The cloud of ash and smoke that Lohan had expelled was instantly swept away by a violent gust of wind, revealing the silhouette of a monster that made the other rabbits look like puppies.
In the center of a small crater of scorched earth, what they had initially thought was just a Level 10 Elite Rabbit actually looked more like a Level 11 Explosive Rabbit snorting with eyes bloodshot in vibrant crimson.
Its fur wasn’t the ordinary gray of smaller rabbits, but displayed a dark metallic sheen, and the Mana emanating from its hind legs was so dense that it visually distorted the space around them.
Lohan felt a chill run through his core.
According to what they had understood from Elysium, reaching Level 11 meant undergoing a qualitative evolution.
That rabbit wasn’t just stronger; at this point, it operated on a higher plane of existence than the rabbits they had been facing moments ago, and perhaps even a level above them.
"Lisa, I think this is a Level 11 Rabbit, be very careful!" Because of the chaos the confrontation was causing on the ground, Lohan wasn’t sure if Lisa had carefully analyzed this new enemy, so as a precaution he decided to warn her via the mental link, feeling his parallel processing working frantically to map the new thermal trajectory.
The rabbit didn’t hesitate or try to exchange words with them.
Lohan didn’t even know if it was capable of speech.
With a crack that sounded like a cannon shot, it vanished from where it stood. Lohan barely had time to react before the monster loomed above them.
The rabbit didn’t try to punch or bite... it simply delivered a downward kick with both hind legs.
Lohan contracted all his biomass, and the black hexagonal scales sprouted instantly, covering Lisa’s back and flanks like impenetrable armor. He activated his molecular resilience to the max, preparing to harden the membrane the millisecond they made contact.
-- BAM!! --
The impact was so devastating that the ground beneath Lisa’s paws gave way, creating a circular depression.
Lohan felt his membrane being compressed to the limit... the kinetic force was so absurd that, even with his hardened defense, the shockwave shattered part of his scales, sending them flying around, and pierced through his gelatinous mass to strike the fox’s body beneath him.
Lisa let out a muffled yelp of pain, feeling her ribs protest under the crushing pressure.
’He’s too heavy and too strong! If we take a few more hits, he’ll shatter us before I can pin his paws down!’ Lohan analyzed, staring in horror at the hole in his scales, and feeling the pain of being "ripped apart" by that impact.
"Halon... I can’t... keep up the spectral pace against him..." Lisa transmitted, her mental voice trembling from the pain of the impact.
"Hang in there, Lisa! I’m going to saturate your system now!"
Taking advantage of the symbiotic connection, Lohan opened the floodgates of his natural energy core, and a vibrant, emerald heat flowed from Lohan to Lisa, merging with her circulatory system.
The fox felt a wave of overflowing vitality wash away the pain of her internal injuries, and her white flames take on a greenish intensity.
Lohan didn’t stop there.
He expelled four smaller clones that glided across the floor like blue blurs.
While the main body maintained Lisa’s defense, the clones acted autonomously thanks to their parallel processing, firing translucent ice spikes at diverging angles to distract the Level 11 rabbit.
But the Level 11 Explosive Rabbit wasn’t just a larger version of its subordinates... it was a far superior version of normal rabbits.
Suddenly, the monster activated a Level 11-exclusive ability: [Vacuum Detonation]
With a movement Lisa’s eyes could barely process, the rabbit didn’t leap forward, but instead slammed its hind legs into the air with such force that it created a sudden vacuum in front of it. The atmospheric pressure collapsed, violently pulling Lisa and Lohan toward the beast’s jaws.
"What the hell is this?!" Lohan shouted, mentally shocked. "Isn’t this rabbit only at Level 11?! Shouldn’t this be a low level?!"
"Halon, I can’t stop! The air is pulling me!" Lisa transmitted in panic through the mental link.
Hearing this, Lohan cast aside his panic and reacted instantly.
He abandoned the slim armor form he was using and, instead of using his skill to contract and shrink, as he always did, this time he expanded his biomass, stretching out tentacles like a net of black gelatin that anchored itself firmly to the trunks of two nearby trees via extreme viscosity.
Like a bright blue bungee cord, Lohan caught Lisa’s body the millisecond the vacuum tried to pull her in.
However, the rabbit used the vacuum’s pull to launch herself into a spinning kick.
The impact struck the fox’s chest with a deafening explosion.
-- BOOOOM!! --
Lohan’s obsidian armor, which had previously withstood Level 10 monsters, shattered like tempered glass under the brute force of Level 11.
Black plates flew in all directions, and Lohan felt his core vibrate with sharp pain as the shockwave passed through his body and struck Lisa’s ribs.
Lisa coughed up blood, which was promptly absorbed by Lohan’s inner layer to prevent waste of resources.
The situation was growing increasingly critical... the rabbit was too fast for Lisa’s fire shots and too strong for Lohan’s passive defense.
"Did we get too greedy coming to an area we knew might have a Level 11 monster?" Lisa asked hesitantly, resisting the intense pain she was feeling.
"Maybe? But who cares, we have to figure this out..." Lohan replied in a low voice, expending an absurd amount of biomass and Mana to sustain the parallel thought process working at high speed, trying to find a way out.
"Lisa, let’s switch to an exhaustion strategy! I’m going to wear you down again right now!" Lohan said in a serious voice.
Then he opened the floodgates of his natural energy core once more, practically draining those reserves to heal her.