Chapter 56: Serpent・Basilisk

「F-For the time being, let's spread out!」 (Hind)

Right after I shouted that, the Basilisk's eyes shone with a suspicious light...

They released a laser beam-like effect and it shot its petrifying attack.

We were able to somehow get away from it, but there was a camel that was too late...

「M-My cameeeeeeeeel!!」 (Tobi)

It got petrified.

I returned and collected the rest of the camels that were trying to run away in all directions due to panicking and cast 『Recover』 on the one that Tobi rode.

I seized the reins of the camel that had a dumb face as if it didn't understand what had happened to him after it returned to normal.

「I'm going to evacuate the camels! I'll leave the fighting to you for a short while!」 (Hind)

「Understood, Hind-san!」 (Riizu)

Once I cast all the buffs on the party members, I took the reins and pulled the camels to the shade of a rock.

I took a glance at Riizu who had used 『Slow』 and made the camels stand there at a sufficient distance.

If it's here...it should be fine?

「...oooooooOOOOOGYO!?」 (Yumir)

「Hii! W-What...Yu-Yumir...?」 (Hind)

Just when I was thinking that Yumir was suddenly flying in the sky, she died from fall damage in front of me.

After that, I looked towards the thunderous sound I could hear and I saw the Basilisk swinging around its tail in a fit of rage.

It looked like Riizu had placed plenty of debuffs on it, but even then, it still had an overwhelming amount of strength left.

I used 『Revive』 on Yumir and when she got up I healed her HP with a potion and 『Heal』.

When Yumir abruptly got up, she started looking around as if to understand the situation.

「...Gyo? Gyogyogyo?」 (Yumir)

「Ah? Oh? You words are all weird now! I don't get what you are trying to say!」 (Hind)

「Gyogyo!...Cough, cough! Hind, it's wriggling around and I can't hit it with my sword! I'm getting even more irritateeeeeed!」 (Yumir)

「Ah, sure sure. I'll try to leave the finishing blow to you, so try to calm down.

「Come on, let's return to the battle.」 (Hind)

「Uuuu!」 (Yumir)

She probably was quite irritated, charged into it and self destructed.

Currently, Tobi was skillfully dodging its attacks and reliably dealing some damage.

However, it might have been because he was the only vanguard, he was immediately shot and the 『Cicada technique』 that replaced him was destroyed.

Since it seemed like Tobi used 『Cicada technique』 right after it was back up from CD, I assisted him with 『Quick』.

With this he should be able to immediately use it again.

「Oh!? My CD...Hind-dono, you are back!」 (Tobi)

「Kept you waiting. What's the situation?」 (Hind)

「We have already used all our debuffs. The poison and tail attacks cover a wide area, but since they are big attacks there aren't any issues dodging them.」 (Riizu)

「Got it. Selene-san, think you'll be able to aim at the eyes?」 (Hind)

「Even when it's slowed its movements are fast and irregular, so it'll be a bit difficult.

「Since the head is also quite high, it doesn't seem like Tobi-kun's shadow weaving will be effective.」 (Selene)

「Alright, then let's do it steadily. Instead of aiming for the head, let's shave off its HP slowly!」 (Hind)

「Acknowledged!」 (Selene)

Most of the monster's weaknesses were around its head.

It might be easier to aim at them if it tried to use a bite attack, but the Basilisk stubbornly stayed upright and its posture didn't break.

The venom and the petrifying gaze were both ranged attacks, so it probably meant that there was no need to lower its head...just when I was having those thoughts, a petrifying attack came close to where I was!

「Yumir, it's going your way!」 (Hind)

「OK! Take thiiiiis!」 (Yumir)

Yumir quickly took out the mirror from her bag and beautifully reflected the petrifying laser.

As expected of her reflexes, though it might have been because the angle was bad but it only ended up grazing the Basilisk's body.

Even then, it got petrified and its movements dulled, I was about to say it was a chance to attack simultaneously but...

「W-What!?」 (Hind)

The Basilisk started trembling and in the next moment...slipped off.

The parts that were petrified, the skin was left behind.

Furthermore, it showed that it had healed, we had managed to bring it down to about 50% HP but now it was full again.

「That's cheating! That's so not fair!」 (Tobi)

「Damn it, we are doing it again! It could be a one time use unique movement!」 (Hind)

Thinking that it wouldn't shed its skin the next time, we shaved off its HP under 50% again.

However...

「Shaaaaaaaaa!!」

「!! Hind-kun, it's doing it again!」 (Selene)

「So it was no good...!」 (Hind)

When it went under 50% HP, the Basilisk shedded its skin again.

