Absolute Beast Dominion

Chapter 521: Naelith Rank Up

A few hours later...

Leo stretched and sat upright. He had been lying on a leafy bed all this while, sleeping while Shyra and Nyxa stood guard. There was also another beast.

Chu!

Zelut squeaked when Leo woke up; he had been lying beside Leo all along. Leo had used him as a personal cooler while sleeping comfortably in the hot environment, which also meant Zelut had been continuously using [Iceveil Hide] this entire time.

"Alright, good job. Now get some rest."

Saying that, Leo unsummoned Zelut.

Leo looked around and saw that Lyswenna was busy preparing snacks while Naelith was still meditating. A deep frown sat on her face, as though she kept missing something important that needed to be done.

"She still hasn’t finished her advancement?" Leo muttered as he walked up to Lyswenna to learn about the situation.

"My Lord, Naelith has been like this the whole time," Lyswenna replied. "There was no problem when she absorbed the golden petal. It was done within minutes, but after that, Naelith consumed the mango treasure and sat down to meditate. Since then, she has remained like this, concentrating."

Leo nodded. This was normal. Naelith wasn’t assisted by the system in digesting natural treasures, so it was only natural that breaking through important bottlenecks would take time.

Leaving Naelith and Lyswenna alone, Leo walked up to the [Infernoheart Mango Tree].

It was finally time to bring it into his Spiritual Realm.

He pressed his palm against the rough bark and felt its outline. The more he traced the tree’s form with his senses, the more soul power he consumed. The moment he encompassed the entire tree with his perception--leaves, branches, bark, sap, rasin, fruits and even roots--it vanished and reappeared in the soil of the Volcanic Spiritual Island.

Ding!

>Infernoheart Mango Tree detected to be...

After that, he looked toward the corpse of the Cinderback Behemoth.

He had already killed it before going to sleep.

Cinderback Behemoth (Pseudo 4-star) killed - 50,000 XP

Level 31: 50,000 / 1,550,000 -> 100,000 / 1,550,000

Right now, both Nyxa and Shyra were feasting on the corpse. The moment Leo had told them they were free to eat the beast, they had immediately pounced on it and torn through the tough hide with their sharp claws and reached the soft flesh and organs .

Since then, they had been eating with obvious delight.

"No sign of a rank up?" Leo muttered.

He snapped his fingers and brought out the beast core. It covered his entire palm and was only slightly smaller than a volleyball.

After a moment of deliberation, he handed the beast core to Nyxa.

Still no rank up.

"Damn, looks like I need to feed them a shit ton of high-ranked meat before they rank up."

He already had the crystals from the corpse; fortunately, this time, a soul crystal was present, but he kept them stored away for future use.

He had also considered feeding the Pyroclast Drake’s core to Nyxa, but immediately discarded the idea. It was a draconic beast core, and its value could fetch 3 same-ranked beast cores from more common beasts.

While planning his next course of action and eating the snacks Lyswenna had prepared, something shifted within Naelith.

Even before there was any outward reaction, Leo sensed it.

"Lyswenna, Nyxa, Shyra—back away from Naelith!" he shouted immediately.

All the recipients complied without hesitation.

Leo slammed his hand into the ground, and a circular earthen wall nearly 2 meters high erupted around Naelith of considerable radius.

Not even a few seconds later, a wave of flame burst from Naelith’s body and crashed into the earthen barrier.

Leo immediately jumped into the enclosure and cast [Iceveil Hide], along with an aura shield on Naelith. Then he leapt back out before the flames, after striking the walls, rolled inward again.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Naelith’s body released another wave of flames, then another, and another.

"Damn!"

Leo instantly realized the barriers he had deployed might not be enough if so many waves kept striking and rebounding toward Naelith. He immediately constructed a 5-meter-tall pillar and unsummoned both beasts.

"Lyswenna, climb the pillar!"

Leo ordered, and Lyswenna followed his orders swiftly.

The next second, he collapsed the earthen walls and climbed onto the pillar himself. Together, they watched wave after wave of flames spread across the area, setting the entire region ablaze.

Soon after, Naelith’s body was no longer releasing flames only parallel to the ground. Flames now erupted in every direction, filling a spherical region around her. Even standing atop the pillar was no longer safe.

Lyswenna might have been severely burned if not for Leo using wind blades to cut apart the incoming flames.

"M-My Lord, what is happening?" Lyswenna asked worriedly.

"She just broke through to Low 4-star. What she’s doing now is trying to control her abilities. It would be safer for us to create more distance."

Saying that, Leo slashed the empty air toward the opening of the C-shaped lava lake.

Wind pressure surged forward, carving a straight path through the sea of flames.

Lyswenna didn’t need to be told twice. She immediately ran through the open corridor. Leo followed soon after as they observed Naelith from a safer distance.

The excess heat still radiated all the way to their location, but it was largely offset by the effects of [Iceveil Hide], whose mastery had increased significantly over the past few days.

Soon enough, Leo sensed a change in the chaotic waves of flame.

And with that change came the wind.

Naelith had begun manipulating wind simultaneously alongside the flames.

The flames were no longer erupting directly from her body. Instead, wind energy rapidly circulated around her, drawing the surrounding flames along with it. The massive ring of fire around her began drifting with the wind. At first, it moved slowly, but its speed rapidly increased.

"She’s trying to form the Fire Tornado," Leo concluded.

And that was exactly what happened.

Within moments, the revolving mass of flames began spinning violently and grew into a towering inferno 30 to 40 meters tall.

Thankfully, Leo had already stored away the important body parts of the Behemoth, because the useless bones that remained were swept into the tornado. As they were lifted into the blazing vortex, they were burned into nothingness—the bones of a Pseudo 4-star beast completely erased.

That was just how intense the heat inside the Fire Tornado was.