Basilisk is considered one of the hardest mid-level boss monsters in Arcadia, ranking as a Superior Class which is a mid-level difficulty boss.

For three reasons, First, it’s one of the middle-level bosses that has an almost instant death skill known as Death Gaze.

This turns players into stone in a fraction of a second commonly referred to as Petrification.

Second, is its breath skills, Corrosive Haze, a debuff ability that lowers the defense of anyone affected, Cursed Haze, an ability that creates miasma that continuously damages anyone affected, and Inferno Burst, which obliterates anything it hits.

The last one is Basilisk's obnoxious offense and defense.

Its iron-like scales are almost impervious to physical attacks, while its razor-sharp talons shred anything it touches.

Basilisk is a raid boss that requires several parties to defeat it.

After all, it’s one of the requirements to unlock mounts in Arcadia.

Close Combat is considered haphazard when fighting Basilisk, whose entire kit is to eliminate melee classes except one the Shielder Class.

The shielder class is considered the best tank in Arcadia with the ability to aggro and survive almost any attack.

Equipped with a skill that both negates and reduces damage, buffs that increase elemental and status resistance, and it's the only base class that is immune to Instant death skills.

The only problem is that it lacks damage which makes it hard for solo players to level up and reach one if its Advance Class Guardian.

Which made it unpopular and only played by a handful of people who loved playing together at the party.

For the same reason, I don’t know any Shielder in our city strong enough to tank a Superior Class Boss monster.

"It would be much simpler if Gran were here," Earl remarked, referring to our guild member who served as a Guardian during the initial months of Arcadia.

To some extent, I agreed with him since acting as a pseudo-tank is a hard task not just for me but for everyone.

Blade Dancer doesn’t have an aggro skill and I need to be the highest damage per second (DPS) to keep Basilisk’s aggro.

That’s why I’m leaving Earl in charge of the attacks since he knows most of the skills and he has the idea of how to fight with a pseudo tank.

“It’s a walk in the park if Gran is here”, I replied.

"Are you not afraid, Asriel?" Claire asked abruptly. "I dwelled close to death during my active years in Genesis Zero; I fear losing someone I care about more than losing my own life," I replied.

I saw tears forming in her eyes as she seemed worried, especially with my answer.

"Why would I be afraid, when I have my friends watching my back?" I continued, attempting to reassure Claire that everything would be alright.

She cheered up a bit as she said “Then I’ll do my best to keep you alive”.

Dia as usual is very calm and composed as any sniper should be.

“Wasn’t it hard not to hit Asriel while he was fighting the Basilisk?” Rain asked.

“I’m more worried about not hitting the Basilisk since my good eye is gone”, Dia replied.

“After all even if I aim at Riel, hitting him is close to impossible especially if he has nothing to worry about”, Dia continued.

“Riel is the close combat specialist of Genesis Zero not just because he excels in fighting at close range but rather because of his spatial awareness “, she added.

“What do you mean Diana?”, Rain asked.

“I tried shooting him once during training in the head using a rubber bullet using my sniper rifle, for some reason he just dodged it as if he saw it coming a mile away” she answered.

Everyone’s eyes looked at Dia as if they just heard something very mischievous.

Dia just gave a smile as if it was normal for her, I did remember pissing her off before we did that training.

The next day I treated her to some fancy dessert as an apology, better safe than sorry.

Everyone's nerves somehow calmed down after hearing Dia’s story.

I can tell Rain and Neil were afraid that they would hit me with their skill once they started fights.

Good thing Dia’s story made them a bit more composed.

After all, we need all the damage we can get, if we're gonna defeat the Basilisk in a minute.

A resounding roar echoes through the outskirts of Castor Town as the Basilisk emerges from the adjacent forest.

I swiftly transitioned to my Enchanter Class, casting Status Boost, Spell Boost, and Stone Skin on myself, before switching back to the Blade Dancer class.

"Earl, you’ll be in charge of this battle," I stated before dashing toward the enormous reptile.

"I'll give it my all, Big Bro," he replied.

I know that all my attention will be focused on dodging and keeping the Basilisk aggro.

If anyone out DPS me, everyone will be in trouble.

That’s why I’m leaving the DPS control to Earl, I’m not worried about Dia since she knows how to follow someone's order.

Commanding wasn’t Dia’s strong suit and at the same time, Earl knows every single spell in Arcadia.