This feeling of wasted effort...

We did the same thing again just in case, but the results were the same.

From the looks of it, it seems like once it reaches 50% HP it will shed its skin without fail.

Riizu saw that we were making no progress, so she rushed over to me and talked to me.

「What should we do, Hind-san...?」 (Riizu)

「If it's like this, we can only do one thing. We'll shave off its HP until it's close to 50%, then we'll attack in unison before it can fully recover.

「If we can't beat it with that, we'll retreat without giving it a second thought.」 (Hind)

「However, its weakness is its head right? How are we going to stop its movements?」 (Riizu)

「When it first shed its skin, it seemed like the petrified portions were in its way and it took longer to shed than the 2nd and 3rd times.

「We have no choice but to reflect it with the mirror well and try to petrify it.」 (Hind)

「What are you both babbling about!? It's dangerous!」 (Yumir)

「「!!」」 (Hind and Riizu)

Yumir rushed up to us while holding up the mirror and managed to reflect the petrifying attack by a hair's breadth.

The reflected laser veered off the Basilisk by a wide margin and the desert's sand was turned into stone in an instant.

The reason this vicinity is full or rocks is because of this...

「Damn, it's hard to angle this! It bends more than I expect it to!」 (Yumir)

「My bad, Yumir! You saved us! However, please try to win us some time!」 (Hind)

「-Nuh!? So you got a plan?」 (Yumir)

「Yeah. Leave it to me!」 (Hind)

「Alright, in that case I'll be going!」 (Yumir)

Yumir kicked the sand and started running.

I saw how she dived into the sandstorm with her waving silver hair alongside her tempestuous aura, then I filled Riizu in with the battle strategy.

We don't have much time.

「...It's like that. What do you think? Think you'll be able to pull it off?」 (Hind)

「Yes, I can already read its trajectory. There's also no issues about coordinating with its HP.」 (Riizu)

「OK, you are the key to this fight. I'm counting on you.」 (Hind)

「Leave it to me.」 (Riizu)

Like that, I returned to the battle with Riizu and talked to them.

I shouted the strategy in a tone such that everyone would be able to hear me.

「Listen up, listen to me as you are! While being careful of your CDs, shave off it's HP to about 60%! The rest of the adjustments will be left to Riizu, so once it reaches that point we'll retreat!

「Be careful so you don't end up using powerful skills!」 (Hind)

「Understood!」 (Yumir)

「So we are going to attack it simultaneously, huh? That's also good!」 (Tobi)

「I'll do my best to shave off its HP!」 (Selene)

OK, I was able to convey my intentions.

From that point on, we mainly used basic attacks, we slowly and carefully continued to attack and defend.

I was concentrating on healing, but I made sure to stop and keep my MP close to full.

Given this situation, it's this amount of MP, depending on the situation this changes after all.

「Hind-kun, it's about time!」 (Selene)

「Alright, everyone stop attacking! Now retreat while recovering yourselves with healing items! Riizu!」 (Hind)

「Yes!」 (Riizu)

Each member used their own healing items and stopped attacking.

Temporarily there was a variance in aggro, but since it was only Riizu attacking it, it was easy for the Basilisk to start aiming at her.

With this, we have no choice but to just look for the time being but...

After a big amount of HP was shaved off the Basilisk by the Darkness Ball that she cast, she made small adjustments with Fire Ball.

She calmly dodged the tail attacks and a small smile showed on Riizu's face.

「Ooh, that's amazing! Riizu-dono!」 (Tobi)

「She's...bringing it down to just barely above 50%...?」 (Yumir)

「She's perfectly managing her damage...

「You are telling me that she even understands the variance in numbers between attacks...!?」 (Selene)

「All that's left is to wait for the petrifying attack but...I'm counting on you, Riizu...」 (Hind)

Since its HP was getting close to the 50% mark, Riizu prepared to escape.

However, the petrifying attack of the Basilisk we were aiming for wasn't coming.

She dodged the venom and evaded the huge body that sprang forward, gradually, Riizu started breathing heavily.

This is so vexing...not being able to do anything but watch...!

「Ah!」 (Riizu)

「!? Riizu, look out!」 (Hind)

Immediately after that, Riizu fell over because her feet got caught in the sand and the Basilisk's tail approached her.

I reflexively leaped forward and pulled Riizu's light body with all my strength.

「-Gah!?」 (Hind)

There was an impact.

I took the serpent's attack directly and my body made a somersault above the desert and rolled on the sand.

