3 Flame-Tongued Viper (1/2)

”What's going on here? Make way for the Chief!”

A deep voice interrupted the atmosphere of shock and disbelief that had come over the area because of the weird utterance from the youth.

This finally caused those watching to come to their senses. Some chuckled with mirth, a few blushed with innocence, but most frowned and looked like they were about to curse at him.

As soon as that deep voice entered the ears of Aaron and Woof, both of them sunk to the ground and entered alert positions.

They appeared identical: poised to leap at a moment's notice to either fight or flee.

The thick muscles of the wolf-like dog rippled under its snow-white fur that had splashes of brown here and there, and Aaron's lean figure also displayed a potential for explosive power that had been honed after years in the jungle.

Both of them had sensed a powerful threat.

Seeing this scene, expressions of seriousness appeared on the faces of those watching. As they were people who lived in this age in a hamlet that was always at risk of being overrun, their senses were sharp, and right now, those senses were telling them that these two were dangerous.

Together, the circle of onlookers expanded outward. It looked like this was a practiced move, as even the children kept silent on noticing the looks on the faces of those around them. They moved together with the crowd, causing distance to appear between them and the two in the center.

Watching this, Aaron and Woof were surprised by the synchronization, but they kept their eyes on the direction from which the voice had appeared.

In a few seconds, the crowd on that side parted to reveal a beast they were very familiar with.

The sight of that beast made Woof's hackles rise, as it had a special vendetta against this species.

”Hisssss”

A half-foot wide head, and a 10 feet long body with dark scales which shone in the sun.

It was a Flame-Tongued Viper, whose angled eyes were fixed on the two of them.

Right now, they were standing just inside the gate, where there was a large clearing surrounded by those strange wooden structures that they had seen from afar. Yet, they knew that even though there was only 300 or 400 meters of distance between them and the exit, it would be tough to cross it if they didn't take care of this beast right away.

Aaron still remembered the first time the two of them had crossed one of these beasts. They were quite common in the forest, but there were very few which grew to this tongue.

The name hadn't been given to it because it had a literal, flaming tongue. No, it was because of its ability to shoot flaming balls of poison at its targets with breathtaking speed.

In fact, the name had appeared in Aaron's mind when he saw the beast, and he had gone with it, before later finding out the reason.

So, if they turned their backs and chose to run, they would find themselves bombarded by those fast-moving projectiles which would cause a nasty burn.

Of course, that wasn't even the most worrying thing. No, that honor went to the poison, which would numb those it came in contact with in under a minute, causing them to become defenseless meat to be snacked upon. In fact, the whole objective of the flame was to breach the thick defenses of other species so that the poison could take effect.

Aaron and Woof didn't even have to look at each other to decide on a strategy. They had done this so many times that it was drilled deep into their minds and bodies.

As soon as the indication that the viper was about to spit out its first load of poison became visible, they would split apart and move in a zigzag pattern, which would result in the viper becoming dizzy, Through very painful experimentation, they had found out this weakness of the viper.