Keros watched on with wide eyes as the shaded figures contended with this monster. Again and again, they clashed against one another. The bestial figure couldn't move forward and had to respond to the barrage of attacks sent against it.

Soon the battle calmed for a moment and the two figures converged between Keros and the monster. They stood in defensive stances while glaring at the beast.

The moonlight shined down upon them and Keros was able to verify the belief he had. It was indeed his parents. They stood before him steady and firm.

His father had many minor injuries, and light streams of blood flowed down his arms. He had faced the monster head-on to stop its advance and kept its focus on him so his partner could strike true without much danger. He had paid the price of such a tactic with his body.

His mother showed few signs of injury, other than minor cuts.

No matter how much Keros struggled and tried to call out, his parents didn't react. When they spoke to each other, he couldn't hear anything. It was as if they were in a different world.

Keros watched as the battle resumed. It seemed like it went on for an eternity, but he knew a very short amount of time had passed. The monster began to increase in strength and aggression. Soon the battle escalated and blood spurting into the air more often. Even his mother was losing out occasionally.

His father began to accumulate more injuries and his blood-soaked his rent flesh and glinted in the moonlight. His mother was leaving behind dots of red on the ground as she weaved between the trees and in and out of battle.

The monster was taking damage, but that only increased its ferocity.

Suddenly the monster spun and caught the leaping figure of Keros' mother by the throat. Jack shot out in a burst of rage and fear, he slammed his shoulder into the monster and tumbled to the ground with it, freeing Jessica from its grasp.

The jumped to their feet in haste and began a savage brawl.

Jack was trying to give his wife safety to recover. Though they were partners in battle, he couldn't help but fear for her safety and that often put him in danger when he tried to save her. After all, he was a man, and he wouldn't stand by while his woman was in danger.

Keros could feel his emotions, and even the pain he felt as the claws of the monster tore at his body. The fear in his heart from seeing his love clutched in the beast's fingers lingered, causing him to fight ferociously. Even so, he was being pushed back and he was losing the brawl.

Suddenly Jessica appeared within Keros' vision again. She was dashing in from the side! He began to feel her emotions as well, and they were similar to his fathers.

Fear. Fear that the man she loved would have his life taken before her eyes. She had reacted on instinct and charged in, which was unlike her usual combat style. She wasn't suited to hard clashes with enemies, but her emotions were a mess and caused her to act against her best interest, just like Jack.

Keros was screaming in his mind, and jerking his body around trying to free himself from the chains. His arms began to bleed from grinding against the chains and the bark of the tree. He was going crazy. His eyes became bloodshot and his throat burned.

He had a terrible premonition. He felt a small, sharp pain in his chest. Was he about to watch his mother die, right before his eyes?!

Jessica bent her legs and lunged out.

Time slowed to a crawl, and Keros watched with rapt attention as his mother was soaring toward this monster. It had already forced his father back and began to spin to intercept his mother. She was in the middle of a full bore charge and didn't have the time to adjust to dodge the beasts counter. She could only continue with her attack, and watch as the monster thrust its hand toward her.

Keros saw the monsters hand shape into a point, much like his own spear. He watched as that hand slowly disappeared into his mother's chest.

Time stopped. All the fear, anger, worry, and pain was transmitted to him like a tsunami. He felt everything that his parents felt at this moment. His heart shattered, both by the feeling of something piercing directly into his chest, and the feeling that his parents felt.

Time resumed, and as if it was attempted to catch up with itself, it sped forward. In almost an instant Keros saw an arm sticking out of his mother's back, and her dagger buried within the chest of the monster.

His father screamed out, and this was the first time Keros had been able to hear any sound from his parents. The scream was gut-wrenching.

Keros felt an odd sensation well up within him like raging energy was coursing through his veins and threatening to rip him apart.

Suddenly Keros felt a jolt and his eyes shot open.

He was awake and staring up at the top of the trees. He could still hear his father's guttural scream, and that was all he could hear.

