Just as he approached the trio, Tyler let the st Voidling fall to the ground before stomping hard on its head, a dark blue glow coalesg around his foot. The skull exploded underh the force of the warrior, the mushy insides spilling out.

  Leo quirked a ent eyebrow.

  That must have been some kind of skill. He reasoned. No way he has enough strength to crush a Voidling's head with oomp alone... Well, maybe if he pced everything in Might.

  Shaking his head, Leo called out. "All done?"

  The trio's gaze instantly sowards him, taking in the blood spttered all over his body.

  "Aye, it seems so," Dyn replied, gng at the bodies behind Leo. "Bloody hell, mate, you took them out faster than we did. I think I kinda uand why you went with this evolution now..."

  Oh, trust me, there is much more to it than that. Leo snorted. "Gd to hear that. Though you three are quite good too. With one person still rec and another half-tired, you took them out pretty fast."

  "Doesn't ge the fact that you killed as many even quicker, but thanks, I guess," Tyler shrugged lightly.

  "I killed one more, but you 't really see its body thanks to this," Leht up the shining ruby crystal, and at their questioning looks, he tossed it to Dyn. "Catch."

  Despite being a mage, the older maly caught the item mid-air, raising an eyebrow. "Ha, so this is the Crystallized Essence our evolutions have been demandin'. We were wonderin' where to find these..." He rolled the crystal along his palm, log eyes with Leo. "And you're sayin' you got this from a Voidling? How'd you mahat?"

  I guess this is how it feels to be the one in the know for a ge. Leo mused. "Yea. There is a small ce that this will form inside a Voidling when they die. I was, you could say, lucky to get a skill from the beginning that drained and turned corpses into dust. Without it, I probably wouldn't know about those either."

  "So we have to dig them out of corpses," Tyler grimaced, "or wait for them to turn to dust? How long does that take?"

  Leed. "Holy? No idea. uck around long enough to find out... Anyway, if I'm right, you should be able to sehose crystals if you try hard enough and use some Essehen I get them out for you if you want. You're probably gonhose sooner or ter."

  The trio nodded and taking advantage of this moment of respite, they all focused on familiarizing themselves with the crystal's energy. Their three ret kills then became the testing ground to see if they could sehe presence of a crystal within.

  They couldn't...

  Although, with a quick pulse, Leo firmed that there was no Crystallized Essenside those corpses in the first pce. Gon a body with onside and thehem practice if we get an opportunity.

  He voiced this thought, and while they agreed, they also weren't in a hurry. The trio was still far from unlog the middle evolution, so Crystallized Essence wasn't really needed now.

  Their loss... Shit makes for nice grenades. Leo joked in the fines of his mind. They all had seen the crystal's description; he really didn't o point out its other uses…

  And so, with experimentations fihe trio began their slow trek along one side of the street. Meanwhile, Leo darted straight to the ree, cws paving the way to the top of the building.

  Let the fun begin...

  Street after street, they trudged through the city, never really pausing for lohan a minute. On the road, the trio fought like one unit, together destroying anything that stood in their path. Though, in hindsight, there weren't that many Voidlings left to block their way after Leo did his part of the job.

  Just like they decided, he mostly stayed ahead, taking down mohat could threaterio. Whenever he could, Leo remained above, utilizing shadows to skewer Voidlings the same way he did before meeting his new panions.

  Sure, some monsters had him dropping from the sky and slig their heads off, but this honor was usually reserved for Runners and a single pack of three Hounds...

  Which was quite a close call in itself as the beasts almost mao reach the trio when Leo was taking care of anroup. Only the merging with his inner beast and a bit of Reinfort let him intercept those hungry dogs…

  At least that enter docked Leo another level up, what with all the Hounds being level eight. The surge of strength washed over him as it always did, and without hesitation, he allocated all his avaible points into Mind. With just another point or two, his trol might surpass even his pre-evolution state…

  Yet, despite the power-up, they still had to take a slight detour ter oo five separate Maniacs poputing a sireet. They could have tried sneaking by, but in the end, no one wao find out how loud and dangerous those things could truly be.

  Although, now that Leo gazed at the road below and the Crimson Mirrage growing in the distance, he had doubts about their decision. Something seemed wrong here, and going by the soft growling of his inner beast, it agreed.

  Shit... How to do this and not end up as food for those fuckers... The trio was just around the er of the adjoining road, finishing the st few Voidling there. If they stepped onto the interse now, they would be torn to shreds…

  Oh, Dyn knew well to not allow his charges to rush in blindly. However, with the amount of Voidlings below Leo, a single glimpse was all the monsters needed for an army to be uporio. And without any stealth abilities, there was a good reason to worry.

  So either I deal with this, or we have to go bad take yet another path, this time a much longer one... Fug Cataclysm had to ge the city so damn much... Leo shook his head, eyes still on the problem. So many…

  Unlike most areas where there was maybe a single bigger pack of Voidlings and a few stragglers just wandering around, the street below was different. Each beast art of a group here, a group that had at least one Runner and a bunch of normies.

