“Aa, a~aaaa, aaaaa~a~a~aa~a~a!!”

The Basilisk comes at me with its terrible old man head cry.
It looks at me with its bright, demonic red eyes.
Looking back at it, I felt a chill around my whole body.

It must be using its〖Evil Eyes of Petrification〗skill.
I felt the magic power inside my body shifting about and responded accordingly.
After a while, nothing happened.
The difference in our magic capacity must’ve been so wide that I didn’t suffer any abnormal status condition.
Surprised, the Basilisk starts trembling in fright.

I attempt to catch the Basilisk with my foreclaw but it swiftly jumps back and avoids me.

Grrr, what an annoying chicken……
I guess I still shouldn’t underestimate a magically enhanced speed-boost.
If I can hit it at least once, it will suffer fatal damage due to its low defense.

I waste no time in spreading my wings open and fire a threatening〖Wind Slash〗at it.
Then, together with my〖Wind Slash〗, I run after the Basilisk.

“A~a~a!”

The Basilisk flutters to the left and dodges my〖Wind Slash〗.
I was running right behind the〖Wind Slash〗and seeing that it avoided it, I immediately went after it and jumped.

Now’s my chance! I‘m going to beat its ugly face up.
Then, the Basilisk’s cheek suddenly swells.
In that instance, I try to remember the Basilisk’s list of skills in my head.
Is it…… it is! It’s gonna use〖Poison〗!
I stop my tracks and halt from getting closer.

“Agyu~oh!”

I knew it. It really was about to shoot something poisonous from its mouth.
Disgusting. Both its〖Poison Sash〗and〖Poison〗skills are at Lv 8…… that is dangerously poisonous.
But, if I chicken out now, it’ll get away.

“Gru~ooo!”

I raise my claw and hit the Basilisk’s face.
With the poison that it planned to hurl at me still in its mouth, I forced it back into its own throat.

Some of the poison in its mouth splattered on my claw.
But, I made sure it ate its own medicine.
However, since it has〖High Rest〗, I have to force it to use up all of its MP and drive it to the brink of death.
Until then, I’ll keep beating you up over and over and over again.
I will make you bring Treant back to normal, and I’ll start by breaking your legs so you won’t get away.

The poison on my claw starts to sting.
Grrr…… but of course, that was expected. I should still be fine since I have〖Poison Resistance: Lv6〗and a high HP.
I can take the pain, but let’s see if you can!

The poison is already starting to eat through my claws.
I grit my teeth…… but then, looking at my claw where I smashed the Basilisk’s face with, I was in shock at what I saw.

The Basilisk… is taking advantage of the poison in my claw and is dealing more damage to me by gnawing at it.
With the poison already eating through my scales, the Basilisk sinks its teeth deeper into my flesh.

Now that I think about it, since it has a snake tail, that skill must’ve come from the snake……〖Heat Sensor〗.
Even if their vision is blocked because I’m crushing their head with my claw, they can still sense me.
So this is your counterattack, huh.

The Basilisk may have received a direct attack on the face, enough to make its head deform, but it still wasn’t a fatal enough blow.
At the moment, it’s now countering with its own attack from the blind spot I’m creating.
Although, not really a direct counter either.

“A~a~a~a……”

Then, I felt a warm feeling run through my arm (front leg).
The Basilisk is once again taking advantage of its deformed head that I crushed and squeezing out its forked tongue between the gaps of its bloodied teeth…… and is licking my claw.
There was a shiver under my armpit before it went numb and I lost control of one limb.

W-Why you……!
I meant to crush you with my claw but now I can’t even move it.
It must be that skill〖Corrupting Tongue〗. How many abnormal status conditions am I going to get in this fight?
I attempt to crush the Basilisk again with my other claw, but then I notice the snake tail just staring at me from the sides.

“Sha~a~a!”

The snake snarls at me and black light starts gathering.
Wait, is that〖High Slow〗?!
It’s a skill that lowers the opponent’s speed.
That just brings back bad memories.
Even though I’m already struggling with speed here…… kick me while I’m down, why don’t you.
I slam the Basilisk with my tail, instead of my other claw, and distance myself away, avoiding the〖High Slow〗.

T-That was close……
I may have increased our distance between each other again, but…… I still avoided it, right?
Maybe I should verify, just in case……

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
〖Irushia〗
Species: Ouroboros
Status: Poisoned, Reduced Resistance, Petrified (small)
Lv: 96/125
HP: 2304/2517
MP: 2496/2520
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

W-What a parade of negative status!
At least I didn’t get hit with a “Slow” one…… but that “Petrified” and “Reduced Resistance” status though……
Was the “Reduced Resistance” added when it licked my claw with its dirty tongue? That’s the only instance I could think of when it might’ve given me that status.
As for that “Petrified (small)”, it must be this foreclaw that is now numb……

I look at my claw that the Basilisk bit.
It has turned gray and hardened from the tip up. Not only that, but it’s slowly spreading too.

They got me!
Because of this petrified foot, my speed will fall further behind.
I won’t be able to catch the Basilisk like this. Not to mention, I’m about to turn into a stone!
But more importantly, I’m not sure if I’m still capable enough of holding down the Basilisk in my current state.
This island is just full of high leveled monsters. I’ve had enough already!

S-Should I cut it off and wait for it to regenerate?
But…… repairing an entire limb could take a lot of time, magic, and concentration.
There’s no doubt the Basilisk won’t take that chance to assault me.
So then, what’s the right thing to do here?

Wait a second…… Nightmare’s still around!
She’s completely made herself hidden. Has she finished making her traps or is she still making it?
But, there’s a wide gap between Basilisk and Nightmare’s stats, so I don’t think she’ll be able to…… wait, with Nightmare’s skillset and fighting style, we might still have a chance.
Especially with how smart Nightmare is, she’s probably come up with something by now.

I stare at the Basilisk as I step back.
It must’ve thought that I was retreating or I’m showing my weak side, so it rushed at me.
I took another step back with my posture as is, slowly heading to where I sensed Nightmare was, and after luring the Basilisk close enough, I turn around and make a dash for it.

As I run away, I look back and check to see that the Basilisk is still after me while glimpsing upon a petrified Treant in the distance.
Just you wait Treant, I will definitely come back for you……!