When the black hole subsided naturally, like every ti—unable to exist indefinitely, lasting only for a short while before collapsing back into normal space—the upper half of the colossal body was completely gone. Even the relentless attacks that had been coming at him nonstop had finally ceased.
THOOOOOMMMMM!
The remaining lower half of the giant crashed into the ground with a thunderous boom that shook the earth for kiloters. Dust exploded everywhere, creating massive clouds that obscured vision completely. The ground cracked in spiderweb patterns, fissures spreading outward from the impact zone.
CRRRAAACK! BOOM! RUMMMBLE!
Leon thought it might finally be dead, casually dodging falling debris and offsetting the shockwave with precise applications of wind elent to redirect the force around his body. Whoooosh!
But he didn’t receive any notification—no system ssage, no Causality gain, nothing like he usually got whenever he killed sothing significant.
That’s... strange.
Despite the remaining colossal mass lying motionless on the ground, seemingly defeated, the absence of confirmation bothered him deeply.
He was not too keen on going close to inspect it. The mory of falling for its trap earlier made him cautious about declaring premature victory.
Fool once, sha on you. Fool twice...
But what Leon could not see was the phenonon happening inside the massive body, deep within the compacted earth and corrupted stone, close to where the ancient green core still pulsed with malevolent life.
The consciousness within the core was processing information, analyzing what had just occurred with cold calculation.
Underestimated. I underestimated this human.
But no more.
Around the core, an extre amount of mana began to solidify and compress, forming sothing new. A body that would kill this human with overwhelming power—its best form, its true combat shape. It would consu a trendous amount of energy, but the consciousness didn’t care anymore.
I will kill this human once and for all before he becos an even greater threat.
Leon stood at a distance, struggling to decide whether he should risk a closer inspection or maintain his defensive position. His analytical mind worked through the possibilities.
If the black hole swallowed the core and destroyed it, the creature would be dead. But if the core survived sohow, hidden deeper than the black hole could reach...
The danger seed gone, but it hadn’t died. The theory made sense to him in a horrible way.
Half a minute passed with nothing happening. Just silence and settling dust. Hsssss... drift...
Leon made his decision.
Fuck it. I need to check. What if it’s escaping? Regenerating? Planning sothing worse?
He would remain on full alert in his strongest form. He believed he could escape if sothing weird happened—his teleportation had saved him multiple tis already.
BOOM!
He arrived next to the body in less than a second, moving so fast he created another sonic boom. WHOOOSH!
His spatial awareness worked at full force, scanning the massive earthen corpse for any signs of life or hidden threats. However, he wasn’t able to make sense of whether the giant core was still inside or not due to the remaining body being full of compact, dense mass that confused his senses.
Too much interference. Can’t detect properly.
He jumped onto the giant body and began walking across it, trying to detect anything unusual with both his spatial awareness and his natural instincts.
Tap... tap...
He walked all over it, his naked form exposed to the air. His chiseled body was on full display, though his disheveled appearance had been cleaned away—he’d used water magic to wash the blood off while deciding what to do, wanting clear senses without the distraction of gore.
He couldn’t find anything strange at first. The body seed genuinely dead, just inert matter slowly cooling.
Until his bare feet touched the head of the monster.
There!
He felt the presence of mana—a concentrated layer around sothing, like a protective barrier hiding a secret within the skull.
Realizing sothing was terribly wrong, Leon didn’t hold back. He started creating another black hole imdiately, right on top of the giant head. His sword glead with a concentrated aura, ready to strike the spatial point the mont it was prepared to tear reality apart.
But then, suddenly, a voice entered his mind—cold, ancient, and filled with malicious intelligence.
Too late, human. You will die now.
BOOOOOOM!
The head of the monster exploded with devastating force. CRAAAAASH! WHOOOOOM!
But Leon teleported just in ti because of the voice’s warning—his paranoia saving his life once again.
Fwoosh!
His sword remained gleaming on full alert, his mystical eyes focused intensely on the dust cloud where the explosion had just occurred.
His spatial awareness detected sothing erging—a humanoid figure, quite similar to the corrupted beast he’d destroyed in the forest before, but different. More concentrated. More dangerous.
He was about to attack when suddenly the figure vanished completely from his detection.
What?!
