The climb to the third floor was accompanied by the heavy sound of Lisa’s breathing.
Despite the massive victory on the lower floor and the fact that they had plenty of time to rest, her white fur still showed flaws and dried blood stains that could not be ignored.
Crossing the hole in the ceiling, the scenery changed as they followed the path Lohan deduced from the beetle’s memories.
With [Memory Resonance Lv 5], Lohan could already see a little further into the past through the memories of the monsters he digested.
The cost to level up this skill was very low, requiring only 13.25 Biomass, but Lohan was hesitant to evolve it further, considering the traumatic experience of digesting the Weaver Spider’s memory... he decided that he would at least wait until he reached Level 11 to evolve it again.
With his base strength increasing so much, he would be more confident that he would not be controlled again by the memories of the creatures he digested, opening up more possibilities to abuse the advantages of this evolution.
At this point, the air was denser, saturated with the sweet smell of Mana, and the walls displayed broken or open silk cocoons where captured creatures were kept before being completely sucked dry.
Unfortunately, they didn’t find any cocoons with anyone who could be saved.
It didn’t take long for Lohan’s [Spatial Echo-Location] vibrations to pick up the new threat.
As they were approaching the first point where the captured creatures were still kept alive, the noise of four beetles caught their attention.
Three of them were the ordinary Level 10 warriors they already knew, but the fourth was different... It was almost 50% larger, with a shell that not only reflected light but emitted a pulsating metallic glow.
"Lisa, the biggest one must be an Elite... Let me take care of the side coordination, focus on your wounded flank!" Lohan transmitted, already expanding his biomass over her in the form of Living Armor.
Lisa attempted a quick charge with [Spectral Step]
Hearing the noise caused by her movement, two normal beetles dove in that direction without a second thought.
"Now... let’s test what so many evolutions have brought me!" Lohan thought excitedly, activating the [Parallel Processing Core].
Previously, Lohan had to switch focus between his main body and his clones, which caused a dangerous delay, like someone playing an online game with a ping of over 1,000 ms.
With the addition of [Pack Instinct Lv 10], this latency decreased even further, but with the [Parallel Processing Core], this latency was at a level where his control over the clones was at a decent level for combat!
He felt as if his mind had split into independent processing tracks, and he expelled two clones through [Partial Division Lv 7] that fell like blue arrows.
While Lohan’s main body used [Magic Weaving Lv 3] to create a containment net around Lisa, the two clones acted autonomously and simultaneously, firing sequences of [Ice Spikes] at the beetles flanking the fox.
-- SHIIIING! SHIIIING!
The ice projectiles struck the monsters’ wing joints with precision close to that of the main body, guided by [Monocular Telescopic Vision Lv 9].
For the first time, Lohan did not feel the drain of Mana stalling his actions.
Thanks to [Bio-Synthetic Mana Circulation]
’His power... it’s as if there were four Halons fighting at the same time...’ Lisa thought in wonder, though she let out a low yelp when the Elite beetle collided with the [Obsidian Exoskeleton] on her shoulder.
Even though Halon had a Mythic Race, a tier above her Legendary Race, she didn’t feel that the difference between them was that great.
What Halon had in versatility, she made up for with concentrated firepower and speed, being the opposite of Slime.
But as time went by, Halon began to improve each of his skills, making what was once a Jack of All Trades but Master of None, now begin to master those All Trades and slowly walk the path of Master of All!
Sure, even realizing this, she still had confidence in herself. After all, from what she had learned, with each major evolution, Spirit Foxes receive an extra tail and their power increases greatly!
The advantage Halon had accumulated so far might not grow as much as hers with each evolution, but at his rate of growth, she realized she would have to work hard not to be left behind.
Returning to the battle, a beetle had just attacked her side with force.
The impact was violent, but [Non-Newtonian Resilience] instantly hardened Lohan’s membrane, protecting Lisa’s bone from being shattered.
With the [Bio-Synthetic Mana Circulation] feeding the [Artificial Magic Core Harmonizer Lv 7], Lohan no longer needed to conserve Mana.
He fired a sequence of ice spikes from the top of his armor, forcing the Elite to retreat while Lisa prepared for a counterattack with [Spirit Fire].
The difference between the Elite Beetle and the common ones was clear not only in size but also in the way it behaved on the battlefield.
While normal Level 10 beetles attacked with an aggressive but predictable instinct, the Elite waited for openings left by Lisa’s accumulated injuries to deliver much more dangerous and lethal blows.
Lohan realized that the creature’s movements possessed a tactical coordination that he didn’t know if it came from its own sentience or if their Queen was using the insect as a biological puppet from the observatory at the top, as she did with the ambush she formed in the previous combat.
"Lisa, focus on staying stable! I’ll use the clones to clear the way!" Lohan commanded through the mental link.
Taking advantage of the new [Parallel Processing Core], Lohan performed a maneuver that would have been impossible before.
While the main body maintained the Living Armor and [Obsidian Exoskeleton] to protect Lisa, he expelled another clone through [Partial Division Lv 7].
Now with 3 clones, thanks to multiple processing, they were able to act autonomously and instantly, sliding across the ground with [Viscous Flow] to intercept the three common beetles.
While the clones immobilized the scouts with [Selective Viscosity] and began forced digestion, the Mana digestion became even stronger.
Lohan felt an even greater constant flow of pure Mana being refined from the beetles’ biomass and injected directly into his core.
With the reservoir being recharged in real time, he worried even less about Mana consumption in this battle.
Confident, he projected strands of [Magic Weaving Lv 3] from Lisa’s back, creating an adhesive containment net that limited the Elite’s room to maneuver.
The larger beetle tried to retreat, but Lisa, using the threads as pivots, fired off [Spectral Step] to close in, ignoring the pain she felt with each sudden movement.
The Elite, realizing it was isolated, attempted a desperate charge, but Lohan had already set the trap.
He positioned one of his clones while controlling the battle with Lisa, a clone that was reinforced by [Non-Newtonian Resilience] at the exact point of impact, transforming the membrane into a solid barrier that caused the Elite beetle to stall in midair.
Before the monster could recover, Lisa delivered a kick imbued with [Spirit Fire] directly into the crack in the shell opened by Lohan’s [Ice Spike].
The metallic shell, which the Queen had hardened by draining the life essence of other beings, finally shattered.
As the Elite’s life drained away under the digestion of the Slime and the Fox’s flames, an enraged scream, followed by a wave of pure, dissonant mental rage, echoed from the top of the fossilized tree, causing the wooden walls to vibrate in protest.
Feeling that fury, Lohan didn’t even have time to digest all those beetles, using his digestion at full power while making spines with tentacles to penetrate the beetle’s body as quickly as possible and rip out its Mana Core!
Just as he had learned from Edgar in Thalendor, the vendor at the Horizon Bazaar, Lohan was happy to have obtained another Mana Stone, something that would likely give him a new evolution or a useful spell for his development!
Even if it didn’t yield anything useful, even the money he would earn from selling it could be useful.
Considering that this was a Level 10 Monster Mana Stone, its value would perhaps be even greater than their earnings from the Shadow Serpent Digestive Acid or the sale of Swamp Slugs!
The problem was that as they fled, Lohan realized that Lisa was even more injured. Her body, which was already struggling to cope with this battle, showed even more difficulty in continuing to face the insects in this dungeon, causing a thought of doubt to arise in his mind.
’Should we go back and run away? Or should we take more risks to conquer this dungeon today? If we run away, all the captured creatures will probably die to create more beetles...’