100: Lion Snake Pt 1

Drake entered the doors of the tavern. He looked around at the many faces that had turned to look at him. Everyone inside bowed deeply, grateful for being saved from the goblins.

He looked around at all the faces before walking toward the mayor, who stood watching him approach.

"Were there any other problems that I need to know about?" Drake asked, worried that there were more problems in Draco town that he didn't know about. He hoped there was nothing.

Mayor Ivan shook his head. "There have been no other issues. I have a feeling, though, that things like that will continue until you get all of your quests finished. I'm hoping you get them done soon. Right now, it feels like trouble is targeting us."

"Trouble is targeting you because of me. As soon as they're finished, I believe the trouble you're having will stop. I will do what I can for you and the town when things happen. I will put the people first, even before my ascension quests."

Ivan nodded. "Thank you," he said simply.

"We're heading on our next quest if you don't need anything else," Drake told Ivan.

"We're fine," Ivan said, then smiled.

After he nodded, Drake led his friends out of the tavern.

When they exited, the soft voice of the system floated through his mind.

{Quest Complete: Find the River of Peace/Obtain the Master Pendant}

"Our quest is to find the River of Peace and to obtain the Master Pendant," Drake informed his cohort. "I guess we need to find the nearest river."

Mike's face scrunched up. "Do we have a timer?"

"So far… no."

Both Chad and Mike sighed in relief. They didn't want to work on another timer. It made the quest far more difficult than it had to be.

Drake brought up the system and then the quest map. The map floated in front of him. He was the only one who could see it. The green line appeared from the position they were standing, all the way to the end point of the quest where they needed to be.

Following the glowing green line, they headed through the town, then out toward Dragon Head Mountain. "Do you want to teleport as far forward as we can?" Drake asked his friends.

"How far does it lead?" It was Mike who asked.

"We have to pass Dragon Head Mountain, then follow the river southwest," Drake explained. "We can also cut through Storm Town if you want to do that instead. I prefer following the thread and not cutting through, but I want to know what you guys want to do."

"I think we should follow the thread, too," Chad put in as they walked down the road.

Mike shrugged, not caring as long as they got their quest finished.

Drake shrugged before he slammed his staff on the dirt. A bright flash of emerald green light covered them before fading away. When the light vanished, they were standing on the packed dirt road next to Dragon Head Mountain.

"This is as far as I can take us," Drake declared. His eyes moved to the ground before resting on the bright green thread that continued along the road. "Let's get moving. It's getting light out. We can go as far as we can before we're too exhausted to continue."

Before he took his first step, Drake placed his hand on the ground and connected with the horde of horned worms. A serene expression crossed his face as he spoke to his horde. When he finished what he was doing, he calmly stood and followed the road and the bright green thread that aligned with it.

"I feel like it's going to be a long day," Mike muttered. They had been out all night and could not get any rest. They knew that traveling during the day was best, so that's what they did.

The surrounding trees were dense, making it difficult to see if any life was hiding inside, waiting to ambush them. They didn't feel like fighting after being up all night to save the people of Draco Town.

After an hour of walking, Renn and Ruby leaped off Drake's shoulder and transformed into their beast form, tired of catching a ride. They wanted to walk along with their master.

The twin suns rose slowly into the sky, warming the morning air. Their journey so far had been quiet, nothing hindering them.

As if the thought conjured trouble, the leaves on one side of the road rustled. Glowing blue eyes stared back at them. It was a level 4 beast. It didn't growl or make a move to attack.

The beast inched forward, making Drake and his cohort stop and prepare for battle. He hoped he wouldn't need to fight the beast. He wanted some peace for once on their quest.

Drake tried to communicate with the beast, but it didn't listen. It suddenly growled low, then leaped toward him. He put one hand up and shot an explosive whirlwind at the beast. With the other hand, he let the whip uncoil and fall gracefully to the ground.

The spell exploded in the beast's face. A flash of fire burst around its massive head. The head resembled that of a lion, but the lion's head was on the body of a serpent. It was a giant snake with a lion's head. It had glowing blue eyes with large saber teeth that dripped with glowing blue saliva. Its cat-like eyes narrowed in anger as it shook off the fire.

Mike looked around them as Drake fought, trying to see if there were more. He didn't see any.

Chad held up his bow and shot one of his arrows at the beast. It crashed into its large body but did no damage. Aiming another arrow, he went for the head. It hit the massive head, exploding into nothing. Chad realized his arrows weren't strong enough.

Drake lashed out with his whip. The green energy filled the length of its elegant blade. The double lash whipped across the beast's neck, slicing through the tough flesh. It didn't matter; the wound healed up immediately.

Seeing the dilemma, Renn and Ruby engaged. Each took a different side of the beast while Drake filled his whip with more energy.

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