Genetic Ascension

Sylas didn't look back as he pressed forward. It was only as his back was about to leave the Basilisk King's sight that he slowed down. He wanted to pressure the creature, but he didn't want it to actually die.

The Basilisk King was still an excellent trump card. So long as he fused with it, he would gain 50% of its stats. That could save his life one day.

But as he progressed, if the Basilisk King stayed the same, it would quickly become useless.

There was a deeper reason as well…

The Basilisk King was just a beast… but it seemed to carry intelligence no worse than a human child. It wasn't just an animal, and it was because of that Sylas expected more from it.

Just by virtue of having pride, it wasn't a normal beast. An animal couldn't have such a vice.

But there were downsides to emotions as well. This beast wouldn't just charge blindly and unconditionally listen to Sylas' orders due to this, and that was a problem.

That meant for his own safety, Sylas needed the beast to get better. If not, it might be better to ignore it entirely.

The journey forward was much slower due to the Basilisk King. Through their connection, Sylas could tell that it was slowly getting more and more injured beneath the suffocating heat, but he continued to walk.

Soon, he saw the second BOSS. It stood menacingly in the distance, a black dog with a pair of flames for irises. Saliva dripped from its maw and it looked like Rottweiler. Well… if Rottweilers grew to two meters tall.

[Fire Hound (F+)]

[Level: 9]

[Physical: 138]

>[Strength: 121]

>[Constitution: 160]

>[Dexterity: 154]

>[Speed: 117]

[Mental: 95]

>[Intelligence: 135]

>[Wisdom: 98]

>[Charisma: 52]

[Will: 61]

Sylas sent a casual glance back toward the Basilisk King that was still slithering forward. It was hard to tell if it was by instinct or something else entirely.

Their gazes met for a moment and Sylas raised a hand.

Just as the Fire Hound released a roar and began to bound forward, knocking trees out of its way, Sylas cast <Astral Bind>.

It froze, its body skidding forward and scrapping against the ground.

Sylas could have used his Kunai again, but he didn't. He wanted to show the Basilisk something.

Power.

Basic Aetherflow suddenly activated and Sylas punched out.

BANG!

The nose of the beast was deformed instantly, a fist aura shooting over from the distance and shattering its front row of teeth.

After Madness' progression, Basic Aetherflow also got a huge power boost.

He took another step forward and sent out a second punch.

BANG!

Half the Fire Hound's skull collapsed, one of its eyes exploding into a rain of gore and flames.

The creature couldn't even make a sound. Under <Astral Bind>, it couldn't even breathe, let alone control its vocal cords. It could only lay there on the ground, frozen beneath Sylas' might.

Sylas took a last step forward. His Scorned Wraps glowed with a green color and shimmered beneath the red of the forest.

BANG!

His fist shot forward with a sonic wave that was more flare than substance. He was nowhere near shattering the sound barrier, but flare was exactly what he needed right now.

The skull of the BOSS shattered.

<Astral Bind> ended and its body went entirely limp, its pool of blood dancing with flames.

At that moment, the Basilisk King barely managed to catch up. Its slit eyes constricted as it looked at the scene before it. When its gaze shifted to Sylas, it shook visibly.

That ability, it was the same one that Sylas had used against it.

Sylas gaze the Basilisk King a glance before stepping forward.

[You have slayed Fire Hound]

[Rewards]

[>Fragmented Fire Crystal (Consumable)]

[>Inflexible Gene Elixir (Consumable)]

'Another Fragmented one, huh? Does that mean you can absorb more than one of them at a time? Is it because this Dungeon is designed for two people? Maybe it's only Fragmented ones that are like this?'

Sylas wasn't sure but he stored it away regardless.

He checked the Genes of the creature once again and it was, again, a large amount of Constitution.

He was used to BOSS creatures only giving one type of Gene regardless of their other stats. After everything he had learned, he was even more certain that this was another ploy to force them to fight amongst themselves.

Why kill beasts when humans gave you so many more Genes?

Sylas still had many he had yet to take advantage of. There was still Alex and his Bronze Genes, there were the corpses of the others of Rakk Smith's group as well.

It was just sad that things were leading to this.

He put the rest of the corpse away.

Up ahead, there was a sea of red. But it wasn't lava at all. Instead, it was an endless land of red crystals. There was no doubt that the heat further ahead was on another level.

Without looking back, Sylas walked into it.

Behind him, the Basilisk King, beaten and haggard, inched forward mostly out of instinct. It felt that Sylas was the only one that could stay alive. But if it crossed into the sea of red… how could it still live?

It watched as Sylas continued into the distance, not even looking back at it.

Its tongue slithered and the stench of blood assaulted its senses. It remembered every strike visibly, it was the kind of power it wanted, for no other reason than to get revenge on the human that had humiliated it.

But now it was actually relying on that human for survival…

How pathetic.

Sylas continued to get further away, and this time, he vanished entirely into the distance not slowing down even once.

The Basilisk King slithered up to the border weakly.

Maybe it would be so bad to stay here. If it used the last of its strength, it could still make it back to the sand. So what if it had to remain in the desert Dungeon for the rest of its life? It was more interesting than that maze anyway…

That maze…

How had it gotten there? What was it life before that?

It couldn't remember.

Its fangs bared, a sudden unwillingness coming from the depths of long forgotten memories.

The Basilisk King moved before it understood what was happening, crossing the barrier to the red crystal world and almost immediately being lit on fire.

Its shrieks filled the skies.

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