes to reach how far it did before the incident happen— Shi took less time because of her enhanced Vampiric speed doing its thing. Even with her lack of fresh blood.

As she arrived where she felt the connection from the serpent the strongest; she spotted what could only be described as proactive hunting. 

The serpent was at a side of the pathway and was surrounded by odd mole-looking creatures on all sides.

Shi didn't have time to count each one— but from the quick glance, she gave— she could tell it was easily over 10 of them all around. 

The creatures looked quite ugly to Shi, with their entire body being covered in wrinkle hairless brown or darkish skin. They had a head that protruded from their body like a stump with large buck teeth just under their beady black eyes. 

They were small in size— barely reaching 1 foot long or wide— but each of their limbs had sharp long nails on them that would make it easy for them to dig.

'Shit i knew it had other creatures down here, i just didn't expect to run into them so soon.' Shi thought to herself as she quickly stopped before getting near them— drawing the attention of some of the mole creatures that were near her side. 

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'They look similar in shape and size to some of the bones in the chamber from before. Is that why they are attacking Serr? They think he's going to eat them? Dammit Serr, why did you have to be such a menace.' She sighed at the thought before focusing back on Serr.

Serr was injured on his side with what seemed like a scratch wound which indicated that he was attacked. The odd part however was the lack of blood coming from the wound; which Shi could only attribute to the markings before sucking the creature's body dry.

'I can't reach it, and it can't reach me without dealing with those creatures first.' Shi thought to herself as she observed the situation.

She didn't think the snake would be able to dig and reach her before the mole creatures could act. Since they are made to dig through the ground— they would naturally be better at digging than a serpent.

"Over here uglies, jealous because it looks better than you?" Shi said with a chuckle— taunting the creatures to attack her. She didn't know if the creatures could understand her— but it didn't really matter as long as she was loud enough.

It seemed to have work to— as she drew the attention of all the mole creatures at once. Leaving an opening for the serpent to get away. 

It instantly took the chance and slithered towards Shi through the wall.

By the time the moles noticed the creature had vanished into a hole in the wall, it was already too late for them to catch up. This naturally pissed them off enough to turn their anger towards the newcoming bipedal being that yelled at them in odd sounds.

Shi also knew that this was going to happen so she was ready. The creatures weren't as big as the serpent so she wasn't as unsure if she could fight them as back then— the only issue was the numbers.

An issue that she was sure she could deal with as long as the serpent joined her side— she would just need to hold off for a while.

"Well, now you look even more ugly." She said loudly again to distract the creatures further— as she quickly dashed forward at the closest one.

It seemed that the mole creatures had poor eyesight— because they didn't register her movement until she was close enough to reach them. 

Stomping her foot down onto the creature in an attempt to kill it.

It felt like stomping into a pile of mud as her foot slammed into the back of the creature and burst through its body— with blood and sand leaking out of it. 

'Sand? Are these things made out of sand? That's so weird but interesting.' Shi thought to herself in amazement as she furthered her learning about this world she lived in.

Shi was always one for discovering new things and curiosity always won over her— even in a situation where she may die.

She didn't let her interest in discovering new things get in the way of the current situation though— quickly jumping back once she was sure the creature was dead so that the others won't get her in time.

'1 down, just 9 more to go. They aren't that hard to kill i just need to avoid being swarmed by them, and i should be fine. Serr is close— he had to take the longer way around since the moles were in the way.' She thought to herself as she kept her eyes on the creatures moving around.

They started to get a lot more frantic— maybe even scared— once they noticed the scent of blood in the air from one of their fellow species. 

Some of the smaller ones even looked like they were about to run away— but once the largest one made a squeaking sound they all gathered around it.

'That one might be the leader— killing it would make this easier. The smaller ones would run away, and the ones that stay would be disorganized.' Shi planned out in her mind as she changed her plan from just killing all of them— to killing the leader first.

As she was planning, the creatures had enough time to gather around the leader of the group and get into a more battle-ready position. What Shi didn't expect was how they would attack her— they spat out mud from their mouths in her direction.

'What the-' Her thoughts were not able to be finished as she jumped to the side to avoid the incoming mud attack— which wasn't hard since the attacks were pretty small in size.

'So they can spit out mud? While interesting, it's not really an issue that would pose a problem— it doesn't seem like it shoots out a lot.' She thought to herself as she got ready to act again.

Jumping forward— she aimed to slam another of the mole creatures— but before she could reach them because they reacted by spitting mud in her direction. 

This made her stop her advance in order to dodge the attack.

'Shit, they are all piled up in one spot facing all directions. This might be more annoying than i thought. I wonder how hard the mud hits? Maybe i can tank a hit from it.' 

The creatures weren't moving from their spot since they knew that would allow Shi to pick them off one by one— so this gave Shi enough time to think about her next course of action.

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