Chapter 20: End of the basilisks

As the claw swiftly came down upon Marcus, he was alarmed, but his senses had been honed for a month in this place. There was no time to dodge. Rather than dodging, Marcus sent out a laser towards it.

Nothing was hit. There was nothing behind him when he looked back. This made Marcus much more cautious of this foe. Even if he could not see his opponent, he could feel something slithering at a fast speed around him.

Marcus determined that hitting the enemy while it was moving was impossible. He had to launch an attack that would affect the entire area. Marcus imagined the next attack in his mind. As if aligning with his thoughts, hundreds of rock spikes jutted out of the ground, surrounding the entire area.

But the shadow crawler was nowhere in sight. The attack did not even affect it. Rather, it lunged towards Marcus from behind. Fortunately for Marcus,he was well prepared this time.

A shell of super concentrated acid surrounded him. Just as the claws of the shadow crawler touched it, a sizzling sound came out. Its entire claw melted. Marcus let out a snort. Did it really think he was so gullible to fall for the same attack twice?

It did not continue its attack. Rather, after letting out a loud roar, it disappeared into the darkness. But a retreat did not mean it had lost the battle. Rather, Marcus could feel a very intensive killing intent from it.

"What a killing intent. It sure is vengeful," Marcus could not help but be happy at his efforts to provoke the enemy. But he had to be more careful this time. The same trick would not work twice.

The intensity of the battle grew steadily to the point where Marcus could start feeling the fatigue. The fight was leading nowhere. While Marcus put up his acid bubble around him, the basilisk would continue to circle him, trying to find a flaw.

Marcus realized his enemy was just stalling for time, trying to make him run out of mana. Marcus understood it could no longer go on like this. His mana reserves were finite, and he could not last forever like this.

But he could not find a solution for this. This basilisk was just too cunning compared to the one he had fought before. He could not keep up with its speed, and no matter how he attacked it, nothing would affect it.

"It's just too dark here." Even though the dim light from outside made things visible, not everything could be clearly seen. Marcus had the idea of lighting a fire to illuminate the entire region. Indeed, that would be a good move against an enemy of high intelligence, but this would also fall short.

"It's more likely that the basilisk would not even show itself. After all, even in bright light, there would be shadows cast by rocks in which it could hide and wait until the fire went out." Marcus was truly at a loss for ideas at this point.

Suddenly, an idea struck Marcus. He had a sharp glint in his eyes. It was very risky, but it might be a way to deal a final blow to this basilisk.

He deconstructed the acid shield and lit up a huge fire in front of him, casting a long shadow behind him.

Just as the acid shield disappeared and the fire lit up, the basilisk did not let the opportunity slide. It jumped into Marcus' shadow right away.

Marcus didn't miss it. After all everything was still going according to plan. Next was the most dangerous step. Just as the basilisk stretched out its body from the shadow.

Marcus moved the flame from his front to back as quickly as possible. This also made his shadow move from his back to front.

As the shadow crawler emerged from Marcus' shadow, it was already in front of him. This was the moment Marcus had been waiting for. He had already gathered a shining ball of energy in his hand.

Just as the two's eyes met, Marcus released the built-up energy in his hand. The energy cannon penetrated the exoskeleton of the basilisk and made a clear hole in its chest. Giving it a fatal blow.

Marcus wasn't unscathed. The claw from earlier had managed to touch his arm, causing deep lacerations. Blood flowed profusely from his wounds.

Marcus had already received several wounds after coming to this world. If he took off his shirt, one could see several scars throughout his body.

But even though the pain was intense, he didn't lose focus. Just as the shadow crawler was trying to slip away, Marcus finished it off with a final blast.

Just as the basilisk was killed, the adrenaline in his body started to subside, causing a sharp pain to pass through his arm. Marcus let out a groan.

He sat, inclining his back to a stone wall. To reduce the pain, he decided to use the power of frost to numb his wound. It was cold, but he could bear it. Using the same principle, he made his blood loss stop and started to clot.

After recovering a bit, Marcus lit up a fire again to see his surroundings clearly. The body of the shadow crawler had already disappeared, leaving behind an obsidian crystal.

After he absorbed the crystal, as if all the pieces of the puzzle were coming together, a complete picture of the situation of the labyrinth formed in his mind.

But before he proceeded with his original plan, he had to take care of something he had seen in its memories.

He moved to one of the corners of the nest where he found the skeleton of a man. Only bones and a few pieces of metal armor remained of the man.

Marcus took a close look at the corpse. After he examined it properly, he found, except for some coins and a golden emblem showcasing two swans, all other things were rusted and beyond repair. He decided to bury the body and give it a proper burial.

This was the only part of the labyrinth that had any mana crystals left. After all, he had already killed all the lesser basilisks and greedily absorbed the entire cave's mana.

His body now contained a tremendous amount of mana. After putting out the last glowing crystal, Marcus returned to the surface to bury the man.

Just by looking at the damage done to the bones, one could tell how much the basilisks had tortured him. After providing the man his final resting place, he returned to the shadow crawler nest.

Moving to the end of the nest, he tore open the layer of membrane, revealing what lay beyond it.