#IT IS TIME. TIME FOR PICKLE JOE. jkfhjrwjfkebdu

[venalos-archived]

@thenten

The footprints they followed were deep and spaced far apart. Three sharp, clawed toes were pointed forwards, with nothing to the side nor the back. Across the middle of the tracks were little holes dotted here and there, so small as to be barely noticeable, dug deep into the ground with fumes rising forth as if eaten away by acid. There were trees lying scattered along the tracks, snapped in half as if they had been mere toothpicks. It all culminated in a single spot, tooth scrapes carved into solid stone with railspike-like fangs either stuck inside the scrapes themselves or scattered everywhere across the dirt and rock.

Rubina had seen such tracks before. A Deviljho was here. Not exactly common to the Verdant Hills, yet not necessarily unheard of...

Rex held his head low, sniffing the spot where the brute wyvern had dug its teeth into the ground. He pulled away and snarled, despising the pungency. Huge and powerful he may be, yet a Deviljho was his physical equal and then some. Embers and flickering flames rose from his jaws, and he raked his venomous talons across the ground.

Rubina rubbed his nose to ease his nerves, and she tightened her grip around her Great Sword's hilt to ease her own. Deviljho are no major issue when tamed, aside from their massive appetites, yet wild individuals are bad news no matter how one sliced it. A single one of these brute wyverns was capable of causing immense ecological upheaval, devouring every living creature around and chasing away the rest. 'Localised extinction' was the term, Rubina thought. She knew the Deviljho they were tracking had to be taken down one way or another, at least before the Verdant Hills become utterly devoid of faunal life.

And definitely before anyone was hurt, or worse...

She stopped right as Rex did, his growls intensifying. Then Rubina heard it as well; the distant thundering foot falls and the brute wyvern's deafening bellow in the distance. The hunt was on.

"Let's go, Rex."

The Dreadking snarled in agreement as Rubina hopped onto his saddle, and the two took to the skies.