Buzzing resounded from above. Loud and continuous, like the the four-pronged blade of an old metal avian. As the seconds ticked by, it became louder and louder as if announcing it presence in my proxy. But no matter how grating it was on the ears, it did not scare me. Quite the opposite, it awoke a feeling of excitement.

This feeling grew as similar sound joined the first.

The sound came closer and closer, making my the excited beating of my heart sing in tandem.

Finally the loud sounds reached their climax, and my heart felt as it was about to explode, to the point where it effected my body, making it shake.

As if it could no longer resist, my body leapt, pouncing at the source of the noise.

Landing after a few seconds of airtime, my body hit the ground, forelimbs standing as the collision-point. But my hind limbs did not follow.

Instead I balanced them upwards, making my body upside-down body stand diagonally.

Using my upper body to pivot, and turning my lower to increase momentum, my diagonal body-line began to spin in a circle.

The radius of the circle was forced to expand towards the mid-point of the motion, as my tail struck out.

[Dandelion Sweep]

A blue streak sang through the air, silencing the wasps, rendering their wings broken in its afterimage, ending the not-so-perpetual buzz.

Experience is rewarded for defeating Wasp(Scout) of the Golden Devil.

Extra experience is awarded due to growth skills present.

Three body fell to the ground, each finished in one hit.

More

That was the only thought that filled my mind as I passed by the now dead, searching instead for the currently living.

[Fell Stinger]

Swish*

Something passed me by, interrupting my still mind as my body instinctively dodge it.

As a cold bucket of reality awoke my couscous, putting it back in control, and emptying my eyes of their wicked sharpness, as a black cone-shaped projectile made its way past them.

Trying not to be disadvantaged by the sudden vector change, I doubled down on the flow of momentum, spinning in a circle that was barely eclipsed in a second. My view returned to its original direction, though my body had distanced itself from the origin of the projectiles.

Another wasp came into view. It must have escaped my initial perception check, being just out of range. That wasn't the only unique thing about it. Compared to its contemporary corpses, it wasn't only alive, but also of a much smaller stature. Its main body was of a length half the size of those who came before it, and its width even smaller. The only thing close to the average was its translucent wings, which somehow made no sound, and the 'thing' that passed me by. Actually, judging by how my senses bleared at the time, it might have been even larger.

As if to prove its superiority, the hole left by the ejection of its stinger began to be filled by a black substance. A green aura swirled around it, darker shades collecting in the eye of the whirlpool, as if coaxing it to grow. The black substance showed its subservience by turning and elongating in rhythm with the dark green wind.

Having a promotion of what was going on, I shot forward, a cold mask placked over my face.

[Enhanced Vitality]

Leaping into the fray, I immediately activated the 'new' skill for the first time.

Red wisps danced around my scales.

A feel that was both familiar, yet different from last time. It was hard to pinpoint the exact differences, with the exemption of the scale of power.

The energy that exuded from within me felt similar to when I used its predecessor after having consumed a pile of soul-fruit.

Shooting of the ground with the intention to kill before being killed, I was already in front of the 'smaller' wasp by the time its new stinger was done forming. Striking out against it with my claws, the obsidian blades came in contact with the hardened black sludge.

I did not use my tail for two reasons: moving my tail wouldn't be fast enough, and I could not use my skill twice in a row.

As for the latter, it was not something I had tested, rather it was something I knew instinctively. When I thought about the skill, what felt like a timer ticked down in my mind.

Therefore I had decided to use my claws instead. Combined with [Enhanced Vitality] it should give me just enough speed and power to take care of the wasp in one hit.

Closing the space in a short burst of time, I arrived before the forging weapon. However before it could solidify into a shape, its smith was now two, each falling to the ground where they stood.

Surprisingly I noted that the ball was still there in the air as if frozen in time. The only indicator that it was still effected by the laws of physics being its warping shape as the energy surrounding it began to warp.

Experience is rewarded for defeating Wasp(Artillery) of the Golden Devil.

Extra experience is awarded due to growth skills present.

The moment the visage of the smaller wasp was split, a shadow that should have followed suit was standing firm a few paces back. What should only have existed to mimic was somehow able to betray its creed. Reason being it did not belong to anyone; it was a lone shadow without a owner.

Another had appeared. Its stature reminiscent of the one before it.

However, the appearance was different.

The same energy that was used to form the unfinished dark spear was surrounding its body, engulfing it in an even pitcher shade of black.

The shock even made the colour bleed over to my face. However, the feeling buried beneath was closer to surprise than despair.