The Basilisk was a couple of hundred meters away when I started casting my Blade Dancer’s Buff, "Luna gemina, ferre duos gladios, astrum danza Lunar Blade Dance!".

Lunar Blade Dance is a level 65 spell buff that allows blade dancers to dual-wield which is unique to the class, it doubles attack speed and improves all blade dancers attack skill to another level until the user's hp drops below 30% as the skill consumes one percent of the max HP every second the buff is activated.

But the HP consumption won’t be a problem since Claire’s Holy Sanctuary will be active the whole fight.

I equipped Kaleidoscope on the right hand and Durandal on the other both in their Taichi Form, as I started enchanting my other buff that would allow me to evade the instant death ability of the Basilisk.

“Luna saltus, celeritas et vigor! Dancing Moonlight”, I chanted, allowing me to use Flash Step.

In a few seconds, Basilisk is within my skill range.

As the Basilisk eyes gazed upon me, I casted Flash Step to swiftly move to its blind side and cast one of my current highest damage skill Devouring Moonflower to take the aggro.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Devouring Moonflower is an advanced form of Blooming Moonflower, doubling the attack power by releasing 32 slashes instead of 16, creating two layers of flower-like light.

The Basilisk shrieks as the slashes pierce to its thick skin, and its aggro starts focusing on me, it launches an attack trying to rip my body into half using its sharp claws.

But I quickly dodge it using a simple backflip allowing me to not get hit.

Yet even before I landed another one of its claws darted toward my body suspended in the air.

Compared to other monster bosses, it has the intelligence to bait a jump so it can land an attack.

Foreseeing the attack I used Full-Moon Slash propelling me sideways dodging the sharp talons coming from above.

But the Basilisk is not done yet as it uses its long tail as a whip.

I saw it coming as I cast Twin-Sword Guard to nullify the damage and the knockback effect.

Since everyone would be in trouble if it sent me near the Town.

It releases a loud howl as if it is infuriated from being unable to land an attack.

Dark Purple and Green smoke releases from its mouth as it casts Cursed Haze and Corrosive Haze.

Poison and Armor reduction debuff was inflicted on me and just on the cue Holy light covered the Field.

Arrows started raining on the Basilisk, I quickly ramped up my damage per second to keep the aggro on the terrifying beast.

Using Flash Step I keep going to its blind side while releasing dozens of Full Moon Slashes.

The Basilisk kept turning around trying to lock its deathly gaze on me, it started attacking blindly trying to hit me.

Its ferocious attacks keep going for dozens of seconds while I bathe it with dozens of slashes.

I saw its scales turn into a scarlet color as it reached its second form, flame started forming in its mouth signaling that it’s gonna release one of its devastating breath skills, Inferno Burst.

But for some reason, the beast is directing the attack on the town, knowing what is to come I use Flash Step to block the devastating attack using my Twin Sword Guard.

Earl quickly cast a mana shield at me as Twin Sword Guard blocked only half of the damage.

As soon as the Massive ball of flame left the basilisk's mouth Earl and Neil cast several Stone Walls encapsulating the beast, hiding me from its deathly gaze.

Unable to move to nullify the attack, I looked at my mana quickly moving toward zero, by the time I canceled Inferno Burst Half of my HP was gone.

Diana on the other hand continues to bombard the basilisk with exploding arrows.

Half a minute had passed since the battle started when Earl started chanting after he activated two of his unique skills Wandering and Knowledge of the Sage for 30 seconds his skill will only cost 30% of the MP cost and have an additional level of 10 for the buff duration while avoiding a fatal dmg for a single instance.

This gives him access to the level 60 skill of the Mage Class.

Corruption is a skill buff that adds a dark attribute to any skill cast for a whole minute.

“"Corruptus umbra, addo tenebras, magica obscura fulgor Corruption!", Earl chanted as he activated.

Purple Magic Circle covered the as he used up all his mana to cast multiple Advance level Meteorite.

Chaos Meteor is twice as strong as the normal Meteorite and to top it off, Basilisk fire resistance cannot negate it since its dark attribute.

Meteors and arrows rained on the basilisk as Diana kept releasing Explosive Arrows.

I drank a high potent mana potion to fully recover it.

A loud shriek was heard as if cursing the world as the final Chaos Meteor landed on the Basilisk.

Knowing what was about to come, I chanted “Class Change Enchanter, Aura Water”.

Dia's mana is already depleted while Claire’s Holy Sanctuary just ended.

