{"sf1_id":921440,"sf2_id":null,"title":"A Tale of Ashen Wings - Chapter 6: The Doom Viper","author":"Andre Valias","words":1560,"posted_at":"2015-10-13T22:56:00.000Z","tags":["Death","Doom","Dragon","Dragonian","Fantasy","Fear","Fiend","Fighting","Hunting","Male","Medieval","Mercenary","Monster","Slaying","Viper","beast","bounty","killing","sewers","warrior"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/921440-a-tale-of-ashen-wings-chapter-6-the-doom-viper","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/921440","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=921440\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\"Few have encountered them, and lived to speak of their\nhorrifying visage: a great skull as their head and scales like bleeding flesh,\nand long enough to wrap around a group of five two times over.\" \nAkalgan walked through the dark sewers\nwithout a torch. He forced his eyes to adjust to the darkness that was sparsely\npopulated with sewer grates that filtered light into the tunnels. The sewers\nwere cold and wet, seemingly isolated from the world above as the faint whisper\nof town life barely drifted through the grates to ease the atmosphere. Akalgan\ncarefully made his way through the tunnels, his hands at his sides but ready to\nact. The sound of dripping water echoing everywhere became the pattern in his\nmind, as Akalgan blocked out sounds coming from the over world. Every now and\nagain, he briefly recalled the words of The Euraiyan Bestiary he once read, but\nonly the ones that described his quarry.\n\"This can only be a nightmare among monsters, because it\nlives not on meat nor blood, but rather the terrified screams of its victims.\" \nRats scuttled and distracted Akalgan\nfor a moment, he stopped and waited, watching as the squeaking rats passed. He\ngrunted at the annoyance and returned to his search, when something else\nunusual could be heard. He froze and listened carefully, it was the sound of\nwater being disturbed rather than the sound of water dripping. Akalgan put his\nhands to his blades and kept his feet planted on the mossy stone floor, the\nsound grew louder and louder as his mark slithered closer. \n\"It follows warmth of life and smells the breath of fear,\nand if it has you, then only Divines will save you then.\" \nWithin a moment it was behind him.\nAkalgan leapt over the channel and dodged the serpentine lunge. The viper\nhissed and coiled at its prey's defiance. The horrifying nightmarish form was\nconstantly moving as it reared back its ugly skull of a head. Akalgan grunted\nwith disgust and started into a run through the tunnel. The viper screeched\nviolently and chased after him through the waterways. The lengthy body of the\nviper surged and kicked up splashes of sewer water. \nAkalgan just smiled. \n\"Let's\nsee what you've got, you savage!\" He shouted as he drew\nblades before he planted a boot down and slid across the mossy floor. With a\ngreat beat of his wings, Akalgan launched himself over the waterway and onto\nthe viper's body. His boots slipped on the slick surface of the fleshy scales\nand Akalgan fell to his knees, but as he did he planted his shortblades in the\nviper's body. The viper hissed and writhed in pain, and Akalgan pulled one\nshortblade out after the other as he climbed up the fiend's flailing body. The\ndoom viper smashed into the wall of the tunnel, the sudden crushing force stole\nAkalgan's grip away from him and dropped him to the floor with a groan. \nHissing, the doom viper wasted no time\nin coiling up around its prey. Akalgan stifled any sudden utterances of agony\nover the excruciating acid the viper sported from its flesh that touched his\nown. The acid slowly burned and ate through his armour as he struggled against\nthe constricting grip of the doom viper. It hissed with triumph as it slid\nalong into a cistern. Akalgan opened his mouth and breathed a vicious jet of\nfire all over the serpentine body that imprisoned him. For that moment, it\nsounded as though the doom viper screamed in pain. It let go of Akalgan, but\nonly when it was above the water filling the cistern. The Dragonian fell into\nthe pool with a splash and tried to quickly move out of the water without\ninhaling any of the foul liquid. \nHe broke the surface of the pool, and\nwasted not a moment more to draw his sword as the viper dived upon him. Akalgan\ntook his deepest breath that he could before the viper's weight pushed him down\nto the bottom of the cistern, before coiling up around him again. The acid did\nnot work well in the water, but Akalgan knew that the viper meant only to drown\nhim now as it coiled up around his struggling form. The viper raised its head\nout of the water and hissed triumphantly again, as though taunting its victim\nwith its ability to breath. \nThe viper suddenly jerked and screeched\nin pain. It lashed and thrashed in the pool as to bash the insolent Dragonian\nand keep him down. It jerked again and seemingly gave up. Akalgan broke the\nsurface of the water coughing and spluttering as the viper slipped out of the\ncistern and into the waterways once more. He shook his head with a smirk. \n\"Oh\nno you don't.