346 – Basilisk

After a short walk through the forest, I find the owner of the bird footprints.
It’s about three metres in length.

Beneath its body of pure white feathers stretch out two long, yellow legs.
To that extent, it appears the same as a slightly thin, giant chicken.

But the area around its tail is free of feathers, covered instead by dense green scales.
Its tail is clearly longer than that of a chicken, the tip of which is raised next to its head and has eyes and a mouth.
Or rather, its tail is a snake.

No, that much is fine.
I can deal with that much.
I can eat a chicken that has a snake for a tail just fine.
That’s not a problem at all.

From the neck up, with bright red eyes, is a wrinkled old man.
The old man’s hair is the same white as the feathers, and his pupils glint a venomous red.
It’s far more creepy than if its neck was just a bit long.

『Bird meat! Bird meat!』

You seriously want to eat that!? No matter how you think of it, it’s the same class as the adams though!? Or what? Is it a relative of the sirens!? Are human heads common among birds!?

Canine teeth line the old man’s mouth.
Nothing could look more disgusting.
If the first thing I saw in this world was this, I would have only braced myself for death.

【[Basilisk]: B+ rank monster】
【A monster with the tail of a snake and a body of a chicken, the 『Final Evolution』 of the cockatrice family.】
【Its red eyes release a powerful petrifying curse.】
【Its body possess a powerful poison, and merely approaching is enough to cause paralysis.】

That’s not what’s important though!? I don’t care about the snake tail or the chicken body! Something even stranger is sprouting from its neck up!

N-no, it might be something that all cockatrices share in common and not unique to the basilisk.
But it definitely isn’t something that should be omitted, right? If I heard this explanation first then saw a basilisk after, I’d flip out.
What is with this island, there are way too many monsters that shouldn’t exist.

I’m glad… I really am glad I didn’t come to this island by myself.
If I were exploring by myself an island that had human-headed birds and men that are only chests striding about, I’d definitely go crazy.
I might have seen the giva as an angel and made it my companion.

In front of the old man chicken…the basilisk, a pitch black leopard is desperately struggling around with its legs petrified.
The basilisk’s chicken leg is pinning it down as it bites into its belly.
The entrails that it drags out hang between its teeth.

The leopard’s body convulses, causing it to spring up, but as the basilisk slurps and bites through the entrails, it collapses, dead as its head slumps to the ground.
The basilisk pivots to look at its snake tail.
The snake then turns as though to point towards me.
The old man head expressionlessly turns this way.

Its eyes are far too cruel.
Its head is human in form, but even if you only looked at that part of it, it would still be obviously inhuman, its features too cold.
I reflexively look down to avert my gaze.

『Bird meat! Bird meat!』

Is this really a time to be so positive? For that matter… I saw a bunch of strange stone statues on the way here.
So that was it scattering its petrification curse around? From what it was doing earlier, I can assume they’re preserved food.
Whenever it gets hungry it can restore a portion of them to eat.

To start with, I’ll do the usual check…

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Species: Basilisk

Condition: Normal
Lv: 88/88(MAX)
HP: 655/655
MP: 233/245
Attack: 440
Defence: 555
Magic: 450
Speed: 550
Rank: B+

Characteristic Skills:
[Double Headed: Lv-] [Split Spirit: Lv-] [Mutual Understanding: Lv2] [Darkness Attribute: Lv-] [Flight: Lv1] [Automatic HP Recovery: Lv6] [Heat Perception: Lv7] [Soft Steps: Lv7] [Poison Sash: Lv8] [Petrifying Demon Eye: Lv6] [Two-Tongued:[1]Lv-] [Death Throes: Lv-]

Resistance Skills:
[Poison Nullification: Lv-] [Paralysis Resistance: Lv8] [Petrification Nullification: Lv-] [Instant Death Resistance: Lv8] [Curse Resistance: Lv7] [Confusion Resistance: Lv4]

Normal Skills:

[Peck: Lv7] [Tongue of Defilement: Lv8] [Extreme Poison: Lv8] [High Quick: Lv6] [High Rest: Lv6] [Death: Lv6] [High Slow: Lv4] [Sinister Voice: Lv5] [Shrill Voice: Lv6]

Title Skills:
[Final Evolution: Lv-] [Obsessive: Lv6] [Poison Master: Lv7] [Symbol of Calamity: Lv-]
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B+, and the maximum level…? Huh, but… Aren’t its stats a bit low for that? Neither its attack nor magic stats are very high.
It might even be a bit lacking compared to others of the same rank… But I can’t let my guard down.
There are too many skills that worry me.
I-it might be best not to mess with it.
For that matter I don’t want to get involved with it at all.

『Hey, bird meat…』

Can it even be eaten!? Even if we defeat it, it’d just be a lump of poison! It’s got [Poison Sash] after all!

“Shaah!!”

The basilisk’s snake tail hisses.
Its white plumage is covered in a light which sinks into its body and disappears.

Th-that was… [High Quick]? For that matter, the tail is the one that uses it…? As long as it’s under the effect of magic doping, I can’t hope to catch up.

I feel sorry for my partner, but running away would be best… I glance towards Aro, and she jumps with a start, then squeezes her shoulders and closes her eyes as though understanding me.
S-sorry… After apologising to her in my heart, I stuff her in my mouth.
Next is the treant… Huh where is the treant? Treant-san?

The treant had moved to the front before I realised.
Its branches are spread wide, as though to say 『Come at me!』.
No, it’s impossible though!? I understand your happy about evolving, but if you take a hit from it you’ll be smashed up without a chance of survival!

As I hurriedly try to grab the treant, the basilisk (old man) howls… No, it screams in a strange voice as it runs this way.

“AA, AaAAA, AAAAAaaaAaah!!”

A jarring scream resounds, and I’m seized by fear for a moment.
It’s fast, too.
The slightly thin giant chicken body, accompanied by the old man head, thrusts forwards at a terrifying speed.
I experience fear in spite of the difference in size.
That mistake is fatal.

From the roots up, the treant’s body turns to stone.
Panicked, the treant swing its branches, but the erosion is fast.
In the blink of an eye, the treant is entirely transformed into a stone statue.

T-treant-san!? T-this can’t be true.
Will it turn back!? As I stand bewildered, the basilisk continues to close the distance.

“Gaah!”

My partner howls, and the treant is wrapped in a gentle light.
It’s the [Holy] magic.
But there’s no change in it.

『I-it’s no good… Sorry…』

She hangs her head.
It seems she regrets saying that she wanted to eat chicken meat.
But the delay in our escape was due to my error.

W-what do we do… No way, will it stay this way forever…? No, if the basilisk treats petrified monsters as stores of food, then… It must have a way of turning them back.
I need to render it powerless, then force it use it somehow.

[1] [Two-Tongued] could also be translated as duplicitous or deceitful