“Now that’s… interesting,” Melina muttered as she bent over the balcony and stared at it coiled up on the ground, right beneath us.
“Hey!” I yelled as loudly as I could. “Don’t attack my snake! It’s as strong as me and will eat you like a damn drumstick!”
“Same goes for you, Bassy,” Melina yelled as she threw a piece of wood at the slithering creature. The wood struck its head, and it sprang up, almost reaching the balcony, but stopped itself.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing? This is my wife!” I snapped, pointing at Melina. “Make some noise if you can understand me!”
It hissed and stuck its tongue out before it… screeched in a way. It was a strange, nauseating sound, but at least no one was getting close. But Bassy. What a name. As we looked down at the monster, it suddenly changed slightly, or at least the head did. The scales and skin pushed outwards, and a proper snake head formed with eyes and all.
“Creepy as hell,” Melina muttered. “Did that thing just—?”
“Shh. It’s called Bassy. You just named the snake, so don’t call it a thing, alright?”
Melina stared at me intently and then back at the snake. “Don’t even think about letting it stay inside.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Don’t you go hurting Bassy’s feelings now.”
I dropped off the balcony and landed next to the basilisk and put my hand on its head. It was big. Really big, though not even a fraction of the basilisk we’d fought back in the cavern.
“Get clean before you come to bed!” she shot from overhead.
“Oh, come on!” I protested. “Aren’t you happy we got a monstrous pet?”
“Of course I am. Just pulling your leg.” She laughed and dropped beside me. “Hey you.” She put her hand on the snake’s head and patted it. Bas pressed its head against Melina’s side as if wanting to cuddle.
I opened my stats and found a separate window there, one for Bassy, and found it rather lacking.
NAME: Basilisk
AGE: 1, LEVEL: 1
RANK: 1 *
HEALTH: 20,000
ENMA: 2,000
SPEED: 2.0
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 5,000
ENMA ATTACK: 3,500
BREAK: 3,000
DEFENSE: 4,000
Enma Shield: 10,000
That was about it. But just as I was about to close the window, I noticed an option. It was called Feed. I activated the next option and found my subspace to one side, and a boxlike shape on the other. Only several items were shown, and all of them were ingredients gained from the adult basilisk.
“Mel, you alright with me feeding all the basilisk ingredients to Bas?”
She shrugged and tapped its head again. “We still need a lot of levels until we can upgrade our gear, but we can stand our own even as we are.”
“Yeah, we can,” I whispered. “A strong Bassy would benefit us much more since he can draw attention and survive.”
“Then go for it, I guess. I’m really curious to see what all the stuff will do to it.”
“Wait, can you see the stats as well?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I can. Guess it has something to do with being an ‘item’ type or something?”
I turned toward the nearest hunter. “Hey, can you come over for a second? And don’t worry, I won’t feed you to the snake.”
He ran over, but the look on his face told me he didn’t trust me all that much. Who could blame him? I wouldn’t trust myself either.
“Yes, boss?” the man asked and tried to sound calm, but he was doing a shitty job.
“Can you see its stats?”
He shook his head quickly. “No, I can’t.”
“Alright. Thanks. You can go.”
He nodded his thanks and hurried back to where he’d been standing near the walled entrance. I chuckled inwardly, as he must have almost shat himself, but then I felt like I was being an ass and pinched myself on purpose. Ass.
I decided on pushing everything inside, but it wasn’t letting me. I frowned.
“Hey, Bas, why can’t I level you up or something?”
He stuck his tongue out and licked my hand, but it didn’t help in any way. I sighed and stared at the box again. A sudden prerequisite popped up, asking for some ingredients. A single basilisk heart, twenty teeth, fifty scales, fifty bones, and twenty spikes.
I activated the upgrade and stepped back as the snake started shuddering and thrashing about. It also grew several feet in length, but luckily not in diameter. It was already as thick as I was tall. I checked the necessary ingredients again and grinned, as I had enough materials to go up one more time. A single heart, fifty teeth, a hundred scales, a hundred bones, and fifty spikes.
