The moment the distant tunnel collapsed and the cacophony of the trapped swarm echoed into the cavern, the Cavern Creeper Queen knew. Her defensive ring was broken. The instinct to flee warred with her territorial rage and grievous injuries, but it was too late.

Adam descended from the air like a black meteor, Abyssal Glide making his approach a silent, deadly rush. Beside him, Ignis was a comet of solar fury, her draconic roar shaking loose dust from the ceiling.

The Queen reacted with the desperate speed of a cornered beast. She reared up, her massive, wounded body a terrifying spectacle, and unleashed a torrent of concentrated, greenish acid from her maw—a Corrosive Deluge, far more potent than the sprays of her children.

Adam didn't flinch. "Phantom Onslaught!" His form vanished, the acid stream passing through empty air, and reappeared in three rapid, disorienting dashes that brought him slamming into the Queen's side, right where a deep gash from a spider-leg still wept ichor. His fangs sank deep, and he unleashed a point-blank Fire Breath into the wound, cooking her from the inside. The smell of burning chitin and sizzling acid filled the air.

«From above, Ignis!» he commanded.

«SOLAR LANCE!» Ignis shrieked, and a beam of concentrated sunlight speared down, striking another of the Queen's wounded segments, causing it to blister and crack.

The Queen let out a deafening, psychic and physical screech—"KREEEEEEEEEK!"—that rattled their bones. Her colossal body thrashed in agony, smashing stalagmites to dust and churning up the cavern floor.

"It's over!" Adam roared, dodging a wild swipe of her mandible. "Just give up and become my EXP!"

But the Queen had one last defense. A pale, hardening fluid secreted from her pores, covering her wounded segments in a rapidly solidifying, crystalline carapace—Emergency Molt. Her movements became slower, but her defenses spiked.

Adam saw the hardening shell and let out a derisive snort. "That won't save you!" His scales, empowered by Monarch's Aegis, glinted. He focused his power. "Cyclone Cutter!"

The vortex of cutting force screamed forth, and this time, it met the newly-formed carapace. There was a sound of grinding diamonds, and then a horrific CRACK as the Cyclone Cutter sheared right through the emergency shell and into the soft flesh beneath, reopening a catastrophic wound.

The Queen's thrashing became weak, uncoordinated spasms.

Ignis, seeing the opening, dove with reckless, blazing enthusiasm, claws and fangs raking across the Queen's face, scoring deep furrows across her faceted eyes.

Now! Adam coiled and launched himself at the Queen's head, which was lowered in defeat and pain. Mana condensed in his maw, superheating into a shard of lethal obsidian. "Ember Shard Shot!"

FWOOM-THUK!

The projectile hit with the sound of a thunderclap, piercing directly between the Queen's primary eyes. There was a moment of absolute stillness, followed by a violent internal rupture. Fountains of acidic, greenish viscera erupted from the wound, spraying across the cavern in a grotesque shower as the Queen's monumental body finally, irrevocably, went limp.

The silence that followed was almost as deafening as the battle.

Then, the notifications flooded Adam's vision in a staggering wave.

[ Cavern Creeper Queen Defeated! ]

[ +886 EXP | +1200 EP ]

[ Ding! Level Up! ]

[ You are now Level 39! ]

[ Ding! Level Up! ]

[ You are now Level 40! ]

[ Ding! Level Up! ]

[ You are now Level 41! ]

[ Ding! Level Up! ]

[ You are now Level 42! ]

[ Next Level: 88/210 ]

[ Skill Points: +4 ]

[ Evolution Points: 1989 -> 3189/3000 ]

[ Evolution Requirements Met! Evolution Available! ]

Adam hovered in the air, panting, drenched in blood and glowing with the influx of immense power. Four levels. And enough Evolution Points to evolve immediately. The surge of potential was intoxicating.

Adam landed beside the colossal, twitching corpse, the acidic stench of the Queen's blood thick in the air. The power thrumming through him from four rapid level-ups was a distant buzz. All his focus was on the thin, strained thread of his bond with Alice and Lilith. The trap had worked, but the cost was written in that psychic tension.

