Sementara kota berada dalam kekacauan, Leo telah memburu total 150 Wyvern.
Dia menyadari bahwa sebenarnya sangat mudah dan jauh lebih hemat waktu jika dia hanya membunuh mereka secara membabi buta tanpa memberi mereka kesempatan untuk bicara.
Tetapi meski begitu, butuh sekitar 4 jam untuk mencapai angka itu.
Sebagian alasan mengapa sangat mudah memburu mereka adalah karena mereka terkurung di ruang udara terbatas karena berada di bawah tanah, dan mereka semua berada dalam jangkauan lompatan Leo.
Tetapi berada dalam jangkauan lompatan tidak berarti lompatan Leo selalu akurat. Beberapa Wyvern cepat bermanuver dan menghindarinya, dan meskipun Leo bisa menggunakan angin untuk mencegah dirinya menabrak langit-langit, dia tidak melakukannya karena lebih mudah untuk menempel di langit-langit dan melompat ke arah target dari sana.
Meskipun melelahkan, itu lebih cepat.
Ini juga alasan dia saat ini terjebak di langit-langit tepat di atas kolam lava.
"Wyvern sialan itu," Leo mengutuk sambil menyimpan Wyvern yang baru saja dia bunuh dengan satu pukulan lompatan ke ruang spiritualnya.
Kolam lava itu hanya 50 meter di bawahnya karena langit-langit tempat dia berada melengkung ke bawah.
Panas yang menyengat menyapu tubuh dan wajahnya, tapi—
"Aku tidak merasakan apa-apa..." gumam Leo.
Dia menutup matanya dan mencoba merasakan tubuhnya, akhirnya menemukan sumber kenyamanannya.
Jantungnya yang membara.
Seperti jantungnya benar-benar membara dengan energi api yang kaya yang mengedarkan darah kaya elemen api ke seluruh tubuhnya.
Itu adalah trait—[Infernal Heart]—yang didapat dari Agnivar.
Dan meskipun efeknya hanya di level Puncak Bintang 3 karena Agnivar berada di realm bintang 3, itu cukup untuk mengimbangi panas berlebihan dari lingkungan.
"Tunggu... jika aku mendorong Agnivar ke realm bintang 4, mungkin aku bahkan bisa menahan beberapa pukulan langsung dari Infernal Serpent. Dengan itu, aku bisa dengan mudah mendapatkan Sunblood Pearl!" kata Leo, langsung bersemangat.
Dia fokus pada ruang spiritualnya dan memindahkan Zelut ke tumpukan mayat.
"Zelut! Keluarkan dengan hati-hati semua inti beast, kristal mana, dan kristal jiwa dari mayat wyvern. Sebagai hadiah, kamu diizinkan mempertahankan 2 istri."
CHUU!
Zelut langsung bersemangat dan dengan antusias mulai bekerja.
Alasan Leo mengatakan itu adalah karena pemimpin dalam spesies Zelut cenderung poligami dan memiliki banyak pasangan betina. Tidak hanya itu, Leo juga penasaran untuk melihat bagaimana keturunan Frostwhisk Mouse garis darah super akan berkembang.
"Hmm... masa kehamilan tikus cenderung antara 20 dan 25 hari, jadi aku akan mendapatkan jawabannya dalam sebulan."
Dengan itu, Leo meraih tepi kawah langit-langit tempat dia berada dan mengayunkan dirinya bebas sampai dia memiliki momentum yang cukup untuk mendarat dengan aman di tanah yang kokoh.
Debuk!
Dia mendarat dan melihat lava tepat di samping tepi tempat dia berdiri.
"Hanya ingin tahu," kata Leo, mencelupkan tangannya langsung ke lava mendidih.
Dan yang mengejutkan—
"Argh..." Meskipun sakit, itu cukup tertahankan.
Uap panas membawa aroma daging terbakar naik dari lava, tapi Leo bisa menjaga tangannya terendam tanpa batas. Trait regeneratif dan pertahanannya sepenuhnya mencegah lava membakar melewati lapisan luar kulitnya.
Tapi kemudian, Leo tiba-tiba menyadari sesuatu.
"Apa-apaan ini?" Leo menarik tangannya keluar dari lava, matanya melebar karena terkejut.
