Bruhman I would have to ask you kindly to get out of my head as it seems to appear that you are looking into my ideas before I even have a chance to drop them down XD. Foxfire I appreciate your reviews and how you dissect the chapters so keep on reviewing. I live off of all of y'all's reviews I don't mind critiques or ideas to improve the current plot but I don't care too much for Flames or people just simply stating I've made Arthur into something else even though I did not intend to make Arthur anything other than how I perceive him to be other than that keep on reviewing everyone and please do share the story amongst your friends so I can get more followers and more faves.

The outlaw and his demi-canine companion made their way to the upper levels. where the merchants and rich resided. Besides having to pass through a checkpoint, flashing their dog tags granted them easy access to this part of Castle Town, especially at night. This particular section would be locked down tighter than a nun's crotch on communion to anyone who wasn't an adventurer on a quest during the night hours.

One thing Arthur had noticed was that the air was much cleaner and the streets were not filled with muck. It was a place where he would have spent his younger years robbing the homes of the rich and privileged. If the situation were different, he would have considered the idea of picking a house, watching it for a week, and when the time was right, sneaking in to take everything that wasn't nailed down and running off to the nearest fence.

"Arthur, I found it!" Keel said rather excitedly as he pointed his finger at a manhole cover, but it had what looked like a viper biting and holding onto its tail.

Moving over towards Keel, the outlaw looked at the manhole and reached over to pet the boy's head, despite the little growls and sounds of annoyance he was making. "Good job," he said, then stopped petting him and pulled out his knife. He began jamming it between the lid and the manhole until the lid gave way.

Despite his displeasure from patting his head, his tail couldn't help but wag just a bit, the same way when Arthur killed that Viper gang member who had revealed their intentions towards him. "Don't pet my head like that. I'm not your dog!" he said with a hint of a growl in his voice, despite his tail continuing to wag happily.

After looking down the manhole, Arthur looked over towards his companion and noticed that his wagging tail contradicted his displeasure. "It seems that your tail is betraying you. I think you rather enjoyed it, but if you don't want to receive any little rewards like that, I'm fine with that," he said with a smirk. Then he turned his attention away from his companion's indignant pouting expression. With his attention elsewhere, he reached into his shoulder bag and pulled out a small oil lantern. Grabbing a box of matches, he ignited one and then brought it to the lantern, lighting it up and attaching it to his belt with a hook.

With the only means of illumination secured, the outlaw climbed into the manhole and slowly descended on the rusted ladder until he reached the bottom. Taking his lantern from his hip, he shined it in one direction, realizing that both paths seemed to lead on forever. "Damn, maybe I should have asked that fool which path to take after finding the manhole," he thought out loud as he shined the lantern around, looking for anything that could indicate a direction or serve as an identifying marker.

Keel climbed down the ladder as well, still slightly annoyed from Arthur's petting and words pointing out his tail's betrayal of how he thought and felt. Turning his thoughts away, he couldn't help but notice that the sewer smelled unlike the slums, where sewage was being poured out from nearby windows. Instead, all he could smell was fresh running water, and by the sound and small glimmers of light shining near the side of the stone path, he could see the water rushing by. During his focus away from how clean the sewer was, he redirected his attention to the ladder and beyond, sniffing. Immediately, he caught the whiff of Arthur and himself and others with a familiar scent from the slums. "I think I can find them with my nose," he said, sniffing the air and following the direction of the scent where it was getting stronger.

Arthur had almost completely forgotten that Keel wasn't completely human, which made the outlaw feel like an idiot. "Well, lead on, boy. Maybe at the end of this, I'll give you a biscuit," he said. As soon as he said that, he could see Keel's ears perk up and his tail wags even more fiercely than before, along with hearing frustrated growls and irritated rumblings coming from him.

Keel pushed down his irritation as he focused on finding the Green Viper's lair, continuing to lead on with Arthur following behind. His ears couldn't help but pick up the sound of movement coming from behind, causing him to stop immediately, pull out his gun, pull back the hammer, and aim past his companion and protector. "Show yourself!" he said with a canine snarl, followed by intense growling.

Stepping out of the way from the path that Keel was aiming down, he had drawn his gun and pointed it into the same dark path his companion was aiming down. Then, grabbing his lantern to try to shine the light down the already dark passageway they had just come from, he couldn't see anything. "Are you sure someone's down there?" he asked. Based on the bits of information he had received from Erhard, he had no reason to doubt Keel. Most, if not all, Demi-humans had certain characteristics that made them unique, such as cat-demi humans being agile and having excellent balance, or others having swifter speed and superior strength. Canines, on the other hand, had a superior sense of hearing and smell, to the point that they were considered superior to the common bloodhound.

"Of course, they're sure," a gravely deep voice said in the darkness. Following that, the steps of heavy boots sound could be heard, accompanied by a haunting Death Lullaby.

Keel felt an odd sensation, like daggers crawling up his spine. Not since the time the monsters from the waves destroyed his village had he felt such fear digging into his bones. It had gotten so bad that his right hand, holding the gun, was shaking as he continued listening to The Haunting song.

As for Arthur, he had heard the song; it was haunted and frightening. It caused a suffocating sensation in his lungs, just like when he had died. Yet, the more he listened, the less frightening and spine-chilling the sound became. Just as he had done back then, he accepted his fate. Just as he would accept the fate of whoever was coming before him, he would face them head-on. The music was simply that music. "You better come out before I start shooting randomly, and I promise you, I'll make sure my shots hurt," he said without fear, in his words and posture, as he was completely composed.

