Hey Guys! Crescent Rider here and I am back with another chapter! But before you all begin, I want to let you all know about something. I'm not good with these types of fanfics, therefore I am open to any aid you'd like to provide as the story progresses.
That is all, and enjoy the chapter!
Marshlands
As soon as they arrived at the campsite, Enny jumped down from Shrieker's back, sends it off, and the rest followed us. The Vikings would scan their surroundings and Snotlout would ask the following, "What the heck is his place?"
"The Marshlands, wetlands of the Old World. I'd watch your step, since walking will be quite a task for you," Enny advised,
"Is this where we'll find our next monster?" Valka questioned,
"Correct, though I'd keep your Dragons on high alert, and refrain from wandering all on your own," Enny stated, "Even with my power, you'd still get hurt by whatever lurks around the Marshlands,"
With that, everyone followed Enny around the Marshlands while some complained about how thick the mud was getting on their boots, how irritating the insects were buzzing around, and the predators that seemed to lurk.
Fortunately, the Dragons were enough to ward them off and Enny continues to guide them through while providing some details of the Marshland, "I know this place isn't really your forte, but this world often brings out certain aspects that are considered extraordinary for Environmentalists and Researchers,"
"Yeah, sure. All this mud, bugs, and large birds really bring out the beauty of this place," Snotlout sarcastically remarked, "So when do we get to see this thing and get a shower?"
"Soon, Snotlout, real soon," Enny clarified while he grumbled to himself,
"So what kind of monster are we going see this time, Enny? I'm quite interested if I'm not so nervous," Fishlegs said, while he stayed close to Meatlug,
"Hey, what's that?" Astrid pointed, and everyone turned to a small grove of large trees,
Enny went ahead to check and the rest followed after her. Upon arrival, they were all grimly baffled by what they were seeing before their very eyes...
Hanging from the branches of these trees lies a total of three odd-looking monsters. Their lifeless bodies were covered with a white sticky substance and most of their skins were peeled off, quite grim for the Vikings to see...
"What are those things?" Hiccup asked,
"The ones hanging before you are known as Gypceros, the Strange Poison Bird Monster. It's among one of the heaviest and largest known Bird Wyverns of this world," Enny explained, "You see that lamp-like crest on the top of its head? Gypceros is known to produce a dizzying flash much like you would do to disorient a Dragon's sense of hearing, their tails are quite elastic, and use it as a whip against their opponents, lastly, they produce large globules of poison which they spit against certain monsters,"
"Which class do you think they belong to, Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked,
"To be quite honest, I don't know," Hiccup said, "What am I concerned is their lack of skin,"
"What kind of monster would do such a horrible thing?" Mala inquired,
On cue, Enny points her finger behind them, "Why that kind,"
As soon as everyone turned, they were met with an approaching monster, and a few paled as this one was like a large spider coated with Gypceros Skin. It warily scanned the dragons and their riders while the Vikings stepped back and their respective dragons stepped forth.
"Today's monster lesson is Nescrylla, The Shadow Spider," Enny introduced, and Nescrylla shrieked at them with extended fangs.
Toothless roars in retaliation before hurling a plasma blast at it. Nescrylla was quite agile as it jumped in the air to get out of harm's way and what followed was a spew of its webbing at them.
"Move!" Hiccup yelled, and everyone scurried away as the webbing hit the ground,
"A Large Freaky Spider?! This is the coolest thing I've seen! If I wasn't so terrified of spiders," Ruffnut remarked,
"Same here!" Tuffnut added,
The right head, Barf, breathes out gas before in the Nescrylla's direction and the left head, Belch, ignites it with an electric spark. However, Nescrylla was surprisingly nimble for its size as it jumped out of harm's way, rushed towards the twins, and used its legs to jump off the ground.
It may not reached with its fangs, but the spikes on its back did as the tallest grazed the dragon's underside and the twins' dragon screeched in response.
As soon as Nescrylla landed, the twins started to have some trouble controlling their dragon and soon plummeted to the ground while Ruffnut and Tuffnut were knocked out of their saddles and towards the monster.
They look up, and Nescrylla looks back. After a small chuckle from Ruffnut, the large spider monster shrieks which makes the two scream in terror. However, Hiccup and Toothless intervened by launching several plasma blasts at Nescrylla's flanks, diverting its attention towards them as it shrieked.
