Never Die Villain

After settling their dispute, Ilya and Tristan finally turned their attention back toward the Basilisk.

Neither of them looked particularly satisfied with whatever agreement they had reached, but considering Tristan was no longer trying to kill Ilya, the students around them were willing to consider the matter resolved.

The Basilisk, unfortunately, had not waited for them.

Its enormous tail tore across the clearing, smashing through several trees and forcing the students closest to it to scatter before they could finish casting.

One student was too slow to get out of the way, and his identification seal activated just before the tail could reach him, pulling him from the hunting field in a flash of light.

"Stop standing around!" one student shouted. "It’s already injured! Keep attacking the damaged sections!"

Magic circles spread throughout the clearing as the students reorganized themselves, and this time their attacks were far less desperate than before.

The Basilisk had already taken considerable damage, with several sections of its armored hide broken open by the fighting, and now that Ilya and Tristan were keeping most of its attention occupied, everyone else could concentrate their spells on those weaknesses.

A barrage of fire struck its left side, followed almost immediately by wind blades and spears of earth aimed at the same location.

The Basilisk twisted away before the attacks could do much more damage, but that movement exposed the opposite side of its body to Tristan.

Three translucent planes appeared around him.

"Too slow."

A lance of mana shot from his hand and passed through the first plane, changing direction toward the second before being redirected once again.

The Basilisk turned its head toward Tristan, expecting the attack to come from the front, only for the spell to suddenly descend from behind and strike directly against the damaged scales along its back.

The creature roared and whipped around.

Ilya was already there.

He dropped from above and drove his heel into the side of its head, using the blizzard to add even more force to the strike at the moment of impact.

The Basilisk staggered, but Ilya didn’t remain within reach long enough for it to retaliate, allowing the blizzard to pull him backward as an enormous claw tore through the space where he had been only a moment earlier.

"Do it again," Ilya said.

"I don’t need you ordering me around."

"You’re wasting time arguing."

"Just you wait!"

Tristan raised both hands anyway.

More translucent planes appeared throughout the clearing, and the other students quickly realized what he was doing.

Instead of immediately firing his own spell, Tristan positioned the planes around the Basilisk at different angles, creating several possible paths toward the wounds covering its body.

Elise immediately understood.

"Everyone, aim for his planes!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

A fireball struck one of the translucent surfaces and immediately changed direction, shooting past the Basilisk before striking another plane and turning again.

What had originally been a poorly aimed attack suddenly came crashing into the creature’s flank from behind, and once the other students saw what had happened, spells began flying toward Tristan’s planes from across the clearing.

"Don’t just throw them randomly!" Tristan shouted. "I still have to control the trajectories!"

"Then control them."

Tristan’s head snapped toward Ilya.

"Do you want to go flying again?"

"...You’re the one who went flying."

"Would both of you shut up?!" someone shouted.

The next wave came all at once.

Fire, lightning, compressed wind, and countless other spells entered Tristan’s network before changing direction around the Basilisk, striking from above, behind, and along both sides faster than the creature could turn to defend itself.

Several attacks still shattered uselessly against its intact armor, but enough found the wounds already opened across its body that the Basilisk finally began giving ground.

Solenne watched from farther back, her eyes moving between Tristan’s planes and the students feeding spells into them.

She waited until the Basilisk shifted its weight before forming a magic circle of her own, then sent a bolt of force into the side of its injured leg.

The attack itself wasn’t particularly powerful, though it didn’t need to be.

The damaged leg shook just as the Basilisk tried to move, throwing the enormous creature off balance and forcing one side of its body toward the ground.

"There!" Solenne shouted.

Ilya reacted immediately.

The blizzard carried him upward before abruptly changing direction, sending him straight down toward the Basilisk as frost spread farther across his body.

He twisted in the air and brought his fist down against the creature’s skull, concentrating the blizzard behind the strike at the final moment.

Boom——!

The Basilisk’s head crashed into the ground hard enough to shake the entire clearing.

"Is it dead?"

"No!"

"Then keep attacking!"

The students didn’t need to be told twice, and dozens of magic circles appeared around the clearing as everyone prepared to strike while the creature was down.

Before any of them could release their spells, however, the Basilisk’s eyes suddenly opened and its head snapped upward, throwing Ilya from its skull as its chest began to expand.

Ilya caught himself in the air.

"Move!"

The warning came barely in time.

The Basilisk opened its jaws and released another torrent of green flames across the clearing, sweeping its head from one side to the other as the attack tore through trees and ripped apart the ground in its path.

