Chapter 204
The dense forest of trees, dense enough to conceal the sky, was damaged beyond recognition .
Fire raged as far as the eye could see . The trees and grass had been reduced to charcoal, ash, and stone dust; a large portion of the debris had already been swept away by the fierce winds .
It was chaos .
The flames spread as far as possible, threatening to consume the entire mountain, but were quickly contained to the battlefield . A large chill had begun to enclose the area, combating the fire’s spread .
In a few mere moments, Adjest’s ice magic assuaged the flames and the battle ended .
“We won . ”
Strewn amongst the center of devastation, near the Starling Party, were the remains of a group of giant basilisks . Each of their bodies had been mutilated in a different way: turned into pitch-black like lumps of charcoal, heads pierced, or their body falling apart as chunks of ice .
Basilisks were extremely powerful monsters, but the Starling Party was able to achieve victory without injury .
During the battle, Ronde performed his role admirably . Although it was his first actual fight, a life-threatening one at that, he held his nerve and did not betray Desir’s expectations .
Desir spoke to Ronde .
“Considering this is your first battle, you responded well in a calm manner . ”
“Th-Thank you, brother . ”
A smile was plastered on the now breathless Ronde’s face . He was struggling terribly, but Desir’s compliment resuscitated him . He appeared to be deeply moved .
“Let’s endure this a little longer . ”
Despite the damage dealt to their surroundings, the battle wasn’t entirely over; two of the basilisks had managed to escape while their pack was slaughtered .
“We need to chase them down immediately . ”
Everyone nodded .
Only two of them escaped, but each and every basilisk was a threatening monster . It was necessary to chase after them and kill them in order to prevent further damage . Fortunately, they had invoked a tracking spell on them right before they escaped .
Romantica closed her eyes and focused on the trail of mana left behind by the tracking spells on the basilisks .
“One is escaping towards the west and the other is escaping towards the north-east . ”
“Let’s split up and chase them . Romantica, Adjest, and Ronde, you guys head to the west . Pram, you and I will head north-east . ”
Desir believed that this was the most well-balanced combination .
“Yes, sir!”
“Leave it to me!”
The Starling Party divided themselves in an organized manner, under the leadership and instruction of Desir .
Desir and Pram headed towards the north-east .
Chasing after a basilisk was not a particularly difficult task . Not only were the tracking spells already placed, but clear trails had been left behind by their enormous bodies .
“They’re escaping faster than we thought, but we’ll catch them soon . ”
Desir arranged acceleration spells while explaining the situation to Pram .
Tracking was easy, but there was one point that stuck out .
‘This direction is… ’
When the Starling Party had set out towards the basilisks’ habitat, they had gone south-west .
Between the trees in this dense forest, a castle was soon visible in the distance .
‘But they’re not heading towards the city… They’re heading to the base of the cliff . ’
Once Desir realized that the basilisk was heading towards the bottom of the cliff, he once again recalled what the old man said . Ever since a powerful monster had taken residence under the cliff, no self-preserving monster dared to approach the Nordin Territory .
‘… This basilisk must be truly desperate . It’s completely lost its mind trying to flee from us, and in its desperation is throwing itself into the territory of a strong monster . ’
If it was as the old man said, the basilisk would be dealt with by the monster beneath the cliff, even if they didn’t follow it further . However, they couldn’t count on that . If they left it alone now, it could still swerve towards town and wreak havoc .
“Let’s keep chasing . ”
“Yes, sir!”
Pram nodded while hurrying his steps .
Even though basilisks were agile, this one would not be able to accelerate any more with its injured body .
The distance between them and the basilisk gradually decreased .
They had been relying on a combination of the basilisk’s trail and their tracking magic before, but they were now close enough that they could see the basilisk before them . Trees fell and clouds of dust billowed up .
“Desir, over there!”
“I see it as well!”
Pram drew his sword and prepared to dart forward .
However, the tremors caused by the fleeing basilisk suddenly ceased . It appeared to have stopped moving .
‘Is it exhausted?’
