Adder kept his eyes on the Manticore, the monster was the greatest trial the boy had faced yet.
He only hoped that his brother had managed to get the two to safety.
That hope was immediately silenced by Abner returning far too quickly to Adder's side.
Adder, branch still in hand, only uttered three words to his brother.
"Devide and conquer."
Adder as a warden already was as physically strong as a trained adult, Abner due to his training since childhood could easily fight by his brother's side.
Abner started to throw debris and any rock he could get his hand on, Adder kept up his barrage of blows with the branch.
As he did, Adder was shocked to find that he himself had innate knowledge on how to hunt the manticore.
A beast he had never seen in person, let alone hunted.
Adder smiled as he realised the origin of this life saving information.
It was the Basilisk, Adder had inherited the experiences of the calamity.
the king of serpents, having hunted and feasted upon many of the creatures that inhabited this realm.
Making this treasure trove of information would be priceless in the eyes of any hunter.
And Adder was excited to make use of it, he excitedly called out to his brother.
"The neck and back! Those are the most vulnerable!"
The Manticore, unlike its outside appearance that cleanly separated each piece with little mixing, was a facade that the manticore used to its advantage.
In truth the beast had a chitinous inner armor that was grown in between the beasts' hide and muscle.
Thick plates that made the beasts completely immune to arrow and blade.
Thankfully this inner plate did not cover every part of the beast's body, with the head neck and spine were left unprotected.
Adder retreated back to his brother, hoping that sharing the information would lead to them coming up with a better plan.
…
The Manticore circled around the treeline.
The two had disappeared for little over ten minutes ago, and this lapse of time had whittled away the beast's patience.
The Manticore knew the two were here, their scent stayed at the tree line with no sign of them escaping deeper into the forest.
Sadly the Manticore's eyes were not as strong as their nose, it grunted as his patience finally gave out.
The manticore then chose a direction, the one where the scent was the strongest and it charged.
The sound of trees shattering once again filled the forest, the beast charging a head just like it had before.
The forest once again suffered destruction thanks to its new apex, ancient stone shattered, earth moved, animals and big small scattered.
Then the manticore felt a weight on its back, a feeling it had never experienced before.
It was then that the Manticore realised what had happened, he had a passenger.
…
Adder told his brother about the strengths and weaknesses of the manticore, and with knowledge in hand they were able to fix their hunting strategy.
They covered themselves in mud to hide their scent, and would use the Manticore's love for slaughter against it.
The beasts had no patience for anything, and they used it to their advantage.
Adder would wait by the place where their scent was the strongest and waited for the creature to give up its game and charge wildly into Adder.
And Abner would take the two victims to Erdush and Nira, hoping that if Adder failed to stop the beast, Abner would be able to at least escape the Manticore.
This sadly was the best chance either of them would get, Adder trying his best to steel his nerves as he waited for the beast to show itself.
And to the relief of Adder, their plan had worked perfectly. As the beast mowed down all in its path, Adder easily got onto the beast's back without noticing.
And only a moment after he was able to wrap his arms around the beast's neck and used his immense strength to start strangling the monster.
For even if the basilisk was famous for its venom, if that was truly all it had, the king of serpents would never earn its title of calamity.
No, venom was not the key to defeating this beast, what was needed was constriction.
Adder's muscles tightened to new extremes, as his arms acted as a vice around the maticore's throat.
But the beast continued to smile, even as Adder could hear its spine strain under the pressure.
Then after only a moment, did Adder understand why the manticore wasn't worried.
The beast sped up and then purposely took a tumble, trying to rid himself of the one trying to kill him.
But even as the manticore's weight fell upon the boy, Adder's grip refused to loosen.
Soon the Manticore stopped its self-destructive attempt to get rid of Adder, the creature started to slam into the rocks and stones.
Its smile finally faltered, for the first time since entering this forest.
His iron grip on its throat only ever tightening, if anything every time Adder endured being crushed by the monster.
Adder found that he had only more strength to give, Adder starting to grin as this thrilling hunt continued.
Knowing that he was winning against this monstrous creature, his arms continued to tighten around the beast's throat.
And soon it came, a sound unlike the shattering of trees, as Adder's grip continued to strengthen the manticore's neck finally buckled and shattered.
Crunch*
The Manticore fell limp, the beast finally vanquished.
'It's dead, it's really dead!'
Adder thought to himself as the built up fear and worry almost instantly dissipated in his heart.
Adder continued his grip on the beast's neck, a part of him worried that its weakening breath and slowing heart was somehow a feint.