The heavy sounds of their footsteps, along with whistling and a hissing-like sound, echoed through the sewer tunnel, accompanied by a familiar rattling sound that the outlaw recognized. "I cannot taste your fear; you have faced death and spat in its face, managing to walk away unscathed. That is impressive, human," said the stranger in the darkness before stepping into the small bit of light provided by the lantern for Arthur and Keel.

For some reason, Arthur wasn't surprised to see a rattlesnake Demi-human. Rather, he was wondering when he would run into one or some other persons similar to the various animals he had come across in the West. "One can't be afraid when they have faced it head-on," he replied, pointing his gun at the head of the Serpentine man and pulling back the hammer of his revolver with an audible click.

Jake, with his Hellfire eyes, looked over the revolver in Arthur's porcelain rank adventurous tag and raised a reptilian eyebrow. "An interesting little piece you've got there; is it Faubreyan?" he curiously asked. Instead of receiving an answer, he only got a simple piercing stare directed at him. letting out an annoyed sigh, he reached into his black shirt and pulled up a black steel dog tag. "Like you, I am an adventurer. We both have taken this open quest bounty hunting, so we are not adversaries, and I follow the unspoken rules amongst adventurers. 'Do not kill your fellow adventurers, even on a quest. To do so is to ask for expulsion.' Now you know, I mean you no harm."He said with both hands to side in a placating manner that emphasized that he genuinely meant no harm.

It had only taken a moment of intense staring into the reptilian's eyes before Arthur had lowered his gun and reached out with his other hand to lower Keel, despite the hesitation from the Husky Demi. "It's not Faubreyan; a blacksmith named Erhard has figured out how to create firearms and pretty advanced ones; maybe you should give him a shot if interested." He had been the truth about his weapon being part of being the gun hero while also helping Erhard and his growing gunsmith business.

The rattlesnake took a thinking pose as he tried to remember a blacksmith by that name, only to remember the high-ranking adventurer Erhard the iron hammer. never figured him start treating related weapons for projectile weapons such as those." he had stated, he flipped his tongue in the air, tasting their scent, and caught only something that was coming off of what was the boyish Husky, giving him a curious little thought. You have an interesting companion you have there, he says as he puts his tongue in his mouth one more time just to confirm his suspicions.

He didn't know what the snake meant by that statement, and by the looks of it, Arthur could see that Keel was uncomfortable with the fort tongue flicking in his general direction. "Yeah, he's interesting all right, and he was helping me track down the green vipers into their leir before you interrupted us," he stated as he placed his hand on the boy's head and began ruffling the black and white hair that was in between Keel's dog years.

Despite the annoyance and feeling his head being petted again, he didn't protest the comforting feeling he was getting; rather, he was enjoying the sensation and making it easy to be in the presence of this weird, demi-human snake.

"Canine demi-humans tend to have a superior sense of smell, but nothing in comparison to my tongue; it's about worth 10 times that of your Keel's nose can't, and picking up certain details the boy couldn't pick up." He half-stated and half-insulted Keel.

The insult dealt had switched Keel's fear into anger, as he was just really trying to raise his gun to aim and possibly shoot at the rattlesnake. only for the hand that was on top of his that was holding the gun to be kept down. "Let me shoot him for being mean," he complained as he continued to try to struggle out of Arthur's grip while keeping his healing down.

"I would like it if you would not antagonize my competitiveness, and when I read the rules, apprentices are not held to the high standards of a full guild, remember, and most likely I won't be able to control his actions if you decide to kill you by mistake," Arthur says he is well aware of the unspoken word from Erhard telling him much of the same thing, as well as certain loopholes that are very rarely exploited.

This caused the rattlesnake to smirk at the implied threat. "Good loophole. Unfortunately, you would still be marked, preventing you from elevating within the guild for some time, until they determine that you have paid off the blood debt," Jake said in a way that almost spoke with experience of using such underhand methods to eliminate a competing adventurer.

"Thank you for informing me. Now, I hope you weren't planning on stealing our game from our hunt?" Arthur questioned, wondering if that was the rattlesnake's intention. After all, he doubted that the serpentine adventurer just happened upon another group of green vipers and interrogated one of them to reveal the location of their boss's hiding place.

The serpentine demi-human scoffed as he reached into his shoulder bag, pulled out the torn piece of skin that was still bloody, and tossed it at the human's feet. "I'm not after a small prey; I'm after the big fish. 100 silver pieces for information, but a thousand silver pieces if I bring back his somewhat living hide now. That would be worth my time." Jake corrected Arthur's assumption that he was planning to steal all the Viper member marks, as it was not the least interesting to the experienced adventurer.

Looking down at the piece of skin, the outlaw could see a green viper tattoo. But unlike the bits of skin that he had already collected with Keel, this one had a few more chunks of meat. In other words, it was torn rather abruptly off the arm or body of the individual who happened to be under the tender mercies of this rattlesnake. "Where did you get this one? I can only guess that you got information from him telling you about this place as well," he asked, then signaled to his companion to collect the bloody piece of flesh by simply tilting his head to the side while looking at Keel for a moment before returning his gaze to the rattlesnake.

Jake laughed as if he needed to interrogate someone to get the information they would need to find this place. "I didn't need to interrogate him after all. I was following you, plus it would have only been a matter of time after hunting a few of these bastards down on my own. I could probably get a good layout of where they have been. After all, my tongue is quite sensitive to smells." He flicked his tongue in and out between his lips, tasting and sampling the air and finding all sorts of information that the dog demi-human would probably be unable to pick up.

