Kael left Willowest in the morning. Willowfen Swamp was just an hour away, so he walked there. Willowfen Swamp was an eerie place, tales of people encountering ghosts were not unheard of in this place. Kael walked through the wetlands, his boots halfway in the mud. He continued treading until he found dry land.
Fog covered the terrain, but not so much that it impeded his vision. He wandered around looking for any signs of the grimeback. As he was walking, he heard a rustle in the bushes. He stopped and gripped the hilt of his sword as he waited for what was coming. Suddenly, a ferret jumped from the bushes and fled away from him. Kael released his sword and calmed down, "It's just a feral beast." He said as he continued to walk forward.
'It's too quiet, I can't hear any birds or even insects.' He wondered as he went on. 'They weren't joking when they said, it's good at camouflage,' he thought as he looked at the midday sun above. Just as he looked above, he caught sight of a huge snake that was also looking at him from one of the tree branches.
He went for his sword but the snake lunged at him, jaws wide open. He stepped to the side, then jumped a few meters back. The snake landed with a thud with its huge body coming into view. It was a twenty-meter-long snake, with black stripes coming from its eyes all the way to its tail. It's draconic eyes that had nothing but malice in them stared at Kael.
'It's a miretongue serpent, and it's a big one.' Kael thought as he readied himself for the fight. He grabbed his sword and activated the moonfade stance. He disappeared from the snaked vision and his speed tripled. He struck the back of the snake's head, but due to its hard scales, it wasn't a fatal blow. The snake swung its head at him, but he stepped back only to be struck by the snake's tail.
He was sent flying by that attack as he crashed into a tree. 'damn it, I need to watch out for its tail.' He thought as he stood up, wiping blood from the side of his mouth. He activated Flame Orb and threw the orbs at it, using the explosions as cover to get close to the snake. Once he was close enough, he swung his sword aiming for the cut he had made before. The snake full of charred scales reacted quickly and slid back, avoiding the blow. Then it opened its mouth and the two stripes started to glow a crimson hue. 'Oh no,' Kael thought as he immediately activated shadow step and disappeared into the shadows. Just as he vanished, a stream of red flashed by in an instant and hit the tree behind, leaving behind a hole where it struck.
'So that was its toxic pulse,' Kael thought as he looked at the tree which now had a gaping hole on its stem, and the scary part was that from the hole, the rest of the tree was slowly rotting away. 'One second late and I would have been dead again.' Kael thought as he emerged behind the snake. This time he activated flame tempest, but the snake was too big and was only lifted a few meters above ground.
Kael used moonfade stance and appeared below the snake, this time aiming for its underbelly which was now exposed. He landed a vertical slash, this time piercing its scales and drawing blood. The snake hissed madly as it got free from the flame tempest. It went berserk and started going after Kael like a madman. Kael used Shadow Step to get away from the snake. 'I have to end this quickly or else something stronger might be attracted by the commotion. I hope it's as strong as it said in the description,' He thought as he activated silken grasp. Fine threads of essence wrapped around the beast, restricting its movement. And true to its description, the more the beast struggled, the tighter the binding became.
'It won't last long, but this should be enough,' He thought as he grabbed his sword and held it above his head. Then he took a deep breath and calmed his heart. He closed his cleared his mind of unnecessary thoughts." Still the blade, still the breath, and cleave the way." As he was saying this, a huge sword phantom manifested in the sky
The trapped snake's instincts screamed as it looked at the sword above. Kael opened his eyes and just like he had done, swung his sword down, along with the phantom above.
The snake twisted and turned as it tried to get away, but it was all in vain. The sword phantom came down like a mountain and stuck the snake. It met no resistance as it cleaved the snake in two, then continued a few meters into the ground before finally stopping and dissipating like it was never there, leaving behind the corpse of the snake and a shallow trench, where it hit the ground. Kael stood there, shocked by the sheer destruction he had caused. He walked to the snake corpse, its tough scales now sliced through like butter. The meat of beasts from the awakened level contained high amounts of energy, but if he consumed it at his level, the toxins would kill him. He took the fangs, which he could sell later and then left.
The first form of the heaven cleaving sword path had drained more than half of his essence and he wanted to recuperate first. He didn't continue with his search for the grimeback and went back to town. He went back to the inn and paid for a room for the night. It was late in the afternoon, so he went back to the antique-looking shop to sell the fangs.
The only good outcome from all of this was the sixty silver coins he got from selling the fangs, that and finally comprehending the first form. He passed by an apothecary where he bought some medicine and went back to his room.
He took the pills and lay in his bed. 'The heaven cleaving sword path is really terrifying. Just the first form alone drained more than half of my essence, but its power is also just as terrifying. I wonder what kind of power the second form will unleash.' He thought as he remembered the sight earlier.
'That swamp is dangerous, if I hadn't looked up when I did, I would have known how I died.' He shuddered at the thought. 'I have to increase my vigilance tomorrow.' He said as he sat in the lotus position and started to cultivate.
Back in the Swamp
"Sir, it seems like it was killed by one clean slash. I think it's someone from one of the sects." A hooded figure reported. "Those bastards, always meddling in other people's affairs." Another man a wearing a black cloak, concealing everything apart from his mouth, spoke. If one were to look closely, one would notice that the man's feet never touched the ground.
"Calm down, you big brute, now is not the time for us to show ourselves, or do you dare defy his order?" A female voice spoke softly. A mass of darkness manifested next to him before taking the shape of a woman. She was also wearing a cloak like the man next to her. "What are you talking about? I was just saying that's all." The man scoffed. "I'm sure you were. Take the corpse and leave the evacuate the swamp. It will do us no good if the sects start investigating this place," "Yes ma'am," The man reporting said as he took a device from his pocket and placed it on the ground. The whole corpse disappeared, then he took the device and put it back in his pocket. "Let's leave too." The woman said as she took to the sky. The man followed behind, trying to catch up with her.