Nyctegos

"The Nyctegos. The only species in all of Arburg that can withstand the Rizonae. You don't want to meet one of these. Even though it's highly unlikely that you will, unless you're taking a stroll through the dense underbrush of the Ashdare Delta - which I would certainly advise against doing."
"Why, daddy?" my daughter asks in a hushed tone, her eyes as wide as saucers.
"They say that a single touch of a Rizonae leaf feels like a thousand bees stinging you everywhere on your body. Now imagine a whole bunch of them surrounding you." Silence. Saucer-eyes look up at me. "Now, let me get back to the Nyctegos. Let me say, I haven't actually seen one with my own eyes - only a few people ever have. There's a few reasons for that. First, they usually keep to the dense thicket of Rizonae on the Delta. Second, they only ever come out at night. During the day, they sleep in the undergrowth. Third, their fur is matted with dirt and plant remains, so they blend in like a tree in a forest. Fourth, they are extremely cautious around humans. Still, you don't ever want to come across one of these. They are the most deadly predators in all of Arburg. A single bite from their sharp teeth injects such a strong venom into your nervous system. No one has ever recovered from a Nyctegos bite. Ever." A pair of eyes gets covered by a pair of small hands, and a small escapes one of my children.
"Darling!" the voice of my wife fills the room, "don't scare the kids like that! they're going to bed in half an hour, and I don't feel like being disturbed in the middle of the night because someone is dreaming of Nyctogos."
I sigh for effect, and look each of my children in the eye reassuringly. "Truth be told, the Nyctegos don't really like Arburgian citizens anyway. We are too much trouble to hunt, and we don't really taste that good. They only ever bite us if we are seriously threatening their well-being. And I am sure that none of you would ever do that. They prefer to hunt for smaller animals that live near the Delta, and it is even rumoured that they eat the roots of the Rizonae."
"What do they look like?" 
"Well, like I said, they have fur that is matted with dirt and bits of leaves. And not many people have seen them, so we don't have many reports of what they look like. I once heard from one man, that they have the most beautiful eyes ever. He said they are like the ocean water: a sparkling, deep blue that seems to hold many secrets. How exactly he came close enough to see the creature's eyes is a riddle to me."

— June's father

Not much is known about these mysterious predators, besides what some distraught travellers spewed out about reported sightings of them. It isn't even a proven fact that they exist. The people that report seeing them have often been on their feet for days on end, with limited water and food, so the reports are usually explained away as crazy hallucinations. Another reason why people have trouble believing the stories is because each report is a little different to the next. No one can truly decide on what exactly these creatures look like, and to be honest, no one is really in the mood to brave the Rizonae to find out. Parents often tell their children about them to warn them away from the Ashdare Delta. Even without Nyctegos, that Delta is deadly with its Rizonae. 
It is thought, however, that if it did exist, it wasn't always in Arburg, because people used to live on the Ashdare Delta. It is assumed that they came from the ocean, which supports the theory that they could be amphibious.

Geographic Distribution

• Ashdare Delta
• Ashdare River