Students abandoned their spells and scattered in every direction, with several identification seals activating when their owners failed to escape quickly enough.

Tristan threw himself behind a translucent plane and immediately formed another when the first began cracking under the attack.

The second lasted just long enough for him to move out of the Basilisk’s path, while Ilya remained above the clearing, allowing the blizzard to carry him beyond the creature’s reach.

The Basilisk didn’t stop there.

Already wounded and surrounded on every side, the creature abandoned any attempt to defend itself and charged directly into the students instead.

Its injured leg slowed it considerably, but its enormous size meant that even a desperate charge was enough to send everyone scrambling as its claws tore through the ground and its tail swept across the clearing behind it.

"Keep your distance!" Elise shouted. "Don’t let it break the formation again!"

A student ignored her and tried to finish his spell.

The Basilisk’s tail caught him before he could release it, and his identification seal flashed.

"Damn it!"

Elise immediately raised her hand and sent lightning into the creature’s exposed side, forcing it to turn away from the remaining students.

That gave Tristan enough time to reposition several of his translucent planes around the clearing before firing a lance of mana through them, redirecting the spell twice until it struck the Basilisk from behind.

The creature stumbled.

Ilya came down from above.

His foot struck the same injured leg Solenne had targeted earlier, and the additional force of the blizzard finally drove the limb into the ground.

The Basilisk roared and twisted toward him, but Ilya was already gone, propelled backward before its jaws could close around him.

"It’s slowing down!" someone shouted.

That much was obvious.

The Basilisk was still dangerous, but its movements had become noticeably heavier, and blood ran freely from the gaps where its scales had been broken apart.

One of its legs could barely support its weight anymore, its breathing had grown rough, and every spell that reached the exposed flesh beneath its armor made it stagger.

Everyone could see it now.

The Basilisk was dying.

Which meant whatever points it was worth were almost within reach.

The remaining students immediately became far less interested in cooperation.

"Don’t get in my way!"

"That’s my kill!"

"You’ve barely done anything!"

"I’ve been here longer than you!"

Magic circles began appearing everywhere again, but before the students could turn the final moments into complete chaos, the Basilisk suddenly reared its head and roared.

Ilya and Tristan moved first.

Several translucent planes appeared around the Basilisk as Tristan began preparing another spell, while Ilya launched himself upward and formed a line of ice javelins behind him.

Neither bothered looking at the other, but both already knew exactly what the other was trying to do.

"Don’t even think about it," Tristan said.

Ilya grinned. "You’re behind."

"Because you threw me across the hunting field! You cheating bastard."

The Basilisk charged.

Ilya swept his hand forward, sending his ice javelins down toward the wounds covering its back, while Tristan released his spell at nearly the same moment.

His attack passed through one translucent plane after another, changing direction repeatedly until it came from the Basilisk’s blind side.

Both attacks struck.

Ice shattered across the creature’s back as Tristan’s spell tore into one of its exposed wounds, and the combined damage finally caused the Basilisk’s injured leg to collapse.

Its enormous body crashed down onto one side, tearing through the ground as it desperately tried to force itself upright again.

Ilya saw the opening.

So did Tristan.

They looked at each other.

"Mine."

"Fuck off."

Ilya disappeared first.

The blizzard launched him straight toward the Basilisk’s head as frost rapidly spread along his arm, and he pulled his fist back while gathering as much force as he could behind the coming strike.

Tristan reacted immediately, forming several translucent planes between himself and the creature before releasing another concentrated lance of mana through them.

Ilya was closer.

Tristan’s spell was faster.

"Fulmen."

But neither noticed Elise.

Crackle——!

Lightning flashed across the clearing. The bolt passed between Ilya and Tristan and struck directly into the open wound along the Basilisk’s neck.

Electricity spread beneath its scales before either of their attacks could connect, and the creature’s entire body seized as the lightning tore through it from the inside.

Ilya stopped himself.

"...."

Tristan’s spell disappeared.

"...."

The Basilisk remained upright for another second before its strength finally gave out, and its enormous body crashed onto the ground with enough weight to send dirt rolling across the clearing.

Silence descended as the Basilisk finally collapsed, and for several seconds, nobody seemed quite sure how to react.

Ilya slowly lowered his fist while Tristan stared at the corpse in disbelief.

Elise had barely lowered her hand when a notification appeared before everyone.

[Special Target Eliminated.]

[Basilisk Tyrant]

[Final Blow: Elise Margaux de Beaumont.]

[+100 Points.]

[Time Remaining: 00:01:03]