Chapter 60: 56 – Another Petrifying Encounter!

"You think Valor is going to be alright in there?" I ask Mira on our way out of Eudora's tower.

"Knowing Eudora, the boy will be fed elixirs when he tires. One his age should have the stamina for the voracious witches. His sanity is another matter." Mira pulls out a vial I recognize as an elixir of flight. 

"Oh, that won't be necessary!"

Rio hops into the air and sprouts draconic wings. Mira is taken back by the sudden spike in strength that my familiar has developed in such a short time. I've been watching him grow and eat with little expectations, but he's managed to come a long way from a mere floating black kitty.

We're about to take off when Zeke emerges from behind the tower. He lowers his head in deference to Mira. She fixes her staff to her back and snickers.

"You're the dragon I sent Ellori to kill. What happened there, I wonder?" She asks aloud.

"Ellori is my—"

"Ahhhh!" I shout over them to get him to stop. "We became friends!"

I race over to Zeke and pull his head down level to me.

"That's not a witch you want to anger. I like you, and I don't want to see you fertilizing the ground, but she can't know we're mates."

Zeke's scales shiver with fear, but he nods in understanding of my warning. "Okay. Where are you two going? Can I help?"

"Where we're going, we'll need to be fast. Stay here until we get back," I say, stroking his brilliant scales. "By the way, where were you when the knights came?"

"I heard a lot of explosions and hid… I know I wasn't very helpful, but everyone looked so strong and I was scared." He whimpers to himself, clearly ashamed of his own weakness. I pat his scaly head to assure him otherwise.

"There, there. For now, get inside the tower. Since you can talk, the witches shouldn't want to hurt you. They'll be more curious than anything."

The dragon nods and disappears into the teleportation circle. I return to Mira who is impatiently tapping her foot. We take off into the air holding onto Rio's legs. Talos soars below the canopy, serving as Mira's eyes as she searches for any indication of a basilisk in the area.

Basilisks are powerful creatures that can turn anything without sufficient magical resistance to stone with a single glance. As such, they can bring untold devastation to an entire food chain if not dealt with in a timely manner. Their species are typically hunted by creatures with greater magical resistance such as dragons or slimes, without such predators to keep their numbers low, an entire forest can be turned to stone in a matter of weeks.

Fortunately, basilisk signs are easy to spot. Not that they themselves are easy to find, but the trail of half-eaten creatures partially turned to stone is a dead giveaway.

"Hmm?"

Judging by Mira's surprised expression, she must have found what we're looking for.

"Do you see a basilisk?" I ask.

"No, but did you know there's a gorgon skulking around the Weeping Expanse?" Mira remarks, unaware that I know exactly who she is referring to. "She appears to be hunting something."

The gorgon lives much further in and has been around longer in this part of the Weeping Expanse than we have. It might be a good idea to try and speak to it. Although… there's no guarantee it will be happy to see me.

"For all we know she could be hunting a basilisk. Want to check it out?" I ask.

Mira reclaims her vision. Both of us drink a magic resistance potion— I won't be caught unawares this time— and have Rio bring us down to the forest floor. The gorgon sees us and takes an aggressive stance, but her demeanor slackens when she notices me.

"I know you," the gorgon says to me, licking her lips. "The delicious witch from before."

"Delicious…?" Mira's fingers wrap around the shaft of her staff.

I hold an arm out in front of Mira. "We're here to talk, remember?"

The gorgon is carrying a trident she didn't have last time. She's covered from tail to torso with fresh scratches and cuts, signs that she was engaged in a fight only moments ago. Nothing within the vicinity has been petrified, so whatever she fought had resistance against her.

"Gorgon—"

She slithers up to me as I call to her. Mira jerks back and has Talos perch on a tree behind the gorgon. Should anything go wrong, he would be able to lay a surprise attack on the gorgon from behind.

"My name is Lantessa, I've come to learn yours is Ellori, and the one who looks like she wants to incinerate me is Miracella." The gorgon named Lantessa stabs her trident into the ground and bows.

"You know of us?" I ask, surprised.

"Of course. Eudora summoned me here to take care of any tresspassers, but she has since been missing. I've found myself in the leisure of much free time."

"So the first time we met near the kobold tribe—"

"I was searching for you with every intention to petrify you. But fun always takes precedence." She giggles into her hand. Her tongue rolls out licking her fingers to remind me of when we ate each other out.

Mira groans. "We're looking for a basilisk. Have you seen one, snake?"

"You're impatient. We're having a little reunion…" Lantessa coils loosely around Mira's body and sticks her tongue out. "Mmm. Just licking the air around you, I can tell you're oozing with quality magic. Would you like to play?"

"I'm spoken for," Mira remarks.

A vine from above wraps around Lantessa's neck and pulls her into the air. Her tail grabs the trident in time and slices the vine to free herself. She lands and lunges at us.