The same thing happened yet again, but this time it grew in width as well and was slightly taller than I was. For some strange reason, it looked apologetic and lowered its head. A glimmer caught my eyes, and I found several blast scales strewn about its length. So it also had the same weakness, huh? Not that it mattered. No one would have enough time to dig at the scales and get an attack in if I could help it.
Bassy started shuddering for the third time even after it was done upgrading. The outer skin suddenly peeled off and dropped to the ground with hundreds of scales that had peeled off. I couldn’t loot anything, so it must have been a process that didn’t count as losing parts of itself. The greatest change this time was its color. It was still as dark as the night, but a violent purple and fiery red glow had enveloped the monster and kept swirling around its body. Several lines had formed that went from blast scale to blast scale, and they were glowing gold.
I opened its stats again, curious to see the changes, and found Melina had beaten me to it when she gasped and squealed.
NAME: Basilisk
AGE: 1, LEVEL: 1
RANK: 3 *
HEALTH: 50,000
ENMA: 5,000
SPEED: 2.3
PHYSICAL ATTACK: 8,000
ENMA ATTACK: 6,000
BREAK: 6,000
DEFENSE: 8,000
Enma Shield: 40,000
“So the stats go up every time it gains a new star, but the rise was quite steep,” I muttered to myself. To my surprise, no achievements were gained, and no explanations were sent my way. Not that it mattered. I wouldn’t stare a gift horse—umm, snake in this case—in the mouth.
“Hey, am I seeing things?”
“Depends on what you’re looking at,” I replied and hugged my Bassy.
This might well have been the best decision I had made in my life. Ever. It begged the question, though. Why hadn’t Vrasnjek done anything smarter with it? Was it about the extent of his power? Had he been hiding in the oasis, hoping no one would find him? Maybe. I didn’t care anymore, though. My family and friends were in the first place, then Sylmar, and then anyone else.
“Want to take it out for a stroll?” Melina asked after several minutes had passed. I noticed Mark, Sarah, and the other couple standing in the doorway to the kitchen, staring at us in bewilderment.
“Bassy? Don’t ever attack them, alright? They’re family.”
The snake nodded its head and almost looked adorable doing so. I had to remind myself it was a vicious killing machine and not a pet, but I couldn’t help it. The snaking tongue and the red, glowing eyes should have been something that disgusted me, but they didn’t. Probably because it was my pet, but whatever. I wanted to feel the breeze in my hair as I rode it into battle.
“Edge!” I yelled, getting a sudden thought. “Has anyone taken the tyranitaur today?”
“No, why?” he yelled back from the smithy.
“I want to go kill it with my snek!”
“Snek?” he asked inquisitively. “Wait, you mean with your snake?”
“Yeah, Bassy.”
He rolled his eyes and nodded. “Sure thing, boss. We’ll be standing guard just in case.”
I felt as if someone had given me the best gift in the world as I jumped atop its back
and held a hand out for Melina to take. Bassy, though, didn’t move. It shook its head.
“I don’t think it wants to be ridden.”
“Bassy? Is that true?”
He nodded his head and twisted it around, staring at me intently.
“Damn it! You just spoiled everything, Bass!” I mock-yelled at the creature as I got off. It lowered its head and nudged me. “Oh, just kidding, you fool. Come on, let’s see what you can do.”
I had to be honest that I was surprised when I saw snekky wipe the floor with the tyranitaur in seven whole seconds. Four of them were spent as he coiled around the dinosaur-like creature. But when it squeezed, the shield disappeared and all the bones cracked along with its health.
Melina and I stared at each other, unable to comprehend how easy it had been for Bassy to kill the boss monster. Sure, it was much stronger, but—yeah, I had no idea what I was expecting anyway. All that mattered was that Bas was a force to be reckoned with. It gave me an idea about how to play with the Apocs and the military. Oh, snek was going to love it!
