In a battered state, Marcus looked at the ferocious basilisk before him. The earlier damage had stunned it, breaking its momentum. However, Marcus knew that not taking the initiative would only lead to his defeat. With a determined resolve, he prepared to make his next move, knowing that victory depended on his ability to seize the initiative and press the attack.
First, Marcus repaired the half-broken golem, focusing his energy on restoring its damaged form. Then, with intense concentration, he imagined two more golems. Seamlessly, out of thin air, rocks gathered together and formed two additional golem constructs, standing alongside the first one. With his newfound reinforcements, Marcus felt a surge of confidence, ready to take the fight to the greater basilisk once again.
The appearance of two more constructs stunned the greater basilisk; it was not expecting reinforcements to join the battle. The basilisk hesitated for a moment, its eyes narrowing as it assessed the new threat before it.
It stood still at its place gaging the opponents strengths and weaknesses. Marcus might be able to make constructs and overwhelm his enemies with sheer numbers.
But this was not feasible for him right now. This had two main drawbacks: first controlling golems was not an easy task for him. It needed a lot of focus and to imagine how all the golems would attack.
With greater numbers he might have a greater sense of security but an ineffective army. It was just too difficult to control. Sacrificing quality for quatity was not something Marcus wanted to implement right now.
Second one was strategic; the basilisk in front of him was in its home ground and the area was quite narrow. Which would severely hinder his mobility. And that dangerous energy beam from the beginning might wipe out his army.
Just as Marcus was thinking of taking the initiative to attack the basilisk beat him to it. Using its sharp claws it climbed the cavern walls and rushed at him hanging from the roof.
This caught Marcus off guard. Taking advantage of the inactivity of the golems, the basilisk jumped down, landing on top of one of them with a ferocious snarl.
The decorative small round head with no feature was torn away by its ferocious claws. Just as it pinned down one of the golems the other golems did not stand on ceremony and lunged at it.
Marcus knew that the scales of basilisk were harder than stone and didn't waste time making useless attacks like punches and kicks.
Rather he took advantage of the weight of the rocks to immobilize the enemy. The basilisk might have remarkable strength and razor sharp claws but it still could not withstand the weight of 3 heavy rock golems.
Moreover, tendrils of liquid cement started to wrap around the basilisk's limbs, solidifying into hard concrete at the speed of the naked eye. The basilisk thrashed around like a mad beast as the cement hardened, restricting its movements. Its spiked tail lashed out, hitting and cracking the golem as it tried to free itself from the cement's grip. Marcus watched with satisfaction as his plan began to take effect.
If Marcus had not used cement to bind the golems, they might have already broken apart under the basilisk's relentless assault. The hardened cement provided a crucial layer of protection, allowing the constructs to withstand the basilisk's powerful attacks.
However both parties were feeling desperate as the conclusion of the battle drew nearer. The crystals on the basilisk's back started to vibrate.
Marcus, who was on the floating platform and observing the situation from afar, could not feel anything. The greater basilisk used almost all of its strength and lifted its head and stared at Marcus.
Marcus felt like he was staring right into the soul. Soon after a huge amount of energy started to gather at its mouth. Preparing to reduce Marcus into ashes.
"Damn it, how can it see me?!"
Marcus maneuvered his platform to move into different directions. However it seemed he wouldn't be able to escape from its sight. The basilisk head and marcus platform moved in sync with each other.
The vibrations it let out was something it didn't want to use unless the situation was dire. After all no one wanted to hype active their senses which can cause internal injuries.
But even with the most basic intelligence it could understand that the things holding himself down was not a living being. These things didn't have cardiac vibrations.
So I had to make sure what exactly it was fighting. And his sense didn't fool him; these were indeed not living but there was a living being away from his location.
As long as anything was living it could be killed. To do it took action and to make a sure kill it was going to use its strongest breath. After it didn't know how to kill things that were not alive in the first place.
Marcus was not sitting idly either; he used tendrils of cement, sand, and stone to seal the basilisk's mouth shut, solidifying them into a concrete-like binding. It was akin to wrapping the jaws of an alligator with tape or rope, ensuring that the basilisk couldn't open its mouth and release any more destructive energy. With a sense of relief, Marcus watched as the binding held firm, preventing any further danger from the injured creature.
Normally, this shouldn't have been effective, but the basilisk's injured jaws made it vulnerable. Slowly, the energy being accumulated started to subside, as if understanding that its plans had failed.
But Marcus was not going to let it pass so easily. This time he was really angry if it wasn't for luck he really might have been a goner today. No matter what now that he had been discovered and could not hide, escape was not an option.
But killing this monstrosity was also too difficult. It was like a battery charging up and blasting out energy beams.
"Wait like a battery…."
A sudden bolt of inspiration hit Marcus. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. If this guy is a battery why not short circuit him.
Just as the bright crystals on its back started to lose their built up energy, it suddenly spiked up. This greatly confused its host. This was the first time such a thing had happened.
Marcus on the other hand bursting out of joy. These crystals were like the explosive crystal. Marcus used all his focus and energy to make the crystals reach its critical state.
The one experiencing this moment was the basilisk. Overwhelmed by a suffocating feeling, it struggled to contain the energy within itself, feeling more helpless than ever. Despite its efforts to control the energy, its own body seemed to betray it, aiding in the application process. No matter how much it tried to resist, the energy levels continued to rise.
Alarm bells started to ring in the basilisk's head, but it was powerless to do anything. It couldn't even open its mouth, and a while later, its mouth was completely swollen, urging for release. The basilisk struggled in agony, feeling the overwhelming pressure building up inside it with nowhere to go. It was a prisoner to its own power, trapped in a cycle of destruction that it couldn't control.
Marcus, sweating profusely, realized that the situation was getting dangerously out of hand. The built-up energy was too great to ignore, and he knew he had to act quickly to protect himself. Rapidly reinforcing the concrete binding the basilisk's jaws, he began a steady retreat, moving as far away as possible from the impending explosion.
Finally, Marcus got the fruits of his labor, but it terrified him. In a massive explosion, instead of the entire body blowing up, all the energy gathered on the basilisk's head detonated, creating a powerful energy beam that broke through the roof of the cave, revealing the night sky filled with stars.
The force of the explosion sent shockwaves rippling through the cavern, shaking the ground beneath Marcus's feet. He watched in awe as the energy beam pierced through the darkness, illuminating the night sky with its brilliance.
Marcus stood in a daze, completely stunned and mesmerized by the power. The headless corpse of his enemy fell lifelessly on the ground. Then its body turned into ashes and disappeared. This didn't surprise Marcus afterall he had already seen a lot and was numb to it.
Only a single fist-sized crystal, the same color as those on his foe's back, lay where the basilisk's corpse once was. Marcus slowly approached and picked it up, feeling the hum of its power in his hand.
At the same time, tremors began to shake the labyrinth, sending ripples of fear through Marcus's heart.