Watching the enemy calmly cast such energy-draining magic, Alex's suspicions were confirmed once again.
The old artifact still had more than half of its magical power left, so a head-on fight was out of the question.
"Corvus Tonitrus!" Alex muttered softly.
Suddenly, a flock of ravens burst out from beneath his cloak, swarming toward the serpens occulta without showing any hesitation.
But despite the sheer number of ravens, each carrying only a small amount of wild magic, they were no match for the mystical serpent.
One magic snake could easily take out seven or eight of his Thunder Crows.
Still, the attack bought Alex valuable time to close the distance.
"Overload, Voltbrand!" he shouted.
The Desolation sword in his hand crackled with thundris tempest, expanding into a three-meter-long blade.
He charged and swung fiercely at his foe.
"Reject!" Horned Basilisk brandished its wand, unleashing a powerful repelling force aimed straight at Alex.
But just as the snake cast the spell, the phoenix that had been clinging to Alex suddenly burst into flames and vanished into the air, taking Alex with it.
In an instant, they reappeared behind horned basilisk, and Alex's massive sword came down hard.
Seizing the moment, he danced his blade through seven or eight rapid slashes, crashing against the enemy's magical shield.
Though the shield held firm and none of his strikes broke through, the snake's reaction was quick.
Noticing Alex had found a way to dodge his gravitational spell, the snake stopped wasting lumen on it.
Instead, it conjured a spear with the same energy and launched a series of precise thrusts.
Alex realized there were still foes brave enough to engage him in close combat, so he relied on his skilled fighting experience to dodge in midair and counterattack.
But after trading blows with the spear, Alex was the one who got sent flying backward hard, as if swatted away like a mosquito.
'What kind of strength does this guy have? This is ridiculous.'
He steadied himself.
He recalled the feeling when their hands had locked during the fight, it was like wrestling an elephant, and he clearly wasn't the stronger one.
Even his opponent's physical power was off the charts.
Alex couldn't help but curse quietly at the surprising strength of the old man, it just didn't make sense.
But there was no time to dwell on that now.
Horned Basilisk seemed to have realized that Alex's close combat skills were no match for him and immediately lunged forward with excitement, stabbing and slashing fiercely.
Seeing this, Alex knew he couldn't afford to be careless.
Though horned basilisk had a well-balanced build, his strength was comparable to that of a giant.
So instead of trying to block or absorb the attacks, Alex relied on his agility, dodging and weaving around his opponent, using up a lot of energy just to avoid damage.
He only managed to land a hit or two when the opportunity arose.
Gradually, their fight dragged on, one side with a solid defense that hardly dodged, the other quick and nimble, darting around like a mosquito.
Neither could gain the upper hand quickly.
Horned Basilisk was actually pleased with this because it wore Alex down over time, and he was confident he had more stamina left.
He had already noticed that Alex's magical energy had been depleted twice before, and suspected that the only reason Alex was still holding on was thanks to some kind of potion.
According to his calculations, Alex wouldn't last much longer.
Meanwhile, horned basilisk still had plenty of magic power.
Once Alex's physical strength was completely drained, horned basilisk planned to close in and use his mental shock ability to disrupt the phoenix's teleportation, allowing him to take down both Alex and the phoenix in
One swift strike.
His strategy was to keep up the pressure and drain Alex's magic reserves.
And as their tense battle unfolded, a storm started brewing overhead.
The little Thunderbird Thor zipped through the clouds at high speed, fiercely channeling its natural power.
It gathered electric charges and water vapor, rapidly building up the storm's intensity.
After a while, the sky suddenly darkened as if a splash of ink had been thrown across it, and faint flashes of lightning began to flicker between the heavy clouds.
Gradually, the lightning spread wider and flashed more frequently, until it looked like a high-speed engine wrapped in electric light, ready to roar to life.
Horned Basilisk, who was watching from below, noticed the change but didn't pay much attention at first.
However, as the power in the sky grew stronger and more intense, he started to get suspicious.
Unfortunately, he was already tangled up with Alex and couldn't break free to investigate further.
Still, Horned Basilisk felt somewhat confident.
His defenses were maxed out after a long fight, and Alex hadn't been able to break through.
No matter what tricks Alex had up his sleeve, the outcome shouldn't change... or so he thought.
Just as the thunderclouds thickened, Alex, though weakened, suddenly blocked a powerful strike from Horned Basilisk and was thrown back a great distance.
But instead of pressing the attack, the phoenix perched on Alex's shoulder burst into flames and vanished along with him.
"Huh? Is he running away because things aren't looking good?" Horned Basilisk wondered, sharpening his senses.
Then he suddenly looked up and shouted, "No! He's up there!"
At that moment, Alex appeared amid the clouds.
He quickly drank the last bottle of phoenix tears, let out a fierce yell, and began wildly absorbing the charged energy from the air around him.
"Horned Basilisk, watch my sword technique descend from the heavens!" Alex muttered coldly.
His body crackled with electricity, soaked in violent lightning until he seemed almost transparent, like a living embodiment of thunder and storm.
"Overload, change!" he declared, ready to unleash his next move.
After Alex cast his spell, the entire cloud layer seemed to have been squeezed dry like a sponge.
The lightning flashing across the sky gathered instantly around Alex's body, transforming the cloudy, stormy sky back into clear sunshine.
"What... what is this?" Horned Basilisk, looking up from below, stared at Alex in disbelief.
The overwhelming power radiating from him was terrifying, leaving Horned Basilisk feeling helpless and filled with a growing sense of fear.
'No... I can't resist this. I have to run!'
Regaining some composure, Horned Basilisk shakily tried to use the anti-apparition spell he had set earlier, but to his horror, he still couldn't Apparate.
Desperately, he pulled out another portkey from his body and activated it, but nothing happened.
"How is this possible? Why won't the portkey work?" He tried again, but it was useless.
Panic surged through him, but he hadn't lost all hope yet.