A giant ant barreled towards me. With a quick hop, I landed on its head. I extended a leg scythe into its head, killing it instantly.

Orange, do you have any useful information on this legion centipede?

A legion centipede is a dangerous creature that’s nearly impossible to kill. Each section of its body is capable of splitting apart if parts of it are damaged. To kill it, you must destroy each section in sequential order.

And how big is this thing? I counted forty sections before I lost sight of the end behind a wall. This thing is pretty big.

The centipede’s mandibles snapped towards me. They were slow. I jumped over it and drove my arm blades into its carapace—or I tried to. They bounced off without leaving a mark.

So it’s tougher than it looks.

I shifted my imbued limbs. A quantity of weapons wasn’t going to help much. I shifted things so my normal arms and legs were faster, and enhanced the defense on my arms. My next stab sliced through and sprayed me in its gray blood.

A few more slices had me carving through its body. It earned me 2 stat points and 1,125 shards. The section of the centipede I was standing on dropped to the ground, revealing another face.

It let out a screech and swung one of its mandibles at me. I jumped up and drove both my arm blades through its head, splitting it into three pieces and killing it. I received another 2 stat points and 1,125 shards.

The next sections of the legion centipede started sliding away from me. Each section twisted as it moved, making it seem like the segments of its body were bending in every direction at once. It squirmed, thrashed, and slammed into the walls.

I’m only killing sections of this thing.

The centipede’s new face sprouted and spewed out a jet of black liquid that had the consistency of hot tar. There was so much that even I couldn’t get far enough away to avoid all of it by running underneath it. A little caught one of my stinger arms.

The stuff smelled like bile, rotting flesh, burnt popcorn, and liquorice all at once. But more worryingly, it started dissolving my stinger arm. I instantly turned off the pain in my brain as it stripped the outer layer of metal and most of the metal bone beneath. The acid worked faster than my nanites. My nanites rebuilt my stinger arm once all the acid had fallen off.

Okay, so this thing can still dissolve me into nothing. Which is the stronger acid, this thing’s stomach acid, or Killa?

As I stood underneath the centipede, all the channels in my ears were filled with the sounds of more than a hundred heartbeats and hundreds of legs stomping on the ground. Several of the legs tried to skewer me, but again, they were too slow.

This thing isn’t one monster. It’s a string of numerous little creatures. I’m not going to even begin to understand how that biologically works, but that’s why Orange said that I needed to kill each part.

As I analyzed more of the creature, I noticed Brier was fending off some ants that were threatening to trample him underfoot. He could handle some ants, so I wasn’t worried, but the centipede was a whole other matter.

I can’t let the centipede get close to him with that acid spray. He’s too slow to dodge it, and I don’t know if he’d be able to survive it.

A few legs tried to trample me as it ran towards the dryad, so I cut them off. The centipede stopped and turned its head to me. Its body then tried to slam into me, but I hopped up and ran up the length of its body to the head, dragging my arm blade along, opening up a line to give me a head start on those sections when I got to them.

My run up the centipede wasn’t simple. It thrashed its body up and down against the ceiling, attempting to crush me. I drove my arm blades between a couple of sections and severed off the seven sections of the centipede before the head.

My feet hit the ground at the same time the other sections plopped to the ground. Not letting the chance for the other sections to reorient, I drew my gun and fired seven rounds all up each section of the centipede through to its head. Each bullet exploded a section in a shower of shadow magic and bug viscera.

Each bullet earned me the same 2 stats and 1,125 shards. I refilled my gun as the main body of the centipede let out another shriek before focusing on me with a palpable hatred. It reached for me with its mandibles, but I easily sidestepped the attack. But I heard a hissing sound come from between each of the sections of its segmented body.

A colorless gas shimmered in my vision as the centipede expelled it from all over its body. In a fraction of a second, it filled the hall and was rolling towards Brier like a tidal wave. Since I didn’t need to breathe, I wasn’t worried about myself.

I can’t let this thing kill him.

Sprinting past the first puddle of acid that wasn’t dissolving the root-like floor of the cavern, the centipede tried to spray me with acid again. This time, I got well out of range before it could touch me.

As I ran through the gas, my nose was filled with scents I couldn’t begin to identify. But there was one that was unmistakable: sulfur. The air wasn’t caustic, but my brain started to run the possibility of the gas being flammable through more and more predictions. It wasn’t looking good. And if this thing was capable, and willing to exude such an explosive gas, it was likely going to survive such an event.