"If there are going to be big fish that we're going to come across, I'm taking the spoils. After all, I did all the work getting here, whether or not you were going to find them on your own or follow someone who is already on a trail of their own. It matters not, even if I have to shoot you dead myself." Arthur stared at those blazing eyes the rattlesnake possessed while pulling back the hammer on his gun with an audible click.

Jake, too, placed his hand to the side and touched the small pistol crossbow that was slightly out. He didn't like the idea of getting into a shootout with this human. Then there was his companion to consider; even with the dim light, he could see a similar-looking pistol just on her right hip. Even if he used one of his special Demi-human race attributes to double his defenses and increase his speed, he would at least get one bullet for his trouble and alert his prey that trouble was coming. Then there was the possibility that he could just challenge the human after either catching or obtaining anything related to the leader of this gang, at least that did not carry any penalties if the opponent died from a challenge or duel. Grinning, he made up his mind as he lifted both hands in an act of surrender. "Listen, we can argue or even start shooting each other, but we could just simply team up temporarily after we kill and take whatever or whoever needs to be killed and taken. We can settle this matter like men above ground: 10 paces, turn, and draw," he suggested to the human.

Raising an eyebrow and smirking, Arthur couldn't help but think how stupid the rattlesnake demi-human was. The idea of someone challenging him to a gunfight would seem quite suicidal to anyone who knew Arthur's skills in dueling, yet he couldn't help but find the suggestion more agreeable than just simply going into a shootout with this rattlesnake. "Fair enough, I accept the challenge once this is over, but I would like to add something to the challenge to make things more interesting that doesn't result in one or the other dying if you don't mind." He added to the existing challenge with the idea that he had thought of just within that second that the challenge had been presented.

"Oh, and what is this little addition?" Jake asked, slightly interested in what the human might be adding to the challenge.

"I'll let you know once we're done with this, and no double-crossing me," Arthur said as he holstered his revolver, but he kept the hammer at the ready just in case he had to quickly draw and shoot the rattlesnake dead.

He had watched the human holster his weapon while keeping the hammer primed just in case, something that the experienced Serpentine Adventure appreciated, even if it was directed at him. One shouldn't let their guard down, even in the company of fellow adventurers or companions. He never knew when someone would stab you in the back or make a surprise attack. "You got a name?" the rattlesnake asked the human that was now taking the lead and facing the direction where his tomboyish companion was leading him.

"Well, I can give you my current name, but not my real name. You haven't earned that trust yet, it's Mordred," Arthur said, his current alias, something that was often used whenever he was traveling in places he shouldn't be while having a bit of a bounty on his head, it was a play on his name Arthur from the mythic tale of Arthur and his Knights.

'Alias? Quite the interesting one you are.' Jake thought to himself, "Well, I'm Jake the rattlesnake, and my other alias is the Black Iron Grim Reaper," he said with a bit of a hissing chuckle, seeing how the dog girl flinched just by the hissing chuckling sound he made. He slightly wondered how long it would take for the human to realize the dog boy was a girl, not a boy.

Resuming their trek in the sewers, Keel stayed close to Arthur despite her discomfort. Even the fact that he was a demi-human did not make her feel comfortable. However, she focused on the task ahead and sniffed the air, following the scent of the green vipers. Her nose led her along the long track, through turns and twists that would confuse anyone attempting to find those who were hiding down there. Thanks to her sense of smell, she didn't need to worry about getting lost or leading her human companion astray. Although she wished the snake would get lost in the various pathways that had an unusual death-like smell to them.

The group continued following Keel's sense of smell until they came across a brick wall blocking their path forward. The dog girl, disguised as a boy, bent her ears back and let out an annoyed whine. She brought her nose close to the wall and continued to sniff it in confusion.

"I don't understand. Their scent leads here, yet there's nothing but a wall," Keel said, using her masculine voice. She let out annoyed puppy dog sounds, but the sounds of annoyance quickly died down as Arthur placed his hand on top of her head and lightly petted and ruffled her hair.

The Outlaw figured that this was too easy, so he wasn't surprised that the Viper gang wouldn't make it this easy to track them down. He did not doubt that Keel's sense of smell was ideal, yet if they were anything like himself, they would double-track around or rub their scent in places that would throw off even the most high-quality tracking breeds of hounds. "It's all right. Maybe they doubled around somewhere. We'll have to look at those other pathways that we passed up on the way here," Arthur tried his best to reassure the boy, giving him gentle pats and pets on his head. It seemed his words and actions were working, given the fact that he could hear the beating sound of a happy puppy dog's tail wagging.

"We're not on the wrong track," Jake spoke with his rough, gravelly voice as he flicked his tongue in the air, tasting the smells as he walked closer and started examining the wall. From a normal human eye or that of a demi-human who wasn't cold-blooded, it just appeared to be a normal wall. But for the serpentine demi, it was far more than just a wall. Focusing his gaze, his normal night vision was replaced by thermal imaging, painting everything in a dark blue color except the two warm-blooded individuals who were in the sewers with him. Then there was the wall. He could see through the wall and notice the large amount of heat radiating from the opposite side. Continuing to focus his sight to limit the amount of pickup with his eyes, he stared at the wall and noticed handprints on certain bricks that had been pressed not too long ago. Smirking, he walked over to the coldest brick that still had traces of heat, placed his scaly clawed hand onto the brick, and pushed in with an audible click followed by a few more until several mechanisms triggered, causing the brick door to slide open. Returning his vision to his normal sight, he looked over towards the two who were staring at him gobsmacked as he had just revealed the hidden lair of the Vipers. "Quite useful to have my type of eyes to see things that others can't, just as great as my sense of smell," he boasted a bit as he pushed the doorway a little more open and flicked his tongue into the new corridor of air. Immediately, he was alerted to multiple smells of different people, yet he couldn't get a fixed number due to the infrequent use of this particular entrance.

