Pain.

Leon had never felt so much pain in his life. Even when he had been beaten by thugs when he tried asking a girl out, he had never felt this much pain.

His whole body felt like a porcelain vase with fine, agonizing cracks on it.

For a moment, he felt like passing out, completely surrendering himself to the pain and exhaustion.

’If Clara is alive... and you die a useless death...’

He didn’t dare complete the thought.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to his feet, then stumbled out of the ruined stall.

"That was a lot."

He wiped the blood running from his forehead, stopping it from blurring his vision.

The spider was already coming close, its body lowered as it prepared to shoot a web of silk at him.

Leon knew that he couldn’t dodge, at least for now. So he grabbed his spear and swung it the exact moment that the silk web was shot.

The spear sliced through the web after some effort, allowing Leon to avoid being trapped by the attack.

Suppressing the pain in his side, he dashed at the spider again. The green gas had already dispersed, so he was free to attack it again.

The distance between them was closed in a few seconds, and he strategically dodged the legs that came flying at him. Finally, he leaped into the air and ran along a leg that had been poised to pin him to the ground.

Floating several meters in the air, Thyra watched the battle with a concerned gaze.

She knew that the spider was way beyond Leon’s level, and it would be a miracle if he didn’t perish in the fight.

In her whole life, she had never seen any unranked being kill a ranked being. Those who claimed to have done that were already powerhouses in their respective worlds.

’Still... I believe you can do it, Leon. I believe in you.’

Although irrational, something about this young man had been shifting her perception lately.

Suddenly, seeing him climb onto the creature’s leg, she was confused.

’Hm? Shouldn’t he be attacking from a distance? He’s risking exposing himself to the poisonous gas again!’

She felt anxious, biting her lip nervously as she watched him.

Leon ran across the leg swiftly, ensuring he remained steady and didn’t fall off.

Just as the spider was about to shake him off, he landed on its back, precisely standing on the neck of the creature. The spider didn’t react, seemingly amused by what he was planning to do.

His eyes hardened with resolve, knowing he needed to finish the battle in one smooth strike.

Closing his eyes, he pointed the spear at the neck he was standing on, then raised his hands.

Thyra’s eyes widened in anger. ’What?! You fool! Do you think a single strike from your puny spear can wound it?!’

Leon couldn’t hear her, so he didn’t react to her thoughts.

Instead, he brought down the red spear.

At the same time, Thyra saw something that made her heart turn cold.

Because of the spider’s size, it cast a large shadow on the ground. Now, that shadow had turned entirely black, and was rippling like black water.

The moment Leon’s spear struck the back of the spider’s neck, a larger spear made of darkness appeared from the shadow of the spider.

Unlike the spears he had created in the past, this one was darker and looked more polished.

In fact, it looked like a perfect copy of the spear in his hands.

The spider sensed something wrong and tried to move, but the attack was already too close regardless of its actual speed.

Puchi!

With a wet crunching sound, the black spear pierced through the spider’s underbelly and came out from its back, lifting it into the air.

The spider let out a loud shrieking sound, its body trembling as it tried to escape from the spear that had completely pierced through it.

Its struggle was futile and only worsened the wound. The spider’s struggle continued for a few minutes, proving its insane vitality, until it finally ceased movements.

Only then did Leon move. He released his spear, then collapsed onto the spider’s neck. The black spear that had drilled a hole through the spider turned into shadows again, spreading beneath the corpse as it fell to the ground.

Leon remained on its back, barely conscious as he was bombarded with messages.

[You have slain a Level 26 Tier One Evolved Mother Arachnid! +18 Stamina points gained!]

There was a brief pause as if the Star Stream was contemplating something, then the other messages poured in, almost blinding him.

[You have leveled up to...]

[You have leveled up to...]

[You have leveled up to...]

[You have leveled up to Level 21! +27 Stat points gained!]

With that final message, Leon’s eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious.

Thyra finally appeared beside him, a conflicted expression on her face.

"You really..."

She didn’t know what to say. Although she believed he would somehow survive, seeing him kill the Tier One Evolved spider was a different thing.

Smiling bitterly, she shook her head and grabbed the loot that had been dropped by the corpse. Without checking them, she carried Leon into the lobby of the female dormitory, laying him on the floor there.

There were no zombies around as they had all been eradicated by the spiders who previously occupied the hostel.

At this moment, the hostel was the safest place Leon could rest.

Two hours later, Leon finally opened his eyes. He was still in pains, but his natural recovery had kicked in, and his bruised side was already healing at a pace absurd for a normal human.

This was the perk of being an evolver with high level.

"Finally awake, little brother? Wahh, you really made big sister worried."

Thyra grabbed his head, pulling his cheeks with a smile.

"Ugh. Stop that."

He groaned, then pulled her hands away from him. Thyra’s smile dropped, and she looked at him with visible concern.

"Leon. What you did was really dangerous. Next time, don’t risk your life that way."