Basilisks, a serpent feared for its size and strength, with venom that could corrode steel in mere minutes. Native to Entarealm, they had spread into Io and Fabarol, where they had become apex predators, but also mounts and carriage beasts due to their exceptional speed and surprising tolerance to children of Elios.
But there are rare instances of an aggressive basilisk finding settlements and either eating everyone in it, or occupying it, leading to adventurers being called to take one out. Such is the instance for this specific basilisk.
Tavern managers went with the adventurers to document the hunt and inform them, "In the village of Beltor, an adult basilisk has taken it over, its houses are now ruins," a manager aired out to Rapl's party.
Sevi dismissively rested his face on his hands, "Yeah but like… how long is it going to take to get there?" He asked in an unbothered tone, leading Leena to pinch him a bit.
The manager was a bit taken aback by Sevi's disinterest, "O-One and a half hour." Sevi scoffed at this time, crossing his arms and closing his eyes.
Bok awkwardly chuckled, "Sorry he's just like that." Sevi slept during the whole ride, meanwhile, Leena was informing the whole party about what a basilisk is.
"Their scales are tough, so it'll take a lot to get through that, their venom could also kill us in a matter of seconds so let's try our best not to get hit," she suggested, the rest of the party nodding.
"Well, we have a lot more people so I think it should be fine," Rapl replied as he looked around the group of carriages carrying the adventurers, "They should be above our level." When the carriage group reached the camp of the displaced villagers, they all grouped up to discuss the plans.
A man wearing golden armor stepped up, a confident smile on his face, "Alright fellow adventurers, I'm Wiel, a high-rank adventurer, so I'll take on the plans for this hunt?" He remarked as everyone's ears opened up, "We'll slowly push up ahead with shieldmen and use our magic to-"
Before he could even utter the first step to his plan, Leena immediately stepped in, "No, we can't do that." Everyone's eyes widened as Wiel's brow shifted a bit.
"I'm sorry what?" He asked, Leena stared him in the eye, her face completely calm.
"We charge in there with shields, and they'll just get melted, and it'll just be unnecessary deaths," Leena pointed out, leading Wiel to get a bit embarrassed.
"B-but if we just channel our shie-"
"And what? Waste mana? We can't afford to do that against this thing, warriors just need to charge in there and just move around to dodge the venom." Everyone wondered what Leena meant by this.
"We'll be exposed," Wiel pointed out, but Leena hovered a finger on her mouth, indicating for Wiel to shut up.
"One of the few predators of basilisks are rock birds, massive eagle-like animals in Entarealm. They hunt basilisks as a pack, the fastest bird will get the basilisk's attention, swooping down and clawing at it for the basilisk to try to bite or shoot venom at it, then it would immediately fly up to the sky and do it again." Everyone now listened to Leena's wisdom.
One of the mages in the group recognized this due to him also being from Entarealm, "The fast rock bird would fly to a height where basilisks will try to reach for the skies, exposing their weaker underbelly, and that's when other rock birds will swoop in and deliver the finishing blow," He remarked as Leena gave him a thumbs up.
Wiel understood the plan, "So basically, we will try to make it expose itself, and then we swoop in to target the underbelly?" Wiel asked, Leena walked up to him and she patted his head to affirm him, Wiel's face turned a bit red as he fake coughed, "But, if that's the plan, who's going to be the bait?"
Right on cue, a snore filled the air as the sleeping body of Sevi became a highlight, "Him, he will be the bait, he's fast enough trust me."
Most everyone gave Sevi a weird look, they were all focused but Sevi was just napping, "D-Does he even know the plan?" One adventurer asked, resulting in Leena scoffing.
"Well he knows it more than anybody, he made the plan," Leena announced, resulting in everyone, including Rapl, Bok, Alex, and Rico being shocked, "He's just catching up on sleep right now due to him staying up late to make the plan." Bok and Rapl turned to each other as they realized why Sevi was up so late by the desk, "He was willing to read about basilisks and make an entire plan, but too lazy to tell it to anybody."
