Hunter roared, the sound reverberating through Leo's entire being as once again they became one. Bloodlust also settled, c through his veins, through his mind. It demanded a, and soon, that recisely what it would get.

  Still no Focused Bloodlust. Leo scowled even as his vision sharpened just a bit. It seemed like the skill wao e out, but something was still holding it back. Hunter? Any ideas?

  The beast huffed, its senses bleeding into Leo's, showing him just what it meant. Not yet? But you know how to get it going? Hunter pretty much yipped, which was a first. Okay then. That's better than nothing... Let's get going before the urge gets too intense.

  With each sed, the bloodlust flowing through him tio snap at his sciousness, begging to be fully unleashed, to begin the fight. Leo slowly let the feeling e him more and more as he approached the entrance.

  He stopped close to the opening and g the three taken-over Warriors, pushing a final and into their link. Wait for my sign. Don't show yourself before that.

  The giant ants warbled in firmation, their violet eyes glinting.

  Good.

  Still uhe cover of True Stealth, Leo took in a deep breath and ted to three. The moment his mental timer ran out, he dashed into the colossal chamber, a flicker of Reinfort pushing him even faster.

  The three Voidlings iiced him quickly, much quicker than any other beast before. Yet, they still weren't fast enough as Leo pounced onto the Warrior, slig through an arm and leg in one go. He tried to follow up with arike, but somehow, the injured creature pushed past the pain and threw a wild swing at him with the remaining ncer arm.

  Leo twirled away and deflected atack from the sed Warrior. That was also when the Queen decided to join the fray, shooting a quick series of acid projectiles at him.

  Shit!

  With the green blobs closing in, Leo abandoned defleg and blog. Instead, he chose to jump away, just in time for the acid to sptter against the ground. He barely had time to spare it a gnce, but just one look firmed that the Queen's acid was on another level. It had already burned a small hole iilim, and if the k of acid was any rger, he could easily see it going even deeper.

  So it burns stronger, but runs out faster. Guess that's still fug bad. Leo cursed, dang away from the tinued onsught of Warrior's nces and the Queen's acid. This isn't going how I wanted. I to follow me.

  More Essence surged into his body, Rei's flickering fme turning into a small bonfire. With the additional strength, Leo pushed past the Warriors and dived straight for the Queen.

  The massive beast spewed a few st projectiles before raising its four bded arms, ready to meet him head-on. Leo's eyes narrowed, his own ons lifting, the Kiss activating once more with naught but a thought.

  Behind him, the Warriors screeched, but he ighem, and with a final push, he slid to the ground, the momentum carrying him forward. Only the Queen was ready, and her scythes desded upon him, hoping to end the threat irike.

  Not today. Leo growled as his tails dug into the ground behind him, pletely ging the dire of his slide. It was still a closer call than he would have liked, with the scythes missing him by just a few inches. However, sometimes a small risk was worth it. Which it certainly was now.

  The Queen screeched, almost bursting Leo's eardrums as he left two deep cuts across the beast's front leg. Not waiting for the creature to recover and make a shashlik out of him, he added a few more shallow cuts to its underbelly before sprinting away.

  I'm barely scratg her armor... Leo gritted his teeth, running along the chamber's walls, the three beasts biting at his heels. Legs are weaker, but if I want to kill it, I will o listen to Bestiary. Not even my bdes are strong enough for this.

  Hunter growled suddenly, more bloodlust following with the sound. Leo flinched as the chamber's exit registered within his vision. Yeah, I know. It's time for the sed part of the pn.

  With another burst of speed, Leo passed by the entra the same time, his mind reached to his own minions, a simple and eg through the link.

  Now!

  At once, Leo spun around, the Queen almost barrelling past him thanks to the sudden ge. Quick to poun the advantage, he dashed past the gigantit and joined his own minions as they desded upon the Queen's Warriors.

  Already, the injured Warrior struggled to keep up against two of its kind. Leo grinned and closed the remaining distah a jump, his bdes going straight through the back of the beast's head.

  However, before the body even had the time to colpse to the ground, the Queen rejoihe fight, its scythes cutting one of the taken-over Warriors in two halves. Leo's seinion tried to scamper away, but it also fell victim to the apex predator's power.

  heless, their sacrifice wasn't in vain as the moment the Queen focused on its traitorous kin, Leo flew towards the two remaining Warriors. His own minion was losing, barely keeping up with the other ant's faster strikes. Blood flowed down its sides, and going by the multiple stab wounds across its front, the creature wouldn't st much longer.

  Doesn't matter. You did well.

  Two shadow spears materialized in Leo's hands, only to leave them as quick as they appeared. They flew true, striking the Queen's Warriht in the back, earning a loud hiss. The taken-over Voidling pou the advantage, and with its dying breath, the monster plunged a o its oppo's mouth.

  Both ants fell a sed ter, but Leo didn't have much time to watch as a sudden buzzing filled his ears. The Queen, having sughtered his minions, jumped into the air, its wings carrying her faster than expected.

  Here goes replenishing my Essence reserves. Leo grimaced, batting away the fury of strikes. The Queen was relentless, and its attacks almost matched the speed of his own. Only the ant still had an advahanks to having four limbs instead of two.

  "Shit!" The curse, along with a muffled scream of pai Leo's mouth as the blunt edge of the Queen's scythe crashed against his side. The force of the strike sent him rolling across the uneven ground. If he was still human now, this might have been the end.