He heard a voice, not in his mind this ti but actually in the air from directly behind him, accompanied by a devastating kick aid at his spine.
You are done for, you strange human.
Leon teleported right on ti, his instincts screaming danger.
Fwoosh!
But it was futile.
CRACK! BOOM!
Pain shot through him like lightning striking bone. His right side felt terrifying agony—ribs nearly broken despite his enhanced durability. His body was thrown like a twig, spinning uncontrollably through the air. Whrrrssh! Thud!
Blood erupted from his mouth. "Ghhk—!"
What just happened? I teleported when I heard the sound from behind! How did I still get hit?!
As he flew through the air in pain, healing himself with life energy even while trying to process what had occurred, he heard the voice again from behind—impossibly behind him despite having just teleported away.
You will beco my nourishnt, strange human.
Leon’s blood ran cold.
It’s behind ! Again!
His spatial awareness picked up the humanoid figure behind him, moving with speed that shouldn’t be possible.
He teleported—not once this ti, having learned his lesson. Five tis in rapid succession, each jump taking him a hundred ters further.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Five hundred ters away from where the humanoid figure had been. He hadn’t even laid his eyes upon it once, and that fact terrified him deeply.
Surely I’m safe now at this distance...
Once again, the voice ca—casual, amused, certain.
It is futile, Strange human.
He saw it this ti. Not because he turned around, but because the attack ca from the front.
A pitch-black humanoid figure with a foot aid at his chest. He noticed the spike protruding from below the foot—sharp enough to pierce dragon scales.
Leon moved his hands, using everything he could along with his sword to block the devastating strike.
CLANG! CRACK!
But the mont the kick connected with his chest, he realized one terrible thing.
His defenses caved inward. A hole appeared in his chest as the force transferred through his guard like it wasn’t even there. Cracking sounds echoed through his ribcage as bones shattered.
CRRRUNCH! SNAP!
For the first ti since gaining his new race, his actual bones had been broken. The pain was indescribable. Ghhhaaaa—!
As he was sent flying backward, his life energy working at full force to heal the catastrophic damage, he realized why this kept happening to him.
I’m simply weaker than this monster that erged from the head.
It wasn’t strange that he was being hit even after teleportation. The monster was simply too fast—faster than his reaction ti, faster than his spatial teleportation, faster than his enhanced perception.
The humanoid monster stood thrice his height, towering at eighteen feet tall with a pitch-black, muscular body that seed to absorb light itself. Every muscle was defined like carved obsidian, radiating overwhelming power. Thummm... thummm...
Leon’s mind worked at full speed, trying desperately to think of how to deal with this situation.
Nothing was coming to him. He was already in his strongest form, using everything he had. There were no more cards to play, no hidden techniques to pull out.
Was it a mistake to co here in the first place?
Leon looked at the monster as he stabilized himself, his injuries fully healed through pure life energy expenditure.
Another attack should have co imdiately, but it didn’t. The monster remained standing in the sa place where it had kicked him, not pursuing.
What is it doing?
His mind continued racing, trying to find any weakness, any strategy that might work. But he also couldn’t escape from it—that much was painfully clear.
As the repercussions would be unacceptable if this terror reached Canon City.
The sound ca once again as its pitch-black lips moved, forming words in that ancient, terrible voice.
Have you realized it now, Strange human?
Leon’s eyes didn’t even blink in the ti it took the monster to move.
One mont, it was hundreds of ters away. The next, it stood ten ters in front of him.
Oh shit. I’m fucked!
What the hell was that speed?!
The path behind the creature showed the destruction its movent had caused—a trail of shattered earth and displaced air. KRSHHH! WHHRRMMM! It had moved, not teleported, despite looking instantaneous to Leon’s enhanced perception.
The monster’s voice ca again, casual and certain of victory.
Accept your fate, human. Beco my nourishnt.
But Leon launched a full-power sword strike directly at it, desperation fueling the attack.
BOOOOOOM!
The distance was too close—the attack landed cleanly, his Aura-filled attack connecting with the monster’s chest with every ounce of strength he possessed.
But the sa voice ca again, completely unaffected.
It is futile.
Leon’s whole body trembled. His eyes shook as they took in the reality before him—the monster’s completely unhard body standing there as if his strongest attack had been nothing more than a gentle breeze.
No damage. None at all.
Thummm... silence...
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