Way of the Knights

Chapter 361 - Emergence

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Somewhere East of Grand Ancestral Plane, a showdown amongst beast was happening. 

On one side, there is a pack of large hyenas drooling over a prey. Each hyena weighs at least 500 kilograms and stood for about 10 meters in height. The leader of the pack was the largest, it was 20 meters tall and weighs 1000 kilograms. There's at least 30 hyenas in total, which makes up for a terrifying force that should be avoided at all costs. 

On the other side, was just a lone Albino Snake. The snake was at least 100 meters long and has a girth of 50 meters. The scales on its body shone with luster specially under the influence of sunlight. The top part of her scales were dyed with a hint of a crimson color, making her a bit more unique compared to a regular Albino Snakes. 

At a glance, this is an unfair battle. One snake versus 30 hyenas. The defeat of the snake was almost certain since their numbers would just overwhelm her. But even if that was the case, the snake didn't show any signs of fear nor had any desire to retreat. 

*Hiss!*

On the contrary, the snake issued a challenging hiss at the drooling hyenas. Its provocation was effective and at least five hyenas came charging towards the snake's direction. 

*Woosh!*

As soon as the hyenas entered a specific distance, the snake moved and its large body disappeared from sight. Its movements were too fast for its size, and before the rest of the hyenas realized that the snake disappeared, it reappeared once again but this time with a bulging stomach which inflated as soon as paid attention to it. 

These hyenas didn't have a high intelligence but it didn't take them long enough to realize what just happened. The five hyenas that came towards her were eaten and digested in a blink of an eye. This is obvious by how the snake's mouth was covered in blood. 

*Hiss!*

The snake once again issued a challenge towards the hyenas, and just like before a portion of the pack came running towards it. There was no suspense about what happened next, what happened with the earlier group happened to the next one as well. This snake just devoured half of their pack and something tells them that she still has room on her stomach for more. 

The pack started to get nervous. It didn't take them long enough to realize that this snake is a more ferocious predator compared to them. 

It was then that the Leader finally stepped forward and issued a groan. With him leading the pack, he order everyone to charge at the snake, of course the Leader was included as well. And compared to the rest of the pack, the Leader was stronger and faster as well. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't as fast as the snake. Who would've thought that the snake was holding back all along? 

*Whoosh!*

In one fell swoop, aside from the leader, everyone was devoured. Even the Leader itself couldn't follow the snake's movements at all. All the leader saw was a beam of white light blitzing around it and once it was over, the whole pack was gone.

Now, the battle was a one versus one. This should've been a fair battle but alas, the Leader knew that it wasn't. Their numbers didn't matter at all, none of them even managed to lay a finger on the snake. The Leader now realized that it was completely outclassed by a beast that should've been weaker according to the strength charts.

Fear gripped the Leader's heart. It wanted to run and survive, but of course that was impossible. The snake was much faster compared to it. And while the Hyena Leader was thinking of ways to survive, it failed to realize that the snake already made a move. 

When the realization hit, it found itself looking at the vertical pupils of the snake. The leader couldn't feel its body anymore, it couldn't even look at its own body even if it wanted to since there was body to be found anymore. 

The snake already devoured it when it was still hesitating, what remained is just a head and the fleeting consciousness of the leader which was still wondering what happened. And just as the leader finally realized that it was eaten, it started to panic, even then it was too late already. 

The snake opened its maws slowly, making sure to allow the leader to witness and realized where it will end up. The snake then took the head of the leader on its mouth and swallowed. Its stomach bulged once again but it deflated in a blink of an eye. 

The snake then roamed its vision around the perimeter, looking around to see if it missed a target. After noticing that there was no targets to eaten anymore, it flicked its tongue and started slithering towards a certain spot not too far from the lair of the hyenas. 

It stopped in front of a coconut tree, then it began climbing towards the top. As soon as it got there, the snake saw a human sitting cross-legged while chewing on some coconut meat. The snake released some joyous hisses as it went closer to the human. 

"Yes, I saw it. You did very well. You can now take down a small lair all on your own. I'm proud of you." The human smiled and caressed the snake's head with affection. 

The snake closed its eyes as it felt the hands of the human. It then hissed at him, as if it was telling him something. The human nodded and said:

"Yes, I know you want to sleep. Do your thing then." 

After saying this the snake suddenly shrank in size and wrapped itself on the human's neck. It then transformed into a long white scarf that was now worn by the human. 

Of course, these are none other than Venus and Raven. 

Slicing another coconut open using his bare hands, Raven drank its juice and stared eating its flesh slowly while he gaze at the east. 

"Should be happening in a few moments…" He murmured as he kept watching. 

It has been six months since he began travelling towards the east. He managed to arrive a week early before the emergence of the Sun Temple and had been camping near the area so that he could enter it as soon as he could. 

The moment he's been waiting for is nearly there. Today is the 9th day of the 9th month, and in just a few minutes, the 9th hour will arrive. 

Raven's ocular technique is active, allowing him to survey everything around 5 kilometer radius. He might appear relaxed right now but that's just because he's in deep meditation. If he wasn't in this state, he might've not been able to sit still due to impatience. 

'Relax.' He told himself, 'There's still one more place to go after this. After that, I'll be able to go home. Calm down.'

As he was calming himself down, he noticed that the temperature around him was rising at a noticeable rate. His face then became serious but he didn't move from his spot. 

His vision the caught some activity. Just at the edge of his surveying vision, a small plume of flame appeared. His focus was fixed on this flame since it literally appeared out no where. 

As time went on, the flame grew bigger and bigger. From a small plume, it turned into a raging wildfire that burned all vegetation around. As black smoke rose up to the skies, Raven remained seated on his position, unfazed by the growing fire and rising temperature around him. 

Suddenly, a surprising development happened to the flames. It started gathering in one spot, forming a large orb that looks just like a smaller sun. 

The flames then began to turn slightly transparent, revealing some kind of establishment that's being hidden by the flames. 

A large temple, bearing a huge sun sigil, standing a couple hundred meters tall, could be seen through the flames. 

The bright flames danced and formed a minuscule tornado around the temple. Raven took a deep breath and stood up from his location. He hopped off of the tree and started approaching the fire tornado. 

As he approached it, the temperature around him was constantly rising, however this temperature was still a little bit weak to illicit some kind of reaction from Raven. He wasn't sweating nor having a hard time breathing. He was calm and unperturbed as he walked at a measured pace towards the tornado.

As he got closer, the fire tornado became increasingly violent. Almost as if it was being provoked by Raven's calm approach. A few wisps of flame flew towards Raven but it wasn't able to do anything to him thanks to his Chaos Force Barrier. 

A few steps away from the eye of the fire tornado, Raven stopped. He then began counting down inside his mind. 

'5, 4, 3, 2, 1!'

*Woosh!*

And there it is. 

The fire tornado was gone as soon as his countdown ended.. Leaving a majestic Sun Temple for him to explore.