The mural seemed to evaporate into thin air, and a swirl of golden energy began enveloping me.
"Liam!" Luna's voice called out but before I knew it, I was standing in a vast area covered in sand. The longer I stood in one spot, the more I seemed to sink. It seemed I was transported somewhere.
[YOU HAVE ENTERED THE LAIR OF THE BASILISK]
A system notification popped up. Basilisk? That was the same name I had just said that got me into this mess. Within seconds of standing still, the sand was up to my knees. I had to keep walking just to avoid sinking.
GrrrMMMmmmble!!
To make matters worse, a massive rumbling erupted, and the sand below my feet began to shift. I glanced around to see if there was any way out of this situation, and luckily, I spotted something—large wooden beams that stretched like gigantic towers out of the ground. There were dozens of them, separated by a few feet.
I climbed onto one of the wooden beams as the sand continued to shift like waves in the ocean. This caused the beam to shake, but I clung to it for dear life. When I reached the top, I began looking around, but the view from above was no different from below. It was as if I had been dropped into the middle of a vast desert.
GrrrMMMmmmble
The rumbling continued for what felt like an eternity. It seemed to have no intention of stopping until—
Sssssk!!
Out of the sand came a giant serpent with shimmering silver scales. Its body looked to be at least a few meters long, and its head was bigger than my entire body. It slithered around the beam I was standing on until its predatory eyes met mine.
"Which god do you serve?" Its voice was hoarse and rang with authority.
I said nothing but watched—I was too bewildered to speak. For a second, I wondered if I was imagining it. Did this thing really just speak to me?
"You reek of them. I just can't figure out which one." Its eyes turned coldly to me. "I'm going to ask you again: which god gave you a system?" It continued.
Huh? What was he talking about? As far as I knew, I hadn't met any god, much less one who would give me a system. I couldn't help but ask…
"Are you saying my system was given to me by a god?"
"So you're an ignorant fool. All systems are given by gods. The issue is, I would like to know which god I am pissing off before I kill you. So which is it… Hades? Zeus?"
I don't know why, but every fiber of my being was screaming for me to kill this thing before it had the chance to attack me.
"I don't know." I responded.
As the words left my lips, a surge of mana poured out of him. Instinctively, I reached for the Middle Finger without a moment's hesitation. When he saw it, his demeanor changed completely. He began staring at my weapon intently.
"That weapon… I can practically smell him on you… Hephaestus—the blacksmith of the gods. Hahaha! That's the god you serve—a cripple tossed away by his own mother! I'll have no problem killing you—"
I had no need to wait; that gleam in his eyes told me everything—it was either him or me. I aimed for his giant eyes, an apparent weakness considering his metallic scales. One look, and I knew I wouldn't be able to lay a scratch on them.
But with lightning-fast reflexes, the snake swatted me out of the air, its movement barely perceptible. Before my body could even hit the ground, it struck again, this time sinking its teeth into my shoulder and propelling me into one of the wooden beams.
I managed to break through the wooden structure somehow with all my bones intact
"All your movements are perfectly clear to me—every twitch of every muscle, even the faint movement of your eyes. I can perceive everything." He boasted as I lay in a mess on the ground.
That's right, the book mentioned that skill—how could I forget? 'Serpent's Gaze.' It allowed him to see through every movement to the point where he could predict actions almost perfectly, as if he were seeing into the future.
That creature outclassed me in both speed and strength. Plus, I was all out of points, so it wasn't like I could increase them either. That single attack shattered most of the armor covering my suit like glass.
I slowly got to my feet, my body aching as I did, and my feet sinking furthur into the sand. My blade was still in my grasp, so I decided to store it back in my inventory. This elicited a chuckle from him.
"Haah, getting rid of your weapon? Does that mean you're giving up?"
I initially thought that the sandy terrain would be a disadvantage for me, but it turned out to be perfect. Just as it looked like he was going to attack, I kicked up a myriad of sand into the air.
As I suspected, he was stumped by my action, and for just a second, I saw it—I saw the disgruntled look on his face as his eyes analyzed every grain of sand.
Whether someone possesses superior senses of smell, hearing, or sight, all senses can be overloaded. This place was the perfect prison for him, as his eyes would analyze every grain of sand whether he wanted to or not.
When your brain receives more sensory information than it can process, it leads to what is called sensory overload.
I kicked up as much sand as I could while edging my way closer to him. Still, I could feel his eyes locked on me. He was still analyzing every move I made, but it didn't matter—my movements gave away nothing.
My weapons could appear in my hand without any special movements. It was similar to the trick magicians use—misdirection. In one second, he saw the katana in my right hand; in the next instant, it switched to the dagger. I continued to alternate between the two as I got closer to him.
He saw all of that but failed to notice that I summoned the dagger once again, this time in my left hand. He focused intently on the katana in my right hand but didn't notice my dagger until it gouged out his eye.
All it took was overloading his senses with sand and a little misdirection by switching between the Middle Finger and the Blade of Calamity using my inventory. As the blade pierced through his giant slitted eye, I wasted no time and went for the other eye, but his speed was too much. Seconds before my attack connected, I was struck by a blow that knocked the wind out of me.
I felt myself flying through the air until I finally landed on the sand. The armor on my chest had completely shattered, and I could feel myself gasping for air. The basilisk wasted no time; it lunged at me while I lay helpless on the ground.
This might be it for me. I thought, but just then...
[DING]
[YOUR CREATOR HAS GRANTED YOU A SUPREME GRADE SKILL: TEMPERED HEAT]