Basilisk venom

(Author: This will be two chapters in one, I hope you enjoy it).

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splash!

'splash!'

Every step Mark took was accompanied by the sound of puddles splashing water in every direction, but he was not the only one. Wherever he focused his hearing, he could hear the sound of water splashing following him wherever he went.

"Waltz of blood!"

"Dammit!"

An assassin suddenly appeared in front of him and threw his magic at him. Seeing the incoming magic, Mark slipped on the ground dodging it, and quickly changed his way to a narrow alley.

Seeing him going in that direction, the assassin headed there too, but what awaited him was an electric spear that pierced his head without him even being able to react.

Not wanting to be joined by other enemies, he jumped nimbly from one wall of the alley to the other, reaching over the roof to get a better view of the situation, but seeing the various assassins heading towards his position, his expression twisted.

"I don't have the stupid key!" -Swearing at them, he started running again.

He had already killed several assassins, but new ones were constantly arriving, forcing him to move further and further away from the city center. He could have used the transformation to move directly into a safer area, but there were several problems.

The first was that he wasn't yet sure how long he could maintain that state; therefore, if even after activating it he was still around, the assassins would find a target that was almost completely immobilized. The partial transformation was also not an easy option. The negative effects were minor but it still consumed a large portion of stamina and Falna.

The second problem was that he did not know what a safe zone was. From what he had noticed, it seemed that the assassins were not looking for the key, or rather, it seemed that the key was not the main target.

Initially, he thought they were following him because they believed he had the key, but the more time passed the less sure he was of this.

'I'm not sure yet, but most of their attacks were not at fatal points and even when they blew themselves up, the damage they caused was not such as to put my life at risk. Could this be one of their targets?'

Although he had several doubts, he never stopped running, as he knew that once stopped, he would be surrounded quickly. In addition, the Guide had recognized that the magic they used was a form of anti-status; therefore, once hit it would be game over.

With so many unknown variables and others against him, Mark tried his luck. He formed three magic circles of 'electrical explosion' and pointed them towards the sky.

The three spheres flew upwards and then exploded into clusters of electricity, which lit up the grey skies.

"Now, who will come first?"

What he had just done had alerted all enemies in the area of his location, but they were not the only ones. Mark was sure that given the hour, by now the members of the Loki Family should be in the district and he doubted that they could not perceive the actions caused by the assassins.

But even so, Mark's mood was bitter. He had overestimated himself believing that he did not need any help and that he could quickly solve the problem with Evilus, but he only ended up in a situation where he had to depend on others.

"Really pathetic hah."

With a self-ironic laugh, he started running again, for he knew that in a short time, he would be attacked. But he did not even have time to get very far when something fell heavily not far from where he was standing.

'Boom!'

Splashes of water and debris flew around and Mark immediately turned to see what it was, but when he saw the person emerging from the cloud of dust, his expression contracted so much that it looked as if he had eaten the sourest thing in the world.

"You cannot be serious."

"HAHAHAHA! I FINALLY FOUND YOU MARK!"

Watching Valletta laugh like a maniac, Mark seriously wanted to curse his bad luck. Anyone from armies of assassins to giant dragons would have been fine with him, as long as it had nothing to do with that psycho.

"HEY! DID YOU MISS ME?! DID YOU THINK ABOUT ME?! ANSWER ME! BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN ON MY MIND EVERY DAY! EVERY HOUR! EVERY MINUTE! EVERY FUCKING SECOND SINCE YOU CRIPPLED MY FACE! I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THIS PAIN ALL THE TIME BECAUSE OF YOU!" -Screamed Valletta at the top of her throat with an incredible thirst for blood.

"...See the bright side, with that bandage covering part of your face, the others will only have to suffer to look at one half rather than the whole, don't you think?" -Mark said with a smile, while secretly already preparing himself.

"Heh-hehe HAHAHA! HAhh... I thought after Finn I couldn't hate someone so much, but it seems I'm forced to change my mind. You have no idea how much fun I'm going to have torturing you for the rest of your life."

Licking her lips hungrily, she looked at Mark in such a haunted way that it would have sent shivers down the spine of anyone who saw her. But for Mark, who was under the effects of corruption, all he felt was annoyance and disgust.

"Haaa... the next few days will be a pain in the ass." -Sighs Mark.

"Then you are aware of what you will soon experience." -Valletta said, smiling as she drew his broadsword stuck in the ground.

"Not that, I'm sad because I won't be able to enjoy my favorite skewers."

