As his claws tore apart another basilisk, Kori could hear the intestines of the reptilian beast sizzling as the foul stench of grilled, putrid meat had already filled the air. It was an aftereffect of Kori leaving the burning corpses scattered in every which way. They had no time to care for the bodies, nor would they care if they had time.
Lorwynn was also self-centered at the moment, frying all incoming basilisks from the inside out with lighting or shredding them to pieces with dancing swords created with holy energy.
"Not bad, Lorwynn," Kori commented. "You're a lot better than I expected you to be."
"Just because the God of Time managed to kill me before doesn't mean I can't handle myself now. He had eight levels on me and I was mortal. If we were equal level, I would've floor him," stated Lorwynn, chuckling along with the former Fox God.
"Fair." Just then, Kori blinked and sniffed. "Oh… We've got us another big one…"
Lorwynn nodded. "Let's nap after this one. Then we can try and make the final push through."
Racing towards the Hell-flame Fox was a gigantic basilisk, over thirty meters in length. But the Giant Basilisk's appearance did little to affect the fox.
"How far are you?" Kori asked nonchalantly, not even looking at the charging beast.
"I'm almost three-fourths of the way."
"Ha! Then it looks like I'm in the lead!" joked Kori, still not looking at the lv. 85 Giant Basilisk. "Hurry up or you may not make it in time and Hadurt will beat you."
Shouting, Lorwynn smiled, "Shut up… It's only been three days! After a good nap to replenish some energy, I'll catch up and ascend before you!"
"Try me!" Kori laughed. "I even gave Hadurt something special, so if you don't ascend now, there's no way you'll beat him later."
By then, the Giant Basilisk was less than fifty meters away from the fox. It opened its massive maw and gathered a murky, grey liquid at the bottom of its mouth.
Basilisks were known for their special saliva that could turn things to stone upon contact. It was a rare ability but took a few seconds to gather the fluids necessary, something that Kori had given the Giant Basilisk many times over. Irritated by the ignorance of its prey, the Giant Basilisk readied all of the special saliva it had to show the fox wrong for being so ignorant. It proceeded to spew out that liquid, aiming directly for the flame body it was charging.
That finally got Kori's attention but not enough to warrant the fox's intervention. Rather than dodge, Kori took off and barreled for the Giant Basilisk with little to no regard for that saliva.
The Giant Basilisk felt proud of its foe's ignorance, waiting to see it turned to stone and become the Giant Basilisk's meal.
"Tzzzzz…"
More sizzling rang out through the cavernous dungeon floor. The thick, murky saliva was evaporating too quickly to ever reach the black flame body.
Baffled, the Giant Basilisk didn't know what to do next. The only thought that popped into its mind was to run. But it was too late to flee as Kori was already on top of the Giant Basilisk with hungry eyes.
Then, suddenly, Kori's flame body dispersed.
It gave the Giant Basilisk some hope, which was dashed immediately as lightning fell upon its hulking body. The attack hurt but wasn't fatal. However, that lightning was enough to stun the Giant Basilisk and allow the fox to begin eating the massive beast alive.
Kori was excited as his heated breath cooked the meat while he chewed it. Lorwynn rained more lightning down onto the basilisk while fileting the beast alive using his holy swords.
In a few moments, the still-living basilisk had two limbs removed and chunks of its torso carved away.
"As I thought! This meat tastes good!" Kori shouted with his mouth full.
"Anything will taste good after eating nothing for three days," commented Lorwynn, hypocritically using electricity to fry up his own portion of meat.
The Giant Basilisk cried and wailed with all its might but it was picked apart piece-by-piece by the party of two hungry demigods.
After the Basilisk finally died a painful death, Lowynn and Kori delightedly finished their meal. They were interrupted though by the arrival of two more Giant Basilisks, both at lv. 86. But now that they were done playing with their food and no longer hungry, neither of the two men cared for a prolonged battle.
Kori dashed toward the one on the left and Lorwynn soared toward the one on the right.
Both Giant Basilisks attempted to use their trump cards, both proving useless. The one on the left saw its putrid saliva evaporate despite its incredibly high boiling point while the one on the right had no way to hit the nimble mage, who could dance in the air if he wished. Each basilisk was forced to confront an enemy head-on without any help from their most notorious ability.
Kori's reactivated flame body tore the Giant Basilisk apart and scorched the beast's internal organs. There was no hope of the Giant Basilisk recovering, let alone winning the battle.
Lorwynn's holy swords sliced into his foe with ease, first targeting the Basilisk's eyes. After carving out the beast's eyes, two holy swords dug into the hinges of the Giant Basilisk's jaws. With its fangs and sight removed, the basilisk had no proper way to defend and fight back against the merciless mage.
When they finished their opponents, each of them sighed and found a seat nearby. Their clothes were splattered and painted with blood. You could see itty-bitty bits of basilisk flesh and intestines shriveled on their outer robes.
Now in his human form, Kori made himself comfortable and laid down. "It's nap time, right?"
"Yup…" Lorwynn forced a yawn from his mouth and created a wide, light green barrier around them. "Should anything enter here, we'll know right away. After three hours, it'll break and wake us up with an alarm."
"Neat spell… Where'd you learn it?"
"My master… He taught me almost everything I know…" Sighing, Lorwynn readjusted himself and closed his eyes. "Goodnight…"
Kori chuckled, "Goodnight, kid."
While the leveling duo had nearly cleared all of the first floor, Jack was flying down the dungeon. With his mini-map's new ability, his travels were made easier. When a particular dungeon floor permitted it, Jack would use his minokawa form to breeze through an entire floor. But that only happened about once every five floors, letting him clear at least five floors a day with hardly any rest.
Currently, Jack was heading down a vertical cavern in order to reach the sixteenth floor, impatient as ever.
Though Jack was traveling at a pace that would've beaten his old in-game record, Jack was now living according to Kartonia and not a videogame's day-night cycle. At his best pace, Jack would clear the entire dungeon in around three weeks, which was more time than Jack wanted to spend away from the others.