Viper knelt beside the dead mercenaries. The first rule of survival: secure resources and arm yourself.
She stripped the leader of his crimson cloak. It was far too large for her small frame, but it perfectly concealed her ruined silk dress and eye-catching silver hair. She claimed the dagger, a small pouch of gold coins, and a leather waterskin. She left the cumbersome broadsword behind; her weapons were agility and precision, not brute strength.
As she ventured deeper into the violet-leaved forest, the rain ceased, replaced by a thick, biting fog. The 'Wyvern Woods' was fully living up to its deadly namesake.
Suddenly, a low, guttural growl echoed through the mist.
A terrifying beast tore through the fog—a giant wolf the size of a bear, armored with reptilian scales along its back, its eyes glowing with an eerie yellow light.
Aria's latent memories instantly identified it: a Scale-Hound. A magical predator, hyper-aggressive, and entirely immune to standard magic.
But Viper didn't see a magical anomaly. She simply saw a target bound by anatomy, joints, and a respiratory system.
The hound lunged viciously. Viper didn't flinch or retreat; instead, she slid forward, ducking right beneath its massive snapping jaws. With a single, fluid slash of her dagger, she severed the main tendons in its front leg.
Roaring in agony, the beast lost its footing and crashed heavily into a massive tree trunk. Before it could even attempt to recover, Viper used the very same tree as a springboard, launching herself into the air. She landed with pinpoint accuracy on its back and drove the dagger down with all her might into the base of the beast's skull, severing its spinal cord in a fraction of a second.
She landed gracefully as the massive creature went completely limp.
"Immune to magic," she muttered, wiping the blood from her blade onto her cloak. "But a dagger still does the trick."
By nightfall, she stood at the very edge of the woods. Down in the valley below, the capital city of Solis glittered with towering spires and magical luminescence. Viper pulled the crimson hood over her head, casting her face into deep shadow.
The Duke believed Aria was dead, nothing more than a ghost in the woods. But Viper was about to bring him a living nightmare he would never forget.