“Well I don’t plan on dying.”

He replied to Fraenis jokingly, attempting to ease his nerves.

Suddenly, a spark of realization appeared in him.

“Hold on, I could use that now…”

Reinhard brought up the interface.

“I don’t know how much mana this will use but…”

“…”

“Subjugate!”

He used the skill [Subjugate] on the basilisk. The moment that Reinhard used it, the basilisk’s eyes went wide as if in response to his declaration. It hissed at him, lowering its head to meet Reinhard’s height as if preparing for a lunge.

“Right. I only need to CC it with my earth staff and continuously spray venom at it… Well, that’s basically what I’ve been doing all this time up till now.”

“…”

“I really need new staves…”

The snaked leered at Reinhard. It gave off a one last hiss before finally closing in on him at blinding speed, attempting for a quick bite. Reinhard dodged by throwing himself sideways. This would have been a terrible move if he was against an opponent with limbs as they can easily change their course, but this has been proven effective before against giant snakes on his first hunt, since they can’t just easily pivot towards his direction and would have to make a “U turn” to face him.

He hurriedly stood up while the snake was still turning. He did manage to stand up in time, but he was not fast enough to use his staves. The snake lunged at him once again as soon as he enters the snake’s line of sight, giving Reinhard no choice but dive sideways once again.

This process repeated for a couple of times to the point that Reinhard was starting to feel like the basilisk was merely toying with him.

*Hisss*

“Ugh. I can’t find an opportunity to attack!”

He looked at his stamina and sees that it’s already been depleted to 280/400.

The basilisk lunged at him once again after hissing, prompting Reinhard to dodge or take the full brunt of the snake’s bite… which he imagined would instantly kill him due to him basically having non-existent armor.

Suddenly, amidst the constant dodging and rolling to the ground, Reinhard had an idea.

He stood up, clutching both of his staves. Just as he predicted, the basilisk is already on its way to bite him, which he once again dodges just like before. However, this time around, things will be different.

He didn’t bother to stand up. Instead, he rolled on his back, facing the still-turning basilisk.

“Why haven’t I thought of this before?”

This was the moment he was waiting for, a chance to counter attack.

He began casting both of his staff. At the same time, the basilisk has just finished turning and is now opening its jaws, fangs bared towards him at full speed. And then—

The earth beneath the basilisk’s “neck” bursts open, revealing an earthen hand made of rock and soil. It grasped the basilisk tightly, to which the basilisk responded by flailing its entire body, twisting and turning as it desperately try to break free for naught.

That attack alone took a massive chunk of the basilisk HP, about 40% as there’s really no number on it to have an accurate reading. Reinhard remembered that his earthen staff’s handle was made of Sylpheim wood, giving it the unique effect of additional damage against fire elemental creatures.

Almost immediately after, purple torrents of venom began spraying the basilisk’s head. The basilisk couldn’t do anything other than close its eyes and mouth to protect against the fluid. Every fire of the venom would take out 5% of the basilisk’s HP. Add to that the damage-over-time and Reinhard speculated that this battle would end sooner or later.

The basilisk has now stopped flailing its body around. It could no longer contest the earthen hand’s grasped as its stamina has now probably fully drained by the venom, though this made Reinhard curious as to why a snake creature like this isn’t immune to venom…

The torrent would occasionally stop for time, but then would spray once more after about a second. Reinhard paid no mind to this though, and would soon make him realize a terrible mistake he’s doing.

The Basilisk’s HP is down to about 20% and the staff of venom just finished its last torrent so now it’s on a 1 second cooldown to cast again when the basilisk suddenly opened its mouth.

Reinhard didn’t have time to process things as he was now just standing in front of it, waiting for the next torrent to come. The basilisk opened its jaws, its fangs as long as a dagger and as thick as an arm. Yet that wasn’t what made Reinhard’s heart stop for what felt like eternity in shock and fear. The basilisk’s inner mouth is glowing red, even brighter than its scales. Reinhard has now realized his mistake.

The staff of venom has finished the 1 second cooldown and now sprayed the torrent of venom, yet it didn’t even reached the basilisk. It was far from reaching the basilisk as just four meters of being sprayed into the air, it quickly evaporated into nothingness as soon as it collided with the searing hot flames that the basilisk breathed out.

Reinhard saw everything in his eyes moving slowly. The flames flowing out the basilisk’s jaws, the venom torrent that instantly turns into gas as soon as it hits the flames, and his terribly slow movements as he makes a last ditch attempt to avoid the flames.

But he failed. Six meters away from the basilisk, Reinhard was engulfed in flames.

The woman who was watching far away widened her eyes. She immediately sprang into action, not sparing a single second into anything. She ran as fast as she could, as fast as her legs could. If she could run faster in exchange for damaging her legs, she would certainly do so.

“NOOOOOO!!”

Fraenis could only scream in horror while she runs towards the battle.

She now cursed herself for backing away for such a long distance, she cursed herself for not noticing sooner despite having lived in the forest for so long, she cursed herself for even agreeing to Reinhard’s demands that he would fight alone in the first place. More than anything, she cursed herself as she watch Reinhard fall to the ground in a mass of flames.

Her chest sank deep into her. It was like a massive, incredibly heavy object was suddenly placed onto her chests, making it difficult for her to breathe. She does not know why this happened though nor did she have the time to wonder. All that she’s thinking right now is to save him.

