Chapter 127
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Basilisk
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“N-No way…!”
The magpie fluttered her wings upon seeing me completely fine after eating the poison.
She then waddled over in that wing-spread pose and tilted her head.
Tilted it again while scrutinizing my complexion.
“A-Are you really okay?”
Logically speaking, no one should be fine after ingesting poison.
But I was beyond logic now.
With the Hundred Poisons Immunity trait, this level of toxin was tolerable.
Eating other poisons directly might be risky, but the cockatrice venom was like a light snack.
My stomach felt a slight burn, sure, but it was akin to the kick from spicy food—nothing major.
And it wouldn't ache if I didn't guzzle it so crudely like this.
In short, there were no issues with wielding this poison directly.
“Incredible! To think I'd meet a prodigy like you…”
The magpie's eyes sparkled brightly.
Was it because our odds had improved?
No, it seemed more like a sparkle of another kind.
How to put it?
Like a fangirl spotting her favorite celebrity?
“You must have… no, one of your distant ancestors was surely a basilisk.”
“Kawk?”
Basilisk?
“The legendary bird whose every feather brims with formless, colorless, odorless deadly poison. Honestly, I had doubts because you're so massive for a mere crow… but if basilisk blood runs in your veins…”
She must have mistaken my lineage for basilisk.
Unfortunately, I was purebred crow, 100%.
My poison immunity wasn't innate either—it was stolen from the cockatrice.
Explaining that would be a hassle, so I just nodded.
“Perhaps you are the descen…”
Descen?
“Descen…”
Saroka trailed off, as if a memory eluded her.
“Descen-what?”
Huh?
What was that?
“Hmm, I can't quite recall.”
Did this one have Moona's forgetfulness too?
Well, what could you expect from a bird?
“It feels familiar, like a name tied to poison… a cliff, maybe…? Anyway, that's not the point.”
Cliff?
Was she about to mention a poison-training spot?
Appreciated, but I'm no poison specialist bird.
Just highly resistant.
As Saroka said, that wasn't important now.
What mattered was I could wield the cockatrice poison raw.
“Lord Crow, your body can harness the cockatrice venom in full! Refining it would drop efficiency below fifty percent, but handled directly by you? All its power unleashed!”
“Kawkawk!”
Heck, I could just coat my feathers and be fine.
Of course, I wouldn't stroll around like that daily.
I was immune, not everyone else.
Swungswung the spirit might manage, but Moona would drop like a poisoned kiwi.
So for this op, Moona stays rear guard.
Clang!
Clang!
Why were these guys still hammering away?
“Kawk? Kawkkawk!”
I pointed at the parrots pecking like woodpeckers at the feathers.
Raw poison was fine, so no need to refine anymore, right?
“You're immune, but our knights aren't. They'll escort you at the vanguard, so we need armor at least.”
Parrots as my escorts.
Hearing that, I sized them up.
“Kaaaaawk!”
No, really, it's fine without!
Honestly, they didn't seem helpful.
Likely to get done in by unrefined cockatrice miasma.
Plus, vanguard meat shields weren't my style.
“Kawkkawk.”
“What? No way! Even by the numbers, it's two against us. No matter how strong you are or how we suppress their powers… you can't face two at once.”
“Swung?”
Saroka glanced at Swungswung rolling up and continued.
“Well… two, but Rebecca's a spirit, so…”
Swungswung was a huge combat asset.
But I couldn't count him separate.
He was part of me.
So it was 2v1.
“Either way, we can't yield numerical superiority! Even limited to base strength, they're cockatrice-tier. We can't send our benefactor to the slaughter!”
Individuals on par with cockatrices?
Meaning average ones, not the one I fought.
Still formidable foes.
And their water control wasn't sealed, so it was like battling two water-wielding cockatrices instead of poison ones.
Even I couldn't brute-force that endless barrage.
“Swung!”
I dug into Swungswung's body and pulled out a familiar item with my beak.
“Kawkkawk.”
I showed it to Saroka, chirping reassurance.
I knew numerical superiority's weight.
And I had a way to counter it.
That's why I was confident even before cockatrice intel.
What I held out was a long tuft of fur.
To others, it'd look pointless, but she was the forest queen.
Her pupils dilated.
“Th-This is…?”
She might not know exactly what, but she sensed the power within.
The big bad wolf and the red cape.
I could summon them.
Numerical superiority was mine.
“Mheheh…”
A sinister chuckle amid the downpour.
From a fairy-like figure, petite in stature.
She laughed.
“Mheheht.”
Loudly.
“Nuhuhuhuhu…!”
Because laughter was all she could do!
The pitiful fairy fled with a squeak at approaching footsteps.
In her place appeared another fairy, mature and voluptuous.
“Vega, did you feel it too?”
“Oh, Dabih. Yes. The power shifting the night. How could I miss it?”
Dabih and Vega.
They had witnessed the cockatrice and raven's clash.
Or rather, its aftermath.
Sudden twilight.
Then abrupt afterglow.
“Finally… it's here at last!”
“Yes, my love. It has arrived.”
Dabih and Vega twisted into grotesque grimaces.
Once water fairies of ethereal beauty, that grace was gone.
Faces warped as if devoured by shadow.
Side effects of their witch pact.
“Ahh… truly… it came… Just as her prophecy foretold…”
“Vega. Our long-cherished wish is within reach.”
Where the tiny fairy had been.
A teal gem lay there.
Dabih and Vega placed their hands atop it.
Whoosh.
Torrential rain.
Their pact granted power to exploit other water fairies.
They controlled forest denizens with it, awaiting the witch's prophesied one.
The being who would come with the wisest sage and fairest queen.
The bird that devours night.
Toppling it was their duty.
Innate malice left them weak.
But the witch's pact bestowed overwhelming might.
They exploited other nymphs with it.
And gained more power.
Compressing water mastery granted near-divine weather control, weakening the birds' forces.
As their power grew, so did their greed.
What if they seized the birds' power too?
The so-called forest queen, weakened by their pact witch.
They could capture her in a heartbeat, claim the birds' might.
But their mistress forbade it.
The witch ordered the birds spared.
Dabih and Vega chafed silently.
Knowing the gulf between them.
And the order wasn't eternal.
Once the night-devouring bird fell—as per pact—the witch would care for naught.
That fall would free them.
Saroka, queen of birds.
Absorbing her power would make them incomparable.
Dabih and Vega shared a grin.
For their goal was nigh.
The night-devouring bird.
Felling it meant devouring the forest whole.
And endless exploitation of that power…
One day, even their contractor.
Desire burned in Dabih and Vega's eyes.