Dark Star Survivor Chapter 25

It was well into the morning by the time Zoey made it to her destination . The area she came to was filled with overgrown rocky spires that pointed at the sky like hundreds of bony fingers . These spires were hundreds of meters tall, some almost looking like small mountains . There were vines and trees growing between the spires creating overhangs of foliage that were teeming with all manner of small creatures . The sights and sounds along with the vibrant smells of the area gave Zoey a sense of wonder and vitality . Seems like this world still could make her stop in amazement from time to time .

This was the area that Nito had said her target lived in . She was looking for a winged snake creature that made its home above the ground and would attack its prey by swooping in from above . This species of snake had an innate talent to produce a venom that when injected, would freeze the victim's blood to ice, paralyzing them almost instantly and causing severe internal damage to the victim . The creature was commonly known as the Ice Venom Sky Snake by hunters, and Nito had warned her repeatedly to avoid getting bitten . Even if it was a rank 1 creature, without proper protection the venom they produced would easily kill her . She was a little curious if her nano armor clothing would stop the fangs of an Ice Venom Sky Snake, but she was not about to test it on herself .

Zoey unsheathed her combat knife and her 9mm custom, made sure a magic slug was chambered, and headed into the overgrown spires . Once she was under the overhanging foliage and growth, she had to rely on her instincts and senses to react to any attacks that came her way . Her primary target was the Ice Venom Sky Snake, but that was not the only magical creature that lived in this area . With her senses pushed to the max, she could feel countless eyes on her waiting for a moment to strike .

She moved carefully along her path progressing deeper into the towering spires . The gloom created by the thickening canopy grew thicker the deeper she went . After she had traveled more than a kilometer into the area, the entire sky was hidden behind the overhead growth . It was not long after that when she was attacked by one of the many hungry predators eyeing her from above .

She did not get much warning . She only heard the hissing of air passing over feathers behind her . She dodged by instinct and narrowly avoided a meter long winged snake as it swooped towards the back of her exposed neck . As it whipped by her, she was able to catch a glimpse of it . It was about a meter long and covered in pale white scales . The edges of the scales seemed like a mirage of blue and green that faded into the pale white of the scales, creating the illusion of flowing water when light was reflected off them . The snake had 1 pair of wings that were colored the same way the scales were, and only added to the mythical beauty of the creature . In the gloom underneath the canopy, the creature was quite beautiful as it swept through the air .

Zoey was only able to catch that one glimpse before it disappeared back into the canopy . She was certain that it had been a rank 1 Ice Venom Sky Snake from how Nito had described it . Each rank of Ice Venom Sky Snake would be bigger, and have a pair of wings for each rank . It seemed like it favored surprise attacks from behind and would not fight up front if its sneak attack failed . That gave her only one chance to kill it when it attacked . Hoping to provoke another attack she pulled her poncho lower, exposing the back of her neck a bit more . The previous attack had targeted her there, so she would give the snakes a better target .

She continued on through the forest for a few minutes until another Ice Venom Sky Snake attacked her . This time she had been aware enough to see it emerge from the canopy behind her out of the corner of her eye . Zoey waited until the last moment before dodging to her right and bringing her combat knife up in a gleaming arc . She felt the blade make contact and there was a hiss from the Ice Venom Sky Snake as if fell to the ground . Her blade had cleanly cut it in two pieces . She stood aside until it stopped writhing, keeping a watch for any additional attacks .

Once she was certain the snake was dead, she approached the body to retrieve her rewards . Using her combat knife she got to work dismantling the body . For the Ice Venom Sky Snake the valuable parts were the skin, the snake gall, the fangs, and last, the essence stone as Nito had told her . All magical creatures on Darren had an essence stone including humans . It was the crystallization of magic essence that formed upon a creature's death . Absorbing the essence stone would raise your own magic strength and improve the harmonization of any element that it possessed .

Shen she found the essence stone, she cleaned it and inspected the item curiously . It was about the size of her thumb and seemed to be made out of crystal . The color was pale white overall and streaks of blue and green could be seen within . Holding it she could feel a cool sensation on her skin, along with a slight sting that was not bad enough to be uncomfortable .

She finished her inspection and gathered her loot . After a moment of thought, she activated her Aether Engineer talent and fabricated a backpack she could put the materials into . Once she was done, she continued on the hunt . As the day moved into late afternoon, Zoey finally decided to head back to Nito's house . In total she had killed and collected 25 Ice Venom Sky Snakes . In her opinion it was a good haul and her pack was about full . She had been keeping track of her location relative where she had entered and knew the way back by memory so she had no worries about getting lost .

So she headed back with a backpack full of materials and essence stones, happy with her first hunt .

Chapter end