Chapter 84: Victory
"Come at me."
Conan immediately regretted saying those words, as the serpent suddenly lunged at him faster than before.
CRASH!
The beast’s tail slammed into an ice sculpture that Conan created as a distraction before he moved to safety.
At this point, Orion was far from the two, ensuring that he wouldn’t get caught up in the cross fire.
[Ice Rain]
Conan commanded as he lifted his hand in the air, and the next second, ice shards started raining from above.
But unlike the Hound, this serpent was barely disturbed by the raining shards, the large majority melting before it even managed to harm its scales.
"This is not working," he muttered as he watched the {Lavascale Basilisk} open its mouth wide.
Before he could react, the beast spat out a stream of lava directly at him, forcing him to put up an ice wall.
Conan had to actively keep the wall up as the stream of lava continued pouring on it, causing it to melt.
He couldn’t keep that up for long since the [Nexus core] within him couldn’t produce infinite mana just yet.
Alvíss hadn’t figured that part out yet.
BOOM!
He was snapped out of his thoughts when a heated tail suddenly crashed through the wall and slammed into him, launching him towards one of the trees.
The creature had used its previous attack to get closer, and before he had the chance to realize it, it attacked again.
"F-fuck," Conan let out as his body slammed into the tree, the impact sending cracks spider-webbing through the tree’s trunk before it finally gave way and collapsed.
He rolled across the ground, barely managing to regain his footing before a searing wave of heat rushed past where his head had just been.
The Basilisk didn’t give him a second to breathe as it was already on him again.
The beast lunged once more, its massive jaws snapping shut just inches from his shoulder as he twisted to the side, barely evading it.
Its size did nothing to reduce its speed, if anything, it made it worse.
Its size made it cover even more ground as it moved, making it harder and harder for him to avoid its attacks.
"Tch," conan clicked his tongue and pushed off the ground, creating distance between them as he tried to think.
Ice wasn’t working as the interface suggested.
Well it was not working effectively, at least.
The creature’s heat output was too high, anything he formed melted too quickly unless he poured excessive mana into it, and that wasn’t sustainable.
Which left him with one option.
"Let’s change things up," Conan said as his hair went back to brown and his eyes became golden again.
{Lightning Module Active}
A moment before his transformation could be completed, the beasts tail slammed into his spot again, turning the ground to molten earth.
But when its tail lifted, Conan was completely gone.
BOOM!
A bolt of lightning crashed into it a second after, creating a blinding flash that could be seen even from a distance away.
Conan landed a short distance away, and turned towards the beast before muttering, "yeah... figured."
The flash of light died down, revealing the Basilisk’s that was mostly unharmed, with only a bit of blackened scales here and there.
Just as it had before, the creature shrugged off the rest of the lightning and turned towards the prey.
ROAR!!!
It let out a roar revealing its massive fangs before it started crawling towards Conan again.
Conan watched the thing approach before sighing, it was very obvious now that he wouldn’t be able to do much to it.
At least not to its scales anyway.
But still, he had something else to try. He crouched down a bit as bolts of lightning wrapped itself around him.
And then, the next second,
CRACK!
The ground beneath him shattered as he launched himself forward instead of away, closing the distance between them in an instant.
The Basilisk’s eyes widened ever so slightly as its prey suddenly rushed towards it.
Its jaws snapped shut but Conan slipped past them at the last second, as he drove himself underneath its massive frame.
Heat assaulted him immediately.
The temperature beneath the Basilisk was far worse than outside, the molten lava flowing between its scales turning the space beneath it into a miniature furnace.
"Found it."
Conan’s eyes locked onto the cracks along its underbelly, where the rocky armor thinned just enough to expose the glowing lava within.
Without hesitation, he thrust his hand forward.
"[Chain Lightning]."
Unlike his previous attacks, this one wrapped around his hand which he quickly slammed into the Basilisk’s underbelly.
His arm was a bit burnt but the lightning coating it protected him as much as it could before travelling into the point of impact.
Conan immediately moved away, before snapping his finger and triggering the actual attack.
BOOM!
The moment he snapped, the lightning he had planted within the Basilisk detonated, and unlike the previous attacks, it couldn’t just shrug this one off.
RRRRAAAAAAA!!!
The Basilisk let out a deafening roar, its massive body thrashing uncontrollably as it slammed into the ground again and again, turning the surrounding forest into a burning wasteland.
Conan had already retreated a safe distance, breathing slightly heavier as he watched the creature struggle.
"Yeah," he muttered, wiping a bit of sweat from his chin, "that definitely did something."
The lightning chain finally let up, but the damage it did was more than enough.
The Basilisk, now a lot angrier than before, let out a roar that shook the entire forest as it began slithering towards Conan.
"Let’s end this, shall we," Conan muttered, looking at the crack created by the lightning on its underbelly.
He then dashed forward again, quickly avoiding the beast’s tail attack and coated his fist in lightning.
The moment he was close enough, he lunged, his fist aimed directly at the crack.
[Lightning Fist]
BOOOOM!!!
The shockwave from the attack sent him flying backwards, stopping only when he slammed into a tree again.
The Basilisk, on the other hand, had it a lot worse. The lightning from the attack wormed its way into the crack before detonating, frying it from the inside.
It struggled for a bit, letting out a pained roar, but a moment later, it went completely still, and then,
THUD!
Its massive body fell to the forest floor, as the life was completely snuffed out of it.
A moment after that happened,
[Ding!]
Conan exhaled slowly as the familiar sound reached his ears causing him to glance down at his toke as a faint screen appeared.
{Points Awarded: +120}
{Current Score: 150}
"Not bad," he muttered.
A B-rank beast giving four times the previous reward made sense.
He then turned towards the direction where Orion was but he seemed to have left already, which caused Conan to chuckle.
He could’ve sworn that Orion would wait for him to get exhausted and then try to take his token again, but it seems he was wrong.
"Let’s get a bit of rest before continuing," he muttered as he sat on the ground.
Unfortunately for him,
BOOM!
The ground shook as something landed, kicking up a cloud of dust,
"You," from within the dust cloud, a voice came, "Fight me!"