Again, the sensation of water with a minor numbing property. Then, the ocular systems of the Flametongue Salamander skull adjusted to the small-scale warp.

The Collector clicked the mandibles of its main skull in interest.

As it had perceived through its tactile senses, the environment the shadow-based warp led to was indeed one aquatic.

However, visual stimuli feeding into the skull's ocular systems showed a near absence of light.

Unlike the Darkwoods where light was forcibly absorbed by the flora, this was darkness caused by the dissipation of light across drastic aquatic depths.

The depth of the waters that the Collector perceived possessed essentially no light, yet there was no sign of crushing pressures inherent to such an environment.

There was only the slight sensation of numbing, and this, the Collector surmised would have been exponentially more severe should the Collector not have possessed the Blessing of the Deep to provide a protective film over its cells to ward against the effects.

The numbing, to an unresistant specimen, would have caused the immediate separation of nerves from any processing unit with an additional severing of magical connections to cores.

Magic itself seemed to numb in this space, with mana not flowing properly throughout the waters or in any body part that came into contact with the unidentifiable liquid.

Thus, magical sensing was impossible.

A trait to note.

Because there was no light, the ocular systems of the Flametongue Salamander skull were minimally useful. However, they did possess auditory systems and a lining of sensitive hairs, but these too picked up nothing.

Merely the constant flow of water.

The water itself possessed unique physical properties to it that caused it to perpetually flow downwards, even further into the depths of this foreign location, but the Collector's body itself seemed to be anchored to a fixed point, unable to follow this flow or be affected by it in any measurable way.

The anchoring effect extended to the Collector's own movements as well, rendering it completely immobile within a spherical space that would roughly encompass the space of any body part it submerged.

The Collector ascertained that there was not significant risk in occupying the submerged space, but it as of now did not attempt to do so.

Should it fully enter this space and submerge its entire body, then when it exited, it would have to deal with the water's numbing properties dulling both it senses and flow of internal mana.

The Collector calculated heavily compromised combat capacity for two seconds while it adjusted after submerging, but two seconds was crucial in any altercation.

And already, the Collector could sense an altercation coming.

The 'boss' creature's presence drew near. Its magical aura surged outwards in sensible presence far before its physical brawn was perceivable.

Yet, this was not due to the fact that the beast possessed particularly massive amounts of magical energy.

No, in sheer capacity, it would have paled in comparison to the golden winged humanoid.

Rather, it was that the beast did not possess or did not attempt to exercise any proper and controlled flow of its internal mana, thus shunting it out in a wide aura.

This was highly wasteful, but in a sense, possessed some utility in warding away other predators from this territory.

When the creature desired to hunt prey, then quite likely it would minimize its presence as well, though not nearly at the same efficiency as the Collector.

Likely, the creature was attempting to warn off the Sabretooth Lion it had not found and never would find.

Instead, it would find the Collector waiting.

On the hard stone of the dungeon cavern, the Collector could hear the creature's steps with great clarity. Large, thudding steps that echoed through the depths of the cavern. Extrapolating from the sound, the Collector reasonably determined within a 10% margin of error that the creature was approximately eight tons in weight.

Approximately twelve times heavier than the Collector's six-hundred-kilogram form, though as the Collector had come to know well in this world where physical laws meant little, the condensing properties of mana allowed the Collector to essentially compact its mass into a smaller form.

Should the Collector have fully expanded its mass outwards now that it was metamorphosis level eight, it determined its total weight would have neared six tons.

Thus, though mass did play a sizable role in comparing physical might, what was more important was the density of magical energy.

In that regard, the Collector noted with clicked mandibles that the monster's incoming, ever loudening steps were accompanied by a surge of magical energy indicative of total mana levels exceeding the Collector's by approximately a forty-two percent gap.

This because the Collector's mana level was stuck at what it would have been at its seventh metamorphosis level on account of having skipped a level to eight. Should the Collector have operated with the full amount of spirit roots it would optimally have had at its current eighth level, then it calculated that it would have been approximately equal to this incoming creature.

Agreeable, then. This specimen would provide a vast amount of spirit roots to allow the Collector to make up for its spirit root deficit.

