The Decisive Blow (Bonus Chapter)

Rushing at one another, Eclipse and the giant Man-Eater Jungle Anaconda both gave a war cry while charging at each other. One sounded like a hiss that was deep and threatening. The other sounded similar to that of a person raging at their teammates in a video game, shifting the blame of their own mistakes onto their innocent teammates.

Opening its jaw wide open as it approached closer to Eclipse, the giant anaconda lunged forwards and snapped its jaws down on him with a resounding SNAP. To its surprise, instead of tasting the sweet flavor of blood and flesh, all it felt was the cold empty air around where it closed its jaws.

Jumping to the side at the last moment, Eclipse narrowly avoided the attack. Glaring over at one of the snake's gleaming yellow eyes, Eclipse thrusted his poison soaked spear tip at the creature's eye, aiming for an instant death attack.

To his surprise now, the snake reacted much faster than he originally anticipated. The snake moved its head out of the reach of the spear at around the same pace that Eclipse thrusted it forward.

While moving its head out of reach of the poisonous spear, the snake moved its serpentine body around in a similar motion. Like a whip, the anaconda's tail came flying from the side slamming into Eclipse's chest with a force similar to that of a speeding truck.

Eclipse was sent flying backwards like a cannonball into a nearby tree. Slamming into one of the giant trees, the bark on the surface was all blown apart as if a miniature explosion had gone off.

The blow was so powerful Eclipse puked up some blood from his mouth, momentarily stunned. Taking this opening, the snake began to quickly slither towards where its dazed opponent lay.

Before it could reach Eclipse however, a massive sense of dread fell upon it. An unknown pressure began to weigh it down as its body seemed to physically be pressed into the ground.

The air around it seemed to be disturbed and hazy making it hard to breathe for the snake. The temperature around the anaconda began to drop drastically to the point where a light frost appeared on the grass around it. Its body continuously shaking from the cold temperature and fear.

"Wow that hurt, did you put most of your skill points into strength?!" Eclipse shouted at the snake. Slowly, Eclipse started to stand back up and wipe off the blood from his mouth.

"Thanks for waiting, though that was a mistake you should have made as you'll soon regret that confidence of yours!" Eclipse shouted over at the snake.

Unknown to him, the snake didn't choose to give him a chance to recover as it was unable to move from the pressure that appeared out of nowhere a few moments ago. But Eclipse never noticed this pressure as it was only applied onto the snake and disappeared the moment he started to recover.

Smiling from the sidelines, Coco gave Eclipse one last glance before turning back around towards a direction behind them. A frown slowly started to appear on her beautiful sculpture-like face as she looked off into the distance. Staring back at her gold gaze from a distance, a pair of gleaming red eyes filled with hunger could faintly be seen.

Breaking out from its shock, the anaconda didn't have time to puzzle over what just happened as Eclipse was charging straight at it. If there was one thing the anaconda realized, it was that the pressure was gone and the only thing threatening it right now was the person at it.

Instead of charging at Eclipse like last time, the anaconda learned from its mistakes and adapted. This time as Eclipse ran at it in what could only be described as a blind charge, the anaconda stayed right where it was and started to form a coil.

Wrapping its body around itself multiple times with its head at the center, the anaconda prepared to strike when Eclipse came close. In this state it had protected its head by having it at the center, while also being in a stance that allowed it to lunge at a speed multiple times faster then when it first openly charged at Eclipse. This time, it was cautious.

If a veteran were there to watch the battle they would applaud the snake for quickly adapting to the flow of the battle and making up for its own weaknesses. On the other hand if they were to see Eclipse blindly charging forward a second time after a failed attempt again, they would only shake their heads in disappointment.

As Eclipse grew closer, the snake coiled its body tightly. It's muscles being compressed to their utmost capabilities in preparation to lunge at a terrifying speed. However, to its surprise Eclipse stopped his charge just outside of its range.

Staring up at the giant coiled snake that had a confused look on it's face, a smile spread across Eclipse's face. It was a smile that could only be described as monstrous.

It stretched across his face as if splitting it in two. Pearly white teeth that were sharp and pointed like a shark gleamed in the setting sun's light. A pair of demonic looking black and gold horns adorned his head like a crown. His eyes that looked like they would consume everything started to faintly glow.

This was the face of evil incarnate.

"I was originally going to use you as a sparring partner to get used to actually fighting enemies since the caterpillars can't really fight back, but I changed my mind." Eclipse said, staring over at the coiled up snake. "You see, that last attack of yours from a moment ago really hurt and put me in a bad mood so I'm done with playing around for today."

