Risen World

Joshua pulled away from his aura sense so he could see what the beast at the bottom of the lake looked like and how it would attack its current target. He turned to the rest of his group and signaled for them all to be quiet while pointing towards the lake so that they knew something was about to happen. Joshua noticed the bison and deer around the pool of water were starting to distance themselves from it showcasing their good sense of danger. It didn't seem to be anywhere near the same level as Celia's ability but it was more than enough to save them in this situation. Some of the younger bison and deer weren't as sensitive to danger and were still drinking water, but the older members of the group would come over and force them to back off.

It didn't take long for Joshua to realize what the target of the creature in the water was as a certain decently sized frog was still close to the water laid out in a mud pit. What was odd about this to Joshua was the fact that it was the only mud pit that was so close to the water and most of the other beast stayed away from it outside of the frogs and that seemed to be from experience. The much larger frogs also seemed to stay far away from that mud pit and went out to ones that were further into the marsh near the grass and away from the water. The frogs might have to go into water from time to time, but they made sure to not leave themselves open like the younger more inexperienced frog was doing.

While Joshua was thinking along these lines he suddenly felt a small tremor from the ground only a second before a loud crash came from the pool. Before Joshua could even see what the creature was he heard a loud croak followed by a hissing sound as water sprayed all over the area. It didn't take long for the cloud of mist to disappear so that everyone could see what was going on. The frog that had been sitting in the mud pit was now flopped over on its back struggling to breath as it body looked like it was about to give out. There was a small haze of green fog around it that seemed to be some sort of poison that was supposed to help defend the frog, but judging by its appearance the poison wasn't doing enough.

The figure that Joshua was more focused on was the massive viper that currently had its head sticking out of the water and laying in the mud pit next to the frog. The fact that the snakes head was bigger than the frog's entire body meant that it at least had to be more than big enough to coil around the bison or even take down the owl. That being the case the giant brown colored snake with intricate patterns of black and grey going down its body was in perfect condition ignoring the poison that the frog was letting out. In fact the snake seemed to breathe it in without any signs of trouble. All of the other beast in the area backed off even more once they saw the snake while the smarter ones moved over to the other side of the pool and started drinking from there instead.

The snake slowly started bringing more of its body on to land as it coiled up showing its full size. It was much bigger than the other snake Joshua had seen in the grassier portion of the prairie while being just a bit smaller than the snake boss from the canyon dungeon. The beast was massive and it wasn't just its size alone that was a threat. With every breath that the creature let out puffs of purple mist would come out and it was quickly over powering the poison from the frog. The mist grew stronger and it almost seemed as if it was eating the green fog that was trying to protect the injured frog. When Joshua looked closer at the frog he could see that it had two large puncture wounds on its side that were oozing purple blood. This was a clear sign that it had been bitten and was already dying from the poison.

For only a few seconds the frog kept struggling kicking its legs and showing signs of life, but soon enough its body stopped moving as the purple mist enveloped it and the snake hissed once more with its longue tongue sticking out as if to taste the air. The snake only looked around at the other beast in the area for a moment before it surprising looked directly in Joshua's group's direction. For a minute the snake continued to stare over in their direction but eventually it decided on ignoring them and opened its mouth wide as it swallowed the frog whole. It was apparent that the snake didn't care about the poison inside of the frog's skin and just ate it without a care. That meant either the snake was immune to poisons or just had developed a large resistance to the poisons of the frogs over time.

Joshua watched as the large body of the frog made a lump in the snake's throat and was slowly but surely being squished down and pushed further down the snake's body. Joshua wasn't an expert on snakes or anything, but he knew that this one would probably be satisfied with its meal for a while and it didn't seem to be in any rush to get back in the water. This type of attitude made it obvious that the snake didn't care at all about the other beast around the area, it didn't feel threatened at all. Joshua knew that both the owl and the bison could probably fight the snake head on, but neither creatures was willing to take the risk of being bitten by such a poisonous viper. If the poison resistant frog was affected and killed so swiftly by the poison then even with their larger sizes both the owl and bison could be killed off by it as well if they weren't careful.

After watching the scene Joshua decided to observe the viper and see how powerful it was. It was hard to tell just by its aura sense even in its current state it was able to easily hide most of its aura without much effort. It didn't come as much of a surprise that an animal that thrived on stealth could hide their aura so well. It was the same case when it came to both Cinder and Imperia. When Joshua saw its level he was no longer surprised why the viper was so strong. It was level eighty-nine with four stars by its name. Any beast that grew to this strength was at the top of the pecking order in the prairie and would have no issue fighting off any other beast. Joshua even doubted the prairie chickens would be able to do much damage to this beast with how thick its scales looked. It could likely send out a cloud of poison that would kill all the little birds off quickly before they even got to start attacking.

'Well now that's a beast companion that would fit me well, but sadly I've got another one in mind.' Madalyn said with a shrug knowing full well that even if this viper was a strong poisonous beast that fit her style it wasn't even in the same league as the hidden snake in the canyon that was waiting for her to get strong enough to tame it. 'Such a shame, but one of you two tamers can probably pull it off right.'

At first Joshua was thinking along the same lines knowing that even if this beast wasn't mutated it was powerful with a lot of potential for growth. However he was disappointed when Lily started shaking her head negatively and Thomas had a frown on his face instead of a smile. 'I don't think I'll be able to tame it. I can't feel any sort of connection at all and that might be because I'm not very fond of snakes.' Lily explained through the mental link.

'What's wrong with snakes? They can be a little creepy sometimes but most of them just mind their own business and they're great at pest control.' Madalyn said with a surprisingly shocked look on her face. It was clear that she had liked snakes well before a basilisk became her soul beast.

'When I was little I was bitten by a snake while playing in my grandparent's back yard. It was poisonous and I was sick and in the hospital for a couple of weeks. Ever since then I've stayed away from them.' Lily replied. This had explained why she hadn't really tried to tame any of the other snakes they had been coming across while going through different territories. Joshua then turned to look at Thomas who just shrugged in return at first before deciding to explain.

'It's not that I hate snakes or anything, but I just don't feel any sort of connection at all to the beast. There are certain beast in the past that I've felt a connection with and as of late I've lucked out a bit more than usual, but this time around that doesn't seem to be the case.' Thomas said as they all looked back towards the sunbathing snake that occasionally glanced in their direction showing that it had another way of sensing them that the other beast around the pool didn't seem to have.

'Well it's a shame that we won't be able to tame one of these beast, but it's a good thing to know that they're around in the first place. Whenever we approach any water sources in this marsh area we need to keep a look out for the snakes more than anything else. Even if the frogs are aggressive they're not nearly as dangerous as the vipers.' Joshua explained getting nods from the rest of the group. They made their way back into the grass and left the area to push further into the marsh with a good idea of what they might come across going forward..