What the-’

Ragnar was baffled by his own deduction. The Shifted creatures could evolve into next class? But, weren’t they supposed to be born with their class? As per his limited knowledge, that should have been the case. But it turns out, that wasn’t.

But then how was she able to suck it directly out of this Network. Is that her ability? No, it has nothing to do with the Earth element, or does it?

Raw Essence, that is the term that was given to this type of Essence. Humans had discovered Essence in several forms and states throughout the EtherShift Realm. In the leaves of the trees, in minerals in the soil, in the water of a pond, and many more. But, none of them could ever provide Essence Charges for humans. They had done the tests pretty thoroughly in this matter. Tried consuming it in every way possible. But it never worked.

So, it was only logical to assume that the fact that this Queen could extract the Raw Essence in this fashion would be related to her abilities.

But there was another possibility that seemed much more plausible. Since having this as an ability doesn’t seem very fair. And the Realm had been fair, at least for everyone else other than Ragnar. The Realm seemed to favour him quite a lot.

The other possibility being that every Shifted creature was capable of achieving this. They just needed the right circumstances and opportunities. But then why was Ragnar not able to detect any attraction coming from these crystals. He couldn’t think of any method he could employ to absorb the Essence from those Crystals. But the answer to this was also right in front of Ragnar.

He was already at the highest class possible.

Primordial might be the peak of the classes.

Then again, why did the Realm give it to him? To increase his chances of killing that Target it talked about? Maybe. But Ragnar had no plans of going through with that deal.

Ragnar was already 99% sure about what he had to do here. His dream of rapidly increasing his Saturation by killing countless Quaraxis that roamed this Nest will have to end here.

He could pick out the teams of Quaraxis that still patrolled, but that would be much slower and even dangerous for him. Considering his unwillingness to rely on his Shifted form.

He was all but sure, it’s just that, he had no plans on what he would do after he leaves.

‘Haah... I guess it’s time to hunt outside’

But before that, his gaze moved away from the Quaraxi Queen as he looked at a Soldier from the corner of his eyes.

Although there were many of them who were quite distant from the rest of them, this one seemed like it was the one most separated from the big group. It was also close to the wall of the dome so Ragnar chose it.

His intrusive thoughts might have taken over because Ragnar was planning to leave them with a farewell gift. Sowing chaos by picking off a few from right in between them should be a good one.

The mere thought of the Queen’s reaction made it all the more worthwhile.

He sauntered over to the target, still invisible.

This one being a Quaraxi Soldier, was an Arcane Rogue. Ragnar had killed these in bulk, that too while in human form. It didn’t pose the slightest bit of challenge.

After reaching next to the massive Ant like creature, he turned Ethereal and reached into its abdomen. He didn’t need any momentum or power to do this.

When his claw came into contact with the Core, his body appeared between the thousands of Quaraxis, but it disappeared within that very instant. Now that Ragnar knew that his invisibility deactivated when he comes in contact with the core, he was ready for it and instantly activated it back on.

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His claw passed through the core as it burst like a bubble.

“You have disposed of a Shifted Rogue of the Arcane Rank, Quaraxi Soldier.”

Before the voice had finished its words, Ragnar was already turning, preparing to head towards his next target. But he had to pause.

Corks started to turn as he noticed the Quaraxis surrounding this particular one rush away from it.

Although they were rushing, it still seemed organised, as if they knew exactly what they were doing.

Ragnar tried to swallow but it seemed like a stone was stuck in his gut as he snapped his head to meet the piercing gaze of the Queen.

She still looked just as majestic. But her gaze was now focused on him. She was looking directly into his eyes, even though he was supposed to be invisible.

They had the usual intelligence, but it was also accompanied by some other not so friendly expressions. Her gaze had haughtiness, and a victorious look. As if everything had gone as per her calculations.

A feeling of dread washed over Ragnar. He had to move, he had to run as fast as possible, but he had the feeling that it would all be meaningless.

But that couldn’t stop him as he pushed his legs into the ground to leap towards the nearest exit of the dome. But his body didn’t rise above the ground.

He looked at his claws. They had buried into the Earth and in the next moment, the wall of the dome behind him split open. Then swallowed him whole.

The Queen seemed content with her performance. Everything went without a hitch for her. Her prey walked right into the trap and then fell prey to her antics.

She was planning to inform her army about her achievement and to continue the regular operations of the Nest but suddenly, she frowned.

Her frown caused the whole Nest to pause in time. Every single Quaraxi seemed petrified, waiting for their Queen’s next command.

But the Queen seemed to have swallowed a pile of dirt. Because she had just sensed that the hateful creature was not crushed by her trap. Instead, its presence had disappeared, completely.

***

A lustrous Black Panther walked past the wall of rotting corpses and stood in the middle of this cave. Its spotless furs were in wide contrast to its recent experience.

The body of the Panther started a reaction as its furs gave way to pale olive skin and its claws turned into human hands. The tail went back where it came from and its legs got longer, turning into human legs.

The morphed creature kneeled on the ground as its hand were still in the position that the front claws of the Panther had been in. Then a noise was heard in the otherwise silent cave.

“He..He…Hehe….Hehehehehe”

“HA…. HAHAHAHAHAH-“

The mad laughter that sounded like the wails of a demon eventually dispersed. The silence returned to the cave. But it was only for a moment as a chilling voice soon followed.

“Welcome to the list, Queen.”

Although she was the latest entry, she will have to be the first one to get taken down.

Ragnar had finally made a decision, about whether he was leaving this Network or not.

The decision became quite easy now, since even the thought of leaving her alive or to come back later when he was stronger disgusted him.

But what the fuck was he thinking.

It was quite clear now that she was not just a Dread classed creature. Which was already a big challenge for him, who is just a Mutant Primordial.

Yes, Ragnar was confident now, that she was a Spectral Dread.

2 ranks higher than him.

So how was he going to kill her? When she could even see through his invisibility.

Well, firstly, she couldn’t really see past his invisibility, she only became aware of his presence once he killed the Quaraxi that was acting as her bait. She just sensed his gaze after that.

As for her being 2 ranks stronger, he just had to kill her minions while he thinks of a way to take her down. If nothing came to mind then he will just kill enough minions for a Rank up. Simple.

But he had to do it before she completed her Evolution. Because that was clearly the reason why she was not scavenging out every corner of the Network to search for him.

Ragnar could try to directly kill her in his Shifted form but he did not have high hopes for it. He was sure that she hadn’t sensed him before he had taken action. But he couldn’t say that it would remain that way once he got closer to her.

And he was not even sure if he would be able to destroy her core in one strike. If he didn’t, then it would just be suicide.

His body ached in pain again, this time even more severe than last time.

This might be the closest he had gotten to dying after his experience with his big brother. It was only because of his shifted form that he survived that pressure, even for that 1 second which allowed him to turn Ethereal again. If it was his human form, then it might not have lasted an instant under that pressure.

Getting buried by Earth was not a good feeling. He might develop a trauma from this.

Ragnar will have to recuperate now before he takes any further action. Although his outer shell seemed perfectly fine, his insides were rattled.

He ate another piece of meat along with some water. It hadn’t even been an hour since he had his last meal. But he needed this.

He was not worried about getting disturbed in his hideout now, the Queen seemed adamant on keeping her army close by.

He slumped on the ground and looked at the protruding Stalactites and the crystals that gave a dim glow, falling asleep soon after.

***