The black scales receded from Sylas’ body as his strength plummeted. At the same time, no one noticed a beast suddenly appear amongst the torrent of beasts over 50 meters away. Who would notice just one more in a sea of so many?
—
[Cassius Novar (FF+)]
[Level: 22]
—
[Talia Orin (FF+)]
[Level: 21]
—
[Corvus Lumin (FF+)]
[Level: 22]
–
[Physical: 482]
[Mental: 578]
[Will: 433]
—
The five agents weaved through the beasts, closing in on Sylas in what they likely thought was a covert operation. But the moment they entered a 50-meter radius of Sylas, he felt that their intention was different from the others.
His Luck and Will didn’t just help him to form this comprehensive bubble around him; they also nudged him toward danger.
However, even without the Basilisk King… he was more than enough to deal with these few.
The question was how fast he wanted to do it.
Corvus, despite being the strongest of the five, lagged behind. All the while, General Song was watching with hawk-like eyes, his intention not very subtle at all. It was as though he wanted Sylas to notice.
‘I see. He wants me to be on edge. He likely knows he can’t hide it from me, but he probably thinks he can hide the exact number. So long as one of the five slips through while I’m unaware, I’ll suffer.’
Sylas continued to retreat, seemingly looking around warily, but his heart was unprecedentedly calm.
…
On the other side of the battlefield, the Basilisk King slithered forward. Now being outside of the range of Sylas’ visualization, the Beast Totem was no longer effective on it, making it one of the weakest beasts present.
—
[Basilisk King (FFF-)]
[Level: 5]
–
[Physical: 125]
[Mental: 113]
[Will: 271]
—
However, it had something that the other beasts didn’t have: intelligence.
Well, that and Voice of a King. Facing off against so many powerful opponents, its Gene Talent was practically thrumming with life, slowly increasing its stats over time.
With its intelligence, it avoided battles it could and played dead when it fought battles it couldn’t.
All of the beasts were rushing for the Planar Convergence Gate anyway; they didn’t have the mind to care enough to deal with such a weakling.
Every time this happened, the Basilisk King felt itself die a little bit more on the inside. It was a mighty Basilisk, a beast of Legendary stock… how had it fallen so far?
Its yellowish eyes flashed with rage it quickly suppressed. It pushed forward, not quite realizing the change happening within it.
After Sylas broke it, maybe it would have already collapsed. But although it wasn’t gung-ho now, it at the very least had spirit.
Though… if it continued to think that Sylas was the one that had caused its fall, it would likely never reach the level it was meant to.
The fall of the Basilisk King had started long before it met Sylas Brown.
At that moment, it poked its head up. The path forward was too congested, and there was no way through. With how important Morgan was, and how weak it was, there was simply no way that it could sneak all the way to Morgan. Just the soldier by Morgan’s side was enough to kill it ten times over.
It could feel its heart trembling as it made itself tall.
In the past, it had been quite a large creature to Sylas. But now, it looked almost quaint on the battlefield. And yet, as expected, Morgan noticed it.
Morgan had seen the Basilisk King before. Sylas had used it during the final battle at Casstle Main before the Trial ended. Although the Basilisk King now was much larger than the one he remembered, when he connected the fact Sylas’ scales had disappeared and how this beast was oddly staring at him, he realized what was going on.
At the end of the day, Sylas had judged Morgan correctly. He was a sharp man with a meticulous mind.
“That beast, let it in, Kael.”
The soldier by Morgan’s side frowned and was about to say something. But at that moment, the Basilisk King was battered from the side. Blood flew, and its scales flung from its body.
“If you let that beast die, we’re all finished,” Morgan growled.
Hearing these words, the young soldier didn’t dare to hesitate again. He wasn’t high up enough to know the details of Morgan’s duty. But he wasn’t a fool. Morgan was so weak, yet he had such an important position. This was obviously a matter that was existential to the government.
Plus, considering how weak the beast was, there really wouldn’t be a problem even if he let it in.
From a distance, General Song didn’t notice this matter immediately. He was too intently focused on Sylas and didn’t see such a thing happening behind his back. By the time he pieced together how he had lost, he might very well be breathing his last.
“Give me some distance, Kael.”
“I—.”
“Distance. I might be weak, but I’m sure you can see that I can handle this beast if things go south, right?”
Kael nodded. However, that didn’t stop him from making a report up the chain of command. But in a battle like this one, it would take time before General Song got information about what was going on here, especially since Morgan had pretty high clearance himself.
…
Morgan stared at the Basilisk King as it stared back at him. Neither spoke. The latter because it couldn’t, and the former because he didn’t really understand why Sylas had sent it.
Realizing that the Basilisk King wasn’t going to hand him anything or communicate, Morgan frowned.
‘Sylas obviously didn’t send it for protection, and the beast is too weak to break me out of here. So…’
Morgan’s eyes flashed with understanding.
The beast obviously couldn’t speak or else it would have explained why it was here already. And it obviously wasn’t strong enough to take him out of here. That only left one thing…
Sylas wanted it to bring something back.
And Morgan had nothing to give other than information.
