'Vaelith,' he said internally, gaze still fixed on the ruin around him. 'What do you think of those SS-Ranked mantises' Authority?'
There was a pause at first.
Then Vaelith answered, his voice unusually subdued.
[Very dangerous. Had you not had the shadow wolves with you... you might have actually died in that exchange.]
Bruce nodded slowly.
He couldn't deny it.
This was the first time since transmigrating, since his very first Heal purged poison from his body, that he had come this close to death. And the irony wasn't lost on him. It hadn't happened when he was weak. It hadn't happened when he was struggling to survive.
It happened now.
When he was stronger than he had ever been.
"…I guess that makes sense," he muttered quietly. "Considering what I'm up against."
An Invader.
Something that existed outside Velmora's rules.
Something that didn't care about local balance or growth limits.
