It reached the floor almost at the same time as I arrived, and as it lunged for me, I barely avoided adding another fatal injury before blinking away with its head.

〚You have killed LV24 Verum Kylguivre!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have earned 180XP!〛

The heavy head of the creature rolled to a stop in front of the shadow creature as I fired several poison orbs at it. The shadow creature didn't even feel perturbed and simply vanished into the ground.

Its slippery methods were really testing my patience and focus as my body trembled with the effort of moving. But it wasn't just my injury.

Using so many advanced skills, with my critical stats and limited mana, wasn't doing anything to my advantage. It wasn't long before I started to see all my stats plummet again.

I couldn't continue to keep up with a continuous exchange so I blinked towards the shadow to end things once and for all.

Yet, the shadow that appeared before me was no different.

It was also covered in cuts, and its healing abilities no longer seemed to be in effect.

However, unlike me, it hadn't slowed down.

So, after blinking for the nth time, I stopped chasing it, pretending to falter from my injuries.

It was a risky tactic, but not long after I collapsed, a shadow flickered near my body as the shadow creature emerged mere metres away from me.

My eyes were closed but I watched it cross the room with [Mind's Eye], and just as it raised its scythe to strike, I generated several poison orbs and shot it point blank and blinked away as the explosion of poison engulfed its body.

But as I did so, my wound tore open further, sending jolts of pain through my body.

Ouch. I had to recover.

My mana was now almost non-existent, and I could barely generate my shroud.

Everything that could possibly go wrong in this battle already had, and my body was absolutely wrecked. I could barely move, and yet the shadow was in a much worse condition.

I recalled the dungeon where the shadow kept several creatures captive and my immediate thought was to go there and devour them all.

But just then, the system dinged again.

[Penalty period has expired.]

[Penalty restrictions have been lifted - all system skills and their derivatives are now available to use.]

It's about damn time!

I was so happy I could cry as I looked at my stats.

--------------

Name: Aurelia [LV29 Small Cerastes]

Specie: Cerastes Vipera

HP: 260/795 Defence: 928

MP: 150/670 Intellect: 520

SP: 200/760 Magic: 700

Attack: 830 Agility: 1028

--------------

Aw yeah! I was back!

The sudden boost in power, as my defence and speed recovered, along with all my sealed skills available again made me ecstatic. I immediately activated [Regeneration] to heal my injuries.

However, it seemed like the shadow and I had the exact same idea.

It reappeared in the dungeon where it began to attack the weak, helpless creatures in the cells for their magic, and I hissed in anger at its persistence and vile methods.

Its body was already badly scorched by poison, so much that it barely resembled its former self, now that it was no longer healing - it wanted to undo all my efforts.

Not happening!

I immediately blinked towards its position and shoved the shadow away from the creature.

The only problem was that this floor was packed full with too many Abyssal monsters to count and as I fought with the shadow, the outside of the cell began to swarm with the Abyssal monsters of all kinds.

We were separated from them by a single iron gate that had already begun to weaken with age, and with the claws of so many creatures slicing against it, the metal began to warp with a shrill grating noise.

Soon, the first Abyssal monster broke through the gate, followed by several more who poured in.

To my surprise, the shadow that had been doing everything to bypass me, faded into the ground, leaving the creature it tried to kill alone as the Abyssal monsters all rushed in to attack me.

And then I saw its figure emerge in another cell.

I was immediately set upon by several ferocious Abyssal monsters who tore through my existing wounds, while the creature I had been protecting was reduced to a mess of meat and blood before my eyes.

In retaliation, I sliced through every creature present with my [Shadow Shroud] in a whirlwind of attacks until nothing but dismembered piles remained. Yet, the creatures came into the cells in unending waves and my MP was drastically falling with each attack.

«Calm down.» Sensei solemnly said. «These are not your targets, they aren't worth your anger»

My body trembled with frustration, as my eyes flashed with rage.

Rather than continue cutting up the monsters around me, I simply activated my poison spheres in a widespread attack that impacted them all at once.

It didn't matter that my MP plummeted to [20] along with it, because soon every monster in the cell was suffering under the effect of my poison, and now all of their mana was mine to claim.

Unlike before, I was not interrupted and I was able to maximise my [Energy Conversion] to an astonishing degree. My MP quickly shot up to [250], along with my critical HP that stopped flashing, and I was filled with ecstasy as the worst of my wounds started to regenerate.

Sensei was right, these weren't my targets.

