Where the Blade-stalker had succumbed in seconds, Leo remained conscious.
His own spore, the so-called "world's weakest beast," pulsed with a defiant light, as if it were raging against the inevitable.
Every movement was agony.
He fought to his knees, then to his feet, his fingers clawing at the hole’s edge just as his legs threatened to buckle. He dragged himself out of the tunnel and into a sudden, blinding light.
This wasn't the
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