'Outside? Outside of where?'

  System recalled the various questions he'd asked the meatball earlier, but in the end, he couldn't remember any clues regarding which 'outside' the meatball was referring to.

  Shaking his head, System picked up the creature's st remaining piece of meat with his tentacles.

  Although System could tell that the meatball was dead due to not sensing any emotions with [Mental Connection], when he touched it with his tentacles, he found that the meatball was still quivering slightly.

  System was sure that this life form with insect blood was dead, but the st bit of flesh and blood that he'd left behind still possessed a type of unique activity. It was simir to when a smaller slime chunk was split from a slime.

  This piece of flesh and blood should be the original core of the creature with insect blood. It didn't emit an aura that made System uneasy and was truly the pure flesh and blood of an insect.

  System put some of the white blood from the surface of the flesh into his mouth with his tentacles and tasted it. It was just as he'd sensed with his tentacles. There was no spiciness, only a strong milky and sweet fvor.

  System specuted that the meatball had likely been a creature formed by combining insect blood with the blood of some other kind of life form, though the two types of blood hadn't been thoroughly mixed together.

  As a result, under Shava's continuous attacks, the meatball's insect blood had kept getting separated from the other type of blood until, in the end, only this core section of the insect's flesh and blood was left.

  Although he'd never come into contact with demons before, between the mental images provided by Nellis and the giant frost goblins' descriptions, System specuted that the spicy blood that made him feel uneasy should be blood from an Abyss demon.

  As for exactly what kind of demon it was, System couldn't guess.

  ...

  "King, freeze these."

  While System was checking the meatball with his tentacles, he was interrupted by Shava's mental message.

  When she'd emerged from her second pupation, Shava's wisdom had increased. She had gradually become System's right-hand ant. Most of the time, even if System didn't say anything, she'd know what he was about to do.

  Knowing System's usual routine, Shava began collecting the pieces of meat that had fallen from the meatball during the battle into a pile nearby.

  System nodded.

  When they were eaten, these pieces of meat containing demon blood would make the mind violent and chaotic, and even he would be affected to a certain extent. He estimated that the results wouldn't be good if his ant subjects ate it.

  However, this kind of flesh and blood was hard to come by, so System finally decided to take it back to the nest. Even if his ant subjects couldn't handle it, he could eat it himself and conduct research on its effects.

  System used his [Corrosive Mucus] to melt the surrounding snow, then surrounded the pieces of meat with the resulting watery mucus mixture. He sprayed the pile of meat with his [Frost Breath], and before long, the demonic flesh and blood that couldn't be frozen were encased inside a block of icy mucus.

  ...

  After freezing the chunks of meat, System carefully observed Shava standing nearby. There were many unhealed wounds on her exoskeleton. It was clear that she'd suffered numerous injuries during the previous battle.

  However, System didn't sense any feelings of pain from Shava. It seemed like these wounds didn't have much of an impact on her. He wanted to ask about her injuries, but gave up the idea after thinking about it.

  Shava was still very well behaved at the moment, but if he showed too much concern, she might start pying the king and knight game with him, which was extremely embarrassing, or possibly even the tentacle binding game that made his embarrassment reach its peak.

  If Shava, who had just saved him, made a request right now, System really couldn't think of any reason to refuse.

  Roar!

  A long dragon roar once again sounded over Lilt Forest. Through the gaps in the tree canopy above, System saw the huge and beautiful dragon's silhouette gliding through the distant sky.

  'If you showed up earlier, wouldn't we have avoided all that trouble?'

  As he looked up at the frost dragon flying thousands of meters above the forest, System couldn't help but compin in his thoughts.

  In the past six months, Aura had appeared over Lilt Forest once every month or so. According to the goblins, the Lord of Gciers spent most of his time sleeping. Usually, after sleeping for about a month, he'd wake up and fly a few circles around the Lilt Mountains, then go back to sleep.

  Although System didn't have the ability to send messages to the dragon, he did have a unique method of calling out to him—looking into the dragon's eyes.

  As long as System stared at the dragon, there was a more than ninety percent chance of Aura appearing in front of him and effortlessly solving his problems.

  "King, something's here!"

  After hearing the dragon's roar, Shava moved in front of System. She became very alert and looked around to find the source of the sound.

  The st time the Lord of Gciers had appeared, about a month and a half earlier, Shava happened to have been in a coma because of eating bait ced with [Paralysis Toxin]. When the Lord of Gciers had appeared before that, Shava had still been sleeping in her pupa and was unable to perceive the outside world.

  This was actually Shava's first time experiencing the Lord of Gciers.

  However, Shava's vision wasn't as good as System's, so she couldn't see the giant dragon flying through the clouds in the distant sky. She could only hear the dragon's roar and feel the oppressive aura he emitted with her antennae.

  "Don't be nervous, it's only the Lord of Gciers. He'll leave in a while," System transmitted to Shava.

  He ignored the giant dragon that was venting in the sky and continued investigating the small meatball's core with his tentacles.

  This life form had undergone either a third pupation or a fourth metamorphosis and was very strange. It had given System a lot of ideas about the direction of his own growth in the future.

  The meatball possessed all kinds of strange and peculiar abilities, but the most special ones were [Devour], [Morph], and [Super-Speed Regeneration]. These three abilities had extraordinary potential and were all worth obtaining.

  ...

  However, while System was fiddling with the meatball using his tentacles' [Perception] ability, he discovered that the frost dragon, which should have already flown away like usual, had been hovering above the forest for a long time. Finally, he started slowly flying straight toward System. He didn't know whether it was a coincidence or if the Lord of Gciers was targeting him.

  "King, it's a dragon!"

  As the Lord of Gciers gradually approached, Shava finally discovered the huge figure in the sky.

  However, Shava, who should have been trembling in fear, instead dispyed a strange emotion when she looked at the dragon's shadow in the sky.

  While her emotions were filled with the determination to protect System, there was more of a strong feeling of excitement.

  "King, is this the kind of dragon ridden by a dragon knight?"

  System suddenly remembered that he'd once sent Shava a video featuring a dragon knight...