"Hah?"

She was momentarily rendered speechless by what Mark said, but her attitude quickly changed when she heard him murmur something and immediately noticed how completely different his presence had become.

Valletta was not stupid or reckless, even in her enraged state she was cautious with every decision she made, an example was how she dealt with Bete. Despite being under the effect of several status suppression spells, Valletta would only attack him when she felt she had the best chance of success, and it was thanks to her caution that she was able to reach that level of strength and become one of the greatest exponents of Evilus.

This led to the current situation. Despite being two levels stronger than Mark, Valletta didn't care. She knew that Mark was abnormal and would not attack first with all these unknowns, so she was making sure to keep him busy so that the assassins could arrive.

What she did not know, however, was that she was not the only one to buy time.

'Zap!'

Various electrifying sounds were being produced by Mark as his body was covered in a violet veil, making the area around him static.

Seeing Mark's transformation, Valletta's expression turned serious as she remembered what he was able to do once he was covered in that layer of electricity. She got into position to confront him at any moment, but against her expectations, Mark ran away.

"HEY, YOU SON OF A BITCH! COME BACK AND SHOW THAT YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO FACE ME!" -Valletta shouted provocatively at him.

Leaving aside Valletta's hypocrisy, which could be called the queen of cowardice, Mark was tempted to fight her, but that only applied to a one-on-one confrontation. It might have seemed strange considering that he was always looking for new challenges to make himself stronger, but it should not be forgotten that even if it seemed reckless at times, Mark always had an emergency plan when facing someone/something.

'To stay and fight someone of her level while knowing of the presence of assassins is nothing but a suicide.' -He thought coldly as he ran through the various alleys of the district with incredible speed.

Unlike previous times, the aura he was radiating was much weaker, this was because he was in a state of partial transformation. Normally he would flow the aura in the magic circuits at maximum power, which gave him exorbitant strength and speed but exhausted him just as quickly. With the partial transformation, however, the force he obtained was less, but he could maintain that state for several minutes unless he increased the output.

Valletta immediately set off after him, but even with her level, she had to put her whole self into keeping up with him.

Mark who was darting through the streets momentarily turned his gaze, seeing Valletta hot on his heels. He tried to lose her by entering buildings or passing through narrow alleys, but even so, she continued to pursue him with her eyes filled with the urge to kill.

He could have increased the output of the aura, but this would have consumed his stamina too quickly.

"STOP HIM!"

Hearing her shout, Mark focused his gaze on the front, where he saw several assassins lurking both on the street and above the rooftops to block him.

Some of them shot arrows from their bows, but to Mark's eyes, the arrows seemed to move in slow motion. His body moved purposefully in the shower of arrows, always moving to areas where they would not fall or dodging when forced, with the slightest movement.

Seeing that the arrows had no effect, they unsheathed their weapons and prepared to face Mark, but as if by magic, his body seemed to disappear only to reappear before an assassin.

'CRUSH!'

Without even having time to react, the assassin's body was sent flying with a hole in the chest created by Mark's fist.

The remaining killers, indifferent to the loss of their comrade, pounced on Mark, who did nothing except put his hand on the wet road.

'VZAP!'

The electricity surrounding him used water as a conductor to spread out in every direction, creating a high-voltage terrain. With the transformation active, casting spells had become much less efficient given the drop in strength and longer casting times, but as compensation, the electricity surrounding him was enhanced by the aura, making Mark a lethal living weapon.

The assassins in the street all ended up being electrocuted alive, falling one by one to the ground with their charred bodies still spasming.

"YOU'RE A FREAK OF NATURE YOU KNOW!"

'Baang!'

When she saw him place his hand on the ground, she had a bad feeling and hurriedly jumped over a house roof, managing to be saved from being electrocuted. Furthermore, as Mark had stopped, she wanted to take the opportunity to attack him from above, but her attempt failed.

Mark dodged as soon as he heard the sound of something approaching and was already ready to flee, but he ended up being blocked by Valletta's assault.

'clank!' 'clank!'

The weapons of the two clashed at an incredible speed, exchanging several blows in a short time, with no clear winner.

"Waltz of blood!"

One of the assassins on the roof cast anti-status magic toward Mark, but he was held back by Valletta's hand, preventing him from moving.

'ZAP!'

"GHHAH!"

Valletta, however, was forced to release her grip as she felt her hand burn, allowing Mark to dodge the magic just in time, but not before counter-attacking.

