It has been a while since I’ve been walking. I’m sort of aware that this level is practically a labyrinth, and I’m glad that I don’t feel fatigue, so I can walk on endlessly for the most part. But it is still strange that I haven’t run into any monsters the past few hours, even though I have no actual idea how much time has passed yet. To be honest, I ignored some large openings that appeared on either the left or right side of me as I walked straight forward.

Maybe we change that, and now I will turn in to the right, where there is that pathway decorated with bones and twigs. There will be something there, I can tell that clearly without much experience in this monster spotting field.

This place is not that big, seems like it’s a single “room” for some kind of reptilian monster, most likely a basilisk if I had to guess from the relatively large scaled dark eggs placed in a makeshift twig and maybe bone nest. Yeah, these are bones of some kind of smaller beast. The eggs are quite heavy. I wonder if these would be enough to restore the damage done to my vessel.

Probably not, I’d need their mother for that. I’m no expert on the birth cycle of basilisks, but I guess the least I can do is raise these as smaller undead. For now, they will have to do. I feel the cold negative matter course through the vessel towards my hand holding the egg and see the faint dark light with a faint dark violet hue invade the scaled shell of the egg. It starts to crack all over the hard surface of it and breaks apart from top to bottom, revealing a dark purplish scaled lizard’s corpse with a snake's head with small dragon like horns reaching towards its back. Its small baby lizard legs spreading outwards on my pale palms.

After debating for a while, I decide to raise it anyway, and start pouring a bit more negative matter into its corpse mixed with my will to raise it. I can hear the faint sound of the bones cracking in the body of this small one as it slowly mutates thanks to my weird version of negative matter. Its body grows a bit bigger, I drop it before its weight breaks off my hand that barely hangs on to my forearm.

It lands on the ground like a cat landing on its feet with another bone crack sound and a few moments later its rapid grows stops. Now it’s the size of a smaller dog almost, and it hisses at me, recognizing me as its master through the necrotic link usually established between the raised and the necromancer. It feels a bit peculiar, but I’m sure I’ll get used to this.

I’ll give it some simple commands. It is really my first time raising something into undeath. It rolls on the ground like a dog or cat that craves for attention, kicking up dirt from the floor of the basilisk nest and even leaving some of its rotten scales behind, revealing darkened muscles and bones. Even one of its legs out of the six gets twisted, but it quickly fixes it back. If I’d be actually had my original body here, that would probably give me the goosebumps.

Next I order it to show it to me its combat abilities. First, it spits out a dark greenish ball of acid that lands on an empty nest, quickly melting the wood and bone it is made of. Well, in like a few seconds there is a long icicle shaped like gap on the nest. After that, it uses the famous Gaze of theirs to maim a bug on the ground crawling around, minding its own business. I can feel the negative matter coursing through its frozen in time small carapace body. Still alive, but I guess that is a given with the undead basilisk being technically an unborn one.

For now this will be enough, time to move on to raise the others too before their parents return.

Well, it has been a hot minute since I raised the last one, and the parents or parent is still nowhere. I have now like six of these small undead basilisks that can be used for combat, the others are even smaller and can’t even use the Gaze Ability of their race, and their acid even with negative matter mixed in can’t even damage wood. I guess those will be the scouts and spies for the foreseeable future. I probably should have searched for some other monsters even with the current state of my vessel, but there is no point in dwelling on it.

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Especially because it seems like the mama or papa basilisk is on its way back. Its deep growling mixed with hissing echoes through the short natural corridor, its yellow eyes giving out a faint glow, and it’s probably pretty pissed off, even though reading an overgrown reptilian beast's face is not my expertise. But I can guess it from its loud and weirdly deep wail.

Then there is an awkward silence, its eyes glowing up in a dark hue three times. After the fourth time, though, it realizes that the Basilisk’s Gaze ability won’t work on me or my vessel. I feel a bit relieved, I wasn’t sure about my vessel withstanding that, but I can still move the arms and legs.

Seems like it angers it even more, as it lets out that deep wail once more while also spitting a large amount of acid from its mouth. I barely manage to dodge that. My left hand gets some of it, and it quickly erodes the damaged flesh on it, revealing the clear white bones. My legs are even worse as I land on the ground, they let out a loud crunch that echoes in the nest. Thankfully they are not broken I think, I can still stand up but jumping around is out of the picture. Well, the only good part is that I cast an illusion while I jumped away.

My minions already shoot their parents with their acid shots, but it barely does anything. It has a few small scars appear where it gets hit by the undead basilisk children, but it more or less just angers it. And for now, that anger is focused on the illusion of me it sees. I see the bluish outline matching my vessel’s height dodging the incoming negative matter infused acid, even though it hits some smaller undead basilisk while the bigger ones manage to dodge it and continue shooting back at it.

But with each jump it fades slowly, so I don’t have much time. It helps that the illusory me turned the basilisk away from me, so I can sneak behind it without too much of an issue. Just for safety, let’s pin the basilisk to the ground. I order some of the undead basilisk children to shoot at a large piece of stone sticking out from the ceiling slightly over the basilisk. Their necrotic acid slowly erodes the darkish, smooth surface of the stone. Thankfully, the basilisk is still occupied with the illusory image of me dodging the incoming necrotic acid shots of it. How much of that shit they have in their bodies?

After several shots, and a little help from me using a ray of negative matter, the stone falls swiftly down on the basilisk, making it give out a weird yelp that echoes through the nest and even the path leading out from it. It doesn’t penetrate its scaly skin, but still proves heavy enough to pin it. And I think I heard its bone cracks. Not a bone break, but the basilisk’s legs are twisted enough it will have a hard time getting up.

I limp my way to the pinned down basilisk. It’s odd seeing the confusion in its eyes, as it realizes that it was venting its anger to an illusion of me. Well let’s not waste any more time, who knows how longs that large stone will hold it down. I hold my right hand out and attempt to connect it to its scaly forehead, but proving that it still has enough fighting power, it bites off my hand and lifts the heavy stone off of itself. It quickly tackles me to the ground, pinning my shoulders with its large clawed reptilian hands.

The first stage of absorption takes effect. Now I see the basilisk and see myself, a ravaged moon elf, completely bald, parts of the skull revealed under the skin and flesh. The whitish moon silver eyes tainted with dark blood, the lips missing chunks of it and the list goes on. In short, I look like hammered shit, a half-naked hammered shit. And there is the dark miasma that leaks from the scars and orifices of the vessel. It’s quite a headache inducing experience having two visions at the same time. Better hurry up with the second stage.

The next moment my vision changes, and everything becomes ethereal, the stone walls, ceiling, and ground surrounding me, the basilisk and the moon elf vessel, the few undead basilisk children in the edges of my visions, they all lose their details and become shapes of energies, all different colours in the vast darkness that surrounds us. Then the basilisk me slowly breaks down into dust and the small dust particles flew into the moon elf vessel, the missing right arm grows back, and I feel as it regenerates.

But it’s not just the basilisk physical form that melds with the vessel and me, but its memories, experience and all the other parts of it meld into me. I feel the anger towards myself, I experience that one moment of fear and calm it felt before it became me. It feels warm, it feels cold, it feels good.