The basilisk's body glowed into Dark Purple as magic circles surrounded it, it’s gonna release its final and most terrifying skill.

A skill that brings devastation and brings death to a wide area Inferno Cataclysm.

Burst of Purple Flames started raining down from the Sky.

But before it reached the Castor Town I dashed towards the town entrance, and quickly activated Enchanter's level 70 skill Status Shift temporarily shifting all my stats to intelligence, and chanted "Aurora Sphaera, Aqua Munimentum, Puritas Circum, Miasma Abigo Aurora Sphere!".

Blue light covered the whole of Castor Town, like a diorama of a small town inside a glass globe.

Purple flames were extinguished as it touched the sphere.

Aurora Sphere is an enchanter special skill that can only be accessed when the Water aura is activated.

It uses all the users' mana to create a protective barrier that greatly depends on the amount of INT the user has.

I was enveloped with Stone Walls as I cast the skill, it’s probably Earl since he knows that other stats were drastically lowered to one which made me vulnerable and he is the one who formulated the skill combination before in Arcadia.

It's one of the highest risks of skill combination and can only be used in some niche situations such as the final skill of Basilisk.

After a minute Earl removed the Stone Wall surrounding me knowing the temporary effect of the Status Shift just ended.

“ I was hoping that the Basilisk doesn’t have that annoying skill”, I uttered as I looked at my cousin's worried face.

“Yeah! I was hoping the same thing Big Bro”, Earl said in agreement knowing how annoying that skill was in Arcadia.

Everyone gathered near me as they cheered for the successful defense of the Castor Town.

Claire gave me a tight hug, as she sobbed.

I was about to comfort her when Dia suddenly hugged me in the back and uttered jokingly “That’s my spot but since you kept Riel alive, I’ll let it go”.

Everyone laughed as we entered the Castor town to let everyone know we defended against the Monster Siege.

Just a few steps inside the town, something familiar caught my eye, Dia’s right arm has a unique black emblem.

A scythe and a half moon, depicting Nyx the night goddess mother of Thanatos the personification of Death.

“ Dia is that emblem always been there?”, I asked.

“What do you mean?”, Dia replied.

The mark on your shoulder wasn’t that the guild emblem Yui designed.

She looks at her right arm and was surprised.

Looking at her reaction I realize that something must have triggered it.

“I remember when we were still playing Arcadia, I put the position of our Guild emblem here, since it looks cooler”, she replied still looking at the emblem.

Earl looked at me after he avert his gaze on his left hand, a blood red symbol of a dragon curled into infinity sign ∞, symbolizing The Sun Eater, Mythical Dragon Bakunawa, the emblem of Asia’s strongest guild Endless.

“Wasn’t that the same symbol at the back of your neck? Riel”, Dia asked.

Earl and I just looked at each other knowing what the symbol mean.

I quickly opened my map, my eyes darted to the top center and my hunch is right as I read W-2, depicting that the world level increase by 1.

That explain why guild emblems just suddenly showed up on our bodies, I told to myself as I close my map window.

“Ehhh...! that’s kinda unfair, u got cool emblems”, Neil suddenly said while we were walking towards the Castor Inn where the residents of Castor Town gathered.

“Dia’s emblem look cooler though,” Rain exclaimed as she look closely to Dia right arm.

“But why would Asriel got the same emblem with Earl, I thought you were on the same Guild with Diana?, Ash asked.

“Because he never did became part of the Guild”, Dia answered.

“What do you mean by that Miss Dia?”, Ash inquired. “Even after Riel went to the US he remained the Guild Master of Endless”, Dia stated.

“And guilds status are shared on account wide, that’s why Big Bro use the mercenary option to be temporary member of Dia’s Guild”, Earl added.

“Guild Master?”, Neil asked.

“Yes, Big Bro is the Guild Master of Asia’s Strongest Guild - Endless”, Earl confidently said.

“No Wonder, he’s knows a lot”, Rain stated.

My mind drifted away from the conversation knowing the possibility that at some point we can access the Guild Window.

Which would really beneficial in defending Sieges and in a not distant future retrieving God Atlas’ Artifacts.

My mind came back to reality when I heard the town’s people cheering as we get near the Castor Inn.

Although the resident’s of Castor Town will be helding a feast, celebrating the successful defense against the Basilisk.

I insisted that our group need to go back to Maceria, since its already been two days since we left our city.

My friends parents and even my own is probably worried, accepting my explanation, we returned to Maceria using Castor Town’s Transport Gate.