"Petrification?"
To be honest, when they heard that, a dozen suspects popped into everyone's minds. Plenty of monsters can turn things to stone.
But when Gauss noticed the peculiar, deeply pressed hoofprints not far away, his eyes narrowed. He thought he knew what lived around here. Of course, he still needed to confirm it; in real adventuring you don't assume—nothing's settled until it's verified, and you always prep multiple contingencies.
"Let's keep moving."
With a lead, their search had direction. Shadow melted into shadow and swept the area in a carpet search. She quickly turned up more piles of stone shards and, from their spread, triangulated the target's rough location.
"That should be it."
After Shadow rejoined them and Gauss summed up the intel, he rose above the treeline. Ahead lay a flat grassland—by Shadow's report, the monster laired there.
The plain wasn't far. As they advanced, stone statues appeared more and more frequently, some nearly intact—vivid enough to be works of art, more lifelike than any master sculptor could chisel. The faces were the worst—frozen in despair and terror, as if their final helplessness still vibrated across time.
They circled a few statues, then followed the tracks onward. The signs thickened.
"Looks like a basilisk bull," Gauss said.
The ground was cratered by violent hoof impacts—a heavy beast's charge. When they broke through sparse trees to the edge of the plain, they spotted it from afar: a massive creature.
"A basilisk bull," indeed—shoulder height about 1.8 meters, body length 2.5 meters, weight in the tons. Iron-plated hide armored its body. Green vapor jetted from its nostrils as Gauss watched.
He rifled its entry in his head. It might look like a bovine, but it's brutally aggressive, attacking any who enter its territory. Not a grazer—a pure carnivore. It hunts by charging; anything it tramples is ground beneath iron hooves.
Beyond the slam, its green breath is lethal—anything it touches turns to stone. When hungry, it smashes its petrified trophies to rubble and eats the stone, chewing it to powder and drawing nutrition from it.
One such beast warps the local ecology: big predators vanish—driven off or petrified for later snacking. Other carnivores are competition.
Challenge-wise, an adult basilisk bull is Level 5+—fast, high natural armor, petrifying breath, ferocious. Among peers at that tier, it's a nasty one.
But… a decent opponent for Gauss. Its ranged options were poor; it was a bad matchup for melee classes, but Gauss—despite using his sword more lately and awakening Sword Soul—was still a caster with plenty of ways to hit from afar. Worst case, Fly would bail him out.
"What do you think?" he asked, laying out the plan. "Worth a try," Alia nodded. Their mobility was solid: Gauss could Fly; Alia could become a raven; Shadow could vanish into shadow.
Only Serandur was a touch slower—but even he, with gear and the Swift Insect Wings boost he'd earned in the labyrinth, moved well enough. And he was a healer, not a frontliner—buff up and keep out of trouble.
With everyone keen, Gauss set the op. They'd come to scout but were ready to fight.
"We don't know its exact level, so we keep our distance and use control and ranged attacks," Gauss said. "It's fast, but its charge is straight-line with a windup. Read that and dodge. Watch the breath. Serandur—can your healing undo petrification?"
Serandur shook his head. He'd tested on the stone fragments—no effect. "Assume no cure," Gauss said. "Don't get tagged. Range is short, at least."
Without a Restoration-type spell, only raw Constitution saves you—and of the group, probably only Gauss could risk eating a breath. But he had no intention of trying. "Fireball should kill it," he added, "but I'm still green with it—it takes time to wind up. The bull will likely bolt before it lands."
Little in the wild misses a mana spike—and he had one shot. Yes, his Special Stomach gave him a second bar—but he needed to keep enough for Fly. Safety first; the kill was secondary. If it got away, they'd come back on their terms.
"Got it. We'll lock it down," Alia and Shadow said. They'd hold it in the blast radius until Gauss was ready.
"Shadow—if it's too risky—"
"I'll manage," Shadow said. Shadow Bind was hers—stronger than most thanks to her nature—but any damage to her shadows also hurt the caster.
"Then priority is staying alive," Gauss said. Nods all around.
They rested a moment. The bull, far off, barely twitched. Their distance and its low Perception kept them safe.
"Go."
Buffs poured on. "Enhance Attribute!" Alia's staff sent energy into Gauss—Fox's Cunning, boosting INT to smooth casting.
Serandur followed with an upcast Bless on Gauss, then on Alia and Shadow. Gauss's field was already up on everyone.
"On the plan."
Gauss lifted into the air. Alia became a black raven. Shadow vanished into the earth.
A raven skimmed the sky; a few seeds fell like rain. The bull looked up—saw only a harmless bird—and laid its head back down. If it came close, it might make a pretty petrified bonbon—but not worth effort at that height.
More seeds fell. The bull snorted irritably. It wasn't bright enough to puzzle out the why—just vexed by the pesky crow.