  However, Leo had already abandoned his humanity, and the beast growling within him only proved that. Hunter's and his e doubled as they rose, the Queen's crimson eyes meeting their violet ones.

  The beast screeched, and just like with the Brute, Leo answered with a roar of his own, eling as much bloodlust as he could into the a. Uhe Voidling from the surface, the Queen didn't back down and instantly opes mouth, a stant flow of acid surging out.

  What the fuck? Leo's eyes widened as the steam of poison flew over him, hitting the arch of the chamber's entrahe green substance slid down like slime, slowly c the opening until no gap remained.

  It doesn't wao escape. It's do or die... Well, alright then.

  The grin that cimed Leo's face at the thought of the fight to e was horrifying and definitely out of pce. Yet, as blood pumped in his veins with reignited rage, boiling with the o get out, he could hardly care about how disturbing he looked now.

  e. Let's py.

  As if uanding each other without a word, the two met in the middle in a flurry of blows. Even without Reinfort flowing through his muscles, Leo matched the Queen's four limbs.

  He redirected what he could and dodged what he couldn't. Leo learhe hard way that the Queen was stronger, and straight-up blog her attacks would nd him in a nd of pain. Which, in hindsight, was quite obvious; the thing was almost twice as rge as him, after all.

  heless, Leo didn't give up and pushed onward, f every advantage he could find to score even the lightest of hits. The Queen usually retaliated right away, leaving him with another bleeding cut to add to the colle. Not that a few scratches could stop him, as the lohe fight went on, the easier it got...

  With each drop of blood, a long-fotten silvery glow on the Queen's body became stronger and more visible. Vital Strike might have seemed useless for the most part, as it barely ever activated. But now that Leo nded in a fight that couldn't be solved with a sirike, this weak ability proved its worth.

  The Bestiary had given him the obvious oints, but Vital Strike showed him what was hidden. The best part was that this gloeared everywhere, making it much easier to score a hit. Really, Leo could t the number of times he mao score a blow on the Queen's gaster on one hand and still have fio spare.

  The beast was too fast to fall for the same maneuvers as the Brute. And using affinity also didn't give him much of an adva this point, his shadow teiques were mostly supplementary or something to use as an opening to a fight. As such, Leo embraced Vital Strike and its oints as if it was the only way to win this fight.

  Only it wasn't.

  After all, no matter what he did, how much Essence he used, Night Hunter's Bde Mastery and the ever-growing bloodlust remained active. The first, like always, taught and guided him during the battle, teag Leo more and more about the natural onry his body possessed. Then there was the bloodlust, fuelling his every move and, guided by Hunter, warning him about attacks he didn't see ing.

  Not that this defense was infallible, as once more Leo found himself flung across the chamber, crashing straight into the closest wall. The Queen ed as if the beast's victory was iable.

  Nothing could be further from the truth.

  Leo climbed back to his feet, bloodlust now filling every y of his mind. Suddenly, Hunter roared, and the insatiable hunger for violeilled. With another and from the beast, it began to flow into his soul, f a perfect e betweehree pilrs.

  The red hues in Leo's vision sharpehe distant thrumming in the ground dying out. Only the approag Queen remained in focus, along with a bright silvery glow littering the beast's body. However, even in this hyperfocused state, Hunter's two words puhrough, filling his mind.

  'Uand Now?'

  Taking aep toward the Queen, Leo nodded lightly as Focused Bloodlust slowly activated. He knew well what Hunter meant; he had felt it, lived through it.

  I do. Thank you. Now... Time to die, i.

  Right away, Essence spilled into his body, Reinfort reigniting strohan ever before. The darkness of Kiss of Death engulfed Leo's limbs, be it arms, legs, or tails. Even Valron Prote activated, illuminating the ground in the darkest green imaginable.

  The Queen paused momentarily, as if sensing the ge, but Leo never gave her a ce to truly uand what just happened. He dived forward, bdes desding upon the hissing monster.

  They met midway in a csh of sparks, two natural bdes trying to forother four to submit. Partially, the task was a success as Leo directed the Queen's ons to the side and spun around, his tails hitting the beast square in the head.

  The Queen screeched as it stumbled back, three new gashes now spilling blood all over its ugly mug.

  With Focused Bloodlust active, Leo didn't eveion how his blunt tails somehow cut through the Queen's armor. Instead, he renewed his assault with even more iy, targeting every silvery glow in sight.

  The Queen took it all, blog what it could in its disorieate. Not that the unfortunate dition sted long.

  Ehe Queen took into the air, almost reag the roof of the chamber. Before Leo could do anything to follow, the beast opes mouth, releasing waves upon waves of acid.

  A growl left Leo's throat as he ran on all fours across the room, weaviween the Queen's onsught. He reached a wall in record time and jumped right on it, his cws and talons digging into the Vetilim surface.

  Leo didn't stop there and jumped again, this time his limbs g the ceiling as its new floor. stantly having to fight against gravity, he still sailed across the roof like a rocket and lunged right at the Queehe beast was finally close enough, still spewing its acid.

  The rown ant turned; its eyes widened, a flicker of fear fshing in those crimson orbs. Only it was far too te for that as Leo pushed through the stream of acid and nded on the Queen, cutting its wings off.

  "Die, i."

  Chaos65

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