Chapter Forty
“Do you have to risk it?” Melina yelled. “You only have, like, two fingers to regrow.”
“That’s exactly why I need to go. If I had fully recovered, I might have been afraid about losing them again, but not like this.”
“You do know that what you’re saying is, like—bullshit, right?” She stood there and stared at me intently. Her right eyebrow was raised, and both of her hands were up on her hips.
“Love you too, Mel. Just wait for me with dinner, alright? Or lunch, I mean. I should be home soon.”
She waved me away and sighed, then dropped on her ass and started crying.
“Why do you need to be such a jerk and an ass?” she hissed. “Why do you need to risk your life when there’s no need to?”
“Because I need to show them that they can’t do as they wish.”
She let out another sigh and, realizing that she couldn’t change my mind, straightened her robes and stormed off toward the portal.
“What—are you doing?” I asked with a chuckle.
She didn’t stop and just kept on walking. “I’ll be going with you. If something happens to you, I want to die as well.”
“Oh, come on! Bassy will be there!”
“I know. That’s why I’m coming with you. I want to see how he eats the bastards.”
I couldn’t help but grin as I followed her. Bas was gone and waiting to be summoned. He was too large to go through the portal, but I doubted he’d be allowed into the tower.
I stopped next to Melina, who had her hands on the portal.
“Look, once we get there, we’ll move out right away. We won’t waste any time on the tower.”
She nodded and winked once. “Whatever you say, love.”
I leaned in and kissed her, and she returned the kiss passionately.
“I’m not letting you off so easily,” she whispered as her hand shot out and wrapped around my neck. She pulled me in closer and stared me in the eyes. “Promise you won’t do anything stupid.”
I nodded and stayed like that for several seconds, taking her all in.
“Warrior queen. I’m blessed to have you by my side, you know that, right?”
She smirked and nodded, her forehead seemingly glued to mine.
“So, shall we?”
I entered first. The familiar sensation of warping to the tower washed over me, but it was much weaker this time. Almost as if I’d become too used to it and it was a mere afterthought. Bright light assailed my eyes for a mere second before I found myself standing at the center of the tower. Almost immediately several men I recognized as belonging to the Apocs started moving toward the portal that would lead back to Sylmar. Melina appeared next to me, and I grabbed her hand, beelining toward the portal as well. We were closer, luckily, but even if we hadn’t been, they couldn’t have done much in the few seconds they would have had on us.
Melina saw it too and squeezed my hand.
“I know. Just keep moving and stay behind me no matter what. Crossbow and then the fan. Crowd control over power.”
“Understood.”
That was everything she said and everything I needed to hear. Melina was smart, and she understood very well to follow orders. It was only good as we arrived at the portal. I let go of her hand and activated the transfer, only to feel a similar sensation as when entering the tower.
“Summon Monster!”
I had no idea if there was anyone even present, but I wasn’t going to wait and see what they’d do. Unsurprisingly, several gunshots echoed out, and I felt two bullets hitting my shield. A thunderbolt announced Bassy’s summoning, and as sure as hell hadn’t frozen over, the snek appeared out of nowhere and surged forward.
My vision returned just as Bassy surged forward, slamming right through the barricade that had been erected and eating two guards. I raised my crossbow and targeted the closest guards. Several of them were staring with horrified expressions as Bassy waded through their line, and before I was even able to fire off a single bolt, he had already crossed the bridge. Tiny scales erupted from his sides and shredded whoever was stupid enough to stand around.
“The hell,” I muttered as Melina appeared next to me, holding her crossbow up.
“Yeah, I can see that,” she whispered. “What the hell is it with that power?”
I shook my head in disbelief. He was worth his weight in ingredients. And then some.
Several tanks had started up and were moving their turrets to fire at Bassy, and even an attack helicopter was starting its engines.