He looked around and saw Shelbs crouched beside him with a hand pressing on his shoulder. Slowly his hearing began to return and he caught some of what she was saying to him.

"Get into position quickly!" She whispered quickly, before darting toward the river.

Keros struggled to stand. When steady, he grabbed his spear and followed after her. He remained as quiet as possible but everything seemed so loud to him right now causing him discomfort. He heard some sloppy sounds ahead and hid behind a tree, peaking out to see a large, thick snake in the process of swallowing the boar.

It was difficult to tell what species the snake was, but it could be their target. Regardless, snakes had many valuable organs and would be worth killing. The snake was medium size, at roughly thirty meters long and as thick as a wooden barrel. The snake would be vulnerable while eating and they might be able to kill it before it could regurgitate its food.

The team acted, and four of them shot out at the same time. They struck with their weapons in the same general area to reduce the chance of damaging the valuable parts of the snake.

The snake thrashed around heavily, spinning, and coiling. Blood leaked out of its back and scales littered the ground around it. The four were forced to retreat, they couldn't risk being rolled over or coiled up by it.

The snake began to contract, and try to spit out its food. Its' tail started to wiggle and coil up towards its head.

The four that had attacked, retreated. Next, the other four shot out and tried to attack the same spot that the previous four had. Three of the attacks landed and caused the snake to writhe in pain.

It couldn't retaliate with the foreign mass stuck in its throat. It's only option was to flail around and hope to deter its enemies until it spat out the boar.

Likewise, the Dusk Hunters also had to worry about the Snake spitting out its food. They had to maim it enough to reduce the threat it would pose when it was able to attack and its ability to escape. They were on a timer. However, the snakes scales and thick skin was making it difficult to do enough damage. Not to mention, snakes were known to have great vitality. They were difficult to kill and would still pose a threat even after they died.

If they wanted this kill, they would be forced to use a continuous onslaught tactic and try to cleave the snake in half quickly.

Soon after attacking, the second team retreated, and almost immediately after, team one re-engaged. They kept hacking at the wound they had created.

By the time the snake had finished regurgitating the boar, they had cut halfway through the snake. They could only hope that the damage was enough to weaken it.

The snakes' movement wasn't impaired anymore, and its trashing became much more violent. The Dusk Hunters couldn't get close for the moment, or they would risk taking collateral damage. They decided to wait for a bit until the snake either got tired or just stopped thrashing around.

Keros watch all of this from nearby.

It took a long time for the snake to calm down, but no one could tell if it was tired or just adjusted to the pain, as it coiled up.

The team left their cover and entered into a formation. William and Captain Lionell stood at the front, they would be the front liners in charge of drawing the snakes attacks. Shelbs, Derek, and two others would compose the striking team. The last two would act as support and adapt to the situation.

Captain Lionell and William engaged with the snake. They both wielded shields, William had an axe, and Captain Lionell had a broadsword.

The Snake struck, extending its upper body and lashing out over a great distance.

Captain Lionell bent to the side and widened his stance before angling his shield and smashing it against the snake, deflecting its head a bit and dodging the bite.

If anyone was caught by the bite, they would be pulled into the snake and coiled up, which would likely be the end of their life.

As the snake was focused on Captain Lionell and William, the Strike team took any opportunity to strike at the wound. They slowly chipped away at the snake as the battle continued.

It took a long time for the team to kill the snake, but no one was injured. The bait had played a huge part and gave them a massive advantage at the beginning. Without it they might not have found this snake, and even if they had it likely would have been a tough fight.

Keros came over, and together with the frontliners he helped uncoil the snake and pin its body to the ground. They couldn't risk its muscles from tensing after death and causing it to bite or constrict one of them. They were able to determine that this wasn't the species of snake that they were looking for.

