“Oh, those would be mighty handy. The first is an explosive?”
“Yes, correct! It goes boom and releases a lot of energy.”
I almost laughed out loud at his description, but then remembered we were two different species of aliens and had no idea about the capabilities of each other. Now, the first thing was either a type of grenade, mine, or pack of explosives. I could get as much from the general, but I wasn’t going back and losing time. I wanted to get this over with and visit an old friend of mine.
“How many do you have?” I asked. “Of both.”
“A dozen? But you can’t activate more than one every minute anyway.”
“Right,” I muttered and let out a deep sigh. “Get me ten of those things and meet me here. We’re going out right away.”
“Don’t you want to rest a bit?” Melina asked as she put her hand on my shoulder and leaned in worriedly. “You don’t seem so good.”
“I’m fine, don’t worry. I think it’s just anxiety, nothing else,” I whispered and turned back toward the prince. “Anything else?”
Chapter Seventeen
We sat down at the entrance to the cavern. It took us about four hours to get there on foot, and we had to go around several zones on the way and ended up in the only zone that had a single entrance. It was 2:19. The zone looked down on a cliff that ended in a sea that was a special shade of black. There was a single narrow entrance to the zone and no way out but to go back through the same entrance. Most zones were connected to at least two or three zones, but not this one, and that already made me nervous.
The danger toward travelers was minimal in all of the zones we passed, as only herd-type creatures had spawned there. According to the prince, the bosses were taken care of every time they refreshed so the workers weren’t in any danger. Most of the time. This zone was special in several ways. One of them being that no ordinary monsters lived there, only the basilisk. He had no idea how often the thing respawned, but it wasn’t like people lined up to get rid of it.
Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something special about the basilisk. Even the pressure that it gave off was surprisingly strong. The cavern was probably a mile deep from what I could see at the entrance. It was a wide tunnel that went on for a very long time, but at the end, there was a bright orange light.
“You will wait at the top of the tunnel,” I said as I stared right at the prince. “If you even come near the snake, I’ll stop attacking it and attack you instead. I can’t have anyone stab me in the back.”
“Of course, good human. Of course. I will wait up here. You can even tie me up if need be.”
I gave the idea some thought, but considering he was larger than me and by just looking at those muscles, well, if I didn’t have a magic rope, there was no way I’d keep him in place. No, he knew how strong I was, so I doubted he’d come and cause trouble. I’d put down a tower at the entrance, so in the worst case, he’d be toast before he could approach.
Melina didn’t say anything and instead just fidgeted with her bow. She hadn’t said much all the way to this place. I didn’t blame her; it was the worst battle we’d had until now. Which made me remember something.
“Say, you never gave me the cores after the battle,” I said and put my hands on my hips.
He stared back in utter horror as if unable to believe the fact. “Here, take this, human champion,” he said and handed me a spatial bag.
I peered inside, and there they were.
ITEM RECEIVED:
Hornitaur Core x 37
Sludger Core x 28
Aphonid Core x 6
Rethalid Core x 24
Frauld Core x 7
Brolskin Core x 21
Creflid Core x 18
Menaren Core x 19
Eerlen Core x 16
Peddler Core x 15
I had no idea what any of these were, but none of them radiated anything lower than a rank five Enma signature. Some went up as high as rank ten, but only a few of them. Temptation struck me when I had them in my hand. I could wait several days and see what I could absorb. But that would be several days where I’d lose out on getting back to Sylmar and stopping the Green Dragon Gang once and for all. But I also needed to become stronger if I wanted to survive there.
No, I wouldn’t be swayed by sweet promises. I was already strong enough, and a little bit of extra power wouldn’t help me much. Time was of the essence and therefore much more important.
“Stay here, Prince. We’re going to keep our part of the bargain.”
“Good luck, human champion. And sorry again for, you know. Forgetting to pay up.”
I snorted and shook my head. He was a sneaky one, and I was sure he was up to something, but that didn’t matter. We could take him with ease. What worried me was Melina’s state of mind.
I hooked my arm around hers and made my way down the sloping tunnel. A similar-looking moss greeted us right away, but it glowed orange and not green like in the last caves. It might have had something to do with what was ahead, but I didn’t care. Another surprise was that the air wasn’t stale; instead it smelled like burnt incense. It made me woozy.
“Do you smell that too?” she asked and inhaled a lungful, then coughed it back up. “The hell is that stuff?”
I shook my head, as I had no idea. “Don’t know, but you might want to encase yourself in Enma. Especially your nostrils. I don’t think we’ll last long otherwise.”
I did just as I instructed and drew on the Enma inside my body and spread it out across my body and my face. The strange scent evaporated into thin air, or at least most of it did. I still felt remnants of it even after stuffing my nose with the barrier. It was becoming stronger with each step.
“Make sure you can run if things go south, alright? I don’t feel like getting up close with a snake to save your ass.”
I grinned and winked once as my arm snaked around her waist. I squeezed her gently and kissed the side of her head as we kept walking. The tunnel seemed as if it were never-ending, but just when I was about to get pissed, the hole at the far end seemed to become larger. And larger. Until I stood at the edge and peered down at a cavern unlike anything I’d ever seen. Lava streamed down the far side, right along the wall, and showered the place in warm, bright light. And heat.
