Volume 2

74 The Basiliscampus

(T/N: Basiliscampus means Basilisk Sea Monster. Both Greek, ‘basilisk’ refers to the legendary reptile reputed to be King of serpents, and ‘campus’ has the direct meaning of ‘sea monster’, from the mythology ‘hippocampus’)

“Ah!”

The shriek came from You Ji just as we were traversing the boundary forest between two districts, moving towards the East.

You Ji had always been gutsy; there wasn’t much that could scare her, which was why I immediately whipped my head towards her at the scream.

The moment my eyes fell upon the culprit, I was flabbergasted.

For some reason, a creature was circling beneath a tree ahead. It had the appearance of a mermaid, yet at the same time, bore a striking resemblance to a serpent! Though it had a fish tail for its lower body, it wasn’t beautiful like a mermaid’s. Rather, it was filled with bumps and hollows of different sizes. Its upper body was human and from the peaks in its figure, you could faintly distinguish it as a woman.

However, the monster had no nose, her eyes were like black holes and when she parted her scarlet red lips I could see her green, serpent-like tongue. As...