"Apa-apaan ini..." gumamnya sebelum menepuk tangan yang telah dicelupkan ke lava dengan tangan yang lain.
Tak. Tak. Tak.
Suara padat bergema, seolah-olah dia adalah batu keras.
Tangan Leo telah berubah menjadi hitam total, atau lebih tepatnya, kerak telah terbentuk di atasnya—jenis yang sama yang didapat orang normal ketika luka sembuh.
Tetapi perbedaan antara keropeng biasa dan kerak Leo adalah miliknya terlihat seperti sisik. Sisik obsidian persis seperti milik Wyvern. Mereka sangat keras dan mengeluarkan suara padat ketika dia menepuknya. Tidak seperti sisik berlapis biasa, tetapi seolah-olah kulit terluarnya telah melapisi dirinya dengan lapisan hitam yang dipoles.
Jadi jika seseorang melihat Leo dari kejauhan, mereka akan mengira tangannya secara alami hitam... tangan hitam yang diminyaki.
Dan lapisan ini benar-benar menghentikan luka bakar yang dia dapatkan dari lava panas. Dia bahkan curiga jika seluruh tubuhnya direndam dalam lava, dia akan selamat dan hanya perlu menjulurkan kepalanya sesekali untuk bernapas.
Dan bahkan bernapas pun tidak merepotkan, karena dia bisa bertahan tanpa bernapas selama berjam-jam atau bahkan berhari-hari. Dengan kata lain, selama dia memiliki mana, dia bisa tetap sepenuhnya di dalam kolam lava tanpa khawatir.
Dia sangat gembira.
"Aku hanya perlu skill yang bisa membentuk oksigen untuk tubuhku, dan aku bahkan bisa bepergian di luar angkasa!" candanya.
Tapi apa yang tidak diketahui Leo adalah itu sangat mungkin. Makhluk apa pun di atas rank tertentu bisa melayang dengan mudah melalui ruang kosong. Mereka hanya perlu mengatur tekanan darah mereka agar tidak meledak. Tetapi bahkan itu menjadi tidak perlu jika seseorang tahu cara membentuk lapisan di atas tubuh mereka, baik melalui sihir atau aura itu sendiri.
Pada titik itu, satu-satunya hal yang diperlukan hanyalah oksigen, seperti yang dikatakan Leo.
Leo melihat sekeliling dan melihat area di sekitarnya kosong. Sebagian besar Wyvern sudah mati, dan sekitar seratus sisanya sedang aktif diburu oleh naga-naga remaja.
Akhirnya tiba waktunya baginya untuk pergi.
Tapi Leo tiba-tiba memikirkan sesuatu.
"Agnivar, apakah kamu punya tempat persembunyian rahasia yang biasa kamu gunakan untuk meningkatkan kekuatanmu melalui bakatmu?"
Leo bertanya. Karena Agnivar tahu spesifikasi bakatnya sendiri dan bakat Ashira, dia pasti menyimpan beberapa harta untuk meningkatkan kekuatannya.
Chapter 538: Secret Stash
"Wait, wait, wait!" The guards stationed at the realm gate panicked after seeing the sudden outflux of so many explorers.
"Give us some time to check if the information is true!" one guard said as a few immediately headed toward the City Lord’s residence to inform necessary people of the situation.
"I want my reward! So remember my face when you’ve finally confirmed that I’m speaking the truth."
The person speaking wasn’t alone. There were more than a thousand people who had suddenly appeared out of the secret realm within an hour, and all of them demanded their rewards.
Since most of the explorers were weak and could barely go beyond the 10-kilometre range due to the environment and the Kobolds, they could return from the realm relatively quickly compared to those who were deeper inside. Thus, the breakout when escaping wyverns were seen flying there.
While the city was in uproar, Leo had already hunted a total of 150 Wyverns.
He realized it was actually very easy and far less time-consuming if he simply went on a killing spree without even giving them the opportunity to talk.
But even so, it had taken him around 4 hours to reach that number.
Part of the reason it was so easy to hunt them was because they were confined to limited airspace due to being underground, and they were all within Leo’s jump range.