"Hngh!!" Green vapor hissed from its nostrils, scorching grass—but the raven stayed high, a dot against the sky. It snorted again and gave up.
Behind and above, Gauss settled on a hillside—translucent, watching. He waited for Alia and Shadow. He could probably raw-cast and catch it unawares—but better to make it a sure thing. He raised the White Wand and breathed. Patience was one thing he had.
Soon a big cloud slid across the sun—and a deeper shadow slid with it, settling beside the bull. Shadow was in place. The raven dipped lower. Gauss began to draw power.
He started the Fireball windup. Mana roared through him; the air's flow bent. Power raced to the wandtip; space itself seemed to dimple.
He'd practiced whenever he could—Fireball was now Lv2 (2/20)—but bigger spells make bigger ripples. Someday he'd toss them off like cantrips; today wasn't that day.
The raven dropped—landing several dozen meters away. The bull glanced over—no move. On the hill, Gauss flicked the wand. A bright spark sprang into being above the bull's spine; ambient mana surged into it.
The bull felt it—a spear of ice up its back. It sprang to its feet. Enemy!!!
It reacted instantly. Wild elites don't live long if they don't.
At that same instant, the raven became a woman. Entangle—upcast—sprouted the seeded ground into a riot of vines that clawed up the iron hide. Bands snapped under brute force—but they bought seconds. Enough for Shadow to pounce from cover.
"Shadow Bind!"
Black tendrils erupted, snaring horns, legs, trunk—every limb. This bind wasn't so easy to rip.
"HNNGHH!" Green fog belched out; the living vapor found the shadows and fought them, devouring and being eaten in turn. In that tug-of-war, the spark above grew brighter, hotter.
Suddenly the shadows recoiled like a tide. Before the bull could shift, they swept up Alia and whisked her away. The firepoint had drunk enough; a white-hot micro-sun bared its teeth.
Thump!
The bull moved—charge aborted to a lunge. Instinct screamed—the thing above was death. Heat washed down; lubricating oils flashed off its joints; iron plates rasped, throwing sparks with a keening shriek. Dry hinges stuck; motion hitched.
And then Gauss, seeing Shadow and Alia clear, didn't wait another heartbeat. He thrust the wand and whispered, "Detonate."
Time paused.
Space tore.
There was no deafening crack at first; the point collapsed inward, swallowing light and sound. Air stopped.
Then the silence shattered.
A white ring blew outward faster than thought. Light and heat—enough to make the sun seem dim—erased the bull where it stood. Sight went to pure, destroying white. Sound followed.
BOOOOM!!!
A perfect hemispherical blast front tore the plain. Grass carbonized; soil lifted in rippling waves. At ground zero, the bull didn't even have time to scream.
That bragged-of iron armor glowed red, then, under the shock, softened, slumped, and—pushed and twisted by brute force—collapsed into searing slag before the storm of radiance.
WHUMP!!!
Heat and smoke rolled up into a toy mushroom cloud. Alia and Shadow staggered at the tremor and clutched one another, swallowing dryly as they stared. Not the first Fireball they'd seen from him—but still staggering.
"So… is it dead?"
Smoke hid the center. After a long moment, the wind peeled it back. A charred crater replaced the grass. Pools of dark red, still-slowing metal bled down the pit—final remains of a once-impenetrable shell.
Gauss drifted down, a shade pale, smiling. "Done."
His panel had already flashed the kill; he shared it.
"Basilisk Bull Slain ×1."
[Commanders Path Progress: Slay 5 Commander-tier species (2/5).]
[Phase reward: Draw one random Commander-tier Racial Trait.]
So his read had been right: not just a 5. At least a 6. A "free" tick on the Commander path. Most commander beasts were beyond him—for now—and came with packs. This loner had survived without vassals—maybe why it had lasted.
"Great," Alia exhaled, clapping once. Short, but tense.
"By the way, that bull was probably Level 6," Gauss added.
"Level 6??" Alia blinked. A 6 wasn't a 5… yet they'd killed it straight up. They'd "cheesed" a Level 6 goblin before; this time it was head-on.
Gauss nodded—pleased. He'd thought he had 6-kill power; doing it the old-fashioned way made it a milestone. First commander-tier down; there'd be a second.
"Your Fireball is… not normal," Alia muttered—then snapped her head toward the pit. "W-wait! The materials—"
A puddle of cooling iron lay below—but not much compared to the beast's bulk. A lot had vaporized.
"Gone. So much material—commander drops…" she hissed between teeth. She knew it would've been ugly without Fireball—but thinking of all that money burned away still hurt.
Money—incinerated. Ow.
"It couldn't be helped," Gauss said with a shrug. At least some loot remained—better than nothing.
"Promise me, Gauss."
"What?"
"For monsters we can beat, try not to use Fireball unless we have to."
"…Alright."
~~~
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