When the smoke from the explosion cleared, and he had healed the damage to his eardrums, Ronan stood up straight. His head was still ringing, but the delayed restoration of leveling up so many times had healed all the damage of Feldramei's second sonic attack.

He saw more than one blinking notification demanding his attention, but there was no time to give it to them. He still had two more enemies to kill. The fairy-lizard was weakened and he suspected it wouldn't be a major threat anymore. Hak Hak, on the other hand, hadn't taken a single blow this entire time and had been slowly gathering power.

The smoke that had been pouring out of the top of its body had ceased, and the round alien was no longer shaking. Instead, it was emitting a rumbling sound that reminded Ronan of a jet engine.

"Hahaha! You fools. Letting me unleash my full power was a mistake. If you weren't lying about the credits you have, just know I will spend them better than you ever could, pig." Ronan blinked and the little angry ball vanished from its position.

He heard a crunch and a high-pitched scream. Turning, he saw that Feldramei had been torn into three parts. Two wings lay bloody on the ground, and its legs and upper body had been split apart. In an instant, the fairy-lizard had been slaughtered.

Ronan lamented its death. Not because he was sad to see an alien who wanted to kill him dead, but because he hadn't been the one to kill it and reap the rewards of doing so. That fucking ball is going to die!

Hak Hak seemed to gyrate around a central part of its body, obscured by a strange layer of what seemed to be skin but could be anything given that this was an alien Ronan hadn't encountered yet. Before the blood of the fairy-lizard had even finished falling to the ground, it had turned to face Ronan.

Unlike the weakened Feldramei, Ronan was ready for its charge. He could follow it this time as it rolled towards him. Its stumpy limbs were tucked in and it seemed to gain more speed the closer it came. It reminds me of when I had the juggernaut class.

He lowered his stance and put the javelin back into his inventory. Right now there was no weapon that would help him stop the speeding ball of anger. Instead, Ronan was going to test his raw strength against it.

Holding out both palms towards Hak Hak, Ronan inhaled as the alien smashed into his hands. The force of the charge was immense, but he was only knocked back two steps. Worse than the impact was the burning friction of the alien's body springing against his palms, scraping the layers of skin away one by one.

Slowly but surely, Ronan was winning. The alien started blowing red smoke out of its body as the spinning slowed, and Ronan held out against the growing force. Rather than weakening, its momentum into him continued to grow despite that not making any kind of physical sense.

Ronan knew that the moment it stopped its spin, they would both have less than a second to make the decisive blow. Not wanting to lose that exchange—even though he suspected his stats and luminous nerves would let him win it—he decided to change the rules of the battle.

He raised one foot from the ground, managing to keep his balance and position even without it grounded. He struck out, kicking the ball of leathery anger with a magic-strike-empowered blow.

Hak Hak grunted as the foot struck it and was knocked half a metre away. It continued to spin and when it hit the ground it bounced back towards Ronan. However, a spear was already in his hand as Ronan's foot came back down onto the metal floor of the prison.

He thrust it into the alien, who saw the attack but had no time to stop itself from moving into the spear's tip. The metal of the spear glowed blue, arcane piercing strike layered onto magic strike as well as his twin enchantments.

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It struck red flesh, freezing it and blasting a small crater into the alien's skin. A guttural scream erupted from the ball-shaped alien as it was knocked backwards by the force of the thrust. Before it had even unfurled itself, a loud bang shook the entire floor as the explosion went off.

Chunks of leathery red flesh bounced across the ground, and sizzling hot blood sprayed over the top. A few drops hit Ronan's outstretched arms and began to burn away at his own skin, before he rubbed it off and healed himself.

Unfortunately the alien wasn't dead. However, it was as good as defeated. It lay quivering on the ground, large sections of its body missing and it was bleeding from every single charred wound. Faint puffs of red smoke rose from it occasionally as it grunted and shrieked.

Ronan felt kind of bad for it. More than anything, he refused to let another kill be stolen from him. He crossed the distance between himself and the nearly-dead alien in the blink of an eye, summoning the javelin into his hand as he moved. When he reached the body he thrust it downwards, using arcane piercing strike and magic strike simultaneously.

The chime of victory sounded in his ears and another notification joined the mass that was clamouring for his attention. Before inspecting what he had gained, Ronan turned his gaze upwards, wanting to see how the other prisoners would react to what had happened.

None of the three inmates from the fourth floor had emerged victorious. All had died, and only the foolish human who'd caused the chaotic battle royale remained.

An airy sound rumbled through the prison, echoing off the metal and making an eerie cacophony. The same red-skinned alien who had given the starting signal for the battle appeared, leaning against the railings of the fourth floor of the prison. "How unexpected. I personally thought that Avanalax was going to win, but you surprised them all. Come, join me up here and we shall talk. You wanted to learn of this prison, yes?"

Ronan wasn't sure how he should respond. This strange alien might simply be luring him into a trap to kill him after he had done the same to her… allies? No, they didn't exactly seem close. If they were part of opposing factions then I doubt she cares about their deaths. In any case, a prisoner on the fourth floor probably knows more than this lot down here. Ronan made his decision and made a beeline for the metal ladder that led up the floors.

As he climbed out on the second floor, he saw a few aliens clustered nearby. They gave him a wide berth, fear in their gazes. On the third floor, the scene was similar, but the gazes of the few inmates nearby seemed like those of respect and wariness rather than outright fear.

When he reached the fourth floor, he prepared himself for the eventuality that he was climbing into a trap. However, he saw that the red-skinned alien was standing on the other side of the cylindrical prison, still leaning against the railings of the balcony. She raised her gaze to meet his, and a smile crossed her face.

The alien was humanoid, looking mostly like a woman with the exception of a completely flat chest and twin tails that raised into the air, ending in sharp points with a small pouch beneath them, reminding him of a scorpion.

As he drew nearer, walking around the metal balcony, he realised that her skin was actually tiny scales. They were so small and matte that unless one was standing right in front of her they would mistake it for skin. She was wearing a black form-fitting robe that stopped above her feet, which were hoofed like a goat's.

Like a cross between some kind of scorpion demon and that goat dude from the narnia series. Kind of hot, if I'm being honest. That might just be the lack of action talking, though… It has been over fifty lifetimes. Ronan realised he really needed to get laid soon, but it was tough in this kind of world. And he wasn't going to start with a strange alien woman.

He stopped about five metres away from her. She hadn't made any moves that would indicate he couldn't trust her, but it was best to be cautious. That became obvious when he saw the tag above her head.

[Louri - Demiorgos Alluring Siren Lv.206]

Can't fault the system for that one. She definitely has the right class. Ronan put on a smile. "How come you didn't want to join in the fun?"

She laughed, the same airy pitch as before, only this time he was hearing it up close rather than through an echo. He almost wanted to take a step towards—His necklace lit up.

"Now, that wasn't very nice of you." He conjured a short-spear in one hand and levelled it at her throat. "Explain, or I'll clear out the rest of this floor."

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