Shaking from her shock, Keel inhaled the air and, like Jake, she could smell multiple humans who had frequently used this entrance. "I hope we have enough ammunition because there are a lot of humans in there. Some of the scents are from the ones that are still in the slums, while the rest are unknown to me." She grabbed hold of her revolver and, just as Arthur had advised her to do, she opened up the flap on the side and checked every chamber within the revolver for any spent ammunition. She exchanged any spent rounds for fresh ones. With her weapon fully loaded, she pulled back the hammer and readied her weapon for the inevitable fight that was waiting at the end of this final corridor.

Arthur did much the same with his weapon, ready to be used for the inevitable fight. "Jake, you don't look like you're carrying weapons unless you're just going to bite everyone," he sarcastically joked as he started walking down the corridor.

A hissing scoff came from the rattlesnake, "What, because I'm a snake, biting is my only weapon? In most places, that would be considered a racist remark. And just for your information, I'm packing two twin-shot crossbow pistols, though I may be looking to upgrade my equipment after this little venture," Jake answered his question as he drew both of his crossbows and readied to shoot the first person he saw at the end of the corridor. "Hope you have plenty of ammunition. I would hate for you to use those fancy guns of yours as clubs. That would be quite embarrassing," he fired back at the human outlaw.

"Oh, I've got more ammunition, perhaps more than you have crossbow bolts," Arthur retaliated with his quip directed toward the rattlesnake.

The two continued firing barbs at each other as they continued down the corridor. They only stopped when they noticed that there was light at the end, along with the smells of fine food being cooked and the sounds of men laughing.

The men were laughing at the Viper enforcer who had come running in with his tail tucked between his legs in a matter of speaking, as he had just regaled the more senior members of the gang about what happened to the group that he was overseeing, only to be met with laughter as soon as he had explained it.

"Wait, let's go over this again. You and six of our top recruits, fresh and dumb as they are yet still strong, got wiped out by a man who looks like he's out of his prime and a demi-human dog, a child. Am I hearing you right?" A burly, bald man in his mid-twenties with sunkissed skin said with a wide grin, fighting the urge to just simply laugh at the fool that had come running in a panic, as did the few men who were just enjoying dinner.

Getting his teeth, he stepped a few steps too close to his leader. "I'm telling you the truth that the porcelain rank adventurer moves like the damn wind and killed three guys in one movement as if he waved his hand and everyone was dead, and I think he's wielding a Faubreyen firearm the way his hand admitted explosions before the boys I was in charge of died," he said with absolute seriousness as he looked back at the path that he had taken to get here, and he couldn't help but feel a cold chill run up his spine as if death were approaching.

The Viper and Forester's words did not have their intended effect as the leader and the rest of the Viper gang senior lieutenants of the gang began throwing their heads back and laughing at the Enforcer that become, Craven.

"Why don't you take the rest of this week off? You'll get your pay despite your showing up with nothing for tonight. Go to a local Tavern. Go to that nice bunny Demi Winch. Even if those guys did get killed, they were the fresh recruits, nothing that our sponsor would care about." The leader had suggested this to the enforcer as he lightly padded the still panicking man on the shoulder.

Brushing the hand off his shoulder, he shook his head in denial of the suggestion to take a rest from his duties. "You're not getting it, this asshole is coming for us..." he would have continued if it wasn't for the fact that the enforcer and everyone else could hear the clinking sound of spurs down the dark corridor. Following that, the snake rattling and death lullaby whistle had everyone on edge and grabbing hold of their weapons.

Those who had bows or crossbows aimed the corridor, while others had clubs, rusted swords, and spears at the ready. Meanwhile, the leader of this group grabbed hold of his recently acquired Faubreyen firearm which was a reward for a job well done on the various jobs he and his gang are often requested by their sponsor. It was a gas-powered auto crossbow originally designed for killing nocturnal monsters that often plague the smog-covered Kingdom, but he changed out the silver-tipped bolts with regular iron. It was like any other weapon, just with a high rate of fire.

"Alright everyone, as soon as they come out of there, give them hell. If these are the scourge of our topmost enforcer's fears, then I want their heads so I can personally stick them on stakes in front of the guildhall as a warning for anyone who would dare cross us," he said low, informing his fellow cutthroats what he planned on doing if these happened to be the same ones that had taken out his boys.

The sounds continued, hearing the jingling of spurs and death lullaby getting louder and louder until it almost sounded like they were about to emerge from the shadows but stopped. For a long time, there was nothing but silence. "You've come all this way, fuckers. You better come out here and meet your match," the one viper said with a crossbow, to the annoyance of the few experienced Viper members.

The leader was about to reprimand him, only for a fast-moving blade that was attached to a chain to fly out of the darkness of the corridor and stab into the one that had spoken. It only struck him in the shoulder. The thug let out an audible yell at the sudden feeling of having something stabbed into his shoulder and tried desperately to yank it out, only for the chain to tighten and drag him into the darkness. He yelled the whole time as he was being dragged to his doom.

