Absolute Beast Dominion

Flap! Flap!

Agnivar created more distance from the serpent by flying higher into the sky.

"W-what? You can increase my power with your power?!"

Agnivar was baffled after hearing Leo's words, though he didn't forget to dodge a breath attack headed his way.

"Yes, and that's what you need to hear from me. The rest, you can figure out over the lifetime you'll be living with me," Leo said without even looking at Agnivar. His eyes were intently locked with the Infernal Serpent's gaze.

Both of them were trying to figure out how to kill each other.

Leo's concern was dealing with such a huge body before the other head regenerated, while the serpent's concern was reaching Leo in the sky so it could devour him.

"Does your power even allow me to efficiently absorb the energy and nutrients from the meat I eat?" Agnivar asked, recalling his experience after eating the Pyroclast Drake.

Not only had he been able to eat the meat at tremendous speed, but he could also feel its energy and nutrients being absorbed by his body almost immediately. That too at maximum efficiency. So much so that even his natural digestion couldn't compare.

"Heh, congratulations. You found something about me on your very first day," Leo said, still gauging the serpent's frame.

"Agnivar, do you know any method to deal with this thing?"

"That's what I want to ask! What did you do to offend the Crowned Devourer enough for it to destroy the mountain peak and chase you?"

"Me? I did nothing. I just saw some interesting ball inside the lava crater and jumped in to get it. But this snake appeared out of nowhere and started attacking me."

"Interesting ball...? Wait, don't tell me it was the [Sunblood Pearl] that these crowned beasts form inside their neck sacs over centuries!"

"Eh? I don't know about that. But when I took it, it started trying to kill me," Leo casually replied, feigning ignorance of what he had actually done.

"WHAT?!"

Agnivar shouted, sounding completely horrified.

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

Agnivar almost lost control of his flight, but somehow managed after the heaven-wrecking news he had just heard.

"Well, like I said. I took the shiny ball with the sun-like glow at the centre."

"I heard you the first time! But how?! Even my father was incapable of contending with the Flame-Crowned Devourer inside the lava crater!"

"Do you even know how many failed attempts my father made to acquire that pearl the Crowned Devourer uses as bait?"

"He nearly died during one attempt!"

Leo was surprised by this.

"But Hidimba looks stronger than this serpent."

"That's true, but it becomes very difficult to kill it when it's inside the lava crater 24/7 and eats molten rocks as a staple diet," Agnivar continued.

"Even if we are capable of swimming in lava, we're nowhere near the level of the Crowned Devourer. It is superfast inside lava. It swims the same way we fly through the skies. And its breath attack—don't even speak about it. One attack holds the power to incinerate half of the secret realm's inhabitants if they were lined up together."

Leo nodded.

"Well, that's quite the grandiose description. But I want to know whether there's an easy way to defeat it, or if I need to dig through its flesh and rip out its heart."

Leo could feel Agnivar giving him a side-eye, as if wondering whether he was actually serious.

"I told you, your new master is quite special. So get used to such absurdities and do what I ask. Now speak if you know something."

After a few moments of silence, Agnivar spoke up.

"This Infernal Serpent is a bit special. It was born with two heads. And this gave it the advantage of literally having an extra life."

Agnivar began his explanation.

Apparently, Infernal Serpents are born with a [Sunblood Pearl] inside their neck sac. This is also known as the centre heart. Yes, their actual heart isn't nearly as important as the [Sunblood Pearl], since the beast could simply regenerate its heart after it was destroyed and wake up the next day.

But it wasn't the same for the [Sunblood Pearl].

If the beast lost it, it would die within an hour. But this two-headed serpent was a cheat. Its second head possessed another [Sunblood Pearl], which allowed it to use deceptive and clever tactics to trick rival Infernal Serpents into thinking it was dead, only to stab them in the back the next moment to not only reclaim the lost pearl, but even take the emeny serpent's pearl.

Like that, centuries passed, and it became the sole Infernal Serpent here, using every other serpent's pearl to enhance its own. That was also the reason it had grown far beyond what any Infernal Serpent could hope to achieve.

So killing it was a no-go.

