20 Chapter 20 - Basilisk Dragon

A couple of days passed by and Mi Young was on her way towards her penthouse after Lady Ning Gwang's class when a voice stopped her.

"Wait!"

Mi Young turned towards the voice and saw Shin Shang Min running towards her. When the girl stopped in front of Mi Young, she was panting really hard.

"Are you okay?" Mi Young looked at the girl and noticed that she was covered in sweat. Her whole face was flushed and half of her dress was drenched. Form some reason she doesn't look like a child of one of the Four Great clans with how muddy her clothes was. "What happened to you?"

"I need your help." Shin Shang Min says as she looks at Mi Young straight in the eyes. When she sees that Mi Young is looking at her with an unreadable expression, her face turns red, so she asks one more time. "Can I ask you for help?"

"Uhm..what's the problem anyway?"

Shang Min looks constricted for a second, like she doesn't want to say it while there are other people passing by. She huddles closer towards Mi Young before she cups her hands in Mi Young's ears and whispers, "You can see it for yourself. It's hard to explain."

Mi Young looked at her suspiciously. The other girl must have read her thoughts because she waves her hands in the air while her face turns red, again, "P-Please! I won't do anything to you. I just think someone as capable as you needs to see it. P-Plus I kind of admired your courage so I think you are the only one who can help me with it."

She looked at Mi Young with her pleading eyes and while looking at her eyes Mi Young was reminded of her dog back at home. She sighs before nodding her head, "Fine. Show me the way."

Mi Young and Shang Min walked along a path that led to the huge forest behind the dorms inside their academy grounds. It was at the rearmost end of the academy so no one wants to go there at all with how far it is.

When they were about to enter the place with gigantic trees, Mi Young gave the Hydro Mage another suspicious look that caused the other's face to turn bit red once more.

As they follow a muddy path, Mi Young realizes that the place is getting darker as they go further inside. Shang Min must have noticed her confusion and she answers, "The trees here are so huge that the light of the sun couldn't penetrate them anymore. Actually, I feel sad for some animals since they don't seem to get enough sunlight which would be a huge help for their energy and nutrition."

"Do you go here often?" Mi Young asks, seeing that Shang Ming seems to know the place very well.

The other girl nodded enthusiastically. "I visit them after class everyday."

"Everyday? Don't you have other things to do?"

Shang Min looks confused, "Uhmm no? What else should students do after class?"

Mi Young gawks at Shang Min. The more she talked to the other person the more she realized that this person seemed untroubled and free to do whatever she wants. Mi Young envied her for that.

Although when she was young, her father used to tell her to do anything she wanted, but when she matured enough to understand the real world, Mi Young slowly started planning her goals in life, and unfortunately, it took away her freedom to have fun.

"Hey? Are you okay?" The blue eyed girl snaps back to reality when she hears the snap of Shang Min's fingers. "You went still for a second. I thought you got bitten by poisonous snakes."

"There are poisonous snakes here?"

Shang Min nodded her head as if it wasn't a big deal. The Hydro Mage continued walking along the muddy path, not even realizing the frantic look on Mi Young's face.

Of all the animals in the world, she hates snakes the most. They are slimy and slippery and she just doesn't want to deal with them.

Mi Young walks faster behind Shin Shang Min.

After a few more minutes of walking aimlessly through the dark woods and along the muddy path, Shang Min finally halts. Mi Young also stopped walking when she saw the girl crouching in front of a swamp.

"What are we doing he—"

"Ssssh!"

Mi Young's eyes widen when she feels the other girl's finger touch her lips in order to silence her. "O…kay?"

Shang Min must have noticed the look on Mi Young's face because her face turned red as well before she pulled away her finger and shyly said, "I'm sorry. I just don't want you to surprise the Basilisk Dragon."

Mi Young nodded her head to assure the girl that she understands. However, when the other party's words registered in her mind, Mi Young couldn't stop herself from shouting, "The Basilisk what?!"

As soon as Mi Young yells, a loud roar erupted from somewhere around them. Seconds later, a huge snake-like creature appeared from the muddy waters in front.

Actually, it wasn't just a snake, Mi Young couldn't quite tell how it looked. It has the head of the snake yet it has four legs and wings attached to its back. Mi Young was reminded of the savage beasts she had read in one of her father's books that Mages call as "dragons".

"Oh no. You startled it!" Shang Min shouts as they both stare in disbelief at the huge creature closing in front of them.

"How the hell did this savage beast get inside here!?" Mi Young shouts back at Shang Min. "That's a savage beast! Why didn't you tell me we're going to look for a savage beast?!"

"It needs our help!" Shang Min reasons out. The beast didn't waste any time as it attacked them using its spiky tail. "Watch out!"

Both the girls jumped to their left in order to avoid its humongous tail. One hit with it and their bodies will surely crash.

"Are you crazy?! Why would a savage beast need our help?" Mi Young shouts one more time. The creature turned its head towards them, and it immediately started running. "Quick! Run!"

