Leon was terrified, yet he knew he had to continue this fight and somehow win. The consequences of failure would be catastrophic.

He couldn't let such a monster roam free when Seraphine was in Conan City. He prayed desperately that she wouldn't come here trying to find him in the chaos—tremors from this battle would have reached the city by now, triggering panic and evacuation.

I have to end this. Now.

Still, he had one more technique he hadn't tried yet. His spatial freeze.

The monster was within his range and within sight. He was lucky it wasn't moving, or else casting the technique would have been nearly impossible at its speed.

Just like the loop of death I created with the previous puppet. If I succeed in freezing it completely, despite its overwhelming strength, the fight will be over.

He poured mana without restraint into his spatial freeze. One hundred... two hundred... the consumption kept increasing as he reinforced the spatial bindings.

The monster stretched its neck casually, as if testing the invisible restraints. The gesture made Leon feel a flicker of desperation.

Is it resisting already?

However, Leon didn't stop. He kept increasing the mana consumption to make the spatial freeze even stronger, layering control upon control.

The moment it was fully locked—completely immobilized—he would have to move quickly. He'd place his hand on its body and start draining its life force, maintaining the freeze through the monster's own converted mana until there was nothing left and it was dead.

The technique had crossed one thousand mana expenditure, and the monster was still stretching its neck in place. Leon finally understood.

It's mocking me.

But Leon just focused on this opportunity. He had a little over two thousand mana in total, but he wasn't worried. He could drink a potion to restore his reserves. If this continued like this, he knew he would surely be the victor—it was only a matter of time.

This monster is overestimating itself. The moment it's truly trapped in my spatial freeze, it will all be over.

That would be when he'd be the one laughing in its face as it died.

Two thousand mana crossed. The monster was no longer stretching its neck as casually as before—Leon could see it had been slowed, unlike its previous unbothered state.

Soon. Almost there.

It was time to take out a mana potion. After restoring his reserves, he would likely win this battle and create the endless loop that would drain this creature dry until it was just ashes.

Until then, he wouldn't get close to it. Safety first.

The moment the blue shimmering bottle appeared in the atmosphere from his inventory, materializing in his hand—

The voice came, cold and amused.

"Here it is!"

CRACK!

Leon's control over the spatial freeze was completely shattered. His entire effort, all that expended mana, was wasted in an instant.

RMMMPHHH! A deep vibration rolled through the ground, the air snapping cold against his face as the rupture of space rippled outward.

It broke through! No!

Leon was genuinely terrified now. The monster had broken the spatial freeze through pure force of will and overwhelming power.

WHAM!

In the next instant, he felt a punch to his gut that knocked all the air from his lungs.

WHUUMPH! The impact crushed his diaphragm—every breath ripped out of him with a hollow whump, his vision flashing white for an instant.

Flying backward, the oxygen inside his chest was expelled violently. Blood came from the corner of his mouth in a spray. Splat! His bones hadn't broken like the previous times, but he felt burning pain in his hand.

His fist was cut—sliced cleanly by something impossibly sharp.

The potion was no longer in his hand. The monster had caught it before Leon could even register the theft.

The monster's voice echoed across the battlefield, almost conversational.

I have been waiting for you to take this weird thing out, strange human—the one who restored your measly mana in no time. Such pure energy... You have wasted more than 90% of its potential just by drinking it directly with your vessel's low capacity.

Leon realized with dawning horror why the monster had been standing there in one place all this time.

It wasn't being arrogant. It was waiting. Observing. For me, take out my mana potion bought from the cosmic store.

His life energy, using what little mana was left, worked frantically to heal his injuries. He immediately took out another potion from his inventory—he had to, because he had almost no mana remaining.

I need to drink this quickly!

The voice came again, almost playful now.

"Oh, another one?"

Like his own shadow given form, the monster appeared once again—kicking him in the chest. The only reason Leon knew what had happened was because of the explosive pain. The figure itself was just a faint blur, barely visible even to his enhanced perception.

He noticed it for only a millisecond before impact.

CRACK! WHAM!

A mouthful of blood erupted from his mouth. Ghhk—! He could feel the bones in his hand—the one holding the potion—bent completely. The bottle was gone again, stolen in that instant of contact.

These attacks were causing unimaginable amounts of destruction around them. BOOOOM! Craters formed where Leon's body impacted. RUMMMBLE! Shockwaves rippled outward. The tremors could be felt even far beyond Conan City, reaching settlements kilometers away.

This fight was on the level of world-class monsters now.

But it couldn't even be called a fight anymore. It had been a battle before, but after the monster's terrifying transformation, this was just a one-sided beatdown.

Leon stopped taking out mana potions. He had four more left in his inventory, but he decided against retrieving them after realizing the futility of the situation.

