Chapter 69: Vindictive Shit
"Fucking hell, it’s going towards Ethan"
After a long while of trying to hold the flying mind dragon down, it eventually escaped. But instead of heading toward the altar, it went straight for Ethan.
"We are following it!!"
Hela barked the order as her light-based beast materialized in front of the other two, allowing them to climb quickly onto its back.
In the blink of an eye, they shot through the horizon, chasing madly after the mind dragon as it cut through the sky ahead of them, the distance already stretching far beyond what any of them had expected.
The remaining ropes trailed loose from its limbs, snapping in the wind as it fled, a clear marker against the shifting colors of the sky that made it easy to track even as the gap widened.
Ella held tight to the beast’s flank, her earlier composure cracking slightly as the wind tore past them.
Fin said nothing, his focus locked entirely on the shrinking shape of the dragon ahead, one hand braced against the beast’s neck to keep from being thrown loose.
.
.
.
[Congratulations, you have broken the will of a Black Flame Basilisk]
[13/15 lesser dragons]
Inside the cave, standing atop a giant earth dragon with crystal spikes running down its back and three sets of limbs planted firmly beneath it, Ethan lowered his crossbow, resting the weight of it against the creature’s back.
The earth dragons here had turned out to be basilisks. Their gaze carried a terrifying weight, not enough to turn a person to stone outright, but enough to freeze someone in place for several critical seconds if caught unprepared. Their most dangerous feature, however, wasn’t their eyes.
It was their fire.
Black flames capable of burning even stone, melting rock down into a slow-moving liquid paste that hissed and steamed against the cave floor, the smell of it thick and acrid in the enclosed space.
Even the light it cast was wrong, dark at its core rather than bright, swallowing more than it illuminated.
That fire had nearly claimed one of Ethan’s rock drakes only moments earlier, the creature’s flank still smoking faintly where the flame had grazed it, a thin line of char visible beneath the scales.
"That’s five. The big guy seems to have noticed."
Ethan sighed, wiping a thin line of soot from his cheek where an ember had drifted too close, and let his gaze drift toward a distant ledge cast in deep shadow.
Basilisks moved throughout the cave in scattered numbers, but on that ledge sat one unlike the rest, its form easily ten times the size of the creatures below, its presence radiating something heavier than mere size alone could explain.
Tier 6.
Genuinely terrifying, even from a distance. Its scales alone caught what little light filtered down into the cavern and swallowed it, giving off none of the reflective shine the smaller basilisks carried.
It was also injured, its movements slower than they should have been, which meant as long as Ethan didn’t overstep, didn’t kill one of its kin directly in front of it, the creature had little reason to move against him.
That balance was fragile, and he understood it well enough not to test it further than necessary.
"Just two more."
Ethan muttered it under his breath, already scanning the cave for his next target, mentally sorting through which of the smaller basilisks would give him the cleanest kill.
He’d spent enough time surrounded by tier 7 summoners lately that it was easy to forget his own standing sat only at tier 8. Once this was finished, once Morgana evolved past her current threshold, he would gain more than raw strength.
Real protection. A cushion against the dangers this world kept throwing at him without warning.
And beyond that, practical things. His earnings would rise. Enough, eventually, to buy a proper home and settle into something resembling peace for the first time since he’d woken up in this body.
It wasn’t a small thing to want. He turned the thought over once, briefly, before setting it aside the way he set aside most things that didn’t help him survive the next few minutes.
"But first."
He stood, preparing to choose his next target among the scattered basilisks moving through the cavern.
Screeeeeeehh
A deafening screech tore through the cave from somewhere above, sharp enough to make the walls seem to shudder around it.
The giant basilisk on the ledge raised its head instantly, eyes burning with sudden fury as it rose to its full height, its injured leg buckling slightly under the shift in weight before it steadied.
For a moment it simply listened, head tilted toward the cave mouth, every scale along its spine rising in unison.
Its oldest enemy had returned.
Roar!!!!!!!
It answered with an earth-shaking roar, already moving toward the cave’s exit with sharp, hurried steps, ignoring the injury slowing its usual pace entirely.
"Hm?"
For the first time, Ethan caught a full view of the creature in motion, the sheer scale of it registering properly as the smaller basilisks fell into step behind it, following its lead without hesitation, the ground trembling faintly beneath their combined weight.
Not long after, Ethan noticed movement approaching from the opposite direction. Hela and the others, closing the distance fast, his White Tower badge likely the only reason they’d found him this quickly across such a wide stretch of terrain.
The moment he stepped out from the cave alongside the surging crowd of basilisks, his eyes caught the figure leading the charge from the other side.
Controlling the flying light dragons, guiding them down from the sky in a coordinated descent that scattered light across the ridgeline below.
It was that same mind dragon.
Even now, mid-flight, mid-pursuit, it hadn’t given up trying to turn the situation to its advantage.
Ethan’s jaw tightened slightly as the pieces settled into place. Two fronts, closing from opposite directions, and he was standing squarely in the middle of both, a wave of basilisks at his back and a dragon he’d already crossed once bearing down from the sky ahead.
There wasn’t much time left to decide anything carefully.
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