Melina’s free hand rose to her mouth as she gasped. “That’s no snake! That’s a—it’s huge!”
I nodded as my insides turned into a knot and were then wrung into mush. “A hundred feet? Hundred-fifty?” I whispered. “And look at the head. It’s easily as big as a bus.”
“Even bigger,” she muttered. “How the hell are we supposed to beat that thing?”
I shook my head and sat down. It didn’t seem to have seen us, so we took the time. I studied its body and observed it for obvious weaknesses. There weren’t any really from what I could see. The whole body was covered in thick scales and what looked like double ridges of more scales and strange-looking growths along the sides that were both sharp and strong. The only weakness I could see was the mouth. Luckily, it was really big, so I’d be able to send an arrow deep inside, but that was about it. I’d have to get in close and fight so Melina had the chance to support me from afar.
“The same tactic,” I muttered. “We’ll draw it toward us, fire off our strongest bow skills right into its mouth, and then I’ll take over with my halberd. You only fire when you have a clear shot, and try to scan its body for any weak spots. I’ll leave both towers with you so you can use them to escape. Alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good. Just don’t do anything stupid, please.”
Monster Scan:
NAME: Basilisk: Rank: 12, Area Boss
HEALTH: 250,000/250,000
ENMA: 2,000
SPEED: 1.2
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 3,000
ENMA ATTACK: 3,000
DEFENSE: 4,000
Enma Shield: 200,000/200,000
“Oh, dear Veles. What the hell have we gotten our
selves into?” I muttered. “A freaking rank twelve and one with half a million points.”
“Well, if we manage to get out of this alive, you can brag as much as you want. See, I brought a camera with me. You put it around your forehead on a strap or around your neck and tape all of it as you fight. We should record the fight, and if we live, we can sell it to someone for a ton of money.”
“Bah, money. I want land. I want Sylmar to be mine,” I muttered. “Don’t you think that would be a great idea? Take the whole city for ourselves?” I turned to face her and put my hand on hers. She didn’t seem as excited as I was.
“Do we really need something so big?”
“Yeah, we can build a massive wall around it, thirty feet tall and with hunters manning the walls and gates. Make a big sect.”
“Wait, are you serious or just fucking with me?”
I shrugged. “Take it as you wish, love. I was born for greater things than serving someone, so if you think I’ll serve someone as weak as those asshat politicians back in Sylmar, you’re mistaken. I can help people, but to do what they want just because someone said I should, well, that’s not how power works.”
“It does in Sylmar and the rest of the world. I don’t know how your world is, but you can’t just go around taking territory at will.”
“I’ll have to talk to the general about that, but that’s for later.”
Her hand snapped up, and she grabbed my chin, then tried to force me to look at her. I did as she wanted and stared hard into her beautiful eyes.
“What did you just say? You do know that the Green Dragon Gang wanted to do the same thing, right?”
I nodded and removed her hand from my chin. “I don’t plan on enslaving people. I won’t even hurt them except for if they cause shit. Someone tries to rape a woman, I kill him. Someone tries to rob a store or someone on the street, I kill him. Someone tries to cause shit, he gets punished depending on the severity. That’s all. I don’t even want people to pay me any tax or anything, just to work for the betterment of the city and the sect.”
She let out a deep breath and shook her head, but then stopped. “Do you think there will be other cities that get taken over like that?”
I nodded my head slightly and leaned in to kiss her. “There are, and there will be. See, if the city isn’t strong, it will fall right away. We can’t let other people take what’s ours and from the people of Sylmar. That’s not right.”
“Shit, Viktor, it almost sounds like you’re our savior and patron saint,” she muttered. “But is it what the people want?”
“I couldn’t care less, love. You saw what people wanted. They wanted to enslave the general and his men despite sitting at home and not doing anything to better the situation. No, they wanted others to do the hard work so they could reap the benefits.”
She put her hand up and sighed, obviously giving up on the argument. Smart woman. I wasn’t going to back down, no way. We would carve out a piece of heaven for ourselves at the dead center of Sylmar and enjoy life as its protectors. Or something.
“Vik, how about we get this thing over with first and have this chat at a later date? We still need to defeat the basilisk, another rifter, and then the Zanoxian.”
I nodded and winked. “Just kidding, love. I’m not big on bossing people around except when it’s the two of us and we’re in bed,” I growled playfully.
“You want to have some fun, huh?” she hissed. “Then go and earn it!”
A wave of buffs flooded me, hitting me one after the other, and all playfulness dissipated right away. No, it hadn’t been playfulness, it had been stress and fear. Fear of a monster that was as large as a smaller city block.
I activated both towers and placed them just far enough that they would be able to hit the snake no matter where it was inside the cavern. Or so I hoped. The lightning tower had a longer range, and a red glow showed me that it easily came to the center of the cavern, but the flaming tower didn’t shoot as far. It had a slightly shorter reach and only covered about a third of the cavern. Good enough, I guessed, as long as they stayed out of danger.
