"How's the arena coming along?" Compass Carburettor asked the ant queen through telepathy, wondering just where it had gone by.
"We're almost done, having dug up a hole that is a kilometre deep and has a cylindrical radius of twenty metres. There's only the twenty-metre layer of earth at the top that's left." The ant queen replied, having already increased the numbers in her colony.
And with the recent influx of ant corpses, she had laid down even more eggs, continuing to expand the size of her nest. As Compass Carburettor was destroying one nest after another, it was easy for theirs to expand.
"How are you feeling?" He then asked Grisha, causing the other party to nod in response, offering a thumbs up.
"I've reached the limit at 1000 Darlac. Now, I'll only have to train accordingly as you said and hope I reach Transcendence eventually." She replied.
"The pearls have sped up the process a lot." He nodded, having almost reached the peak himself. Moreover, his second horn too had almost finished growing by now as he had devoured almost four thousand pearls from one-horned ants, a couple hundred from the two-horned guardian ants, and a dozen from three-horned ant queens.
Some of them had orbs that his Haggon form just swallowed. After all, upon asking Grisha, she told him that the ants only had superiority in numbers at this point in time. And, once ants with four horns start appearing is when they reach the status as a calamity.
And, that was also their limit. She told him that those with four horns would give birth to ants with interesting abilities.
So, he didn't care about them now, swallowing them to stimulate the growth of his second horn.
His two mutated beasts—the mongoose and the bird—had grown three horns by now, having been devouring the corpses of a lot of two-horned ants. They were practically stuffed to the brim continuously until they eventually grew their third horn.
In this time that he was hunting the ants, Dwun and the Night Ranger System Host had clashed a couple more times. Even though she wished to run away, having attempted many times, Dwun was growing stronger as time passed.
Moreover, as they didn't have many pearls to use, they were rather controlled in their actions.
The Night Ranger System Host too didn't run away, intending to find a way in which she could beat sense into Dwun. At least, that would allow her to claim her Quest rewards. After all, she did indeed separate Ianon from Dwun, allowing the other party to escape.
So, as long as she brought Dwun to his senses, she would obtain a powerful Skill. That was precisely the only reason she was putting up with everything. Otherwise, given her mobility advantage, if she truly exerted all her power, Dwun wouldn't be able to hinder her escape.
Moreover, once night fell, her abilities increased explosively. When Dwun tried to fight with her, he was thrashed around, eventually making his escape. Though, he didn't leave the vicinity, gathering strength as he noticed that every time he fought her, even though he was risking his life, he was also growing in strength.
It seemed his System too had noticed this, sporting pleasant surprise as it gave him a new Quest, instructing him to continue fighting with her, something he happily obligated.
The reason it was risking its life in this world was due to the benefits, the promise of a Skill from the Luck Genre. And now that it noticed its Host was on the cusp of a breakthrough into a new realm of power, it wished to support him.
After all, everything he gained would become its in the end once it devoured him in the System World. That might develop its power and may even cause new Skills to branch out from its Core Skill, a feat very few Systems had managed to achieve.
And those that did this had all reached the peak at Grade 1. So, it of course focused on its personal growth, just making an act in their group—in the Astral Network—to express its helplessness.
Some things happened coincidently that led to it making this decision, completely forgetting the fact about the enemy it was facing and the domain of authority it possessed—Coincidence and Luck.
Rewards were one of the best baits, after all.
And, without their notice, both System Hosts were engaging with each other for their respective reasons.
Even the Night Ranger System was of the same mind as the Power Punch System, noticing that its Host was growing at an alarming pace. It was a cause for celebration, as her growth aligned with its benefits.
Compass Carburettor continued to raid the nests one after another, relying on the toughness of the Haggon form to devour ant queens one after another. During this time, once she reached the limit of her Darlac, Grisha began to gather materials to create other external items.
They planned to create forts in many other locations to increase the Mental Energy streams Compass Carburettor was getting. It'll make his job easier.
Suddenly, she stood up in surprise, noticing tremoring laughter echo within the tunnels, originating from Compass Carburettor, hurrying towards his location to see that his Haggon Form seemed even stronger than before.
Before, as a Haggon, he was still in his growing phase. But now, he had turned into an adult as a Haggon, only thanks to the rapid increase in his Darlac reserves. Or at least, his body had matured. Based on his lifespan as a Haggon, he was very much still a child.
"The final one…" He muttered, excited as he swallowed a pearl, noticing a wondrous feeling envelop him from within, causing a change to erupt in him as a whole.
His Warble shone all of a sudden as a sense of instinct enveloped him, allowing him to select and finalise the abilities he would possess—thanks to the Warble.
After all, he, the strongest Haggon, with qualities the same as a Level 5 Dungeon's Dungeon Boss, had finally attained it.
Transcendence!