It's too fast. It'll just steal them every time.

As his figure rolled across the ground, causing destruction with each impact, he could have controlled his fall with the wind element—but he chose not to. He had barely any mana left and couldn't afford to waste it. He needed every point for healing himself.

Thud... thud... crash!

When he finally stopped rolling, Leon stood up, tumbling slightly while grunting from pain.

Haaa... haaa... His legs trembled under his own weight; every heartbeat felt like a drum of molten lead pounding behind his ribs.

"Ghh... fuck..."

He saw the monster standing ten meters in front of him. Both stolen potions were in its massive hand. It popped the caps off casually and brought the bottles to its mouth, pouring the contents down and emptying them fully.

Its voice came with obvious satisfaction.

"Ahhhh! Wonderful!"

The green flames that burned in its eye sockets became noticeably brighter, more intense. Fwoooosh!

Leon knew he was even more screwed now. This monster had become even stronger by consuming his precious resources.

But it wasn't attacking, and he knew the reason for that pause.

Confirming his suspicion, the voice came again.

"Strange human, do you not have any more of this amazing liquid? This is divine. Surely you possess more."

Leon had realized from the brutal beatdown after this transformation that fighting this thing with his current strength was completely futile. As the monster had declared before, he couldn't win. He was outmatched in every category that mattered.

I have to get out of this situation some other way. Fighting won't work.

He thought frantically, mind racing through possibilities. He needed time for his mana to recover naturally—it would take five to ten minutes without a potion. He didn't know the exact time in this domain. Every second was precious.

A full minute passed with the monster's green, flaming eyes locked onto him, studying him with disturbing intelligence.

The voice came once again, this time mixed with an unmistakable threat that made the air feel heavier.

"Strange human... or should I even call you human?"

These words made Leon's body jerk up in surprise, shock flooding through him without conscious thought.

Thump-thump! A chill crawled up his spine, the blood in his veins seeming to turn to ice. His heartbeat stuttered—then roared back in his ears.

How does it know?!

His race, his transformation, the fundamental changes to his very being—those were secrets he'd kept hidden from everyone except Seraphine. Even Loriel or anyone else didn't know he was not of the human race.

Yet this monster's consciousness had seen through him somehow.

What else does it know about me?

The monster's words echoed across the battlefield, each syllable dripping with dark certainty.

"You can't fool me, strange human, who only in exterior appearance resembles a human."

Leon's breath caught in his throat.

"From the very start, since you destroyed my puppet this morning, I have had a strange feeling about you which I can't comprehend. But my instincts were telling me to absorb you."

The monster paused, its green flaming eyes burning brighter.

"But they weren't too strong. I thought you were just a very powerful human, and it was just my natural instincts."

Leon was listening intently while focusing everything he had on restoring his mana as quickly as possible. He'd made his decision—he was going to escape into his time dimension. He had no other choice now as things were getting worse and worse.

The time difference there will give me space to prepare. But opening that portal will be nearly impossible with this thing watching me.

But he had to try.

His mana was increasing slowly. He needed at least a thousand to safely create the dimensional gateway. He had only six hundred now.

Just a little more. Come on!

He'd even stopped healing himself with mana, allowing his natural regeneration to handle the injuries despite the pain. Every point of energy had to be saved for the escape attempt.

At least the monster isn't attacking. That's something.

But then the voice came after the pause, and it made Leon tremble. A chill ran down his spine like ice water.

The tone had shifted—deeper, more primal, filled with ecstasy and creeping madness.

"The moment I absorbed a bit of your blood earlier, strange human... I felt it."

Leon's eyes widened in horror.

"A feeling of my race being evolved... Your blood was like an elixir. I have never experienced anything like it in all my existence."

THUMMM...

The monster's body seemed to pulse with power.

For such a little amount of your blood to make me feel like this... your race has to be of a very high order compared to mine.

Then it laughed—a sound that seemed to shake reality itself.

Hahahahaha—BOOOOOOM!

The laughter rolled like thunder through the valley, warping the air; even the ground beneath Leon's feet vibrated as if the world itself wanted to flee.

"Hahahaha! Such a terrifying race! But you've lived for less than two decades, and you're already this strong! It's terrifying! Even I feel small compared to you, human-looking monster!"

The laughter continued, growing darker, more unhinged.

HAHAHAHA! RRRRUMMMBLE!

Leon's legs felt weak beneath him. Every instinct screamed danger—primal, overwhelming, absolute.

The voice became even darker, promising horrors Leon didn't want to imagine.

"But your luck is bad, strange human... because—"

"You are MINE now!!!"

THUMMM!

The air imploded inward with a heavy thummm—the sound of dominance made tangible. Leon's pulse pounded in perfect rhythm with it, dread spreading through every nerve.

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