Then, Nescrylla launched what looked like a breath of webbing and Hiccup knew what intended to do, "Watch out!"
Toothless performed some evasive maneuvers, but the webbing somehow wrapped itself around his tail fin and this hindered the Night Fury's ability to flight.
"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled, then dove towards them for the rescue,
She succeeds and gently puts both of them on the ground before standing their ground against the large spider. Stormfly shrieked at it, then hurled several venomous spikes at it. They've reached their mark but were stopped by the Gypceros' rubber skin around its body.
Nescrylla shrieks at them, but several fireblasts from the other riders airborne have taken their toll and it retreats before its rubber coat is burnt by their flames.
Once it was gone, the others descended from the sky and Astrid went to check on Hiccup and Toothless, "Are you two, okay?"
Hiccup tends to the webbing wrapped around Toothless's tail fin and tries to peel it off with his knife. But the moment he tried, he soon found himself struggling to pull it out, "Just what is this stuff even made of,"
"Spider webbing," Enny revealed, "But much stronger than regular webbing considering the size of Nescrylla,"
Enny would grab the knife and somehow make the blade hot enough to burn the webbing away. She then burned the rest without damaging Toothless's tail fin and handed the knife back to Hiccup after it was done.
"And what about Barf and Belch?" Hiccup asked,
When they turned, the Hideous Zippleback was groaning from the pain and their riders stayed by their respective heads. Enny would approach the dragons, pull out an antidote potion, and pour it into their mouths.
After a minute or two, they're somewhat lively again and their riders expressed relief in the end.
"Just what kind of monster was that thing?" Stoick remarked, "It is not like anything we've seen before,"
"Nor was it a dragon," Fishlegs said, "Can we go now?"
"Not until you're properly informed," Enny casually said, "You see, Nescrylla is a monster belonging to the Temnoceran Class of Monsters, Large Insects of this World. Upon your standards, it may as well belong to the Mystery Class given how it's a predator monster that prefers ambush tactics,"
"So it's Trapper? Quite a nasty thing, ain't it," Eret remarked,
Enny then turns their attention to the grove of trees with hanging Gypceros, "If you've noticed, Nescrylla was wearing what appears to be the hide of these monsters. Do you all want to know why?"
"I'm a little scared to know, but why?" Fishlegs asked,
"It's because Nescrylla possesses a keen amount of intelligence to skin these Gypceros for its rubbery hide," Enny revealed, much to the other's distaste of Nescrylla's cruel method, "You see, Nescrylla is quite susceptible to Thunder attacks and their only solution to counter said element is to capture their favorite prey, Gypceros, string them up, and skin their hide before wrapping it around their bodies. What holds it all together was Nescrylla's draped legs since you now know just how sticky it is,"
"So it skins them alive, quite barbaric," Gobber remarked, "Though I must admit, it is quite smart since skinning its prey alive takes quite a lot of practice, even for some Dragons,"
"Gobber, I do not want to know about that now," Fishleg said, looking green in the face,
"Next is the purple spikes on it's back, you all saw what happened when Nescrylla leaped into the air and grazed the underside of the twins' dragons?" Enny questioned,
"Yeah, Barf and Belch couldn't keep themselves steady after one of its back spikes grazed its underside," Hiccup remarked,
"And the next time we see it, we're going squash it for messing up our dragon!" Ruffnut vowed,
"Yeah!" Tuffnut agreed,
"But for what purpose does it serve?" Valka questioned,
"That is where Nescrylla stores its poison," Enny stated, "From its retractable jaws to its stinger, it can poison its prey or foes. However, Nescrylla's stinger contains a tranquilizing fluid that puts most monsters or people to sleep. Leaving them vulnerable to the Nescrylla's attacks,"
"As creepy as it looks, it's quite extraordinary to hear," Hiccup remarked, then cataloged this information into his notebook, "Though that wouldn't explain why it attacked us though,"
"That's because the spot where the Gypceros are hanging is one of its spanned webs," Enny revealed, "Just as Eret said, Nescrylla is a trapper that spun it's web on certain areas, and monsters of the Marshlands often fall victim to their web without any means of escape,"
"Great, that's great. Now can you tell us when we can leave now?" Snotlout asked, while still swatting away any insect hovering about his face, "All these bugs are driving me crazy!"
"Alright, fine. Further details about Nescrylla can be found in the lodge's almanac," Enny said, then noticed something off of the ground, "Where's Dagur and Heather?"