The thug continued to yell, and even the sounds of his crossbow that he managed to hang on to as he was dragged into the darkness fired, with the bolt ricocheting in the corridor, Sparks from the bolt brief flash of light. It revealed the three individuals who were just in the corridor for a brief moment before darkness took hold once more, along with an audible crushing sound that silenced any further yelling from their fellow gang members.

Not wasting any time after seeing them, the gang members began firing their arrows and bolts, including the leader pulling the trigger on his rapid-fire crossbow into the corridor. they fired until they had to reload and continued firing, only stopping after running out of ammunition, along with the rest of the men.

"Your pitiful attempts are quite annoying," a hissing, gravelly voice came from the darkness of the corridor. Heavy footsteps followed, but there was no jangling sound of spurs. Instead, there was a rumbling rattling sound as the stranger stepped out of the shadows, revealing himself to all. His black outfit was ripped and torn from the various bolts that had struck it, revealing much of his demi-human body, which looked quite monstrous with its diamond-shaped scales covering most of it. He swung his rattling tail, revealing a thoroughly dead Viper gang member, and tossed his body over to the group, showing the broken body for everyone to see, frozen in fear and pain. "Well, what are y'all waiting for? Come at me so I can send you all to the fiery pits of hell," Jake grinned, revealing his multiple sharp teeth, minus the venomous fangs he still had tucked in the roof of his mouth.

Outraged by the display of death, one of their gang members, a Viper wielding a rusted sword, charged, letting out a war cry and about to strike down the snake demi with an overhead cut. He attempted to slice the monster from shoulder to hip, only for his blade to shatter upon contact with the demi's arm, which had a brief yellow glow. The Viper was shocked at the sight of his broken blade, momentarily distracted. Then he felt a large, painful void in his chest. Returning his focus to his adversary, he could see the snake holding onto what looked like a heart that was still beating in his hand. It was only then that he looked at his chest and noticed a large gaping hole where his heart once was. The only thing he could do after that was give his killer a hateful glare before dropping dead.

Tossing the slowly beating heart aside, Jake revealed his black iron plate to all the Viper members, who immediately gasped in recognition of his Adventure rank. "I think you lot could handle porcelain, bronze, silver, maybe gold, but black iron is something well above all of y'all's pay grade," he let out a hissing chuckle at seeing the pale faces and fleeting looks of the few gang members who were looking for a way out, knowing that death had just arrived.

"Hold up!" the leader of the gang spoke, putting his rapid-fire crossbow down to the side with both of his hands visible as he slowly approached. "I know there's a bounty on my head and the various gang members who share the mark, but if you let us go, we'll make it worth your while. You can have whatever's in our lair, gold, goods, hell, you can claim this place as your little hidey-hole. Me and my boys don't mind having to move. So what do you say?" He attempted to negotiate with the rattlesnake, hoping that he could get out of this alive, along with a few lieutenants under his command.

A scaly eyebrow was the only response Jake gave as he wrapped his tail tightly around the obvious leader of the group, causing the man to let out a squeak of surprise. "The one thing I hate about simpering scum like you is thinking money or a place to hide would appeal to me, especially when you know that you're marked for death. I'm afraid your attempts have failed, especially after I accepted this little quest," Jake lectured, giving a little more of a squeeze onto the leader until he lost consciousness, then tossing him to the side.

Seeing that they weren't going to get out of this without a fight, the Viper members started to look for anything to reload into their crossbows, while others began rushing in with their blades and clubs. Now was the perfect time for Arthur and Keel to step out of the shadows and begin shooting at both The Bowman and the crossbowmen who managed to find some new bolts to load into their crossbows. They continued shooting until there were no long-range adversaries that would make Jake's job more difficult than it already was.

Jake had to buff up his defenses once more right after he stepped out of the darkness of the viper's entrance. He had to boost his natural iron-scaling ability just to prevent any of the bolts from harming himself or the two adventurers he was accompanying. Using this ability had eaten up a lot of his ability points, and he only had so many uses before a 24-hour cooldown would take effect. "Safeguarding a dog and a human, this is going to be a blow for my ironically cruel reputation," he thought as he used his tail as a whip on someone who was trying to sneak behind him, sending that Viper Thug to a nearby wall with a sickening crunch sound.

Meanwhile, Arthur had ducked behind some crates alongside Keel. Despite their efforts to eliminate the crossbowmen, the remaining Viper members picked up the crossbows from their fallen comrades, took aim, and began firing at them. "You try to eliminate one issue, and another arises. FUCK!" he cursed as a stray bolt flew over his head as soon as he had peeked over, then quickly ducked, avoiding the shot aimed at his head.

She agreed with his assessment. She could barely raise her head without someone trying to shoot. Fortunately, her ears could fold back, keeping them just underneath the edge of the crates that they were hiding behind. It was only then that she came up with an idea—a risky one but a good one at that—especially if she would give her human companion a chance to kill these few remaining vipers. "I'm going to draw their fire and go over towards that crate," she said, continuing to use that masculine voice of hers as she pointed towards some crates that were a fair distance away from their current position.

Hearing her plan, Arthur was immediately about to reject it, but before he could even do that, Keel immediately started running out of the safety of the cover that the crates were providing, then watched as they fired their gun while running towards the new cover. But before they could even get there, his worst fears were realized as a stray bolt went through the boy's leg.