Since I was close to death, my field of view was dyed bright red.

I thought I was going to pass out but I managed to pull myself together and checked my HP, it seems like I was able to avoid dying.

With my field of view dyed red I stood up and I saw the back of Riizu, who stood up in front of me holding up the mirror to protect me-

「Taking into consideration the atmosphere and the sandstorm...it's here!」 (Riizu)

The Basilisk's eyes shone and released its petrifying attack aiming at us.

Riizu reflected it and it went in a straight line towards the Basilisk's body and it was absorbed by it.

Like that, she shifted the angle of the mirror and Riizu poured the beam over the Basilisk's entire body.

「!!??」

The Basilisk got petrified from the tail to the head, and it crumbled down on top of the sand while making a dry sound.

Once she saw that, Riizu headed towards me and sprinkled me with potions.

Ah, wait no, she's using too many!

Because she alternated between beginner potions and intermediate ones, my HP was already full.

「Riizu...Riizu! I'm fine already! Look, the battle is not over yet!」 (Hind)

「...Yes. I won't forgive that rotten reptile.

「I'll tear it to pieces, cook it and feed it to the pigs.」 (Riizu)

「I believe the corpse won't remain though...anyway, we should also go!」 (Hind)

The other three were already waiting close to the Basilisk's head now that it had fallen over.

If we don't hurry up, it'll get out its petrification and start shedding its skin.

Once I returned, they all looked at me with a mix of worried and exasperated faces.

「Hind, don't be that rash. Though it's fine since you didn't die.」 (Yumir)

「Sorry. So, we can't damage it while it's petrified as expected?」 (Hind)

「Basic attacks dealt 0 damage. Even if we used skills, it would probably be the same.」 (Tobi)

「Since it's not disappearing even when it's whole body is petrified, it probably means that it's not defeated yet...I believe it'll start shedding its skin soon.」 (Selene)

「In that case, we'll focus all our firepower only on its head when it sheds its skin.

「Since the shedding starts from its head, it will heal when the skin of the tail is shed. We'll defeat it before it ends!」 (Hind)

We readied our weapons.

I cast attack buffs on everyone and then charged my MP.

...I still can't see the Basilisk moving.

The heat of the desert, slowly burned our backs. I'm so nervous that I can't stop sweating.

Immediately after someone gulped and their throat made a sound...the petrified surface started peeling and the exposed head appeared.

It then glared at us-

「Now! Everyone, deal as much damage as you can! Gooooooooo!」 (Hind)

「OOOOOOOOOH!」 (Yumir)

「SEEEEEEEEI!」 (Tobi)

Each time someone released a skill, sand fluttered everywhere.

Bolts roared, swords fluttered, dangers minced and magic hollowed out its flesh.

「This is...the eeeend!」 (Yumir)

Yumir released her new skill 『Burst Edge』 while having 『Act of Desperation』 activated.

It consumed all the remaining MP and it took about 20% of the Basilisk's HP in a single strike.

It's fitting of the attack type, it's a sure-kill skill that won't leave anything behind.

However...

「No way!」 (Yumir)

Once the cloud of sand released because of the skill settled down, the Basilisk was still not defeated.

Its remaining HP was about 10%...

Once I took a look at the other members' remaining MP, they were already dry.

It was probably because everyone's MP potions were on CD, no one was trying to recover.

I had already used mine for Selene-san's skill.

Furthermore, we all shouted that our offensive skills were on CD, now we switched to basic attacks.

While we were doing that, the shedding progressed, about half of its body was released from the petrification.

The party members grew impatient.

However, I conserved my MP for this moment.

Since 『Shining』 and basic attacks were like a drop in the ocean, I still hadn't contributed much to shaving off its HP.

If I didn't work here, there was no meaning in me being in the party.

First of all, I cast 『Quick』 on Yumir!

With this, she can use 『Burst edge』 again.

「It's no use, Hind! Even if I can use the skill, I don't have enough MP! The potion won't make it in time!」 (Yumir)

I didn't reply to Yumir's words and followed with the next move.

After a short chant, a ball of light appeared in my palm and I threw it at Yumir's back.

There's also this!

「Don't give up! Take mine, Yumir!」 (Hind)

「T-This is...! This can work, I can do it! Take thiiiiis!!」 (Yumir)

What I cast was the magic that handed over your own MP to the target 『Entrust』.

A Shinto priest's maximum MP is higher than a knight's. Even if it has decreased because I used 『Quick』, it was enough to fill up a knight's MP!

Having completely recovered her MP, a huge amount of magical power erupted from her sword again.