Capítulo 15: Awakening

Amadeus swiped his halberd and opened a path through a few bushes and hedges, looking for a prey to fight. He seemed to have completely blended in with his surrounding, as a few rabbits would pass by his feet unknowingly. Yet, Amadeus paid no heed to them as he continued looking round finding a prey. What he didn't know was that he was already being targeted by a being that considered him a prey.

Amadeus had an uneasy feeling in his heart as he looked back now and then but failed to spot any creature that may cause him harm. Like this he continued his journey, all the while feeling as if something was about to jump out.

At first, he tried to shake the feeling off by trying to run at a faster pace, but the feeling remained. This time he was sure that something was currently eyeing him, at first, he thought it was some sort of bird as he couldn't hear anything but seeing the large trees, he discarded that idea. The trees were clustered around him, so it made the approach to attack him difficult while large leaves covered most of the sky, leaving only a few openings in which Amadeus didn't see a bird either.

Making his assumptions, Amadeus realised something, he didn't know where he was. It seemed that he must've gotten off track somewhere down the line when he had tried to shake off that feeling

All of a sudden, alarm bells rang out from within his head as he hurriedly dodged to the side only to see a large flash of green shoot through his previous position. The figure landed in the middle of a small clearing and quickly coiled its body.

Amadeus got up and two reptilian eyes looked at each other, one pair of yellow ones and the other being an odd pair of one gold and the other silver. Both of their pupils narrowed into thin slits as they focused on each other.

The snake hissed and got ready to pounce while Amadeus readjusted his grip on his halberd, shortening the distance between him and the blade. It was a tricky opponent, seeing the speed before, he knew it was nothing to scoff at. A longer reach will only prove to be harmful due to the halberd being a weapon originally for cavalries.

He could tell that the snake was poisonous, not due to him possessing a heaven shaking intuition but seeing the drips of unknown liquid falling onto the nearby plant life, killing them in a short few seconds.

The more he observed, the more cautious he got. What currently opposed him was a beautiful green viper with yellow eyes. Unlike the vipers from his previous life, this one was larger than he imagined. It seemed to be in the middle of being evolving into a demonic beast. Amadeus knew that if it succeeded then he wouldn't be able to defeat it, so he needed to either kill it quickly or escape.

Naturally, escaping was out of the question as a menacing grin found his lips. He didn't have anyone to talk to in the past month so, instead of talking to himself a lot, he found bliss in silence. Looking at the body that stretched a few metres, Amadeus roughly guessed that the viper was reaching the two digits. Yet its body wasn't large width-wise, rather it was just a little bigger than usual. He knew that some vipers reached tens of metres, but seeing its features reminded him of a specific one. A flat triangular head with a cream underbelly, a thick body and extremely long fangs, reminded him of the death adder. Death adders were usually a snake composed of bands of red, brown and black, but the one in front of him was formed of different shades of green.

Hissing slightly the snake made the first move as it shot straight at him. Amadeus didn't panic as he also thrust his halberd forwards while a hint of disdain flashed through his eyes.

'Such an amateur move, seems like I…'

His thoughts were bought to abrupt halt when he saw the miraculous move by the snake. Although it was in mid-air, it was able to easily bypass Amadeus' attack by shifting its body slightly to go past the side of the blade. Seeing this, Amadeus' eyes widened in shock while the viper opened its mouth, ready to bite. Halting his strike, Amadeus twisted his halberd and brought the back of the weapon straight towards the snake. This time the snake wasn't able to dodge, and Amadeus was able to smack it away from him.

Calming his raging heart, Amadeus took another careful look at the snake while the latter had a despondent look seeing its surprise attack fail. Amadeus felt lucky that he was trained in most of the weapons, allowing him to use both sides of his halberd. Thinking of this, Amadeus had a fleeting thought,

'Why did my mum say that I can only train once I've awakened, if this is my trials…?'

Amadeus stopped his mind from wandering due to the snake making some sort of movement. The snake looked towards the left and hissed lightly as a figure came out of the bushes. Amadeus followed the snake's line of sight, only to see a humanoid figure stand petrified there.