I got to the intersection, dropped my imbuements, and created an air-tight wall of shadow with Brier at my back.

He looked shocked to see me standing next to him after he swatted away the last ant. “What are you doing? That can’t seriously hold back that thing, can it?”

“It won’t.” I gritted my teeth as my mana drained to fuel my magic, as parts of it were being dissolved, likely from the creature spitting more acid. “You need to run. This thing released some kind of explosive gas. Now, get back!”

Without saying another word, he ran down a hall, following some ants. I barely had a moment to hope that he was far enough away as the creature bashed into my wall and shattered it. The shards of magic dissolved as the centipede slammed its head into me. Its mandibles would’ve cut me in half if I hadn’t reinforced my skin as they clamped down.

With a swing of its head, it threw me into a wall. My eyes flickered out of focus for a moment. I really hate that jarring impacts knock them out of calibration. At least it wasn’t as bad as before. Maybe as I level my eyes up, it’ll get better.

More of the gas filled the intersection, but with four directions to go, it spread slower. The centipede attempted to swallow me whole as its head came for me. I imbued my stinger arms and sliced its face in half before sliding past it.

I stopped acknowledging the notifications for each piece I killed. There were still more than a hundred left to kill, and I still couldn’t see the end of it. I heard something click down the hall where somewhere the end of the centipede was.

A wall of fire began swallowing up the hall, ant corpses, and the centipede’s body. My earlier estimations were proven correct, but I wished I was wrong. I hit the ground and covered myself in a shadow magic barrier as the flames swallowed everything in their path. The heat didn’t penetrate my barrier since apparently my mana can’t absorb heat. They didn’t destroy it since there was no force behind it, either.

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As the flames died off, I dispelled the shield and hopped to my feet. The walls were all scorched, and the air temperature had risen to a dangerous level. When I turned to the centipede, its carapace was scorched, but instead of looking hurt, it looked angry. All across it, a red glow emanated from the seams of its body and legs.

From its mouth poured a steady stream of the flammable gas. A fraction of a second later, a jet of flame replaced the gas as it swung its head towards me. I jumped back and clenched my fist.

You’re done playing games? Well, so am I.

I looked at my mana total. Trying to conserve my mana against this thing was starting to cost me more. I spent almost four hundred percent of my mana battery’s charge and only killed a fraction of the monster. There was just under twenty-three hundred percent charge left.

How annoying.

My lycan form activated with a thought. It was bigger, faster, and stronger than before. I was more than nine feet tall now, and my body felt like it was itching to move. Everything around me seemed to stop, as my speed was more than two and a half times what it was.

Calculated lycan form stats: agility: 2326; arcane: 490; power: 1889; quickness: 2566; resilience: 2046; toughness: 2046. Estimated effective level: 227.

The ground shattered as I pushed off and slashed through eighteen sections in a second, using up one hundred percent of my body’s mana capacity. But as I shredded the insect, my body felt sluggish. It was as if I wasn’t pushing it as hard as it could go with all my wasted, exaggerated movements.

I moved faster than I ever had before as I pushed my body harder, utilizing it better. Twenty-one more sections of the centipede were scattered along the walls as I savagely burrowed my way through. The centipede couldn’t react to me fast enough. By the time it registered its head was destroyed, I had already moved on to the next.

Despite how fast I moved, there were still too many inefficiencies. I needed to control my movements more. My body was much stronger than I had been ready for. Each second that passed, my movements became more refined and focused. My mind was keeping up with my speed, and quickly catching up, so was my body.

Another second and I obliterated another twenty-five sections. A sense of pride filled me as I tore through thirty sections in the next second. I was getting the hang of my new strength and speed. Not only that, I saw the end of the centipede. At the last section, there was a pair of scissors that were coated in a black rock.

In the last second, I mastered my lycan form and reduced the last thirty-nine sections to nothing more than wet stains of gore on the walls. It took a lot of self-control to release the magic and return to normal.

In the absence of all that power, my body felt slow, small, and weak. A craving for that rush of power sparked in the back of my mind.

Five seconds. In five seconds, I became attached to that level of power. Elveil was still faster and stronger than that. No wonder she maintained it. Her possessive personality wouldn’t allow herself to willingly let go of that strength. But that means if she looked the way she was, and she was using that clone version of herself, she must have figured out a way to make it permanent. Is that possible?

We don’t know.

I took notice of Orange’s different answer, but didn’t say anything as I looked at my mana reserves.

The centipede cost me far more mana than I was eager to spend in the dungeon as a whole. My energy level took me by surprise though. I had less than fifty percent.

