"Hehe, just come, you will soon join these two beasts," uttered Thiago already seeing the demise of the Golden basilisk.

It was only a matter of a short time until Thiago and the two fighting beasts could feel the ground vibrating under them.

It indicated the approaching and soon to be arriving Golden basilisk, since he was the only beast inside the forest with such power to influence the ground.

But instead of moving forward on the ground, which would cause it to tremble and vibrate and thus explain the phenomenon that had just occurred, the basilisk was instead flying, and it was only through the huge masses of displaced air pressing down on the ground, which was displaced in the first place by the movement of its wings to keep it aloft, that the ground vibrated as the masses of air pressed down on it.

As the frequency of the shaking increased, Thiago could slowly make out the outline of something resembling a serpent, but with wings, which was rapidly approaching in the sky.

And even though the two beasts had also felt the ground vibrate and sensed the basilisk's approach, they continued to fight, unable to stop as the Fury Stone continued to spread chaotic mental fluctuations, giving their minds no chance to prevail.

The sky was a deep shade of blue, and the sun was just beginning to set. As the last rays of sunlight stretched across the sky, a creature appeared on the horizon.

At first, it was just a speck, but as it got closer, it became clear that it was a magnificent creature, unlike any that Thiago had ever been seen before. Well, except in comics or in movies, so at least not in reality.

The creature was the Golden Basilisk, its scales glistening in the sunlight as it soared through the air with ease.

Its wings were broad and powerful, and its body was huge and slender.

As it approached, it let out a piercing roar that echoed throughout the forest, startling all the beasts in the forest once again, as the bear had done before, but this time there were many more who heard it, even feeling a tingling cold run down their spines as the screech caused them to be terrified.

Various beats in the distance looked up in awe and amazement but mostly in trepidation as the creature flew overhead. Its wingspan was enormous, and the sound of its wings flapping was like thunder rolling through the sky.

The creature circled once, twice, before hovering in the air. Its eyes glinted in the sunlight, and its body shimmered like gold. For a moment, it seemed to pause, as if surveying the land below.

A few seconds later, the golden basilisk was already hovering a few hundred metres above the destroyed area, where the battle between the lightning bear and the ice serpent was still going on, and spoke to the two of them, apparently not noticing Thiago, who was still hiding somewhere at that moment.

"What are you fighting for here, you two mentally handicapped idiots?! Do you want to attract some strong men from the human city?!"

His powerful and loud voice promptly reverberated throughout the forest, causing the trees to sway unsteadily as they were relentlessly bombarded by the sound wave created by his voice.

Not receiving any answer from the two beasts that were unable to wake up from their current state where their minds were clouded by chaotic and murderous thoughts due to the Fury stone, the basilisk felt that this situation seemed somewhat suspicious.

But looking around, the Basilisk could not see anyone else here who could be the culprit behind this situation.

Even using his Soul Sense bore no fruit, as it was not even as strong as Thiago's Soul Sense, which also showed how incredible Thiago's Heavenly Demon Soul Transmogrifying Art really was, as he had only cultivated it once, and even then, his Soul Sense was already stronger than the Basilisk's.

This was a stroke of luck on Thiago's part, for if the basilisk had sensed or seen him.

Then his plan would not have worked as well as it probably would now, well, if the basilisk acted accordingly.

'Phew, it was good that I moved back a few hundred metres, otherwise the basilisk would have been able to sense me immediately, no matter how weak its soul sense is,' Thiago sighed inwardly after realising that the basilisk couldn't see or sense him, at least not yet.

What made him a little dubious at first was why the basilisk wasn't affected by the Fury Stone, but then he concluded that it was probably because the basilisk was too high up for the mental fluctuations to hit it.

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As a result, the basilisk had no idea what the hell was going on and could only speculate.

'Are they being mind-controlled by some kind of treasure they found here, or is there some other reason for their strange behaviour right now? Normally they would prostrate themselves before me when they see this king, but now they don't even react to my call. How strange.'

"Well, I guess I'll have to get down there and see what's going on, if it is a certain treasure or even be some kind of plot by some human hunters, well, that's unlikely, but you never know what these treacherous and cunning humans are up to," uttered the basilisk with its voice sounding like thunder, yet there was a certain melodic quality to it, as if the creature were reciting a chant.

It was both soothing and intimidating at the same time. Although the basilisk was nothing out of the ordinary in the cultivation world, and there were far more dangerous and powerful beasts, Thiago still held it in high esteem because of his memories of Earth, where the basilisk had been a mystical beast of legend.

Having already pondered its further actions, the basilisk dived down headfirst and rapidly approached the two fighting beasts.

Unfortunately, it had unknowingly entered the range of the Fury stone's spiritual fluctuations.

"Hmm, what's that?!" cried out the basilisk in surprise and even slight fear, since every existence is afraid of the unknown.

