"You make essscape," the snake swam to the side of the barge as it hissed out its threat. I had hurt it, but it clearly wanted us alive. I got up and quickly picked up the catatonic Shortnose once more. The barge was close to the shore having drifted. Slither moving along side it to get head, pushed it even more. A tactical mistake. I got a running start and leapt off the barge as it was smashed by Slither's tail. Pieces went flying everywhere behind me.

The barge had been a good idea at the start, but not it was a liability to fight on the water. I was already racing past the shrubs on the side and a few seconds later, up a bank, I came to a field. I began racing across it as several creatures tending the vegetables look in my direction in surprise.

There was a huge crash behind me as Slither burst through the tree line and up the embankment. I tossed Shortnose off my shoulder once more into a cabbage patch and turned back around. Slither was clearly pissed as he advanced on me. The creatures either kept working or ran away screaming. An enraged snake was quite dangerous to be near.

"You dare!" the massive snake hissed and roared at the same time. Slither reared up in front of me. I had my breathing under control and my claws extended.

"I dare! I am Assassin Mittens of the Covenant Church!" I declared.

"You are nothing but food! I haven't had cat in a long time," Slither hissed out.

"Then, come taste me if you dare," I challenged. The level of tension in the air grew. Well, if Slither was afraid to start things off, then I would. I rushed forward. Slither whipped his tail around.

It was as thick as I was tall, but fighting the ancestral spirit Bastet had called down, made me ready for this fight. I wasn't the same Mittens I was back then. My thinking was clearer. I was stronger and able to react faster from increasing my stats.

Leaping into the air at the last moment, I twisted my body perpendicular to the ground as the tail swept through the field below me. The cabbages and ground were destroyed. I landed on my hindpaws and kept running without slowing down.

Slither been forced to turn his main body when he swung his tail, so for this one moment I was outside his vision as he spun his head around. I leapt forward a second time twisting my body so it had a slight rotation as I did so. My claws extended in front of me in a straight lunge, my arms bent at my side. My paws right in front of my face.

My claws hit his scales and for one brief moment they didn't push through, but I used my arms to push out leveraging my body as part of the impact. My claws dug into the giant scale and into the flesh beneath slightly. I kept my body twisting the way I had originally done as I leapt, and the scale was ripped out of his flesh.

Blood poured from the wound as I fell towards the ground. Slither roared and twisted his body to roll at me while bringing his head around. My claws were stuck in the scale, and I didn't have leverage to free them mid-air.

I rotated my body to land on the scale I had pried loose. My arms bent down. I then did a front paw flip over the tail coming back where I had been. The impact allowed me to free one set of claws. I spun and whipped my arm around with the paw still stuck in the scale.

The scale went flying at Slither's rapidly approaching face and hit him on the tip of his nose. It was a sensitive part for a snake and he spasmed. I landed back on the ground and raced forward. His head darted in and I dived to the side.

His head swept down and around to attack me from the side. I made to leap up in the air, but went low, as his head sailed over me. I extended my front paws to hit the ground first and then flipped back up right and kept running.

Another tail swipe came in, at me. I went over it again and Slither's missing scale was clearly visible and bleeding. It was about the size of my head. I leapt for the wound I had made once more. Slither quickly spun and twisted his prodigious bulk away. I impacted another scale and was quickly flung away by his rapid spinning.

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I landed back on the ripped-up field as Slither spun around to glare at me. The score was two to zero so far. Unfortunately Slither just needed to get one solid hit in and I would be hurting quite a bit. I picked up a cabbage in my claws. I didn't give the snake time to think or recover his breath and rushed in again.

Snakes had poor stamina in continuous combat, while good overall stamina. Their burst power quickly wore them down, but they were so big and powerful they could endure and last quite a long time. Either Slither would have to call on his ancestral spirit or he would be worn down if we kept fighting for too long. He was probably passively calling on it to enhance his defenses, and ability, but I was more capable than he was. In a field like this, I could easily see his movements and have room to maneuver, both key factors.