The tip of his foot connected with Valletta's stomach, sending her back, but as soon as he did it, he had to prepare to intercept the assassins, who were hurling themselves from the rooftops toward him.

'slash!'

With the sound of the sword cutting through the air, two assassins found themselves split in half, while the others made clever use of the rubble scattered around to avoid coming into contact with the electrified water on the road.

With the various assassins buzzing around him, Mark's eyes kept moving to see which of them would approach first, when he realized to his dismay that he had lost sight of Valletta.

"Waltz of blood!"

Some of the assassins threw their spells at him at the same time, in several places forcing Mark to roll away.

"You are mine!"

From his blind spot appeared Valletta, who did not attack him with her broadsword but with a dagger that was much faster to use.

Mark's body bent backward as far as possible, avoiding serious injury, but he still ended up being cut in the side.

"Hehehe, this is only the beginning of your long and painful suffering that is waiting for you." -Said Valletta excitedly.

But contrary to her expectations, Mark remained indifferent and simply sprayed a potion on the wound, which quickly began to heal again.

'Increases the output of the aura.'

<Beginning output increase... decrease time remaining to maintain transformation... increase body destabilization.>

The aura around Mark's body became more violent and so did his strength, making it even more difficult for him to control his body.

'Zap!'

'CLANK!'

"GHH!"

Taking everyone by surprise, Mark seemed to teleport himself in front of Valletta, who barely had time to use her broadsword as a shield, only to be thrust back, creating two deep trails across the ground.

'What a monster.' -Thought Valletta in a cold sweat, but even so she kept smiling because she knew Mark couldn't win.

Meanwhile, Mark wasted no time and took the opportunity to run away. His silhouette seemed to distort from how fast he moved, making it almost impossible for his pursuers to catch up with him, but as he continued to run, one of his legs suddenly lost strength, causing him to slip on the ground.

He tried to rise quickly, but could not maintain his balance on his right leg, which seemed to respond slowly to stimuli, as if asleep.

'Condition state transformation.'

<Aura flow in magic circuits still stable, probability of current state due to transformation 0%>.

Mark's mind worked at full power to understand the reason behind his state as he continued to limp away when he thought of one thing.

[What the host is thinking is most likely true when she injured you she must have poisoned you.]

'Possible solutions.' -Mark mechanically asked.

[If it had been as soon as you were wounded, I would have told you to use electricity on the wound so that the poison present would evaporate, but now that it has entered into circulation you either find an antidote or wait for the effects to wear off.]

With no choice, he hid in one of the ruined buildings, minimizing the output of the aura while spying on the street from one of the windows near him as he thought up a plan of action.

In the meantime, Valletta and a dozen or so assassins arrived in the area where Mark had been hiding and began searching the area.

"There are tracks that seem to go no further, but we can't find anything else because of the rain." -Said one of the killers.

"Don't worry, the mouse couldn't have run too far, not when I injected it with that paralyzing poison." - Valletta said, smiling.

Since Mark seemed to have a strong resistance against curses, Valletta decided to opt for paralyzing poison, and although it was true that he could not inject much of it, since the wound Mark suffered was superficial, it must nevertheless have begun to show results.

"COME ON MARK COME TO PLAY WITH US! DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE TIRED ALREADY, HAHAHA!" -Laughing with joy, she signaled the assassins to check the surrounding buildings.

Time passed and the killers had already controlled most of the surrounding buildings.

A group of three assassins was checking the last remaining buildings. One of them entered the nearest one, while the others were heading for the next when they heard soft sounds coming from the building their comrade had just entered. The two hurriedly positioned themselves on either side of the doorway as silence fell inside.

The two assassins looked at each other and drew their daggers, ready to go in, but before they could do so, a silhouette flew out quickly.

'stab!' 'stab!'

The two assassins coordinated perfectly and threw their daggers at the figure, hitting it, but when they went to check, they discovered too late that what they had hit was the corpse of their comrade.

'CRASH!'

With a deafening sound, the rubble of the building wall collapsed on one of them, burying him. Instead, the other tried to escape, but a dagger flew from the cloud of rubble and ended up lodged in his head.

'How much is left?'

<A little more than two minutes.>

The reason he had not deactivated the transformation to save energy was a factor of efficiency. When he activated the transformation he wasted a lot of aura and considering the tests he had carried out over the past few days, he doubted he could activate the transformation more than once a day.

Not wanting to end up in the enemies' crosshairs, he began to move away from the area, but his pace was severely slowed by his right leg, which had now become inoperable. He continued to limp along the road, hearing the sound of pursuers getting closer and closer.