Wasp of the golden devil(Artillery)(Deviant):

Level: None

Name: None

Affinity: Darkness

Description: A traitor of the line of gold and the family Hexanus; a divergent evolution. Having given up its holy origin and fallen to the path of dark temptation, it awakened a new power through betrayal. Still, was its choice wrong?

Seeing a murky energy flowing from its stinger, my stupor dissipated. In front of the new opponent and their preemptive strike, I decided to go on the defensive. However as my fast pacing mind decided to run, my body could not comply as it was trapped. My actions were hindered, not by physical shackles which could break, but by the lack of such earthly devices. I was trapped by the nothingness around me. The lack of anything to break or physically manipulate would usually be a good thing, but ironically it had left me suspended in the air, trapped by the imprisoner known as time, forced to serve it until I reached the ground. However, as things stood, I would not even get the time to fulfill such a short sentence, as the court seemed to prefer execution and showed no sign of giving mercy.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The creature surrounded in darkness parted with its stinger, shooting it in my direction. I was its target, and the time it would take to reach me was sooner than it would take my future corpse to hit the dirt it would be buried in.

First now I began to feel my surprise waver in place of despair. Racing, my unusually fast mind began to look for threads to grab at. Anything would be fine in this situation, honestly. And, as my body began struggling in its suspended state, having just caught onto my mind, I found it.

My tail, having had to stand on the back-line, was in a perfect position to turn the situation around. Still touching the ground despite the distance of my jump, I used its contact to the environment as a means to end my current plight, manipulating it to force my body to the side. Luckily, despite my suspension, some of the original momentum from the attack had been preserved. Making my current actions more akin to course correction instead of a takeoff, saving precious seconds of which I could not even spend one.

With a quick start but slow process speed, I was able to move my body to the side, away from the projectile's path. As the shadowlance sailed by, all it did was disperse the remnants of red mist.

However, as I had focused on pushing myself towards the ground, I was inevitably forced to crashland. Right-side facing the ground, I braced for impact.

Hitting the ground, tumbling upside down and then right side up.

Part of it was accidental, part of it was conscious. My body spun forward, leaving imprints in the lush grass and scorching sand.

[Shadow Lance]

I pushed forward the moment the world seized to spin, only to be met with another [Shadow Lance] right in front of me.

'It must have a superior ability to 'reload'.'

Barely being able to comprehend what had happened, my already overloaded mind and overexerted body tried to move but could not do it in time.

[Sancta Scale Mail]

Pure essence ignited my body in a single instance, wafting between my scales to form a protective outer layer. My golden armor overlapped with the red aura, as if absorbing it. The two energies intermingled, becoming a single flame against the darkness approaching.

The [Shadow Lance] tore through the air, but as it struck me it came to a complete halt. It just stood there for a single instance, levitating besides the golden-red flames before letting out an eerie cry. Cracks appeared on it. Starting from a few, but spreading into many. It wasn't long before the entire surface of the lance was covered in spiderweb like patterns, as if it had stood in place long enough for real webs to be spun on it. Then a high pitched noise came and the lance disappeared, its body scattered to the wind.

However the danger had not passed. I had to defeat this Deviant before it could create another spear. The level of threat it had initially possessed in mind had moved up another magnitude.

If that wasn't bad enough, my own amour began to scatter too as I shot forward, making hast to end the fight.

Somehow I felt unusually stressed.

Suddenly my body felt heavy. It did not abide my instructions properly, and I noticed that my body started to move more sluggishly. The sudden haze binding it only grew as I closed in on the wasp, now only standing 5 meters away from it. I tried to muster up more strength but all my reserves came up dry, as if I was a marionette that had got its strings cut. It wasn't the only strings that got cut either, as I could no longer feel the connection between my essence and body. That is not to say that the essence had disappeared, as it had only dimmed in strength, but the pathway it took to exit from my body and into the world felt numb and closed.

Given the current situation, this sensation was frightening, as reminded me of the other times when similar feelings occurred. I had made sure to keep my skill usage to the minimum to avoid this, only using them when absolutely necessary. However it seemed that necessity had come one time to often over the course of this fight, and put my efforts at preserving in a jar of vain.

For a moment I considered going all out, and us my breath attack, I had originally not even considered using it because of the heavy toll it put on my body and essence reserves. Now though it was the only card I had left.

[Shadow Lance]

Quench*

However I did not even get the chance to play it before a sudden jot of pain interrupted my turbulent mind. Something had made an impact on the front of my chest, sending me flying in reverse.