‘No way . ’
*Flick*
*Flick*
They could hear the sound of a basilisk flicking its tongue . It must have given up on running away and had steeled itself to fight .
‘All the better for us . ’
Desir looked at Pram .
“Let’s suppress it in the one go . ”
Desir and Pram were on high alert as they slowly approached the basilisk .
“Keeyyyyeeek!”
The basilisk’s scream filled the area .
That wasn’t the only sound though .
*Thud*
*Thuddd*
*Baaang*
The ground shook and a hideous sound spilled out .
The basilisk was in the midst of fighting against something else .
‘It wasn’t trying to fight with us . ’
They quickened their paces . The trembling of the ground became more severe as they drew closer .
*Thuddd*
They arrived at the sight of the basilisk falling down .
“… … ”
When Desir and Pram arrived there, they couldn’t hide their perplexion .
It hadn’t even been a minute since the battle started . However, the scene that greeted them was too grand to conclude that it was a short battle, by any stretch of the imagination .
Pram frowned while sheathing his rapier .
“What in the world… ”
It was disastrous . The basilisk’s body was thoroughly damaged . Its head had been ruptured and giblets of meat had been scattered everywhere .
Even though the basilisk already had injuries after facing the Starling Party, it was not a monster that could easily be suppressed within a minute or two .
“Did it manage to suppress the basilisk without suffering any injuries… ?”
Desir examined the blood that was splashed everywhere .
The green blood turned everything it touched into stone . Of course, it belonged to the basilisk . In fact, the copious amounts of blood that painted the ground belonged entirely to the basilisk .
The monster that had dealt with the basilisk was nowhere to be found . It seemed as though it left the place immediately after the battle .
“I wonder what kind of monster it is?”
“We’ll know once we check it out . ”
When Desir first heard about the monster from that old man, he judged that slaying it was not an urgent task .
However, with power on this level, it was a different story entirely . It was impossible to know how the monster would act . The risk this monster carried far outweighed any protection it brought the territory .
Desir approached the basilisk’s corpse to examine it further .
He faced countless monsters in his ten years in the Shadow Labyrinth .
With such an impressive display of wounds left, it would be a simple task for him to figure out what had attacked the basilisk .
However, Desir couldn’t help but feel disconcerted .
“This… ”
“What is it, Desir?”
Desir pointed at all the lacerations on the basilisk’s body .
“Look at this, Pram . The skin here was cut in a neat manner . It surely carries something sharp . ”
Then, Desir pointed at another area of its body . This area was clearly crushed by something, unlike the other injury .
“And if you look at this mark, you’ll know that it collided with something extremely strong . ”
Desir pulled out something that was lodged between the basilisk’s scales . It was a golden feather .
“A monster that has a sharp weapon with an extremely hard, golden feather… ”
Desir knew a considerable number of monsters, but he drew a blank when faced with these set of clues . He had no idea what kind of monster they could be dealing with here .
“Desir, this… ”
Smoke rose from one part of the basilisk’s body .
A monster with a powerful weapon and a strong body that lurks in a mountain cave .
Monsters usually have their own distinct strengths . However, it wasn’t possible to define this monster with just one characteristic .
The Starling Party had experienced monsters created by human hands in the Shadow World . Monsters created by combining the strengths of many different monsters .
“… … Chimera . ”
After finally reaching a conclusion based on the presented evidence, Desir casually invoked a spell towards an empty area .
*Craasshh*
Thick smoke billowed up .
After a while, when the smoke finally cleared, a previously concealed entity had been revealed .
Its figure took the form of a multitude of monsters mashed together .
Its appearance was strange, alien even, incomparable to any living creature that obeyed the laws of nature .
“… … !”
The monster leaped, approaching Desir and Pram with incredible speed .
Pram moved just a fraction of a second behind it .
Using the newly acquired Cloud Striders, his body faded before appearing in front of Desir within the blink of an eye . He then struck forward with his rapier .
*Claaaaannng*
Sparks flew out as claw and sword clashed against one another .
----
Chapter brought to you by The Patrons .
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ED: Purplemen101
TLC: N/A
QC: Dr Lock
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