The said figure had short black hair and was wearing a piece of leather armour. It looked fairly new indicating that it was just brought. The same could be said for it's simple and shiny iron dagger that was currently trembling non-stop.

However, the snake lost interest on the intruder and focussed its gaze back at Amadeus. Amadeus also did the same as he tightened his grip. What the two didn't expect was that the figure wasn't alone but had companions as another few figures came out. They also had similar equipment and the same reaction when they saw the snake.

Their party seemed to consist of a heavily armoured tank, a swordsman, a bow wielder, a mage, a priestess and a scout. Although the bow wielder took aim, it seems that sweat caused her fingers to be slippery and let an arrow loose, hitting the snake. Rage filled its eyes as the snake whipped its head at them and hissed threateningly.

The whole party took a step back as the priestess fell back with a shriek,

"Kyaa!"

"Eva!"

The mage looked at her friend and hurriedly tried to pick her up while the swordsman and tank, got in front of their party with a courage filled face and fear filled eyes.

The snake lunged at them while the priestess started chanting after getting up. After saying a series of incomprehensible words, she shouted while pointing her staff at the tank,

"Defend!"

A light glow surrounded the tank as he came in front of the snake and set his heavy shield, that was the size of him down. His steady look gave Amadeus of an impregnable…

*Crack**Clank*

…paper mountain.

The shield didn't even last a few seconds before it was crumbled to pieces. The swordsman seeing this, came to protect his friend while the priestess did another chant and shouted,

"Haste!"

The mage on the side also finished her chant and shouted,

"Fireball!"

While the bow wielder shot few arrows in quick succession. The scout also took out a set of throwing knives and did the same.

This still wasn't enough though, as the snake simply warded of the physical attacks while dodged the magic one. Finally seeing its opportunity, it dove straight at the downed tanker who was the closest and the current weakest prey.

Just as despair filled their party, the snake halted and moved its head back, dodging Amadeus' blade. Amadeus had quickly made a makeshift mask because it was one of the many things his mother had told him to do when he was just a young child. Hide his identity in the presence of others.

Ignoring the shocked look on the party's faces Amadeus didn't stop in his attacks as the two once more got into a heated battle. Seeing a child younger than them face off against a beast that put them in a hopeless situation shocked them to the core. Although they didn't see any of his features, his dishevelled yet luxurious hair, and the air around him told them that he was not off a normal upbringing.

Back to the fight, Amadeus tried his best not to let the snake get close to him so it can have a chance to take a bite. He was using both ends of the halberd while also tried to constantly be on the move. His tattered training clothes didn't help either as some of the loose ends started coming in the way.

It wasn't until a short time later that he was able to land a hit with the bladed end of the halberd. It was the first time but also the most crucial one, the bladed end didn't just bounce off like the party's weapons but rather cleanly sliced the snake in half.

After seeing the body slowly writhe to a halt, Amadeus finally let out a sigh of relief before his eyes turned cold and pointed his weapon at the party. The initial happy party all had their happiness sucked out as a despondent aura filled their surroundings.

Looking at Amadeus vigilantly, the group got into a stance while the tank had somehow got a hold of a two-handed sword. Looking at the opposite party, Amadeus opened his mouth to say something while all that came out was a yelp of pain.

Looking down, it seemed that the supposed dead snake had bitten Amadeus' foot. The snake had played dead and had got his revenge by biting Amadeus's ankle. This opportunity only presented himself when he was occupied with the other party.

Although this time Amadeus saw the eyes of the snake lose lustre, he was extra cautious and smashed the snake's head into pieces. He then vigilantly looked at the party felt his throat dry and vision deteriorate. Unable to say anything, Amadeus collapsed among the shocked gazes of the group. The day had been a hectic one for them, first the snake and now the dying noble.

The group didn't know what to do as the swordsman went to approach Amadeus. He had only taken the first step when a pure black dagger found his throat and a group of assassins surrounded the party incapacitating their movements. A group of blades made their way through the trees and surrounded Amadeus. The priestess tried saying something but all that did was bring the dagger closer to her throat.

The blades went forward to pick Amadeus up but were thrown back due to a shockwave released from him. Suddenly, a prehistoric roar left his mouth and Amadeus' eyes shot wide open.

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