Three Basilisks!

'We have to run,' Kang Oh briefly thought, but soon shook his head.

He couldn't run away without putting up a fight first. He had to see how well he fared before he could make a decision.

Kang Oh switched to Ubist. Then, he pulled out a mass-produced sword and used Gluttony.

All of his abilities were increased twofold!

He also activated Devil Trigger, causing his eyes to glow a vicious red.

Seeing Kang Oh go all out gave Eder and Sephiro the will to fight. Eder raised his silver skull staff into the air, and uttered a dreary chant from his lips.

"Those forgotten by the world, the undying lumps of flesh, the dishonorable! Answer my call and return from death!"

Large-Scale Summon Undead!

The ground cracked open and shook. A huge undead army appeared from the depths.

Guooh!

Kyaa!

Rattle, rattle!

Flaming Zombies, Poisonous Ghouls, Skeletons Warriors and Mages, Dullahans, and Death Knights appeared. The Poisonous Ghouls' nails were purple, while the skeletons' eye sockets glowed with blue light. As always, the Dullahans carried their severed heads, while the Death Knights rode upon skeleton horses.

There were 200 of them!

Moreover, the undead didn't turn to stone, even if exposed to the Basilisks' Petrifying Gaze. Curses or poison didn't affect the undead.

Sephiro pulled out a bizarre-looking arrow. It looked more like a harpoon than an arrow. This was a 'Giant Killer', a special arrow designed to kill large monsters.

Once this arrow was lodged in a monster's flesh, it couldn't be pulled out, and would also cause the wound to keep bleeding. Thus, it would deal damage over time. However, it was difficult to aim, so it had to be used against larger monsters.

"Umph!" Sephiro notched the Giant Killer, and pointed his bow at a nearby Basilisk.

Hiss, hiss!

With their giant bodies, the three Basilisks trampled on and pushed the undead out of their way. Each of them approached Kang Oh, Eder, and Sephiro.

"Haahp!" Kang Oh, who'd transformed into the Jet-Black Demon, swung his sword at the approaching Basilisk. Of course, he turned his gaze away from it so that he didn't get petrified again.

Abyss Claw!

As soon as he let loose the jet-black aura, Kang Oh swung horizontally.

Tempest Tiger!

He couldn't afford to fight the Basilisk without giving it his all. Thus, he did just that.

The jet-black and golden auras struck the Basilisk one after another.

Bam! Bam!

Obviously, shards of light fell from its body. Although its scales were tough, they weren't as tough as Kragon's diamond skin.

However, his attacks weren't strong enough to deter it. The Basilisk kept moving forward, and attempted to devour him with its mouth.

Kang Oh rolled on the floor, evading its attack, and then swung downwards. However, its scales suddenly straightened, and shot right at him!

Scale Missile!

'Damn it!'

His Hyper Intuition sent him a warning, but it was already too late.

Stab, stab, stab!

Three triangular scales pierced his body. Huge shards of light fell from his body, indicative of how much damage he'd taken. Nevertheless, Kang Oh swung his sword.

Slash + Everlasting Darkness!

He combined a skill and an item effect!

Swish!

A massive blast of darkness struck the Basilisk. His blade had certainly left behind a wound.

Hiss!

Its eyes narrowed sharply, and it spat black liquid at him.

Petrifying Poison!

Kang Oh's necklace glowed.

Moon's Protection!

This barrier would nullify all attacks for a duration of 3 seconds! The black liquid slid down the full moon shaped barrier.

Once his barrier disappeared, Kang Oh leapt into the air and aimed for the Basilisk's head.

Bam!

He hit the crown of its head. Normally, hitting a monster's head would stun them. However, the Basilisk seemed completely fine, and rammed into Kang Oh.

Whack!

Kang Oh slammed into the wall like a soccer ball.

Hiss, hiss!

The Basilisk immediately approached him. It sought to devour him. Unfortunately, hitting the wall had stunned him, preventing him from controlling his character for a short period of time.

