Dyne was unusually calm.

He took several breathes as he observed the angry approach of the Serpent.

“He is out of energy. The Earth energy he released earlier must have taken a huge toll on him. He really went all in to get you, Jedo.” Dyne observed.

“The small snakes in his body were killed by the monsters. Some might have been killed during my Dragon King Slice attack. But judging from his skin, some were probably burned by the Molotov Cocktail that I used to block the path under those petrified plants. He probably chased me as he caught a whiff of my scent and even broke through the fire. What guts.” Dyne praised.

The Basilisk glared at Dyne and slithered, and Dyne could finally see the size of this creature and observe its every detail.

The Basilisk was very long. It looked longer than twenty meters. The head itself was like a huge boulder that was wider than Dyne's own body.

"You could just easily swallow me whole, can't you?" Dyne laughed. He then took out four small flasks and drank them.

Power Elixir. Shield Elixir. Speed Elixir. Fury Boost.

“Grim! Form of Spear!” Dyne called out as he charged.

The scythe form of Grim changed as the blade stretched forward. It turned from a scythe into a long spear.

The effects of Speed Elixir took effect, and Dyne whirled forward with extreme speed. He held Grim by his side and was rushing to stab the Basilisk.

The Basilisk immediately bit down with speed that outmatched Dyne.

“Now!” Dyne shouted, and Grim bit down on its beak and caused a fireball to explode out.

Dyne also threw himself and used the momentum of the explosion to throw him sideways, evading the dangerous maw of the Basilisk.

Dyne immediately stabbed at the side of the Basilisk.

PENG!

The powerful Spirit that coated the tip of Grim’s blade could not penetrate the stony body of the Basilisk. The scale bent inwards and had a small wound.

But Dyne knew this was the case, and he used the force from the rebound of his strike to jump backward.

The timing was very precise. If Dyne jumped too early, his attack wouldn’t do any damage. But any later, and Dyne wouldn’t have taken advantage of the rebounding force.

Grim had also used its hovering ability to cause Dyne to jump further and even hover for several seconds.

The whipping sound of the tail of the Basilisk was heard as it slapped onto its self.

Dyne, who had landed several meters away, began to retreat and ran towards the river.

The Basilisk screeched and chased after Dyne. The effects of the Chicken King couldn’t activate in this boss fight, and the Basilisk was quickly gaining on Dyne.

Suddenly, the Basilisk sprang forward to bite Dyne, but Dyne had stopped from his run, made a quick break and slid on the ground, and then immediately ran in the opposite direction.

The Basilisk was still recovering from his missed attack that Dyne had already jumped up and stabbed on another part of the Basilisk.

Dyne was very careful to pick a spot that had wounds from the recent battle, so the stab penetrated and finally made the Basilisk bleed.

Dyne didn’t delay and immediately ran again.

The Basilisk gave an angry chase as he missed Dyne on those attacks.

Instead of chasing Dyne as he did, the Basilisk raised his head eight meters higher. Then, it coiled up and shot forward towards Dyne.

But at that moment, Grim shot a small fireball through its mouth and struck the Basilisk's eyes.

Dyne immediately jumped. With Grim watching his back, and their link, Dyne could easily time his jump perfectly.

Dyne’s Spirit-fueled jump sent him several meters up just in time to avoid the crashing tackle of the Basilisk.

CRASH!

The blinding fireball caused the Basilisk to hit the ground, causing its spine to bend.

Dyne held Grim and channeled nearly a quarter of the spiritual force that the Power Elixir provided and stabbed as he fell down.

STAB!

The stab pierced through the hard scale. It couldn't penetrate deep enough, but Dyne immediately made Gimard burn up its entire body.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

The Basilisk howled and threw itself backward, and Dyne immediately pulled Grim and jumped off.

As Grim was able to move his body, it was very easy for Dyne to remove Grim that had stabbed through the hard scale of the Basilisk.

BANG!

The Basilisk slammed the back of its head on the ground, but Dyne had already jumped off and was rolling on the ground.

“Is that all you got, Wormy?”

The Basilisk roared and suddenly. Powerful soul energy erupted from his body.

The grass below him was petrified, and the earth energy rushed towards Dyne.

“Just what I was waiting for!” Dyne laughed and held on to the item and placed it over his Brimstone Heart.

The petrification power didn’t affect Dyne’s body, but all the Earth energy rushed towards his Brimstone Heart. The Elemental Spirit Seed of Dyne greedily devoured the Soul energy.

The Earth Jewel also began to shine as it was absorbing the Earth's energy as well. Dyne placed the Earth jewel near his heart to maximize the amount of Earth energy the Earth Jewel was absorbing. And Dyne was converting all the excess energy that the Earth Jewel absorbed into MP.

Dyne harnessed the energy and activated powerful magic inspired by the Grandia game series.

Dyne’s skin hardened as the Earth energy was encased all over his body. Dyne’s figure looked like a large stone, making him look like a human-stone creature.

“Diggin!” Dyne shouted as the Earth energy became an added layer of protection.

But Dyne didn’t end there. He could see that the Basilisk was losing control of the Earth elemental soul attack he was releasing. It was as if a powerful force began to draw out the Basilisk Elemental Soul Seed energy.

"Poor Basilisk." Strafe sighed.