"Ignis, with me!" he commanded, his voice cutting through the cavern's sudden stillness. He didn't wait, surging towards the side tunnel from which the panicked shrieks of the trapped swarm still echoed.

They found Alice and Lilith in a wider connecting cavern, just out of reach of the dust cloud billowing from the collapsed tunnel. Alice was pacing, her fur bristling with void energy and smudged with dirt and a few sizzling acid burns. Lilith sat serenely on a rock, meticulously cleaning a cleanly severed tip of one of her delicate front legs.

«Adam!» Alice's telepathic voice was a burst of relief and residual anger. She stopped pacing and glared at him as he entered. «You took your time! That oversized worm gave you trouble?»

But before Adam could answer, she had closed the distance in a few quick strides, pressing her head against his scaled neck, a quick, hard nudge that was more an inspection than an affection. She sniffed at the acidic Queen-blood staining his scales. «You're covered in filth. And you reek of pain. Are you injured?»

"I'm fine," Adam said, nuzzling her back briefly before looking over at Lilith. "More importantly, are you two alright? The collapse felt... big."

«We are functionally undamaged,» Lilith replied, her gentle voice calm as ever. She held up her injured leg. «A minor sacrifice for a successful diversion. Alice's performance was admirably ferocious.»

«I didn't need your help,» Alice muttered, though the protest lacked its usual heat. She was too busy examining Adam for serious wounds.

«But you had it nonetheless,» Lilith said with a subtle, chilling smile. «And the Queen?»

"Dead," Adam stated, the finality of the word hanging in the air. "We leveled up significantly. And... I have enough for my next evolution."

This news finally drew Alice's full attention away from her inspection. Her starry eyes widened. «Evolution? Now?»

"Not now," Adam shook his massive head. "It can wait. We're not safe here. The swarm is trapped, not dead. They'll dig out eventually, and the Arachnowyrm is still out there. We need to find a secure place, far from here, to recover."

"And we still need to harvest," Adam said, his tone turning pragmatic. "A Dungeon Lord like this… its essence will be significant for all of us."

He approached the remains and began to consume. It was a gruesome process, but a necessary one. As the potent biomass and latent energy integrated into his being, he felt more than just the surge of attributes. A new, complex venomous essence far more advanced than his own merged with his existing toxins.

[ Consumed Cavern Creeper Queen! ]

[ Strength +3 | Agility +2 | Vitality +3 | Intelligence +1 ]

[ Skill Fragment Acquired: Neuro-Paralytic Toxin (1.0/1.0) ]

[ Detected compatible venom-based skills: Venom Gland Efficiency, Venom Mist. ]

[ Skills are merging… ]

A wave of intense, focused heat swept through his venom ducts and glands. The knowledge of efficient production, the mechanism of mist dispersal, and the new, sophisticated toxin that targeted the nervous system fused into a deadlier, more versatile synthesis.

[ New Composite Skill Acquired: Monarch's Bane (Passive/Active) ]

Passive Effect: Your venom is a masterful blend of necrotic and neuro-toxic agents. It induces rapid tissue decay, excruciating pain, and progressive motor paralysis. Production and storage are supremely efficient.

Active Effect: You may expel the venom as a concentrated, clinging mist (area effect) that carries potent paralytic properties, or deliver a maximally concentrated dose via bite.

Simultaneously, a subtle notification about bond-shared resources flickered, his companions had received their portion of the victory's yield.

The effect on them was immediate. Ignis, who had been radiating a content, warm glow, suddenly straightened, her draconic eyes wide. «Whoa! I feel… so full! My evolution meter it's bubbling! I think… I think I'm ready!»

On her rock, Lilith's delicate tapping ceased. Her multitude of blue eyes seemed to focus inward. «How… intriguing. The ambient energy released from a conquered Lord, channeled through our connection… It is destabilizing my long-held form. The possibility of my own evolution has become tangible.»

"Let's move. We'll find a place to hole up," Adam said, taking the lead once more. "Then, we'll see about this evolution."

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