Meeting The Elder Basilisk

"STOP!"

BANG!

Looking at the impression of the ground from the attack, Kameron quickly looked towards the owner of the claw and inspected it. Though, it caused him to get a bit nervous as a result.

"It's a rank two basilisk…" he said solemly as he pulled Azerine beside him, he felt her trembling after looking at it so he had to help calm her down somehow.

Placing his hand on her shoulder, he told her to calm down. Due to them stopping, they had become completely surrounded by rank one basilisks so they couldn't advance forward anymore.

Learning earlier, after killing the young rank 1 basilisk, that she was also at rank one herself, he knew that she wasn't too confident about going up against something a rank higher…

"W-what do we do?" She said as she looked at Kameron hoping he had a plan.

Thinking about their options, he figured he could use blink to get behind the rank 2 basilisk since it was the only thing in front of them but doing so would cause him to lose control of the fire in his hand.

He was very reluctant to let the basketball-sized fire in his palm dissipate because he had to use blink, after making it grow so much, it would have been a waste of time to not make use of it.

Hearing dozens of hisses behind him, Kameron wondered what to do. They were running out of time and he wasn't confident in his ability to fight a rank two basilisk either.

"I know they are intruders now be quiet!"

Pausing his thoughts for a moment, he remembered that he could understand every language. Watching the young basilisks quiet down as the rank two basilisks took a step forward in front of the eggs.

He wondered how to talk his way out of the situation.

"An elf and a demon, how did they get in here…" it said as it raised its head and looked into the distance from the pathway where Kameron and Azerine came from. "Maybe the water pool?"

"Actually, we don't know how we got here!" Kameron suddenly said, to the surprise of everyone. This was primarily because Kameron was hissing from the perspective of Azerine and speaking basilisk from the perspective of the other basilisks.

"How is this possible? You can speak our language?" The basilisk said as he took a closer look at Kameron, confirming that he smelled like a demon.

"Demons shouldn't be able to speak with us until we learn the human language. Tell me how you understand us!"

"I will but you need to not attack us while I do," Kameron said as he looked at Azerine and smiled.

"How can you…" she said as she looked at him with a stupefied expression.

"I'll explain later, just pay attention," He said to her before looking back at the basilisk.

"I can learn any language after hearing it a little. It's a talent I have."

"I see, now tell us demon, how did you and this elf enter our home?"

"Well about that…" Kameron said as he began to explain finding Azerine in trouble at the cliff before being swept up in a whirlpool and ending up in the water pool. He then simply said they walked down the pathway and found this area.

"You'll need to tell our elder this story, if you truly ended up here by accident then allowing you to leave might be possible."

Agreeing to the plan, Kameron informed Azerine as they followed the rank 2 basilisk out of the entryway they were running towards previously.

Entering a much smoother-looking pathway, one that was also lit by blue crystals implanted in the ceiling and walls.

"These crystals are all made of mana!" Azerine said as she thought about what they were. Feeling her body slowly fill with mana, it was easy to correctly identify the crystals.

"So these are mana crystals then?" Kameron asked as they continued walking behind the basilisk.

"Yes! These can be used to grow stronger and reach the higher ranks, though they are used also for trade as an alternate form of currency."

"I could probably use these as a power source in the future…" Kameron said in his mind as he thought about using them as a substitute for electricity-powered items from earth. "Does this mean that this is a mana crystal mine?"

"I believe so, this would explain why their elder had reached rank 3. Monsters don't exactly need to practice or anything to get stronger, they simply absorb mana from their surroundings so if this was an abundant mine, the basilisks would thrive more than the other families within the forest."

They met many rank two basilisks on the way who immediately became defensive as they smelled the scent of a demon. Though, after a bit of communication with their escort, they went back to what they were doing.

"You seem respected," Kameron commented.

"That is because I will reach rank three like our elder, soon I'll breakthrough and then we can take over the forest completely and claim it as our own land."

"You are one of the monster families in the forest?"

"Correct. We, The Silver Apes, and The Dire Wolves make up the three forest families."

"Why have you not tried to take over the forest if your elder is rank three?"

"We would have long ago but our elder would have to go out as well. This would mean leaving the home in danger of being destroyed. With a few hundred more eggs hatched, it won't matter since we'll be able to outnumber the other families by at least three times.

"Are you not worried about the humans roaming the forest?"

"Heh, those human soldiers rarely travel the forest because of attacks from us and demons, only those annoying adventures dare to roam the forest looking for some dungeon to explore. As long as we ignore the soldiers then there aren't many problems. According to our elder, there are many rank three humans in the army so we don't go out of our way to show ourselves if they do enter the forest.

Not seeing nearly as many rank two basilisks walking the pathways, as they were led through multiple twists and turns, Kameron asked why. Considering they saw so many rank ones watching the eggs, he assumed the number of rank two basilisks would be at least the same or double considering they lived in a mana crystal mine.

"There's been no sightings of the Silver Apes today so a lot of us are out checking the different parts of their territory to see if something happened or not."

Feeling something hit his ribs, he looked to his side to see that Azerine has elbowed him. She also seemed annoyed and it was fairly easy for him to understand why.

With him being the only person she talked to, she began feeling left out as he continued to talk with it basilisk instead of trying to speak with her. This was the center of the enemy's home yet she was basically just being led around while not knowing what's going on.

"I'll translate don't worry,"

…

..

.

Walking past a few more turns, Kameron saw the basilisk stop at a massive room. Peering inside he saw almost complete darkness except for a few large mana crystals sticking to the wall giving sections of the room some light. With his spirit eyes, he saw a massive amount of water element particles leaving the room.

"This is the source…"

"The source? What do you mean?"

"The reason the water element is so abundant here, it's because of the elder inside. It's as if it's cultivating with it."

Just as he was about to explain his theory a bit more, he was interrupted by the rank two basilisk announcing their arrival.

Watching as a large silhouette slowly rose from the ground, Kameron and Azerine both temporarily froze as they felt a massive amount of pressure wash over them.

"What is this feeling?!" Azerine said as she was forced to drop onto her hands and knees, Kameron was fairing a lot better but he had almost kneeled and lost control of his flame in the process.

"This is the pressure of a rank 3…" Kameron said as he looked into the room to see something slowly moving towards him.

"You can stay on your feet even with me releasing a bit of power around you? What an interesting demon."

Watching the head of a snake slowly moved into the area lit by his fire. It allowed him to see a portion of its massive frame.

Not hearing any footsteps coming from it, he wondered if this elder basilisk had any legs or if it disregarded it for a more serpentine look.

Feeling the pressure disappear, Kameron helped Azerine to her feet as they both watched the elder move out of the room. Watching the silhouette slither around them, it confirmed Kameron's theory of basilisks evolving to a serpent-type body.

"I see it was you who brought these two here, tell me the reason."

"Yes elder, these two were found in the egg nest by the younger ones. They claim to have gotten here through the water pool and were only trying to leave."

"How did that happen? And how do you know this?"

"Well, the demon here can actually understand and speak our language, though with you being rank three then you can communicate with the human language so the elf understands as well."

Turning its head towards Kameron, the elder asked him a question in basilisk to test if what it said was true. "Do you understand me demon?"

"I do" Kameron replied with a nod.

"Interesting, tell me how you got here and I may decide to let you both leave," it said in the language of the humans, causing Azerine to look at Kameron as she finally understood something.

"Well… here's what happened...