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"Luminae!" Mira and I shut our eyes as I conjure a blinding light.

Lantessa reels back, eyes screwed shut. Rio picks up her trident as it drops from her hand. Mira and I pool our magic together, using my boon as a conduit to connect with nature. Massive roots sprout from the ground to incapacitate the gorgon.

"What happened to talking?" I yell at Mira.

"Fingers slipped," she says, shrugging.

Uh, huh…" Now that we've come to this, the peaceful approach has been thrown out of the water. I tiptoe up to Lantessa who is struggling with her restraints, but the tree roots are too strong even for a gorgon to break. "We aren't here to fight. We're low on time and just want to know if you've seen a basilisk."

"Usually I'm doing the constricting. Fine. Yes, I have seen it. I was battling one just moments before you landed. The grotesque thing is in heat, and thought to mate with me." Lantessa scowls, the look on her eyes hoping we'll let her go with just that.

Mira takes a step on a root. "Good. Point us in the right direction and we'll be on our way. The roots should retract in a few hours."

Lantessa rolls her eyes. "Basilisks are excellent hunters. You won't find them unless they find you. Luckily, the one you're looking for is secreting an excessive amount of pheromones. Of which I can sniff out for you."

Mira and I ponder cautiously.

"Oh, please. You have clearly demonstrated your strength over me. I won't attack you. Besides, I have more to gain by ridding myself of the basilisk with your help," she pleads.

"One wrong move from you and we're having snake tail for breakfast, lunch, and dinner." Mira waves the roots back into the earth but keeps her staff in her hand. The gorgon shakes the dirt from her body and sticks her hand out to me.

"My trident, if you will."

I nod to Rio and he plops the weapon back into her hand.

Mira and I follow Lantessa for the better part of an hour until we reach a large basin. It seems most of the mountain water collects here where they then split off into multiple  rivers. The river that feeds Ellowyn's water source must come from here.

I walk into something hard, a pulsing pain runs up my leg. It appears to be a stone, but upon closer inspection, it's the body of a petrified goblin. Lantessa picks it up, revealing a large chunk of its chest was bitten into.

"Wasn't me," Lantessa remarks.

Now that we're keeping an eye out, the tall grass in the area is hiding many more stone goblins. If none of them were done in by Lantessa, the basilisk is the only other culprit. But there appears to be too many corpses for just one basilisk to dine on.

Lantessa stops in front of an opening in the forest floor. It looks to be at least a twenty meter drop into a cavern.

"Talos, stay here and keep watch." Mira orders. Then to Lantessa, "You're coming down with us."

"Pardon?"

"We won't be able to find it inside a tunnel system on our own. You're leading us to it."

Lantessa sighs and finds a column along the ridges to slide down from. Mira and I fly down with Rio. The cavern's large entrance is populated with petrified goblins. This place must have been a hideout for a whole tribe of them before the basilisk got here.

The three of us travel into the cavern while I keep a light in front of us. Eventually we come into a three-way split.

"Which one is it?" I ask?

The gorgon sniffs the air, sniffs each path, but doesn't seem to know which way. "The whole place is suffocating with its scent. I can't tell which is the right path. Ugh, and it's getting me in the mood, too."

Mira makes a repulsed look. "I don't like it, but we should split up. It will cut our search by threefolds."

Mira takes the left path, Lantessa takes the center, and I take right on the fork. The deeper I go, the more bioluminescent algae coat the walls of the cavern. It gets to the point where I don't even need to cast a light spell.

I'm confident each of us are able to take on the basilisk alone. After all, it's no dragon. At the same time, it's not like fighting a manticore or wyvern. I also have Rio to fight alongside me.

"Ah—!"

I trip onto the ground and splash into a pool of water. A simple ventus spell whisks away the moisture but there's still a strange smell lingering on my body. I turn around to see the leg of a petrified goblin that I tripped on. 

When I get up, I notice a clutch of eggs tucked away behind a large stalagmite.

I thought Lantessa said the basilisk was a male. Is there also a female basilisk in the cave, too?

A shadow shifts above me, and I dive out of the way as a basilisk lunges down at me. I feel my body tightening as it tries to petrify me, but the magic resistance paired with my living robes keeps me from succumbing to the effects.

"Rio, sick 'em!" Nothing happens. I glance behind me to see Rio having completely turned to stone. "I'm getting deja vu from this…"

The basilisk lunges again and constricts around me before I can get a spell off. It bares its fangs at me, the tongue flailing around my face to figure out what it's caught. I suddenly feel something poking my belly, and look down to see two erect penises emerging from under its scales. It has fleshy, spiky protrusions leaking secretions all along the shaft.

"Crap… so this is… the male…?"

Lantessa mentioned the basilisk is in heat, so why is it getting hard from seeing me? Unless… the liquid I fell into must have been female basilisk urine. I'm completely coated in the female's pheromones and it thinks I'm its mate.

Jamminrabbit

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