As my mana continued to increase, I was drawn to a shadow flickering in my periphery, which caused me to smirk. We were both starved of mana and health and while we wanted to kill each other – the shadow wanted to preserve its life more, prizing its own self-preservation over vengeance.

How could it resist coming back for me, when I was now the creature with the most abundant mana around?

And so, as the shadow scythe hurtled towards me, I simply rushed into it and blinked away.

The cell filled with blood and dismembered parts promptly shifted to darkness, and I stumbled out into a new area with a crash of dust and rubble, before rolling to a stop.

The dust cloud soon settled, and I was met with a quiet empty room composed mostly of stone.

Although there was no Abyssal monster in sight, I was still inside the shadow's lair. This was the secret space below the dungeon I'd discovered with [Mind's Eye], where the copious amount of ether was flowing out from.

And as I stared up at the ceiling, just breathing the heavy air here made me feel uncomfortable.

But then, I heard a noise and turned to look at the shadow's body.

As it struggled to get away, I was unsympathetic.

Its torso had been cut in half when I grabbed it, its mana now diminished to a ghostly remnant.

The pitiful appearance of this once powerful monster made me feel gloomy, and worse, because I could understand its words.

Rather than let it get any further, I activated [Dark Blade], cutting it into several smaller pieces. Then I focused on its dismembered torso, watching as the last of its energy bled away with [Mind's Eye].

The scythe beside it soon reverted to bone and its body eventually stopped moving as the last of its mana faded away.

〚You have killed LV54 Verum Sleipnir!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

〚You have earned 1700XP!〛

I felt nothing at its demise. Killing it did not undo Sylrin's death.

Instead, all I felt was emptiness.

Alone with the shadow's corpse, in this strange part of the dungeon, I didn't know what to do next.

But then, the system dinged.

〚Conditions for evolution satisfied.『Small Cerastes』can evolve into『Lesser Cerastes』or 『Etheno Cerastes』(Accept | Reject)〛

"What's the strongest option?" I asked Sensei.

«Don't you want to know what each one does?» Sensei asked in disapproval.

"No. I just want the strongest one." I replied.

«Then go for 'Etheno', It's a varian-» Sensei started to say, but I promptly hit 'Accept' for 'Etheno Cerastes', and everything faded to black as I lost consciousness.

.

.

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.

.

〚Commencing Evolution... 〛

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.

.

Ding!

〚Skill『Thought Transference: LV1』has been acquired〛

〚Skill『Sovereign's Aura: LV1』has been acquired〛

〚『Sovereign's Aura: LV1 』has synthesized with 『Commander 』 to become『Dark Sovereign 』〛

.

.

.

Ding!

〚Skill『Shadow Shroud: LV10』has evolved to『Dark Clad: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Rapid Strike: LV10』has evolved to『Lightning Strike: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Pain Toxin: LV10』has evolved to『Bleed Toxin: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Fear Bringer: LV1』has been acquired〛

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.

.

Ding!

〚Skill『Meteor Scales:LV10』has evolved to『Dragonsteel Armour: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Bite:LV10』has evolved to『Crushing Bite: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Leap:LV10』has evolved to『Shattering Impact: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Crystal Defence: LV1』has been acquired〛

〚Skill『Colossal Strength: LV1』has been acquired〛

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Ding!

〚Skill『Buoyancy: LV10』has evolved to『Gravity Negation: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Heat Sphere:LV10』has evolved to『Sensory Field: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Silence:LV10』has evolved to『Serpentine Grace: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Charisma: LV1』has been acquired〛

〚Skill『Predatory Grace: LV1』has been acquired〛

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.

.

Ding!

〚Skill『Grip:LV10』has evolved to『Spatial Manoeuvring: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Scent: LV10』has evolved to『Olfactory Enhancement: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Heat Seeker: LV10』has evolved to『Infrared Vision: LV1』〛

〚Skill『Vision Enhancement: LV1』has been acquired〛

〚Skill『Thought Acceleration: LV1』has been acquired〛

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.

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Ding!

〚Undergoing Evolution... 〛

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Ding!

〚Corruption Detected〛

〚Evolution Halted〛

.

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Ding!

〚Commencing Mutation…〛

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.

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Ding!

〚『Abyss Magic: LV1』has been acquired〛

〚Skill『Necromancy: LV1』has been acquired〛

〚Skill『Summon: LV1』has been acquired〛

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〚Unique Skill『Ruler of Abyss 』has been acquired〛