'Yeah, it cracked, it truly cracked!'

As Dante reached the wide tunnel, his eyes landed on the shards of the crystal scattered across the ground.

How could it be that he left for less than two minutes and it was enough for the cocoon to shatter!

How was that even possible?!

'I swear this doesn't make any sense!'

Squish, squish!

Just then, Dante finally noticed the strange beasts feasting on the hill of corpses, the other beasts watching it like bodyguards.

The beast had a huge body that towered over all the toddler maggots.

It had lost its arms, but it gained more than it lost.

Its length increased significantly like a snake, and its lower half to the tip of its tail was crystallized like a durable, sharp whip.

Its skin was thicker than the Frostmaw Maggots and it didn't look like skin anymore. It seemed to be made of steel that was covered with pillars of ice-like crystallized spikes.

It had rows and rows of sharp teeth and eyes, and its mouth was dripping saliva that glowed and froze the corpses it was eating with immense hunger.

[Img]

'Frostmaw Wyrm!'

That was one of the common evolutions of the Frostmaw Maggots, Frostmaw Wyrm, a beast that had the potential to be on the peak of Rank 2 as a Lord!

'After evolving, it'll likely stay here for days until it adapts to its new form. I don't have much time to wait for it to leave." Dante's eyes turned cold as he considered his options.

Waiting for it to leave by itself was impossible.

Dragging a beast and making it fight the wyrm was dangerous.

That only left fighting it as a solution.

Although it had just evolved, the Frostmaw Wyrm was actually Rank 2 now.

And how many Rank 2 beast had Dante fought again?

Only two!

The Master of Decay was simply nothing more than a stuck arm. Dante didn't really fight it, but only took advantage of its situation. Digging into its arm was the easiest thing Dante had ever done.

As for the mist monster, it was in a far worse condition. Baron Ash had limited it to a cage and it was literally a heart that died with one stab.

This one would be different if Dante didn't use his full power.

'Well, Ruby is far away now. I think I can do it.' Dante made up his mind as he quickly channeled his mana, spiritual energy, demonic energy, and silver ether!

Pseudo-shadow Technique — Blind Shadowstep!

The wyrm was alerted as a figure suddenly emerged beneath its stomach.

Silver Ether Spell — Ether Bolt!

BAM!

Dante shot an ether bolt with no hesitation. The bolt hit the wyrm's jaw, sending it flying away.

ROAAAR!

RAAAH!

GROWL!

The maggots roared at the sight of their lord being attacked. One of them went to check the wyrm, one opened its mouth and charged its freezing beam, while the other two charged toward Dante directly.

Slash!

A dark blade covered with crimson energy extended like a whip and cut off the head of the first maggot cleanly before it wrapped around the second maggot.

[Your Greed Knows No Bounds]

You have slain a…

Ignoring the runes, Dante's muscles tensed as he infused them with mana and demonic energy. The next second, he swung the wrapped maggot toward the one that was charging its attack.

BAM!

Collapsed on top of each other, the beasts struggled to stand up. However, that small struggle was everything that Dante needed to finish them off.

Demonic Shadow Spell — Demonic Shadow Wolf!

A shadow wolf suddenly materialized and attacked one of the maggots. Its figure was bigger than the usual shadow wolf. It had sharper teeth, stronger muscles, longer claws, and thicker fur.

But the most noticeable changes were the segmented pattern on its body and the pair of horns which resembled that of a centipede's head.

Dante didn't intend to create it like that, but the demonic energy altered its form by its own against Dante's will. However, he could still manipulate it like how he could manipulate the normal shadow wolves.

The wolf ran smoothly like a real beast rather than a shadow, leaving purple afterimages in its path, which were caused by mixing the crimson demonic energy with the blue mana.

CRACK!

The world bit the head of the first maggot, crushing its outer skin layer like crushing a coconut before feasting on it.

Simultaneously, Dante swung his whip-like segmented blade, severing off the second maggot's head before it could attack the demonic shadow wolf.

That should have been impossible after all the failed attempts to cut the maggots off easily. He had to use a drill to quickly pierce the outer skin layer before finishing them off.

But this time was different.

His relic was demonic, and it accepted being enhanced only by demonic energy. The demonic energy that Dante had been infusing into the relic continuously revealed the weapon's real power.

The relic was significantly stronger than before!

Unfortunately, the corruption was unavoidable.

Dante had already started getting corrupted thoughts. His eyes lingered for a moment on the beasts' heads, enduring the urge to ignore everything and just go and harvest their cores.

He also wondered if he had to store the corpses in his ring and sell them later. He truly wanted nothing more than to swim in a pool of mana crystals now.

Just then, the tunnel illuminated with a bright blue light. Looking ahead, Dante saw the wyrm charging its attack despite its broken jaw, looking at Dante with intense coldness in its countless eyes.

Dante knew in less than a second that he couldn't attack it in time. Immediately, he turned his relic into a drill, charging it with spiritual energy and demonic energy.

BEAM!

The wyrm shot a freezing beam that seemed to freeze even the air. Because of the light, Dante couldn't even use Shadowstep to escape.

But he didn't have to.

Sin Of Greed — Abyssal Slash!

Dante launched a crimson-black spiral slash toward the beam. The attacks clashed in the air, sending a shockwave that pushed air and reduced the temperature.

Although the slash stopped the beam for a second, Dante knew that it wasn't enough.

It was never enough.

And the current Dante would never be satisfied with one attack, as the corruption was spreading already.

Silver Ether Spell — Ether Bolt!

BAM!

Dante shot another bolt, helping the spiral slash to finally overwhelm the freezing beam, reaching into the wyrm's head.

BOOM!

The attacks exploded into the wyrm's face, shattering its solid skin into pieces.

Seizing the opportunity, Dante jumped on his wolf and used it to reach the wyrm as quickly as possible.

With a strong leap, he fell on the wyrm with his drill spinning and didn't waste a second as he proceeded to dig into the wyrm's flesh.

ROAR!

The wyrm tried to stand up, but the drill reached its brain before it could do that. It fell lifeless to the ground.

After months and years of starving for evolution, it died a few minutes after it finally achieved its dream.

Maybe Dante wasn't the most unfortunate creature in this tunnel.

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