The five orbs of red fire slowly rotated around Leon’s back as he surveyed the battlefield. In truth, his summons did not really need his help, but he did not care. He only wanted the experience so that he could take a few more steps closer to his next Race Advancement.
‘Alright, time to get down to business.’ Leon nodded to himself and waved his hand. The five fist sized orbs scattered around the battlefield, hanging over the battlefields where the brood protectors were, and where there were clusters of stronger centipedes.
“Scatter.” He whispered, and the fist sized orbs quickly separated into a dozen smaller red dots. Leon brought down his hand that was suspended in the air before him, and the dozen smaller orbs of red fire suddenly rained down.
Boom!
Brilliant, red flames burst everywhere, painting the dark underground space in a shade of red as the monsters in the path of Leon’s magic were all incinerated. As for the stronger creatures, they were left maimed and half dead, for Leon’s summons to finish off.
[Level 40 Ghost Centipede Brood Protector killed. You have leveled up!]
[Level 57 Ghost Centipede Brood Protector killed. You have leveled up!]
[Level 60 Ghost Centipede Royal killed. You have leveled up!]
[Level 34 Ghost Centipede Royal killed.]
[Level 30 Ghost Centipede Brood Protector killed. You have leveled up!]
…
Like that, the stream of unending notifications kept on coming as the centipedes died by droves under the rain of fire. By the time the flames died down, over a third of the centipedes in the entire cavern had been killed!
Leon’s eyes flashed a deep purple as he activated his <Curse Eyes> skill. A dark, depressing light flashed over the centipedes, and immediately, their stats all dropped by half as they were plagued by several negative status effects.
From there, he just watched as the centipedes were cleaned up. After he had cleaned up the brood protectors, Nedra and the other two were now free, so they rushed forward to meet the queen in combat. She was surprisingly much stronger than the millipede queen, and after a few seconds of thinking, he came to a conclusion that sounded plausible enough.
‘Nedra used to be the queen before she declined and was usurped. So, the other millipede queen had less time to grow, which is why she is weaker than this centipede queen.’ Leon rubbed his hard chin as he though, nodding to himself like a wise sage.
Seeing that Kaladin, Nero, and Nedra were having a hard time killing the queen while also fending off the hordes of angry centipedes, Leon finally decided to jump into the gray.
He held out his hand to the side and a white Undead Millipede Soldier quickly walked up to him with a spear between its mandibles.
Over the past weeks after killing the millipede queen, Leon had taken the time to learn how to wield a spear. After upgrading the <Basic Weapon Mastery> to <Apprentice Weapon Mastery>, he had gained the option to add another weapon type to his arsenal, and he chose the spear.
He spun the spear around once before holding it in a firm grip with both hands and pointing forward. Like flames, a glowing, blue Corona of light enveloped the shaft and tip of the spear.
<Beginner Weapon Enhancement level 40>!
After striking a flashy pose, Leon dove right into the fray, making his way straight for the centipede queen. Whatever obstacle in his way was quickly and surely struck down as he danced between the large bodies of the centipedes.
Screee!!
The centipede queen reared her head back and spat out a glob of green liquid that was the size of Leon’s body.
Nedra quickly danced out of the way, while Kaladin was at a distance, but Nero was unlucky enough to be engulfed by the glob of liquid.
Tsssss!
His armor and bones immediately began to melt and burn away, giving away the nature of the green glob to be an acidic substance.
Only a few seconds passed before Nero’s body became too unstable, and he burst into a cloud of black smoke.
“Hmm.” Leon grunted and narrowed his eyes as he immediately channelled his mana to resummon Nero.
With a swirl of black smoke, Nero appeared beside Leon, bowed with one knee on the ground.
“Forgive me, master.” He apologized.
“Do not worry, return to battle.” Leon would not hold such a simple thing against him and quickly ordered him to return to battle.
On the time where Nero had been absent, the pressure had piled up on Kaladin and Nedra, especially so for the latter, as she was focused on close combat, while Kaladin remained at a distance to keep bombarding the area.
Nero and Leon entered the fray at the same moment, with their combined might being able to push back the centipede queen for a few moments, taking away the grasp on the situation she had.
Unlike the millipede queen, the centipede queen did not make any unnecessary exclamations, which was another area where they varied from each other. She was completely devoted to fighting back the invaders from her nest.
Nero’s swords glowed a deep red as he channelled the rage from his destruction into his movements, unleashing absolutely ferocious swipes and slashes upon the body of the centipede queen. Leon stabbed and slashed his spear at the centipede queen, with his reinforcement skill being enough to give it a major boost in durability and penetrating power.
A small, red flame burned at the tip of the spear, and whenever it was stabbed into the body of the centipede queen, she would let out a pained screech and lose her control for a few moments, which gave Nedra the opportunity to get in a few vicious stabs, slashes, and even bites sometimes.
Like that, the group slowly whittled down the health of the centipede queen over the next five minutes.
Boooom!!!
The massive body of the centipede queen collapses onto the floor, the last dregs of life fleeing from her eyes.
Leon walked over to her head, raising his glowing spear up, before plunging it down and into her skull, ending the high level battle!