Shang Min didn't even need to be instructed because she was already running away from the beast before Mi Young could even think what direction she would run to.

Mi Young decided to run in the opposite direction so the beast's attention would be divided. She saw a large tree and immediately went to hide behind it.

All Mi Young could think of while she's catching her breath is that Shin Shang Min means trouble. Who on Earth could think of saving a savage beast?

She jumped in surprise when Shang Min appeared beside her, she seemed to be hiding from the beast as well.

"What were you thinking?" Mi Young whispers but enough for Shang Min to hear.

The girl took a few more breaths before she answered Mi Young, "Trust me. She needs our help."

"No she does not. Can't you see? She wants to devour us!" Mi Young reasons out. "If there's someone who needs help, it's us. How can we even deal with a savage beast as huge as that?!"

"The beast is not angry!"

Suddenly, they both hear a loud angry roar coming from the beast not far from where they were hiding.

Mi Young might not understand the Beast language but she sure knows as hell that it was a furious roar.

"And you say it's not angry." Mi Young says as she gives Shang Min an unimpressed look.

"Oh stop looking at me like that! We need to help it first." Shang Min says.

Mi Young wanted to pull her hair in frustration upon hearing the girl's determination to "help" the savage beast. She sees Shang Min peeking through her side of the tree.

"It's facing away from us. We could sneak up behind her and—"

"Are you mad? Why are we going to sneak up behind—

"Just listen to me!" Shang Min says in a deadpan voice. It was Mi Young's first time hearing it so she shuts up because she knows the girl is entirely serious. "The beast is a girl and she just gave birth to her offspring—"

"Oh my god, there's more!?" Shang Min clamps her hand over Mi Young's mouth.

"She might hear you!" The other girl warns as she gives Mi Young another look. The blue eyed girl gave her a thumbs up to let her know that it's okay to let her mouth go now. Shin Shang Min let out another embarrassed smile, "Sorry. Anyway, she laid her eggs near the swamp and as I recalled correctly, she have five eggs."

Mi Young's eyes went wide upon hearing how many the eggs were. If those kids grow up and they will all become as huge as their mom, the academy would crumble to pieces.

Shang Min must have read her thoughts because the next second, she was saying something like, "They're not going to destroy the academy."

"How can you be so sure?" Just by looking at how mad the mother is right now, Mi Young is confident that it would not waste any of its time dilly dallying and it would definitely go and march its way towards the academy.

"Basilisk Dragon's are afraid of people." Shang Min explains. Mi Young was about to retort something but the other girl beat her to it, "I know it sound stupid but it's true. They are gentle creatures and they don't like interfering with humans. In fact, they are afraid of humans and think that they are more superior than them."

Mi Young finds it hard to believe the words coming out from the other girl's mouth seeing how the beast is still looking for them, ready to eat them while their flesh are still warm. Mi Young shivers at the thought.

"She's just angry because her eggs are missing."

This caught Mi Young's attention. "What do you mean?"

"A few weeks ago, the beast just laid her five eggs near the swamp when I stumbled upon them. I was looking for water so I could help another thirsty animal and then I saw them. At first the mother was so protective of her babies that I had a hard time trying to coax her that I meant no harm to them." Shang Min starts explaining. "But then a few more coaxing and it finally started warming up to me. The eggs of a Basilisk Dragon would usually take three weeks before it hatched; in fact it was supposed to hatch this week. However, when I came here today, I didn't see the Basilisk even though it never leaves its spot. And what shocked me most is that the eggs on the nest were missing!"

"Why is it angry then?"

Shang Min sighs, "I thought the eggs already hatched but the mom suddenly attacked me out of nowhere. That's when I found out that the eggs were stolen from her."

"And that's why she no longer saw you as a friend?" Shang Min nods sadly. When she looked up at Mi Young, her eyes reflected sadness and there was a melancholic look on her face.

Mi Young was reminded of her puppy again.

"And that's also why you seek out someone to help you? And since you have no other friends, you chose me to find the eggs with you instead?"

This time, Shang Min has a pleading look on her face but she never says anything to Mi Young and only responds with a nod. There was also a tint of hope in the other girl's eyes that kept tugging at Mi Young's heart.

The blue eyed girl let out a defeated smile before she said, "Fine. Let's look for the babies."

"Really? Would you really help me? You're not kidding, right?" Shang Min asks, gone was the sadness in her eyes. Her voice sounded so excited as well.

"Don't ask too many questions or I'll change my mind."

"Sorry. Sorry." Shang Min apologizes but her expression is gleeful and there's a huge grin plastered on her face.

"But first, how do we deal with the mother?"

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Shang Min says excitedly.

For some reason, Mi Young doesn't like the glint in her eyes. She gulps before asking, "What's your plan?"

"I'll go find the eggs and you'll distract the mom."

Mi Young was right.

Shin Shang Min is a huge menace.