The Queen howled in pain or maybe anger. Leo didn't know, nor did the primal state of his mind even care. As they fell towards the ground, only the spots shown by Vital Strike registered in his vision. He hacked and sshed through them all, blood bursting out everywhere, painting the world in red.

  Crimson, that was all Leo could see as the Queen crashed onto the hard Vetilim floor, with him still glued to its back. The beast cried out even louder, almost pierg through Focused Bloodlust. Yet, before the skill could disperse, he pounced o's gaster again, stabbing deep into the armored flesh.

  The Queen twitched, flinging its arms around in hopes of reag the ehat insisted on rearranging its insides. Only the Voidling was too slow, too weak to catch Leo, who weaved between the random attacks. The beast even tried to roll on the ground to get rid of him, but that brought on as much success as its previous as.

  "Die."

  Leo growled, both of his bdes desding upon the e between the gaster and the rest of the Queen's torso. Fuelled by almost every possible self-enha ability, he cut straight through the chitin and the flesh underh it, earning another shriek from the beast.

  The movement from the Queen almost stilled. Only its legs kept twitg as the gaster fell off in a spray of blood and acid. This didn't stop Leo, though. With a single jump, he appeared just behind the Queen's head a his bdes cim the final trophy.

  The moment his ons disappeared entirely ihe beast's flesh, the twitg finally stopped, the limbs colpsing.

  A roar reverberated through Leo's mind, and he answered in kind oside. The low, almost demonic sound filled the chamber or maybe eveire y.

  Like flipping a switch, Focused Bloodlust drained away when the echo died out. The stant rage and hunger retreated, returning to its slumber. With it, Leo's mind flipped to its normal state, and he flinched as every si and broken bone decided to call out for help all at once.

  Shit! Leo gasped, colpsing to his kill atop the Queen's body. He still could move and maybe even win a fight against a single Voidling if he had to. But this wouldn't be enough for what he had to do in the few minutes. Especially not if the notifications trying to drown him were anything to go by.

  One of the three Queens of this y has been sin. gratutions, survivor. Take your spoils and decide if you want to tinue on this path or retreat and tihis fight another day. You have approximately twenty minutes until this closes for the quarantine.

  Warning! Destabilization of the y is waking all its octs. Don't remain in one pce for too long, or you will bee the hunted. Good luck.

  There was more to read, more to e his time, but Leo didn't let it; those messages could wait. He had about twenty mio get out and take care of the corpse below him.

  Alright, let's get to work. Leo thought, grimag at the same time as his leg spasmed, blood spilling along the limb. heless, he pushed past the pain and dismouhe beast, only to pause in front of its fallen head.

  First things first.

  On wobbly feet, Leo took a step closer while his cws surged foing straight for two of the Queen's still-open eyes. With a siug, he tore those squishy orbs out, not even blinking at the blood dreng his hands. He doubted there art of his body that wasn't covered in the crimson liquid.

  Now time to heal. Dropping the eyeballs into a single hand, Leo stabbed the corpse again with the other. Devour activated right away, ing the waves of Esseill drifting through the Queen's body.

  Slower than ever before, some cuts closed while bones snapped into their proper pce. However, even as only a massive heap of dust remained after the Queen, Leo's body still ached and bled. It was better than a moment ago, but still far from perfect.

  Whatever, he grimaced. I move well enough, and it at least gave me a boost iurn for the trouble. Also, it said something about the spoils...

  Devour ed: +1 Grace

  With barely a g the message, Leo reached into the pile, searg for anything useful. It wasn't until he got halfway through the dust that his cws finally clicked against something hard.

  Let's see. Leo grabbed what felt like an orb and pulled it out, a faint, sickly green shiering his vision. He ot on the shape of the item. And quite frankly, if it was smaller and didn't look like a perfectly polished gss globe, this thing wouldn’t be much different from Crystalized Essence.

  Only this definitely isn't it. Leo mused as he spared the item's name a gnce. Poison Core of unon quality. Guess now I know where I get cores. He wao read more, but this wasn't the time for it, so he took a knee and removed the remnants of his backpack.

  It still held, if barely. Not for long, though, and if Leo wanted something to carry his items in, theher had to find a new bag fast ure out how to store stuff inside his soul.

  I know what I'm doing again this night... Leo snorted, unruffling his bloodied cloak and throwing it over his shoulders. The Queen's eyeballs and core went right ihe backpack, and he quickly tied the thing back to its previous position.

  Move out.

  Body still ag, Leo dashed toward the sealed entrance, his bdes slig through the slimy substance. Right away, a horde of hisses and screeches reached his ears, the sounds boung off the tunnel walls.

  It stopped the sound from going out. Shit. They must be close already.

