"Damn..."
The view that his eyes feasted upon made him mumble unconsciously. Did he even realise that, despite the situation, his lips had curled up?
The blue blade that he held in his hand, stained with black liquid, didn't glisten a bit under the overwhelming darkness.
That darkness wasn't that of the shadows formed due to thick canopies blocking the moonlight. All the black material that continued to burn away at the bird-like snake spread in a huge circle around it.
In the middle of that vortex of cold, black flames stood a lone figure with his sword dug deep into the beast's head.
The three people who had played their respective roles were witnessing this from the sidelines. His gaze moved towards them once the monster didn't show any movements.
'As expected of Magic Tower Master Blaise's plan...'
Those thoughts emerged in Jaden's mind when he saw the look in the eyes of the one who had slayed the beast. Blaise was the one who had come up with the plan, which had succeeded smoothly.
His eyes wandered around to get a glimpse of Blaise's face. Even he was left with his lips gaping, just like Diona, after what just happened.
"What the hell..."
No one heard what Blaise mumbled due to the sound of flames blazing around them. The sizzling sounds of the grass burning enveloped their ears.
What Blaise was witnessing at the moment was far beyond his imagination. It didn't take Adrienne even ten minutes to completely subdue the Basilisk.
After appearing out of nowhere, he had killed off the huge, feathery snake before anyone could realise it.
'That wasn't the actual plan...'
Adrienne exterminating that monster was certainly part of Blaise's plan, yet there were some changes.
-2 hours ago-
"What...? That's just reckless!"
Thud
She banged her hand hard on the table after listening to the plan Blaise had devised. Her sky-blue eyes trembled just at the thought of a disaster that might occur.
Upon hearing that Blaise was requesting an audience to discuss something with her, Sierra brought along Eleanor too. They had a clue what he was going to talk about.
She wasn't someone who liked watching people die for no good reason. More so when it was someone with whom she had been acquainted for over fifteen years.
Even though Adrienne wasn't in contact with her for almost ten years, Sierra still cared for him.
"My... Just calm down and think about it."
It wasn't something one could decide to follow by just doing what he was asking. Basically speaking, that plan was beyond absurd.
What he had come up with was theoretically possible indeed, but practically? The chances of success were very low.
'How does he expect only four people to take that monster down while following such a complicated plan?'
Jaden could tell that he was going to run into trouble soon if he followed Blaise's plan. Just what was it that made that plan look dangerous, you ask?
The main point was that he wanted Jaden to deal damage at the start. What came after that was simply running away once the taunting went smoothly.
Imagine the whole elven forest as a pond. The basilisk was the fish in it, while Blaise and others were fishermen. They were catching the fish, and the bait was being decided.
'And why am I supposed to act as bait? I don't have a death wish-!'
Thinking about it, Jaden missed Aliana a bit. At least, she never put him in danger. Rather, she tried to protect him in tough moments.
The next part of the plan was a bit relieving to hear, though. Diona would then shoot arrows using her wooden crossbow to reduce the speed of the basilisk. That would give Blaise time to prepare his spell.
Once that spell happened to wear off the monster completely, it would be led down another path. At the end of it, Adrienne would be waiting for its arrival.
The rest of it would be much easier to follow. Ganging up on a person does sound cowardly, but this was a monster they were speaking about.
"Not to mention we have a swordmaster with us..."
Blaise was speaking facts throughout their discussion. If they actually carried out the plan without any errors, something like Basilisk would be easy to defeat.
The thing was, using numbers against it would only lead to more casualties. That was the reason why Blaise had come up with such a plan where they would be killing two birds with one stone.
He was considering Adrienne to be strong enough to be able to penetrate his sword through the thick skin of the basilisk. Landing such a hit on it when it was at its weakest would definitely ascertain its death.
"T-that's true, I suppose."
Sierra was still feeling hesitant. She had no idea how strong Adrienne had become by that point.
Her worries were unneeded, though. Adrienne was considerably stronger than a swordmaster. Including himself, no one had a clue that he was a sword emperor since he never got the chance to fight someone stronger than the current him.
A smile crept on Adrienne's lips as she observed how Sierra was still the same as back then. His whisper-like, cold laugh went unheard amidst the noise of Blaise trying to persuade Sierra.
"Why don't we go on with his plan? We will retreat if things get dangerous."
Adrienne was more than confident that he would be able to take down that monster without even the support of the other three.
To not dishearten them, he decided not to say a thing about it. Adrienne wanted to just have a go at the basilisk, who was feared by many.
In the meantime, Sierra tried to think of ways she could stop them from following the plan.
