“Katherine!” Oliver shouted as the girl was thrown to the ground.

  Her armor didn’t seem promised, but now he had a new problem. Without her distrag the Basilisk, the moood before him, ready to attack.

  His heart was rag, making it hard for him to focus. He was trying to make the best decision in fras of a sed.

  ‘Retreat, regroup, or shoot?’ He could run to Katherine, but he might get attacked. He could back away, but the monster would catch him. Was there any reason not to shoot?

  Instead of aiming for its legs this time, he began aiming at the Basilisk’s face. If he could mao damage the creature’s vision, it would make the battle easier.

  ‘I’m going all out this time!’ He increased the energy input for his on. His shots would lose speed but beore powerful.

  “PHUM!”

  The Basilisk began moving forward, taking two steps, but before it could think of attag, a shot hit it square in the forehead. For the first time, Oliver saw a rea from the monster, shaking its head as if dizzy.

  The boy took two steps bad tinued firing.

  “PHUM!”“PHUM!”

  The shots he was trying to nd on the monster's eyes tio hit its head near its nostrils. Without his [Observation], he couldn’t improve his aim enough to hit a tiny target like the monster’s eyes.

  Oher side of the fight, Katherine was still scious. Her ribs might have been broken, but she o get up. She pushed herself off the ground with all her effort and stood up.

  On her feet, she could see the battle between the Basilisk and Oliver. The monster was trying to advand attack him. The boy was in a bad situation, trying to retreat while firing shots. To her, it was impressive how every shot perfectly hit the monster’s face without missing it, but even so, she could tell that Oliver would sooired due to the high energy ption.

  The sed stream was on her left side. She could cross it and leave the boy to hahe Basilisk if she ran. It would be the easiest way out.

  Katherine shook her head as if to dispel the thoughts.

  ‘Now’s not the time to think like that.’ She thought.

  She raised her sword, took a deep breath, and took advantage of the fact that the moill had its back to her. Even though she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen, she didn’t stop running until she got close.

  [Blood Coat]

  Her sword began to glow red. She felt weaker as her blood dripped from the tip of the rapier. The blood slowly crystallized around the bde, making it broader and double-edged and turning the rapier into a broadsword. When the sword's glow was barely visible, the girl accelerated.

  Once again, she charged toward the Basilisk’s rear. But this time, she made a horizontal ssh against one of the monster’s legs using all her strength.

  “GHUAR!”

  The monster roared as one of its legs was severed. Blood spttered onto Katherine’s armor, but she titag before the beast could recover. Each strike tore through the creature.

  The shots may have hurt the Basilisk, but the sshes were doing real damage. The monster could no loake the risk. It started smming its tail against the ground, trying to locate its target, f the girl to retreat from the fight.

  Oliver took the ce to recover. Meanwhile, Katheri dodging each of the tail’s movements.

  “THUMP!”“THUMP!”“THUMP!”

  Each impact kicked up dirt and sand, making it harder to get close.

  “THUMP!”

  Katherine was disoriented, not knowing where the creature was. She tried to squint her eyes to see through the sand and dust in the air. However, before she could react, the monster reappeared. It was no longer focused on Oliver; instead, its gaping maw was trying to devour the girl.

  Uo see what was in front of her, she charged forward once again, aiming to strike one of its hind legs, but was caught off guard by the monster's attad ended up hitting one of the creature's teeth with her sword.

  The girl’s face showed mixed emotions—the surprise of missirike and the fear of being face-to-face with a far stronger mohan them. Supp itself on its remaining hind legs, the Basilisk towered over the girl.

  While watg the fight, Oliver regained his strength and saw the Basilisk attempting to attack with its front legs. Katherine blocked and dodged each attack by mere millimeters. While Oliver tried to use his shots to help her, but they seemed to have no effect.

  ‘Damn! Damn! Damn!’ Oliver cursed.

  Their ce of surviving was failing rapidly. Katherine was the only person who could fight the Basilisk in close bat, and with her as the monster’s focus, her of them could advan the fight.