Everyone looks around, and Mala makes her assumption, "They must've gone through a different route while we weren't looking. Heather is most likely joined him since she's his sister and all,"
"Then let's go and find them. Who knows what other dangers lurk around this swamp," Hiccup declared much to Snotlout's disdain,
"I'll lead the way," Enny declared, and used her scout flies to find them,
Upon minutes of scouring the Marshlands, they'd find Dagur and Heather at open field and the former was cooking some fine meat they had collected from hunting herbivores.
"So this is where you two have been, and I see that Dagur's skills for survival haven't dulled til this day," Enny commented as she approached them,
"Don't forget Windshear and I," Heather reminded, "If it wasn't for us, Dagur and Shattermaster would've chased those herbivores much longer,"
"And it's worth it! And their meat tastes so good!" Dagur remarked as he bit down on a piece of cooked meat,
"I'd like some of that meat," Snotlout said, and Heather handed him a piece of cooked meat,
In just a few bites, he hummed with approval, "This is really good,"
Before he could take another bite, Hookfang would steal this meat right off Snotlout's hand and swallow it down, "Hey! Give that back!"
While those two had a bout, Enny checked their surroundings as well as the time before settling on a certain idea, "Why don't we all stay here for lunch? Since there's solid ground there, a couple of small monsters, and a nearby river. I can haul in a lot of meat and fish for you all, especially some fine ore for the boulder class Dragons here,"
Everyone was in on the idea, even Snotlout as long as he was fed with cooked meat. After several minutes of hauling everything together, everyone feasts on today's lunch as well as drinks some fine mead that Enny brought along.
"Ah, now that's stuff," Stoick said, "Given how much these creatures are filled with a lot of fat, they might as well feed the entire village with full stomachs. Hel, they might as well as feed Berk itself with full stomachs!"
"And let's not forget the drinks," Gobber said with a full jug in one hand, "This mead is stronger than anything I've drank, and quite flavorful too! It's like fruit juice, but very strong in taste,"
"That's the world's strong ecosystem for you," Enny remarked, "Given how much this world is brimming with Bio-energy unlike your world, it wouldn't surprise you that it can keep people well-fed for months, if not years, due to the environment's natural phenomenon,"
"The only problem is all the monsters like that Giant Spide or that red and green raging dragons with poisoned claws and tails," Hiccup remarked as he cooked his fish, and tossed some fish to Toothless,
"It's in their nature to hunt prey and repel rivaling monsters, Hiccup," Enny pointed out, "Much like your dragons, these monsters possess a unique set of intelligence and can be understood through observation and close encounters. Surely, you know this much as you've spent scouring your world for new dragons and studying them,"
Hiccup sheepishly chuckled while Astrid knowingly smirked at her boyfriend, the same feeling is shared by everyone as their aware of the future chief of Berk was when the topic 'dragon' is involved,
As they continue with their lunch, the Gronckles were feeding on every rock and ore they find near the forest until Meatlug perked it's head up as it felt a tremor on the ground,
Shattermaster follows suit, then the rest of the dragons as this tremor was closing in. The riders caught on to their reaction while Fishlegs expressed concern for his dragon, "Meatlug! Come back here, girl!"
Meatlug turns and hastily returns to it's rider, but out of the woods came a large dark green monster roaring ferociously in the air and set its sights on Meatlug as she picks up pace.
"Meatlug!" Fishlegs yelled,
The monster pursues Meatlug, but it's attention is diverted to Shattermaster as he took to the air and lands a lava blast to the monster's body. It flinched, but soon roared at Shattermaster for a challenge while Meatlug returned to her rider's side, "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay, girl,"
"Just what in the world is that beast," Stoick questioned, and the rest turned to Enny for an answer,
"One of the most destructive and nomadic monsters of this world," Enny revealed and conjured dual blades on hand, "The World Eater, Deviljho!"
That's about the end of Nscrylla and Gypceros, though the latter was shown dead rather than alive. And I won't go into full details of Gypceros since it doesn't seem important for the matter.
Up next is Deviljho, the World Eater. Originally, I wanted Basarios in the chapter as well. But a split-second decision told me otherwise and went for Deviljho since it's far more interesting that way.
Lastly, be aware that I'm not good with these kinds of story. So I'm bound to miss something as I go by.
That is all I have to say and I'll see you all in the next chapter!