Jaden, who looked like her last choice to stop them, was also being pressured by Adrienne's unwavering eyes. In the end, it seemed like she had no other option.
Tch-
"Fine. I hope you don't get injured."
----------------------
"So, how do we find it now? I can't even see a thing properly."
The woman's grumpy way of speaking was a bit unusual for Blaise. The four of them had arrived in the direction where the elves reported spotting the basilisk after forty minutes.
The fog on one side and the shadows on the other made it difficult for them to perceive what was in front of them from a distance.
Maybe their timing in commencing the plan was a bad one. It was already evening, which meant the sun would be setting soon.
"We don't have much time."
Diona mumbled while loading an arrow into her crossbow. Observing the shape of the dug-out soil, she could tell that the basilisk had been there.
Snap
Lightly as ever, Jaden snapped his fingers to pull out the frozen rose from his storage magic. He never wished to play any role in that ridiculous play.
Had he refused it straight to their faces, Adrienne would've just increased the intensity of his training. Or so he assumed. Beside, this was a chance for Jaden to test how much stronger he had grown in the last few days.
Wishing that he manage to survive whatever was bound to happen was the best he could do under those circumstances.
Shcsh
The bushes shook and trembled, roughly following that sound. Something was definitely taking its steps in that creepy darkness.
"I think you should go ahead now."
The plan was that he would lure the monster by attacking and pulling its attraction. Now they were standing at the spot Blaise had told them about.
Diona climbed up a tree after running a few metres backwards when Blaise signalled Jaden to begin the plan.
Unlike them, who were using their feet to cover distance, Adrienne suddenly vanished into the thin air. It was his unique origin magic that allowed him to get to his spot in a blink of an eye.
The last two people left were Blaise and Jaden after that. They stared blankly and hopelessly at each other, witnessing the extraordinary abilities of those two, who had just left them alone.
"These two... Nevermind. I'm going to my position..."
Blaise could tell that saying anything about them was just a waste of time, given how strong they were. Actually, Diona was considerably strong for someone of a mid-class occupation like a hunter.
And about Adrienne, everyone had already heard the rumours that spread around the Agustus Kingdom like wildfire.
"You should be careful too."
That's what Blaise's parting words were. Now what was left behind was only Jaden, accompanied by a weird, eerie silence.
Sigh
The short breath escaped his throat unknowingly upon looking at the path in front of him. The basilisk was supposedly hiding somewhere near it. There was only one thing left to do...
'I should walk in this direction until I encounter it, right?'
Hitting it wasn't even the main point of his role. He just needed to lure it out into the range of Diona so that it gets hit with the arrows she had laced with a highly toxic poison.
If she were to miss her aim, Jaden would be as good as dead. The poison she had applied to the metallic tips of the arrow was something that dangerous.
Considering a huge animal such as an elephant from Jaden's original world, one drop of that poison would be enough to kill it before a second passes by.
The fact that she had poison applied to the arrows was unknown to Jaden. If he had known, regardless of the consequences, he would've rejected taking part in that plan.
'I will just find it and run away...'
He gulped down his own saliva, trying to ease his mind. Sadly, that wasn't of any help to him.
Tap tap
The sound of his footsteps combined with the beating of the heart in his chest mixed with the faint silence. There was no telling when the beast would pop out.
For a moment, he thought about using one of his sword skills to cause a ruckus enough to attract the basilisk. He would've done it if not for what Blaise had told them while walking out of the Elven Village.
-Don't make any unnecessary sounds. We might end up attracting other monsters in the vicinity.
No monster would dare approach them in the presence of the basilisk. And if anyone did such a thing prior to encountering that snake, then it would be more of a bother.
"Shouldn't it come out already?"
Twenty minutes had passed since he started walking the path. It was a relief that he was maintaining a slow pace, since that would let him stay in Diona's range.
Unfortunately, not even a slime or goblin had shown up. That was just metaphorically, since the forest wasn't their habitat to begin with.
"It seems like it ran away somewhere else."
Maybe it sensed no prey around since Eleanor had hidden the Elven Village using her magic barrier. That must've been the reason why there was no sighting of it yet.
In Jaden's original world, there was a saying most fiction lovers believed in. Speaking about something you don't want to happen in certain situations is a splendid death flag.
Hisssss
The sound made Jaden freeze in his boots. His neck became stiff when he tried to turn around. His reflection was visible to him on the yellow, shiny surface.
The black ball in the middle of it changed its shape to that of a straight line broadening outwards. The sweat that spread on his forehead flowed down with a peaceful smile.
'Oh. F*ck.'
He couldn't feel his body at all. What would be the best thing to do in such a situation? He knew what he needed to do. It was time for the hunt.