Slither brought his head down lower as I rushed in right for it. If he opened his mouth he would block his vision right in front of him, so he had to wait. I had dodged his strikes before, so he was hesitant to do another. He was going to let me come to him. That was fine.

Slither opened up his mouth. His fangs glinting in the sunlight, as I rushed forward. Who would blink first? Slither did, by opening his mouth and lunging forward. He should have kept it shut. I threw the cabbage into his mouth and leapt up. The moment the cabbage touched the tip of his massive tongue, he snapped down.

I impacted his snout, my claws digging in, as I twisted again. He reared up and screamed, as I ripped off too tiny scales, on the tip of his nose. I went flying up into the air. He was thrashing about as I fell towards the ground. I twisted and angled my body. My hind paws hit the ground and I went into a role. I flung the two ripped off scales to the side and set off on a run.

Slither was still twisting about in clear pain, screaming, and eyes watering. I scooped up Shortnose from his position, where I had dropped him. I set off on a run once more. I quickly made tracks towards the edge of the field, where the river was.

"SSSSAAAAHH!" Slither roared from behind me. I felt incredibly nervous, since I had been barely able to hurt him. While I might last longer than him, one mistake from me and I would be dead, while he could handle multiple attacks from me.

For a moment I considered going back and keeping up the pressure, trying to kill Slither. But if he called upon his Ancestral Spirit, then I would have a much harder time escaping. I had to focus on the mission, which was getting Shortnose out of here as quickly as possible.

I raced along the bank, since I saw a piece of the barge still floating in the river. I kicked off the ground and leapt into the water. I was glad for all that swimming practice I had done during training. I pulled Shortnose with me, making sure to keep her head above the water. I tossed them on top of the wooden platform and began kicking behind it to push it down river.

I could still hear Slither raging in the field. He had completely lost track of me and probably still thought I was around. He would figure it out soon enough, once his mind got past the pain. I held onto the wooden platform and kicked in the water to get as much distance as I could.

That wasn't a battle I could win. Slither hadn't gotten serious about actively calling down the ancestral spirit. I had to injure him enough to temporarily disable him, but not enough to trigger a fight to the death. If he felt threatened enough, he would do such a thing.

We slowly began to pick up speed as the wooden platform moved towards the center of the river where the current was faster. I pulled myself up on the wooden platform, to give myself a chance to rest. I had no doubt Slither would figure out what direction I had escaped in.

Highwater Bastion was not going to be easy to reach and I am sure the snakes would move to cut off all movement towards the coast as well. Even if I got to the coast, I had to get out to the boat, which wouldn't be easy with Shortnose tagging along. While I could carry him, it was exhausting. If I had to fight as well, I would struggle quite a bit.

While I had no doubt about my combat ability, the trouble was that I was in hostile territory and my cover was completely blown. The snakes would be out in force along with their Apostates. One wrong move and I would become snake food.

Thinking on my fight with Slither, I could probably win if there wasn't any outside interference, eventually. That was the real problem. I could win, but I couldn't win quickly and escape. What I needed to do was avoid fights and bring back Shortnose who had critical information. Everything else was secondary, including killing for EXP.

I looked at my coated claws. They were strong, but not strong enough. They could only cut so deep. I could scratch a snake to death, but I couldn't kill a snake in a single blow. While they just had to crush me and it would be over.

Mes wouldn't be helping me either. The risk of detection was too high. I only had the strength of my body and my wits to escape this continent with Shortnose.

The coast was still the best option, but I would have to keep Highwater Bastion in mind. I needed to find a way off this river and to travel quickly. Looking at the comatose Shortnose, I could just tell he was going to make things difficult, either as an unconscious creature I had to carry about or second guessing me.

It wasn't the first time I felt a tremendous amount of pressure, but it felt different since I had no safety net. My father wasn't here. No Mousethief either. I was all on my own and had to sort out this situation.

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