Chapter 348

348 – Second Ambush

The interval between the basilisk’s footfalls is disconcertingly short. Because of my petrified foreleg, I move as fast as I want to. I half-turn to send a [Wind Slash].

It ducks to easily avoid the blade of wind, and the crushed old man face twists into a smile. Cheh! If anything, it’s gotten closer. I make a wide turn around the tree where the nightmare is hiding, then as the basilisk directly heads toward me, slow down.

As it rushes forwards, I see thin red thread reflecting the light in front of it. A huge quantity of spider thread is strung up between the trees.

But won’t it simply shake off that amount of thread? No, the nightmare must have some sort of plan. The petrification of my arm is slowly spreading too. I don’t have much time. I make a sudden turn and charge straight towards the basilisk.

“…Aaa?”

With a mutter of displeasure, it tears off the red thread. It suffers a moment of deceleration, but that is all.

It glares up at the tree next to it. At the end of its line of sight, the nightmare makes its appearance and spits a lump of red thread.

“Peh!”

The basilisk spits back with a black liquid. It’s a lot smaller in scale than when it used it on me, but it must be the same [Extreme Poison] skill. Covered in poison, the lump of red thread quickly corrodes and falls to the ground. That’s not all, as droplets hit the nightmare, causing it fall to the ground, back-first, and squirm in pain.

N-nightmare!? It looks like some of the damage was suppressed thanks to the nightmare’s speciality in poison, but… There’s still way too much of a difference in power. Its breathing is already faint. Without confirming the nightmare’s life or death, the basilisk returns its gaze to me. It’s already lost interest it seems.

“GUOOOOOH!”

I’m about to fire a [Wind Slash], but… I notice the snake tail rubbing itself against the ground to try and remove some thread.

Its tail is a lot thinner than its body, and it also doesn’t have limbs to brush it off with. It doesn’t seem to be able to remove the thread that clings to it.

My attacks against the snake should land now! [High Quick], [High Slow], [High Rest]… The magic it can use is powerful, but all of it has come from the snake. I’m the same so I know. Probably, aside from that head, it can’t use any magic skills. If I cut if off, it should become unable to fight me. On top of not being able to recast its lifeline, [High Quick], it won’t be able to use [High Rest], so its current HP will be all it has so catching it will be easy.

“……”

The basilisk’s eyelids twitch, and it slows its charge. Its deep red eyes stare at my wings. It hides its snake tail behind its body.

I-it’s no good. It’s on guard. Its tail that is its lifeline is covered in thread, so it’s heightened its wariness. One more move, I just need one more move. I don’t have enough options. If there was just something I could to break its focus…

I suddenly become aware of a sensation on my tongue. Right, it’s Aro who I hid in my mouth right at the start.

“Guooh!”

Calling out to her, I open my mouth.

“Wind Magic [Gale]!”

She shouts from inside my mouth. The basilisk’s eyes open wide. As would be expected, it hadn’t seen it coming. Mixed in with the heat of my mouth, she would be invisible to [Heat Perception].

Tearing the ground as it progresses, the tornado slams into the basilisk’s face. It quickly breaks apart, but there’s no way it did no damage. Aro’s stats are those of a high HP, firepower-reliant mage. That’s in addition to the buff she gets from from absorbing my magic power. This is the same magic that has allowed her to easily level against higher rank opponents.

The basilisk’s legs stop, and its face is jerked to the side by the force of the tornado, breaking its line of sight. Realising it’s shown an opening, it hurriedly turns to the side. Its has fast decision making. Had it not moved like that, I could have aimed for its body.

But it was a bad move. Even if its body got injured, it could have healed with [High Rest].

I fire a [Wind Slash] to its exposed snake tail, still frantically trying to remove the thread.

“Gh!”

The snake’s body shakes with a twitch. It can sense the blade of wind headed towards it, it seems. It stretches out, adopting an evasive stance.

But it doesn’t work out. At the end of the blade’s course is the main body’s back. The main body leans forwards to avoid it. Naturally, the snake tail is elevated.

“Shaaaaah!?”

The snake cries out as though to blame the main body. The blade of wind cleanly lops off its head. The headless snake body moves frenziedly, but that just lasts a moment. Magenta blood promptly spurts out of it like a hose, and as the force of the flow slows, it slumps to the ground and stops moving.

The severed snake head blackens and stops moving.

“Aaah!”

The basilisk spreads its wings and kicks off the ground, springing into the air. It probably plans on running away. But its speed has dropped. The effect of [High Quick] seems to have finally dissipated. I promptly spread my wings and turn in the air to cut in front of it. I swing my petrified arm down onto its head like a hammer.

I feel the sensation of its skull breaking. D-did I overdo it? I was able to put more power into my arm than I was expecting.

【Resistance skill [Petrification Resistance: LV1] was acquired.】

Ah, I got a skill. That reminds me, this is my first time facing this status condition.

The basilisk slumps down, its jaw hitting the ground.