Seeing Alan occasionally pausing to pick flowers and herbs, Mr. Hunter smiled helplessly.
He'd assumed the boy, living in town, had a rare opportunity to hike and experience nature, so he was particularly excited and treated this dangerous hunt like a picnic.
In reality, Alan wasn't lacking in wilderness experience.
The hunting knowledge he'd gained through atavistic meditation was even more extensive than Mr. Hunter's.
Furthermore, his eyes had evolved dark vision, allowing him to clearly see even the shadows of the bushes without needing to look around, making him seem particularly relaxed.
They reached the shallows of the stream.
Suddenly, they heard dogs barking.
The three of them moved forward to investigate.
The two hounds were wagging their tails, occasionally reaching out their claws to pry at a dead fish on the riverbank.
The palm-sized fish, its belly white, lay lifeless on the riverbank.
Alan crouched down to observe, covertly using the system to identify it.
As expected.
"These fish were poisoned," Allen whispered.
Mr. Hunter nodded and took off his bow.
"The basilisk's lair is just upstream of the stream!"
"It drinks from the stream, and the poison seeps into the water, harming the nearby fish and shrimp."
The hound led the way, followed closely by the three.
They walked along the stream.
As they neared the top of the mountain, an eagle's cry suddenly echoed from the sky!
Alan looked up.
The sky was azure blue, without a single cloud.
The falcon was circling low, eager to dive.
Mr. Hunter held his finger between his teeth and suddenly blew a sharp whistle.
The falcon, upon hearing its master's command, spread its wings again and abandoned its dive.
"A falcon can never defeat a basilisk!"
Mr. Hunter explained to his son and Alan.
"If we let it pounce, it'll be sprayed with poison and killed!"
"Dad! Stop nagging and get going!" Robin's face flushed with excitement. "If you delay any longer, the basilisk will slip away!"
"Don't do that!" Mr. Hunter glared at his son. "Behave yourself and follow me!"
Just then, the barking of hounds rang out from the bushes ahead.
Mixed with rustling noises, they were accompanied by the sound of hounds.
Alan hurried over and saw a dozen hounds gathered in a circle.
In the middle was a large, purple-scaled python, coiled in a formation, its forked tongue barking out, confronting the hounds.
Just as Robin had described, the monster indeed had a vaguely human face.
It looked even more ferocious and terrifying than an ordinary python!
Perhaps this is the so-called "uncanny valley effect."
Alan turned back and gestured.
Remind the father and son to put on their gas masks.
The three of them circled to the upwind side and shot at the basilisk with their crossbows.
Meanwhile, the hounds also besieged the basilisk.
Alan's first arrow was a bit off target, glancing past the basilisk's head.
Robin's shot was quite accurate.
Unfortunately, the shortbow's energy reserve was limited, and the arrow didn't even pierce the basilisk's skin before being deflected by its scales.
Whoosh!
Mr. Hunter pulled the bowstring to full strength and unleashed a sharp arrow!
The accuracy was impeccable, but the force was a bit lacking.
The arrow penetrated the basilisk's flesh only half an inch.
The basilisk hissed in pain, lashing out with its tail, and unexpectedly entangled the arrow shaft, pulling it out.
A trickle of blood flowed from the wound, evidently a mere flesh wound.
Mr. Hunter's face turned pale.
If the arrow had lodged deeper, its barb piercing the flesh.
Had the basilisk dared to forcibly extract the arrow, it would surely have torn out a large chunk of flesh.
But he had already done his best.
He hadn't anticipated the basilisk's scales being so tough!
Bows and crossbows proved difficult to injure.
The hounds' attempts to bite were futile.
He bit down hard!
His canine teeth were immediately blocked by the slippery, hard scales, and they slipped away involuntarily.
With a snap, his mouth was empty.
The basilisk seized the opportunity and launched a counterattack, its human-like maw opening wide and spewing a stream of black poisonous gas.
The three hounds on the opposite side were unable to dodge and inhaled the poison.
The poison first stung their eyes, causing them to burst into tears and wail.
Within ten seconds, the poison spread to their central nervous system.
The three hounds collapsed one after another, twitching and foaming at the mouth.
It seemed they were beyond help.
Hunter fired several more arrows, but still failed to inflict significant damage on the basilisk.
Half of the more than ten hounds had already been killed by the basilisk.
If this trend continued,
it wouldn't be long before all the hounds were dead.
After that, the three would have to face the basilisk head-on.
The situation was dire!
The experienced Mr. Hunter made a decisive decision. "Robin! Alan! You two retreat first, I'll cover!"
"Dad..."
Robin's face was pale, his voice trembling, long gone the high spirits he had when he climbed the mountain.
Alan's face remained as calm as ever.
He didn't want to give up halfway.
So he threw away his crossbow, passed by the father and son, and advanced alone.
It was time to show his true skills!
Alan had been observing the battle from the shadows.
Different types of crossbows, fired from different distances.
And then there were the hounds' bites.
By observing the damage these attacks inflicted on the basilisk, he had calculated that its armor was roughly equivalent to a level 5 natural defense.
Hound teeth, ordinary bows and arrows.
It was indeed difficult to penetrate the basilisk's armor.
However, Allen had already mastered the "Bone-Piercing Power."
Breaking through armor wasn't a problem for him.
The basilisk's most terrifying attack was its venom.
Its bite and venomous gas were both equivalent to a Level 3 venom attack.
An ordinary animal or animal, if bitten by it or inhaling its venom, would be paralyzed, if not killed.
But Allen wasn't afraid.
He had deliberately removed his mask and inhaled a trace amount of the venom.
He was stress-testing his venom resistance.
Level 2 venom resistance wasn't completely immune to Level 3 venom.
But it could at least offset 70% of the venom damage.
After inhaling the venom, Allen felt only slightly dizzy and nauseous.
Hold on for two minutes, and the discomfort would subside automatically.
Under these circumstances,
Try to stand upwind and wear a mask.
The venomous gas the basilisk spewed could basically be ignored.
In the worst-case scenario, even if bitten by its fangs, there was still time to take antidote.
What's more, Alan came prepared today.
He had more than one trump card in hand.
Now it was his turn to deal.
First card!
Alan pulled out the bag of lime he had been carrying and hurled it at the basilisk.
Poof!
The bag struck the basilisk's head, exploding instantly, sending forth a cloud of murky smoke.
Besides the lime...
Alan had also thoughtfully mixed in realgar powder, garlic powder, and various highly toxic herbs harvested from the Glass Garden.
Full of technology and hard work!
And then came the second card!
Alan pulled a copper bottle from his backpack.
He pulled out the isolating plug and shook the liquid inside.
He threw it out with a bang!
While studying pharmacy with Ms. Sora, Alan had drawn upon his chemical engineering knowledge from his previous life and collected many minerals with properties similar to gunpowder.
The two solutions in the bottle were stable individually.
Once mixed, they became flammable and explosive.
Puff!
The copper bottle struck the basilisk, and the powerful impact caused it to explode!
Instantly, flames soared and black smoke billowed.