Izroth used the skill from his Crystal Sea Head Ornament, Crystallization, to save Zi Yi from the attack against the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk.
When the monster realized that its attacks were having no effect against Zi Yi, it rushed to attack Izroth.
The Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk opened its jaws and wanted to devour Izroth whole, however, when it chomped down it bit into nothing but thin air. There was a look of confusion on the monster's face as it was sure that Izroth was still there.
But, how could the monster know that it had only attacked Izroth's afterimage?
Swoosh!
Izroth's appeared behind the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk and swung his Blade of Lightning outward towards the back of its long body. He infused two points of Essence into his attack to increase its effectiveness by 10%.
-517
Izroth did not stop his attack there. Instantly after his first attack connected, Izroth's sword unleashed an oppressive aura that descended down upon the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk's entire body. For this attack, Izroth infused ten points of Essence!
The monster suddenly began to flail its massive body in a wild manner as if it were afraid of something. This was due to Izroth triggering the fear effect attached to his First Baneful Sword: Destruction skill.
That, along with the guaranteed critical hit from the skill First Sword Form: Converging Paths and Essence, let Izroth remove a large portion of the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk's HP.
«Critical Hit»
-5,636
Having dealt such a large amount of damage with a single strike and Zi Yi halting her attacks for some time, Izroth immediately jumped to the top of the aggro list. When this happened, he released the Crystallization skill on Zi Yi and she rejoined the fight.
Zi Yi fired off two arrows simultaneously in two different directions. However, after only traveling a few meters, the arrows disappeared into the void.
Woosh! Woosh!
Around one second later, the arrows reappeared on both sides of the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk. The first one pierced into its lower belly area and the remaining arrow pierced into its back.
She would have infused Essence into the attack, but she had a very limited pool and had already used up quite a bit. The last thing she wanted to do was experience Soul Weakness in the middle of a battle.
«Critical Hit»
-1,414
-707
Thankfully, the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk seemed to be a weaker version of a true Basilisk. After all, it lacked one of the most common skills that basilisk was known for, a petrifying gaze!
With their assault, Izroth and Zi Yi managed to shave off around 10% of that monster's total HP. Now that the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk's attention was on Izroth rather than her, Zi Yi could focus on dealing damage instead of dodging.
She unleashed a flurry of attacks down at the feared monster. Along with Izroth's high damage, the two were able to bring a swift end to the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk.
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk〉
〈System Alert: You have been awarded 4,440 EXP〉
Loot drop:
-x1 «Scale of the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk»
-x2 «Eye of the Aah'Ro'Geka Basilisk»
-1 «Aah'Ro'Geka's Camouflage Necklace»
Since Izroth had arrived after the monster had already lost more than 50% of its HP, he did not receive as much EXP as Zi Yi did. However, the amount was still quite generous and he was one step away from leveling up.
Izroth left the loot for Zi Yi to deal with as she saw fit. After all, he did help her but she had already taken off more than 50% of the monster's HP. Izroth would not demand compensation for helping a fellow party member.
Zi Yi jumped off the metallic tree branch and over towards Izroth. She landed around one meter away from him. "You chose quite a time to make your appearance. Thank you." Zi Yi said as she set her bow upon her back.
Zi Yi then went over to pick up the loot. She kept the Aah'Ro'Geka's Camouflage Necklace to herself and gave the other two items to Izroth. She would not selfishly keep all the loot to herself even if Izroth let her choose freely what to do with it. Besides, those two items would be more useful to Izroth than to her.
Izroth gave a simple nod in response and said, "We're party members so, of course, I would lend a hand."
Zi Yi then looked around and noticed that Izroth was alone. "Are none of the others with you?" She thought that maybe she had been transported away by herself.
Therefore, her first course of action was going to be heading towards the tall tower, but she was attacked before she got the chance. Though while fighting, she still managed to travel in that direction, hoping that she ran into her party members along the way.
"Unfortunately, I believe everyone was affected by the Chaotic Shift. Though there's no definitive proof that this is the case, I would say that it's safe to assume by this point." Izroth said. From what he knew, Aegis' entire party experienced a Chaotic Shift, but there were only two other members within his party. Therefore, there was a small possibility that the Chaotic Shift only happened to a few members.
Zi Yi furrowed her brows and a slight frown appeared on her face. She was not worried about Halls and Guan Yu since they were both plate users capable of taking heavy damage. She had a bit of concern for Valentine, but his damage and arsenal provided him with the ability to survive alone if needed.
However, she was worried about Luna who had weak attack power, low mobility, and low HP. She was a healer, a class meant to support others, not be alone.
If it were any other place Zi Yi would not have these worries since healers could sustain themselves for quite some time. However, this was the Chaotic Dogma Realm where everything was at least an elite level monster. Not to mention the other various dangers of this place. A question then crossed her mind, how did Izroth locate her?
"How did you manage to find me?" Zi Yi asked curiously. She did not believe that it was just by complete chance. That would be too much of a coincidence. Maybe Izroth had some method of locating the other party members that she unaware of.