Fraenis was about halfway between her starting position and Reinhard when she heard something that made her stop in her tracks.

“DON’T COME!”

Suddenly, like a frozen fish that was placed on warm water, the weight in her chest disappeared. She looked at the basilisk and sees that the earth is still grasping it.

“My clothes have become crisped…”

The familiar voice said. She couldn’t help herself anymore and ended up losing all her strength as tears fall down her face. Unlike before though, her cries were not that of grief or regret, but of happiness and relief.

It turns out that Reinhard was standing far away enough that the flames that reached him weren’t that concentrated anymore. He did suffer some minor second-degree burns mostly on his forearms that he tried to use as a shield to his face, but other than that and the now crisped clothes, nothing much has been done to him. His HP is now down to 312/400.

*Ping!*

[SYSTEM]

Acquired: [Fire Resistance 1] Passive Skill

He stood up, still clutching both his staves with his seared hands.

“That really scared me. I thought I was going to die again…”

“…”

He pointed his venom staff towards the basilisk and fired it. This time, he has learned his lesson and moved towards its side where its flames wouldn’t reach him no matter how much it spews.

Before long, the basilisk has been defeated with 1 HP remaining. However, as if staying true to its words, the [Subjugate] effect on the basilisk disappeared and with it, so did the venom debuff. In fact, as soon as the effect disappeared on the basilisk, it was healed for about 10% of its HP.

*Ping!*

[SYSTEM]

[Dual Wield Staff 3] leveled up to [Dual Wield Staff 4]

[Staff Proficiency 3] leveled up to [Staff Proficiency 4]

Reinhard released the earth staff’s hold which now has 30/100 mana. The basilisk collapsed into the ground, unmoving. It blinked and hissed a few couple of times, and then rose once again, making Reinhard cautious.

However what it did next shocked him. It didn’t really shock him per se, as this was what he had intended to happen in the first place, but the fact that it worked still shocked him. The basilisk slowly slithered towards him while gradually lowering its head. Before, it lowered its head to meet Reinhard’s height and see him eye to eye, but now, the Basilisk’s head is almost touching the ground already, as if bowing to him.

*Hissss*

It hissed at him. He immediately understood the situation, so he stepped forward. He knelt towards it with one knee and placed his right, slightly burned hand on its head.

*Hissss*

“So you’re a male huh… What should I name you?”

He said as he pets the basilisk’s head.

“Wait… How do I know that?”

*Hissss*

“Oh I see… mental connection hmm.”

“…”

And then realization dawned on him.

“Wait, you can talk!?”

*Hissss*

“O-oh… is that so… I thought you can really talk.”

Meanwhile, Fraenis was just watching dumbfounded as Reinhard talks to a basilisk.

“How about I name you… Ddraig?”

*Hissss*

“No! I want you to tell me if you like it or not!”

*Hisssssss*

“…”

“Are you sure?”

*Hissss*

“Okay, then Ddraig it is!”

*Ping!*

[SYSTEM]

You have gained a follower!

Reinhard lifts his hands from Ddraig’s head and stood up. Then he slowly walked towards Fraenis who was still on the ground with the dried tear drops on her face.

“Hey, uhh, sorry for… making you worry.”

“My god, that’s so clichéd!”

“…”

And then there was awkward silence as they stared at each other.

“Pfft, pffffftahahahaha!”

Suddenly she started to bursts out into laughter.

“What was that? Ahahahahahah”

She continued laughing until she runs out of breath. Reinhard on the other hand was struck with extreme confusion.

“Wha— what do you mean ‘what was that’?”

Fraenis didn’t answer and instead continued laughing, leaving Reinhard tremendously confused.

After a while, the two, or rather the three of them decided to head back to the village. The hunt and the fight took quite a while and so by the time that it’s finished, there’s already a tinge of orange in the sky.

Reinhard is walking at the center between Fraenis and Ddraig. It seems that Fraenis is still cautious about the basilisk, in contrast to Reinhard who’s currently talking to it as if he can understand the hissing.

“Ah, yeah, I made these staves.”

Reinhard said to Ddraig showing it the two staves he used earlier.

“They’re just common quality though…”

*Hissss*

“That reminds me, Fraenis, can I take a look at your longbow, the one that Tylla used?”

“Hm? Oh, sure.”

Fraenis handed the green long bow adorned with vines and brambles to Reinhard.

[SYSTEM]

[Tylla’s Regards]

A bow that was personally created by Tylla, the famous gatekeeper of Garden using nature magic and enchanted by the Lake Queen. This bow requires no arrows and uses the wielder’s mana instead.

Unique Effect:

[Weighted Magic]: The weight of the magical arrows depends on how much mana the wielder pools into its creation. However, no matter how heavy the arrow gets, the speed and maximum distance it could be launched with does not change.

“Oh wow.”

Reinhard could not help but gasp and amaze.

“So if you drain all your mana into a single arrow, what would happen?”

He asked Fraenis who’s watching him examine the bow.

“Well first of all, the creation of that arrow would take a long time and would leave you vulnerable. If you’re asking for what the effects of an arrow that heavy would be, it’s certainly going to be devastating as the speed and distance doesn’t change no matter how heavy the arrow gets.”

“That’s OP…”

“OP?”

“Oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself.”

Fraenis pouted in defiance.