As your quickness increases, so does your metabolic rate. Your lycan form drastically increased both. There is plenty of consumable material from the legion centipede.

I looked back at the carnage I left in my wake. The level of destruction carved by me was frightening.

Did I do that?

In addition to the pieces of the legion centipede everywhere, the ant corpses were just as carved up and burned. Deep gouges were spread all over from my claws, especially from when I was struggling to control my exaggerated movements.

I walked through the mess to check up on Brier. When I made it back to the intersection, he was leaning on a wall with dark scorch marks on half his body. He clung to the wall as his body shook from the pain. Soft wheezes matched his weak heart rate. There was also an unmistakable fear in his eyes as I approached.

I frowned as I held my hands up. “Relax. It’s dead, and I’m not going to hurt you. You need help.”

“Stay… stay away from me,” he rasped. “Now I understand why you didn’t answer what you were. You’re a demon.”

I lowered my hands. “That’s not it at all. And it isn’t important right now. You’re badly wounded, and…”

Brier broke into a coughing fit. “Get back.”

He’s in pain. It’s not his fault; he’s not thinking properly. “Look, if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead. I’m not here to kill you.”

The dryad’s next words caught in his throat. Instead of saying something, he just glared at me, his breathing still accompanied by a sharp whistling.

“Brier, you need medical attention,” I said while trying to get him to focus on the matter at hand. “There has to be something I can do to help you.”

For the first time, he looked down at his burned body. His head then snapped to me. “Why are you showing so much concern for me?”

“Is it wrong to not want to watch people die?” I asked. “That’s why I attacked the minotaur. He was ruthlessly killing people. I don’t want to see you die either. People like you are rare, and I’ll do what I can to make sure you stay alive as long as possible.”

I’m going to have so many nightmares after this. I’m never going to be able to sleep again.

Brier dropped his staff and slid to the ground while clutching his burned arm. “It looks worse than it is. I just need some time in the sun to regenerate. In about three or four days, I’ll be mostly fine.”

I walked up to him slowly. “So that means it’s all the more important to get you out of this dungeon.”

He nodded. “But for now, just let me rest a bit. I know I said it isn’t as bad as it looks, but it still hurts a lot.”

I sat next to him. “That’s fine. I’ll sit here with you. I’d offer you a regeneration potion, but I don’t have any since I don’t need them.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You don’t? Well, neither do I. If I had something for energy or food, that’d help.”

I smirked. “Food? That I can help with.” I pulled out one of my twenty meal potions and handed him one. “Here.”

Brier took it gingerly and slowly brought it up to his mouth, where he pulled the top off with his teeth and drank it, all while keeping an eye on me.

I slapped my knees as I stood up. “Speaking of food, I need to eat too. If you need help, just holler. I’ll be right back.”

Brier nodded but didn’t say anything.

I went to the pieces of the legion centipede. The sections I had killed before the monster ignited that gas weren’t burned. So it looks like these legion centipedes have a resistance to fire. You want to add that to your memory, Orange?

Already included.

Don’t worry, Orange, we’ll have that talk right now while I eat after I put my points down.

The legion centipede gave me 162 points, on top of the 5 the ant gave me, and 160,875 shards from the 143 sections that thing was made of. It stopped giving me stat points a little more than halfway through its body. Shadara would love to kill one of these things. It’d catch her level up so quickly.

Name: Rina Lone Augments: Predator Android: Level: 64 Cellular reconstruction Upgradable Agility: (+40) 700 Cerebral prediction matrix Weaponized Arcane: (+10) 500 Synthetic eyes lvl. 3 Predator Senses Power: (+7) 230 HUD Quickness: (+50) 950 Olfactory nexus lvl. 1 Resilience:(+30) 410 Echo sensors lvl. 1 Toughness: (+30) 410 Mana battery (shadow) integration Unassigned Points: 0 Synthetic skin (face) lvl. 1 Shards: 481,831 Additional stinger arm X2 Arm blade X2, retractable Shadow Powers: Synthetic tendons lvl. 3 Manifestation lvl. 19 Synthetic muscle lvl. 3 Shaping lvl. 17 Synthetic bones lvl. 1 Distance lvl. 7 Epidermal plating lvl. 2 Anchoring lvl. 3 Nanobot blood replacement Infusion lvl. 15 Nano-weave hair lvl. 4 Solidify lvl. 5 Voice projector Shadow Lycan Form Spell Plated dragon teeth Synthetic tongue Leg scythe X2, retractable Talons