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 ce. Hard to execute, but possible...

  With a shrug, Leed 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 surrouhem.

  If it wasn't for the thin glowing Void matter, this pce would have been pletely dark. Not the worst possibility when trying to sneak around, but like Leo had already noticed st 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 probably handle a few minions like this, but anything strohan the casual level eights, and I might be fucked...

  Slowing down just a bit, Leht forth his hand, the limb's outline just barely registering in his vision. If there was ohing he missed from his old from now, it definitely was the faint glow ing 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 Essen the past to give me some more lighting. What if I took this cept further? Might even help me with maniputing the Kiss iure...

  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 i, and held it in pce. Sed after sed, a soft glimmer of light began to surface from his cws; the crimson gl to pull through the impossibly tough digits.

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

  Just a bit more. Leo gritted his teeth lightly, ing to a plete 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 cws. Push it a bit harder to the surface. Stabilize the flow. Keep the stant supply. Annnd done!

  With a final flicker of Essence, Leo's cws, 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 teique. The glow instantly sputtered, the light retreating from the tunnel, now just barely reag the ant a few feet away from him.

  Better, much better. Though, my ow look like glowsticks... Sn, 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 cluded, going through some simple motions with his cws. Doesn't really matter anyway. This way, I will be stantly training my trol... And if it fails, I always create light in a mh manner.

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

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

  The ant warbled and turned, tinuing dowunnel. A mier, if even that, they reached a crossroads. Oh, from what Leo had seen, led deeper into the , while the other opeo 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 crification, but just like before, a question like that was way too plicated for a creature this simple. As such, they left shortly after, delving deeper into the y.

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

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

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

  Some fuckers are probably ing 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 bad waited. The glow around his cws almost died off as the hisses got closer and closer.

  Just not aire horde. Not here.

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

  Bdes extending, Leo jumped out of his cover, the two minions losing their heads within a blink of ahe 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 distaween them, a single cwed hand reag 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 gigantiow-white Ameist froze, blinking its new violet eyes. Takeover once more did its job, ensnaring the level eight Warrior without a single problem.

  Wele 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 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. Oside, he could leave however many bodies behind as he wanted. Here such ziness was just asking for trouble. o give the a reason to raise its alertness even more.

  Alright, move out.

  With those words, the ex-human and two traitor ants desded deeper into the with only oarget in mind.

  The Queen.

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

  Often Leo had to pass or eveer 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 distra. After that, sprinting through the room uhe 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 ter...

  Which recisely 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 toug them, which, for now, he never had a problem with.

  Keeping the old Warriors wasn't optimal anyway... Everything just has to get strohe lo. Leo shook his head lightly, approag yet another entrao 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 ihe chamber. Alright, that's a first...

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

  But it's y. 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 aep toward the Ameist Queen, but he just couldn't. This portunity. An opportunity to both gain some easy experiend deal a massive blow to the y.

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

  Nodding, Leo gave his Warriors a simple and to stay back while he pushed onward. Both bdes snapped out, the crimson light upon his cws dying out, only to be repced by the bck fsh of Kiss of Death.

  Slower than ever before, Leo moved from one Flier to another, his bdes going straight through their heads. Devour followed shortly after, erasing their existehen the daarted 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. heless, he didn't stop, knowihat if he could sughter them all, level fourteen was definitely within reach.

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

  The moment Leo's bde cut ly through the beast's head, it released a dying shriek, and with it, the domino colpsed. One by ohe 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 desded upon the almost two dozen remaining ants, their acid spit and aking down two of their kin in an instant.

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

  Leo ducked, a shadow spear f 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 Prote fred to life, meeting their projectiles head-on. Leo scowled as bits and pieces of acid spttered all over his cloak. Bloodlust ignited, and he surged along with it, killing the Flier with a sirike.

  At the exaent 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 agai nothing was the same.

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

  It's eveer than full force Reinfort 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 e close as he cut down Flier after Flier.

  In a matter of a minute, or maybe even seds, 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 expining what just happened.

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

  gratution! Yrace asded past the Mortal Tier (50). Wele among the Supernatural. Do you wish to dispy the standard information package about Attribute Tiers?

  Chaos65