Ryn stood still, blade lowered, eyes trained on the dark side passage across the cavern.
"Get ready," he murmured.
Amelia held her hand out, a spell already prepared.
One of the crystal pillars closest to the tunnel vibrated, its inner glow rippling as if brushed by a passing shockwave. Loose shards rattled on the cavern floor.
Then a shadow spilled out of the passage.
A thick, dark coil emerged first, scraping against crystal edges and stone. The scales caught the cavern's light, reflecting it in warped, shifting green patterns.
Then the head appeared.
Large and crowned with jagged stones. Its eyes remained half-lidded, slitted pupils moving around rapidly.
It smelled the meat.
The Cockatrice flank lay in the center of the chamber, glistening with fresh blood, feathers sticking to the quartz beneath. Steam curled upward in thin spirals.
The Basilisk glided toward it, each movement sending ripples of light through the cavern.
It reached the carcass.
Lowered its head.
Now.
He tapped Amelia's forearm. She nodded.
Flame burst outward, like a jet of fire, roaring across the cavern, striking the Basilisk's exposed neck plates while it was still lowering its jaw around the meat.
Ryn activated Aquila's buff and checked his panel again, making sure he would have enough stats to fight the monster without dying.
[STR: 15 (+15) → 30]
[DEX: 16 (+16) → 32]
[END: 16 (+16) → 32]
[INT: 18 (+18) → 36]
Good, this was around the stats of a B-Rank Knight.
He sprinted directly into Amelia's afterglow, boots kicking up crystalline dust as he dove under the creature's rising head. His blade caught the reflected orange light—
—and he drove it straight into the soft seam beneath the Basilisk's throat.
Dark blood erupted down the blade, sizzling where Amelia's lingering flames clung to the wound.
The Basilisk recoiled with a metallic shriek, its entire body slamming against a crystal pillar. The structure shattered in a spray of shimmering shards.
The serpent whipped its body around.
A coil thicker than a carriage slammed down at them. Ryn dove aside narrowly; the impact cratered the quartz floor, sending some flying shards that managed to scratch him.
[HP: 97/100]
"Left!" Amelia called.
Ryn shifted.
A cone of searing flame roared past him, sweeping across the Basilisk's face. The heat distorted the air, and the serpent jerked back with a furious hiss, scales glowing red where the magic had bitten deep.
It struck back immediately.
A sweeping tail lashed out. Ryn raised his sword to deflect, but the raw weight behind the strike blew through his guard. The impact hammered into his ribs and sent him tumbling across the floor.
"Ryn!"
[HP: 75/100]
He rolled, teeth clenched against the crack of pain, and forced himself upright—
—just in time to see the Basilisk stop moving.
It lifted its head slowly, pupils narrowing.
Ryn felt the hair on his arms rise.
Stone Stare.
"Amelia!" he barked. "Turn around—it's charging it!"
The Basilisk's head drew back, power building, the crystal cavern itself vibrating with the pressure.
Ryn barely made it underneath the crystal spike and turned. Pulling out the mirror, he looked at the snake's reflection.
A beam of petrifying energy blasted across the chamber, turning the quartz floor chalk-white as it passed. Crystals along the walls calcified instantly, losing their glow and turning milky and dead.
Ryn moved, slipping into the one pocket of safety Aquila showed him, feeling the heat of the beam barely pass by.
Then he froze completely still, letting his body go slack, as if he'd been petrified.
Amelia gasped sharply.
"Ryn!?"
No answer.
The Basilisk hissed in triumph, its body rising higher, coils tightening as if preparing to finish the kill. Its pupils widened, lunging at Ryn.
But behind closed lids, his mind was racing.
Damn snake bought it.Good.
Just as Ryn could feel the snake's breath, Ryn muttered.
"Light the way…Aquilia."
The Blessing answered instantly. A radiant vector of light led up to the large crystal spike on the ceiling, exactly as he predicted.
His eyes snapped open.
Ryn moved.
He rolled onto his back and kicked off the ground in one fluid motion, blade sweeping upward to catch the Basilisk's lunging momentum. The serpent's jaws snapped shut where his torso had been a heartbeat earlier, crushing nothing but air.
[MP: 90/110]
Cold Aura flowed from Ryn's blade. With a powerful slice, he managed to go right through the crystal spike.
The cavern shuddered.
Cracks spiderwebbed outward from the base of the massive crystal, light pulsing violently.
The spike ruptured free.
A beam of white-blue crystal plummeted downward with the force of a falling star.
Ryn gritted his teeth.
Got you.
Right when Ryn was sure of his victory, he heard something. A small tune, played by a familiar instrument…a flute.
The Basilisk's body lurched sideways with a grotesque jerk, like a puppet yanked by invisible strings. The falling spike slammed into the ground beside it instead, exploding into a spray of brilliant shards.
Ryn landed on the floor nearby and immediately checked the aftermath.
The Basilisk recovered instantly, hissing, unharmed.
"What—?" Amelia exclaimed.
The melody twisted, doubled back, echoed against the crystal walls until it seemed to come from every direction at once. The Basilisk's pupils dilated, body shivering in response to the sound.
Ryn's blood chilled.
A shadow shifted near the far passage. A figure stepped out, boots crunching over crystal fragments. White robes, black mask, and a pendant shaped like an eclipsed moon hanging over their chest.
The Cult's insignia. Ryn had recognized it. This was an Administrator, a mid-level manager.
In their hand was a long, silver flute etched with swirling channels that glimmered faintly with green light.
The Flute of Echoes.
The administrator clicked his tongue.
"So that's the interference," the Administrator said mildly. "Ryn Eden Arctis."
The Administrator cocked his head slightly, as if inspecting an item on a shelf.
"Captain Scorpio was right. You are persistent. More capable than on the surface but not a threat."
Ryn's jaw clenched. "Profile?"
The man waved it off. "A nuisance classification."
His masked gaze slid to Amelia.
"And you… Amelia Grandal."
Amelia didn't move.
The Administrator's tone sharpened.
"You should be dead already," he sighed. "If only Captain stopped playing with his food."
Ryn moved a half-step in front of her.
The Administrator caught it instantly.
"Oh, don't posture," he sighed. "Scorpio insists on toying with certain 'buds' before cutting them off. Says it's poetic."
He tapped the flute lightly against his palm. "I disagree. I prefer efficiency."
Ryn's eyes narrowed. "Cutting off what buds?"
"The potential ones, of course. Those who would grow troublesome later. Better to remove them early."
A cold pause.
"Nip the bud, and the bloom never comes."
The words didn't just answer a question—it was the final piece of the puzzle.
That's it.
That's the missing piece.
His mind flashed through scattered memories, moments he never connected before because he never had the frame to see them.
Stories of known gifted prodigies, all reported dead in weird circumstances. That's why in this life, they wanted Amelia dead. She held a known S-Rank Blessing after all.
Then did that mean Sera, Fritz, and Magnus…!
And the Evernight itself.
No wonder no one strong enough stood against it. They killed them before they could ever fight back.
Ryn swallowed, breath trembling for the first time since the fight began.
The Administrator lifted the flute back to his lips.
"Well," he said lightly. "Now that you understand the scale of your insignificance—"
"Time for me to finish the job."
The Administrator blew the next note.
And the Basilisk snapped forward like a released spring.