The Collector flared out its magical energy in an intense aura around it, sending swirling ribbons of chaotic, crackling red energy sparking from its body.

Sensing this, the 'boss' specimen loosed an enormous roar that rumbled and shook the cavern before its quadrupedal footsteps became faster, louder, until within a few seconds, its form emerged from above, to the alcove leading down into the pit.

The 'boss' specimen was a sizable ursine covered in thick, wintry white fur with ends that hardened into spike-like icicles.

Underneath the fur, the Collector could perceive the creature possessed an enormous bulk of muscles and sizable padding of fat, allowing it to better shoulder blows and possess more stamina than the Sabretooth Lion's pure muscle frame.

This creature was built for sustained, brutal fights, and it showed: upon its tawny head, between its two sets of glowing blue eyes, were several scars and improperly healed contusions.

A large set of jagged cervine horns jutted out from the sides of the creature's head, fashioned out of what seemed like pure ice, though it glowed not blue like Everfrost, but white.

Jagged, thick fangs meant for grinding and crushing showed themselves under black lips, and a puff of heated air steamed out from the ursine's flared snout.

The Collector stretched out its four arms, beckoning the beast to come. It was here to test out its new array of abilities and to indulge itself in a proper battle. No need for an ambush when it could already sense that this specimen was worthy of a true fight.

Sensing the challenge in the heart of its very own territory, the ursine specimen snarled at the Collector.

The Collector activated its flame aura, sparks of fiery red and orange showering its body first before igniting into a raging pillar of heat and magical energy.

The ursine embraced the challenge and leaped forwards, and when the Collector analyzed the creature's body as it sailed in mid-air, the claws from its front two legs bared and ready to crash down on the Collector, it determined the monster's physical dimensions.

7.7 tons in weight. 6 meters in height when on all fours. 10 meters standing on its hind legs, though height mattered little unless the Collector decided to engage in aerial combat.

The Collector slammed its tail into the stone floor, cracking it and sending itself flying backwards with the force of the mana charged blow.

Where the Collector had been, the ursine specimen crashed, shattering the already cracked floor into chunks of flying rock with a thunderous impact.

Thin shards of blasted out stone spattered against the Collector, cracking into dust against its durable hyperalloy carapace.

Dust and debris rose up around the ursine specimen's, but it soon blew away as its aura of mana surged.

Colored red.

Chaos-type, much like the Collector. This meant that the beast would tend to circulate its mana in powerful but unregulated bursts, sacrificing efficiency for explosiveness.

The Collector flared out its own aura, and though it was physically half the size of the ursine, their auras were almost the same in terms of size and intensity, twin clouds of red crashing against each other, neither one giving a single inch as two predatory wills clashed.

This ursine specimen circled the Collector, sensing that they were nigh evenly matched in terms of sheer physical and magical specs.

The Collector entered this dance, circling against the ursine, and the two gazed at each other like this, a pair of bright, icy blue eyes leering down at six pairs of yellow, skeletal sockets wreathed in flame.

The stalemate lasted three seconds before the ursine made the first move, roaring and leaping towards the Collector with speed that belied its enormous bulk, bearing down on the Collector with a swat of its claw-tipped paw.

The paw itself must have nearly been a third of the Collector's size, and it was absolutely packed with magical energy boosting its movements.

The beast did not know any refined method to channel its mana, no semblance of the fine-tuned movements the four-star adventurer utilized, but it made up for it with sheer ferocity.

Animal ferocity alone was insufficient to match the Collector, however, for in base, evolutionary predatory instinct, it was simply unsurpassed.

The Collector dodged the easily telegraphed swipe by swerving to the side, getting right in front of the ursine's face. The ursine hesitated to bite the Collector due to its aura of flames, and the Collector capitalized on the specimen's moment of inefficiency.

The Collector unsheathed twin blades of golden, solidified light from its first set of arms and uppercutted the beast at the chin with a mana-infused punch. A crack of impact resounded through the pit as the ursine's head jerked upwards with the force, blood spilling from a light-rimmed hole at the base of its jaw.