There was no one there to help him either. Sephiro and Eder were busy fighting their own Basilisks.

Ultimately, the Basilisk devoured him. The world briefly became dark, and his world was engulfed in darkness.

* * *

The undead monsters swarmed the Basilisk, attacking with their nails or weapons, and even climbing on top of it.

Eder cast various curses and bone spells too. He tried an age/slow curse, Bone Spear, Bond Bind, and even Bone Bomb! However, he hadn't managed to do much damage to it.

"Tch."

Whenever it got close, Eder would protect himself with the undead and a Bone Wall, and then run away.

Sephiro was doing much better than Eder. After all, he'd landed a Giant Killer, which was like a thorn in its side.

However, its vitality was overwhelming. Not to mention its yellow eyes that cast a Petrifying Gaze, its body, which launched Scale Missiles, and the black Petrifying Poison that came out of its mouth.

Since it was such a powerful monster, Sephiro was in constant danger. He shot an arrow, dodged its attack, kept Waryong safe... It was chaos.

They were so busy that they hadn't realized that Kang Oh had been eaten. Even if they knew, they weren't in any condition to help him.

Anyhow, Kang Oh had to figure out a way out of this on his own.

The world was dark, and there wasn't a single spot on his body that didn't feel cold. At this rate, he'd be fully petrified and make it all the way to the Basilisk's stomach.

'Please!'

Once he regained control of his body, he immediately used Abyss Transfer. But before he receded into the shadows, his entire body was coated in Petrifying Poison.

[You have been coated in Petrifying Poison.]

[Your entire body will quickly turn to stone.]

[Take action immediately!]

Kang Oh gritted his teeth.

'Oh god!'

He prayed that Abyss Transfer would work. Fortunately, his prayers were answered.

Kang Oh's body disappeared. The Basilisk, having lost the feeling of its prey, widened its eyes.

A short while later...

Kang Oh reappeared beside Eder. He wasn't in good shape. His entire body was coated in Petrifying Poison like a man covered in tar.

"E-Eder..." He couldn't even speak properly.

"Mr. Kang Oh!" Shocked, Eder immediately used First Aid. He cracked an anti-petrification pill, mixed it with a health potion, and poured it over Kang Oh's body.

[The Petrifying Poison is being neutralized.]

[Progress: 1%]

...

"Mr. Sephiro, we have to run away," Eder yelled. If they had time, then Kang Oh would be cured. However, the Basilisks wouldn't be so kind.

There were three of them for god's sake!

"I'll draw their attention, so you run first!" Sephiro yelled. Then, he used a Buster Shot.

Whizz! Pew, pew, pew!

Countless arrows fell from the sky! It wouldn't do much damage to the Basilisks, but it would be good enough to draw their attention away from Eder.

Eder ordered a Death Knight to lift Kang Oh's body and run. He also ordered the remaining undead to fight the Basilisks to the death!

Sephiro belatedly used Emergency Escape on Waryong, and then ran away.

Hiss! Hiss!

The three Basilisks 'hissed' and followed them.

* * *

What a relief.

The entrance was right in front of them. It was only natural. They had encountered the Basilisks as soon as they entered, after all.

Eder and the Death Knight, which was carrying Kang Oh, safely escaped the dungeon.

Sephiro just barely made it out. He was almost devoured like Kang Oh, but he used Absolute Evasion to get himself out of trouble.

"Hoo, hoo."

"Haa!"

Eder and Sephiro sighed in relief. 'Ha, we survived!'

A short while later, Kang Oh was completely healed, and he stood up. After all, he had the Legendary Healer, Eder, by his side!

"Thanks, Eder," Kang Oh said.

"I'm glad you're alright."

"I think we'll have to give up on this dungeon. The Basilisks are too strong," Sephiro said. Eder agreed, nodding his head.

However, Kang Oh shook his head.

"Let's try it one more time."