What waited for Mark at the end of the road, however, was a vast square with little rubble present and nowhere to hide.

"Seriously, you Loki Familia are really something. No matter how hard someone tries to kill you, you still manage to survive, but it looks like that won't be the case for you, doesn't it Mark?"

Arriving with the few remaining assassins, Valletta took immense pleasure in what she saw. She did not believe that a level three would be able to cause her so much trouble, but she had finally cornered him, but that was not enough for her. She wanted that indifferent face to feel terror, to tremble at the mere sound of her voice, to see him beg for his life as he cried in despair.

'Haah I can't wait.' -She thought excitedly.

The group of enemies approached dangerously, while Mark continued to retreat while keeping his guard up, and when the thread of tension seemed likely to break at any moment, a strong wind arose, taking everyone by surprise.

"Not this fucking wind again! HURRY UP AND CATCH HIM!" -Valletta agitatedly shouted her orders.

She knew that wind too well; after all, it was the one that had destroyed all the plans they had devised inside Knossos.

'Maximum power.'

<Max output, time remaining ten seconds.>

The aura around Mark exploded in a mantle of purplish lightning that seemed to magnetize the surrounding small debris from the way they began to float and from where he stood, he found himself in the blink of an eye from a whole other area, while the assassin standing in the middle of his way found his upper body separated from his lower body.

"Shit attack!" -Valletta's agitation grew greater as time passed.

Mark was no better either, with only the use of one leg moving at that speed was a feat. He tried to move away, but there was a murderer on the road, and considering his state, he couldn't perform complicated maneuvers; therefore, he ended up crashing into him.

To the assassin, it seemed as if a mountain had come at him and he had ended up being thrown off with all his bones broken, but he had still been able to leave an explosive device where he stood.

'Booom!'

The bomb exploded near Mark causing him several superficial wounds, but thanks to the powerful aura surrounding him, he minimized the damage.

"DIE!"

From the cloud of the explosion appeared Valletta, who attacked him with her broadsword.

'Clank!'

Sparks flew at their collision as the ground bowed slightly and with the state of Mark's leg, he was at a disadvantage under the weight of Valletta's blow.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" -Putting more weight on the sword, Valletta wanted to kill him immediately.

Initially, she had an infinite number of ways in which she would torture him, but if the Sword Princess came, Mark would surely escape, and considering how much he had grown in those few days, she knew that if she let him go, he might become even stronger than her next time.

Valletta's sword was getting closer and closer to Mark's neck when the two of them heard a soft voice, which seemed to resonate throughout the fighting ground.

"Tempest."

As the wind picked up, time seemed to slow down for Valletta. Being distracted by the voice, she saw how Mark was using the opportunity to flee, while out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure approaching at great speed.

'Even if I cannot torture him, I will still make his death as painful as possible, no matter the price!'

With a bloodlust more violent than ever directed towards Mark, she pointed her arm on which a small crossbow was mounted, which shot a black dart towards Mark's eye.

Seeing the incoming dart, Mark tried to dodge, but just then his left leg also lost its strength, preventing him from completely dodging the blow, ending up with a small cut on his face.

In the meantime, Valletta, who had just fired, found herself with her shoulder pierced by a thin sword that landed her, but the surprising thing was that all this happened in the blink of an eye.

"Surrender, all of you."

The person who even in that weather seemed to shine like a ray of sunshine was none other than Aiz, who was holding Valletta in submission.

"...HAH! HAHAHA!"

Contrary to the situation she was in, Valletta was laughing like a psychopath.

"Did you not understand? You lost." -Aiz said coldly.

"Sword princess, it seems you're the one who doesn't understand, it's not me who's fucked, it's Mark! HAHAHA" -Valletta said while continuing to laugh despite being impaled by a sword.

"Wha-"

"Bleargh!"

When she turned around, Mark was on his knees, with several black veins covering his body as he vomited a heap of blood fused to what looked like black slime, then he fell to the ground with his body beginning to writhe.

"Mark!"

Seeing him in this state, she immediately went over to him, freeing Valletta, who lifted herself holding her bleeding shoulder while laughing full of ecstasy as she saw Mark's body being slowly destroyed.

"What have you done to him!" -Aiz shouted angrily.

"He has been struck by the modified poisonous tooth of one of the worst beasts on this earth, the basilisk! By now his end is already foregone HAHAHA!"

Aiz felt her blood run cold upon hearing the monster's name.