She couldn't help but feel a white flash of pain coursing up her left leg, but she ignored it as best she could as she continued running until the pain reached its zenith, causing her to collapse right behind the crate and listen to several more bolts hit her cover. It was only then that she looked down and saw her left leg had a bolt running through it, and a small stream of blood was oozing out of the wound. Then she looked towards her human companion and watched his eyes change from shock at her current state to a burning rage, and for a brief moment, she thought his eyes turned slightly yellow as she witnessed him get out of cover and take aim.

The only thing that Arthur felt was pure fury. It was bad enough to consider the possibility that these animals would consider raping someone as young as Keel, but witnessing the boy collapse behind cover with that wound turned the small flame into a raging inferno. With himself out of cover, time began to slow down, as if a single second could be considered a lifetime. He picked his targets, aiming for not their heads, not their hearts, but their throats, knowing that they would die slowly and painfully for the injury that they had caused Keel.

Bang, bang, bang, bang...

He had spent the last four rounds in his revolver and watched as all four of the Viper thugs grabbed hold of their throats, trying to stem the flow of blood that was pouring out. One of the four tried aiming their crossbow at him, only for the rivers of blood that he was slowly drowning in to screw up his aim upon pulling the trigger, causing the bolt that was aimed at Arthur's head to simply go past the side of his head.

Using his serpentine-like speed, ducking underneath a large oath with almost a tree branch of a club, and managing to get behind what was the strongest yet dumbest of the Vipers, Jake immediately sank his fangs into the thug's neck and pumped his acidic venom directly into their veins. His position gave him a perfect view of Arthur's almost blur of fast speed, taking out the last four vipers on his side, leaving the snake to deal with the Brutus muscle as his last combatant after killing several others just as grizzly as the one that he had ripped the heart out of, either by his razor-sharp claws or his acidic spit venom onto their faces, watching as they dissolved into mush.

Dropping his club, the second-to-last Viper thug could feel the venom coursing through his veins and reaching his heart. Immediately, he clutched onto his chest, breathing heavily and going as far as beating his chest, trying to get that familiar beating sensation as his internal organs were being liquefied. But it was all for naught, as he was already dead, and his brain was the only thing that wasn't realizing the fact. Soon, the thug dropped onto his knees and fell face-first into the ground.

Pulling himself away from the collapsed thug, Jake ran his forked tongue onto his fangs, tasting the disgusting blood of the viper he had fought to put him down, cleaning them, then spitting out the wad of blood that he had just removed from his fangs. Then he pulled out a flask in which he had mixed his blend of herbs to clean his mouth out whenever he had no choice but to bite his opponents. With a quick swish of the mouth cleanser, he spits it onto the corpse of the thug, whose veins were already turning black just with a small dosage of his venom.

With everyone dead, the outlaw rushed over to the demi-dog, and immediately they began to scream and howl in pain as the adrenaline high that kept them from doing so finally came down, realizing the true amount of pain that they could feel.

"I wouldn't pull that out. Those bolts are usually designed for the sole purpose of being painful on the way out as well as causing more damage," Jake commented as he began looking for the individual marks of the Viper underlings and began tearing them off of their flesh.

After hearing that bit of information coming from Jake, Arthur looked at the bolt and could see that the bolt head was serrated and was going to be more painful on the way out if it was pulled from the way it entered the leg from the side. "Alright then, I'm just going to break the bolt head off and pull the rest out," he stated as he was about to do that before Keel jerked their leg away.

"No, it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt a lot." Tears began to well up in her eyes. The pain had reminded her of the tender mercies of the noble that she was temporarily enslaved to, forcing her to work with the other boys, whipping her, and beating her. At least it wasn't as bad in comparison to the few girls that she could hear in the lower levels of the dungeon that she was put in and seeing Noble's face with satisfaction on his face, along with a few other guards that accompanied him with similar looks.

Unaware of what Keel was remembering, it was clear in Arthur's mind that he could see true pain and suffering that wasn't drawn out about this wound, but rather the memory that was triggering that was as clear as day as he could see in their eyes. "Keel... I know it's going to hurt a lot, but if it doesn't come out, you'll lose the leg. You need to be strong. Can you do that for me, Keel?" His words must have had an effect, as the dog child stopped crying and stared wide-eyed, almost as if going through another memory of something that didn't reflect pain but something else.

Her ears had perked up at hearing those words. They were similar to the words that her father often told her whenever she had gotten hurt, whenever she was either fishing with her father or hunting in the woods with the other boys and coming home injured in some form or another. 'You need to be strong, Keel.' Within her mind's eye, Arthur's face and form immediately morphed into a similar shape to that of her father before her imagination faded, leaving just the man who had taken her in after freeing her from her enslavement. Taking in a deep breath, she extended her left leg, turned her face away, and closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain that would come.

Without hesitation, he grabbed hold of the leg that was presented to prevent any unnecessary jerks or twitches as he reached over and snapped the bolt head. Then, in one quick motion, he pulled the rest of it out. Little whimpers were the only thing he could hear as he completed the extraction. Besides that, there was only a small trickle of blood coming out of the wound. Reaching into his shoulder bag, he brought out a disinfectant ointment and rubbed it into the exposed holes. He grabbed a thick cloth and some bandages and began wrapping them over the wounded area. Once that was done, he set the child to sit on a crate. "It looks like your leg has been out of commission for a while. I'm no doctor, but that should tie you over until a healer is available to fix you better than I can," he said warmly as he reached over and began softly petting the boy's ears. Surprisingly enough, he couldn't hear any growling as he saw a genuine smile on their faces from the head petting.