But being within jump range didn’t mean Leo’s jumps were always on point. Some fast Wyverns maneuvered around and dodged him, and though Leo could use wind to prevent himself from crashing into the ceiling, he didn’t do that because it was easier to cling to the ceiling and spring toward his target from there.
Though tiring, it was faster.
This was also the reason he was currently stuck on the ceiling just above a lava pool.
"Damn that Wyvern," Leo cursed as he stored the one he had just killed with a single jump punch into his spiritual space.
The lava pool was just 50 meters below him because the ceiling where he currently was had curved downward.
The intense heat rushed up against his body and face, but—
"I don’t feel shit..." Leo muttered.
He closed his eyes and tried sensing his body, finally finding the source of his comfort.
His blazing heart.
Like his heart was literally blazing with rich flame energy that circulated flame-element-rich blood throughout his body.
It was the trait—[Infernal Heart]—acquired from Agnivar.
And though its effects were only at the Peak 3-star level due to Agnivar being in the 3-star realm, it was enough to offset the excessive heat of the environment.
"Wait... if I push Agnivar to the 4-star realm, it’s possible I can even take a few direct hits from the Infernal Serpent. With that, I can easily acquire the Sunblood Pearl!" Leo said, immediately getting hyped up.
He focused on his spiritual space and transported Zelut into the heap of corpses.
"Zelut! Carefully pull out all the beast cores, mana crystals, and soul crystals from the wyvern’s corpses. As a reward, you will be allowed to keep 2 wives."
CHUU!
Zelut was immediately fired up and enthusiastically got to work.
The reason Leo said that was because leaders in Zelut’s species tended to be polygamous and have multiple female partners. Not only that, but Leo was also curious to see how the offspring of a super bloodline Frostwhisk Mouse would fare.
"Hmm... the gestation period of mice tends to be between 20 and 25 days, so I’ll get my answers within a month."
With that, Leo caught the edge of the ceiling crater he was in and swung himself freely until he had enough momentum to land safely on solid ground.
Thud!
He landed and looked at the lava just beside the edge he was standing on.
"Just curious," said Leo, dipping his hand directly into the boiling lava.
And surprisingly—
"Argh..." Though it hurt, it was quite bearable.
Hot steam carrying the scent of burnt flesh rose from the lava, but Leo could keep his hand submerged indefinitely. His regenerative and defensive traits completely prevented the lava from burning past the outer layer of his skin.
But then, Leo suddenly noticed something.
"What the hell?" Leo yanked his hand out of the lava, his eyes widening in surprise.
"What the fuck is this..." he muttered before tapping the hand that had been dipped in lava with the other one.
Tak. Tak. Tak.
A solid noise echoed, as if he were hard stone.
Leo’s hand had turned completely black, or rather, a crust had formed over it—the same kind that a normal person gets when a wound heals.
But the difference between ordinary scabs and Leo’s crust was that his looked like scales. Obsidian scales just like the Wyverns’. They were extremely hard and made a solid sound when he tapped them. Not like ordinary layered scales, but as if his outer skin had coated itself with a polished black layer.
So if a person saw Leo from a distance, they would assume his hand was naturally black... oiled up black hand.
And this layer had completely stopped the burns he was getting from the hot lava. He even suspected that if his whole body were submerged in lava, he would survive and only need to poke his head out occasionally to breathe.
And even breathing was no hassle, since he could survive without breathing for hours or even days. In other words, as long as he had mana, he could remain completely inside a lava pool without worry.
He was overjoyed.
"I just need a skill that can form oxygen for my body, and I can even travel in space!" he joked.
But what Leo didn’t know was that it was quite possible. Any being above a certain rank could effortlessly float through empty space. They would only need to regulate their blood pressure so as not to explode. But even that became unnecessary if one knew how to form layers over their body, be it through magic or the aura itself.
At that point, the only thing necessary would be oxygen, just like Leo said.
Leo looked around and saw the area around him empty. Most of the Wyverns were dead, and the remaining hundred or so were actively being hunted by the adolescent dragons.
It was finally time for him to leave.
But Leo suddenly thought of something.
"Agnivar, do you have any secret stash that you used to boost your power through your talent?"
Leo asked. Since Agnivar knew the specifics of his own talent and Ashira’s talent, he must have stored some treasures to boost his strength.
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