High Alert? Leo raised an eyebrow. As long as I don't get swarmed by thousands of giant ants at the same time, I should be fine. Fuck, maybe even then, I would have a chance. Hard to execute, but possible...

With a shrug, Leo trudged behind the taken-over minion, their movement slow and careful. Already they had left most of Vetilim behind, and now the only dirt, rock, and an occasional crimson vein surrounded them.

If it wasn't for the thin glowing Void matter, this place would have been completely dark. Not the worst possibility when trying to sneak around, but like Leo had already noticed last night, his night vision was far from perfect. And then there was the fact that Ameists most definitely could see in the dark, so the advantage was gone anyway...

Gonna need more light if I want to fight anything here. I can probably handle a few minions like this, but anything stronger than the casual level eights, and I might be fucked...

Slowing down just a bit, Leo brought forth his hand, the limb's outline just barely registering in his vision. If there was one thing he missed from his old form now, it definitely was the faint glow coming from the veins on the surface. Sure, his old, mangled arm wasn't a pleasant sight, but it got the job done.

I could always summon a ball of light. Leo shook his head. Nah, need something more... battle ready, just like the veins were. Eyes still glued to the single hand, an idea suddenly came to him. I already covered my arms in Essence in the past to give me some more lighting. What if I took this concept further? Might even help me with manipulating the Kiss in the future...

The lightest touch of Essence rushed straight into Leo's hand, settling just against the skin. Still keeping the energy on the inside, he gave it purpose, gave it intent, and held it in place. Second after second, a soft glimmer of light began to surface from his claws; the crimson glow trying to pull through the impossibly tough digits.

Leo fuelled more Essence into the technique but still kept a tight hold on the flow. If he let the energy rage around like it wanted, the perfect distribution of Essence across the hand would fail and, with it, the technique he was trying to create.

Just a bit more. Leo gritted his teeth lightly, coming to a complete stop. The taken-over Ameist gave out an almost silent warble, but he paid it no mind, his focus fully directed at the growing glow around his claws. Push it a bit harder to the surface. Stabilize the flow. Keep the constant supply. Annnd done!

With a final flicker of Essence, Leo's claws, and the upper part of his hand, exploded in a soft crimson light. Despite the light source being so small, the darkness retreated from the tunnel, leaving everything exposed once more.

Alright, maybe I gave it a bit too much power. Leo grimaced, pulling out a small part of Essence going into the technique. The glow instantly sputtered, the light retreating from the tunnel, now just barely reaching the ant a few feet away from him.

Better, much better. Though, my claws now look like glowsticks... Snorting, Leo raised his other hand and tried to repeat the process. This time it took a few more tries as he still had to keep the light up on the first limb, but in the end, he finished with ten glowy fingers.

Shame it didn't give me a new skill. I bet that would make the upkeep easier. Leo concluded, going through some simple motions with his claws. Doesn't really matter anyway. This way, I will be constantly training my control... And if it fails, I can always create light in a more rough manner.

Leo rolled his shoulders, ready to continue onward when his eyes fell on the taken-over Ameist. The creature had its head tilted to the side, vibrant violet gaze glued to his shining claws.

What? Leo called out through the link, and the creature straightened before letting out a low chirp. Yes, continue with the previous command. Stop only when we reach more enemies.

The ant warbled and turned, continuing down the tunnel. A minute later, if even that, they reached a crossroads. One path, from what Leo had seen, led deeper into the nest, while the other opened to a small chamber. It had more Vetilim running along its walls, but apart from that, the room was empty.

Leo tried asking his minion for clarification, but just like before, a question like that was way too complicated for a creature this simple. As such, they left shortly after, delving deeper into the colony.

Maybe that was where the small herd waited, guarding the entrance. Leo mused as he stopped in front of another crossroad, this one offering three options to choose from. The controlled minion squeaked, and he roughly understood what the creature meant.

Two leading to exits, most likely far better guarded, while the other goes further down... Simple enough. With a nod, Leo gave the ant another command. We are going to the nearest Queen.

The Ameist tried to warble back, but it cut the sound off as an amalgamation of hisses filled the tunnel. Leo's gaze snapped to the last path, the one leading outside.

Some fuckers are probably coming back from the surface. Giving the link to his minion a tug so that it would scamper away, Leo hugged one of the walls with his back and waited. The glow around his claws almost died off as the hisses got closer and closer.

Just not an entire horde. Not here.

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The next sound reached Leo immediately, and three Ameists strode out of the last tunnel. A single warrior marched in the front while two Minions treaded behind it, carrying gigantic blades of grass in their mandibles.

Blades extending, Leo jumped out of his cover, the two minions losing their heads within a blink of an eye. The Warrior spun around, the beginning of a screech ready to burst out of its mouth.

Yet, before it could utter a sound, Leo closed the distance between them, a single clawed hand reaching out. Minor Takeover. Essence burst out of his body, and just like with the minion, it dived into the Warrior, stripping away its freedom.

The gigantic, snow-white Ameist froze, blinking its new violet eyes. Takeover once more did its job, ensnaring the level eight Warrior without a single problem.

Welcome to the army. Leo transferred over the new link, the ant bowing in response. He pulled up Minor Takeover's description and smiled. One more empty slot. Great. If I can have three minions now, this might be easier than I thought...

