The basilisk hissed and snarled as it flinched backward from the vortex’s implosion. Despite that, the force of the implosion did not seem to be enough to kill it.

  The damage of a Void Vortex’s resulting implosion was directly correlated to how much magical damage it absorbed during its travel. Most of the damage caused by the toxic mist was based on status infliction and not necessarily raw magical power, which was why the resulting vortex was less powerful than Miri had wanted. Therefore, using the Void Vortex to deal damage may not have been as effective as she had hoped, even if it did get rid of the toxic mist.

  With that said, the basilisk appeared to be in a pretty bad shape, having received all those attacks from earlier. It seemed to internally understand that as well, realizing that it was fighting a battle that it had very little chance in winning. After weighing all the various available options, the basilisk decided to make the smarter choice and took off into the tunnels in an attempt to escape.

  “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?! Come back here and let me kill you!” Miri shouted angrily at the weakened beast as she chased after it. She had worked way too hard to fight that monster until she could whittle its health down to a sliver. There was absolutely no way she’s letting it slip away from her grasp.

  “Miri, wait up!” Anne bellowed, calling after her partner as she followed in haste.

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  As the basilisk continued slithering through the tunnels of the dungeon with hurried speed, Miri and Anne were chasing closely from behind. During the chase, Miri would dish out spell after spell to try to land a killing blow at the reptilian creature—Chill Orb, Crescent Arc, Starlight Bolt—most of which had missed. Occasionally, she would even try to close the distance using Traversing Wind when her limited stamina had failed to keep up.

  In between the casting of her spells, her mana would become fully depleted, prompting her to gulp down a mana potion in the middle of her run. Drinking mana potions while running wasn’t exactly easy, but it’s better to have a few droplets spill on her robe than to have a 2-star monster get away from her.

  At this point, the tables had turned. At this point, Miri had become the predator while the basilisk had become the prey.

  “Come back here, goddamn you!” Miri roared as she continued running at her full speed chasing after the basilisk. At the same time, the basilisk would hiss in fear as it tried to get away from the redheaded mage, slithering away as though its life depended on it because it quietly literally does.

  After a bit of running, the basilisk and the two women had arrived at another large chamber, almost the exact same one as the one they’d fought in moments earlier. Once they’d arrived, Miri and Anne had noticed something peculiar—a small bird cage was placed in the middle of this chamber.

  And inside that bird cage…was a rooster.

  Miri and Anne blinked in confusion as they gazed upon the caged rooster that seemed to have come out of nowhere, right up until it let out a loud crow.

  And as soon as the rooster let out that crow, the basilisk started going absolutely berserk.