"What? We can't do it. You should know better than anyone." Sephiro furrowed his brow.

"Three is too much for us, sure. But I think we'll be able to do it if we only take on one at a time."

"Why are you so insistent?" Sephiro didn't want to fight the Basilisks again. 'What if we die next time?'

He would lose levels by dying! Plus, his proficiency, which was already so hard to increase, would go down by a large margin too!

"There's a reason I want to try it again. So let's give it another go."

When he used Abyss Transfer to escape the Basilisk's mouth, Kang Oh had suddenly gotten this message.

[Kunta's Golden Talent Ring has activated.]

[A spontaneous quest for Devil Trigger has been created.]

[High-Rank Devil Trigger]

Kunta's talent dwells within you. Kill twenty Basilisks while using Devil Trigger!

Killed Basilisks: 0/20.

Difficulty: Spontaneous.

Reward: High-Rank Devil Trigger.

His proficiency in Devil Trigger was currently at 85.7%. But if he killed 20 Basilisks, then the spontaneous quest would upgrade Devil Trigger to high-rank! Thus, he decided to kill them, despite experiencing how dangerous it was firsthand.

"No!" Eder said firmly.

"Eder!" Kang Oh looked disappointed. 'You too?'

"You cannot enter the dungeon again. I've run out of anti-petrification medicine."

"Mm."

"If you want to go inside, then go in by yourself."

"I'm not going either," Sephiro said.

Kang Oh bit his thumb. He only had 10 minutes left on Gluttony.

'I guess it's a no-go today.'

"Then let's try again tomorrow. Please prepare more thoroughly."

"This place again?" Sephiro vehemently expressed his disapproval.

"Just one more time, I promise. We'll only fight them when they're alone."

Honestly, they had absolutely no hopes of winning if they fought two at once.

"He's that desperate to come back, so why don't we just indulge him?" Eder said.

"Just once!" Sephiro said.

* * *

The next day, Kang Oh's party returned to the nameless dungeon.

[Entering ???.]

Fortunately, they didn't encounter any Basilisks at the entrance. It seemed like the Basilisks freely roamed across the dungeon.

Kang Oh's party hid themselves and proceeded with caution. They looked for an area that only contained a single Basilisk.

They got their chance pretty quick.

"There aren't any monsters besides that one in a 100 meter radius." Sephiro pointed at a coiled up Basilisk.

"Please make sure no other monsters come close. If you sense anything approaching, please let me know immediately," Kang Oh said.

"Yes."

"Please take this drug before you go." Eder pulled out a drug that had even greater anti-petrification effects.

Kang Oh consumed the drug and immediately used Gluttony on an AA-rank item.

All of his abilities were increased threefold! The item that he'd consumed would increase the damage he inflicted to snake-type monsters.

"Let's go!" Kang Oh transformed into the Jet-Black Demon, rushed forward, and engaged in an intense battle.

As a result… They failed again.

A level 600 Basilisk was too strong, and had way too much HP.

Kang Oh could take on most bosses using Gluttony. However, beating the Basilisk once it ended was literally impossible. It was just way too hard to kill without Gluttony's buffs.

The Basilisk had a variety of attacks, which included its Petrifying Gaze, Petrifying Poison, and Scale Missile. It also tried to bite, constrict, and tackle them. With so many moves at its disposal, it slowly wore Kang Oh's party down.

Fighting it was like walking on a tightrope. Eventually, another Basilisk appeared.

'It's over.'

In the end, Kang Oh's party was forced to retreat.

"Hoo."

"Haa, haa."

Eder and Sephiro sighed in relief after escaping the dungeon. 'I thought I'd die!'

Kang Oh stroked his chin. "We need more people."

They couldn't defeat the Basilisks with just the three of them. But in order to complete the spontaneous quest, he needed to kill the Basilisks!

He needed some extremely skilled helpers! Figures like Valan, Burkan, Bart, etc. passed through his head.