Next Keros watched as Zimmer cut into the snake and began to take out the valuable parts. He briefly described each organ and its uses, as well as a general price for each. The heart, eyes, and gall bladder were the most valuable. Though almost every part of the snake had value, they would leave certain things behind because they couldn't carry it all.

Next Zimmer moved on to the head and carefully cut in to check for a venom sac. He didn't find one though.

"The Blue-tongued snake is very venomous. You might have learned in school that snakes usually fall into one of two categories. Venomous or constrictors. That is only true for common unevolved snakes though. Evolved animals, or beasts, don't conform to the normalcy that the rest of the common creatures in the animal kingdom do." Zimmer began to explain

"You're going to find many oddities, the Blue-tongued snake being the first. It doesn't sport giant fangs as you might expect of a venomous snake, instead, many of its sharp curved teeth have small holes that will inject the venom into their prey. However, they won't always use their venom, and sometimes will simply constrict their prey." Zimmer continued

"Though, there are many more beasts with much more wild evolutions. I'm telling you this so you don't underestimate the capability of a beast because of what you've learned about animals so far. You need to take everything with a grain of salt and evaluate the beasts you face yourself. Don't assume you know everything about a beast." Zimmer finished as he began cleaning up.

They had taken what they could from the snake, and the rest would be left to nature.

The team spent around an hour traveling before settling upon a new location to rest once again. It was dangerous to travel at night, but it would have been more dangerous to remain by the scent of a fresh kill. The moonlight also provided an acceptable level of illumination that they felt it was safe enough to travel for a short time.

-

Keros struggled to return to his slumber. The nightmare he had earlier was gnawing at his mind. He hadn't had the time to process it, though this wasn't the first time he had a similar nightmare.

They began as soon as he left the stronghold. It seemed to always be the same nightmare and it would always start the same. However, every time he slept the dream would continue for longer, and he would get to see more of the battle. Tonight was the first time that he had recognized his parents. Before, he had only dreamed up to the point that his mother's throat had been grabbed. Everything after that point was completely new to him.

He didn't want to fall back asleep. He didn't want to watch what would happen to his parents, even though he knew that it was likely all just a figment of his imagination. It FELT real, and that was a torture that he didn't want to experience.

He needed to sleep though. They were in the wild, surrounded by danger. He couldn't afford to be tired in this environment. So, he cleared his mind and drifted off to sleep. Thankfully he wasn't plagued by that dream again this night.

-

The team was early to rise and set off following the river once again. They needed to find the Blue-tongued snake. While the snake they had killed previously would provide a lot of credits, the Blue-tongued snake would provide more. It also added many other benefits.

Completing a mission would give them reputation within the Mercenary Guild, and increase their rank. This would allow them to accept missions that were locked to certain ranks. It also provided some benefits when buying or selling treasures.

Completing the mission would also allow them to build a relationship with the organization that hired them, which could open up many doors depending on the person's status.

Finally, they would be able to keep the rest of the snake for themselves.

All of these combined made everyone eager to complete the mission. They would get far more benefits for completing the mission than they would from just slaughtering a few beasts.

The team searched for traces of snakes as they traveled. They occasionally spotted some but they were often far too small. They wanted a snake that was at least thirty meters long.

Along the way, Keros learned from Zimmer, and he spotted something that seemed to differ from Zimmer's teachings.

"What about here?" Keros said as he pointed to a much smaller slither trace.

Zimmer knelt and began to study the traces, his face began to scrunch up.

"Truly odd. I've never seen a snake beast that is this small, and no common snake would be in this area since other beasts frequent here." Zimmer said as he continued to examine.

Zimmer had reinforced that just because they didn't know about something, didn't mean that it didn't exist. Its' size also didn't mean that it was weak, so they would have to proceed with caution.

They noted that the traces seemed fairly fresh, and curiosity took over. They left the group and slowly followed the slithering traces in the dirt. They didn't travel very long before being startled.

Coiled up under a web of vines was a violet colored snake. It was thin but seemed to be very long. It was difficult to determine if it was a juvenile or just a small fully grown snake.

