Chapter 78: Toys

.[Will be changing DD's cover soon, keep that in mind]

A familiar feeling of danger overwhelmed Leonel. It was as though this instinct had been subconsciously repressed by him but was bubbling forth, clawing its way out of the hidden depths of his mind.

However, it was too late.

Leonel couldn't see what it was that hit him. It was completely invisible. Yet, it felt as though a strong blast of air had assaulted his face.

His eyes watered, his head whipped back, and eventually, his gaze dulled like he was reminiscing on memories long since passed.

Seeing Leonel's dazed expression, the werehyena and werecheetah didn't hesitate for even a moment. The former roared and opened his jaws wide, biting at Leonel's neck. The latter's right thigh bulged in size and grew by a fold, striking forward like a vicious whip that left whistling sounds hanging in the air.

BANG! BANG!

The werecheetah's kick and the werehyena's bite landed as one. By all rights, Leonel's neck should have been bitten through while his lower body was sent flying. With the strength of the two weremen, his decapitation was almost guaranteed.

But, neither of them could have expected that a seemingly flimsy ray of blue light would stop them both.

Leonel's body was sent flying, but the ones howling in pain wasn't him who was lost in a daze, but rather the werecheatah who had shattered his leg and the werehyena whose row of teeth were now broken.

The wererat's pupils constricted. 'Just what kind of treasure is that?'

Leonel could have never expected that the treasure he picked out for the sake of self grooming would have such powerful defensive capabilities. But this was only natural. How could a Quasi Tier 1 Bronze treasure be so simple?

Suddenly, the wererat felt an overwhelming sense of danger.

His beady eyes widened to find Leonel slowly standing up. However, this wasn't the shocking part. He had already expected this much after seeing the states of the two weremen.

What truly shook him with fear was that… Leonel's savage expression had returned. The sight of him climbing back out of the rubble was akin to watching a devil climb up from the depths of hell.

While Leonel had underestimated the defensive abilities of his self-grooming treasure, the wererat could have never imagined that knocking Leonel unconscious was the worst mistake he could have made… Because it allowed that demonic persona to come back.

Leonel cackled as he dashed forward. One would have expected his laughter to sound like the devilish howls of a forsaken soul, but it didn't sound like this at all. Rather, he was like a child who had found a fun toy to play with, a little boy whose mental age couldn't have been more than five or six years old.

However, despite this, his spear which had just been a flaccid, useless tool a moment ago, became a venomous viper.

The heads of the two whimpering beast men shot into the skies, completely separated from their bodies. In their pain, the last thing they could have expected was for Leonel to react so quickly and even counterattack them. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like they weren't experienced in true combat.

The wererat panicked. With his guards gone, he suddenly had to face Leonel alone?

That strike he sent just now wasn't something he could send continuously. It would take at least another minute before he recovered enough normally. He had only been able to attack AIna and Leonel in quick succession like that because Aina's spirit was far weaker in comparison to him, so he hadn't needed to go all out.

To make matters worse… he somehow felt that even if he could launch another full powered strike toward Leonel, it wouldn't make a single bit of difference.

"Baruke! Get your ass over here!"

The shrill cry of the wererat caused the werewolf who had been completely focused on digging up the pile of rubble to get to Aina to stop. He turned back to find the small wererat being dangled by his neck, his little feet swinging back and forth wildly.

Leonel held the wererat's gaze up to his own. He seemed to be curiously staring into the wererat's beady eyes, as though trying to find the secret to something like a curious child.

Baruke's eyes widened with shock and struggle. He couldn't decide whether to find and restrain Aina, or if he should hurry and save the wererat.

In the end, he grit his teeth and dashed forward. That weakling was the favorite test subject of that person, if he really dared to let him die here, only death would await him.

From the moment Leonel fell into a daze, to the moment he clutched the wererat's neck, it could be said that not even ten seconds had passed. And, unfortunately, those ten seconds were more than enough time for the first Invalids to make their way down from the crater's edge.

Their dull, white eyes seemed to hold the depths of the universe.

Many of them looked no different from normal humans. Those with low grade abilities tended to have small boosts to their speed or strength. As such. Low grade Invalids didn't normally have weird mutations amongst them.

However, there were still three A-grade Invalids amongst the several dozen. If Leonel was conscious, he would have recognized these three as a part of the twelve A-grade Invalids listed to be here in Perimeter 7.

One had the slithery tongue and green scales of a poisonous snake. Another had skin that radiated a bright golden light that made the air around her sizzle. And the last had a head a fold in size larger than it should have been. This last one's head was completely bald, but had veins of blue crazily pumping across his forehead and head. Even its eyes were a size bigger than it should have been.

Baruke seemed to think that it wouldn't be a problem to run from these Invalids, or maybe he was still too overconfident in his strength. If not for this, why would he so blatantly enrage a Variant? He must have really believed that he was invincible.

He wanted to rush toward Leonel, quickly deal with him, and run away with the wererat. However…

CRACK.

As though bored and disappointed with a toy, Leonel tossed the wererat aside. The latter had widened its beady eyes as far as it could, and blood even dripped from their sockets, but it was to no avail.

"NO!" Baruke roared, his swift yet massive figure appeared above Leonel with a leap.

He was finished. He really was finished. If he wanted a chance to live, how many more of those cruel experiments would he have to suffer through?

It was his fault. It was all his fault.

"DIE!"

Baruke's claws extended another several inches, slashing down toward Leonel.

With a playful smile, Leonel dropped the Metal Spirit's cube to the ground and slid his dented shield to his hand.

He gripped its edge tightly before sending it flying forward like a frisbee. Baruke could hardly react before the hard metallic edge smashed between his brows, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

The last thing he felt before the light faded from his eyes was a sharp pain in his throat. His spine was cleanly severed and everything fell to darkness.

Leonel crossed over Baruke's body like it wasn't worth much, he didn't even bother to pick up the fallen Metal Spirit. He had found much more interesting prey.

He licked his lips with excitement, watching on as the Invalids converged toward him.

His heart was budding with happiness. So many toys to play with.