Seeing this little affectionate display made the serpent Demi almost gag just at the Sight of it. Instead, he flicked his tongue in annoyance, making sure those who were dead were dead, and those who were not he swiftly stomped on chests crushing the rib cage and internal organs like a bug as he continued his grisly work of ripping off the tattooed skin with less finesse than an untrained butcher, then tossing the bits of skin and flesh to the side into a growing pile. When he had gotten the last of the marks, he went straight for the auto-gas-powered crossbow that he had seen when he had first entered this little den of scum. From his quick examination, he was able to ascertain that this weapon was most definitely Faubreyen in origin, given the highly refined structural design of the weapon. It also had variations of pistons that the gas canister would feed into, causing the hook to pull the string of the crossbow back into the locked position before firing another bolt. It was an ingenious design, yet not his preferred style. Not while there was a more interesting weapon that he had seen on full display that took out so many vipers with a single volley. an idea springs in his head to confront the blacksmith after this to acquire his custom firearms probably something a little closer to his style.

With Keel properly bandaged up, Arthur had gone through the various things that the Viper gang had in their hideout, opening up crates and finding alcohol, fabrics, and other ill-gotten loot, but nothing much in the way of coins. "It seems like they were about to send all the stuff to a fence by the looks of things," he stated as he opened up another crate and found much of the same stuff.

"Yep, that's the reason why they have a bounty on them; they've been upsetting a few of the upper merchants. If only they knew that the same scum was hiding underneath their feet, sipping at the finest wines and eating the finest foods that the idiots stole," Jake flicked his tongue and hissed a bit before going towards the leader, who was unconscious throughout the last bit of this little skirmish. Wrapping his tail around the unconscious gang leader and holding him up, the death-personified serpent pulled out some smelling salts, cracked them open, and brought them to the unconscious man's nose to wake him up.

Jerking his head away, the former leader of the Viper gang opened his eyes to a world of horror. All of his men were dead, except the other gang members, who were probably still wandering the streets, robbing beggars, or drinking their earnings away at some low-rate bar. Besides the death, he could see there was a small pile of flesh that had the tattoos that all gang members had, like the one he had plastered across his face. Turning his sights away from the death and gory display, his eyes met those of the Hellfire eyes of the snake that was staring into his.

"Listen up, human. The Guild wants you alive; that's the only reason why you're still breathing, or I would have squeezed you until your eyeballs popped from your sockets." Jake had squeezed his tail that was wrapped around the gang leader just enough to cause the man to let out a whimper and protest at the sudden tightening sensation around his chest. "So, to prolong the inevitable, you're going to tell me if there's any hidden loot here that we're not finding. Refuse. Well, the Guild didn't specify that I had to bring you in good condition so long as you're still alive to face the hangman's noose; that's all they want." He stated with an evil grin, putting his dagger fangs on display for the fearful, desperate-looking criminal, who looked like he was close to wetting himself.

"I heard him say something about a sponsor," Keel spoke out from the spot that she was sitting on, not walking around on her wounded leg as Arthur had ordered her to do.

The serpentine adventurer looked at the tomboy girl and listened to her words before his attention went back to the human that he had at his mercy. "I figured low scum like you had someone who was profiting off of your, or rather y'all's, actions; why don't you tell me and I could squeeze in a deal for you where you don't face the hangman's noose alone?" As soon as he had said that, the man began to struggle, trying to pull himself away from Jake's death-like grasp, even though he could never escape, not in the current position he was in.

The man let out a cry as he could feel the snake tighten its grip around his ribs, and he could feel a few bones snap just under the pressure. "It was a former Nobleman Knight who had turned Brigham. He came into town one day in a bar and spoke to me and a few of my associates to start causing trouble. In return, he would give us weapons and items on occasion. Playthings that are, if we turn up some results by going after the shipment of things that we can sell and keep the money afterward. He just wanted us to sell a child to a few merchants and trade among certain Nobles in Castle Town." The man screamed out as the tail tightened even further.

"So you were hired to sabotage certain unwelcome individuals in court by upsetting their trade to either have them cast out of said court or just cause them some financial instability," Jake said with a drawl. He wasn't one for politics, so long as there was money, he didn't care, but the idea of finding a larger organization to expose and cash in on was something. "Are there any messengers, or are there places for you to meet with your sponsor?" He asked.

Part of him wanted to refuse to answer, yet he knew he was a dead man. Either he would die from this snake, the noose, or a poison dagger in the dark. There was no way out of it, but at least he wouldn't be dying alone. "He doesn't rely on messengers; he came to me and told me to go to a certain specific location, an old fortress, a month later outside Castle Town on the ancient roadway to Melromarc's original ruin capital." He wheezed out, still feeling the pressure around his ribs and finding it hard to breathe. There was a possibility that one of his lungs was now punctured by a stray rib.

Arthur had heard what was said by the gang leader. If the man could be considered a leader, he was just a middleman relaying orders that were given, and he was just benefiting from the side effects of said orders. "Well, it looks like we won't be able to fence this off ourselves if these goods go to the right people who are going to piss off that Prince consort or those of his lackeys," he said regretfully, and he wanted to go ahead and sell this stuff himself to recover some coinage after all that he had already spent to buy more supplies and help cover Erhard's material costs.