The suddenness of the attack almost made me faint.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, the sensation of my head hitting the ground had ironically cleared the fog in my mind. Tragically, however, the only sensation left for me to feel in that moment was the excruciating pain my body was currently exuding. Reeling from what felt akin to having a knife in my chest, I forced my head to look back up, desperately searching for my opponent. Seeing that the scales of fate had taken a side; I was very much aware of how bad the situation had become.

Just one more look was enough for despair to finally and fully occupy my mind. I could only watch as a new spear of darkness formed, unable to move my stringless body.

Is this it?

I had come here with the purpose of growing stronger. Even if I had put caution at the forefront of my mind, I had, at some point, thrown that very same caution to the wind.

The only precautionary line of thought left alive in my frenzied consciousness was to preserve my strength, though that did not amount to much considering my current state.

Perhaps I should have used my breath on the smaller 'archer' when initiating the attack?

Perhaps if I had done so then I might have been able to hit my current adversary as well, due to the large area it covered. Even if I had not been able to kill the first 'normal archer' because of its inherent affinity to fire, the second one would have definitely died. There was no way these smaller wasps had higher defensive capabilities compared to the larger ones.

In what appeared as my final moments, all I could think about was useless what-ifs.

So if ones final moments revealed ones true face, then I guess I was someone who simply hate to lose.

Though its no wander that's the case considering how many times I have been in these life-or-death situations. If I lose, I die, and if I win, I live until I lose. And, as a matter of fact, I can't even remember the last time I had not been in a life or death situation. Making this rule of the jungle my way of life, both figuratively and literally. If one takes into account the timing of my birth then it can even be called an 'inborn illness'.

While I thought of these useless ideas, laying paralyzed on the ground, perhaps in an attempt to turn away, the [Shadow Lance] had finished assembling.

The 'deviant' aimed its harnessed power between my chest and belly, the same area it had hit previously. My damaged scales would offer up no resistance and my heart would become forfeit.

However before the boiling energy could fully finish stabilizing, something struck the 'deviant'.

Experience is rewarded for defeating Wasp(Artillery)(Deviant) of the Golden Devil with the help of others.

Extra experience is awarded due to growth skills present.

Heavenly Draconic Hatchling lv.(4)=>Heavenly Draconic Hatchling lv.(5).

A white streak of light shot from over my raised head. And in an instance it had traveled from over my head and into the 'deviant's' head. Something, reminiscent of a porcelain shard, had latched between the insects eyes, cracking open its skull.

Surprisingly, its wings continued to beat undisturbed despite its fatal wounds. However changes were happening bellow it. The [Shadow Lance] was continuously changing its form, bending and stretching as if under a strange magnetic field.

Suddenly it collapsed in on itself, taking on the shape of a condensed sphere of black mist- Then it exploded - The condensed mist erupted in flames of shadow, fully splitting the creature, or rather the remains that did not disintegrate on impact, in two.

Befuddled as I was, I could still make a guess at what had happened. In consideration of the potential list of suspects and the familiarity of the shard, only one person came to mind.

Using the remaining vestiges of my conscious to look behind me, I saw a familiar face, painted with a somehow even more familiar scowl.

Did I make her angry again?

A part of me felt it was a bit unfair. Well, another part of me was also self aware enough of my own situation to not forget to be thankful. Just looking at those sharp eyes made me feel relief, the last bit of my impure consciousness fully fading.

Guess I made quiet a mess...again.

Closing my strained eyes, I made a note to get on her good-side.

...

"So, what did you do there?"

"I wanted to defeat them to become stronger."

"..."

Faced with such a straightforward question, I could only respond in kind, earning a look of silence from the blood eyed girl. It seemed as if she was contemplated something, a thoughtful look on her face. She would have given of an air of mystery and tranquil beauty if not for her gulping down on juice while doing so. The serious look of the upper face combined with the actions of the lower face created a funny looking scene. Occasionally the sweet substance missed its mark. It fell down her face, staining the dry ground bellow. It added another layer to the scene, as if she had come fresh of a kill.

After a while, she closed her eyes and wiped her mouth with her tattered cloths.

When she opened her eyes again, they landed on me, her elongated pupils staring directly into mine.

"In that case I'll help you"

"..."

Now it was my turn to be speechless.

"So please stop doing stupid things."

"...Um, thanks?"

While it was a sudden proposition it was definitely a welcomed one.

In fact, isn't this exactly what I needed?

Suddenly she stretched out her hand. The action made me flinch, thinking she intended to initiate a spar or something of a similar vain. However that was not the case.

Instead of carrying a punch, her pale hand instead carried a familiar looking fruit.

"Eat it"

A simple command of two words should have been easy to understand, but at that moment all I could do was respond to these 3 inviting red orbs with confusion.