Looking over at the snake, Eclipse raised his left hand up above his head in front of him. Slowly lowering his hand downwards as if pressing down on something, he spoke a few words while enacting the motion, "Gravity Magic, Subjugation."

After activating his gravity magic, the pressure on the snake's body began to build as Eclipse's hand began to press down further and further. This building pressure was similar to the one the snake felt earlier, but very clearly different. It had a few differences and didn't feel as domineering, but there was no doubt that this magic was dangerous.

Frantically struggling to try and break free, the snake tried to move its body with every fiber of its being. Its muscle's screamed in agony as they tried to move against the invisible force.

Eclipse started walking towards the snake while keeping the motion of his hand pressing down on something. Droplets of sweat began to build up on his head but he never let go.

Slowly, Eclipse started climbing over each ring of the snake's body that formed a coil. Making his way towards the center, Eclipse approached the head of the snake that was clearly struggling with everything it had to move.

Knowing that his wooden spear wouldn't be able to pierce the scales around its head, Eclipse raised his spear up in his right hand. Taking aim, Eclipse thrust his spear forward with all his strength.

Without too much resistance, the spear that was thrusted forward with all Eclipse's strength easily pierced through one of the snake's gleaming yellow eyes.

The eye instantly ruptured and exploded under the strength of Eclipse's attack. This caused massive amounts of pain as the snake hissed in rage and agony. Its body slowly starting to gradually move under the pressure of the gravity magic.

Leaning into the spear, Eclipse pushed it further in with all his strength. The upper half of the spear quickly disappearing inside the skull of the giant anaconda, reaching up into its brain.

The hissing and wild movements of the snake slowly stopped before completely going still. Eclipse kept the spear where it was for a few seconds longer until he finally got the notification he was waiting for.

"1* Man-Eater Jungle Anaconda Slain, 66,000 Xp Gained!" The system said. "Level up to level 28 has been acquired! 2,500/14,500 Xp to reach the next level! You now have 50 unspent skill points!"

Eclipse listened to the system's notification while laying down on the grass in exhaustion next to the corpse of the giant anaconda.

"Wow, five levels from killing one creature. We should go hunting more dangerous creatures like this next time Coco, the rewards are way better!" Eclipse shouted over to her. "Actually have you even leveled up once yet today, I haven't seen you kill even one of those caterpillars?"

"That's a good idea." Coco said as she walked over next to Eclipse and looked down at him.

"Tell you what, you rest here and regain your energy as I'm sure that spell used up almost all of your mana. While you do that I'll hunt something I've had my eye on for a while." She said, turning around and running away without waiting for a response.

"Stay where you are, I'll be back in a few minutes to pick you back up after you've recovered and then we can head back together!" She shouted over her shoulder as she ran in a specific direction behind them.

"Perfect, I needed to get some rest… All alone in a monster infested jungle… Where I could die at any moment because I'm exhausted… Crap…" Eclipse mumbled to himself, laying down on the grass and staring up at the suns as they began to disappear along the horizon.

~~~~

Somewhere else in the jungle near Eclipse, but in the opposite direction Coco wandered off in, a faint light of torches could be seen frantically scurrying through the dense vegetation as night began to fall.

"Run faster you two, they're right behind us!" A man that looked like he was in his late thirties shouted backwards. He was wearing a suit of leather and chainmail armor with an insignia on his upper right breastplate.

Following behind him at a slightly slower pace were two other exhausted people. Both were younger and more exhausted than the older gentleman in the front. One was a tall blonde haired man with blue eyes, and the other was a short girl with red hair and green eyes.

Each of the two of them behind the man in the front has a similar insignia on their breastplates. But the main thing they all had in common was they were all covered in injuries and blood that was fresh.

"Oh god, what do we do?! They've already killed Amanda!" The red haired girl screamed, tears running down her eyes.

"Don't stop running, we need to inform the guild of their movements!" The older man shouted without looking back. Though his voice sounded harsh and cold, tears fell from his eyes as he clutched a silver necklace that hung around his neck while running.

"This is all your fault you old geezer, if it wasn't for you we-." The tall blonde haired man began before he was interrupted as a crude arrow pierced through his neck, killing him on the spot.

"They're already on us?! Grace, prepare for battle! We won't be able to outrun them, our only chance is to fight our way out!" The older man said, drawing his sword and turning around.

Grace quickly hid behind the old man and pulled out a gnarled wooden staff, silently chanting something behind that caused a golden light to glow at the end of the staff.

The bushes in front of them rustled as their pursuers closed in on them.

"DIE YOU BASTARDS!!" The old man screamed as he charged forward, encased in a golden light provided by the girl behind him.