章 83: NIĞHT MÜÑUK SERPENT.

***In the west section of the Outskirts_the FORBIDDEN forest and also known as the Second half of the Outskirts prison walls.

It's early night in the forbidden forest's grounds, bed-time to humans but play-time to the terrifying creatures being hosted in these inhumane zones.

Nature here continues playing its course with sound as evidence. Choirs of birds craws, Beasts roared accompanied by screams of preys, swaying of branches, shrubs and other noises that couldn't be specified. All these dreadful noises somehow seems to co-exists with a very eerie silence.

It's always a weird mood in these forbidden ground but when under the influence of the night, the odd vibes in this Forbidden lands magnifies.

One would think that the beautiful Cresent moon would suppress the rogue vibes but instead, moonlight seems to add its own terrible sense to it.

In the areas the moonlight managed to pass through the tall and thick canopy of trees, shadows of twisted branches cast eerie shapes usually only seen in nightmares on the grounds.

In the embrace of these shadows hides more eerie creatures that shouldn't even be seen in an average nightmare.

A couple kilometres into the boundaries of the forbidden forest, a horrible creature that should usually be found much deeper within can be seen stalking patiently from the embrace of the shadows.

Only by faint reflections would a careful observer notice the gleams of dark scales on the sides of its body as it hides it's form between the shadows of a massive root gap of a gaint tree.

A red serpentine forked tongue as thick as three fingers escapes the mouth of this beast as it seems to taste the air with practiced motions.

Getting feedback, the beast moves a bit deeper into the embrace of the shadows and its figure disappears, hidden completely in the darkness as if it never existed!.

The beast had tasted the scent of the approaching prey in the air and as a stalker it is designed to be; it hides and when the time is right, it would strike!.

There were noises interwoven in the tense silence but a new distinct sound soon enters the play from a location not too far away. The sound of fallen leaves being stepped on.

Considering the breaks in sound of the approaching creatures steps as well as the occasionally pauses, it's obvious the approaching creature is being careful and trying hard to be stealthy.

Soon, the approaching creature walks into an area dripping in moonlight and it becomes obvious that it's body just is not built for stealth.

Standing just one feet above the ground, the approaching creature seemed to look like a giant mouse. It had a long tail about two feet long but it's actual body is no bigger than a feet and half.

The mouse's body is covered in short and scarre grey-black hair with fox-like ears placed on top of its mousey head. It's most distinct features are it's beady crimison eyes without pupils and these blood coloured eyes looks more than a bit disturbing in the moonlight.

The feet tall Rat beast has four short limbs for movement and its tail comes out bald and rough with small meaty thorns all over it.

A sticky liquid is always oozing in small quantities out of the rat's entire tail and when in contact with dried leaves, a small hissing sound is lightly produced as a testament to the liquids lethality.

Sniffing the air, this popular specie of rat-like beast is known amongst cultivators and hunters as the 'Red-eyed talley mouse' and it is a very careful Peak Level Rank 0 beast known for its short speed bursts and poison filled tail that's especially lethal when whipped to release large bursts of sticky acid-poison through the air.

The mouse's species is also well known for its sharp shrieks which is a short and buzzing noise that is capable of sending a grown man dizzy at close range!.

Talley mouse do have small teeth but compared to other beasts, they aren't known for their bite power but still no one would want to be bitten by these foot tall monsters because considering their size, a bite would definitely take off a heavy pound of flesh off any unlucky man's thigh!.

Adult male Red-eyed talley mice are usually of Rank One and these adults can sometimes start up small mouse colonies in dark caves. Their mouse Colonies can number up to a few dozen and it's population is made up only of the mouse King, his females and his female's off-springs.

Any male off-spring such as this current loner is ruthlessly kicked out of the rat group as soon as they are old enough to walk properly. Considering that this current rat is a peak level Rank 0 beast then it is safe to assume that this dark-haired creepy rodent is the lucky one-out-of-ten males that not only manages to survive the brutal food-chain of the wild but also managed to grow overtime.

In order to reach this level, this little monster would have used grit, will and lots of luck though it seems his luck is running short as he is soon approaching and hoping to cross the heavy tree root hosting a very dangerous stalker and killer.

Youthful Red-eyed talley mouse are the favourite snack of most predators who can handle a battle but unlike these predetors, Red-eyed talley mouses aren't carnivorous till adulthood. They feed mainly on rare grasses, fallen fruits and sometimes they feed on insects but they would not actively hunt for prey.

Sniffing the air once more, the wandering Red-eyed talley mouse can smell the mouth-watering smell of a fallen fruit nearby. It's time in the forest has added caution to its survival instincts and so although it's mouth is literally watering with geeky saliva, it still surveys the shadowy surroundings for danger as he takes no more than a couple steps at a time.

The mouse has little night vision though the unusually bright moonlight is making it all easier for the mouse as it searches for its fruit without problem. The leaves lightly rustles under its tail as the mouse finally locks in the direction of the smell.

The smell is coming from the side of a massive tree root!.

It takes little effort for the rat to rush around the tree root and find its prize. A watermelon sized fruit lays on the ground with a portion of it shattered obviously from the impact of the high fall from a branch.

