Blue runes raced across the ground and in that moment, the soft soil cracked as though it had completely frosted over.

Over the course of this battle, Sylas had realized that the methods of this cobra weren't truly like ice at all. Instead, it was like the ice had truly become a poison. The way it interacted with things was beyond just the use of cold, but rather more so like the cold had become a virus that could permeate through the body and even treasures alike.

In this way, it was more fearsome than the ice attribute that Sylas had faced after escaping the volcano, albeit also less flexible.

The pure attacks that the cobra had were lacking and were often only made potent by continuous, recurring Damage. However, its ability to control the area, defend itself, and break down attacks that came for it, was truly special.

And now, this seemed to be its strongest ability.

Sylas hurried to get out of the range of the blue runes approaching him. At the same time, he tried to digest what this Skill was capable of.

Until now, he was only reading stripped down versions of the Skills. He didn't want their descriptions or any of their fancy lore, he just wanted their Damage and Defense, plus what they actually did.

But now, this one didn't seem to be nearly so straightforward.

[Arctic King's Domain (FFF-) (Skill)]

[The unfurling of a King's hood should be the sign of great danger. However, in the case that these pitiful worms do not understand your might, show them what it truly means to be a King]

[Form a Domain of Ice Poison that Damages your enemy and strengthens yourself. For every additional meter of range, use 1 Aether Unit. Can be maintained for 60 seconds]

[Special Damage: 30/second]

[Special Buff: +50% to all Ice-Poison Skills used]

Sylas' heart skipped a beat. Could be maintained for 60 seconds and it did 30 Damage a second? Didn't that mean 1800 Damage from just a single cast? Worse than that, even if the cobra failed to trap him in its Domain, it still had a personal buff that it could use that would cancel out a lot of Sylas' own debuff to it.

However, as Sylas accelerated backward, staying out of the range of the swarm of blue runes being etched across the ground, he realized that the cobra was quickly overdrawing itself.

By the time Sylas had left a 10-meter range, the cobra swayed and then collapsed. Its Domain flickered and then vanished slowly afterward.

Sylas' eyes narrowed. 'It ran out of Aether…'

Indeed, he had pushed the cobra quite far and brought out several of its Skills. Even with such high Intelligence and Mental, it couldn't possibly go on forever. Even the weakest Skills required at least 0.5 Aether Units to activate.

This cobra had around 300 Intelligence, and most of its Skills cost 1 Aether Unit. So that was only about 30 casts total.

The fact it could expand its Domain to almost 10 meters before it fell short was already impressive enough.

'And this is only Level 7… if it wasn't suppressed by my Beast Totem, then I don't even know if I would be able to defeat it on my own… at least not without blitzing it…'

Sylas had learned long ago to not play with his food. If he could defeat an enemy quickly, that was what he should do. But this time, he had purposely extended the battle to make more note of the cobra's ability, and he had almost suffered for it despite having the clear upper hand.

After a while, the Domain completely vanished.

Now that the dust had settled, he understood what was going on.

The tip that had allowed him to come here was one that he read in the Nexus. That tip was about the venom pouch of the King Cobra and how it could be used as a weapon.

That one had been for a Level 8 Arctic King Cobra, so if that beast had been anywhere near this one, the person who killed it had to be an elite expert.

Sylas could only slot this thought into the back of his mind; he couldn't think about it for now. What he was far more concerned about was the pouch itself.

With Insight having reached Level 7, he could feel the path forward for the Basilisk King with far more clarity.

The venom pouches of the Arctic King Cobra weren't meant for the Basilisk King to swallow. The path of venom wasn't meant for the Basilisk King.

Instead, what he could do was use these pouches to suppress and remove the poison that marred the corpses of the mammoths. Then, he could use them to help the Basilisk King evolve.

It was a bit tricky, and it required Rune control, apparently.

The venom of the Arctic King Cobra was very special as it combined three principles. Those three were cold, poison, and a similar kingly aura to the one the Basilisk King had.

When their venom was used, it would forcefully invade its target, dominating it and flooding it with its cold. Whereas normal cold would start from the outside, in, slowly spreading, this cold acted far more like poison, piercing as deeply as possible and then working outward.

The kingly aura of this path of poison was what Sylas needed. That was because he could use it to suppress other poisons and control them.

If he could comprehend the special runes of the venom pouch, then he would be able to lay out a clear path of progression for the Basilisk King. And much the same way, he would be able to help himself.

Of course, he would have to be cautious, but… if there was anything in this world that he was confident in…

It was dissecting snakes.

A ballista bolt fell from the skies and pierced through the head of the unconscious cobra. Then, Sylas brought it into the Madness Key.

He would have to see if he could find that Level 10 target now…