"What? I just need to take the second pearl, and it's dead?" Leo raised a brow. That was like killing two birds with one stone. He would also get the pearl and the beast's corpse for Agnivar and Ashira to consume.

A 200-meter body of a low 5-star beast was nothing small. That was like 30,000 tons of pure meat!

"What is 'just'? You're speaking as if you can do it," the Wyvern said sarcastically.

"You think I'm joking? Just watch."

Saying that, Leo jumped from Agnivar's back from almost 1000 meters in the sky directly towards the Infernal Serpent, whose eyes had never left his location.

"LORD!"

Agnivar shouted, not out of real concern for Leo's life, but because Ashira would also be in danger if Leo died due to her being in his spiritual space. But then he suddenly recalled that these invaders had very powerful shadows protecting them, especially promising people like Leo. His worry lessened.

Leo fell straight into the serpent's maw, which had once again opened and was already charging a breath attack.

"No wonder you are not fucking intelligent yet!"

Saying that, Leo fired a massive and thick water cannon directly towards the beast while still falling.

BRRROOOOMMM!

A thick column of water descended towards the serpent and the flowing sea of lava below as the beast released its breath attack.

The moment water and lava met—

BRRROOOSSHHHH!!!

Another explosion erupted, followed by thick steam rolling through the atmosphere and spreading farther and farther.

But Leo's momentum wasn't obstructed in the slightest.

The water column still hadn't stopped colliding with the lava breath as dense steam continued covering the surroundings, obscuring all vision.

Swossh!

Leo tore through the sky directly towards the serpent's head.

[Wind Gust]!

He used wind to further boost his falling momentum.

[Astral Aura Manifestation]!

He covered his body in a dense layer of aura to withstand the impact.

[Iceveil Hide]!

He used it to offset the heat, even if only by 0.01%.

[Critical Strike]! - Overloaded!

Both his fists flared with the full force of a 700% boost in strength.

Leo could tell he was going to be severely injured by his own move, but it had to be done.

He deactivated the [Half-Spirit] trait to deliver maximum damage.

"HHHHHHHAAAAAA!!!"

Leo roared and—

SPLAT!

Leo tore directly through the serpent's maw and burst out from the opposite side of its neck. The serpent's head recoiled violently as its eyes immediately turned bloodshot.

BOOM!

Leo's momentum wasn't over. He crashed brutally onto the ground, instantly breaking all the bones in his arms and pulverising the muscles. Not only his arms, but many bones throughout his body had shattered as well.

"ARRGGHH!!! Shit! Where is the neck sac?!"

Leo screamed in a mix of agony and frustration and immediately spun around to inspect the handiwork he had made out of the Infernal Serpent's maw.

He had hoped to rip through the neck sac directly, take the [Sunblood Pearl], then run away and wait for the beast to die naturally. But he had missed it. Since he had never deeply studied snakes in either his previous life or this one. And there had been no mention of Infernal Serpents for him, so he could look into it. In the end, he couldn't pinpoint the exact location.

When Leo turned around, his eyes widened at the sight before him.

Through the hole he had just torn open was a strange bright-orange bag-like structure, partly destroyed. It was located just behind the neck and was rapidly healing itself, as though it were something vital.

Suddenly, a round object rolled inside the bag-like structure for a moment before sinking deeper.

But Leo's system had already caught onto it.

[Sunblood Pearl] - High Orange Tier Treasure.

"High Orange!"

Leo exclaimed, momentarily forgetting his pain.

It was two minor tiers higher than the one he had stolen previously.

"Let's see how a Hydra's poison fares against you!" Since his hands and legs are out of commission, he could always use his mouth.

Saying that, Leo summoned Pryde, while he himself used the Netherblight Poison Breath Attack as breath essence began converging in his neck.

WRROOOHH!

Leo released the attack directly into the bored hole while the Hydra also unleashed its poison breath into the beast's mouth from a distance.

Both Leo and the Hydra completely ignored the boiling-hot lava cooking them alive all the while.

While the Hydra wasn't affected much due to being a spirit, Leo simply endured everything and lost himself in the moment.

Meanwhile, high in the sky, another beast was going mad.

"WHAT SORT OF LUNATIC IS HE?!"

---