The more Leena talked, the more the whole group were in shock, Leena not only retold Sevi's other plan if the first plan doesn't work, but he also made a third plan if the second one didn't work. It was noon when the adventurers departed to the village, they stalked around the perimeter of it, careful to not alert the basilisk.
Bok was carrying Sevi on his shoulders, a mage casting a spell to limit any noises his snores might make. Rapl was behind Bok, then he saw a mage approach him, it was Sheril, "Hey Rapl," She whispered, "You ready for this?"
Rapl's mouth curled into an uncertain smile, "Sure… to be completely honest with you, I felt so much more confident entering, but now that the beast is this close, I'm starting to feel the fear." Sensing Rapl's tenseness, Sheril gave Rapl a reassuring pat on the back.
"You'll be fine mossgrum killer." Bok scoffed with pride as he overheard what Sheril just said. But immediately, from one of the buildings, a group of adventurers began to run, Bok recognized them as the first scout team.
"IT'S AWAKE!!! READY UP EVERYONE!!" A human man shouted out, everyone except for Bok hid behind the trees and bushes, and emerging from one of the houses, a massive body of the basilisk slithered out, its massive head pointing at the running adventurers as its frills began to shake as a symbol of intimidation.
Its mouth began to foam, the beast spat at the adventurers, and if it wasn't for their perception dodge, they would've melted like the grass that the venom hit. Bok's nerves began to envelop him, Leena saw this as she yelled out, "BOK!! THROW SEVI!!!"
Everyone then felt uneasy throwing a kid at the beast, although Leena told them to trust Sevi, they still couldn't see him do it. But Bok saw it, his sparring sessions with Sevi showed him how capable the young man was, so he lifted the sleeping Sevi by his shirt and pants.
"SEVI!! WAKE UP!!" Bok yelled as he threw Sevi in the air, everyone's breath was halted as they looked upon the unconscious body of a young boy in the air, traveling at the snake. When the basilisk saw Sevi, it reached out to eat him.
But then Rapl saw sparks, and what followed suit was an explosion that sent the beast reeling and shook the entire forest, "Dammit Bok," Sevi remarked, floating in the air, his hands and legs flaming, "It would've been better if I was in its mouth." Sevi looked down upon the beast, its eyes full of rage as Sevi's mouth turned into a crooked smile, "Let's see you reach."
The adventurers were in awe at Sevi's skill, he was out moving the beast with such speeds that most mages couldn't even predict where he would go even with their perception up. Sevi was also countering the beast; each missed shot was punished by flames.
Sensing that the beast was angry enough, Sevi blasted himself up, and when the beast tried reaching out for him, from the bushes, multiple warriors came out. Bok and Wiel led the charge, and wind mages used their spells to make them go faster, Bok's blade began to be surrounded by a gust of wind meanwhile Wiel's axe was surrounded by thunder.
The warriors were about to strike the beast, but then from their side, a basilisk mouth was about to bite down on the warriors, and everyone's lives flashed before their eyes as they met fangs as big as their whole bodies. But before the beast could bite down, there was already a man by its side, a man who could see the future.
"IGNIS!!" Rapl's hand turned bright red as wind gusts covered it, and with a hard punch, he blasted the beast's face to the other beast's body, sending both of them away. Everyone's eyes grew at the revelation, there were now two basilisks.
Sevi scoffed, "A mate huh? Only natural, basilisks don't just attack villages unless they're trying to find a nest, the people who assigned this quest might've only seen the male, not the female that snuck in when the male already made the villagers relocate." Sevi grinned as he put his hand on his chin, "Good thing I already thought of this, LEENA!! PLAN D!!"
Leena and a few adventurers began to run to the house where the beasts resided, and from the two basilisk's reaction, Sevi smiled.
"Predictable." The basilisks rushed to their nest; their eyes blind-sighted with rage. Leena and the mages didn't pay attention though, because frost began to cover the ground.
"FROZEN PALISADE!!" Spikes came from the ground, and due to them being distracted, the underbelly of the basilisks was pierced, the person who cast the spikes laughed, "Nice thinking brother," Alex remarked.