  One versus four, maybe five, I handle if I take down the Runners instantly. But the moment I drop, at least oher group will see me a. Fuck.

  With three packs close to each other, there was no way to avoid getting swarmed. One by one, like he did outside the of Shadow Tails, was easy, but that just wouldn't work here.

  I o take out most of them with a siack... I even have a skill for that, but... Leo's eyes darted between the groups. Even if he fully eliminated one of them, the others would still e. And he really didn't want to risk everything like he did ba the Tainted Wastend, at least not without a good pn.

  And then there was the Crimson Mirrage and the feeling in his gut…

  Maybe if I used that... Leo frowned. Lure oo the other and then drop on them with the skill read... Yeah, that could work, but the problem still stands. I had never used Decoy before…

  Leo po practice it st night, but with the Scouter's appearahose pns nded ihrash. Now if he wahis idea to succeed, he had to execute Decoy fwlessly on his first try.

  Yeah, not a problem... Sighing, he quickly firmed that the trio still had a few Voidlings to kill before settling his gaze owo groups closest to each other.

  Oempt. It doesn't work, I go bad we take another detour. o overplicate shit. There is still time. Leo promised to himself, running across the ected rooftops.

  The Vetilim webs and ptforms were still abundant here, crafting the perfect pyground above the streets. Really, it was fortuhat this was happening in an area like this and not in some small neighborhood…

  On a sed thought, that was als. After all, if every building here wasn’t toug another ohey would have just gohrough backyards or alleyways, avoiding this entire mess.

  If only they had stealth and could e up here with me, then this also wouldn’t be a problem. Leo grumbled, stopping just above a Voidling pack close to the sed o farthest from the third. Okay, let's do this…

  Still urue Stealth, Leo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The pool of Esseirred underh his skin, a it fill his entire body, just as the skill instructed.

  Give it an image. Create an outline. Finally, push out. Leo repeated again and again, a clear image of his body f in his mind. With it ready, he pushed the i along with the picture toward the Essenveloping his form.

  The energy whirled, almost refusing to accept what was give a single spark of fury from both Leo and his inner beast forced the power to yield to their bined will. And so, i, a clear vision, and a mass of Essence, engaged in a daogether, fusing into one.

  At the same time, something clicked in his mind, and Leo pushed every inch of Essehat boiled inside his body. It remained glued to his form, but there was no way in hell he was giving up now.

  With a final push, a final mental roar, Leo's eyes snapped open as a perfect copy of himself slid out of his body like a ghost.

  He gasped, struggling for breath as almost a third of his Essence escaped with the Decoy. Holy fuck. I did it. Barely, but I did it…

  Swallowing, Leo met the cold and unfling gaze of his e. Do you hear me? He called out to the tiny presen his mind.

  The illusion nodded.

  Then you know what to do. The e nodded once more and turned away, almost gliding towards a spot above anathering of monsters.

  When it paused, Leo reached into his soul again and took ahird of his Essence, gripping it tightly. Right away, every bit of anger, hate, and fury he could muster went into the amalgamation of power, but his inner beast evidently judged it g.

  R, the beast and ex-human merged, all of the bloodlust diving right into the growing teique.

  Gritting his teeth as Essence raged deep inside him, Leo finally let the shadows cim the orb of energy.

  Now, he called out to the illusion.

  The e dived, nding right in the middle of the group without a sound. Yet the Voidlings didn’t need noise when their eyes worked just fihey howled, and the moment the decoy dashed toward the pack below Leo, they followed.

  Faster.

  He ched his teeth as the pressure inside him grew with eaent. The shadows wao escape, but Leo held them, waiting for the perfeent.

  Three, two, one. Let's do it. Limit Break to one hundred for five seds, System!

  Just then, the decoy below exploded, pieces of glittering gss raining filling the area. Leo took it as a cue and dived, mirr his e's as.

  The bination of two packs at onapped their eyes to the falling meal and moved like one unit. Their screeches filled the air as they readied themselves to tear Leo to shreds. However, no matter what the monsters did or how fast they ran, there was nothing they could do the moment his feet touched the ground.

  "Eruption," Leo muttered, setting his affinity free.

  Eager to please, hundreds of thin shadow tendrils erupted from Leo's body, engulfing the world in a dark mist. Uhe previous experience, where he had to fight to keep his eyes open, this time, he had the front-row seat of the spectacle.

  All Voidlings in sight, who just had to e as close as they possibly could, tasted the fury of shadows. Every single monster ierced by at least dew dozens of tendrils that went on and on. They stopped only when the power of Eruption ran out like a dying fme.

  Even then, before the dark mist disappeared, the shadows snapped back toward Leo, g a final scream from the Voidlings. Only then, with their strings cut off, the beasts were free to colpse, and just like a domino, that recisely what they did.

  For a moment, Leo smiled, but only for a moment…

  Out of nowhere, a deep croak desded upon the world, followed by a muffled roar. Leo flinched, flig his gaze towards the source of the former, a string of curses leaving his mouth.

  Harpy (Voidling) | Rank: F+ | LVL: 10 | Type: Aerial, Normal

  I fug knew something was wrong here...

  Chaos65