Absolute Beast Dominion

The neon-green poison mist drilled through the open wound directly into the bored hole and seeped straight into the infernal serpent's bloodstream.

KRAAAAAHHHHH!!!

The beast screeched in agony as the poison began its work, eating it from the inside. All the healing that had been occurring immediately stopped, and when the poisoned blood circulated to the damaged head, its regeneration halted as well.

The screeching head, which was just in front of Leo, opened so wide that almost 15 Leos could have been swallowed at once.

The magma-like veins running across the beast flared brightly as if trying to expel the poison, but a hydra's poison was not so easy to get rid of.

The serpent lashed out, smashing its surroundings with its huge 200-meter body. Lava splattered in all directions, and even distant rocks broke away from the mountainside, rolling downhill alongside the molten flow. Such was the intensity of the earthquake caused by the serpent.

"It's using a skill..." Leo inferred, because there was no way a 200-meter body alone could cause such havoc.

Leo had just finished his breath attack and turned to see that Hydra was trying to steady itself against the powerful currents while attempting to use its water to convert the terrain into something favourable for itself.

But the disparity between a Peak 4-star and a Low 5-star was apparent.

Since the serpent was in the middle range of Low 5-star, it was nearly thrice as strong as Hydra. Not to mention, as a spirit, Hydra's strength had already been reduced by 90%. It couldn't deal any meaningful damage, nor any elemental damage.

Leo somehow climbed onto the serpent's body and clung to one of its elongated spine spikes, still breathing harshly as his severely damaged body slowly healed.

But Leo's eyes never left the poisoned bored hole that refused to heal.

More specifically, the bright orange sac that had managed to regenerate quite a bit and was capable of holding the [Sunblood Pearl].

Lord! What is happening! Are you alright! Agnivar shouted through the mind link.

"Yes, I am alright. Well, actually, I'm in the best shape." Leo said with a curve of lips

He found himself completely submerged in the lava river, black draconic scales covering him from head to toe and rendering him completely unaffected. Not only that, but his vision inside the lava pool was surprisingly clear, allowing him to see several meters ahead.

"But... you are completely drowned inside the lava..." Agnivar muttered.

His mind raced through all sorts of possibilities as to how a human could do that, especially in lava influenced by a Flame-Crowned Devourer.

The temperature of such lava was almost two or three times greater than normal, and some Peak 3-star Flame Wyverns like Agnivar could not remain inside it for more than a few minutes.

"Wait... I crossed into the 4-star realm. It should be plausible... but only for a few hours even then," he muttered.

But since Agnivar had become a pseudo 4-star beast, he was technically in the 4-star realm. As a result, Leo was able to use his powers at the peak of the 4-star realm since Leo himself was a Low 5-star existence with all those boosts and traits included.

In other words, Leo was currently functioning with the physical prowess of a Low 5-star and the magical prowess of a Peak 4-star, due to most of his beasts being in the 4-star realm.

Even [Critical Strike] was limited. When activated at its full 700%, it only accounted for Peak 4-star levels, that is, up to 5000 stats. So the 700% boost applied to 5000 stats, resulting in 35000 strike units.

But another limitation remained.

Leo's body was simply incapable of handling such output. One strike at that level, and all the bones and muscles in his body would be pulverised, just like before.

Leo unsummoned Hydra, entered stealth, and stayed low while clinging to one of the infernal serpent's spines, giving the serpent the false impression that he had died so it could lower its guard.

Only after his body had healed to a usable degree, allowing him to move freely, did he start taking careful steps toward the bored hole, which had slowly begun regenerating again after fifteen.

"Fuck... I need to pay attention to Niri. How could I be so lax about giving attention to our healer?" Leo realised his mistake when it took 15 minutes just to make his body functional again.

Leo still couldn't perform at the efficiency needed to tackle the serpent head-on. He was already at a disadvantage in strength, and now he was even more disadvantaged.

Leo walked forward with extremely careful steps.

He didn't want the beast to realise something was moving on its body.

By now, the excess lava flow had slowed to a near standstill, and the serpent itself lay motionless, focused on recovering from the poison.

The other head was still limp, but even it had started regenerating. In fact, it was healing at a greater speed because the poison had not directly affected that area.

Leo ignored everything else and focused entirely on the exposed bright orange sac deep within the neck.

I will need to be quick the moment I touch the exposed wound, Leo thought.

There was no way to reach the exposed sac without alerting the serpent, so he would need to move the instant the beast noticed him.

Hiss~

The serpent still seemed to be suffering from the wound and poison, releasing pained hisses while remaining completely unaware of Leo. It believed he had died somewhere in the lava behind it and had already been cemented inside the cooling molten rock.

The serpent continued focusing on healing its wound when it suddenly sensed a presence descending from the sky toward the injured area.

Hiiisss—!

It snapped its head upward and saw a wyvern.

A measly pseudo 4-star wyvern.

The serpent practically rolled its eyes and allowed its head to sink back down.

Thud!

With its damaged neck, even moving the head was painfully exhausting.

Agnivar had only descended to within roughly 50 meters when the infernal serpent cast a glance at him.

Then Agnivar flew away.

In reality, this had been Leo's order all along.

Right now, Leo had his dagger ready, and the sac was only 10 feet away from the starting point of the wound.