\" He muttered as he swum over to the\nwalkway and climbed up, before making chase after his quarry. \nHe followed the pitch-black blood that\nthe creature left in its wake, caused by a deep wound that Akalgan made within\nthe cistern. His longsword was ready in both his hands at his right side as he\nhunted the fiend. He could hear it; slithering still in desperation to flee.\nThat feeling just made him run all the more faster. Rats scurried about and got\nout of the way of the pursuit, and Akalgan could feel his quarry closer and\ncloser to him. \nAkalgan turned the next corner, but\nbefore his next foot landed, he was taken off his feet by a sudden force\ntackling him. Akalgan tried to raise his sword, but in a sudden instant the\nviper grabbed the blade in its fanged jaws and flicked it out of the\nDragonian's hands. Akalgan's heart pounded as he only had a vision in the next\ninstant of the viper ripping into him without hesitation. He rolled over\ninstantly and just missed the jaws of the viper that smashed into the mossy\nstone floor. \nAkalgan fell into the channel of the\nwaterway and he scrambled to climb out. The fiend shook its head angrily and\ntargeted its prey once more. Akalgan climbed onto the floor and rolled to the\nleft, narrowly dodging the fiend again. He searched for his longsword and found\nit a small distance from him. A small distance, but still too far for the few\nseconds he would have left to live as the viper reared up behind him. Akalgan\ngot up and turned around quickly to grapple with the fiend's face. He grunted\nand groaned under the strength of the viper as it tried to push its jaws\ntowards him. He then saw the shortblades he planted in the beast's body from\nthe earlier struggle. If I can just... Get to them... Akalgan\nthought strenuously as he saw the flick of the beasts tail and gritted his\nteeth. \nAkalgan let the fiend's pushing force\nmove right past him before leaping over the sweeping tail that was meant to\ncatch his feet. The fiend tried to move and curl around to get back at Akalgan,\nbut as it did, he pulled one short blade out and dragged the other by holding\nonto it whilst the creature moved. It caused a severe wound in the creature's\nbody and the doom viper screeched deafeningly. Akalgan pulled his shortblade\nfree and ran under the viper's rearing upper body. \nThe fiend roared deeply in anger before\nlunging at its annoying prey for the last time. Akalgan slid across the mossy\nstone floor and when he was next to his longsword he turned tail to face the\nviper. It was very close to reaching him, and Akalgan only had the split-second\nto do something. He raised his shortblades and plunged them into the mouth of\nthe viper. The fiend screamed and pulled away from Akalgan, its mouth hanging\nagape because of the two shortblades planted inside it. In those few moments,\nAkalgan could pick up his sword safely and without delay he lunged up at the\nviper with a draconic roar.\nThe screams of the viper were cut off\nin an instant, and the fiend's skull-like head fell to the floor with a thud.\nBlack fluid gushed from the decapitated body of the doom viper, and Akalgan sat\ndown against the wall near it to catch his breath. After a few deep breaths, he\nwiped the blood off his sword and then stood up. With a scowl, he kicked the\nserpentine body into the channel of the waterway with disgust. \n\"If\nI didn't need your head, it would go in as well where you belong, you trash.\" Akalgan\nmuttered as he planted a foot upon the skull. He grunted as he rolled the head\nover, and kneeled down as he sheathed his longsword, Akalgan opened the jaws of\nthe fiend wide and pulled his shortblades out of its mouth. He wiped the blood\noff them too before sheathing them with a sigh. \nHe laughed a little at the look on the dead viper's\nface. \"You think you're hungry? I'm\nstarving.\" Akalgan remarked with a smirk. He picked up the head of the doom\nviper and carried it under his arm as he made his way out of the sewers. \"Let's put you to good use and head back to\nthe inn for a nice bath.\" He murmured to the head.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/921437-a-tale-of-ashen-wings-chapter-5-grail-of-mercenaries.json"}