“Mel, hit the chopper with a skill.”
She nodded and exchanged the crossbow for her fan, swept it in the air, and laughed as a gust of wind crossed the bridge and shredded a fence on its way. The chopper was torn to pieces as the Enma passed through and around the flyer.
An arrow passed by and struck the turret of the closest tank. It exploded as if struck by a rocket and was torn in two as the upper part flew a dozen feet up and landed on top of a nearby tank.
“Where is Pelos?” I yelled. “Call him out or die!”
Bassy took that as permission to cause even more havoc. Boy, did he go crazy on the Apocs, and I loved every moment of it. Deep track marks filled with blood were left wherever he passed, and what’s more, I got several notices that he had leveled up. I didn’t care about that since he was already overpowered; no, I kept watching the enemy lines.
“Stop this! Pelos will be here in two minutes! Just stop the slaughter, Viktor!” a familiar voice yelled from behind the barricades.
“That you, traitor?” I yelled, recognizing Kang’s deep voice.
“Wait, what? I never betrayed you!”
“Let bygones be bygones, Kang. Where is that piece of shit? And who the hell is in charge of the military right now?”
“Bastion is!” he yelled back and appeared from behind a tank. The bastard had really been hiding. What a coward he’d become.
“Tell him to come here! He has five minutes, or I’ll have little snek here eat all of you!”
He held his hand up and dialed a number on his phone. He talked for several seconds and nodded his head as if acknowledging orders or something.
“They’ll be here in five minutes tops; just stop killing people, please!”
“Just like you stopped killing my people by sending in suicide bombers?”
Kang froze with his mouth hanging open. He was struggling with the accusation, and from what I could see on his face, he had no idea anything like that had happened.
“Enough!” a somewhat familiar voice snapped. “Stop killing my people, or die right here and right now!”
“Pelos, how good of you to come out and chat!” I snorted. “You should have sent a single messenger and not dozens of people!”
He didn’t wait for me to say anything else and charged right at me. The man was fast, I had to give him that, but we were pretty fast as well.
I raised my crossbow and released bolt after bolt. Several struck his shield and forced him back. Right into Bassy’s maw. He dodged just out of the way and appeared on top of the giant snake, slamming his claws down against the scales. Every attack only dealt several hundred points in damage. Good luck killing him like that, I thought.
Several small scales erupted from Bassy’s back and hit Pelos, shredding his shield just as a single arrow flew past me. Melina had released an ordinary attack, not a skill, but it could still be devastating. The projectile struck Pelos’s shoulder and ripped off a chunk of his shoulder. The man staggered backward several steps and dropped off Bassy, only to slam headfirst into the cold, hard ground.
“Leave him, Bass!”
The snake was about to crush him but retreated and stopped at the entrance to the bridge leading toward the tower entrance. It looked menacing, even more so now that we all knew what it was capable of. Shit. I was finally rewarded for my hard work by whoever gave me that skill. Sure, Bassy was ugly as hell, but he was strong. That was all that mattered.
The sound of incoming helicopters drew my attention for a brief moment. Kang and several others used my distraction to get to Pelos, but I didn’t care. Bassy had just showed them how he was able to flatten everyone present if he wished to.
The choppers came in low and landed outside the battle zone and mostly out of range of Melina’s bow. They were obstructed by a wall and the side of a support building. I waited for a minute, annoyed by their attitude. If they wanted to make me wait, then they would be in for a surprise.
“Hold on,” Melina whispered as she put her hand on my shoulder. “I can see what you want to do, but don’t. Just stay calm, alright?”
I nodded more to myself than her and squeezed my right hand hard. Since I had nothing better to do, I cycled some of the Bura and Enma. The two remaining fingers that had only partially grown so far started tingling as the flesh ruptured, and I could feel the bow start to grow first. I was so sick and tired of the process, but as long as it got me to where I used to be, I would do whatever I needed to.
Crossroads: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 3) Page 30
