Chapter 78: Round 2

Now that they decided to attack the Netherlake Basilisk, they didn’t bother with other details and straight on rushed into action, because the moment they stop and think about what they are about to do, they will clearly become afraid and affect their self-confidence as well as create a nagging thought in their hearts.

Despite that, they were not acting recklessly. It was that they had a considerable amount of confidence in their plan to kill this Spirit Beast.

Leora was the first one to take up her position on a high branch as she tightly held her Unique Soul Spirit, The Bewitching Flute, in her hand.

Even though she was still grumbling to herself, pale green colored Spirit Energy enveloped her as she rotated her cultivation base, ready to take action without the slightest delay.

Mark transformed into the half-vulture state and with a slight push of his legs, he soared into the sky. He circulated his Spirit Energy, the feathers that grew on his arms turned pitch black and shot out like arrows, whizzing through the air. The black feathers broke through the calm surface of the crystal blue water.

Before the feathers could travel deeper into the water, they were instantly frozen by the terrifying low temperature of the lake. However, since they were induced with the Spirit Energy from Mark, the feathers still pierced deeper into the water and shattered when they collided with the body of the Netherlake Basilisk.

Rooooaarrrr!!!

An enraged roar resounded from the depths of the lake as the head of the Netherlake Basilisk burst out from the lake. Its deep blue eyes were filled with viciousness and a brutal aura erupted from it as it searched for the culprit that dared to disturb its slumber.

Its eyes finally locked onto Mark who was hovering in the sky. Mark’s body trembled slightly under the gaze of the Basilisk but he recovered immediately. He was a hunter in the Black Lands and he was used to the onslaught of the brutal aura of the Spirit Beasts. But he had never hunted a Spirit Beast of this strength before and his heart was pounding heavily in his chest.

He waved his arms and once again released another wave of feathers, once more creating whistling sounds as they tore through the air.

*Ping* *Ping* *Ping*

Continuous sounds of metal clashing against metal sounded out as the feathers clashed against the azure scales of the Netherlake Basilisk. This time the feathers didn’t freeze but they only left faint white spots on its scales.

Mark’s expression became grave when he saw that the black feathers couldn’t even pierce through the scales of the Netherlake Serpent. He now understood that they had underestimated the defense of the azure scales of this Netherlake Basilisk.

ROOOOOOAAARRRRR!!!!

The Netherlake Basilisk raised its head and its enraged roar resounded through the surroundings. Mark staggered in the air and he almost fell when the force wave of the roar hit him, but he hurriedly flapped his wings and managed to stabilize himself.

It was at this point that dozens of pale green wind blades flashed and hit the side of its body. Each of the wind blades was thin and a meter long with a sharp edge. All of the wind blades were concentrated on its neck and it couldn’t react soon enough to avoid those fast wind blades.

Glittering blue scales dropped down from the body of the Netherlake Basilisk and it fiercely turned around to look at the direction the wind blades had come from. Leora, who was standing on a branch paled immediately when she felt the powerful and brutal aura of the Netherlake Basilisk.

She immediately jumped down from the branch and her Spirit Energy created two small whirlpools of the wind under her feet as she dashed away at high speed. The Netherlake Basilisk let out a loud roar and it emerged from the lake and pursued the speedily fleeing Leora on ground.

“Mark! Azalon! Now!!!” Leora screamed when the Netherlake Basilisk had moved a large distance away from the cold lake and Mark, who was following behind,  immediately swooped down from the air.

This was the first part of their strategy. Spirit Beasts at this level would all have their own territories which were basically favorable environments for them. And this Netherlake Basilisk was no exception. Its territory, the Netherlake, was uniquely special because of its low temperature that could even freeze the Spirit Energy that entered it. Battling the Netherlake Basilisk in its home turf would be tantamount to suicide. So, the first wave of attacks was to draw it out from its territory to a place that would be favorable to them. This would only increase their success rate by a small margin, but even that small increase was acceptable to the three of them.

Mark’s fists turned black as he concentrated all his Spirit Energy into his fists. As he was about to smash onto its head, a fist covered in purple color buzzing with a drilling sound appeared from just below its neck.

Azalon’s Fifteen Pulses Infinite Pulses Fist collided with the same spot where the scales were damaged by the wind blades of Leora. He timed it perfectly so that both his and Mark’s fists would attack at the same time.

Boom! Boom!

The two fists collided with a loud boom and the shock waves kicked up a large amount of dust. Leora stood at a distance, panting, but she had her Spirit Energy ready to cast the Wind Blades if necessary.

