****(POV)

What the hell is this creature?!...

In the darkness lies a monster in wait. I can feel my entire blood turn cold. I forcefully stop myself before I enter its territory. Gus are crazy strong, violent, but also very territorial. They will terminate anything intruding upon their lair but are also careful.

The creature looks sharply at my legion and me. My troops are deadly silent. Any sign of aggression and we will be doomed. We barely have the strength to fight it. Actually, it can easily slaughter us, but it would have to sacrifice too much.

The creature is big, big for a Gu at least. It is bigger than my fist. It has a normal brown color that looks extremely ordinary, but its shape is far different.

The thing has huge wings that can surely make it fly so fast it seems to teleport. It has 6 barb-ending legs. These can easily cut any throat for sure or slice into the protective armor of other Gus.

It has many grotesque black lifeless-looking eyes that are sure to perceive every possible surprise attack. Its long body finally ends with a tail. A goddamn scorpion tail! A single sting of this and any living being is a goner for sure! Yes, no matter its power or its size!

This thing is a Nightmarish Scorpion Fly! Extreme speed, extreme resistance, and a more than potent venom. This thing is a sect killer (if groomed well). The issue is that it's also extremely mean. I won't tempt it with food for sure. I don't even know how one managed to appear here.

I promptly retreat along with my Gus. I'm sure the only reason I survived was our coordination. The monster would have had no qualm about jumping in a fight, even outnumbered. Most Gu packs would scatter after a few deaths, not mine.

I make sure we are not being followed. It would be dumb of me to fall for that simple trick. If the scorpionfly killed me in a sneak attack, my Gus would likely become confused on how to proceed for revenge.

They are great, but one can't expect the foot soldier to act like a general. Maybe one day they will be able to, but not for now. Just as I'm breathing out a sigh of relief, I notice something. Actually, someone would be more accurate.

There stands a dashing young man that promised me death earlier should we ever meet. Dark hair, dark eyes, dark soul. Around him, a few Gus are hovering. Scary-looking ones that would make even Gus cry! Well, not mine, for they are trained to ignore such intimidation.

Honestly, my Gus' biggest fear is messing up their training. All for the sake of good food. He looks condescendingly at me, then at my Gus, before scoffing.

"As usual. You have your…Legion with you. Do you seriously believe these weak creatures will be enough to succeed here? Haha-"

He starts laughing, but then he notices the mist Gu and the flying killers. While they are only medium-tier Gus, taming both in such a short time is not easy. He shuts up as he becomes solemn. He has realized that I am not that weak after all.

The mist Gu is the game-changer, really. There is no way to dodge such an attack at close range. Normally it wouldn't be much of an issue, but I also have the Gus to protect it while it simply sprays poison everywhere.

Before, he had the playfulness of a prideful hunter toying with its prey. Now, he is wary of me, as he should be, really. He hates me to the bone, so I should kill him as soon as possible to get rid of a potential rival.

But I don't have enough power for that. Well, actually, I believe I do. But I'd definitely lose everything in the process. It would defy the purpose if some third party were to profit from our fight.

He's an asshole, but he's not dumb. He, too, realizes it. Smart people are actually easier to deal with than dumb ones. We then simply nod at each other before continuing. He doesn't even try to sneak attack me either.

He knows that I do not forgive others easily. If he tries killing me truly at this point, I will fight until one of us is dead, no matter the cost. I can hear his footsteps heading toward the scorpionfly. Chances are he is going to try and tame it.

I could do all in my power to make him fail, but I'm sure he will set up defensive measures. It won't be possible for me to sneak attack him. Who knows what the outcome of us fighting would be?

Especially with a deadly high-tier Gu involved. We could very well all die. It's not worth it. No, I'll keep trying to increase my power in the meantime.

As I walk wide and far in the darkness, I stumble upon many corpses. All are disfigured from the virulent poison. Most have been devoured either in part or entirely. Yes, I see a good dozen of remains, Gus are too small to eat bones.

Quite a high death toll considering only 30 of us entered. Still, it's as expected. To survive here, one needs an edge. The best is some kind of trump card that will convince the other Gus to stay far away from you.

The ideal scenario would be for me to manage to find a mild-tempered High tier Gu. Is this even possible? Legends say it isn't. Well, we never know what will suddenly appear from mutations in a place like this.

But as long as it's not ill-tempered like the previous scorpionfly, everything will work out. Actually, I could have perhaps tamed that one too, but it would have most likely devoured my other Gus to assert dominance even then. I can't have that.

I still believe my approach will shine in the long term. Compared to most Gus Users, I already have way better defense and survivability capabilities. Now I need to increase my offense slowly. Then everything will be perfect.

That is when I stumble upon another room, except that this one is visibly only filled with weaker Gus crawling around all over the place just minding their business. Everyone has evidently ignored this place.

I still head inside just in case since my criteria are not just about absolute power. That's when I see it...