Damage Notification:
You have received 981 damage from Basilisk: You have received 743 damage from Basilisk.
I was almost out of shield, and then my life points would start dropping. Luckily my defense was pretty high, so I’d be able to survive an attack or two, but I needed to rake in some damage quickly to restore my shield.
An arrow struck the spot, and the snake hissed its tongue at Melina, forgetting about me in the process. At least for a single heartbeat. I dropped down on its back and ran toward the tail, using the precious few seconds Melina gave me. I didn’t look over my shoulder to see if she’d be out of there in time; I’d have to trust her judgment.
The edge of my halberd struck a similar scale from the side and sent it flying. I placed the canister inside and activated it, then ran upwards toward the next closest scale. Just as I was about to swing, the canister exploded and sent me flying into the far wall. I landed with a loud thud and grunted as I shook my head. I tried to push myself up, but I was disoriented, and what’s more, I’d narrowly missed the lava stream.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I cursed and pushed myself up as the heat started getting through the armor and eating away at my health at a rapid pace.
I stepped back and looked over at the snake. It was missing a good chunk of its tail, at least some fifteen feet in length. Greenish mucus flowed from the gaping wound and stank to high heavens. The ground started sizzling as the basilisk’s blood puddled up and ate away at the rock beneath.
“Shit, that’s not good,” I muttered as I thought of what to do next.
My shield had fully recovered due to the massive explosion that shredded its tail, but my health had dropped several hundred points. I could go again. I would go again.
I held my halberd out to the side as I charged the basilisk, searching for the missing scale. It was quite large, so it wasn’t that hard to find. And truly, there it was, some ten feet upwards from where the tail had been shredded off.
I double-jumped toward the missing scale and landed with my feet stuck in the ridgeline, but I didn’t care. I was just in reach of the gaping hole.
“Focus!” I snapped and pulled my weapon back as it started humming and vibrating and glowing like mad. My arms swung forward, and the edge cut into the soft flesh beneath the scales, slicing right through part of its hind body.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 61,247 damage to Basilisk
I was disappointed in the damage, as its defenses surely had a great impact on my base attack value, which was appropriately scaled down. Still, another chunk fell off as the basilisk thrashed its body around and sent the chunk of tail flying. It landed on top of the lava and started sizzling right away.
“Really? Barbequing at a time like this?” Melina yelled from my left.
My heart skipped a beat when I found her standing nearby.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” I snapped. “Get back up there!”
“Sorry, but I can’t do that. Your buffs are already gone.”
“Oh,” I muttered. “Shit. Thanks,” I added quickly just as the waves of power and pleasure started washing over me. “Now get back up there!”
“Yes, boss.” She laughed and ran alongside the far wall, keeping out of the basilisk’s reach.
It threw itself at the wall suddenly. Stalactites started dropping from overhead. Dozens, then hundreds as it kept hitting the wall with its body. Two fell close by and showered me with fist-sized pieces of rock. One hit my head and the other my leg. My shield dropped to just over two thousand points and almost knocked me out again. Luckily, the boss didn’t have any special powers like some had, other than the poison, so I took several seconds to take a deep breath and let it out again.
“Damn bastard is much tougher than I anticipated,” I muttered while checking its stats out.
I came to a horrible realization. Its stats were rising—all but the health pool, which sat at 137,992 points. Attack was rapidly rising as well as its defense, which was now nearing 8,000. The gaping wound on its tail started to close, and the snake became smaller; no, it was regrowing to its previous size, but it was thinner. And more heavily armored. Shit. Instead of celebrating how it was nearing death, the damn thing just became even harder to kill.
The basilisk’s head snapped toward me, and it hissed long and hard, its forked tongue hanging in the air at least some ten feet away from its mouth. Then it lunged toward me with a much greater speed than before. It coiled its body like a spring and lunged at me with its maw wide open.
I jumped toward the wall and jumped again as my feet touched the solid rock. I barely escaped and flew toward the exit by accident. I landed some forty feet away from where I’d stood moments ago, but the basilisk was hot on my tail again.
I grabbed the box from my subspace and activated it, then threw it in its projected path. The sludge exploded in all directions, catching the snake. Lightning struck its eye, popping it accidentally as a fireball lit the nose on fire. Its maw opened wide, and I pulled out my bow, grabbed a rank six arrow, and fired it.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 11,618 damage to Basilisk
I froze for several important seconds as I stared at the damage counter. It had barely done any damage. My best attack with the best arrow had done as much damage as two normal hits from earlier.
A chain of arrows struck the side of its head, knocking it over. I shook myself out of it and grabbed another canister and rushed right at it. The basilisk snapped its head at me, almost ripping free from the sludge. I threw the canister at it and tapped the activation button, then lunged after the canister. I needed to make sure that it struck its target, so I threw my halberd at its neck and pulled the sword back out. The edge dinged off but caused the snake to hiss again, opening its mouth just wide enough for the canister to make its way inside, but it got stuck near a fang.