Two figures suddenly flew out from the dust cloud and one of them was thrown high into the air while the other collided with a huge tree. The tree collapsed but the figure didn’t stop and continued to collide with the next, and the next. It was only when ten trees were collapsed did the momentum of the figure stop. Azalon felt every bone in his body rattling and a coppery sweetness in his throat as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Mark was not faring much better as he lost control of his body and his transformation canceled out as he reverted back to his human form. His body crashed onto the ground, creating a huge crater.

“Mark!!!” Leora shouted out and her body blurred as she began to move towards Mark.

RRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

The ground trembled under that terrifying roar as the Netherlake Basilisk emerged from the dust cloud that scattered under that roar. Leora stopped in her tracks as she felt the tremendous undulations from the Basilisk. It appeared really berserk as it opened its huge mouth and with a slight gagging sound, something huge came out from its mouth and landed before it with a huge thud.

The bloated looking stomach instantly shrunk to its normal size and the Basilisk turned to look at Leora who was the only one standing among the three. Leora understood that the Basilisk vomited out whatever Spirit Beast it had eaten and any advantages that they had because of its previous condition had now become moot. What was before them was the Netherlake Basilisk that was now at its peak state, whether in speed or strength.

It roared again and breathed out a cold wind that spread out with the Basilisk as the center. The temperature of the surroundings instantly fell as a thin layer of ice covered the ground, freezing everything it came in contact with.

Ice Breath – The innate ability of the Netherlake Basilisk that would produce a breath of cold air and would instantly freeze the surroundings of the Basilisk. It was not at the same level as the Netherlake that it created but it was more than enough for use in a battle.

“Damn! We miscalculated.” Leora almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the words of Azalon by her side.

“You two idiots!!! You-you-” Leora couldn’t form any kind of coherent words because of the fear that she was feeling. She had always been a princess of her family, because of her Talent and her Unique Soul Spirit, and she never encountered these kinds of life and death situations. Her standing there without freaking out or even worse, running away, was already considered very brave of her.

“Well, it looks like we have to move to Part B of the plan.” Azalon grimaced in pain as he said this. Leora looked like she was ready to faint and Azalon couldn’t help but slightly smile at this girl. It was not that he was envious of her way of living, but he always wanted to feel what it would be like being doted upon and pampered. Even though he had his grandfather and his brother Hank, it was not the same kind of love that one would get from their parents.

“Oye Mark. We are moving to Part B. Get your sorry ass up.” Azalon shouted at the crater that was at a distance from them and they heard a muffled grunt from inside. “We are going all out from here on out,” Azalon said to Leora and his body flashed as he moved in a peculiar fashion.

A black blur shot out from the ditch and Mark appeared in the air, transformed back into his half-vulture state. But this time the transformation was even more pronounced and there was a faint tattoo of a vulture on his bare chest. The tattoo started glowing and a faint apparition of an enormous vulture appeared behind Mark. He formed a peculiar seal with his hands and started chanting in a weird language.

Loera sighed and she too moved to a distance where she started concentrating after cooling her emotions. Pale green Spirit Energy started revolving around her as she manipulated the wind to form one wind blade after another. Within a few moments, there was almost two dozen of them revolving around her but Leora didn’t stop and was still creating more and more of them.

Azalon’s body became like a specter as he dashed into the ice field created by the Ice Breath of the Basilisk. The ice flakes passed through his body like he was transparent and other than a slight tingling sensation, Azalon didn’t feel anything.

Ghostly Illusionary Steps. It was this movement technique that was at the Small Success stage that created this situation. The eyes of the Netherlake Basilisk concentrated on the small figure of Azalon that was closing the distance to it. It hissed, baring its fangs before twisting its body, sweeping its powerful tail until it looked like a blue streak of light. The fan-like tail produced a shrill screeching sound as it tore through the air, intent on smashing Azalon into a pulp.

Azalon’s eyes flashed with a brilliant gold as his pupils flashed with a bright silver glow. His footsteps suddenly halted and he skidded on the thin layer of ice that formed on the ground. The tail smashed onto the place he was at previously as he avoided it narrowly. But the shock wave produced still had a devastating power as it threw him forward with a tremendous force and Azalon had to use his fists to pound on the ground to stabilize himself. If he got too close to the Basilisk, he knew that he had no way of protecting himself and he would take the place of whatever the Basilisk had puked out before.

Azalon had no intention of becoming a snack to this Spirit Beast. He flipped his hand and two paper thin, almost transparent gloves appeared in his palm.

Mountain Crushing Gloves.

He put on the gloves and turned towards the Netherlake Basilisk that hissed at him menacingly. He wiped off the blood that oozed out from the corner of his mouth.

“Time for Round 2!” His body blurred as his lightning Spirit Energy coursed throughout his body. His eyes were now pure golden with silver pupils as he raised his fist and let out a punch.