Spoiler:

Ever since Linedwell had been able to vanquish his "stalkers" from the previous day, the threats on this island appeared to almost dwindle completely. Though he'd see threats every now and then, they weren't exactly as challenging as he'd hope they'd be on this island. Linedwell began to wonder if he was simply outgrowing this island faster than he'd expected he would, or if he was simply traversing the safe areas of the island without realizing. Because of this thought, Linedwell decided he'd take a different route on his run through the forests today. It was his hope that he'd run into a few obstacles along the way that he had yet to encounter.

About an hour or so into the run, Linedwell's optimism about this decision had dwindled to almost none. During his run he'd yet to run anything the least bit threatening or anything he hadn't seen days prior. He began to wonder if he'd made a mistake by traveling to Star Island instead of staying on the mainland of Crescent Island. He knew he always had the option of traveling back and hoping his luck would improve, but the thought of there being two villages over there made him feel as though the difficulty of his training would be lessened even more should he travel back over there.

With a sigh, Linedwell merely continued his run. Even though he'd yet to encounter a threat, that didn't mean that his stamina training should end.

It didn't take too long for Linedwell to begin to notice that something wasn't right about the area he'd run into. So far on this island he'd been able to hear a multitude of sounds from the wildlife that lived on this island, but as he ran through this area of Star Island he couldn't hear anything at all. It was as if this area of the island was completely vacant of all life whatsoever. He could feel a chill as he thought about how creepy this section of the island was, and soon there was an urge to get out of there was quickly as possible.

With this thought in mind, Linedwell's pace picked up considerably. Even though his goal today had been to find a few enemies that were stronger than the norm, in an environment like this it simply gave off the vibe that he shouldn't be here at all and Linedwell didn't exactly want to argue with this feelings.

Linedwell's jog had now increased into a full blown sprint as he ducked and dodged trees and branches while hurdling over bushes and fallen logs. No matter how far he ran, it seemed that the sounds of the wildlife would not return. He began to wonder if he'd ever actually been on this part of the island, as almost each area seemed foreign to him.

"I should have stayed at the camp..."

The longer that Linedwell ran, the more he began to feel that he was now lost.

With Linedwell's upped pace, he began failing to realize he was running deeper into the lair of whatever he was attempting to avoid. The longer that Linedwell ran, the hollower the ground underneath Linedwell was becoming. It wasn't until it was too late that Linedwell noticed what was going on - his foot falling breaking through the soil, causing him to trip face first into the ground. With the force of his fall, it caused his entire body to fall through the ground into the underground cavern below. As he tumbled and fell further and further down, he grasped and struggled to reach something, anything in order to stop his descent. With a bit of luck, Linedwell managed to grasp what felt like a tree root. The root was strong enough to slow Linedwell's fall as well as being able to accommodate his weight.

Though he wasn't sure how long the root would be able to accommodate him, he began to look around and survey the new area. From what he could see, it appeared that he'd fallen into what seemed to be a nest, as bones of random animals and even humans were scattered about in patterns that seemed to indicate that they'd been passed through the bowels of something large. This alone was enough for Linedwell to know he needed to get out of this place, and it needed to happen soon. Whatever was down here, he didn't want to have to fight it or deal with it on its own terms.

Unluckily, whatever was down here had noticed Linedwell even before he'd fallen through the ground into its nest. With Linedwell's full attention on trying to escape from this place, he once again failed to pay attention to his surroundings. When he felt something wrap around his left ankle he felt all of his hair stand on end as a chill ran down his back. Yet, before he could react to whatever had a hold of him, he found himself being flung across the nest. The force behind the throw was immense, and with the position he'd been thrown in he'd been able to see who...well, rather, "what" his attackers were.