"Well-" Just as Izroth was getting ready to speak, Mariposa and her group finally caught up.
When Mariposa saw that Zi Yi was safe, she felt a sense of relief. "Ya-hoo~ My adorable little sister!" Mariposa called out in a tone full of happiness. It was as though her weariness from earlier had disappeared and her energy was replenished when she saw Zi Yi.
Zi Yi's became extremely gloomy. "You- Why are you here? Are you going to stalk me even in this place?"
"Ugh... You used to be so cute when you snuck into my room in the middle of the night because you were afraid the monsters in your closet were going to-" Mariposa was cut off my Zi Yi.
"Alright, that's enough out of you! Will you only be satisfied when you've embarrassed me to death?!" Zi Yi's cheeked flushed with a light shade of pink out of embarrassment as she angrily stomped her foot on her ground.
"I was able to find you with the help of your elder sister. It would seem as though we both owe her." Izroth explained.
Zi Yi was surprised when she heard Izroth's words. It was her elder sister who helped to locate her? She suddenly felt a bit bad for accusing her of stalking and not even saying thank you.
Zi Yi then spoke in a low voice and said, "Thank you, big sis... I owe y-" Even though it was low, Mariposa was still able to hear it clearly.
Mariposa rushed over using spatial magic before Zi Yi could even finish speaking and hugged her. She then rubbed her cheek up against Zi Yi's while patting the top of her head. "Owe me? Then, I shall claim my reward now."
Zi Yi wanted to find a rock to crawl under as her entire face turned bright red. However, she endured it as this was her way of thanking Mariposa. Even if she embarrassed her at times, Mariposa was still her elder sister whom she had a great deal of respect for. But, this was something she would never tell her at the risk of being smothered to death.
"I feel completely recharged now!" After having her fill, Mariposa released Zi Yi and had a bright smile on her face. The other members of Sleeping Gardenia also smiled when they saw how happy their guild leader was. It was a rare sight to see her genuinely smile.
Zi Yi cleared her throat as she turned to face Izroth, "I believe our next course of action should be to locate Luna."
"My thoughts are the same, however, it's currently out of our hands." Izroth said.
"Out of our hands? Didn't you say that my sister can locate other players?" Zi Yi asked.
"I can locate other players. But, I cannot pinpoint anyone's exact position due to the interference of the black specks. While I can still discover spatial signatures, I have to be within a certain range in order to perceive them. This place limits my abilities in many ways." Mariposa explained.
"So we have to rely on luck? Given how big the Chaotic Dogma Realm is, there's no guarantee that we can even find them before the time is up." Zi Yi frowned. If there was one thing she hated doing, it was putting her faith in lady luck's hands.
"For now it's all we can do. Though, we may not have as challenging of a time locating the rest of our party as I originally believed. There's a possibility that we can find the others without relying completely on luck." Izroth said.
"Hm? What do you mean?" Zi Yi asked curiously.
Mariposa was also curious to hear what Izroth had to say. So far, they had been relying strictly on her abilities to find others. If he had some way to narrow the search field, it would certainly help out a lot.
"When we were transported, I believe that we were not separated at random. Usually, within chaos, there exists no form of order. However, the Chaotic Dogma Realm is different. While on the surface everything seems to be chaotic, there is always a certain level of order to it." Izroth explained.
He then continued, "At first, I assumed that this was just due to the system making things fair, but it was more than that. Everything we've experienced up until now, there has been an answer on how to resolve it. This Chaotic Shift should be something similar to those situations." Izroth said.
Zi Yi set her index finger and thumb onto her chin as she thought about Izroth's words. "You mean to say that we were transported for a reason and there may be a way to find the others? But, if you're wrong then..."
Izroth nodded, "Indeed, it's only mere speculation. However, we cannot afford to take our time. Everyone may be facing dangers similar to your situation. We have to take a risk if we wish to find them before it's too late." He spoke in a calm and steady tone.
Zi Yi knew that Izroth was correct. If they kept heading towards the tall tower, there was no guarantee that they would come across the others. If the others were stuck in a fight or some other situation then there was a good chance of them never making it to the tower.
Also, Zi Yi trusted Izroth's judgment. Even though she would not blindly follow him, she understood enough about Izroth to know that he gave serious thought to whatever plans he came up with.
"Then, what's your plan?" Zi Yi asked.
"We head that way." Izroth pointed in a direction that was east of their current location.
"That's nowhere near in the direction of the tower. Why that way?" Zi Yi questioned.
"If I'm correct, we'll find a spatial signature in a pretty specific location." Izroth said as he began to walk towards the direction he pointed in.
Although Zi Yi and Mariposa remained unclear on how Izroth came to that conclusion, they followed after him. The other members of Sleeping Gardenia would naturally go wherever Mariposa went and followed along as well.
There was something else that Izroth failed to mention to both Zi Yi and Mariposa. It was due to the fact that he had no positive evidence until he verified his first theory.
'If I'm right about this, then it may provide a clue on how to reach the end of the Chaotic Dogma Realm.'