His face turning blue, Kothar turned his head as hard as he could, sending mana coursing into his right hand as he did so. The snake's jaws slammed into the mossy ground where Kothar's head had been moments ago. The venom hissing as it made contact with the moist moss, with the moss freezing and shattering from the snake's breath.
The all too familiar crack of Kothar's Bolt spell rang out, and the snake's head disintegrated. Kothar sighed with relief, and pulled the limp body of the snake away from his neck.
Kothar pulled a torch from his pack, sending a small stream of sparks to the oil soaked rags to set it alight. He lifted the torch high and saw the crack along one wall. He had become much too slack, Silane was not here to perform constant environmental scans and warn him of danger.
He shook his head and examined the snake closer. Its scales were as pale as fresh snow, with a tinge of icy blue shot through them. A clear liquid trickled from the neck of the snake, the hiss it made making it clear that it was the snake's venom.
A chorus of hisses rang out from the crack, Kothar's head snapped up, as he drew his blade, the mana stored within the runes cracking to life, answering the hiss of the approaching Frost Snakes with a hum of its own.
The snakes writhed out from the crack, coiling and twisting over each other in their eagerness to get at Kothar. Kothar glanced behind himself, he could easily cast Lightning Aura and flee, but wasn't this exactly the kind of challenge he had come looking for in the Fidour mountains? Why flee now, when he could test himself.
Kothar cast Lightning Aura and dashed towards the oncoming snakes. His Skysteel bladed twisting and darted at the emerging snakes, easily lopping off their heads as they reared back in preparation to strike. Dodging and weaving through the throng of twisting snakes, Kothar had the upper hand, his lightning aura meant he could keep up with the snakes, and any snake he failed to dodge would find itself being deterred by the sparking shield.
Frustrated, the snakes spat out clouds of ice as they slithered back to their cave, they had retreated surprisingly quickly. Kothar felt a chill run down his back, something was very very wrong.
A glowing yellow orb peered out at Kothar from the cave, he quickly backed up, as his stomach sank. The snake that emerged was thicker than Kothar's leg, and its pale blue scales were shot through with purple strands. A pair of singular claws had formed on its sides, it seemed that it was undergoing some kind of evolution.
The Frost Snake King's scarlet tongue tasted the air, it stared at Kothar, ready to eliminate the threat. The Snake King shot forward at Kothar, breathing out a cloud of ice crystal that flew toward him, Kothar narrowly dodged the cloud, the side of his face nearest to it turning numb. He pointed his enchanted blade at the snake's midsection, and shot out a succession of Bolts, the snake easily twisted its massive bulk, dodging his rapid fire spells. He would have to get in close to hurt it.
Kothar leapt forward, aiming for the snake's neck, as he pushed mana into the already charged blade, and the blade hummed louder and louder, until sparks crackled along its edge. Kothar swung at its neck as the snake lunged forward, its massive fangs shining in the light of his sword. The two of them struck together, Kothar's blade sinking into the snake's neck as the Snake King sunk its fangs into his left arm. It's yellow eyes stared viciously at Kothar as the life faded from them, the decapitated head hanging from his arm.