A light smirk still on his face, Leo went from corpse to corpse, draining the beasts of their remaining Essence. On the outside, he could leave however many bodies behind as he wanted. Here such laziness was just asking for trouble. No need to give the nest a reason to raise its alertness even more.

Alright, move out.

With those words, the ex-human and two traitor ants descended deeper into the Nest with only one target in mind.

The Queen.

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The path to the depths of the Nest wasn't easy, not at all. The moment Leo and his small army passed the entrance section of the Colony, they almost constantly had to fight against wandering Minions or patrolling Warriors. The enemy groups were small, but they still managed to slow down the descent by a wide margin.

Often Leo had to pass or even enter chambers housing literal hordes of Ameists. If he could, he just sneaked by, using his own minions as a cover and guide. Of course, that didn't work each time, and in those cases, he had to sacrifice a taken-over ant to create a distraction. After that, sprinting through the room under the cover of True Stealth and his cloak fixed the problem.

This tactic also wasn't perfect, but until now, it only failed once. Leo had lost all his minions in the skirmish that followed, but as heartless it probably was to think that, their death wasn't really a loss. He could easily take over more ants later...

Which was precisely what he did.

With Devour, Essence wasn't really an issue. At least not when almost every minute, more Ameists died by Leo's hand without needing to use any of the mystical energy. As such, taking over more Ants was just a matter of touching them, which, for now, he never had a problem with.

Keeping the old Warriors wasn't optimal anyway... Everything just has to get stronger the lower I go. Leo shook his head lightly, approaching yet another entrance to a chamber. At least I have three level nines now.

The taken-over Warriors stopped right before him, and Leo passed them, squinting his eyes as he took a peek inside the chamber. Alright, that's a first...

Overall, the room wasn't any different from the previous ones — just a large, uneven, dug-out cavern. However, while all other rooms were filled with Ameists running left and right, here everything was silent, still.

But it's not empty. Leo noted, his gaze running over the rows of sleeping ants. If it wasn't for Identify, he would have thought that this was some kind of graveyard. But no, they were all alive. And they are all Fliers.

Here, Leo could have easily gone forward, taken another step toward the Ameist Queen, but he just couldn't. This was an opportunity. An opportunity to both gain some easy experience and deal a massive blow to the colony.

Well, that or make them all even more furious. Leo blinked. Never mind. Once I try to kill one of the Queens, some Fliers won't matter anyway.

Nodding, Leo gave his Warriors a simple command to stay back while he pushed onward. Both blades snapped out, the crimson light upon his claws dying out, only to be replaced by the black flash of Kiss of Death.

Slower than ever before, Leo moved from one Flier to another, his blades going straight through their heads. Devour followed shortly after, erasing their existence. Then the dance started over and over and over...

However, unlike Leo hoped, the Fliers weren't as strong as the ants he met on his way down. Almost all of those sleeping monsters were below level six, with only a few exceptions to this rule. Nonetheless, he didn't stop, knowing well that if he could slaughter them all, level fourteen was definitely within reach.

Of course, like all good things, this peaceful grind had to come to an end as a single Ameist stirred in the far-off corner of the room. Leo tried to reach it before it could do anything, before more could wake. Yet he was too late.

The moment Leo's blade cut cleanly through the beast's head, it released a dying shriek, and with it, the domino collapsed. One by one, the Ameist Fliers awoke, an angry buzzing filling the chamber.

The three taken-over Warriors received orders before the Fliers could take to the air. They descended upon the almost two dozen remaining ants, their acid spit and lances taking down two of their kin in an instant.

In the meantime, Leo wasn't idle, his blades quickly slicing through another Flier next to the one who caused this mess. The other ants close by reacted right away, their spit flying toward him.

Leo ducked, a shadow spear forming along his arm, only to be thrown instantly and take down another ant. The Fliers fired again, this time half of them using their wings to cover more space.

Valron Protection flared to life, meeting their projectiles head-on. Leo scowled as bits and pieces of acid splattered all over his cloak. Bloodlust ignited, and he surged along with it, killing the nearest Flier with a single strike.

At the exact moment as life left the monster's eyes, the world came to a crawl. Power, inhuman and almost overwhelming, rushed straight into Leo’s body, breaking past a limit he didn't know he possessed. Then it was all over, the world started again, yet nothing was the same.

Leo felt lighter, faster, and twice as much in control of his body as a few seconds ago. The three tails came under his command without a thought, and he could swear that he was now aware of almost every single muscle in his body.

It's even better than full force Reinforcement and Limit Break. Leo gasped as he danced between the acid projectiles as if they were moving in slow motion. Nothing could touch him or even come close as he cut down Flier after Flier.

In a matter of a minute, or maybe even seconds, nothing but Leo and two Warriors remained alive in the chamber. Corpses of the Fliers were strewn around him, yet he paid them no attention as a System notification finally appeared, somewhat explaining what just happened.

Level 14 reached. Class and Racial attributes have been distributed. Please assign your 3 free attributes.

Congratulation! Your Grace ascended past the Mortal Tier (50). Welcome among the Supernatural. Do you wish to display the standard information package about Attribute Tiers?