The snake began to coil more tightly upon noticing them and stared at this with its bright white eyes. Its' shiny black tongue quickly flitting in and out of its mouth. It seemed to be timid and fearful.

"I think it's likely just a newborn. It's definitely a beast since no common snake would have these traits. Its skittish nature makes me believe that it hasn't experienced much, so it likely born recently." Zimmer said, trying to explain his deductions and reason.

Zimmer had never seen or heard anything about this species of snake, and it was completely foreign to him.

"Be careful, we don't know what it's capable of. It might be a newborn but that doesn't mean that it isn't dangerous!" Zimmer whispered while trying to decide how to handle this situation.

This snake was too unique, they couldn't just leave. It could be extremely valuable, and even if it didn't bring many credits, learning about a new species was reason enough to capture or kill this snake. Almost no human would leave a vulnerable beast alive if they chanced upon it. Beasts were enemies of humans, and taking one out was removing another treat.

Zimmer circled the snake and gestured to Keros to tell him the plan.

They would first attempt to capture it, if that failed then they would try to kill it as cleanly as possible.

Zimmer started, throwing a small blade at the coiled snake. it quickly dodged and relaxed its coil so it could respond to another ranged attack if needed.

Zimmer gestured at Keros, and Keros went in with his spear, drawing the snakes' attention.

The snake didn't snap at him as he expected though, instead it drew its head back further and entered an S curve like position before opening its mouth wide and spitting. A liquid shot out and ignited in mid-air, creating a bowl-sized projectile.

Keros bent his body back to dodge the projectile before springing back up. He watched as Zimmer's hand came down swiftly and locked around the snake just behind its head.

Keros sighed and turned around to check behind him. He saw a deep impression on the tree behind him, that looked as if it was burning and withering at the same time. What the hell?!

"AHHRG"

Keros spun his head around at the loud grunt of Zimmer. He saw Zimmer recoiling, the snake's scales behind its head were flared out. The scales were sharp and shiny with a little blood dripping down them.

Zimmer landed on his butt and clutched his wrist, his face distorted into agony. His breath became labored and low grunts were escaping his clenched teeth. He quickly retrieved some cloth and began to tighten it around his forearm before taking out an injector and slamming it into his arm.

Keros didn't have the opportunity to help him. The snake was still in perfect condition and from its two attacks, it was obvious that it was a massive threat. It had a projectile energy attack, a self-defense mechanism, and it was venomous. Keros couldn't be lax, he had to deal with this threat.

The snake was acting passive and only retaliated up to this point. Which gave Keros some time to think about how he would handle it.

Keros looked back to Zimmer quickly and noticed him pressing on his ear with his good hand. He must be using his comm to alert the Captain. Good, Keros would be able to ease his worries and keep the attention of the snake on him.

He harassed the snake often so its attention remained on him, and dodged whenever it retaliated. He wasn't having to use too much effort so he had the luxury of developing some ideas.

It wasn't long before the Captain had dashed over and began to tend to Zimmer. The rest of the team followed, but their focus was not on Zimmer, instead, their eyes were glued to the snake. All of their eyes shone with greed. This snake was obviously extremely unique, which was easily noticed.

Derek unsheathed his dagger and slowly crept over.

"Whew man, luuuucky!" Derek said as he licked the corner of his mouth

"I invoke the rule of endeavor!" Zimmer shouted out in a hoarse voice

Derek halted his steps and his face contorted into anger.

The rule of endeavor. This was a rule created by the Mercenary guild and was followed by many of the mercenary groups, even the ones that weren't a part of the guild. The rule stated that any person or group who endeavored to complete an objective on their own would be allocated all of the spoils of their effort should they succeed. This included fighting a beast, completing a mission, or any objective that would provide a benefit in some way.

It was commonly invoked in situations where someone found something valuable and others came in to snatch it from them. It was to give the person who found something valuable, and likely already put some effort in to obtain it, the opportunity to keep it as theirs.

