On the way to the next dungeon, we stored Ricardo's trophies. Of course, we had a more secure shelter, but it was better to send Ragni there with all the loot.
Near the cave on the northwest edge of the swamp, we encountered KIRAM AGAIN!!
"What are you doing here?! You were supposed to guard the previous dungeon!" I didn't want to deal with his mischief again.
"As if I enjoy it! If you had returned to the Academy right away, I could have been peacefully sipping tea in my room, but now I have to trudge through the swamp to the new dungeon because of you students!"
It seemed that the swampy path didn't add any manners or cleanliness to him, which looked quite suspicious.
"Let's get down to business immediately; we have no desire to argue with you."
"Well, go to the cave; they are in there," Kiram smirked and vanished into the thickets. Oh, what a bad feeling I had.
We proceeded into the cave, where three impressively sized lizards awaited us. It seemed they were basilisks. The key was not to look them in the eyes and not get bitten.
"They are not as strong as the previous enemy. Let's have all those who rested last time fight now. Rizel, Algo, Leira, you can go first."
"Tch. Everything is so simple for you," Algo grumbled, clenching his sword in his hand, "but you're right; we didn't participate last time."
Each of us took on an opponent. Algo blocked the creature's attacks with his broadsword and delivered counter-strikes. Due to the lizard's low stature, hitting critical points was difficult, and its skull was too sturdy. Algo tried to inflict as many small cuts as possible to weaken the creature with bleeding, then deliver a decisive blow.
Leira ran around the basilisk, her movements accelerated by the power of lightning. Lightning and wind blades left deep gashes on the scales, but they still weren't fatal for the lizard.
Rizel, on the other hand, chose a different tactic. She simply stood in front of the basilisk and lightly dodged to the side, avoiding all its attacks. The creature lashed out with its tail, paws, and even tried to bite her, but the necromancer easily evaded all the attacks. She didn't even recite any spells or prepare her staff for use. It seemed she was getting bored, and that's when the basilisk launched a final attack. Standing on its hind legs, the creature jumped at her with its entire body. Rizel's stance instantly changed; she positioned herself more firmly and extended her silver staff forward. The basilisk impaled itself on the top of her staff like a lever, and in that moment, Rizel chanted a short two-word spell, and a dark purple flame seared through the lizard's body. The wound quickly began to spread, and soon, half of the attacker's body crumbled into dust.
Rizel's skills were unparalleled. The necromancer turned around with a leisurely smile, bestowing us with her good-natured grin before stepping aside.
"Rizel, it's not over yet! Behind you!" Kurone, with her skills, noticed two more living targets behind her.
The necromancer turned to see two more basilisks standing on their hind legs, hiding in the shadows. They lunged at her. At the last moment, Rizel managed to block the claws of the basilisks, but one of them bit into her shoulder.
"Asura, we need to help!"
"I'll take the right one, you take the left!"
Asura and I immediately rushed towards the creatures; they were still standing on their hind legs, exposing their soft bellies. With one swing, we sliced open their stomachs, and the creatures collapsed to the ground with a soft groan. When I looked towards Algo and Leira, they had already dealt with their targets. Kurone checked the surroundings to ensure there were no more surprises.
"Rizel, sit down. Here, take this medicine," Ragni ran up to the necromancer.
"What? Don't worry about it. The antidote is unnecessary," Rizel just waved her hands timidly.
"But their venom is quite potent; if you don't take the antidote, you'll petrify. You know how hard it'll be to chip you out afterward."
"Don't worry about it. Poisons don't affect me; it's a characteristic of necromantic blood," the girl attempted a coquettish laugh, but it didn't come off quite right.
"Rizel, rest here, and we'll finish soon and come back for you," I sat the shinigami on the nearest rock and headed towards the storage room with the others.
Of course, Kiram was already waiting for us there.
"You've managed; well done. But of course, after dealing with the chimera, these ones don't seem as strong," he said.
"How strange. The traders told us that there were only two basilisks guarding the entrance, but there were five of them, and two were lying in ambush."
"Oh, those incompetent information providers always mess things up. Well, no matter, you have ten minutes. Choose quickly and precisely."
And once again, we found ourselves in a room with shelves. This time, the contents were mostly plant seeds and dried petals and leaves. But alongside them were numerous vials filled with suspicious liquids. Some of them were clearly of plant origin, but I was sure I saw blood in some of the vials. The way everything was presented here was peculiar. Nevertheless, Ragni felt more confident; after all, she had spent so many years collecting herbs in the forest, and she understood them better than other ingredients.
While inspecting the shelves, I discovered another strange vial. It was a small transparent flask with bluish liquid inside, surrounded by icy rings. I took it in my hand and felt the scorching cold; even through the flask, the liquid maintained an incredibly low temperature. For some reason, I wanted to take this flask, but I didn't yet know why I needed it.
In the end, under Ragni's command, we gathered the rarest herbs, although with such little time, only a few of us managed to load up on loot.
Kiram was waiting for us at the exit.
"So, your time is up. I hope you managed to get what you wanted," a fake smile radiated on his face.
"No worries, we got everything we wanted."
"Well, goodbye, we won't see each other again. I'm only responsible for these two dungeons; I have no business running all over the continent through dungeons."
"Oh, you have no idea how glad I am to hear that!" With such friendly farewells, we parted ways with the wretched teacher and headed back to the city.
"Alfred, they work well as a team. If I were you, I'd keep an eye on them."
"You're not me. Besides, they only have a couple of strong mages. Such weaklings pose no threat to us."
"Still, keep an eye on them; they may be stronger than you think."