Sylas took a breath and rounded the corner. A dagger hovered behind his back, out of view of the snake, and he had already entered a battle stance.

The basilisk minion unleashed a shriek and hissed, slithering forward with great speed. It wasn't the largest snake he had come across in this world, but its three-meter length was still significant.

Sylas was cautious about closing the distance, and he dodged out of the way of the snake's attempts to get a bite out of him.

When it realized its Speed and Dexterity were too far inferior to Sylas' own, his yellow slit eyes suddenly glowed and became a slight shade of crimson, almost as though some droplets of food color had fallen into it.

The feeling of something clawing at his mind almost overwhelmed Sylas. It was similar to when others tried to get a read on his stats, but far more invasive, almost as though the creature was trying to suffocate him with its Will.

In the instant his mind went blank for a moment, the bone-barbed tail of the Basilisk Minor was already swinging for his head.

Sylas must have recovered faster than it expected, because when the creature saw the human's eyes sharpen, it hissed.

A single hit of that tail had enough Strength to knock Sylas out. But if the bones spikes were also taken into account, it would practically be an instant death.

Sudden Burst.

Sylas dodged forward and to the left, out of the way of the tail swinging to his right.

The snake bit at his head, but the dagger hidden behind him suddenly flashed and tore right into its mouth. However, just when Sylas thought that dagger would rip into its skull from the inside, the creature bit down, its teeth shimmering with Aether as it crushed the dagger into pieces.

Sylas frowned, but his follow-up punch wasn't slow. Madness and Blade Aura circulated, a slight coating of red covering him as he slammed a powerful fist right into the snake's throat.

BANG.

The snake slid backward.

Between the 10% increase of Constitution from the Scorned Wraps and the enhancements from Rigid, so long as it wasn't the bone spikes, Sylas had no fear of clashing head-on with this beast.

Even so, thoughts were swirling in his mind.

'The dagger has a durability limit of its own. It was only Level 2 and it can only take so much punishment with how strong my telekinesis is.'

Sylas was already finding that his daggers lost one point of durability every time he attacked these creatures with strong Constitutions. He had luckily traded for a half dozen total, expecting such a thing, but he had already lost one when he had yet to beat a single BOSS.

Even so, he knew this was necessary. He had to be prepared for what the BOSS had to offer.

'I'll have to switch over to the Restore daggers so that I can deal with the durability issues. It'll be hard to pierce these snakes, but at least I can use my Aether to repair them.'

As Sylas thought, he didn't forget to follow up. He and the basilisk minion entered a dance where Sylas lost himself, sliding out of the way of attacks and fiercely countering.

The more he battled, the easier he found it. His sense of the world was so much greater with <Maddened Enlightenment> activated, and the control he had over his body with Madness was even clearer now regardless of the fact he hadn't activated <Madness Control>.

It was a bit weird, actually. This Flow of Battle state felt somehow connected to his Madness and not at the same time, almost as though it was a child being suppressed under the umbrella of something much larger.

But Sylas didn't mind it. He truly didn't have the time to mind it even if he wanted to.

The day that child could come out from the umbrella of its elder brother, maybe it would have already become something that could match Madness.

BANG.

The head of the basilisk rebounded against the stone wall like a bouncing ball and the last bits of light in its eyes faded away.

Sylas exhaled a slow breath and looked at his fists.

Even with Blade Aura, his lethality was lacking considerably if his telekinesis was discounted. Soon, he would have to figure out a method of doing some real damage with his body. These protracted battles would make him pay a heavy price someday, even though it helped him get acclimated to the Flow of Battle with greater ease.

He checked the corpse, and after confirming the same thing he had the last half dozen times, he moved toward the location of the BOSS.

The area up ahead was almost identical to the location he had started in, a circular space with three entries. Though, one of them led to a dead end, while the one he stood in front of now led back to the starting position.

The creature within was curled into a tight spiral, its head resting atop its coils.

It was a ten-meter-long version of the minions that Sylas had come across until now, and it had horns.

---

[Basilisk Minor (F+)]

[Level: 4]

---

[Physical: 60]

>[Strength: 81]

>[Constitution: 83]

>[Dexterity: 40]

>[Speed: 38]

[Mental: 55]

>[Intelligence: 78]

>[Wisdom: 14]

>[Charisma: 73]

[Will: 48]

---

Sylas took a step forward, and the creature stirred. It opened its eyes, and unlike its companions, there were already flecks of red in its yellow irises.

The hiss sounded like the howl of a steam engine as the creature rose to its full height.

Sylas was forced to look up as it did so. The strength of the basilisk's core muscles seemed to be far beyond that of Big Madness. While the latter could only mostly slither on the ground with most of its body rooted to the earth, at least half of the basilisk's body rose up tall, looming almost three meters above Sylas' head.