"You tried to contest someone with a Paragon Elemental Spirit Seed." Strafe lamented for the poor beast.

The absorption rate made the Basilisk have a fearful look and was trying to shut his soul from releasing the Earth Energy forcefully.

“Ha Ha Ha!” Dyne laughed as he could feel the power surge in his heart. Slowly, his surrounding parts were now reforming to have more Earth energy.

Dyne immediately brought out Grim and began to harness the fire energy within him.

“Earth and Fire. Let’s make Brimstone!” The Fire energy traveled all over Dyne’s body. First, the Earth served as a defense, but now it contained the intangible element of Fire. And the energy that completed Brimstone, Holy was being released by Dyne's heart.

But what was shocking was that Dyne’s Soul contained the elemental energy just as it would with Spirit.

An explosive force was now hidden in Dyne’s body.

“He can do that already?” Strafe was shocked.

Spirit was a Soul art that was geared to enhance the body and help Dyne grow leaps and bounds stronger than a Body Cultivator. But this was a technique that was the Spirit equal for Mind Cultivators.

“Link! He can already do Link! Amazing.” Strafe praised once more.

Diggin created an Earth covering that made Dyne’s defense tougher. But now, through Link, Dyne contained the Fire in the Earth. The once intangible form of Fire now had formed.

“Wow!” Dyne called out the name of the damage increasing support skill in Grandia.

Grim hovered and positioned itself at the back of Dyne.

The Basilisk finally managed to stop his Soul from leaking the energy and moved to bite Dyne.

Dyne jumped, but the Basilisk anticipated this and raised his head and continued his pounce to the mid-air Dyne.

Dyne was smiling as his lower body swayed like a pendulum swinging to the furthest point. Grim was controlling Dyne’s movements and made this impossible evasion.

Dyne was positioned just above the nostril of the beast and delivered a powerful punch.

BANG!

A small explosion occurred, and the large head of the Basilisk was smashed to the ground from the force of that punch. But the thick scale and the hard skull made it look like there was no damage at the Basilisk's head!

Grim moved once more and brought Dyne’s floating body to deliver a powerful kick right at the eye of the Basilisk.

BANG!

Another explosion occurred, and the Basilisk screamed in pain.

It pulled its head back and revealed its belly.

Dyne immediately ran and began to deliver a combo of attacks.

Punches and kicks began to dig deep into the belly.

Dyne did not let up when suddenly, the body of the snake coiled up and the tailed whipped at Dyne.

SMASH!

Dyne was slapped and was smashed right into the body of the Basilisk.

The Basilisk gave a cheerful hiss as it finally managed to put Dyne into its death grip.

The grip was happening, but Dyne focused on increasing the defensive Spirit as well as Diggin to prevent the Basilisk from crushing him.

The Basilisk raised its head in victory and looked down mockingly at Dyne.

It opened its jaws and licked its lips as if expecting a delicious meal.

And then it chomped down.

“NOW!” Dyne shouted and commanded Jedo.

BANG!

The pyramid-shaped force field appeared once more and pushed the wrapped body of the Basilisk away.

The Basilisk had bitten on the tip of the Pyramid.

Dyne was already ready.

It was all a part of his plan. He needed to know how hard the Basilisk’s skin was and made his first stab attack.

After learning how hard the scale was, Dyne figured attacking the monster from the outside was pointless. He then tried to make a powerful stab at seeing if the Basilisk would get hurt from the inside.

Grim burned the inside, and the Basilisk reacted, confirming that his inner organs and tissues were not as hard as his scale. But attacking the parts which were previously wounded was not enough to kill him.

Dyne deduced he needed to land one killing blow since he did not have the MP or the Soul energy to do it.

He led the Basilisk into using his petrification power to harness the Earth energy to cast Diggin and WOW!.

Dyne tested the power of WOW! to see if it was satisfactory for his last attack.

Dyne allowed himself to be coiled and waited for the Basilisk to bite him. Diggin would protect him from receiving grievous wounds.

And at the right moment, when the Basilisk bit, Dyne made Jedo use the force field to be free from the coil and keep the jaws of the beast opened long enough for his attack to hit the insides of the Basilisk.

Being free from the snake's coil, Dyne immediately held Grim, who was now in Spear form.

Rising Dragon Fist, which Ken of Street Fighter inspired, focused power on the force of his jump and in the power of his fist. Dyne already did this and knew the extent of his jump.

Dragon King Slice, which Gadwin of Grandia inspired, employed a powerful and explosive Earth and Fire attack.

And now, Dyne used both.

“Rising Dragon King Strike!”

The force field disappeared just in time for Grim to stab the opened jaw of the Basilisk. Dyne aimed for the area where the Basilisk's brain would be.

BOOM!

The head of the Basilisk burst opened and splattering the organs and brain everywhere.

Dyne fell on the ground and couldn’t move. His body was bleeding everywhere. He had used all of the Power Elixir and exhausted the Soul energy.

“Ugh…” Dyne began to reach out and eat a healing leaf. His body was trembling in pain.

Grim slowly hovered near Dyne. Dyne could tell that Grim couldn’t bear that attack's explosive force and was also close to dying.

“Man… I’m beat. So… Are you going to get me out of here?” Dyne asked.