"It's just those little annoying things we adventurers have to do now and then, lose out on what could be profitable, especially when the one that we're going after will be interrogated again later with much more subtle means than the more fun approach," Jake commented, and seeing how there was no more information that he could squeeze out of the criminal, he raised his hand and did a karate chop on the side of the man's head, knocking him out cold. After that, his tail relaxed. He let go of the unconscious man and started to tie him up just in case he woke up later and tried to escape.

Managing to find a burlap sack, Arthur began loading up the torn bits of skin and tying them up. Then he went over to Keel, turned around, and lowered himself to their level. "Up on my back, and I'll carry you," he said to the wounded child. Without being further prompted, he could feel their weight on his back as they grabbed hold of his leather coat and wrapped their legs around the side of his body.

Jake grabbed hold of the now-tied-up sack, threw the gang leader over his shoulder, and headed out of the gang's hideout towards the exit with his two companions close behind. After half an hour of walking, they managed to reach the same manhole as before with little difficulty. Everyone was able to climb out of the sewer into the night air of the noble district.

"I hope you haven't forgotten our agreement," Arthur reminded the snake as he set Keel to the side. His hand drifted over to the roll revolver that he had holstered after reloading it before they had exited the sewers.

Flicking his tongue in anticipation of this next fight, Jake nodded his head and looked towards the clock tower. He found it quite amusing how it was close to midnight when the final toll would ring, marking the end of the day. "I do believe you said no death, and you had something rather interesting to add to the mix," he said. He sat down the criminal and threw a side of the bloody sack as his hands drifted over to his crossbow pistols.

"Indeed, I did; our main target is not each other but rather this." He pulled out a silver coin, the last one he had briefly looked at, and he could see as the moonlight that was high for tonight reflected its light from the reflective silver. "Keel will toss the coin in the air; the one who hits it will claim the bounty on the leader and take on his benefactor. Does that sound agreeable?" He tossed the coin to Keel. They were surprised as the coin was thrown at them, and they fumbled with it but managed to catch it in their hand.

He watched as The Silver Coin was tossed to the Tomboy, and then his eyes drifted over to the clock that was one minute away from midnight. "I agree, plus this will prove who is the better shot, me or the unexpected Cardinal hero posing as a common adventurer," Jake said, revealing Arthur's identity as being the current Bow hero, to the surprise of Keel, who wasn't aware that Arthur was a Cardinal hero.

Instead of objecting or saying anything, the outlaw simply narrowed his eyes at the snake, who seemed to be grinning at him. All the while he was just looking rather annoyed that he was outed so easily, and again, he didn't look for any Bounty posters that may have described his appearance or may have an illustration of his face.

"I know there's a bounty on the current bow hero on the freelance adventurer boards; they're unaffiliated with the guild. But try as you may, that bow that you keep hitting underneath that leather coat of yours still has an outline, and I'm surprised that the boy of yours didn't notice it. That's or they were too distracted holding on to you. Either way, you won't hear anything from me telling those embedded Royal fuck where or who you're currently pretending to be, Mordred," he said all that while continuing to grin.

Still, Arthur remained focused, not allowing Jake's words to distract him as he glanced over at Keel's mixed expression of emotions. It was hard to tell whether she was surprised, shocked, angry, or just confused. 'I'm going to have a long talk with him after this,' he thought to himself.

The minute hand of the clock tower moved over, marking the hour as midnight and the end of that day, with the bells ringing loudly. This marked the start of their little duel. Jake began to close the distance the same as Arthur as the two approached one another until they were at least 10 feet from each other, staring each other down while they continued to hear the following rings until the final ring.

In that instant, Arthur activated his ability and began to perceive things much more slowly. He drew his pistol, took aim, and fired at the coin. Surprisingly enough, Jake seemed to be moving at the same speed. He took out his crossbow and fired both rounds, heading straight for one target that was flying in the air.

Cling!

That was the only sound that was heard after the gun went off along with the release of the crossbow. But the two waited there until the coin fell onto the ground and spun. They didn't take their eyes off each other for those last few seconds before looking down to see who was the victor of this contest, only to be surprised at the result.

"Well, ain't that something?" Jake commented as he looked at the result.

Arthur nodded his head in agreement with Jake's comment as he stared at the coin that was now on the ground.

Keel couldn't see anything, and despite the pain that she felt, she managed to get up and limped over to see what the result was: who won and who lost, who would claim the bounty on the gang leader, and possibly take on the one who was commanding them. She too was shocked at what she saw as she looked down at the coin. Both Arthur and Jake were surprised, and she had learned that Arthur was the Cardinal hero. She just wondered what this meant and how things were going to move forward.

BTC

*The Saga Continues music*

What will be the result of this coin toss? Who is the better shot? Will Arthur find out that the boy he's been traveling with is truly a girl, and will the amount of XP that she has gained cause her to experience early growth? Who is this mysterious benefactor of the Viper gang, and what type of custom gun will Jake the rattlesnake order from our neighborhood-friendly blacksmith? You'll just have to tune in next time on Redemption of the Gun.

please review and give suggestions of what you think Jake should have besides revolvers.

Character description

Name: Jake the Rattlesnake

Age: Mid-twenties

Physical Description:

- Height: Average for most humans

- Body: Humanoid with a sickly pale, waxy skin color

- Rattlesnake Tail: Massive and long, extending from the lower back

- Scales: Diamond rattlesnake scales covering the head, forearms, legs, and back

- Facial Features: Reptilian-like lips

- Eyes: Blazing Hellfire-looking eyes, possibly with a fiery glow

- Clothing: Prefers black robes or leather attire

FableMaster out