By the time Jay and Lina passed through the final ridge, the Nutik village appeared on the cliffside.
A few villagers met them at the entrance. They wore thick furs and carved masks. One of the men, an elder with a scar running down his cheek, led Jay and Lina to the place where the beast had last been sighted.
"Look," he said, voice low. "Giant fang marks." His gloved hand traced gouges in the frozen stone. Nearby, the ground was littered with carcasses, animals picked clean of blood as if some ravenous hunger had drained them. The sight made Lina growl softly, an animal sound that turned Jay's skin cold.
"We'll help," Jay said without hesitation. The Nutiks bowed their heads and guided them to a raised platform near the cliff's edge where they could sleep and keep watch.
That night the aurora painted the sky. It was beautiful in the sky above, less so when it revealed the shadow moving beneath the snow.
They had only just settled when a hush fell over the village. Without warning the snow near the ridge bulged like a living thing and then erupted, with the snow exploding outward as a massive shape slid from beneath.
A fur-covered, serpent-like creature, three times the length of a longhouse and as thick as a boulder. It moved with an unnatural silence. Its head was broad and flat with multiple rows of teeth and two yellow eyes.
The Nutiks staggered back, but the beast ignored them, its focus fixed on the nearby corrals. Jay felt a cold prickle along his spine. He had trained for many fights, but nothing in his memory fit this. He stepped forward.
The serpent struck first. It vanished beneath the snow and reappeared beside a stall, jaws snapping where a villager's leg had just been. Jay lunged, closing the distance, and brought his entire weight into a punch aimed at its flank. His fist met snow and then flesh, and nothing. The creature quickly slid away as it dissolved into frost and reformed several meters away.
Brute force was useless. Each time Jay committed to a strike, the serpent folded into the snow and reappeared beyond his reach, mocking his blows.
"Predict its pattern," Lina hissed. "It moves through the snow, like it uses tunnels. Watch the edges. When the snow ripples, that's where it will surface."
"Understood", Jay gravely said.
They fell into their first real teamwork. Lina skimmed low, using her scent and instinct to locate where the creature's body moved beneath the drifts. Jay kept his footing, ready to strike when she indicated a point. Together they began to corner it.
For a while, the plan worked. Lina quickly moved and slammed its exposed scales, clawing at vulnerable joints. Jay struck with iron resolve, catching the beast's flanks when it surfaced. The serpent recoiled as it tried to flee. The Nutiks cheered, briefly, but the beast was nothing if not patient.
It opened its jaws wide and spewed a viscous, purple liquid, thick as oil, aimed at Jay. He dodged to the side, but a small portion of the venom struck his forearm, burning the skin with a white-hot pain that reached through his nerves.
"AAAAH", He cried out, staggering back.
"Jay!"
Lina quickly rushed in from behind the serpent to deliver a killing blow, claws aimed at the base of the creature's skull. The serpent's senses detected her approach. With a whip of its tail it struck her in the gut. The force sent her sailing into a nearby boulder, breaking it in half with her weight. She coughed in pain. Jay watched helplessly for the fraction of a second it took her to crumple.
Something in him clicked. He could not let Lina be torn apart, could not let the Nutiks lose their hope after they had welcomed them. He steeled himself against the poison burning his flesh and called the creature's attention with a roar.
The serpent turned, with its attention back on Jay. It moved like a thunderclap, its head closing on Jay at the speed of sound.
Surprisingly, Jay did not move. He met the charge with his left arm raised, not to strike, but to take the bite.
The creature's fangs sank into his shoulder. Despite the bite still not being powerful enough to cause fatal damage, the pain exploded through him, as the venom did its work with much efficiency. He tasted metal and white fire.
For a heartbeat he felt everything go numb. Then, gathering every scrap of focus he had left, Jay wrapped his left arm around the beast's head and anchored himself to trap it. He drove his right fist upward with all the force he could summon, an uppercut. The blow struck the beast's jaw. It got staggered and fell on the ground.
Jay felt the poison roaring inside him, but he refused to yield. He pushed forward and launched himself upward into an axe kick that crashed into the serpent's skull. The impact caused a massive a crater into the frozen ground.
The beast collapsed.
Jay fell on his knees and took a breath to recompose himself.
Eventually, Lina appeared by his side, her left arm broken due to the damage from before. Apparently, she was able to react just in time to block the serpent's attack, preventing any fatal damage.
"Is it…over?" She asked Jay.
Jay opened his mouth to answer when Lina suddenly shouted. "Watch out!"
She shoved him aside. A fireball struck where his head had been a heartbeat before. It slammed into Lina instead, exploding on her body with a sound that shook the ground.
After the smoke dissipated, Lina was shown unconscious and with numerous burns across her skin.
"Lina", Jay quickly ran to her aid.
He noticed she was still alive. Her burn scars weren't fatal but the impact from the explosion was enough to knock her out.
Ten meters away, a small figure approached, apparently feminine. She wore the same heavy furs as the Nutiks, but her step held a different rhythm, deliberate and practiced. A short woman. She carried a wooden staff topped with carved runes. Her eyes were small and bright.
"Look at the mess you've made," she said. "You defeated Mister Pent, did you? Impressive. But that ends here."
Jay staggered to his feet. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"Name's Holluk. I used to be one of the Nutiks, until I left to devote myself to the ways of magic", she says with utmost self-confidence, almost praising herself. "You see that serpent right there? That's Mister Pent, one of my creations."
Jay stared. "You made that thing?" he whispered. "Why didn't you stop it from needlessly killing others?"
Holluk's smile was thin and proud. "Mister Pent feeds on flesh and dreams. Every meal only makes my magic power stronger. The more it ate, the more power I could siphon. He is my creation and my tool. You've slain my tool. For that, you will pay with your life!"