It appeared he'd fallen into a den of snakes, and he'd been thrown by the largest snake he'd ever seen before. It wasn't until was thrown that he realized exactly how far he'd fallen down into this cavern. All it took was for Linedwell to compare the height of the beast that had thrown him and the height of the hole that he'd fallen through. Soon enough, Linedwell finally came to a stop after rolling across the ground. Outside of a few scrapes and bruises, he was alright, but the snakes of this den didn't appear to be done with him yet. The largest snake seemed to be content with sending the smaller snakes over to deal with him. Though these snakes were "small" when compared with the largest one, every snake here were of gigantic proportions.

In response to the snakes showing themselves, Linedwell instinctively reached for his sword, placing his right hand on the hilt. The snakes didn't exactly respond well to this gesture. Linedwell would usually expect that a human would take such an action as a threat, but he'd never once met an animal that could piece together the threat of a sword. Either it meant these beasts were smarter than the average, or they'd simply taken down enough of the same foes to know the threat a sword posed. Either way, three of the anacondas began to clear the distance between themselves and Linedwell. With his hand still placed on his blade, Linedwell quickly made use of his Satori technique. He didn't exactly have enough time to go into full meditation, but this would be better than nothing.

Linedwell also hadn't failed to activate Treachery's flame. It had been a while since he called upon the demon that inhabited this blade to aid him, as each time he made use of this ability it fragmented a piece of his soul. The return he got on this cost was an immense one, but Linedwell still wasn't convinced that the cost was worth the  the abilities it granted. With these two skills activated, Linedwell was able to clear the distance between himself and the snakes faster than they'd been able to, cutting them all in half while freezing the bisected parts. Most enemies would have cowered after such a showing, but these snakes were far different. Instead of being scared off, it seemed their appetite for battle hadn't been sated. The remaining anacondas soon left their resting places and slithered at full speed toward Linedwell.

Taking up the same tact he did before, Linedwell had been able to kill most of the remaining anacondas, but before he could land the finishing blow on the last one, he noticed a stream of what appeared to be liquid moving in his direction. He could have simply assumed the liquid was falling water and continued his attack, but there was something about this liquid that caused his senses to scream out at him and tell him to evade. Not one to ignore these senses that had kept him alive for this long, Linedwell lept backwards. As the liquid hit the ground, there was a loud sizzle followed by noxious smoke that began to rise up. The smoke was near enough to the wounded anaconda to affect it, causing it to choke to death almost as quickly as the smoke had filled its lungs.

Turning his head to his left, Linedwell was greeted by the sight of what appeared to be two giant King Cobras that were about ten meters away from him.

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With the unveiling of these three cobras even the "mother" snake appeared to be moving forward to deal with the threat that Linedwell appeared to be posing. The anacondas had all been dealt with, and now there were only four remaining enemies. The threat that these snakes posed was immense, given the fact that the cobras could attack with a long ranged venom-based attack, while the mother had her considerable size to her advantage. Linedwell couldn't afford to get in close with these enemies, and thus, he knew he had to outclass them from long range. Unsheathing his blade after deactivating the icy fire of Treachery, Linedwell ran the blade across his left hand. He winced slightly as the blade cut into his flesh, but he made sure to coat as much of the blade with his blood as he could.

Zantō Gari was a technique that Linedwell never exactly looked forward to using due to the strain on his body, as well as the injury he had to sustain in order to use it - however, the benefit to using the technique was something he needed right now. He'd need the insane amount of speed that this technique gave him in order to deal with this opponents, all of which rivaled his current speed. As soon as the snakes began to attempt to clear the distance between them and himself, Linedwell immediately made use of three techniques in almost an instant, sending a barrage of compressed air slashes, and within a few seconds each and every opponent that Linedwell had were now cut down.

With the snakes now killed, Linedwell sheathed his blade and began to make his way towards a rock wall that extended all the way back up to the surface, and with a sigh he began to climb cautiously back up the the top. He wasn't sure if these were the only snakes present down here, but with the amount of energy he had expended he couldn't afford to stay down here any longer and find out. He was, however, glad he found this place. There were numerous other caves that this cavern seemed to connect to, and he was sure there were countless other beasts that would be waiting for him.

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-Exit-