  Essence burst out of his soul, Reinfort once mniting his muscles with additional power. Leo dived for the same tunnel he came from, his mind going a hundred miles per hour to backtrack the path he used to arrive here.

  Not evey mio get out. Leo grimaced, speeding past a group of Ameist. Those Voidlings didn't even have a ce to blink before he disappeared from their sight. No stopping. No fug fighting. Run straight for the exit.

  Hunter growled within his mind, not liking the sound of his thoughts. Well, they would o agree to disagree on this, as Leo wasn't risking fighting two more Queens just yet.

  Later, okay? Later...

  Must be close now! Leo screamed internally as he pushed his burning muscles to the limit. Despite not fully rec from the fight with the Queen, he had never moved as fast as he did now. The dozens of Ameist behind him might have given him a nitive to run this quick, but the fact remaihat he was definitely breaking all his personal records...

  The howls and screeches echoed around him, their volume threatening to burst Leo's eardrums with each passing sed. It was worse thahe heavy metal cert Lily once dragged him to, and that was saying a lot. He couldn't hear properly for a few days afterward.

  Gono devour a few Voidlings once I get out. No way in hell I'm waiting for this to hea- Fuck!

  From aunnel, a rge group of Ameist Minions burst out, blog the path. Knowing he couldn't take another detour, Leo eled as much Esseo Valreon Prote as he could and charged straight for the blockade.

  The ants ahead fired their acid shots, but Leo just raised his hand, letting the projectiles sptter against the Essence shield. They tried once more, but at this point, he had already reached the group and sailed right above them, slig through one of the beasts on the way.

  Without looking back, Leo gave Reinfort another burst and sped away. The accursed screeg eg from all sides might have tried to stop it, but his ears still picked up the whistling of the wind ahead, which could mean only ohing.

  Exit.

  Leo dashed past the st turn of this twisted tunnel, a grin blooming on his face at the sight of the light ahead. The exit was closing slowly, but there was no way it could stop him now.

  On all fours, he jumped through the hole, the evening sun hitting his body with all the rays that got past the enormous pnts in the area. Leo's smile widened, aopped a fair distance away from the entrance, his gaze sing for any Ameist that would run out at any moment.

  However, even as a few monstrous heads popped out of the entranoepped past it. Their crimson eyes just passed over Leo, throwing a st gre and hiss at him before retreating.

  So they 't go out during the quarantine. Quite uandable. Wonder how long it will take for the o open again. Hopefully, it's not too long, or I just took away the source of experience from the Safe Zone. Leed. Oh well. Hindsight is twenty-twenty...

  Before long, the entranapped close, the Vetilim pausing in its movement. It was like the hole never existed here.

  Right... Leo bliurning away. My job here is done. I had enough adventures for today...

  The way back to the house Leo cleared to spend the night was quite short. It could have been even shorter if he didn't o find a few Voidlings to devour on the way, but it was either that or waiting for his body to heal on its own.

  Yeah, no thanks. Leo snorted, dropping down on what was once a pretty nice couow, the Void ailim mostly cimed the thing, but it was still better than the floor.

  Notifications, core, and then practiight should be around the er, anyway.

  With a nod, Leo tore the backpack from its resting pd dropped all the items io his p. The gun, along with some ammo, fell out first, followed by the core, the Queen's eyes, and some other miseous that didn't really survive the fight with the beast.

  Gono see if the gun still works ter... Leo frowned, putting the firearm and eyes away while grabbing the core. Identify.

  Poison Core (Unon):A very basic beast core harvested from a level sixtee Queen. This item be used in a wide variety of jobs. Additionally, it also provide help to Users who want to deepen their e to Poison affinity. Please be warhat affinity cores easily destabilize and lose their value.

  Leo hummed, reading the description again just to remember it better. Different... So much different from Crystalized Essence. I mean, I 't even turn this into a bomb...

  Hunter snickered inside his mind, and Leo just gave him a mental push to shut it up. The beast didn't, but it was worth the try.

  I will have to hide it somewhere. Bet my stant fighting will destabilize this stuff real quick, and I might find some use for it iure. Not to gain an affinity, though. I highly doubt something so small get me so far, but if other jobs use it, then maybe...

  Sighing, Leo put the core away and summohe remaining System notifications. They waited long enough.

  Level 15 reached. Css and Racial attributes have been distributed. Please assign your 3 free points.

  Level-up. Always o see the progress. Now, where to put you? Last time, Leo went with the areas he found g. So why not follow this pattern? Right then. Oo Might and two to Soul again. Will probably switch it up after that.

  The level-up message disappeared right away, followed by the appearance of the usual surge of strength. Yet, it wasn't the only hing to emerge.

  Assassin level fifteen skill granted: Phantom Erasure

  Iing...

  Chaos65