The team arrived at the other side of the village just in time to build a camp and rest before starting their grind in the morning. While Rahz cook some BBQ, Elune prepare another batch of poison to bathe the egg and give it the last hmpff, it needed to break through the initial hurdle.
Elune moved far away from the group and started her cauldron. She placed a plethora of poisonous plants as well as the blood of high level serpents that they manage to buy from the Alchemy store in Willowdale and then started to infuse her Runic energy into the mix.
The Basilisk's egg assimilated the liquid inside the cauldron as a thin breaking line started to spread throughout the surface of the shell. The beast around the area started to grow restless and many started acting erratic hitting trees or launching attacks at the creatures next to them like they were going crazy.
10 ft around the cauldron all the trees started dying, at this point the Witch Doctor spoke, " Quickly!!! Use some of your blood on top of the cracked shell and complete the bond ritual before the poison kills us".
Elune quickly cut her wrist and let her blood drip into the egg while providing the energy of heaven and earth. As the blood disappeared into the gap the shape of her Rune appear on the surface of the egg and when the last line was completed, Elune felt a link with a very strong life force while the itchy feeling that the poison was making her feel disappeared. She could tell that after the link was formed, she had gain immunity to any poison or disease that was weaker than that of a basilisk.
At the moment, one could say that Elune was immune to 1000 poisons but as her pet grew and the poison got stronger, her resistance too will also go through the roof.
Elune realized that she could transmit intend to the Basilisk and vice versa, now it was all a matter of exploring the extend of that bond and seeing its limits. As Elune was looking over their link, the egg shell started crumbling and a dark green light blinded everything in the area, the head of a serpent started to poke through the gap and poisonous gas flew into the air.
HISS!!!
The hiss was heard in a 500 ft radius and made all the beast that heard it tremble and hide away. When the light disappeared a 3 feet black serpent was coiling happily around her body.
The Basilisk had black skin with dark green lines an a pair of gold eyes that could charm anybody into seeing them. According to the Witch Doctor, as the king of snakes, Basilisk were immediately level 25 when they hatched and were close to 10 ft long and 1 ft in diameter.
Elune thought about the loving snake coiling around her and couldn't help but ask the old soul " didn't you say she was suppose to be level 25. How come she is only level 15 and only 3ft long?"
Cough... cough
"Is what the textbooks said about them , I never actually had one myself so perhaps since we created all those potions for her she is a little premature. Don't worry, they grow pretty fast when they have an ample supply of food and this Kobold mine is the perfect environment".
HISS!
She is hungry, " let's go back to the camp and make the introductions. I am sure Rahz will have pretty decent food for you to try".
Back at the camp Rahz was hard at work grilling two Boars while brushing his own marinated onto the creatures, humming a tune while thinking about the big hunt the next day.
Rahz saw a few of the bushes moved and thinking that it could be a beast he went to grab his Axe but very soon the delicate figure of Elune came into view followed by a 3 ft snake that made Rahz jump forward in order to protect her.
While rushing in Rahz screamed, " SNAKE!!"
Elune looked back and saw her new companion and quickly said, " She is my pet".
Rahz stopped in his tracks and look at Elune arms that were not carrying an egg before smiling and asking " What's its name?"
"Her name is Midori and she is a basilisk"
Rahz took a piece of meat for the new member of the team and call the others to eat before turning in for the night. Midori was delighted by the flavor of the meat and even climb up Rahz body and rubbed against his face in joy.
Next day Rahz woke up early in the morning and started to sharpen his 2h Axe since it was going to be a long day fill with Energy Experience as well as many hours of killing. Everyone in the team was excited as the counter spy work was filled with many hours of idleness and that made it boring to do, instead, they were about to face a never ending wave of Kobolds which seem a lot more fun.
"Don't worry Midori, I will make sure you get to eat your fill before the glutton in my back starts devouring everything".
The team made their way closer to the mines and even before they could send Arne to take a look, a plethora of them way were outside what used to be their territory. Just as before the weaker ones were at the outermost ring and were not worth to even talk about.
15 minutes was all it took for them to kill about 30 Kobolds that weren't even able to break through Elune's wards. Midori had a similar style of devouring to Riddick but she just use her poison to melt the meat and absorb the nutrients and Energy from what was left.
The closer to the mines, the bigger the amount of Kobolds walking around, it was like nothing Rahz had ever seen, there were hundreds on the outside alone who knew how many were inside the tunnels.
" Let's make this a fun experience guys, whoever kills the most Kobolds gets a potion from Elune.."
"Why do I have to make the prize?"
"There is nothing else we can try to get besides a potion and it will be too boring without a prize"
" Fine!! But then I will take the cost from what I owe you"
Rahz was speechless but still agreed to the demands. With a goal in sight the group launched towards the group of Kobolds and started the slaughter. Everyone in the team try to stay away from Rahz as his style was reckless and they feared the swings as well as the vacuum generated by His Cyclone.
Since the Kobolds were still in the pre-evolved levels the numbers were closer than everyone thought. Arnes didn't have many Area of Effect skills but every time he stabbed or slashed with his dagger there was one death Kobold. Cypher was also a well oil killing machine as he switch in and out of his bear form and crush the throat of all his opponents.
The revelation in the competition was Midori, her poison gas went inside all the Kobolds in a 5 ft range from her and they felt dead within seconds. The second threat was her speed, she moved extremely fast among the creatures and wherever she went a trail of dead and decay followed.
"Don't forget guys, Midori's kills go to me and mine also go to me. Hahahah!"
All the other competitors jaws dropped and cursed under their breath. The competition lasted for two hours but they had to back off as the never ending stream of Kobolds started to increase in Level to the point that they actually need it to work as a team.
The battlefield was a horror house, there were so many corpses on the ground that one couldn't see the snow underneath their feet. The one with the saddest face was definitely the basilisk since they had to run away from the area and hide from the neverending tie of creatures, she was not able to consume them right away.
Elune couldn't stop smiling as she and her pet were the winner of the event by killing almost 100 Kobolds more than Rahz who managed to collect 200 heads. Midori demanded as a reward another boar cooked by Rahz and he didn't have any other choice but to get to work.
The next few days the team kept clearing out the kobolds outside the mine and managed to reach Level 11 while Cypher manage to reach Level 14. Midori on the other hand had managed to eat quite a few Kobolds and was now 5 ft long, a very substantial increased in size. The team kept at it for another week before returning to the village disheartened because despite all their efforts they never managed to see what the tunnels looked like.