The explosion threw the basilisk backward, and it landed on its back. It stirred and tried to move, but it was either dazed or stunned. I had one skill that could penetrate through the defenses, so I closed in again, hoping for the best this time.
“Bash!” I hissed as the sword swung wide and struck the side of the boss’s head, knocking it into the wall again. The damage was low, but the defenses were stripped. At least partially.
Damage Notification:
You have inflicted 4,889 damage to Basilisk: You have inflicted 46% Defense Debuff.
Melina’s arrow skill slammed into its belly, causing the snake to hiss and screech strangely, even as it lay there in a heap. I closed the distance and hacked away at it two times, three times before using X-Slash again. The skill drew blood and did quite a bit of damage, leaving the snake at barely under 30,000 health points.
Another lightning bolt struck the monster and paralyzed it, telling me it was time. I double-jumped on top of its head—no, it was the side where the missing eye used to be.
“Focus!”
The following five seconds were the longest in my life as the blade hung there in the air, suspended right above my shoulder, and the snake still breathed beneath my feet. I was sorry that it had to die, but such was life. It would come back one day, so I didn’t pity it too much, as it would either be the basilisk or me.
The blade came crashing down, hitting the gaping hole where the eye used to be, and dug deep into its head.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:
Slaying a rank 12 Zone Boss.
Reward Of Choice:
1. Dark Stone Armor Blueprint Set x 2
2. Basilisk Armor Blueprint Set x 1, Basilisk Core x 1
3. Talos Armor Blueprint Set x 2
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED:
Slaying an Area Boss.
Reward Of Choice:
1. +10 Level, +30% Damage to Boss Monsters
2. +20 Level, +20% Damage to Boss Monsters
3. +30 Level, +10% Damage to Boss Monsters
OHH, the choices were pretty obvious
, at least for me. From the first achievement, I chose the basilisk blueprint set along with the core, and then the second option with twenty levels and 20% bonus damage. It was the best of both worlds. My base stats would go up, and I’d have a 20% bonus on future bosses, which was an insane modifier if I kept hunting the damn things.
A new notification popped up as I looted the basilisk’s corpse.
YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE
FOLLOWING INGREDIENTS:
Basilisk Eye x 1
Basilisk Heart x 1
Basilisk Fang x 4
Basilisk Tooth x 96
Basilisk Scale x 212
Basilisk Blast Scale x 17
Basilisk Horn x 3
Basilisk Ridge Spike x 197
Basilisk Bone x 231
Basilisk Core x 1
“You got the achievements?” I yelled as Melina made her way toward me.
“Yeah, I did. A blueprint set and some levels. You?”
“Same,” I yelled back over my shoulder and dropped on my ass.
She was quick to join me, and as she did, I got a bunch more basilisk ingredients from her, almost doubling what I got from the monster. She sat next to me and patted my leg.
“Wasn’t that fun?” She chuckled. “I thought that thing was going to kill us both.”
I snorted and shook my head at her easygoing nature. Sometimes she was too out of it to even understand what was going on, yet sometimes she’d act as if she were the mother and I the bad child.
“We have different definitions of the word fun,” I muttered. “I have fun when I see you without any clothes on, or just wrapped in a bath towel or something. Being spat on by a hundred- or hundred-fifty-foot snake isn’t my definition of fun, love.”
“Aww! I knew you liked the flowery towels I got for us last time!”
“Like or not, I think there’s someone up there waiting for us.”
Chapter Nineteen
When we climbed up to the exit, the prince was nowhere to be seen. Go figure.
“I think we’re going to have to kill someone in a very bad way,” Melina muttered. “How the hell did we trust him?”
I shrugged. “See, at least we got several high-grade cores, we got two hundred mid-ranked cores, and we got some basilisk ingredients and blueprints. What’s there not to like?”
She shrugged and nodded. “You’re right. At least we’ll upgrade our weapons soon again.”
“If we can. I don’t think it will be that easy every time, especially since we’re getting higher in ranks.”
“Yeah, we did have it easy in a way, didn’t we? But fortune favors the bold. If we’d just sat on our asses, we wouldn’t be here yet; no, we’d be much weaker.”
“Speaking of weaker, I think we need to absorb some of the cores once we’re back. Take a few days off and just absorb whatever the hell we can. Give some to our people, some to the general and the specialists, other allies.”
“We’ve got nothing else planned anyway, right? So why not? And Veles should be pleased once we’ve taken this guy’s head.”
“There is something,” I murmured, “I forgot to tell you.”
“Huh? You and forgetting? Come on, don’t play with me. What’s up?”
“See, you know how we encased the Green Dragon Gang’s portal, right?”
She frowned but nodded. “What’s with them? Are they back again?”
“Not quite, but they could be very soon. See, another entrance leads to the same rift. Not one, but many. Maybe even hundreds, but the closest one is in a city several hours to the west, I think. Once we’re back, we’ll have to head back to Sylmar and use a chopper or airplane to get there.”
