Chapter 272: Area Effect

Alex immediately launched another fully powered Mana Shuriken. This time, however, the Basilisk was ready, and the moment its gaze landed on the projectile, the Mana Shuriken rapidly began turning into stone.

Even the flames compressed inside the weapon were petrified, causing the attack to lose its destructive power before it could reach the Basilisk. Alex didn’t waste time being surprised and immediately began preparing a method of defense.

The Basilisk’s eyes suddenly settled on him.

Alex reacted before it could fully focus its gaze. He created a Mana Sphere and poured far more mana and Will into it than usual, causing the sphere to expand around his body and form a semi-transparent dome-like structure between himself and the Basilisk.

The petrification gaze struck the Mana Sphere before reaching Alex. The outer surface immediately began turning into stone. The Mana Sphere could block the gaze because it contained a considerable amount of mana and Will.

Alex stepped out of the Mana Sphere while releasing another one at the same time, then continued running sideways across the battlefield. The Basilisk followed him with its gaze, but Alex kept replacing the barriers before the petrification could reach him.

Another Mana Sphere turned into stone, and Alex immediately created another. He continued releasing them one after another at high speed, carefully maintaining enough distance between himself and the Basilisk while making sure a fresh Mana Sphere was always protecting him.

The strategy wasn’t perfect, and maintaining so many spells at once placed a considerable burden on his mana and concentration. However, it worked well enough to keep the petrification gaze from reaching his body, giving Alex the time he needed to continue attacking.

Once he confirmed that the Mana Spheres could actually block the gaze, he changed his course and turned toward the Basilisk, deciding to get closer instead of continuing to circle the battlefield.

As he rushed toward the monster, Alex noticed that the Mana Spheres were turning into stone much faster than before. The closer he got to the Basilisk, the more rapidly the petrification spread through the barriers, allowing him to understand another important facet of the ability.

’The petrification gaze becomes stronger the closer I am to the monster,’ he thought.

Alex did not slow down. The Basilisk suddenly whipped its enormous tail toward him, and he immediately jumped sideways to avoid the attack, using his current physical strength to launch his body through the air like a cannonball.

While he was airborne, Alex twisted his body and created several mana Balls around his shoulders and feet. He used them to push and flip his body around in the air, allowing him to adjust his trajectory before his feet landed against the trunk of a nearby tree.

The shockwave created by the Basilisk’s tail swept through the area and nearly uprooted the tree Alex had landed on. He crouched as his feet touched the trunk, used the remaining momentum from his landing, and immediately shot forward again at high speed.

The Mana Spheres around him were rapidly becoming stone as he approached the Basilisk, and Alex could feel the power of the petrification gaze increasing with every meter. He knew he wouldn’t be able to rely on the barriers for much longer, but he continued forward because getting close was necessary if he wanted to attack the monster effectively.

An attack from a closer range would be too fast for the monster to block or dodge.

Just as the petrification gaze was about to reach Alex before he could release another Mana Sphere, a Mana Arrow and a Mana Bullet suddenly flew toward the Basilisk’s eyes. The monster turned toward the attacks at the last possible moment and instantly turned both projectiles into stone, but that brief distraction gave Alex enough time to reach the monster.

Alex crashed down directly beneath the Basilisk’s head. The force of his landing was immense, but he gritted his teeth and relied on the Superior Body Reinforcement Spell to absorb the impact while immediately preparing his next attack.

Before the Basilisk could look down at him, Alex thrust his Mana Sword upward with all his strength. The blade struck one of the monster’s scales and produced a shower of sparks, but it failed to penetrate the incredibly hard surface and only left a shallow scratch.

Alex reacted immediately by twisting the sword and stabbing it toward another location where the Basilisk’s scales had already been damaged during its fight with the Grim Ape.

This time, the blade entered the exposed flesh, and Alex immediately began vibrating the Mana Sword at high speed.

The Basilisk released a painful screech and started lowering its head toward him. Alex didn’t give it enough time to focus its gaze and immediately fired the Mana Shuriken he had prepared directly into its mouth.

The spinning weapon tore through the inside of the Basilisk’s mouth before disappearing deeper into its body. The monster instinctively closed its mouth, trapping the Mana Shuriken inside, and Alex immediately detonated the attack.

He wasn’t too worried about the explosion happening at such a close distance. The Basilisk was a High Rank species with an incredibly powerful body, so even if the explosion happened inside its mouth, Alex believed it would dampen the explosion enough for him to tank it.

Then, to his shock, the Basilisk’s eyes suddenly began glowing.

Alex didn’t understand what had happened, but he immediately sensed the Mana Shuriken inside the Basilisk turning into stone. At almost the same moment, a strange force spread through the surrounding area, and Alex realized that his own body had started turning into stone.

The Basilisk wasn’t even looking directly at him.

It wasn’t only Alex either. The grass around his feet began petrifying, followed by the nearby trees and everything else within a certain radius. The entire area seemed to be undergoing the same transformation.

..

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