  ‘What do I do?!’ Oliver questioned himself.

  The boy tried to think of another way to participate itle. His shots were useless, he had no other ons, and his Boons weren’t suited to this type of oppo.

  ‘Hmmm, if I ’t be the artillery, I must be the bait.’ He took a deep breath and started running.

  It was a terrible idea, but it was the only solution he could think of.

  ‘Maybe my agility will be enough to keep me alive? There was only one way to find out.’ Oliver questioned his sanity as he advanced.

  As the fight tinued, Oliver positioned himself to line up with Katherine. As soon as the Basilisk provided an opening, he would try to shoot at its face.

  As Olver approached, he started to see the creatures’ attacks. The monster was using its hind legs for support while swinging its cws at Katherine. She parried several attacks, sometimes even striking the monster’s arms.

  ‘It’s now or never!’

  Oliver switched the on to his left hand while extending his right shoulder forward and started running. Before the Basilisk could notice him, he had thrown himself with all his weight. Hitting the monster’s side with his shoulder, it barely lifted off the ground, but it was enough to grab its attention.

  Meanwhile, his left hand, now close to the monster’s chest, fired off all the remaining Energy in point-bnk range.

  “GUARH!”

  Oliver had caused the moo roar in pain for the first time. The projectile opened a hole in the Basilisk’s stomach while cauterizing it with all the heat emitted. Unfortunately, it ed much of the boy’s energy, leaving him with no time or stamina to dodge one of the cws.

  The creature, ih pain, swung one of its long arms and struck Oliver square in the face. It felt as if it would tear his head off if not for the Ranger Armor. Even so, he was thrown several meters away, and his helmet was destroyed.

  ‘Damn!’ Katherine was worried about the direct hit Oliver had taken.

  She had experienced something simir and knew how monstrous the Basilisk’s strength was. Still, she didn’t have time to che him—she o seize the opportunity.

  While the monster was still dazed, she prepared to use everything she had left. Running with the st of her strength, she jumped at the beast and thrust her sword into its chest as it staggered.

  [Blood Spike]

  The girl used all the blood she could muster to unleash the attack Oliver had seen before, but it was even more devastating this time.

  The blood accumuted into a small orb at the tip of her sword. From there, hundreds of spikes shot out in all dires, pierg every inch of the Basilisk until they erupted through its pores.

  As she pulled the bde back, the red glow of the crystallized blood around the sword had vanished. In its pce, the Basilisk’s green blood dripped from the sword and onto the ground. The monster aralyzed, but it colpsed ohe bde was removed.

  “THUMP!”

  The Basilisk’s body fell pletely onto Katherine, pinnio the ground. Luckily for her, it seemed to be dead.

  "Ow! Ow! Oliver!" She used both hands to push the body and tried to crawl out from uhe remains.

  Oliver was still getting up after being hit by the Basilisk. His helmet was broken, and his head hurt a lot, but overall, it wasn’t as bad as he had imagined. Fortunately, it hadn’t torn his head off.

  ‘Fuck! It's finally over!’ Oliver cheered. They had mao defeat a Basilisk.

  Some notifications sounded on his gau, but he no longer had the energy to keep his armor funing. After removing it, he approached the animal’s body and noticed the girl asking for help.

  "Push it. I ’t get out," Katherine spoke.

  "Okay, okay. 1... 2... 3..." Putting all his strength into it, he started moving the Basilisk’s body.

  "Huff! It feels even heavier dead," The girl pined.

  Katherine finally emerged from uhe monster. She tried to stand but couldn’t move. Maybe the girl had pushed herself too hard. Katherine had lost a lot of blood, not to mention the wound in her abdomen. When she deactivated her armor, she noticed that parts of her uniform were damaged, too.

  "Umm... I’ll need more help as well," she said, her face turning red as she asked for help walking.

  "Of course!" Oliver k and lifted the girl onto his back, holding her by the legs.

  The two then looked toward the sed stream and began their path, finally with a clear way back to base.

  GCLopes