“And you’re what? Just telling me now?” she snapped. “Viktor! You know how important that matter is to me! How could you keep it from me?”
“Exactly because of how you’re acting, and we haven’t even started yet. You’re already snapping and hissing venom at me.”
“I’m not!”
“You are, Mel. But how about this? You get to come with me, and we send them to kingdom come together?”
“Wait, what? Did you plan to go there without me?”
“Umm, no?” I replied and scratched my chin. “Who said anything about going alone?”
“Because you’re putting me in front of a done deed, Vik.”
“Oh, that. Yeah, I wanted to make sure that everything was prepared for when we got back. I’d have taken you with me, woman. You need your revenge, don’t you?”
She narrowed her eyes and studied me as if trying to decide just how full of shit I was. “We’ll talk about that when we’re back home. We need to kill that asshole first.”
“That’s my girl!” I laughed and patted her ass just as she got up, then got up myself. “Do you want to torture the prince? I think he tried to send us to our death.”
“Yeah, I will. I can’t stand royalty anyway,” she muttered and glared at me, but then started laughing madly. “Shit, you blew that monster to hell with those bombs!”
“Sure did with your help, love. I’ll be sure to upgrade your bow first once we’re back, alright?”
I stepped in quickly and put my arms around her.
“What? You want to go at it right here?”
“No, but like—there’s nothing wrong with it if you want to. I was just going to hug you, nothing special.”
She rolled her eyes in mock disbelief. “Come on. He might get back to his home zone.”
“Oh, shit. Yeah, he might,” I muttered. “He might already be there if he has a skill, as we do,” I said and looked around for any possible traces, but then found slight indentations leading away from the cavern and leading toward the exit. “I think he’s on foot, though, and so are we. Keep up, love.”
I let go of her and stretched my limbs as she recast her buffs. I took off running, and she joined me right after as a steady flow of Enma coursed through our bodies and helped mitigate any kind of stress on our breathing and fatigue. It was beautiful. The immediate relief was a game-changer.
We struggled to get to the exit for some odd reason. Either because we were running upslope, or because something had happened to the layout of the land, but I clearly remembered that the descent had been much quicker. I stepped it up, and Melina fell slightly behind.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” she yelled.
“Sorry, just antsy to get my hands on the bastard!” I yelled back and stopped, waiting for her to catch up. I looked around for any possible signs of the prince, but he was long gone. If he was as fast as I thought he was, he could have been already another zone out.
“Why are you in such a hurry?” Melina asked as she finally caught up and landed next to me. Her jumps had become much better, and she was able to lunge up to thirty feet per jump.
“A bad feeling? Come on. Keep up and I’ll give you a reward,” I teased.
“What kind? Is it wrapped with a bow?”
“Can be if it’s boxed.”
“Oh, oh! I know! A frisky ferret!”
“Frisky—what?”
“Never mind. I guess that’s not it, huh?”
I couldn’t help but laugh and shake my head. “No, it’s no ferret. But you’ll love it, trust me.”
I didn’t wait for her to make another stupid comment and started running again. Within several minutes I felt the familiar sensation of switching zones. When I got out on the other side, I spotted something far in the distance. A blue-gray figure was running at full speed away from me and glancing over his shoulders.
I pulled my bow out on instinct and nocked an ordinary arrow, a rank two. I drew the arrow back and activated Shadow Hunter, releasing the projectile in a straight line. The arrow left a purplish glow behind that disappeared rapidly and caught up just as it slammed into the prince’s back. He dropped face-first onto the rocky ground and slid to a halt several feet further.
“Got the bastard!” I couldn’t help but yell and laugh. The bastard had been half a mile awa
y, I was sure of it, but since he was downslope, I was able to see him without any issues. Before I was able to take several steps, he stirred and started moving. “Oh, no you don’t!” I snapped and doubled down on chasing him.
“What are you—did you just hit him from this distance?” Melina cried as she tried to catch up. “You go ahead. I’m not wasting my breath on him!”
I put my hand up as I charged after the prince like a bull chasing down a red skirt. My hands were itching to choke the life out of him, so I couldn’t help myself. I set one foot before the other and kept repeating the process, lunging every several steps ahead and double-jumping to gain on distance, but before I had made it halfway to the Perovian, he disappeared into the next zone.
I cursed under my breath and slowed down slightly. It wouldn’t do if he caught me off guard once I changed zones. I changed my bow for the greatsword and held it up with both hands, using it both as a shield and a weapon, but then I got an idea. I removed one hand from the sword and grabbed a box of sludge and held it in my free hand, my fingers hovering dangerously close to the activation button.
“Just in case, huh?” I muttered, and then my lips curled up into a grin.
This was fun. Chasing down someone who wanted to harm me and my woman was something I’d do every day of the week, but I had to come up with a special way of getting rid of the bastard. Or… yes, I’d do something else first.
I stopped in front of the zone barrier and put the box back, thinking of something else instead. I grabbed the greatsword with both hands and readied myself. The moment I passed through, I used the skill Swipe.
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 15