The Basilisk's mental fortitude is already much stronger than that of the Lightning Bear and the Ice Serpent, as it was even able to recognise that something was wrong and speak before it was consumed and clouded by the strange, chaotic and murderous thoughts brought on by the Fury Stone.

This was undoubtedly a sign and an indication that the golden basilisk's strength and soul power were greater than the other two beasts, but alas, it was still corroded and clouded by the spiritual fluctuations that invaded its mind after a short two seconds before it was able to react properly, and was therefore in no better position than the Lightning Bear and the Ice Serpent.

Immediately, its eyes began to turn red, and a murderous aura enveloped its body as it leapt into the fray, changing the stalemate that the bear and the snake had been in all this time.

The golden basilisk's attack caught the other two beasts off guard, and they turned their attention towards the new threat.

The lightning bear charged towards the basilisk, its body crackling with energy, while the ice serpent hissed and lunged forward, spitting huge, dangerous and sharp icicles towards the basilisk. The golden basilisk moved with lightning-fast speed, dodging the bear's attacks and weaving between the serpent's icicles.

The basilisk unleashed a cloud of poisonous gas from its throat, which quickly enveloped the other two beasts.

"Raahh!"

"Hisss!"

Both screamed in agony as the poisonous gas was eroding their skin, but fortunately for them they were not injured further and were able to continue fighting.

The gas caused them to slow down and become slightly disoriented, making it easier for the basilisk to strike at them.

At this moment something happened that Thiago had not anticipated and had no clue about beforehand.

With a swift movement, the basilisk darted forward and unleashed a stream of saliva from its mouth. This was nothing noteworthy at first, but the next thing was certainly.

The saliva hit the ice serpent, immediately turning half of its body to solid gold.

'What?! How? Is this another of the Golden Basilisk's abilities? Then again, why wasn't it mentioned in the mission description before?' Thiago wondered inwardly as he saw this terrifying ability to turn half of the ice serpent's body to gold almost instantly.

This posed a huge problem for Thiago, who had no idea how to defend himself against such a skill. For the time being, he could only watch the battle between the lightning bear and the golden basilisk, as the ice serpent was unable to continue fighting with half of its body bound and covered in gold.

Yes, the ice serpent's body was not completely turned into gold, only its surface was covered in it. This was because the strength of the ice serpent in berserk mode was too high for it to be turned into gold immediately upon contact with the golden basilisk's saliva it had just spat out.

If the ice serpent had been weaker, there was a chance that it would have been completely converted to gold upon contact with the saliva, but fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, the serpent was still alive and only half covered in gold.

The reason for saying that it depended on one's point of view was that with Thiago around, the ice serpent could face far worse things than a quick death by solidifying into gold, such as being devoured by him while still alive.

The Lightning Bear, also understanding and sensing the danger, tried to avoid the basilisk's attack, but unfortunately, he was not quick enough to completely avoid the basilisk's saliva, which struck his hind leg and turned it into solid gold, or at least most of it.

The reason that a large part of the leg turned into real gold this time, rather than just being covered in it, was that the surface area on which the saliva landed was smaller than it had been when it had landed on the entire body of the ice serpent, so the force in the saliva responsible for turning everything it came in contact with into gold only had to cover a small area and was able to solidify that part into gold.

The process of turning an object into gold may involve the transfer of magical energy from the basilisk's saliva to the object's molecules, causing them to rearrange themselves into a golden shape. However, the success of the transformation may still depend on the surface area of the object in question.

In the case of the ice serpent, it is possible that the basilisk's ability was not able to fully solidify the serpent into gold due to the greater surface area of the serpent's body that was exposed to the basilisk's saliva.

The law of energy dissipation in relation to surface area may have played a role in limiting the transformation process.

Not that the laws of physics work very well in a cultivation world, but still, some things make sense.

In addition, the ice serpent may possess a magical ability that allows it to resist the effects of external magic or to 'freeze' magical energies, making it more difficult for the basilisk's magic to take hold.

As a result, the Basilisk's ability to turn objects into gold may not be fool proof, and the success of the transformation may depend on various factors, such as the surface area of the object and the object's inherent magical properties.

The complexity of these factors may have played a role in the ice serpent's incomplete transformation during the battle. This is what Thiago came up with after silently observing the battle and the Golden Basilisk's ability from afar.

As the bear retreated, the golden basilisk continued to strike, unleashing its poisonous gas and streams of golden saliva at every opportunity.

The bear and the basilisk clashed violently; each attack accompanied by a thunderclap. The ice serpent, now a statue of gold, or at least half of it, stood silently by, an eerie reminder of the chaos that had engulfed the battlefield.

The serpent was not yet dead, but it had had to expend an enormous amount of mana to keep its cells, and thus its entire body, from turning into gold, and it had now passed out after barely surviving.

This was the other reason why it had not completely solidified, in addition to the fact that its surface area was quite large.

Despite the golden basilisk's strength and ferocity, the bear's resilience and power were formidable. The fight showed no immediate clear winner, and the outcome of the battle hung in the balance.