The serpents got free from the spikes, but their face was suddenly hit by fire, wind, and lightning as Sevi, Bok, and Wiel landed hard on them. From the lower parts, the warriors were trying to wear down the scales with their blades while the mages were casting spells on the beast.
The serpents found that if they stayed still, they would be pierced, so the basilisks moved around, their tails whipping at the adventurers sending a few flying. But when the basilisks spat their venom, a few adventurers were caught in them, causing them to burn and corrode to death.
Meanwhile, for the entire time, Leena was trying to shoot at the beast, but not just shoot at it, she was precisely trying to break scales one by one. Rapl seeing the commotion, thought of something, "Rico, c'mon boy, let's try something, spit at their scales, make it brittle." Rico and Rapl ran to the serpent.
Foreseeing the two getting hit by a tail swipe, Rapl picked Rico up and threw him while jumping over the swipe. On the air, Rico spat at a scale, Rapl saw which scale it was, he charged up a punch, and when he threw it, he broke a side of the beast, exposing a vulnerable underskin, Rico rushed to it, using his teeth Rico bit on.
The beast felt the two's damage, moving and struggling, swiping at Rapl and sending him flying, but Rico still held on. But the beast was so transfixed on getting Rico out, that it didn't see a huge rock coming at him, it sent the beast reeling as the mages doubled their actions.
Ten adventurers were already out of commission, five of those ten were dead. Bok was starting to get a bit worried, he already had a few injuries due to the serpent hitting him, "BOK!!" Leena yelled, causing Bok to turn to her, "ONE OF THEIR SIDES ARE ALREADY BRITTLE!! OPEN IT UP!!"
Noting this down, Bok searched for the brittle areas, he saw them, shattered scales ready to break, "RAPL!! WIEL!!" He yelled out, "I NEED YOUR STRENGTH!!" Bok ran to it as Rapl and Wiel turned to him, seeing where he was going, the two ran with Bok. Rapl's hand glowed a bright red with wind surrounding it, Bok's blade began to swirl with wind, and Wiel's axe cracked the air with a thunderous aura.
"IGNIS!!"
"WHIRLING CURRENT!!"
"STORM SHRIEK!!"
The three landed hard on the serpent, sending it flying to the ruins of the village. Its mate saw this as it slithered towards the other basilisk. Leena saw a massive opening for the scales, she smiled as she pulled back her bow, "Alright snake-face, let's open you up."
Leena fired, her arrow ripping through the air as it whistled its way to the flesh of the exposed hide, it struck with such force the beast flinched. The battle continued in the run-down village, Sevi and Alex showing off their magic proficiency in front of the experienced adventurers, Bok and Rapl's strength showed with each of their strikes, rivaling the highest-grade adventurers of Dartine, Leena was sharp shooting the beast, her speed on her bow left the other archers speechless, and Rico was outperforming all other pets in the battlefield.
Sheril, who was doing amazing in her own right, saw the party's strength, she couldn't help but smile, "The trailblazer party, heh, it suits them." The adventurers continued their fight, five were put out of commission due to injuries, but Alex saw that slowly but surely, they were whittling the beast down.
But then something happened that threw the entire operation into panic mode, one of the basilisks lifted itself, causing everyone to be shocked due to it exposing its weak spot, but then it produced a bellowing sound from its mouth. Confusion took over everyone's minds for a split second, and then they saw them, from the ground, houses, and rubble, fifteen-foot-long baby basilisks.
They began to attack the adventurers, hundreds of them covered the floor as the adventurers tried to fend themselves off. A mage behind the warriors knew what this meant, "THAT BELLOW WAS SIGNAL FOR FEEDING!! THE BABIES THINK WE'RE FOOD!!" He yelled. Bok, Rapl, Leena, Rico, and Alex all became concerned as more and more came.
Flying above it, Sevi looked on, "B-Babies," He exclaimed, his voice rushed, "I did not plan for any of this." Sevi began to scratch his hair in panic, his mind was racing at everything, he had made so many plans for this fight, but an army of snakes was not one of them, he began to hyperventilate as thousands of thoughts entered his mind. But then, he stopped and slowed his breath. A grin came over his mouth, and as he bit down on his finger, he giggled, "Got it."