Absolute Beast Dominion

GRRRRRROOO! Grrrrooooooo!

The breath attacks were unleashed one after another in an attempt to shoot down Agnivar, who was having an extremely hard time dodging those incessant, extremely thick lava beams, each one nearly twice as wide as his own body length.

"Come on, Agni! You can do it!" Leo cheered from his back while lounging comfortably.

In reality, Leo was quite enjoying the roller coaster ride as they soared higher and higher into the sky, making it easier to dodge the attacks.

"I never recall accepting you calling me Agni! Only Ashira can call me that!" Agnivar shouted as he shot to the right to dodge the next beam.

Out of habit, Agnivar spoke loudly while flying, forgetting that he could simply communicate with Leo through their mind link.

"Hoho, you'll have to because I'll keep calling you that. It's easier and faster," Leo replied casually.

"But one suggestion—don't say such useless things in front of Lily. I bet she'll end up calling you even more absurd names, and you'll have no choice but to accept because she's way stronger than you."

"And who is Lily?!" Agnivar shouted again.

"Be careful, boy, or your new mother might spank your ass into oblivion," Leo chuckled.

Agnivar gritted his razor-sharp teeth and performed a 360-degree flip to dodge another beam. For a brief moment, he hoped Leo might fall off, but Leo's grip was far too strong.

Then he cursed internally, realising that if Leo did fall, he would have to rescue him because Ashira was with him.

"What about the [Sunblood Pearl] you managed to get? I don't see it anywhere. Don't tell me you tried to absorb it and failed?" Agnivar snorted mockingly.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Of course I successfully absorbed it," Leo replied simply while looking at the infernal serpent's raging figure.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Agnivar shouted in utter shock.

Then he suddenly fell silent.

"Oh... now I understand. You're messing with me and having fun making a fool out of me, right?" the wyvern said.

"Why would I do that?" Leo asked, turning to look towards the wyvern's head.

"Look into my eyes."

The wyvern curved its long neck into a 'U' shape mid-flight and looked directly into Leo's eyes, which had turned crimson with a tint of gold as Leo activated the traits.

A moment of silence followed as they stared into each other's eyes. Agnivar seemed to lose himself in that gaze, as though his mind had completely crashed.

Leo was the first to break eye contact when he sensed another breath attack rising from below. He stepped forward, climbed onto the wyvern's lowered head, grabbed both horns like handles, and turned Agnivar's flight path as though steering him, narrowly avoiding the incoming beam.

"Pay attention, or you might not live to see the face of your girl... and your future girls."

Agnivar snapped out of his daze and immediately jerked his head, tossing Leo back onto his back.

"Fuck... then using the Flame-Crowned Devourer's blood as a catalyst really does help with successfully acquiring the physique..." Agnivar muttered to himself, not wanting to deal with Leo's absurdities anymore. Those crimson pupils with a tint of gold were enough proof that Leo had successfully acquired the [Sunblood Infernal Physique].

But Leo heard him.

"What? What catalyst are you talking about?" Leo asked in confusion.

Agnivar scoffed.

"Don't act ignorant. You're telling me you jumped straight into the devourer's maw without knowing the real purpose? Wasn't it so its blood would help with absorbing the pearl more easily while also enhancing the pearl's effect? ...I bet you ended up getting a higher-ranked physique. Fuck... why do I feel jealous?" Agnivar muttered bitterly.

What?

Leo's brow furrowed, and he immediately checked his status.

Physique: [Sunblood Infernal Physique] - 7 star

Damn! It's really 1 star higher than the system's description!

Leo was pleasantly surprised.

His irrational decision to enter the serpent's body had borne unexpected fruit.

Wait! Does that mean if I store the blood of this infernal serpent and use it later when one of my subordinates absorbs the other pearl, they'll also have a higher chance of success?

Leo couldn't help but feel overjoyed.

By now, 30 minutes had passed, and Agnivar was around 2 kilometres high in the sky. Yet the serpent's attacks were still reaching this height with the same terrifying force.

Half an hour more...

Leo thought.

Then he glanced at Agnivar's sullen face, and the urge to poke at him surfaced in his mind.

"Agni, I really didn't know about the blood acting as a catalyst. Is there really such a thing? Or are you playing with me?" Leo said with a dumb expression.

"HUH? Then why the fuck would you dive to your death?!" Agnivar was getting genuinely annoyed now.

But—

"This."

Leo flicked his fingers, and a football-sized Low Orange-Tier [Sunblood Pearl] appeared above his palm.

"I went to get the second pearl from the neck sac of the other head."

Agnivar's mouth fell open at the sight of the treasure. It hung so wide that he could probably swallow another wyvern whole.

"W-what the fuck?! How in the world did you manage that?!" His composure was finally shattered.

Leo gave a sly grin.

"You want it?"

As he spoke, Leo casually rolled the priceless treasure across his fingertip like a football.

"What are you doing?! Don't play with that!" Agnivar said hoarsely. He already seemed to be drooling at the sight of the treasure.

"You still didn't answer. Do you want it?" Leo teased.

"Of course! Of course I want it! Every flame-based beast would want it! Heck, even non-flame beasts would want it!"

SSCCCEEREEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Leo was distracted by the abnormally loud screech the infernal serpent released the moment it saw the [Sunblood Pearl]. It wanted its treasure back at any cost. The serpent even left the lava river and began slithering across the scorching rocks to close the distance between itself and Agnivar, hoping the wyvern would descend.

"Heh, the disadvantage of a huge body. Limited elemental capabilities that grant range in exchange for greater physical might," Leo said. He had read that somewhere in the library.

The bigger the beast, the fewer elemental abilities it possessed that could effectively reach long distances.

By now, the serpent seemed capable of using only its breath attack as a long-range elemental attack, along with [Thermal Pulse], the same as Howl's, and the earthquake skill.

Only 3.

Though things would've been different if it were Leo's tamed beast. In that case, he could've simply bestowed additional skills upon it.

But that wasn't possible, because—

"Agni, turn left and start flying straight... It's finally time to get out of this secret realm," Leo instructed, and Agnivar followed without objection.

Leo was heading towards Naelith and Lyswenna, who were in the process of capturing the Red-scaled Lizardman. They seemed to have run into some trouble because Lyswenna appeared to be in terrible shape, while Naelith and Shyra were pushing themselves to their absolute limits to deal with the situation.

At least, that was what Leo sensed through the master-subordinate soul bond.

Far below, the serpent had also begun chasing after the wyvern.

"Well... by the time we reach them, the serpent will already be dead." Leo shrugged.

---

A/N: Some extra important matters have suddenly came into existence(;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

So, I will be busy till the end of this month, but I will try to at least maintain the update schedule, though I might miss some days.

Sorry.