But the familiar voice of his brother made him get up and face Abner, who was holding both the father and daughter.
"You didn't follow the plan?!"
Adder spoke exasperated and tired due to this whole ordeal, his breath sharp and words pointed.
"This is your first trial, your first heroic act as the herald of judgement."
"Tales based on this event will travel the realm, and inspire millions to come."
"Miiss all that? No, no how could I brother."
Abner smiled as he explained his reasons. But Adder sighed at the childish words his brother spoke with.
"But the people, the ones we did all this for?"
Adder spoke, trying his best to convey to his brother how dire it was for Abner to follow the plan.
But Abner continued to be confident about his decision.
"They're both fine, the father is stable and his little one is just sleeping."
Abner said boisterously with a triumphant grin, he then posed triumphantly.
Shhk*
The sound was small yet heavy, but to Abner the sound was deafening.
He turned to face Adder, his brother and first real friend.
The Manticore's tail stabbed into his back and easily pierced through to the other side.
The sound akin to laughter escaped from the dying beast's body, at least achieving itself to taste despair one last time.
Adder was unmoving, shock, pain and terror stopping him from reacting.
His scarlet eyes locked on his brother, but before passing out one thought drifted through his exhausted mind.
'Oh I had forgotten.'
His eyes were growing heavy and the pain was already overwhelming him.
'That the manticore's tail is not controlled by the spine, but is instead controlled through the inner armor.'
Adder slowly drifted to his knees much to his brother's horror.
'That's why you have to crush or cut off the tail, before going for the neck.'
Adder laughed, before whispering out.
"What a rookie mistake."
Before drifting off into the unknown, Abner ran towards him.
…
The sun was setting when Samuel awoke in a cold sweat, the sound of destruction and laughter still in his ears.
He was surrounded by trees and a sound was just beyond his recognition was repeating on loop seemingly a couple of feet away from where he laid.
Samuel tried to move, expecting his body broken or having long passed due to his injuries.
Though to his shock he and Hannah were unharmed, and the Manticore was nowhere to be seen.
With his and Hannah's safety confirmed, Samuel's mind was filled to bursting with questions.
But having no way to answer those questions, Samuel decided to figure out where the two of them even were.
But his movement caused his daughter to wake, and she immediately shouted.
"A golden haired boy!"
That was the first thing his daughter said, he turned to her confused.
"We were saved by a golden haired boy."
Hannah said much less excited, as she noticed her hero was long gone.
"Anything else you remember about the boy, age, eye color, clothing?"
Samuel asked, needing to know more, but his daughter shook her head.
Samuel shook his head as he picked up Hannah for the first time in two years, walking forward wanting nothing more than to return home with him and Hannah safe and sound.
But the sight that greeted the two, answered every question Samuel had.
What lay beyond only could only be twenty feet away from where they awoke, Samuel found the Manticore's corpse.
The tail was crushed, body limp, and its head was missing, a trail of blood that led deeper into the forest showing that whatever killed this monster had taken it as a trophy.
But the most enlightening part of the dead monster was that the entire corpse was covered in snakes.
Crimson torturers, regal vipers, sand devils, rattling reapers, and snakes that Samuel could not even identify, coiled and nestled into the Manticore's dead body.
And every single one made themselves known through noise, a choir of hissing over two hundred strong.
And at the sight of this mountain of serpents only one person came to mind for Samuel.
Samuel had only passed by the boy only a couple of times but even then, that was enough to leave an impression.
Crimson eyes burning like torches in a starless night, a noble air that made people think of the kings of old.
The bearer of the venomous calamity, last of his family, the bruised serpent.
Adder Serpens, with that revelation Samuel's mind raced with all of the possibilities.
'No bearer could do this, but a warden can.'
Samuel did not know of the specifics, but he had heard the stories of what wardens could do.
Those stories were exaggerated by time and propaganda, but with the proof being right in front of him.
How could that thought even enter his weary mind, how could one think less of their savoir.
The pieces were forced into place, a warden who first saved them and then ripped into the manticore with a serpentine might.
"I have to spread the word…"
Hannah's touch brought her father back to reality, but he repeated what he said with a renewed vigor.
"I will spread the word!"
He yelled as he quickly found his way back to cromb.
…
Abner held his brother as he dragged the manticore's severed head, the power that had awakened within him burned like a star.
Atop his head sat the radiant crown, the proof of his divinity and a power unrivaled.
Adder's breathing was soft and weak, filling his brother with a deep dread.
As he made his way, Abner felt his grandfather running straight towards the both of them.
And only then did his tears start to fall.