A gleam shows through the talley mouse glassy red eyes as it once more surveys its surroundings. There's no-one around and the huge dark shadow-spot between the roots could serve as the perfect dining spot for it to have a late night dinner!.

Sniffing once more, the feet tall rat rushes up to the fruit but just as its about to reach it, two massive humanoid hands covered with scaly dark skin reaches out of the darkness with a speed that left it zero time to react.

These spark-fast dark hands had short glassy grey claws and each finger was a couple of inches longer and wider that that of a humans with a bit of dark webbed flesh connecting lightly between fingers. One look at these hands would tell even a dummy about the lethality of a swipe and the strenght of it's grasp which the Grey-black furred red eyed talley mouse gets to feel first hand.

*SHRIEK!*, The panicked and distressed mouse immediately lets out its signature sharp shrieks that manages to come out louder due to the pain it's currently feeling from its sides being suddenly and roughly held by these terrifying and huge black hands.

It struggles widely with its tremendous strength and then it whips its acid-poison filled tail at the attacker who refuses to completely reveal itself from the darkness.

*SHIZZLE*.*SIZZLE*.*SHIZZLE.*. The leaves and ground hisses as sticky acid-poison splatters everywhere but especially in the direction of the attacker.

The arms holding on to the mouse gets their own spray of acid-poison but surprisingly, the acid just Sizzles on its slightly slimy surface while leaving the scaly arms unscathed and with nothing but a new sense of dryness.

†..HISS!..†

A deep hissing growl from the still hidden predator is the only evidence of damage from the mouse as the scaly hands remains undamaged.

The hands holding the mouse only gets tighter and the struggles of the massive mouse only gets wilder. Still whipping its tail widely, only small amounts of poison spews out as the whipping tail loses its reserves of acid-poison only seven seconds into the mouse's struggle for its life.

Drawing a bit of blood from it's harsh grip, the dominant predator finally pulls the struggling mouse into the darkness.

Another pained shriek is heard from the mouse followed by wilder struggle but then, the shadows soon goes completely silent with an obvious winner to the very short battle.

From the dark root corner, a serpentine yet slightly humaniod head slowly reveals itself under the moonlight.

Each eyeball of the serpentine beast seemed to be the size of a lawn-tennis ball yet they come off as completely reptilian.

The beast's eyes were completely yellow with black vertical pupils resting on them and fragments of green scattered all over.

On the serpentine beasts face were two-inch long triangular holes serving as nostrils as well as a lip-less mouth that cuts through half its jaws. Its wide mouth stays slightly open with a slimy red forked tongue occasionally slipping out of it to taste the air.

The moonlight mildly reflects over this creature's neither scaly nor fleshy skin but the human-like intelligence in its gaze couldn't be hidden even as a semi-transparent eyelid eerily sweeps over its eyeballs as it looks forward.

Staring in a direction only a couple tens of trees away, this stealthy serpentine-humaniod beast maintains its dominant gaze with its thick muscular neck coming out a bit more out of the darkness and into the moonlight.

The predator beast seems to be staring at nothing but darkness but then the leaf rustles in the distance as a massive dark panther-like beast about five feet tall hops out of the dark before turning to run away in fear of a stronger species!.

If any knowledgeable Cultivator has witnessed this scene then they would have felt a shiver race down their spines as the name of the dreadful serpentine creature comes into their minds..

Niğht Müñuk Serpent!.

A creature that's a Rank One beast at birth and if they have a good enough bloodline concentration, they may have the potential to possibly break into the high ranks!(Rank four).

Any knowledgeable Cultivator would also know that this creature however young or old should be found much deeper in the forbidden forests. A couple tens of kilometres deeper in fact!. What is one if this rare and unholy serpentine-humaniod species doing here?!.

Sinking it's thick and blunt triangular head back into the shadows, the toothless beast suddenly grows dagger sharp fangs as it dives into its kill.

Getting dinner is definitely not a good enough reason for a beast of this level to travel tens of kilometres out of the depths of the forbidden forest but considering the nature of this specie, it maybe exactly be for this very reason.

Among other things, Niğht Müñuk Serpents are known for their obsession with vengeance. They can master the smell of a hunter who hurt them years ago and track him down for the kill!.

They would hunt and kill any beast who they had once wrestled with as soon as they get better and although they live alone, there are tales pointing out that they can supernaturally sense the death of a member of their species!.

If a hunter kills a Niğht Müñuk Serpent, another Niğht Müñuk Serpents with close bloodline relations with the dead one would be immediately alerted. These beast's are even said to be able to experience the last few seconds of their dead mate!.

They would see, smell and feel what the dead other party senses in his dying times and using this information, they can track down the hunter with vengeance in mind!.

Due to these chilling facts about the specie, no smart hunter actively hunts down a Niğht Müñuk Serpent because it can lead to an endless series of being hunted to death by the species as anymore of the species killed would lead to more members of the species joining the endless hunting play!.

Thinking in this direction, a very possible reason as to why a Niğht Müñuk Serpent has moved kilometres out of its usual dwelling sites could be because it has sensed the death of a member of it's close bloodline.

What ignorant hunter has brought this calamity upon himself?!.

With its serpentine head peeking out of the darkness once more and its yellow eyeballs surrounding its narrow black pupils, a possible answer or rather question comes to mind.

Would Navi find these yellow eyes oddly familiar?!.