"The rule of endeavor? That's bullshit! You're trying to snatch all the profit from this snake away from the team, for yourself and this brat!" Derek exclaimed.

Zimmer wanted to argue, but the pain he was experiencing made it difficult for him to speak. He had already struggled enough trying to invoke the rule.

"Screw that! This brat doesn't deserve to keep half of the snake, and you're in no position to fight it. I invoke the rule of endeavor!" Derek yelled out before continuing his steps.

The rest of the team hadn't been happy that Zimmer called the rule of endeavor into play, but they were even angrier that Derek attempted to do so. Not only was he trying to keep all of the rewards to himself after chastizing Zimmer for it, but he was also trying to violate the rule of endeavor and steal the rewards from Keros and Zimmer!

Shelbs unsheathed her blade and quickly intercepted Derek. Her gaze was fierce and locked onto Derek.

The tension began to rise, and it seemed that they would come to blows.

"ENOUGH." Captain Lionell shouted in a deep voice

"The rule of endeavor was invoked by Zimmer on behalf of himself and Keros. This is their prey. Keros found the traces and they both tracked it all the way here. They have already engaged it. You have no right to dismiss their invocation." Captain Lionell said while glaring at Derek.

"Now. STAND THE HELL DOWN." He shouted in a commanding tone

Derek snorted in indignation before stepping back and sheathing his dagger. Shelbs maintained her position just in case, and Captain Lionell continued to tend to Zimmer.

Keros had only been able to spare a little attention to the commotion. He was still probing the snake, learning what he could, and developing a plan to deal with it.

After a while of testing the snake, he came up with an incredibly simple plan. Truthfully, he had thought of this almost immediately but had dismissed it because he didn't know enough about the snake. Now though, he thought that he knew enough to try it.

He bent down and picked up a thin branch off the ground, and held it with his left hand. Once he was ready, he darted towards the snake.

Once again the snake recoiled and entered the S shape before opening its mouth and spurting the liquid. Keros was prepared though and ducked forward. He was in the process of falling and kicked his legs hard to propel himself forward. This allowed him to dodge the projectile while still moving as fast as he could toward the snake.

He swung his spear down and slammed the shaft of it onto the snake, in the same area that Zimmer had grabbed. He released the spear and immediately planted his foot on top of it to hold it down. Then, with great speed, he slammed the branch down on the snakes tail and pinned the branch beneath his other foot.

This turned out to be the correct move. The snake put up a violent struggle, and its strength was astounding for its size. He likely wouldn't have been able to keep the snake pinned without the leverage and his full weight. The snake's scales began to flair out all over its body. Had he tried to simply pin the snake under his boot, he likely would have been stabbed on his foot.

Now, he was in a better position than before, but he still needed to figure out how he would contain this snake. He figured it would be more valuable alive, and it was likely difficult to kill anyway. He couldn't pick it up with his hands though, and what would contain such a destructive snake?

He needed more information, but that would take time and he knew they didn't have as much time as he wanted. For now, he would have to do what he could and hope it worked.

"Here kid, use this." Captain Lionell said as he tossed over a black cylinder.

The cylinder was made of special polymer-like material. It was used to contain treasures that were volatile, therefore it was extremely durable. These cylindrical containers were common, and most mercenary teams would carry at least one or two with them when they left the stronghold.

Keros unsealed the lid and carefully began to force the snake in starting at the tail. It took quite some effort but he eventually managed to get the majority of its body inside. When he got to the head, he pinned it with the lid before kicking his spear away and bringing the two parts of the cylinder together, locking the snake inside. He sealed the lid and bound the container to his waist.

The team sighed collectively. They didn't want Keros to be injured, but it was unfortunate to lose out on the potential benefit that the snake would bring. Though, most of them weren't angry. The snake was simply too unique, it would be odd if they hadn't invoked the rule of endeavor.