“Thanks for the buffs. I think I was blabbering some crap out loud, huh?” I asked as I pulled my bow out and nocked one of the few rank six arrows. It had a modifier of 1.8, and I hoped that I’d manage to get a crit in. Or several.
“Oh, you were. I guess it was the nerves.” She chuckled and readied her bow as well, nocked an arrow, and met my eyes. “Shall we?”
Chapter Eighteen
I pulled back the arrow and stared at the basilisk as the lightning tower struck it with a thunderbolt. It reared up its body and stared right at us just as its mouth opened up, showing two rows of long, sharp teeth and two fangs in both the upper and lower jaw. They were easily as tall as Melina and razor sharp at the tips.
“Shadow Hunter!” The arrow started glowing and buzzing as I released it, and it sped away.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 25,704 damage to Basilisk
I stashed the bow away and cursed inwardly at the low damage. The arrow modifier hadn’t been calculated into the damage, and I hated it. If it had, the damage would have been almost twice as high.
I pulled my halberd out next and stepped back as the towers released their elemental carnage on the monster, but it didn’t seem to be fazed in the least. It lunged toward us just as I ran over the edge and swung my halberd down on top of its head and released a Bash.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 28,412 damage to Basilisk
The shield was down by a quarter, but the shield would be the easy thing. I had a feeling that the body itself was going to give us a very hard time. I swung the halberd in a circle and slammed it down, then launched myself down its body and slid toward the middle of its body, hacking as I moved.
The basilisk coiled up and snapped its head at me. I re-equipped my tyranitaur boots and jumped out of the way, then jumped back on using the double jump. My speed and attack dropped insanely, but I’d rather have survivability over attack and speed.
I landed on top of its head as an arrow struck the back of its neck and deflected.
“My skill deflected!” Melina yelled.
I glanced over my shoulder as I tried to steady myself so I didn’t fall off the damn thing. “I know! You almost hit me!”
“Sorry!” she yelled back and released her second skill, but that one connected somewhere in the belly of the basilisk.
I hacked at the top of its head several times in quick succession, but the damage was minuscule.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 2,144 damage to Basilisk: You have inflicted 2,493 damage to Basilisk.
I pulled the halberd back and activated Bash. The weapon dug several inches into its head, but it got stuck. I let go of the halberd as it thrashed its head around and threw me off. The greatsword came out next, and it was in no way inferior to the halberd. My attack with it was even higher, but not by much.
I struck the basilisk with X-Slash next, causing a Bleed debuff that stacked with the poison debuff that had just inflicted the monster. I pulled the sword back and slashed several times in quick succession, upping the poison stack by two more.
The snake dropped to the ground, letting itself fall. I fell after it, and at the last moment, it swung its head around and spat a poisonous mucus at me. I put the sword up in defense, but my left arm got hit along the side of the sword.
Damage Notification:
You have received 3,997 damage from Basilisk: You have been inflicted with Poison debuff.
You have received 399 damage from Basilisk.
My shield took a nose dive, and we weren’t even halfway done with the shield yet. I remembered the prince’s items and activated the sludge-like contraption and threw it at the monster. It struck its head and fell to the side, but as if pulled by a magnet, the box stuck to its side. An explosion resounded in the cavern as the box released a sticky substance that cov
ered a good third of the basilisk.
I pulled out my bow again and readied a Shadow Hunter, which hit right below the neck, draining the shield by a fifth. It had barely any shield left, and I knew it, as it shimmered and then started to crack in several places.
“What now?” Melina yelled from overhead.
The towers weren’t hitting the snake, as it was out of view, so I dashed in and decided to give it some elemental damage in a different way. I grabbed the canister next from my storage and activated it. The bomb had a magnetic plate that stuck to the side of the creature, so I was in luck there. A counter appeared on the canister, counting down from what looked like a two-digit number. One digit disappeared, and I got hell out of Dodge as the snake tried to get to me. It struggled against the canister and tried to rip itself free, but the counter hit zero rather quickly.
A massive explosion rocked the cavern and caused dust and debris to drop from overhead, even several stalactites made their way down, and an incredibly large one struck the snake’s back, but it didn’t seem to do much.
I stopped for a second to check its health and found it at 244,322 points. It had barely gone down, but at least the shield was gone. For now. I needed to get it up again so the towers could eat away at its health. Even if they only did a thousand damage per hit, given enough time, they’d eat away at the snake’s life.
I double-jumped at its head and stashed my sword in midair only to grab the halberd’s shaft as I landed. The basilisk rolled its body and threw me off. I slammed the edge of my weapon against its side, but it caught in the ridgeline, keeping me suspended in the air. Then I noticed it. A single scale was much larger than the rest. Then I found another one and another one down its body. They moved up and down for some reason as if letting out the air or something. I had no idea what it was for, but it looked like a great place to start.
I climbed back up on its back and held myself in place with one hand as I pried at it with the tip of the halberd. The scale broke partially off, but it revealed meat below. Still, it wasn’t quite large enough for a good hit. It was barely three palms long and two wide. I was about to reach for another canister when the timer showed me over twenty seconds left until reuse. I cursed and pulled the halberd back, but the basilisk coiled up again, catching me off guard and in between its tough skin.
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 14
