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The flames had long since died, but the air remained thick with the bitter scent of burned spores. Ash clung to Yuki's scales like the remnants of a nightmare, still glowing faintly from the embers beneath him. He stood in the middle of the charred clearing, muscles tense, eyes scanning the shadows between the blackened trunks.
*That wasn't just a random encounter,* he realized. *They were lying in wait. Intelligent? Or just cunning instinct?*
The **Blightcap Crawlers** had almost succeeded in poisoning him, even with his superior strength and flame mastery. He flexed his foreleg—already the pain had receded. The passive regeneration born from his budding **\[Adaptive Physiology – Proto]** was doing its job, neutralizing the venom and sealing torn muscle.
> **\[Toxic Resistance Lv.1]** stabilized.
> Resistance to spore-based poison increased.
He took a breath, tasting the air. The forest had changed again.
A rustle from the edge of the clearing snapped his attention to the east.
Another crawler?
No. This one was different.
From behind a broken root, a **larger** Blightcap emerged. Its mushroom cap was jagged like a cracked crown, and its legs had molted into gleaming black scythes. Bioluminescent veins pulsed across its fungal flesh.
> **\[Elite Variant – Blightcap Reaver]**
> Threat Level: C+
> Known Traits: Spore Cloud, Mana Drain, Regenerative Mycelium
Yuki bared his fangs. It wasn't over yet.
The Reaver didn't screech like the others. It moved with a smooth, deliberate grace, and the moment its gaze locked onto him, the temperature in the clearing seemed to drop.
Then it **vanished**.
Yuki shifted instinctively—**\[Mana Sense]** flaring to life.
He caught it a second before it struck—blurring from the side with impossible speed. He raised his wing like a shield, the blade-like legs slamming into his scaled surface, digging halfway through.
*Fast! Stronger than the others!*
He blasted his flames point-blank, but the Reaver twisted away midair, trailing spores in a spiral as it landed ten meters back, hissing.
The air shimmered. Spores began to gather around the beast in a thick, pulsing haze.
> **Skill Detected: \[Spore Cloud – Corrosive Grade]**
> Threat Level Increasing
Yuki flared his **\[Flame Clad]** again, but the spores were mutating faster than his fire could burn them completely. A sharp ache ran down his spine—his mana consumption was accelerating, faster than expected.
The Reaver lunged again, spinning in mid-air.
Yuki met it head-on.
Claws raked against chitin, flame scorched flesh—but the creature *regrew* where it was struck, fungal flesh mending in seconds.
Yuki pulled back.
*Healing and fast… not just poison, but regeneration too. I need to destroy the core.*
Then his **\[Predator's Wisdom]** pinged—an internal vision flashed in his mind, showing a glowing fungal bulb nested beneath the creature's neck. Its **Mycelium Core**.
*That's the weak point!*
But hitting it wouldn't be easy. The Reaver was too fast, too unpredictable.
Yuki dug his claws into the ground, building momentum. He *roared*, his voice echoing like a wildfire's cry. The trees shook.
The Reaver hesitated.
*Now.*
He surged forward, feinting to the left—drawing the Reaver's swipe—and then twisted upward with a burst of wind from his wings.
> **\[Flight Burst – Improvised Maneuver]**
> Status: Success
> Positioning Gained: High-ground Advantage
From above, he dove—**flames trailing his body** like a comet.
The Reaver turned too late.
Yuki's talons struck true, smashing through the mushroom cap and **piercing the core** in its neck with a *wet crunch*. The beast shrieked, limbs spasming.
He didn't stop.
With a guttural growl, Yuki unleashed **\[Draconic Roar]** enhanced by fire, the blast echoing with a physical force that **rippled through the Reaver's body**, shattering its internals.
The fungal beast collapsed, smoke rising from its body.
> **Enemy Eliminated: Blightcap Reaver (Elite Variant)**
> Predator Core Active…
> **Absorbable Fragments:**
> \- \[Mycelium Regeneration Fragment]
> \- \[Spore Cloak Fragment]
> \- \[Corrosive Cloud Fragment]
> \- \[Mana Drain Tendrils Fragment]
> **Unique Core Detected: Adaptive Fungal Intelligence (Dormant)**
> Stored in Predator for future synthesis.
Yuki stood over the corpse, his breathing heavy, flames dying down. His scales were cracked in some places, his wing torn at the edges, but he was alive—and stronger for it.
The forest had thrown something new at him: a monster not just of brawn, but of evolving strategy. It had forced him to think faster, strike smarter.
He liked it.
> **Skill Evolution Triggered:**
> \- \[Toxic Resistance Lv.1] → \[Toxic Resistance Lv.2]
> \- \[Adaptive Physiology – Proto] → \[Adaptive Physiology – Stable Variant]
> **Passive Boost Gained:** Increased recovery when exposed to toxins or corrosive environments.
Yuki let out a slow exhale and looked at the clearing, now quiet once more. The victory didn't just come from his fire or claws—it came from **insight**, and that strange internal guidance from **Predator's Wisdom**.
As the wind shifted and the charred spores drifted away, he sensed movement far off—*not hostile*, but ancient.
Something… watching.
*The forest isn't done yet.*
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