The giant snake-like monster was paralyzed, only its head poking out of the hole in the ground. The smell of fear reeked out of its huge body, provoking the dragon hidden in the smoke.
“Pleassse, your highness have mercy!” it kept hissing in fear.
Vesuvius felt his breath glands itch as his patience was slowly running out. He needed information, not incoherent blabbering, “Speak, snake and tell me, have you ever met someone like me?!”
“No, your highnessss, but I felt this aura of death before! Your kind wasss alwaysss at the peak of usss monsterssss!” the basilisks hissed loudly, its yellow eyes looking to the ground as it even refused to look at the dragon.
‘It felt an aura of a dragon. How old is this snake?’ he felt his interest grow even more as he imagined what he could do with it.
‘It is a high-level monster while still being at a manageable level. It should be a better base for evolving it than a normal kobold. Maybe I can turn it into a powerful minion.’
It was a terrifying thought, as he realized that dragons from the past that were already dangerous monsters had the potential to be even more dangerous if they used their blood to create hordes of loyal monsters ready to fight to the death for their masters. They had the potential to dominate the world, but they missed it.
‘I will not make this mistake.’
𝒪𝓥xt.𝑶
“Snake, your minions sullied my body, which is unforgivable.” The basilisk tensed up, the smell of fear becoming even more prominent, “However, you can become my minion and serve me for the rest of your life. Pick death or servitude!”
The snake remained frozen in fear, its eyes reluctant. It was quiet, not even making a single hiss.
Deciding to pressure it more, the dragon moved using his powerful hind legs to launch forwards towards the basilisk at immense speed, leaving behind cracks in the burned soil. His sharp glowing claws glinted in the smoke as he crossed the distance towards the basilisk in a matter of seconds.
The shocked monster couldn’t even react in time, only getting out of shock when the searing hot claws touched its neck, burning it even though it could bath in magma. The electricity passed through them, entering the basilisk’s body and causing it to twitch in pain.
Vesuvius knew that basilisks were like snakes, with their toxic personality. They would fight for you, but the moment the situation turned complicated, they would use it and stab you in the back or run away. So he decided to show it his true terror.
‘My blood worked until now, but it was in cases where other parties were either extremely weak, cooperative or non-sentient. So extra carefulness is in place.’
The dragon put even more pressure into his claws, their sharp crystal edges digging into its scales. Blood leaked out before evaporating, the whole snake so scared that it couldn’t even move.
‘So pathetic. No dragon would act so disgracefully.’ Vesuvius snickered inside, enjoying taunting the basilisk.
The smell of fear suddenly vanished from the basilisk, and its eyes changed, a rage flaring up in them. Its whole body slithered backwards away from the sharp claws so fast that the surprised dragon couldn’t react.
Only his thoughts which were faster than his body managed to process what just happened, ‘It was just acting, trying to lure me into complacency!’
The basilisk opened its mouth filled with huge teeth, each more than big enough to impale an adult human from their head to the toes on their feet.
It pounced towards the dragon at such a speed that it turned into a blur, its yellow eyes glowing with rage.
Its sharp teeth dug into the dark armour forged of corium, with corrosive goo leaking out of them, slowly melting through the material.
The dragon was surprised just watching as the massive snake slithered out of the hole, its body moving up his back and wrapping around like a rope.
He swung his claws as fast as he could, the wind swishing around them as they moved, cutting towards the snake.
They cut deep into its body, with toxic blood splashing everywhere. Poison and acid poured out of them into the cut. The snake’s yellow eyes immediately turned hazy, steam coming out of its nostrils with its veins burning and melting.
The basilisk, however, kept wrapping around the dragon tighter and tighter, the pressure on the dragon’s body quickly growing.
“You, treacherous worm!” he couldn’t even believe how a worm tricked him. He wanted to squash it as if it was a bug. He wanted to burn it into cinders. He wanted to pluck its teeth out, one by one.
The glow in his armour increased, even the air glowing in blue as the particles bombarded the snake, slowly destroying its cells.
“Sssstupid lizard, you were alwayssss so arrogant!” even with its body slowly dying, the basilisk was sure of its victory.
Mana flowed through Vesuviuse’s whole body powering up three magical circuits forming in his mind. His cursed heart trembled with anger, a vile red mana creating crooked shapes in his mind.
The disgusting mix of natural and cursed mana flowed into his scales and armour, the runes covering each scale on his body lighting up in bright light.
The snake wrapped tighter and tighter around his body, loud cracking coming out of his armour as it started to crook under pressure.
Finally, bright blue flames ignited all over the dragon, glowing so brightly that even the dark smoke couldn’t suppress their light. They enveloped the snake that painfully hissed as its scales crooked and started to melt.
It put even more force into its muscles, pushing so strongly that the hard semimetal armour of the dragon cracked, his scales under it hurting as they kept resisting the pressure.
It was determined to crush the dragon before turning into a cinder, or at the very least, to take the dragon to the grave with it.
Vesuvius pushed the cursed mana, the reversed triangles manifesting all over him. The blue flames immediately changed, turning into crimson red, the evil and vile energy seeping into the snake. Its grip immediately faltered, its strength and energy seeping out.
The pressure that was threatening the dragon by crushing him finally relented. He didn’t stop but kept pouring more and more mana into the flames, their intensity constantly growing with the appalling red flames and lightning devouring the snake.
The basilisk started to twist, its flesh burning away, exposing its white bones. It soon stopped struggling, its eyes popping out under the immense heat. It finally lost its grip and fell to the ground, its body still burning.
Ding!